USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 14
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ties, as everything now depended on the observance of the most rigid discipline.
Sec. 4 .- CAPTURE OF KASKASKIA .- On June 24, 1778, they left Corn Island. The force consisted of four companies. commanded by Captains John Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard Helm and William Harrod. The total number of men was about one hundred and seventy-five. besides the officers.ª The force being so small Clark found it necessary to alter his plans. In his Memoir, he says that. "As Post St. Vincennes at this time was a town of considerable force, consisting of near four hundred militia, with an Indian town adjoining, and great numbers continu- ally in the neighborhood, I had thought of attacking it first, but now found that I could by no means venture near it. I resolved to . begin my career in the Illinois where there were more inhabitants, but scattered in differ- ent villages, and less danger of being immedi- ately overpowered by the Indians; in case of necessity, we could probably make our retreat to the Spanish side of the Mississippi, but if successful, we might pave our way to the pos- session of Post Vincennes."
As Clark intended to leave the Ohio at Fort Massae, three leagues, or nine miles below the · Tennessee, he landed at a small island in the mouth of that river to prepare for the march overland to the British posts. Here they sur- prised a party of huntsmen coming up the river, who proved to be Americans recently engaged in hunting in the country about Kas- kaskia. They willingly agreed to join the expedition and gave much needed information of conditions in and around the forts. On the evening of July 4, 1778, after a trying march of one hundred and twenty miles, the little army arrived within a few miles of the town of Kaskaskia, and soon after dark com- pletely surprised the fort and captured its garrison, without striking a blow. The com- mander. or commandant. as he was called by the French. a Mr. Rocheblave, was himself a
a. English, Conquest of the Northwest, Vol. 1, p. 153.
Frenchman, though serving as a British officer, and was exceedingly chagrined at the clever manner in which he had been overcome by Col. Clark. The French inhabitants proved to be exceedingly friendly. They took the oath of al- legiance and joyfully proclaimed themselves American citizens as soon as they learned of the good intentions of Clark. and particularly after being informed that the French govern- ment had entered into a treaty with the Americans and was even then aiding them in their war for independence against the Eng- lish. for whom indeed the French in America never had any good will. The surrounding villages were soon taken, chiefly through the aid of the French citizens of Kaskaskia.
The principal of these smaller towns on the Mississippi was Cahokia, twenty leagues or sixty miles north of Kaskaskia, a little below and nearly opposite the site of the present city of St. Louis.
It was formerly called Cohos, and is claimed to have been the first white settlement on the Mississippi. It was probably settled about the year 1700.ª This town, hardly of less con- sequence than Kaskaskia itself, was captured from the British withont a struggle by a force of Americans and French under Major Bow- man, formerly Captain Joseph Bowman.
Col. Clark took the most discreet measures to win the good will of the French people and to make the new government popular. He tells us in his Memoir that he inquired par- tienlarly into the manner the people had been governed by the English, and much to his satisfaction found that the government had generally been as severe as under militia law. "I was determined." he says, "to make an advantage of it, and took every step in my power to cause the people to feel the blessings enjoyed by an American citizen, which I soon discovered enabled me to support. from their own choice. almost a supreme authority over
a. English, Conquest of the Northwest, Vol. 1, p. 197. See also Montague's Hist. Randolph County, Illinois.
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them. I caused a court of eivil judication to be established at Kahokia. elected by the people. Major Bowman, to the surprise of the people, held a poll for a magistracy, and was elected and acted as judge of the court. After this similar courts were established in the towns of Kaskaskia and St. Vincent [Vincen- nes]. There was an appeal to myself in cer- tain cases, and I believe that no people ever had their business done more to their satisfac- tion than they had through the means of these regulations for a considerable time."
The old court house in Cahokia, where Major Bowman sat as judge after his election in 1778 was a log building, capable of holding not more than one hundred persons. It was built by the French in 1716, and was used at first as a court house and afterwards also as a school house. It was the first building erected and used as a court house within the limits of the state of Illinois, and perhaps of all the northwest. The venerable structure of logs has been preserved to this day, and in the early part of the year 1906, was pur- chased for the Chicago Historical Society and moved to Jackson Park in that city. On De- cember 1, 1906. the judges of the new munici- pal court of Chicago met and took the oath of office, and the court was duly organized, within the walls of this historic court house. The following observations made by Chief Justice Olson on that occasion are of historical interest in this connection.
"The little settlement of Cahokia in Illinois was one of the forest points of France, by which that nation attempted to intrench her- self in the valley of the Mississippi. One of the relics of this lost empire of France is this court house, which has been removed from the ancient hamlet to this eity in the hope that it may be an incentive to our youth to pursue the absorbing story of the trials, vicissitudes and triumphs of the early explorers and set- tlers of Illinois.
"A British commandant took possession of the country of Illinois in 1765, and. in the examination of the Cahokia court documents,
it appears that courts of justice with officers of record held forth even before the arrival of George Rogers Clark and his Virginians. In the village where this court stood, Clark met the representatives of every tribe between the great lakes and the Mississippi. The judges who first sat at this old bench were elected by the people in the first election held on the soil of Illinois in the autumn of 1778. "We who are about to assume judicial office in a court recently established by the people are proud to accept our commissions in this building where the first court in the Mississippi valley was held as the result of the first popular election on Illinois soil."
Sec. 5 .- FATHER GIBAULT AND VINCENNES. -The posts on the Mississippi being now well in hand, Clark turned his attention to the capture of the town of Vincennes. "I found it to be, " he says, "a place of infinite import- anee to us. To gain it was now my object. but, sensible that all the forces we had. joined by every man in Kentucky, would not be able to approach it. I resolved on other measures than that of arms."
Mr. English says that the population of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Vincennes and the other towns on the Mississippi and the Wabash "were almost entirely of French extraction, at the time of Clark's advent, and the uni- versal dislike of English rule still existed. and greatly facilitated his operations."" And he adds that "Father Gibault was the embodi- ment of this sentiment. and the man of all others who could make it effective in recon- ciling the inhabitants to the change of rul- ers. ''b
Clark himself tells us in his Memoir that "the priest was inclined to the American interest previous to our arrival in the coun- try ; " and that "he had great influence over
a. Conquest of the Northwest, Vol. 1, p. 199. b. Ib. See also Address of the Rev. Pierre Gibault, "The Patriot Priest of the Northwest," delivered before the Illinois State Historical So- ciety by the Hon. Jacob P. Dunn, secretary of the Indiana State Historical Society, at Springfield, Ill., Jan. 26, 1905.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
the people at this period, and Post Vincennes was under his jurisdiction. I made no doubt of his integrity to ns. I sent for him and had a long conference with him on the subject of Post Vincennes. In answer to all my queries he informed me that he did not think it worth my while to cause any military preparation to be made at the Falls of the Ohio for the attack of Post Vincennes, although the place was strong and a great number of Indians in its neighborhood, who, to his knowledge, were generally at war; that Governor Abbott had, a few weeks before, left the place on some business to Detroit; that he expected that when the inhabitants were fully acquainted with what had passed at the Illinois, and the present happiness of their friends, and made fully acquainted with the nature of the war, their sentiments would greatly change; that he knew that his appearance there would have great weight, even among the savages; that if it was agreeable to me he would take this business on himself, and had no doubt of his being able to bring that place over to the American interest without my being at the trouble of marching against it; that his busi- ness being altogether spiritnal, he wished that another person might be charged with the temporal part of the embassy, but that he would privately direct the whole, and he named Doctor Lafont as his associate."
Father Gibault's plan was perfectly agree- able to what Clark had been secretly aiming at. The party set out on July 14, 1778, and arrived safe at Vincennes, where, after a day or two spent in explaining matters, the people acceded to the proposal and took the oath of allegiance. "An officer," says Clark, "was elected, the fort immediately garrisoned and the American flag displayed, to the astonish- ment of the Indians, and everything settled beyond our most sanguine hopes. The people began to put on a new face and to talk in a different style, and to act as perfect freemen. With a garrison of their own, with the United States at their elbow, their language to the Indians was immediately altered. They began
as citizens of the state, and informed the Indians that their old father the King of France, was come to life again, had joined the big knife, and was mad at them for fighting for the English ; that they would advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they could, otherwise they might expect the land to be very bloody, etc. The Indians began to think seriously. Throughout the country this was now the kind of language they generally got from their ancient friends of the Wabash and Illinois. Through the means of their correspondence spreading among the nations, our batteries now began to play in a proper channel. Mr. Gibault and party, accompanied by several gentlemen of Post Vincennes, returned to Kaskaskia about the first of August with the joyful news."
Thus, through the wise management of "The Patriot Priest of the Northwest," and without the shedding of one drop of blood, the import- ant town of Post Vincennes came under the jurisdiction of the United States,-the first spot on Indiana soil over which floated the American flag. About the middle of August Captain Leonard Helm was sent by Clark to take command of the town, with instructions to maintain the good will of the people and to win over the Indian tribes. An Indian chief, called the Tobacco's Son, a Peankeshaw. resided at this time in an Indian village west of the Wabash and not far from Vincennes. "This man," says Clark, "was called by the Indians 'The Grand Door to the Wabash,' as the great Pontiac had been to that of the St. Joseph : and, as nothing of consequence was to be undertaken by the league on the Wabash without his assent, I discovered that to win him was an object of great importance." Clark, accordingly, had sent friendly messages to the chief by Father Gibault, which were returned in the same spirit; and like eompli- ments were again sent by Captain Helm. "Tobacco's Son," says Clark, "proved a zeal- ous friend to the day of his death, which hap- pened two years after this, when he desired to be buried among the Americans. His body
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
was conveyed to the garrison of Cahokia and buried with the honors of war. He appeared in all his condnet as if he had the American interest much at heart."
"In a short time," continues Clark's Me- moir, "almost the whole of the various tribes of the different nations on the Wabash, as high as the Quiatanon, came to St. Vincennes and followed the example of their grand chief; and as expresses were continually pass- ing between Captain Helm and myself the whole time of these treaties, the business was settled perfectly to my satisfaction, and greatly to the advantage of the public. The British interest daily lost ground in this quarter, and in a short time our influence reached the Indians on the river St. Joseph and the border of Lake Michigan." And he adds that the French gentlemen at the differ- ent posts engaged warmly in the American in- terests, and in promoting treaties of peace and good will with all the Indian tribes; so that, as he tells us, "in a short time from this we could send a single soldier through any part of the Wabash and Illinois country, for the whole of those Indians came to treat. either at Cahokia or St. Vincennes, in course of the fall. "
See. 6 .- CLARK'S WINTER CAMPAIGN .-- This pleasant situation was to be rudely disturbed as the early winter came on. At first there was a vague rumor that there was active preparation going on for a British expedition from Detroit, intended to retake Vincennes and all the other posts in possession of Clark, and even to invade and conquer Kentucky. Clark could get no definite news from Vin- eennes; his messengers being captured by English scouting parties, as it afterwards turned out. Indeed Clark himself was nearly taken by one of these parties. It was not until January 29, 1779, that he first learned the true state of affairs from Francis Vigo, a Spanish merchant who had been at Vincennes. This gentleman, whose patriotism was after- ward remembered by giving his honored name to the county of Vigo, Indiana, informed 5
Clark that in the previous December, a British force under Governor Hamilton had come from Detroit and captured Vincennes; after which Hamilton, thinking the season too far advanced to take the posts on the Mississippi, sent some of his men to watch the Ohio, and disbanded others, giving orders that all should meet again in the spring to drive Clark's forces out of the Illinois and also to attack the Kentucky settlements.
"We now viewed ourselves," says Clark, "in a very critical situation-in a manner ent off from any intercourse between us and the United States. We knew that Governor Ham- ilton, in the spring, by a junction of his north- ern and southern Indians, which he had pre- pared for. would be at the head of such a force that nothing in this quarter. could withstand his arms; that Kentucky must immediately fall, and well if the desolation would end there. If we could immediately make our way good to Kentucky, we were convinced that before we could raise a force sufficient to save that country it would be too late, as all the men in it, joined by the troops we had, would not be sufficient, and to get timely suecor from the interior frontiers was out of the question. We saw but one alternate, which was to attack the enemy in their quarters. If we were fortunate, it would save the whole; if other- wise, it would be nothing more than what would certainly be the consequence if we should not make the attempt. Encouraged by the idea of the greatness of the consequen- ces that would attend our success-the season of the year being also favorable-as the enemy could not suppose that we should be so mad as to attempt to march eighty leagues through a drowned country in the depths of winter; that they would be off their guard and probably would not think it worth while to keep out spies; that, probably, if we could make our way good, we might surprise them, and if we fell through, the country would not be in a worse situation than if we had not made the attempt. These, and many other similar reasons, induced us to resolve to at-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
tempt the enterprise, which met with the approbation of every individual belonging to us."
Orders to begin preparations were immedi- ately issued, and all were executed with eheer- fulness by the inhabitants. Every man was provided with whatever was needed to with- stand the coldest weather. On February 5. 1779, after listening to a patriotic address by Father Gibault and receiving his blessing, Clark moved forward, with his army of one hundred and seventy men, almost exactly the number with which he took Kaskaskia on the preceding Fourth of July. "Insensibly." he says, "and withont a murmur, were those men led on to the banks of the Little Wabash," which we reached on the 13th, through incredible difficulties, far surpassing anything that any of us had ever experi- enced." On February 17th, they reached the Embarrass river, but finding they could not cross it they moved down the bank of that river to its junction with the Wabash proper. which they reached on the 18th, at a point seven or eight miles below Vineennes. Here they expected to find the "Willing," a boat, or galley, as Clark called it, sent down the Mississippi before they left Kaskaskia, and which was to go up the Ohio and the Wabash and take them up to the neighborhood of the post; but the galley was delayed and did not arrive at Vincennes until February 27th, three days after the capture of the place. The march for five days from the Little Wabash, and by the Embarrass, to the banks of the main Wabash, almost constantly through water and that in the month of February, was one of almost incredible hardship. Yet those days were as nothing to the five days that were to come."
Clark's original intention seems to have been to cross the Embarrass river near the site of the present town of Lawrenceville, and, with the help of his galley, attack the post from the front. He was now compelled to adopt a plan similar to that followed by a. An Illinois branch of the Wabash.
another great general nearly a hundred years later. As Grant went down the Mississippi and crossed the river to the rear of Vicksburg. and so captured that stronghold, so now Clark by the aid of hastily constructed rafts, crossed the Wabash, marched up to the east of Vin- cennes and thus took the town from the Brit- ish. Both exploits are among the most notable in all history. That Clark was able to hold his little band together on this march through the cold waters up the east side of the Wabash often knee deep or waist deep and even more, seems almost past belief. Only men of the' greatest resolution and inured to hardships of frontier life could have held out during the terrible ordeal. Indeed some of the volun- teers did for a time begin to despair. Clark informs us that toward the end some of them talked of returning. "But my situation," he says, "was now such that I was past all un- easiness. I laughed at them, without persnad- ing or ordering them to desist from any such attempt, but told them that I would be glad if they would go out and kill some deer. They went, confused with such conduct. My own troops I knew had no idea of abandoning an enterprise from want of provisions, while there were plenty of good horses in their pos- session ; and I knew that, without any vio- lence, the volunteers could be detained for a. few days, in the course of which time our fate would be known. I conducted myself in such a manner that caused the whole to believe that I had no doubt of success, which kept their spirits up."
In the absence of any news of his galley coming up the Wabash, for which he still had hopes, Clark had canoes constructed to aid in the passage through the waters. Two of these water marches, as related by the intrepid and resourceful commander, will illustrate the extraordinary situations through which they passed :
"The last day's march through the water," says Clark, "was far superior to anything the Frenchman had an idea of. They were back- ward in speaking. said that the nearest land to
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us was a small league called the sugar camp, or the bank of the river. A canoe was sent off and returned without finding that we could pass. I went in her myself and sounded the water; found it deep as to my neck. I returned with a design to have the men trans- ported on board the canoes to the sugar camp, which I knew would spend the whole day and ensuing night, as the vessels would pass but slowly through the bushes. The loss of so much time to men half starved was a matter of consequence. I would have given now a great deal for a day's provision or for one of our horses. I returned but slowly to the troops, giving myself time to think. On our arrival all ran to hear what was the report. Every eye was fixed on me. I unfortunately spoke in a serious manner to one of the officers. The whole were alarmed without knowing what I said. They ran from one to another, bewail- ing their situation. I viewed their confusion for about one minute, whispered to those near me to do as I did, immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my face, gave the war whoop and marched into the water, without saying a word. The party gazed and fell in, one after another, without saying a word, like a flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to begin a favorite song of theirs. It soon passed through the line and the whole went on cheerfully. I now intended to have them transported across the deepest part of the water, but when about waist deep one of the men informed me that he thought he felt a path-a path is very easily dis- covered under water by the feet. We ex- amined and found it so, and concluded that it kept on the highest ground, which it did, and, by taking pains to follow it, we got to our sugar camp without the least difficulty.
"This was the coldest night we had. The ice, in the morning, was from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick near the shores and in still waters. The morning was the finest we had on our march. A little after sunrise I leetured the whole. What I said to them, I forget, but it may be easily
imagined by a person who could possess my affections for them at that time. I concluded by informing them that surmounting the plain that was then in full view, and reaching the opposite woods, would put an end to their fatigue; that in a few hours they would have a sight of their long wished for object, and immediately stepped into the water without waiting for a reply. A huzza took place. We generally marched through the water in a line; it was much easiest. Before a third entered, I halted, and, further to prove the men. having some suspicion of three or four, I hallooed to Major Bowman, ordering him to fall in the rear with twenty-five men and put to death any man who refused to march, as we wished to have no such person among us. The whole gave a cry of approbation that it was right, and on we went. This was the most trying of all the difficulties we had experi- enced. I generally kept fifteen or twenty of the strongest men next myself, and judged from my own feelings what must be that of others. Getting about the middle of the plain. the water about knee deep. I found myself sensibly failing, and as there were no trees nor bushes for the men to support themselves by, I doubted that many of the most weak would be drowned. I ordered the canoes to make the land, discharge their loading. and play backward and forward, with all dili- gence, and piek up the men, and to encourage the party. The men exerted them- selves almost beyond their abilities-the weak holding by the stronger, and frequently one with two others' help, and this was of infinite advantage to the weak. The water never got shallower, but continued deepening-even when getting to the woods, where the men ex- peeted to land. The water was up to my shoulders, but gaining the woods was of great consequence. All the low men, and the weakly, hung to the trees and floated on the old logs until they were taken off by the canoes. The strong and tall got ashore and built fires. Many would reach the shore. and fall with their bodies half in the water, not being able
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to support themselves without it. This was a delightful, dry spot of ground, of about ten acres. We soon found that the fires answered no purpose, but that two strong men taking a weaker one by the arms was the only way to recover him, and, being a delightful day, it soon did. But, fortunately, as if designed by Providence, a canoe of Indian squaws and children was coming up to town, and took through part of this plain as a nighway. It was discovered by our canoes as they were out after the men. They gave chase and took the Indian canoe, on board of which was near half a quarter of a buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, etc. This was a grand prize and was invaluable. Broth was immediately made and served out to the most weakly with great care; most of the whole got a little, but a great many gave their part to the weakly, jocosely saying something cheering to their comrades. This little refreshment and fine weather, by the afternoon, gave new life to the whole."
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