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 4
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moment, when the ax was about to fall, he eried out: "O, save me." The father recognized his voice, and you may easily guess at the agitation and behavior of the two per- sons. Clark, who had so little merey for such murderers, and had such a valuable opportunity for example, knowing that there would be great solicitation to save him, says he immediately absconded; but so exceedingly well had the father performed his duties in the service, at his earnest request, the officer in charge granted a reprieve on certain conditions.
After this episode the chief officers met in council again, consisting of Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton and Major Hays, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, on the part of Great Britain, and Colonel George Rogers Clark and Cap- tain Joseph Bowman, representing the Americans, and Captain Leonard Helm, mutually selected as a witness. Hamilton produced articles of capitulation, which were rejected by Clark, and they separated.
Towards the close of the evening Clark sent Hamilton the following articles:
"1st. That Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton engages to deliver to Colonel G. R. Clark, Fort Sackville, as it is at present, with all the stores, etc.
"2d. The garrison are to deliver themselves up as prisoners of war, and march out with their arms and acconterments.
"3d. The garrison to be delivered up to-morrow at 10 o'clock a. m.
"4th. Three days' time to be allowed the garrison to settle their accounts with traders and inhabitants.
"5th. The officers of the garrison to be allowed their necessary baggage, ete."
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These terms were accepted by Hamilton, and he deliv- ered up the fort at 10 o'clock a. m., February 25, 1779, and the stars and stripes, which had been hauled down when Captain Helm delivered up the fort to Hamilton, and so dear to that ideal patriotic heroine, "Alice of Old Vincennes," mounted up the flagstaff again to kiss the morning breezes, fanned by the wings of Liberty, as she hovered over and welcomed home and blessed Old Glory with benisons of love.
Colonel Clark immediately changed the name of the fort to that of Patrick Henry, in honor of the then Gov- ernor of Virginia, dating his official papers at Fort Patrick Henry.
Soon after capitulation was effected it was learned that an expedition was on its way from Detroit, and was expected shortly, in aid of Hamilton, by the way of the lakes and the Wabash, composed of soldiers, stores, muni- tions of war, etc. Captain Bowman, who had been pro- moted to the office of Major, was ordered by Colonel, now General, Clark, by promotion after the capture of the town, to intereept it. Accordingly, on the evening of the : 26th, with three boats, armed with swivels, taken from the fort (the bateau from Kaskaskia had not yet arrived), under the command of Major Legare and fifty volunteer militia, started on the expedition up the river.
Goodspeed says in his history: "They journeyed up it and stopped at the foot of an island at Belgrade, under overhanging willows, and there the boats were tied up and a party with light eanoes were sent to explore the waters above." At Point Couppe, about sunrise the next morn- ing, the descending fleet, consisting of seven bateaux, was
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descried. Frederick Mehl, one of the Virginia troops, who led the reconnoitering party, pulled rapidly back to Bow- man and gave information of the strength of the approach- ing fleet. On the evening of the 2d day of March the unsuspecting Canadians came into the narrow channel between the island and main shore, where the Americans lay entrenched. A cry of "Round to and come ashore," was the first intimation the party from Detroit received that an enemy of the King's lay in these waters. The hail was quickly responded to when followed by a shot fired across the path of the descending fleet, and a demand made for its surrender. Bowman sent out boats with Major Legare, who ordered those in charge to make fast to the shore. When this was done Adimar, a captain of the commissary, formally turned over the fleet, with thirty- eight private soldiers as prisoners, and stores and pro- visions and baled goods.
The expedition returned at once to the town and the soldiers and boats, filled with booty, were turned over to the American commander. This capture, with that of the fort in the town, yielded Clark seventy-nine prisoners, be- sides officers, twelve pieces of artillery and stores to the amount of 50,000 pounds.
On March 7th Captain Williams and Lieutenant Rogers, with a detail of twenty-five men, were ordered to escort the prisoners to the Ohio Falls, among whom were Gov- ernor Hamilton, Major John Hay, Captain Lamont, Lien- tenant Schiffiu, Monsieur de Jean, the Grand Judge of Detroit, Pierre Andre, his partner, Dr. McEboth, Fran- cois Masonville and Mr. Bell Fenibb, together with eighteen privates ; many others were paroled.
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Lieutenant Rogers had orders to conduct them to Wil- liamsburg, Virginia, from the Falls, where they were ironed and confined in jail until September 25th follow- ing, when they were ordered to Hanover Court-House, where they were released on parole, to remain within cer- tain limits.
Thus ended General George Rogers Clark's campaign against the English in the Northwest, achieving victories as brilliant as any recorded in American history, whose far-reaching and beneficent results were commensurate with the most astute diplomacy the Nation has evolved.
Following the capture of Vincennes by General Clark, with Virginia and volunteer troops from Illinois, in 1779, and the treaty of peace with Great Britain having been made in 1783, with the United States, Virginia ceded the conquered territory of the Northwest to the United States in 1784. In 1787 the Northwestern Territory, embracing the regions between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes of the north, was organized. Congress, in 1788, appointed Arthur Sinclair Governor of this Territory, with his capital at Marietta, Ohio, and he appointed Winthrop Sargent, in 1790, to come to Vin- cennes to lay out a county and to establish a court. The county was named Knox, in honor of General Henry Knox, then Secretary of War; and for a like reason, in 1788, while Major Hamtranek was stationed here, at the suggestion of General Harmar, Fort Patrick Henry was changed, in name, to that of Fort Knox.
May 7, 1800, the Territory of Indiana was organized, including in its boundaries Michigan and Illinois (its pop- ulation then being 4,875), under the name of Knox county, and its capital established at Vincennes.
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In 1800 General William Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of the Territory, but he did not enter upon his duties until January, 1801. A Territorial Gov- ernment was then formed, but the legislative branch did not organize until the 29th of July, 1805, when it met in the house on the south corner of Broadway and Second streets ;* a little later, in 1809, in the first court house erected on the northwest corner of Buntin and Third streets. There is another contention as to the house and place of meeting of the Territorial Legislature, and that is that it met in the upper rooms of the two-story frame building on the southwest side of Main street, about the center of the block, between Second and Third streets, ac- cess to it being by an outside stairway. I think these dis- erepancies may be reconciled by supposing that the legisla- tive body did meet at the respective buildings named. The first meetings occurred on Broadway; subsequently they were held in the first court house, and finally in the build- ing on Main street, just preceding the removal of the seat of government to Corydon. The latter building is said to have been removed to Upper Third street, this side of the park, and near the southwest corner of Third and Hick- man streets. What makes the latter statement plausible is the fact that a house stands at the point indicated, the southwestern side, showing, by the pieced weatherboard- ing, that an outside stairway once gave entrance to the upper rooms. The house is in a fair state of preservation and is owned by Mr. Thomas Murphy, who inherited it from an aunt. The house, he says, was moved from Main street in 1858 to the present site. It is said by renters
* W. H. Smith Hist. Ind., p. 200.
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who occupy it now that the upper part of the building con- tained originally but one room, about twenty fect square, but is now divided into smaller rooms. Mr. Murphy showed the writer an iron lock, taken off the cellar door, of huge proportions, weighing several pounds, 8x12 inches in width and length, with a key about ten inches in length and weighing one-half pound. They are thought to be of Eng- lish manufacture, the tumbler and key being of an intri- cate nature, and well fitted to baffle lock-pickers and bur- glars. The lock was probably used to secure valuables and gives color to the claim that the house was once the meeting place of the Legislature, or was the office of the receiver of public moneys. It is in a fair working condi- tion, despite the ravages of the rust of time, and works and looks as if it could endure use another century. Gov- ernor Harrison retained his office a year after he fought the battle of Tippecanoe, when he resigned, having been appointed to command the Army of the Northwest, on the 24th day of September, 1812. General Thomas Posey sneceeded him and was installed May 25, 1813. On June 30, 1805, Michigan Territory was set off from Indiana Territory, and March 1, 1809, Illinois was detached from it, leaving Indiana Territory with its present boundaries. Vincennes ceased to be the capital March 11, 1813, it then being moved to Corydon, where, on June 10th, the first meeting of the convention to form a State Constitution met. Corydon continued to be the capital until the Terri- tory assumed statehood, in 1816, when it was moved to its present site, the city of Indianapolis.
Chapter III.
FORTS-TOWN AND COUNTY.
T HE first authentic mention of the erection of a fort at the trading Indian village, Che-pe-ko-ke, the site of the city of Vincennes, is found in a letter# written by Morgan de Vincennes, March 7, 1733, and was in answer to his superior officer, asking what progress he had made in establishing a post at this place, he having been ordered here through an edict from the French Government, which was dated Paris, France,
January 1, 1731. Many efforts had been previously made to get a post established here by the commandant of the "Illinois country" and interested trading com- panies, but had failed up to this time. It would take some time for the order to reach this country, and the likelihood is that it did not reach Vincennes be- fore the latter part of the year 1731, or the begin- ning of 1732. This view of the case may be inferred, as the records show that he only drew one-half pay in 1731 for services at this post, and full pay in 1732. In his answer to his superior he stated that he had built a fort and two houses, but needed a barracks, thirty more sol- diers and an officer. This statement, made in March, 1733, indicates the erection of the fort the previous year, and that the year 1732 is, no doubt, when the first fort was built. Having been called to Louisiana in 1736, with
* Ind. Hist. Pub. for 1902, p. 29.
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FORT SACKVILLE, AS REPAIRED AND ENLARGED BY GOVERNOR HENRY HAMILTON IN 1778.
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his command, to join other troops from the South, to give battle to the Chickasaw Nation, he was slain there, and the fort at the Indian village was, in memory of him, chris- tened Fort St. Vincent, and was known by that name until changed by the next commander, Louis St. Ange, to his own name, by which it was known until this part of the country was ceded by France to England.
Colonel Ramsey, on taking possession of the fort in the name of Great Britain, renamed it Fort Sackville, in honor of an English soldier and statesman, then in the zenith of his glory and popular favor in 1764 .*
There has been some difference of opinion as to the exact location of the fort on account of the tendency of some to multiply the old defenses of the town. Beyond doubt it was located on the ground in front of the old Catholic church, as it looked northwest, and included lots numbers 34, 35, 24 and 25, near the river bank, and lots numbers 23 and 26 on the north, reaching to Vigo street, according to the plat of the city by Emison & Johnson, made in 1821. The town was not before laid off, and the streets made by the aforesaid survey and lots numbered, I think, give the exact location, and a good idea may be formed of it by the following boundaries: Taking the river as one side, Barnett street as another ; a line parallel with the church property looking north as another, and Vigo street as the last. The fort and the church faced each other, the former looking southeast, the latter nortli- west, the two being, it is recorded, about eighty yards
* George G. Sackville was an English Viscount. and served with distinction in the British army in 1743-69; was Secretary of State, for the colonies, during the Revolution, and especially distinguished for his bitterness toward them. Born, 1716: died, 1785. Supposed to be the author of the Letters of Junius .- Peoples' Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 1533.
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apart. The ground occupied by the fort, as represented in Goodspeed's History, was an irregular inclosure, being about sixty feet at the narrowest part, and two hundred in width, containing between two and three acres. As to the character of the defenses of the fort, discrepancies exist. The historian above alluded to says: "Upon the river's side, and within forty feet of the water's edge, two lines of palisades, reaching twenty feet above the surface of the earth, constructed of large timbers from the forest, planted firmly in the ground, were backed by a line of earthworks thrown up about eight feet high, behind which were mounted four six-pounders, en barbette. Along the line of Vigo street, at right angles with the river, and crossing First street, was the principal entrance, a gate- way; and opening upon the latter highway, protected by this, were similar lines of defense, protected by guns of the same caliber at each angle, mounted upon platforms of heavy timbers. At the elevation of twenty-five feet at each side of the gateway were swivels, trained to command the approach along the street. The entire walls were pierced at convenient heights by a row of port holes, from which musketry could be fired. A similar palisade, defended by two guns of ten-pound caliber, protected the flank next to the church in the rear of the works, south of Barnett street, where there were two towers, or bastions, pierced for musketry, made exceptionally strong against an assault by a line of heavy timbers joined tightly together and covered with earth. Within the fortifica- tions were barracks for one thousand men, a magazine and officers' quarters."
Other pictures of the fort do not show that it was a for- midable one at the time it was delivered to Captain Helm,
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on August 6, 1778, or when Hamilton recaptured it from Helm, in December following, for he described it as a very poor affair, and gave immediate attention to strengthening the defenses, and said: "I built a guard house, barracks for four companies, sunk a well and constructed two large block houses of oak with embrazures above for five pieces of cannon each : altered and lined the stockades, and laid the fort with gravel." And, in speaking of his surrender, and giving a reason for it, he said : "The officers, who had continued in tents all winter, were exposed to the fire of the enemies' riflemen, as the picketing of the fort was so poorly set up that one might pass the clenched hand between the timbers of the stockades." Count Volney, who visited Vincennes in 1796, in speaking of the defenses, says : "Adjoining the village is a space inclosed by a ditch eight feet wide and sharpened stakes six feet high. This is called the fort, and is a sufficient protection against the Indians."*
It will be seen by the foregoing description that the fort must have been as it was when "added to and remod- eled" by Hamilton, and at its best ; and that by Count Volney, seventeen years later, when it had become deter- iorated, and when forts in this region were becoming more ornamental than useful.
As to the number of forts said to have been erected in Vincennes, the writer addressed an inquiry to an official of the War Department, Washington, D. C., asking if there was any evidence on file there showing that there was ever more than one fort erected here, and if so, had it ever been moved out of the town. The following reply was
# Goodspeed, Hist. Knox County, p. 235.
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received : "The following writers, who have said more or less on the history of Fort Sackville (otherwise known as Fort St. Vincent, Fort Patrick Henry and possibly identi- cal with Fort Knox), make no mention of it ever having been removed from its original location: Butler's History of Kentucky, Dunn's History of Indiana, Brown's Old Northwest, Albuck's Annals of the West, Brice's History of Ft. Wayne, Davidson & Stevenson's History of Illinois, Law's History of Vincennes and Dr. Hass' Indian Wars of West Virginia."
Dunn, in his history (p. 265) says : "A fort was built in 1787 and named Fort Knox by General Harmar." This is evidently a mistake, but one that might have been easily fallen into. At the time specified Major Hamtranek was in command of this post, when some correspondence occurred between General Harmar, then at his post in Cin- cinnati, and Major Hamtranck, located at "Post Vin- cennes," which in part is as follows:
"Fort Harmar, October 13, 1788.
"Dear Major- * Let your fort be named Fort Knox, etc."
One need not conclude, from this expression of General HIarmar, that a new fort had been built. There was prece- dent and reason why the name of the old fort should be changed. First, For many years the name of the fort at Vincennes had been changed by each successive com- mander ; second, General Knox was then Secretary of War and it would be paying him a compliment to give the fort his name. On the accession of Virginia to the ownership
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of the country the fort's name was changed from the name, of Sackville, to that of Fort Patrick Henry (the then Gov- ernor and Commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces), by General Clark. Third, Why would Hamtranek desire to build the fort when there was one already constructed ? In 1788 the rights of Virginia had passed to the United States Government, when a United States army officer was placed in charge of the post; then the pretty compliment to the Secretary of War, General Knox, was suggested by General Harmar to Major Hamtramck: "Let your fort be named Fort Knox."
A further extract from the official of the War Depart- ment above mentioned says: "As there seems to be no mention of the construction of this fort (Fort Knox), it is quite correct to suppose that it was identical with Post Vincennes, and that the change of name was merely one of honor (to General Knox) and was made in connection with the revival of the military at that post, under the direction of Major Hamtranek." And thus it was that Fort Knox, by the stroke of the pen, which is sometimes mightier than the sword, without the aid of axe, piek or shovel, sprang into existence, and by its metamorphosis Major Hamtranck has given historians a world of trouble in regard to this alleged new fort. From the same War Department official I will further quote, as follows: "Dunn, in addition to this, states immediately after the surrender of Fort Sack- ville, the name was changed to Fort Patrick Henry, by which name it was known for about ten years."
Let it be remembered that the life of Fort Patrick Henry was just about the lapse of time needed to inaugu- rate another name-Fort Knox-by Major Hamtranck.
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As there is no record of a second fort having been built here, or removed elsewhere, the only rational solution for the discrepancies that can be found is in the change in names, as suggested, and no new fort was erected at that time. If Major Hamtranek actually built a fort in Vin- cennes in 1788, as some historians assert, where was that fort in 1796, only eight years later, when Count Volney, a distinguished French traveler, visited and remained some days here, and described the town ? Mention was made by him of but one fort, and to suppose that this one was the new alleged fort built by Major Hamtranck is to suppose an unreasonable thing. At the time of the alleged building of a second fort for defense the necessity for forts was passing away, and dismantling them was the order of the day, if the condition of Fort Knox was truly represented by Count Volney when he wrote of it in 1796. At that time the Red Man was turning his face toward the West, to return no more, and Great Britain had been whipped into good behavior. Thus it will be seen that Vincennes never had but one real fort, although during the passing years subsequent to its erection and the successive officials controlling it it received many names, viz .: Fort Vincennes, in honor of Morgan de Vin- cennes, the founder of the village, a French officer sent here to build the fort and be its commander; St. Ange, in honor of his successor; Fort Sackville, in honor of Lord Sackville, an English General and nobleman; Fort Pat- rick Henry, in honor of the then Governor of Virginia, and, finally, Fort Knox, in honor of General Henry Knox, Secretary of War in 1788, when one officer sought to compliment his superior, as other officers stationed here had done before, by calling it Fort Knox.
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Another statement has been made that the alleged fort was built by Hamtranck early in July, 1788, and that it was moved to a site three miles up the river on the east bank of the same. The fact is, Major Hamtranek did not arrive at Vincennes until July 25 of that year to be com- mandant of the post. And no evidence exists to show that he built a fort here, except the mere suggestion of General Harmar, October 13, 1788, "Let your fort be called Fort Knox"; nor is there any evidence to show that Fort Knox, or any other fort, was removed from Vincennes to any place outside of town.
There is a tradition existing that the French citizens living in the vicinity of the fort complained to Governor Harrison that the soldiers at the garrison gave then great annoyance and petitioned him to remove them; that he gave heed to their prayer, and that in 1803 the garrison was removed to the high ground facing Buntin street, west of Water street, about the place where the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway freight depot stan Is, and that the palisades of the old fort were used in making the new one .* The late A. B. McKee told the writer some years ago that one of his aunts, a Mrs. Buntin, "AAlice of Old Vincennes," who lived just above the Broadway mill site, told him that by looking out at ber window north she could see a fort. And tradition says that the palisades of the old fort were used to build it. My investigations in relation to these traditions corroborate the contentions. After Governor Harrison came here the United States troops were mostly withdrawn from this post, and militia troops took their place. This being the case, he would
Ilist. Knox County, p. 239. (This is an error, as to date, as fort was standing there in 1803; see accompanying map.)-Author.
[5]
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have jurisdiction over the defenses and management of the garrison, hence we can readily see that the Governor might wish to please the people and grant their prayer for the removal of the soldiers. Another consideration might have influenced him to take this step, and that is, that the garrison moved up to the position named would be nearer his residence, and could the more readily pro- tect him in case of an Indian attack. As no record exists on file at the War Department in Washington City of the removal of the fort, the foregoing explanation given may account for the existence of the second one, called Fort Knox. No published record exists, to the author's knowl- edge, of this second fort, but from facts recently devel- oped* he is constrained to accept the traditions as facts, for the following reasons: First, Through his friend, Honorable Charles G. McCord, Abstractor of Land Titles, an old deed was discovered which General W. H. Har- rison made to one George Wallace in 1804. In the description of the property mentioned in this deed the instrument recites: "Beginning at a place situate about 210 vards above Fort Knox, at Vincennes aforesaid, called the Stone landing place," etc. This description indi- cates that the fort occupied the ground covered now in part by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway freight depot, on the west side of Water street. Second, The writer has a map in his possession which is a certified copy of one of the Vincennes Land Districts, made in 1803, by Thomas Freeman, the original being in the archives of the War Department, on which a fort is indi- cated, and it was doubtless the one mentioned in describ- ing the property in the deed from Harrison to Wallace.
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