USA > Indiana > A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850 > Part 18
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206
HISTORY OF INDIANA
the Ohio. Dennis Pennington came the same year. Be- fore the close of 1807, Samuel Pfrimmer, Davis Floyd, Thomas Posey, and Thomas Wilson had formed a numerous neighborhood. Frederick Mauck had established a ferry at what is now Mauckport as early as 1808. No ferry on the lower Ohio was used by more emigrants than this. Gen- eral Harrison bought a farm at Wilson's Spring near Blue river and erected a mill in 1806. Corydon was laid out in 1808 by R. M. Heth.
It was from this stream of immigration crossing at Mauckport and Oatman's Ferry that the first settlers of Floyd county, Robert La Follette and Patrick Shields, came. They located at Georgetown in 1804, at least eight years before the Scribner Brothers laid out the town of New Albany.
Some time during the year 1805-6 Jesse Vawter led a small company across the Ohio at what is now Madison and opened up a settlement on the hill back of the town. This was six years before John Paul entered the townsite of Madison and laid off the town.
Other settlers went deeper into the forests of Indiana, and, in a few years, the second tier of counties began to fill up. A party of hunters, led by John Kimberlin and his two sons, settled on Kimberlin creek in Scott county early in the year 1805, and erected a cabin of white oak logs. William Flemming, Peter Storms, Hiram Wingate, and William Estil are some of those who followed in the succeeding years. In 1810 was laid out the town of Lex- ington, one of the oldest towns in the State. Here a bank was established in 1815 and a paper published, called the Western Eagle.
In the same year in which these early settlers located in Scott county other immigrants were crossing the Ohio at points in Warrick county. Among the first was Bailey Anderson, for whom Anderson township was named. Hud- son Hargrave, Joseph DeForest, Ratliff Boone, for whom Boone township was named, Thomas Campbell, for whom Campbell township was named, and John Hart, for whom Hart township was named, followed at about the same time.
207
FROM TERRITORY TO STATE
These men went to Henderson, Kentucky, to have their wheat ground into flour. Booneville was established in 1818 and named for Ratliff Boone.
The first settlers of Daviess county were from the Caro- linas and Kentucky. In 1806 came Eli Hawkins from South Carolina. He located near Maysville. A small part of western Daviess county was included in the Vincennes survey, the lines running at an angle of forty-five degrees from north to south. On these lands along the east bank of White river most of the early settlers located. Daviess was one of the counties most exposed to Indian depreda- tions. To protect its fifty-five families five forts were built during the winer of 1811 and 1812. These were named from their location, Purcell's, Comer's, Ballow's, Coleman's, and Hawkins's. Three forts were added during the war -Flora's, Palmer's, and Jones's. This is mentioned, not because it was a condition peculiar to Daviess county, but because it was the common thing in all the counties settled before 1812. There were from six to fifteen families gath- ered around each fort. Each fort, therefore, had a garri- son of about twenty rifles. Remains of similar forts are yet to be seen on the west side of White river in Knox county. All these forts were in Knox county at that time, since Daviess was not organized till 1817, at which time Washington was located and platted. The settlers men- tioned came by the Wabash and White rivers.
The early settlers of Posey county, the Duckworths, Mc- Faddens, Hutchinsons, Lynns, and the Wagners, came from Virginia, Carolina, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The dense forests of Posey county were fine hunting grounds, but they looked rather formidable to the prospective farm- ers. The settlers located about 1807. Audibon, the nat- uralist, was a frequent visitor in this county. Evansville was settled by Col. Hugh McGary in 1812.
About the same year in which the hunters were pene- trating the wilderness of Posey county, others were making their way into what came to be Gibson county. Here came William Herrington, Jesse Montgomery, Daniel Postman, first judge of the county, Robert M. Evans, for whom
208
HISTORY OF INDIANA
Evansville is named, James Hazelton, Thomas Chapman, who was the founder of Princeton, and others. The first settlement was a short distance west of where Princeton now stands. Princeton was laid out in 1814.
In 1806 the settlers braved the hills of Crawford county, settling in the northern part. It seems that the first set- tlers were a part of a large colony that scattered over the northern part of Harrison county and the southern part of Orange and Washington counties. Among those who came to Crawford county were Thomas Stroud, E. E. Morgan, William McKee, and William Frakes. In 1807 came Peter Frakes, William Van Winkle, John Peckinpaugh, followed shortly by Captain Posey, the Conrads, the Clarks, and the Leavenworths. The latter laid out the town of Leaven- worth in 1818. This county was a great hunting ground at that time.
About the same time the settlers crossed to the east bank of the White river in Daviess, others crossed the Ohio at various points in what is now Perry county, and so closed up the last gap in the front of the invading army. The Perry county pioneers located on the Ohio or nearby on the tributary creeks. William Taylor and Joseph Wright settled at Rome, Thomas and Rev. Charles Polk in Polk's Bottom just below. In 1811 Mr. Richardson built a grist mill on Deer creek. Uriah Cummings built a sawmill on Poison in 1812. This does not intend to mean that these were the first white persons in the county, for the head- waters of Deer creek, Poison, Anderson, and Oil creeks were fine game ranges, to say nothing of the natural shel- ters of their overhanging cliffs, some of which will shelter a regiment of men in any kind of weather. There were springs of pure water and hills free from malaria and "milk sickness." Here hunters and squatters had lived for at least ten years before the first land entries were made.
It is not possible much further to note the progress of this invading army of settlers, crossing the Ohio into Indi- ana or entering by the Ohio river from the east. Its picket lines kept pushing on into the northern wilderness along
209
FROM TERRITORY TO STATE
the valleys or going boldly through the forest where there was no stream.
In 1810 its outposts were in Lawrence and Monroe coun- ties. In the same year settlers located down at Mt. Pleas- ant in Martin county. A year later others located in and about Vallonia in Jackson county. They crept steadily up the Whitewater, appearing in Fayette county in 1813, in Ripley in 1814, in Jennings in 1815, Randolph in 1816, in Hancock, Rush and Shelby in 1818. The western wing pushed up the Wabash and White rivers, settling at Spen- cer in 1815; at Gosport almost the same time; at Terre Haute in 1816; in Greene county in 1817; in Morgan county in 1819; in Vermillion in 1816, and in Clinton in 1818.1
The first results of the War of 1812 on the development of Indiana Territory were disastrous. The inroads of the Indians during 1812 broke up many settlements. The Maria Creek Settlement in Knox county, the frontier then on the Wabash, was abandoned. The women and children were taken back to Vincennes or further south, some being taken back to their old homes across the Ohio.2 The settlers around the forks of White river were huddled together in the little forts. Their friends back at home, who were making preparations to come out to the new country, were warned of the danger and instructed to stay at home till the storm subsided. Around Vallonia a large number of settlers were held, protected by the rangers, and a spacious fort, though even from here many withdrew to Clark county, and it was thought for a time that the little colony would break up. The Pigeon Roost Massacre drove the
1 The best single reference on the early settlements of Indiana is in Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana, published in 1876 by Bas- kin, Forster & Co. The various county histories give valuable data, such as Young's History of Wayne County; a History of Dearborn County; a History of Knox and Daviess Counties, and others have valuable reminiscenses and facts drawn from the county records. No comprehensive first-hand study of the subject has been made. Much valuable material is contained in papers read at "Old Settlers' Meet- ings," but no collection of these is available. Waldo Mitchell, "Growth of Indiana, 1812-1820," Indiana Magazine of History, December, 1914; Carlos T. McCarty, "Hindostan, a Pioneer Town," Indiana Magazine of History, June, 1914.
2 Indiana Magazine of History, "Polke Memoirs," Vol. X, No. 1.
210
HISTORY OF INDIANA
pioneers of Clark and Jefferson counties back on the pro- tection of the Ohio river settlements. On the Whitewater the Quakers maintained an advanced position in Wayne county, protected by such small stockades as Boyd's Fort. Few if any of these settlers had advanced beyond the line of the National Road. Salisbury was the center of this settlement.
It will be noticed that the frontier line of 1812 extended from Vincennes east almost to Jefferson county, thence following roughly the line of the Twelve Mile Purchase north of the line of the National Road. Except for the finger of settlement running up the Whitewater Valley the line of settlement is pretty accurately marked now by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. To the north of this line no white persons lived, except, perhaps, a few traders around such posts as Fort Wayne, Andersontown, and Terre Haute.
The editor of Niles' Register, August 6, 1814, in sum- ming up the situation of the West, called Indiana a great tract of rich land, well watered by such fine streams as the Ohio, Wabash, White, and Whitewater rivers, which but for Indian interference would long before have had a numerous population. The census of 1810 showed 24,526 persons, of whom only 237 were slaves.
§ 39 REMOVAL OF THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL TO CORYDON
FROM the time John Gibson arrived at Vincennes, July 4, 1800, to May 1, 1813, that town was the capital of Indi- ana territory. There was no hope even among its own citi- zens that it would remain the permanent State capital. It seems to have been the general understanding that the Northwest Territory would be devided by the great Miami and the Wabash. This would inevitably leave Vincennes on the boundary. As long, however, as Indiana Territory in- cluded the Illinois Country, Vincennes would remain the capital. With the organization of Illinois Territory Feb- ruary 3, 1809, the balance of power in the Indiana As-
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212
HISTORY OF INDIANA
sembly shifted to the east and the struggle for the removal of the capital began.
The Territorial Assembly, however, soon found an ob- stacle in its road. The governor, who owned valuable property in Vincennes, had an absolute veto on all its bills. This was no merely imaginary danger, for Deputy Jennings presented a memorial to Congress January 20, 1812, complaining of the arbitrary conduct of the governor in vetoing a bill to change the location of the capital.
The matter of relocation came up at the 1810 session of the Assembly. Lawrenceburg, Vevay, Madison, Jeffer- sonville, and Corydon were aspirants. The question was referred to a committee instructed to select a new site.
This site was to be north of Driftwood, east of White river and at least twenty miles from the Indiana boundary which then ran from near the present site of Covington to a point about twenty miles east of where Mitchell now stands. It was to be as nearly central as possible to Green- ville (Ohio), Madison, New Harmony, and Covington, the four corners of the inhabited part of the territory. If the committee failed to agree it was to lay its evidence before the governor, who was then to make the final selection. A petition was at once prepared and sent to Congress asking a donation of four sections of land on the main branch of White river.3
Nothing came of this effort. The War of 1812 pre- vented a meeting of the Assembly during 1812. As soon as the Assembly of 1813 convened the fight for relocation was again taken up. Madison, through its representative, William McFarland, of Lexington, offered $10,000 as a bonus. The vote on this in the Council stood four to four. James Dill, of Dearborn, then submitted a proposition from Lawrenceburg, and a bill to make that place the capital passed to third reading before it failed. Vevay was tried, and the vote stood five to three against it. Charlestown failed by the same vote. Clarksville received two votes. Jeffersonville received a tie vote. Corydon got a tie vote
3 Annals, Eleventh Cong., 508. Ibid, 748, for favorable report of congressional committee.
213
FROM TERRITORY TO STATE
=
also. The eastern members controlled the House of Rep- resentatives and chose Madison. The Council would not vote for it, however, and in a conference Corydon was se- lected. The act bears date March 11, 1813, and further provided that officers and offices should be at Corydon by May 1, 1813.4
§ 40 THE ENABLING ACT
SINCE the outbreak of the War of 1812 there had been agitation among the inhabitants of the territory for a State government. Part of this was due to a feeling that the federal government was not active enough in protecting the border. Part was due to political dissatisfaction. It was felt that the rights of suffrage were too much re- stricted, and that through the appointment of sheriffs the governor had too much influence in elections. Numerous petitions to Congress indicate this sentiment.5
January 1, 1812, Jennings presented a petition drawn by the General Assembly asking that Indiana be made a State. January 13, the Speaker laid before Congress a pro- test against the above petition signed by James Dill and Peter Jones, members of the House of Representatives of Indiana Territory. March 31 Jennings reported favorably on the petition, and offered a resolution that Indiana be admitted as soon as a census should show it to have a popu- lation of 35,000.6 Again, on February 1, 1815, Jennings presented a petition from inhabitants of Indiana Territory asking admission. The request was laid on the table with- out discussion.
The question, however, was discussed throughout In-
4 The Journals of the General Assembly for 1810 and 1811 are in the Vincennes Western Sun. Those of 1813 are in the Secretary of State's office, in manuscript form; that of the House in the hand of William Hendricks; that of the Council in the hand of Benjamin Parke. Danger of Vincennes being captured by the Indians may have hastened the removal of the capital. Cf. Waldo Mitchell, "Growth of Indiana. 1812-1820," in Indiana Magazine of History, December, 1914. The re- moval took place soon after the disaster on the river Raisin.
5 See especially report by Jennings, Annals Twelfth Cong., 1284.
6 Annals, Twelfth Cong., 607 and 749.
(15)
214
HISTORY OF INDIANA
diana during the ensuing summer. Money was piling up in the land offices at Vincennes and especially at Jefferson- ville. A continuous fleet of boats floated down the Ohio from Pittsburg, a goodly number of which tied up on the Indiana bank of the river, or else were poled up its tribu- tary streams. Every one felt that there must be near the necessary 60,000 population, the minimum requirement for a State government under the Ordinance of 1787. The newspapers at Vincennes, Corydon, Lexington and Madi- son were full of advertisements of new towns being laid out. Settlements were forming right up to the Indian Boundary all the way across the State and the ubiquitous squatters were crossing over by hundreds. The White- water Valley, it was thought, had 20,000 settlers; Clark and Washington counties had at least 15,000; Harrison had upwards of 6,000; while not less than 20,000 lived on the Wabash or the lower course of White river. The Western Eagle, of Lexington, from statistics in eight coun- ties and estimates in six others, gave the total population, November, 1815, as 68,084.7
The General Assembly that met December 4-28, 1815, included many of the best men in the territory. It lost no time in framing a petition for Statehood. This memorial appeared in Niles' Register, December 14, but was not pre- sented in the House of Representatives till December 28, 1815, and in the Senate till January 2, 1816. The memorial was signed by Dennis Pennington, of Corydon, Speaker, and by David Robb, of Princeton, president of the Council. After reciting that the territory had reached that stage of growth at which, by the terms of the Ordinance of 1787, it was entitled to a State government, the memorialists asked for an election on the first Monday of May to elect delegates to a constitutional convention which might de- termine whether it was expedient to form a State constitu- tion.
The memorialists also asked for seven per cent of the land sales for State use, for a congressional township as an endowment for a State University, for an academy, for the
7 Quoted in Niles' Register, November 4 and 11, 1815.
215
FROM TERRITORY TO STATE
coal mines and salt licks, and finally for a donation six miles square on which to locate a State capital.
The memorial was referred to a committee, of which Jonathan Jennings was chairman. This committee, through its chairman, reported by bill January 5, 1816. In the Annals there is included in Jennings' report a letter from William Hendricks, dated February 24, 1816, giving the voters of the State as 12,112 and the total population 63,897.8 This census had been taken by the listers of the various counties and certified by the county clerk of the General Assembly December 4, 1815.
The vote on the admission of Indiana in the House of Representatives stood 108 yeas, 3 nays. The bill was re- ported to the Senate March 30. April 2 it was referred to the same committee that had in charge the enabling bill for the territory of Mississippi. At this time Senator David Daggett, of Connecticut, asked that the committee ascer- tain the number of free inhabitants in each of the terri- tories. April 3 the bill for the admission of Indiana was taken from the special committee and given to a committee headed by Senator Jeremiah Morrow, of Ohio. The next day this committee reported favorably, Senator Morrow submitting at the time a census report on the population of the territory of Indiana. It was finally passed April 13. The next legislative day, Monday, April 15, the House con- curred in the Senate amendments and the bill went to the
8
Voters
Population
Clark County
1,387
7,150
Dearborn County
902
4,424
Franklin County
1,430
7,370
Gibson County
1,100
5,330
Harrison County
1,056.
6,975
Jefferson County
874
1
4,270
Knox County
1,391
8,068
Perry County
350
1,720
Posey County
320
1,619
Switzerland County
377
1,832
Warrick County
280
1,415
Washington County
1,420
7,317
Wayne County
1,225
6,407
Total
12,112
63,897
I
I
1
1
1
1
216
HISTORY OF INDIANA
President, by whom it was approved April 19. It is inter- esting to note how closely the fate of this bill was linked with that for the admission of Mississippi. The two were passed by the House at the same sitting and without inter- vening business. There were only three opposing votes in the House, Goldsborough, of Maryland, Lewis and Ran- dolph of Virginia, on the bill to admit Indiana and 53 on that to enable Mississippi. There was no division in the Senate.
Congress left the duty of naming the new State to its inhabitants. Its boundaries were laid down as they now are, the only change from the territorial boundary being the additions of a strip ten miles wide across the northern border, and some small areas east of the Wabash between Vincennes and Terre Haute.
The act set Monday, May 13, as the day for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention. The apportion- ment of delegates was the same as that asked for in the petition.9 The qualifications for voting were legal age, payment of taxes, and the usual residence restrictions. No property qualification was required. Otherwise the elec- tion was held as ordinary elections for members of the House of Representatives.
The members thus elected were to convene at Corydon Monday, June 10, and, if deemed expedient, form a con- stitution, or order a new election of delegates. The only restriction on the work of the convention was that the new constitution should be republican and exclude slavery, the restriction laid down in the federal constitution and in the Ordinance of 1787.
Besides the above, Congress made five donations to the
9 The apportionment was as follows :
Clark
5
Perry
1
Dearborn
3
Posey
1
Franklin
5
Switzerland 1
1
Gibson
4
Warrick
1
Harrison
5
Washington
I
Jefferson
3
Wayne
1
I
4
Knox
5
1
1
1
-
1
Total
43
1
I
I
1
217
FROM TERRITORY TO STATE
prospective State, conditioned on their acceptance by the convention :
The first was the donation of section sixteen of the public land out of every congressional township for the use of public schools. The second was the donation of all the salt springs in the territory to and for the use of the people. The third was the donation of five per cent of the net proceeds of the land sales in the territory, three per cent to be used by the General Assembly for opening roads in the State, and two per cent by the federal government to build roads to the State. The fourth was a donation of one entire township for the use of a seminary of learning -the State University grant. The fifth was a donation of four sections of land as a site for a State capital.10
§ 41 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1816
AN announcement of the passage of the Enabling Act reached Vincennes in time to be published in the Western Sun, May 3. The election of delegates was set for May 13, leaving only ten days intervening, time for only one issue of the paper. The Western Sun rightly criticised Jennings for the haste.11 An explanation, favorable to Jennings, was that when the bill was drawn in December it was thought it would pass early in January, thus giving the voters of Indiana at least three months for the can- vass. The delay was caused largely by the opposition to the Mississippi bill.
The editor of the Western Sun placed several men in nomination, but frankly added that he had not seen any of them and did not know if any of them would serve.
Very little evidence has come down to us concerning this election. If there was any concerted action, any or- ganization, any definite issue before the people, all trace of it has disappeared. The men selected were representa- tive of the best talent in the State. The previous General
10 Annals, 14 Congress, 1841; Dunn, Indiana, 417; Dillon, History of Indiana, 554; Vincennes Western Sun, under proper date: Statutes at Large, 1816, Sess. 1, ch. 57.
11 Western Sun, May 3, 1816.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
Assembly was represented in the convention by over half its members. Twenty-three of them subsequently served in the State Senate; seventeen served in the House of Repre- sentatives; Jonathan Jennings served two terms as gov- ernor; Jennings, James Noble and Robert Hanna became United States senators; Jennings and William Graham became representatives in Congress; Benjamin Parke, James Scott and John Johnson became distinguished judges, the former in the United States circuit court, the two latter in the State supreme court; Daniel C. Lane served seven years as State Treasurer; John Badolet was in charge of the land office at Vincennes; William Polke was Indian agent at Fort Wayne; at least a dozen of them were preach- ers; a smaller number were lawyers. So far as the evi- dence at hand shows, there was not a bad man in the list. They were not only a creditable convention, but personally were creditable to the voters who chose them. It does not seem probable that even a majority of them could have been partisans to any man or party. Badolet was the Swiss companion of Albert Gallatin; John DePauw was the son of a companion of Lafayette; Hugh Cull was a Methodist circuit rider; Charles Polke was a Baptist preacher and the founder of Baptist churches, as were also Ezra Ferris and William Polke; Frederick Rappe was the adopted son of the founder of New Harmonie. William Hendricks, the first representative of the State in Congress, and its second governor, was the secretary of the convention.
The convention was in session from Monday, June 10, to Saturday, June 29, eighteen working days. The journal of the convention gives only the most meager details. The work of forming a constitution was distributed to commit- tees. There was some discussion, no doubt, over the slav- ery and suffrage sections, but the Enabling Act left them no discretion in the former.
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