USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > Historical sketches of Old Vincennes, founded in 1732 : its institutions and churches, embracing collateral incidents and biographical sketches of many persons and events connected therewith > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
252
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
AMERICAN HOTEL.
The site of the present La Plante Hotel, on the corner of Main and Water streets, was formerly occupied by the American Hotel, which hostelry was conducted by Mr. John C. Clark, from about 1825 to 1852. One of his daughters, Mrs. Sheridan Isaaes, is living in Edmund, Oklahoma, and many of his grandchildren, prominent in society, are residing here. It was the leading hotel in the town for many years. Shortly after the writer came to this city, in 1849, the wife of the landlord was thrown from her buggy, on the country road between this town and Law- renceville, Ill., and fatally hurt. She was as genial and pleasant a lady as the writer ever met. While the writer was eating supper at the hotel, one evening during the sum- mer of 1849, a full grown deer, supposedly being chased by hounds, jumped over the yard fence, facing Main street, ran back through the premises, leaped the back fence and fled beyond the city limits. This episode served to demon- strate the fact that game was plentiful about the town in those days. This old hotel corner was a memorable spot to old inhabitants who resided here fifty years ago, by rea- son of its having been the scene of a conflagration. It was the site of a store, occupied by John D. Hay, a merchant who emigrated hither in the year 1803, who was one of Governor Harrison's troops at the battle of Tippecanoe. This corner was the principal public place in the city, and whenever the militia mustered, which they frequently did in early years, they made their best maneuvers in front of the old American Hotel, as is shown in the illustration. On an elevated porch, at the side of the building on Water
BUNCHUMANNNY
iron manfinal
VIEW AT FOOT OF MAIN STREET, SHOWING OLD AMERICAN HOTEL, BUILT ABOUT 18:4.
254
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
street, can be seen an elderly gentleman, "Deacon" Taylor, with little Laura, a child of the landlord, in his arms. This occurrence took place more than sixty years ago. Waller Taylor was a Major in Harrison's army at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was at the side of Colonel Joe Daviess and Thomas Randolph when they fell mortally wounded ; he was the one who had these two gallant patriots buried side by side : and he it was who cut their initials on the side of the tree under which they found their last resting place, in order that the spot might be known if future occasion required. Randolph was a cousin of the celebrated John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va. Major Taylor was chosen one of the first United States Senators who went from Indi- ina, upon its admission to the Union in 1816.
The old hotel was located within a block, and on the north of where the old fort stood, and commanded the Main street ferry landing on the Wabash river, and was at one time headquarters for merchants and traders from all parts of the country.
PRISON.
During the first period of our Civil Government, prisons and jails were used not only to incarcerate criminals, but for the imprisonment of debtors ; however, the latter class were not exactly incarcerated in the jails, but were con- fined to certain boundaries, beyond which they were not permitted to go. In 1808 an order was passed that, "no objection being made by the creditors, and the debtor mak- ing oath that he possessed neither personal or real property, he should be released," and then and there imprisonment for debt was accordingly abolished in the Territory. The
255
OLD VINCENNES.
records disclose a description of one of these "debtor's lim- its." as it were, and it is a curiosity and unique, to say the least, and is worthy of mention here. It reads as follows: "Beginning at low water mark on the Wabash, on the street between Antoine Marichall and Margaret Game- lin's : thence down said street to the lower corner of James Purcell's : thence up to St. Louis street; thence up said street, including the same, to the corner of John Ochil- tree's house, next to Thomas Coulter's; thence up the street, between Coulter's and Ochiltree's to James Krelly's lot ; from thence to the corner of the lot opposite the widow Brouillette's ; thence down that street leading to H. Van- derburg's, to the place of beginning, including the streets." It is supposed the delinquent debtors knew the deviations of the boundaries outlined and governed them- selves accordingly.
Criminal prisoners were first incarcerated in the case- mate at Fort Knox, and later on in a temporary jail until a permanent structure was erected in 1803, on the corner of Third and Buntin streets, where the residence of B. Kuhn now stands. Robert Slaughter was placed in this jail for the murder of Joseph Harbin, and was executed in 1805, it being the first execution under the civil rule.
Upon the removal of the court house to its present loca- tion, a new jail and residence for the sheriff was built on the northwest corner of the court square, on Seventh street.
256
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
OLD COTTON FACTORY.
1
One of the notable buildings still standing is the Old Cotton Factory, erected by David S. Bonner about the year 1825. The building has withstood the storms of time and the vandalism of man, and after passing through many and varied vicissitudes, still stands a monument to the enterprise of its builder, after the lapse of nearly a cen- tury of time. It stands on the half-square facing southwest, on Barnett street, between Second and Third streets.
Many of the present generation, now resident in this city, are unaware of the fact that not only cotton manu- factures, but the cultivation of the staple itself, were among the important industries of this place at one time. One of our old citizens, Mr. Elbridge Gardner, now passed into the eighties, informed the writer that one of the pretti- est cotton patches he ever saw was on the lot now occupied by the Vincennes University. He said that the white bursting from the bolls of the densely set green plants was a beautiful sight, and it made a lasting impression on his mind that can be eradicated only by death.
Cotton raising, spinning and weaving were the order of the day at one time in this town, and were the chief in- dustries of the people. But as the South became settled and greater yields of the fleccy staple were reported from that section of the country, in connection with the increased facilities for manufacturing in the East, the old factory's spindles and looms were diverted to the manufacture of woolen goods. In later years the building ceased alto- gether to be used for its original purpose, and became the domicile of the Novelty Manufacturing Company, by
|17]
ยท
COTTON M
COTTON MILL
BONNER'S COTTON MILL, ERECTED ABOUT 1821.
258
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
which industry it was used until the erection of its own present building, on the outskirts of the city, to the west and near the river, and on the site where George Rogers Clark maneuvered when about to attack Fort Sackville in "ye olden tyme." The Old Cotton Factory building is now being utilized as a general storage room.
Mr. Bonner, the builder of the Old Cotton Factory, erected a large three-story brick building on the corner of Second and Main streets, using the lower rooms for stores (and for which purpose they are still used), more than three-quarters of a century ago, and yet, today this build- ing is in a good state of preservation.
BONNER MANSION.
What is now known as the Allen House, corner of Fifth and Main streets, and owned and occupied by Mrs. Sallie Allen, widow of the late Colonel C. M. Allen, Sr., a distin- guished attorney of this city and who contributed much to its growth during his life, was built by David S. Bonner, about the year 1840, which was then considered the finest and costliest house in the town. The building sets back thirty feet from the street, the premises originally occupy- ing a quarter of a block and are today adorned by beautiful shade trees of maple and European linden of forty-five years' growth. This house is three stories in height, exclu- sive of basement, and is embellished with a large portico, rising above the basement, with sandstone floor and steps, supporting large ornamental fluted columns, which in turn support the roof of the portico. The building is command- ing in appearance, contains a large hallway with large airy rooms opening into the same, and the ceilings are unusu-
259
OLD VINCENNES.
ally high. Although three-quarters of a century old, it looks as if, with care, it would withstand the corroding ele- ments of time for another three-quarters of a century.
MOUNDS.
It has been said when Vincennes was first settled, that on its site was a large mound and that it contained a vault in which skeletons of human beings were found closely packed together. As no authentic evidence can be found of this mound, it is presumed the report originated when the orig- inal burying-place of the Catholic church was changed. Then skeletons were found, after excavations were made, when they were given new sepulture.
However this may be, there are three notable mounds in the vicinity of the city that are deemed worthy of record. They are doubtless many centuries old, as the composition of them would indicate from the strata, as many years must have elapsed while they were being built; and these strata may have marked eras in their formation. The names given to these mounds are "Pyramidal Mound," "Sugar Loaf Mound" and "Terraced Mound." The di- mensions of Pyramidal Mound are, from east to west three hundred feet and from north to south one hundred and fifty feet. The area of the level summit is fifteen by fifty feet, and it is fifty-seven feet high. Sugar Loaf Mound is two hundred and sixteen feet by one hundred and eighty feet, and has a height of forty-four feet. The Terraced Mound is the largest one, having a diameter at its base of three hundred and sixty feet, from east to west, and two hundred and eighty feet from north to south ; its altitude is sixty-seven feet. There is a winding path to the summit,
260
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
which commands a beautiful view of the city and the surrounding country for many miles in Indiana and across the river into Illinois. The purpose for which these mounds were made is only conjectural. They may have been intended for points of observation.
The strata of these mounds are composed of alternate layers of sand, charcoal and bones. Or, as these mounds seem to be centrally located and much larger than adjacent ones in this county, and those in adjoining counties, they may have been the theater of ceremonials indulged in by congregated hosts of a great confederacy once existing in this part of the Northwest. The exploration of them and the results achieved do not warrant the conclusion that they were simply places of sepulture. And yet who knows what their deepest depths might reveal? But for what purpose they were designed and made will likely be to the end of time an unsolved problem. The unique character of them, containing the elements of methodical purpose, conspires to invite a close and exhaustive examination by the antiquarian.
Chapter XII.
GOVERNOR WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON'S RESIDENCE. HIS POW-WOW WITH TECUMSEH, AND HIS TIPPECANOE CAMPAIGN.
T HIS old territorial house has been a prolific theme of romances of writers. Traveling correspondents have viewed it from a passing railroad train, gained a little misinformation, and forthwith indited lengthy arti- cles giving minute descriptions, often with an engraving of the house, as veritable history, when in fact much of their Incubrations were but fictions. Some writers have told of a subterranean passage leading from the house to the river -under a "bluff;" others of a magazine in the basement for storing munitions of war, and a dungeon for the safe- keeping of criminals and prisoners of war ; and of a couneil chamber where the Territorial solons met to diseuss grave matters of state ; and loopholes for sharpshooters to use in case of an attack by Indians, etc.
It seems timely that the fictions relating to the building should be brushed aside and the light of truth turned on it. With this end in view I have availed myself of all the facts of current histories and from a few aged people who yet survive, that were born in the city in the early part of this century and are possessed of facts observed and tra- ditions handed down to them from their ancestors, to get all the information I could relating thereto and now submit the same.
-261-
GOVERNOR W. H. HARRISON'S RESIDENCE, BUILT IN 1804.
263
OLD VINCENNES.
General William Henry Harrison, having been appoint- ed Governor of Indiana Territory, arrived in Vincennes in the spring of 1801. There being no suitable building for himself and family to occupy, on his arrival, it is re- corded and generally believed, that Colonel Francis Vigo, a wealthy and stanch friend of the Government, who had just completed a fine frame house near the center of the block on Second street, where the opera building now stands, tendered his house to General Harrison for his occupancy until a suitable residence could be obtained or built, but the latter refused to accept any but the large parlor. It is not known whether he continued to remain in this building until his own was completed or not, the same being contracted for in 1805, but not completed until 1806. The main building is a two-story brick, with base- ment, square on three sides, being oval on the west 'side, facing the River Wabash and is located inland about 600 feet; there being a gradual descent from it to the bank.
By one historian its cost is said to have been $20,000, a sum probably in keeping with the cost of skilled labor and material used to construct it, prevailing at that early day on the border of civilization. The walls of the base- ment are twenty-four inches thick, the upper ones eighteen inches ; it has been stated that the brick of which it was built were imported from Pittsburgh, but it is a generally agreed fact that they were manufactured a few miles east of the city by the Thompson Brothers, one of the party being the grandfather of our fellow-citizen, Samuel Thomp- son, they receiving for their labor two half sections of land. The doors, sash, mantels and stairs were either made at Chillicothe, O., or Pittsburgh, Pa., it being a matter of
264
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
dispute as to the place where they were manufactured. Be that as it may, the material was of walnut and its work- manship in the highest style of art of that day and will compare favorably with that of the most costly residences of the present time. The timbers of the house are twice the dimensions of those used in modern buildings, giving it a most substantial character. Between the flooring and joists there is a three or four inch thickness of a mortar composed of straw and clay to deaden sounds. The base- ment contains a dining-room, a kitchen in which hangs the old fashioned crane of Colonial times ; a storeroom, one seemingly built for a detention eell, without a window, supposedly for unruly servants, and four servants' living rooms. There is no evidence existing to show that there was a subterranean passage from the basement to the river under the "bluff," and there is no evidence to indicate that a bluff ever existed at or near the house, as has been printed. The underground passage is therefore as myth- ical as the alleged "bluff." I have been somewhat familiar with the mansion and premises for nearly fifty years, hav- ing had patients in it when it was used as a boarding house by James Gatton and having recently talked with his sur- viving widow, who was at an early date familiar with every nook and corner in the building for years, and I can not obtain any tangible evidence that a subterranean passage ever existed leading from the building. And as to the alleged portholes, in the basement, through which small cannons might be fired at attacking forces, no evidence exists, and the only opening observable are the windows used for light and ventilation. The storeroom is doubt- less the one alluded to by a recent historieal contributor
265
OLD VINCENNES.
who said, "Another room was a wine cellar. The Harri- sons were good livers and were surrounded by French settlers who were experts in wine making." The inference to be drawn from this statement is that Vincennes, at an early date, boasted of its splendid vineyards ; but if it pos- sessed them, neither history nor tradition leave us any au- thentic record of the same. Fifty years ago there were not more than a few hundred grapevines cultivated in the country, and these were of the Catawba variety and existed only in a few gardens, Judge John Moore and Honorable C'y. Poullet having the most. Besides, this grape makes only an indifferent sour wine and is now quite out of date. Frenchmen and wine-growing experts are not quite syn- onymous ; and if that class of people here were experts in wine-making, and the country once contained fine vine- yards, the process has become a lost art and, as Ex-Presi- dent Cleveland would say, it has fallen into "inocuous desuetude." The same authority says that "in it (the wine room of the mansion) was stored, for several years, all the Territorial powder, bullets and flint-lock and smooth bore rifles and other weapons of defense." The idea or thought of any man making his domicile over a magazine, where combustibles were stored, which might be exploded at any time, by accident or design, is too incongruous for belief and too horrible to contemplate. What was the fort for but to contain stores, munitions of war and soldiers to use the same when needed ? On the first floor, above the basement, is a commodious hallway communicating with rooms adjoining and with ones above by an easy, broad stairway of the finest make and finish. On entering the hall, the first room to the left is the parlor, having been
266
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
incorrectly, I think, called council chamber. It is spa- cious, its dimensions being 321x224 feet, with a thirteen foot ceiling; the west wall being oval in form and facing the river. This room was doubtless the Governor's re- ception room, and where he often entertained many guests, who were then, or became distinguished and historical per- sonages in after times ; but it is not to be supposed, or is it probable, that this room was ever used for Territorial legislative purposes. All of the other rooms are spacious and finished in the same high style of art of that period. Inside and outside shutters or blinds were fitted to all the windows, of the same walnut material and finish. A slat, in one of the shutters in a room facing the south, about five feet above the floor, has a bullet hole in it, said to have been the result of a ball fired from a gun by an Indian one night, with the intent of assassinating the Governor, while he was walking the room with his little son in his arms. Its sight calls up pictures and memories of the savage past, and the perils that our forefathers underwent at that early period. The house contains a total of twenty-one rooms exclusive of the garret, which, although never finished, commands some beautiful natural pictures from its out- look, which those of aesthetic tastes would enjoy if viewed therefrom. There are two verandas, one attached to the side of the building facing the east, and the other to the front, looking southwest ; and it was in front of this portico, under the shade of some trees a hundred and fifty feet away, that Harrison and Tecumseh, the noted warrior chief, held their exciting and memorable pow-wow. Just at this point in the history of the old building it would seem pertinent to advert to the circumstances that led up to the
267
OLD VINCENNES.
holding of the council. Evidences had been manifested that the adjacent tribes of Indians were ill at ease and dis- posed to turbulence and attacks. The Shawnee village, lo- cated near where LaFayette now is, and where the battle of Tippecanoe was fought, was under the control of the Prophet, a brother of Tecumseh and the recognized spirit- ual leader of that and adjacent tribes ; and to his machina- tions the disturbances were attributed. Early in the year of 1811 Governor Harrison, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the dissatisfaction of the Prophet and, if pos- sible, pacify him, deputed one of his most sagacious and trusty advisers, with a competent interpreter, to hold a council with him and his chiefs, embracing his brother warrior chief, Tecumseh. It is learned from history that these gentlemen arrived at the village one evening and were received in an apparently friendly manner by the Prophet and assigned a tent for the night, with an agreed appoint- ment for a council the next morning. It is said the Prophet's wife was considered a queen among the Indian women, as well as by her husband. Before retiring for the night the interpreter observed an unusual stir among the squaws, and motions made toward their tent, and caught menacing glances and gestures toward them, and so told the ambassador, but he made light of the matter and the interpreter's suspicions that treachery was intended, and when night came he was soon asleep in peace and quiet. But not so with the vigilant interpreter, who kept awake, and had his guns near at hand. About midnight a tap was heard at the door and his name, in the Shawnee language, was called. He found Tecumseh at the door. He had called to warn him of impending assassination by the
268
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
Queen and squaws, who had held a council and determined on their death in spite of the protests of himself and others, who told them it would be base treachery to kill messengers of peace, who were their visitors. He told the visitors to rise and go with him. They went silently through the village and down into a wooded ravine near the river, when a noise was made, as if to call wild turkeys, sounds well recognized by all hunters in early days; an answer was returned, and soon two men appeared with the ambassador's horses, which they speedily mounted and rode swiftly away, accompanied by the two guides fur- nished by Tecumseh, and were soon well on their return trip to Vincennes. Although Tecumseh hated the whites and would have delighted to slay them in battle, he was too brave and noble in character himself to permit his fol- lowers to commit cold-blooded murder, and so the messen- gers of the Governor were saved from a cruel death by his foresight and magnanimity. Subsequently the Governor sent word to the Prophet to send Tecumseh and other chiefs to meet him in council with a view to establishing lasting friendly relations; and about the 1st of August following Tecumseh appeared in the vicinity of Vincennes, and sent word to the Governor he would meet him in council. One account placed his followers at three hundred; other ac- counts of his arrival placed the number at less than one hundred. The latter doubtless approximates the correct number of warriors who accompanied him. The Governor appointed the following day for the meeting. In the meantime he notified his friends, and a company of sol- diers, to be present as a guard, and having placed another hundred fully equipped in his parlor, to meet contingen-
269
OLD VINCENNES.
cies, should the council prove treacherous and become bel- ligerent, he proceeded to have seats placed in a grove front- ing the residence, about two hundred feet away. By meas- urement and calculation I find the room fully large enough to contain the secreted company. At the appointed time Tecumseh arrived and found the Governor seated on one of the benches, prepared for the council, and some histo- rians say that he extended to the chief a cordial greeting, inviting him to take a seat beside or near him, saying to him it was the wish of the Great Father, the President of the United States, that he should do so. Teemuseh, it is said, glancing around at the soldiers drawn up near by, looked furtively at Harrison and then, looking upward, said: "My Father! The Sun is my father, the Earth is my mother, and on her bosom I will recline;" and, so say- ing, east himself on the green sward. Whether this grand- iloquent speech was actually uttered by the Indian chief, or was the emanation of some ardent admirer of him, will never be known; however, there are reasons to doubt its reality. But, as the reputed episode is a pretty conceit, for
that reason it should maintain a place in the history of the transaction. Yet as to the main facts about what oc- enrred at the meeting and its locality, there can be but little doubt, as ample testimony exists to establish the point at issue to any reasonable seeker after truth. What occurred at this meeting was related to me nearly fifty years ago by Esquire Robert MeClure, a native and a very intelligent and observing gentleman, long since dead. He said the council was held under the shade of some walnut trees in front of the Harrison mansion, two hundred feet away. He said he was a mere lad then, but he remembered not
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.