USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 15
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* H. M. Smith, Historical Sketches Old Vincennes, pp. 65, 66, 67.
t Smith cites History of Knox County, p. 239, but says that, as to date, it is am error, as the fort was standing at the locality designated in 1803.
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named would be nearer his residence, and could the more readily protect 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 knowledge, of this second fort, but from facts recently developed* he is constrained to ac- cept the tradition as facts, for the following reasons: First, through his friend, Hon. Chas. G. McCord, abstractor of land titles, an old deed was discovered which General W. H. Harrison made to George Wallace in 1804. In the description of the property mentioned in this deed the in- strument recites: 'Beginning at a place situated about 210 yards above Fort Knox, at Vincennes aforesaid, called the Stone Landing place, etc. This description indicates 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 indicated, and it was doubtless the one men- tioned in describing the property in the deed from Harrison to Wallace."
Mr. Dunn cites "St. Clair Papers, vol. ii, p. 92" as his authority for the statement that Fort Knox was built in 1788. A writer in the Vincennes Commercial of recent date says that "from the war department records it is learned that Fort Knox was erected in 1787 and was located on the Wabash river near the mouth of Mariah Creek, three miles above Vin- cennes" quoting from "Hamersley's Army Register of the United States, part 2, page 140, and Lossing's 1812, page 195," to substantiate his claim. The mouth of Mariah Creek is four or five miles above the location pop- ularly supposed to be the site of Fort Knox, and is seven or eight miles above Vincennes. It would appear, therefore, that somebody has erred. But, whether there was, or was not, a real fort at Fort Knox, there is no question of the beautiful spot having been used as a garrison for United States troops, as well as a burial place for soldiers, before and after the establishment of the Indiana territory. Tradition says that during its oc- cupancy by the federal troops there were buried within its sacred precincts great quantities of gold and silver coin and, that, in after years, strangers who had been directed by persons having knowledge of the spots where the money was concealed, came here and recovered the hidden wealth and departed as quietly and as mysteriously as they came, the object of their mission not being fully understood by any one here until they had taken their departure. After they had gone, frequent expeditions were made to the "garrison tract" by the natives, who had hoped, by delving into the earth, to uncover some rich "find" which the prospectors who preceded them had overlooked. The land comprising the tract upon which Fort
* Deed Record Book B., 155, Vincennes.
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Knox is said to have been located contains about eighty-five acres and was owned at one time by Captain Touisant Dubois, who sold it to the United States government for the purpose of a garrison, and it is fre- quently referred to today as the "garrison tract." The place, like many other localities of a hilly nature, in different parts of Knox county, was used by the Indians as burial grounds before the white man came into possession of it, and there are many stories relative to pots of gold having been buried there and subsequently recovered by persons who made noc- turnal visits to the hallowed place to gain possession of the hidden and forgotten stories of glittering wealth. That there were buildings on the tract to shelter the troops, to store their supplies and to afford protection against the elements and the stealthy Indians, there is no question ; that there may have been a fortification of some character is not altogether improb- able, as the site is a most commanding one for a fort, whence the approach of an enemy, who sought the river as a route to drop down on Vincennes, could be detected while he was miles above the town. It is not likely, how- ever, that the fort which General Hamtramck commanded, and from which he addressed many important communications to Governor St. Clair and General Harmar, was located at the point under discussion. It is more than likely that it was at Vincennes, and was identical with Fort Sack- ville. At this time Vincennes was classed among the larger settle- ments in the territory. "Defended* by Fort Knox, its citizens were enabled to prosecute a paying trade with the Indians, and to improve the agricultural resources around them. At this date the town contained about fifty dwelling houses, all presenting a thrifty and tidy appearance. Each house was surrounded by a garden fenced with pales, and peach and apple trees grew in most of the enclosures. Garden vegetables of all kinds were cultivated with success, and corn, tobacco, wheat, barley and cotton grew in the fields around the village in abundance. Adjoining the village was Fort Knox enclosed by a ditch eight feet wide and by sharp stakes from eight to six feet high. This palisade, protected by the guns of the fort, was a sufficient fortification against hostile Indians."
There were quite a number of other "forts," so-called, in different parts of Knox County, which were not of sufficient importance to provoke a dis- cussion among historians as to location, and whose very existence today is only a memory. According to the History of Knox and Daviess Counties, published by Goodspeed, in 1886, each community in 1812, during the period of America's second war with Great Britain, built its own fort. In Widner township, in the respective localities where dwelt the Widners, Chambers, Polks, Lemons and Taylors, arose these crude fortifications which were "madet by setting timbers in the ground, closely set and so high as to preclude the possibility of being scaled. The corners were made with bastions to enable those within to rake the sides as well as to.
* Goodrich and Tuttle, An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana, pp. 129, 130 ..
t Goodspeed, Publisher, History Knox and Daviess Counties, 1886, p. 73.
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fire in front." None of these defenses, which were built for safety from prowling and hostile Indians, were ever attacked, notwithstanding the red skins, on one dark night stole from under the protecting shadows of Polk's "garrison" a number of valuable horses. Fort Widner was the largest of these rural defenses, being a stockade fort, enclosing nearly an acre of ground. While its own history furnishes no incidents of bloody events, not a great distance from its portals a wilderness tragedy was enacted that brought sadness and consternation to the settlement in which it stood, which is thus related by Goodspeed: "Daniel Hollingsworth and a man named Honeycutt were hunting near the forks of Marie Creek in 1812. The two became separated. Honeycutt saw two Indians going in the direction of his companion. Through timidity he failed to fire upon them, yet he had a good opportunity. Soon he heard a shot, and Hollings- worth fell dead. The Indians scalped him and left his body." In Bus- seron township, on the Orchiltre farm, which produced a giant pear *tree, bearing wonderfully of luscious fruit, stood another fort. Another one, in the same township, was on the site of Emison's mill, nine miles north of Vincennes. It is recalled to memory more readily than any of the others, because of an incident occurring by which it was given the peculiar ap- pellation of "Fort Petticoat," which grew out of the fact that one day during the absence from duty of nearly all the men, the women assumed charge of the garrison. Palmyra township had a fortress called "Roe's Fort ;" Johnson township boasted of a fortification near what is now Pur- cell station ; Decker, Harrison and Steen settlements were also "fortified," as were localities in Washington and Vigo townships.
But. to return to Fort (Camp) Knox, just for the sake of one glance at its beauteous environments and to recall the sweet and sad memories which make it a hallowed spot-all of which are so beautifully and considerately set forth by Dr. Smith that we have taken the liberty to use his words to close the discussion on the subject and end this chapter. "It is so closely connected with the history of Old Vincennes," says the Doctor in his book, "that it deserves a niche in this volume. It was the site of a garri- son of United States soldiers early in the last century, whither they were removed from Fort Knox into the village. It is situated three miles above the city on a bluff of the eastern bank of the Wabash river. It overlooks the river far into Illinois, and beautiful views present themselves to the eye, as the borders on either shore are set .with silver linings by the en- vironment of water, which calmly reflects grove and sky, or dances in
* "This historic tree, 'the giant of its race,' stood on the Ochiltree farm. This was planted about three-quarters of a century ago. Several years ago it was 'blasted and riveted' by lightning. This tree was visited by the Rev. H. W. Beecher some years ago, and a full description of it given then. It was twelve feet in circum- ference at the base, one hundred twenty feet high, and had a lateral spread of one hundred twenty feet, and bore an average crop of fifty bushels .- [Goodspeed, History Knox and Daviss Counties, 1886, p. 77.]
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coruscating, sunlit wavelets in answer to the calling winds. While the garrison was stationed there the home of Dr. Samuel McKee, United States army surgeon, was the objective point of frequent outings of Gov- ernor William Henry Harrison and his friends, the governor often remark- ing that the viands served out there seemed more tasteful than those in town .* When the soldiers were encamped there it was, without doubt, a central place of interest to the country folk, as well as the denizens of the town, as little toil, plenty of leisure and amusements combined to enliven the barracks days and months; but with the passing away of the pomp and circumstance of war the crumbling, corroding hand of time and decay robbed it of its artificial glory, strewn there by the hand of art, and left it for nature to restore to it again its pristine beauty and loveliness. And, yet, bereft of its camp adornments,t it presents many points of attraction, and needs only a willing hand reinforced by taste and enterprise, to restore to it the glory of the past. Its inaccessibility to visitors, except by water, prevents it from becoming a place of more frequent resort for the worship- ers of beautiful scenery. By row or sail boat nothing is more inviting than a jaunt on the 'rolling deep' in spring's balmy mornings, when the shores of the river are garlanded with myriads of flowers, or in autumn's calm, in- vigorating evenings, when the parti-colored foliage of October, on the adjacent forest-lined shores, rivals in beauty the shimmering meteoric showers that stud the firmament during the twilight ides of a November evening. Yet, unadorned by the hand of art, it is an ideal spot for lads and lassies to while away the rosy hours of day, as 'love's young dream' clothes it with a halo of glory, while woodland songsters warble their sweetest notes, embowered in the shady groves, and the piping notes of quail and lark echo back responses from copse and bush. But, in contem- plating these scenes, a tinge of sadness casts a shadow on the wings of thought, as one realizes that within these precincts forgotten heroes lie, 'unwept, unhonored and unsung,' who will never more waken until Eter- nity's reveille is sounded on the receding shores of time.
They served their country in its time of need, And though remembered not in name or deed, Their resting place, although their souls have fled, Should sacred be, in memory of the dead; And honored be the hands, in spring's bright hours, That strew their lonely graves with beauteous flowers."
* This information came from the late A. B. MeKee, who was a son of the surgeon, received through his aunt, Mrs. Capt. Robt. Bunten, then a resident of Vin- cennes.
1 Camp Knox, the Second, was established during the Civil war, in Eberwine's Grove, a mile northeast of the city.
REV. FATHER PIERRE GIBAULT
CHAPTER XIII.
A PATRIOT WHO DESERVES THE NATION'S PRAISE.
FATHER PIERRE GIBAULT PROVES HIMSELF A WORTHY ALLY OF AMERICA-HIS GREAT LOVE FOR LIBERTY AND HUMANITY ENDEAR IIIM TO ALL LOYAL CITIZENS-HIS INESTIMABLE SERVICES TO GENERAL CLARK IN TIIE CON- QUEST OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-HOW TIIE PATRIOTIC MAN WON THE BRITISH SUBJECTS AT KASKASKIA AND VINCENNES TO THE AMERI- CAN CAUSE-COLONEL FRANCIS BUSSERON A VALUABLE AID TO GIBAULT IN PERFECTING HIS PATRIOTIC PLANS-CAPTAIN BUSSERON, PROMINENT IN CIVIL AND MILITARY AFFAIRS-FOSTER FATIIER OF ALICE OF OLD VIN- CENNES-BURNING OF THE OLD LA SALLE IIOUSE.
Nearly all of the priests who came to the northwest territory in the earlier part, as well as the latter end, of the eighteenth century were of noble birth and descendants of families of the French nobility. Learned as they were in ecclesiastical lore, possessing a large fund of general knowledge, and having princely patrimonies, they separated themselves from wealth, titles and luxurious homes to brave the dangers and encoun- ter the vicissitudes of wilderness fastnesses for the glory of preaching the Christ to savages in an unknown and hostile land. There were, however, others from the humbler walks of life, who were neither heirs to wealth nor power, but whose courage, piety, devotion and self-sacrifices were as pronounced and as commendable. And one of these was Pierre Gibault -a priest and a patriot. He was the son of Peter Gibault and Mary St. Jean, and was born in Montreal, Canada, April 7, 1737. Having received a classical education at a theological seminary in the place of his nativity, he was ordained a priest on the anniversary feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1768, and immediately set out for the Illinois country, where he was to play a conspicuous part, and subsequently incur the displeasure of those by whose graces he was permitted to go; for it was with the full consent of the English authorities and upon the especial desire of General Gage that he went forth. Constant rains delayed him on the journey; and, upon reaching Michilimackinac, the first of the posts in the district assigned to him, he was suffering greatly from the effects of the inclement weather, incident to a voyage in an open boat. He, however, realized the import-
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ance of at once entering upon his duties as spiritual adviser, and began to hear confessions, remaining until late in the night in order to accommodate all, for many of the faithful had not seen a priest for three years and some not even for ten. He spent a week at the post, striving to effect all the good possible, baptizing several children and blessing one marriage. Among those to whose spiritual wants he ministered was a number of Indians, who had formerly been charges of Father Du Jaunay, and who spoke French fluently enough to express themselves at the confessional. These penitents were still lamenting the absence of their former missionary (Du Jaunay) who had gone several years before to his long reward. It was originally intended that Rev. Gibault should take up his residence at Cahokia, so as to revive the old Tomarois mission; but that settlement had dwindled away; the fine property, orchards, house, mills and barns erected by the seminary priests were crumbling to ruin, the church little better. Kaskaskia was the important place, and the inhabitants generally wished him to make it his residence. Father Meurin, desirous that the new missionary should have this more populous post, which had better means of support, withdrew to Cahokia, spending part of his time at Prairie du Rocher, where the pros- perous settlers offered to build him a house and supply all his needs. "In fact," says Shea, the great authority on Catholic church history, "they gave him a horse and caléche, as well as a servant. The people of Kaskaskia, influenced by the dominant party in Louisiana, were hostile to Father Meurin as a Jesuit, and many would not recognize him at all; indeed not ten men had been to confession in four years. Rev. Mr. Gibault accord- ingly took up his residence at Kaskaskia, where he was well received by the British commandant, and on the 8th of September, 1768, he records a baptism in the 'register of the Immaculate Conception,' styling himself 'parish priest of Kaskaskia.' He also visited Saint Genevieve, which Father Meurin could enter only by stealth at night; but that veteran visited Fort Chartres and St. Phillippe. The young Canadian priest entered on his duties with zeal and energy, but was soon prostrated by the western fever, but he rallied, and went on bravely with the work before him, the magni- tude of which became daily more appalling. At Kaskaskia, by having pray- ers every night in the church, and by catechetical instructions four times a week, he revived faith and devotion. He brought nearly all to their Easter duty in 1769, and a better spirit prevailed, the tithes being promptly paid. Besides Kaskaskia there were other villages and hamlets; it was only by constant travel he was able to reach the scattered Catholics, who had long been deprived of the services of a priest. Besides the inhabitants of French origin and the Indians of the former missions, he found Catholics in the Eighteenth (Royal Irish) regiment, which was stationed at Kaskas- kia, the commandant giving the men every facility to attend to their re- ligion. The next year Rev. Mr. Gibault blessed the little wooden chapel which had been erected at Paincourt, our modern St. Louis." Vincennes at this time, with a hundred or more families, had not seen a priest since
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the carrying away of Father Devernai in 1763, in consequence of which vice and ignorance were becoming dominant; yet the people were earnestly awaiting and urgently soliciting the presence of a black-robed missionary. "Bishop Briand," says Shea, "encouraged these isolated priests, and gave them wise and temperate counsels for their conduct in correcting evils that had grown up while the people were left without priest or sacrifice. Evi- dently at the instance of Father Meurin and to give that missionary greater authority, the bishop of Quebec had made Rev. Gibault his vicar-general. That priest succeeded in inducing the people to resume the payment of tithes, which though only as in Canada one twenty-sixth of the produce, not one-tenth, amounted in 1769 to two or three bushels of wheat, and five or six hundred of Indian corn. In the winter of 1769-70, Very Rev. Mr. Gibault set out for Vincennes, although hostile Indians waylaid the roads, killing and scalping many travelers. Already he could report that twenty- two of his people had fallen victims to the savage foe since he reached the Illinois country. The frontier priests always, in these days of peril, car- ried a gun and two pistols. He reached Vincennes safely, and after de- ploring the vices and disorders that prevailed, tells of his touching recep- tion. 'However, on my arrival, all crowded down to the banks of the river Wabash to receive me; some fell on their knees, unable to speak; others spoke only in sobs; some cried out, 'Father, save us, we are almost in hell ;' others said: 'God has not then yet abandoned us, for He has sent you to us to make us do penance for our sins.' 'Oh, sir, why did you not come a month sooner ; my poor wife, my dear mother, my dear father, my poor child would not have died without the sacraments.' Father Meurin attests the good which his younger associate accomplished, and urged him to send a resident priest to the Wabash." Very Rev. Mr. Gibault spent two months at Vincennes, laboring earnestly to revive religion in the people, and found a Presbyterian family here who asked to be instructed and received into the Catholic faith. Animated by his zeal, the people began to rebuild St. Francis Xavier's church, which was lengthened and heightened and made into a very presentable wooden structure, with a belfry of no mean altitude, which overlooked a large parish residence, surrounded by a fine orchard, garden and farming lands. At this time the number of Catholics in the district were seven or eight hundred, of whom eighty or ninety were farm- ers cultivating the soil. Feeling that he had sufficiently reanimated the faithful of the flock to a higher sense of religious duty, he withdrew tem- porarily from the scene of his satisfying labors and set out for Kaskaskia, accompanied by twenty men as a body guard. On his return to his home he found that the Spaniards had acquired possession of the western shore of the Mississippi, but that they had come unattended by a priest. He therefore continued his missionary visits to St. Genevieve and St. Louis, and in 1770 proposed to the bishop to extend his labors to Peoria, St. Joseph, Michilimackinac, the Miamis and Weas. But the failing health and memory of Father Meurin made it impossible to leave him alone to
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attend the Illinois missions, and on the withdrawal of English troops, the acts of Indian violence became fearfully frequent. Thrice did Rev. Mr. Gibault fall into their hands, escaping with life only on his promising not to reveal their presence in the neighborhood. In 1772 he was relieved of the St. Louis mission by the arrival of the Capuchin Father Valentine as its parish priest, and the year following Father Hilary of the same order took up his residence at old St. Genevieve, both priests having been de- tailed to take charge of their respective missions by Father Dagobert, su- perior of the Capuchins at New Orleans, who is said to have acted in utter disregard of the bishop of Quebec. In 1775 Rev. Mr. Gibault visited Canada, and on returning to his laborious post, he reached Michilimackinac in September, but waited in vain till November for any opportunity of pro- ceeding farther. As he could not winter there or reach the Illinois country, he returned at great risk to Detroit, steering a canoe which was paddled by a man and a boy who had never before made the trip. In constant peril from the ice and with great suffering, he at last arrived at Detroit. "The suffering I have undergone between Michilimackinac and this place," he wrote, "has so deadened my faculties that I only half feel my chagrin at being unable to proceed to the Illinois. I shall do my best not to be useless at Detroit, and to relieve the two venerable old priests who attend it." But a year later he was again ensconced in the church and the hearts of the people of Kaskaskia, and here is where we find him a conspicuous figure in 1778-9, displaying an interest for the establishment of American liberty and the perpetuity of republican institutions as lofty and sincere as his zeal for the extension of religion and the stability of the Roman church. The sacrifices he made, both at Kaskaskia and Vincennes, to aid Clark in his memorable Illinois campaign, were so great, so far-reaching in their results, so expressive of patriotism, courage and love of liberty, that the Virginia legislature, in 1780, took cognizance of them by a resolu- tion, which was unanimously adopted by that honorable body. And yet, the proud Old Dominion, be it said sorrowfully to her everlasting shame, never recompensed him, after he had made it possible for her armed troops to achieve a victory that resulted in the acquisition of territory on American soil vaster in extent three kingdoms of Great Britain on the European continent. Colonel Clark, however, was one man who fully appreciated the services of Rev. Mr. Gibault, and never failed to commend him in the highest terms as a patriot whenever occasion presented itself. The Vir- ginia colonel's first introduction to the Canadian priest, patriot and diplo- mat, was at Kaskaskia, immediately following the arrest of Mr. Roche- blave, the commandant of that post, and the astute soldier-observing at a glance the hold the missionary seemed to have upon the natives-deter- mined to secure his services as a conciliator, if possible. On approaching Father Gibault, Clark was received with a degree of such marked polite- ness and courtesy that he was momentarily bewildered. The priest, real- izing as readily as the soldier the importance of adopting conciliatory meas-
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