USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 29
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*J. P. Dunn, Indiana, American Commonwealth Series, p. 172.
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was the sole occupant of the house, the attack occurring while he was standing in front of an old-fashioned fire place. He fell unconsciously to the hearth in such a position as to burn one of his legs, which restored him to consciousness, but he never recovered from the stroke. He lingered hopelessly on for a score of years after this occurrence. The burn was very painful and annoying. and finally produced erysipelas, which neces- sitated the amputation of the limb, an operation which the patient bore with unflinching bravery and wonderful fortitude. Wrecked by sickness and disease, humiliated by the ingratitude of a republic to which he had devoted his very life, penniless and neglected, he eked out a miserable existence in his log home at Clarksville, overlooking the falls of the Ohio, the starting point of his northwestern expedition, whose triumphant and ever-memorable climax gave to the United States a territory which is today the most priceless among all of the nation's valuable possessions. In 1814, when the ravages of disease had rendered him absolutely helpless, he was taken to the home of his sister, Mrs. William Croghan, at Locust Grove, near Louisville, where, on the morning of February 13, 1818, his earthly afflictions were ended by death, and his body consigned to earth in a country church yard. His remains were subsequently taken up and interred in Cave Hill cemetery, at Louisville, where for many years his grave bore evidences of neglect. And thus ended the career of one of the bravest of American patriots, and the greatest general of Revolutionary days, whose valuable services to his common country, while never fully appreciated, can scarcely be overestimated.
The Piankeshaws were great admirers of Clark and showed their admi- ration in substantial gifts, some of which he reluctantly accepted, but was not permitted to retain. Tobacco and Grand Cornette, big chiefs of the tribe, voluntarily conveyed by deed to him a tract of land, lying on the northwestern side of the Ohio opposite the Falls. Virginia refused to con- firm this (alleged) purchase, for the reason that the articles engrafted in the constitution of that state, which was formed in May, 1776, set forth that no purchase of lands should be made of the Indians unless for the benefit of the general public, subject to authority of the general assembly. It was in January, 1781, that the Virginia assembly resolved that, on cer- tain conditions, they would cede to congress for the benefit of the United States all of Virginia's title and claim to the territory lying northwest of the Ohio river, which generous offer was accepted in September, 1783, and acknowledged by a congressional act; and in December, 1783, the Virginia delegates in congress were authorized to convey to the United States the aforesaid lands. In October, 1783, the town of Clarksville, near the falls, was laid off as being in the county of Illinois. Under pro- visions of the act by which this measure was executed the site selected for the town was laid off in half-acre lots and sold to the highest bidder, with the understanding that each purchaser of a lot within three years from day of sale was required to build thereon "a dwelling house twenty feet by
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eighteen, at least, with a brick or stone chimney." By an act of the Vir- ginia assembly George R. Clark, William Fleming, John Edwards, John Campbell, Walker Daniel, Abraham Chaplin, John Montgomery, John Bayley, Robert Todd and William Clark were chosen as a board of trustees of the town of Clarksville.
The real deed of cession of Virginia to the United States of lands lying northwest of the Ohio river did not fully materalize until March, 1784, when Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, who were representatives of Virginia in the National Congress, executed the instrument, which provided that the territory should be formed into states containing not less than fifty nor more than one hundred and fifty square miles. Provision was further made that the states so formed should be strictly republican and admitted as members of the federal union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as other states. Virginia was also to be reimbursed for any expense she may have incurred in subduing any British posts, or in the maintenance of any forts or gar- risons, for defense, in the prescribed territory. The French and Cana- dian inhabitants of Vincennes, Kaskaskia and Cahokia and the adjacent settlements thereto, who made professions of citizenship of Virginia were to have their possessions and titles confirmed to them and be protected in the fullest enjoyment of their rights and liberties, and George Rogers Clark, and the officers and soldiers who marched with him against Kas- kaskia and Vincennes, granted not exceeding one hundred and fifty thou- sand acres of land, to be laid off in one tract, the length not to exceed double the breadth, in such place on the northwest side of the Ohio river as a majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterwards divided among the holders in accordance with the laws of Virginia.
During the same year of the acceptance of the deed of cession by Congress an ordinance, which did not become effective until after the year 1800, was passed by the honorable body, declaring that there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of crime, in any of the states to be formed out of the said territory. This ordinance was rejected; but a month later, in April, 1784, by a series of resolutions Congress provided for the maintenance of temporary govern- ment in the country which the United States had acquired northwest of the Ohio river.
George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, as authorized agents of the United States, in January, 1785, effected a treaty of peace with the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa Indians.
An ordinance was passed by congress in May, 1785, for the purpose of ascertaining the mode of disposing of territorial lands. This act, however, had no reference to the Northwest Territory, its application affecting only the territory on the northern side of the Ohio river, in the vicinity of Beaver creek, and nine or ten miles below Pittsburg.
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By act of Congress of March, 1785, a treaty was held at Vincennes, two months later with the Pottawatomie, Twightwee and Piankeshaw Indians and other western tribes for the purpose of deciding on the estab- lishment of a boundary line between the possessions of the aforesaid nations and the United States, with a view to securing greater security to frontier settlements. United States commissioners were about the same time directed to obtain from the western tribes of Indians cessions of land "as extensive and liberal as possible."
All of the foregoing congressional acts pertaining to land concessions from the Indians wrought up the red people to the highest pitch, and aroused the jealous feelings of all western tribes, while it produced no small amount of excitement and uneasiness among the French settlers and the American adventurers at the Old Post. The French claimed, through grants made them by the Indians and concessions obtained through the commandants, about fifteen thousand square miles of territory northwest of the Ohio river. The Wabash Land Company's domains were even larger in extent, and neither the company, the Indians or the French inhab- itants of Vincennes were inclined to relinquish to the United States any claim they might have on lands northwest of the Ohio. The Wabash Indians' opposition was all the more intense because they objected to the white race advancing their settlements. The British had Michilimackinac, Detroit. and their dependencies; the Spaniards claimed the Mississippi river, as well as its right and left banks, and declared that the western borders of the United States never did extend as far as the Father of Waters; and at Vincennes and Kaskaskia the inhabitants became distressed lest they might not be able to establish title to what they did have. January, 1786, the United States concluded at the mouth of the Great Miami river a treaty with the Shawnee Indians. Treaties did not always bring the desired results, and the adventurers who sought land grants through the French court at Vincennes during the years of 1785 and 1786 were regaled with accounts of, if they did not really experience, the hostilities of the savages. Each deed of cession issued by the court cost its applicant four dollars, and many who secured deeds were killed by the Indians before they had a chance to occupy the lands.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ORGANIZATION OF NORTHIWEST TERRITORY BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR APPOINTED FIRST GOVERNOR-PRECEDED TO THE TERRITORY BY GENERAL IIARMAR AND MAJOR HAMTRAMCK-FIRST LAWS PROMUL- GATED-INDIAN HOSTILITIES ON THE FRONTIERS-KILLING OF TROOPS ON THE WABASH-JOEL TOUGARD SENDS INDIAN TO HAPPY IIUNTING GROUNDS-TOUGARD'S FLATBOAT EXPERIENCES-COL. VIGO AND OTHER TRADERS ENCOUNTER BAND OF INDIAN PIRATES ON WABASII-ANTOINE GAMELIN HOLDS CONFERENCES WITH WARRIORS OF SEVERAL NATIONS- VIEWS OF WASHINGTON, KNOX, ST. CLAIR AND HAMTRAMCK ON THE INDIAN SITUATION-FAMINE-STRICKEN INHABITANTS- FATHER GIBAULT TO THE RESCUE-JUDGE HENRY VANDERBURG-EARLY CUSTOMS-TYPICAL FRENCII DWELLING-COUNT VOLNEY'S VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE AND COUN- TRY-CAPT. TOUSSAINT DUBOIS-HIS TRAGIC DEATII-JOHN JACKSON AND JUDGE BOWMAN-BOWMAN'S SUICIDE-DR. CAPMAN AND HIS PUPILS -LEGEND OF DARK HOLLOW.
During the period between the spring and fall of 1787, the Wabash Indians, which included representatives of nearly all tribes belonging to the Miami confederation, excepting the Piankeshaws, became very treacherous and hostile, and made it especially hazardous for the subalterns who led their little bands of soldiers and settlers from one post to another. Not- withstanding these murderous savages were permitted to come and go from the town, and even allowed to loiter in and about the fort at Vin- cennes at their own sweet will, they did not hesitate to murder and plunder the soldiery that had kept the white man from intruding upon their domains ; and, whether the troops passed back and forth by land or water,, they were frequently murdered and robbed by the ungrateful savages, who were ambushed along the banks of the river or in the dense underbrush that hemmed the intricate wilderness passage ways. On two different occasions of the period with which we are dealing the Indians attacked small detachments of troops that were making their way in boats down the Wabash, opening fire on them from the river banks. In the first instance only one or two soldiers were killed out of a party of probably ten or twelve. The second attack, however, was more disastrous to the
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troops, and occurred only about a week later. In this cowardly onslaught, out of a squad of thirty-eight or forty soldiers, ten were killed outright, eight were wounded, some mortally, and the supplies with which the expedition had been provided were confiscated. The surviving members of militia floated down the Wabash and the day following met with a party of mounted riflemen from the borders of Kentucky, who had crossed the Ohio on a retaliatory foray in quest of a band of thieving Indians who had stolen quite a number of horses. These daring frontiersmen were given the details of the tragedy of the preceding day, and, with renewed vigor and heightened spirits for vengeance, started toward the place of its enactment. Within a few miles of town they came upon the identical band of cowardly red skins who were the principal actors in its bloody scenes. The Indians were taken unawares, ten or twelve of their number were killed, and the remainder retreated in all directions, leaving twenty or thirty horses behind, which were promptly taken in charge by the avenging Kentuckians.
Joel Tougas (Tougaw) a powerful Frenchman, learning of these Indian outrages, left his cabin on the banks of the Wabash, at St. Francis- ville, and came to town, on horseback, to investigate. While conversing with some friends in front of the old church shortly after his arrival, the alarm was given that an Indian had killed a soldier at the fort. Tougas, observing the red assassin fleeing from that direction, and coming toward him, jerked the "rider" off a "worm" fence, and swung the rail, with full force, against the middle of the Indian's back, breaking his spinal column and killing him almost instantly, after which Tougas resumed the conversa- tion at the point where it had been interrupted as though nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. Joel Tougas, or Tougard, was one of three brothers-the other two being Joseph and William-all of whom were over six feet tall, having the strength of giants and the courage of lions. Joel has been referred to as "the man who dwelt alone on a rock," while the fires of war were burning all around him. That is to say, he lived at St. Francisville while Indian hostilities and the conflicts between the French and English were at meridian height, undismayed and undis- turbed. He was probably the first man to run a flat boat from this locality to New Orleans, and generally made two trips a year. He built his boats with his own hands, taking the timber from the forest and shaping its ends. He was captain, mate and crew of every vessel he built, and made his long voyages single-handed and alone. The only animate thing on board his "merchant-marine" craft, besides himself, was his faithful horse, which always carried him safely back overland and from the southern metropolis he had entered via the water route.
Colonel Vigo was a heavy loser by the Indian outrages which were being perpetrated about this time. While on a trading expedition up the Wabash, his boat and crew were attacked by a warring band of red skins, the lives of three of his men were taken, and he was forced to reverse his Vol. 1-16
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course and drop down stream. Taking up with another boat, belonging to American traders, he made a second attempt to force his way up stream, but met with greater resistance and more hostile treatment. During the skirmish that ensued the Americans' boat got away, but Vigo was captured. The Indians, however, released the gallant colonel when he made his identity clear, stating that it was only Americans against whom they made war, notwithstanding they plundered his boat of all the cargo they could carry away.
The Indian outrages gradually spread to the borders of Kentucky and along the banks of the Ohio as well as the Wabash, and in the seven years following the close of the Revolution thousands of lives had been sacrificed and thousands of horses stolen in Kentucky alone. The emigrant routes between all the settlements in the Northwest Territory were traversed by the hostile red skins, and became the scenes of the bloodiest murders and the most heinous crimes, by which women and children were subjected to all manner of outrages. Despite the efforts to conclude treaties on the part of the general government, the Indians grew more hostile and brutal, and would listen to no terms of peace. The Federal authorities, realizing how futile it were to assume simply a defensive attitude towards such blood-thirsty foes. prepared to pacify the savages with shot and shell; and it was not long until the valleys of the Maumee and the Wabash reverbe- rated with the thunders of war.
The Federal Congress on July 13, 1787, passed an ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio; and, eight days later, on the 21st of July, 1787, a resolution was adopted by the same august body, the full text of which is as follows:
Resolved, That the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department and, in case he be unable to attend, then Colonel Josiah Harmar, immediately proceed to Post Vincennes, or some other place more convenient, in his opinion, for holding a treaty with the Wabash Indians, the Shawanees, and other hostile tribes ; that he inform those Indians that Congress is sincerely disposed to promote peace and friendship between their citizens and the Indians: that to this end, he is sent to invite them, in a friendly manner, to a treaty with the United States to hear their complaints, to know the truth, and the causes of their quarrels with those frontier* settlers; and having invited those Indians to the treaty, he shall make strict enquiry into the causes of their uneasiness and hostile proceedings, and ask for a treaty of peace with them, if it can be done on terms consistent with the honor and dignity of the United States.
In October of the same year (1787) Congress, taking cognizance of the fact, by resolution, that the time for which the greater part of the troops engaged in service on the frontiers would expire in the course of the ensuing year, resolved "that the interests of the United States required that the frontiers should be furnished with seven hundred troops, to pro- tect the settlers on the public lands from Indian depredations, and to
*"The French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskia, Saint Vincents and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia."-[ Ordinance of July 13, 1787.]
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facilitate the surveying and selling of said lands, in order to reduce the public debt, and to prevent all unwarrantable intrusions thereon."
It seems that Colonel Harmar, who had been meanwhile promoted by brevet to the rank of major general, had arrived at Vincennes before the resolution authorizing him to come had passed Congress .; His treaties with the Indians, which were carried on here and at Kaskaskia, were unavailing, and, after remaining about three months, he appointed Major John F. Hamtramck, U. S. A., commandant of Post Vincennes, and took his departure for the borders of the Ohio. Major Hamtramck was a man of commanding presence and fine military bearing, and thoroughly capable of handling the intricate and perplexing problems of civil and military life on the frontier.# Following the example of his predecessors, he rechris- tened the fort by changing the name of "Patrick Henry" to that of "Knox," out of consideration to General Knox, a compliment suggested by General Harmar. The first move he made towards bringing order out of chaos at the Post was the issuance of a proclamation prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians. During the years 1787 and 1788 repeated attempts on the part of the commissioners to treat with Indians occupying land along the borders of the Ohio had proven failures, the Indians always maintaining that the river Ohio was the boundary line between their possessions and those of the United States. About this time General Harmar, who was a busier, if not a more useful, man than when at Vincennes, had erected fortifications at the mouth of the Muskingum river, strengthened the fort and garrison at the Falls of the Ohio, and sent out confidential agents to all parts of the country to treat with the Indians and to ascertain the sentiment of western settlers relative to the invasion of Spanish possessions. The strengthening of the forts had been suggested in a letter dated November 14, 1787, from the secretary of war to General Harmar, who was then the commanding officer of troops stationed on the borders of the Ohio, and whom the secretary had advised "to form your posts of such strength, if in your power, as will be able by force to prevent the passage of the party for the invasion of Spanish possessions. Previous to exerting actual force you will represent, on behalf of the United States, to the persons conducting the enterprise, the criminality of their conduct and the obligation of the sovereign authority to prevent at any hazard such an audacious proceeding."
The Northwest Territory, as a recognized province of the United States, had no executive official head until, by an act of Congress, passed October
+ Harmar had arrived at Vincennes two days before the adoption of this resolution in obedience to orders previously given him to take possession of the place from Clark .- [Dunn's Indiana, p. 261.]
¿Major Hamtramck remained for three years the autocrat of the Wabash-the sole legislative, executive and judicial authority. He had the good sense to assume all the power that he considered best for the public welfare, and to assert it with firm- ness .- [J. P. Dunn, Indiana, American Commonwealth Series, p. 262.]
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5, 1787, Arthur St. Clair was elected its first governor. He, however, never received any instructions from Congress until 1788, and the federal laws, pertaining to the government of the Northwest Territory, which did not have its organization fully established until the year last named, were not extended to Vincennes and many of the French settlements until 1790. Quite a number of causes contributed to the delay in perfecting the com- plete organization of the Northwest Territory, not least of which was the hostility of the Indians, who bitterly opposed every advance made by white settlers north of the Ohio river, and whose blood-thirsty natures had been wrought to the highest tension by the conduct of riflemen from Kentucky, who were bent on a relentless and exterminating war against the savages. The stubbornness and contentions of the Indians were ag- gravated largely by the British who, contrary to the terms of existing treaties between England and America, were attempting to hold possessions that did not belong to Canada, and who sought to further establish them- selves by urging the Indians to resist all attempts of the general govern- ment to claim lands north of the Ohio, to insist on their independence, and to recognize no power or potentate other than England and King George.
But, if the reader will permit, we would like to give a further intro- duction to Arthur St. Clair, and recount a few of his acts prior to his selection as the chief executive of the Northwest Territory. A Scotch- man by birth, he was quite a young man when he left his native land in 1755 to seek his fortune in the British colonies of North America. He first came into notoriety as a member of the Royal American, or Sixteenth British Regiment, serving under General Amherst at the taking of Louis- bourg, in 1758. When the gallant General Wolfe, with his valiant troops stormed and captured Quebec, in 1759, he was the bearer of the victorious standard. Shortly after the conclusion of the peace treaty of 1763, he wandered into the western part of the province of Pennsylvania, locating in Ligonier Valley, where he made his home until the beginning of the Revolutionary war, when, having received from Congress a commission of Colonel, he joined the American forces in command of a regiment of seven hundred and fifty men. Later he was promoted to the rank of Major General, and was tried by a court martial. in 1778, for evacuating Ticonderoga* and Mount Independence. His trial, however, resulted in his complete acquittal, and the further establishment of his honor, integrity and bravery ; and, to the very close of the war, he continued to act in the capacity of an officer of the United States, with the rank of Major Gen- eral, always considered among the bravest of American soldiers. Writ-
*On the evacuation of Ticonderoga, St. Clair said to Major James Wilkinson : "I know I could save my character by sacrificing the army; but were I to do so, I should forfeit that which the world could not restore, and which it can not take away -the approbation of my own conscience."-[Wilkinson's Memoirs, p. 85.]
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ing to Hon. William B. Giles, of Virginia, St. Clair discloses in a private letter the following bit of personal history: "In the year 1786 I entered into public service in the civil life, and was a member of Congress and president of that body, when it was determined to erect a government in the country to the west, that had been ceded by Virginia to the United States ; and in the year 1788, the office of governor was in a great measure forced on me. The losses I had sustained in the Revolutionary war, from the depreciation of the money and other causes, had been very great ; and my friends saw in this new government means that might be in my power to compensate myself, and to provide handsomely for my numer- ous family. They did not know how little I was qualified to avail myself of these advantages, if they had existed. I had neither taste nor genius for speculation in land: neither did I think it very consistent with the office."
Among the first instructions St. Clair received from Congress, nearly a year following his selection as Governor of the Northwest Territory, were to examine carefully into the real temper of the Indians; to remove, if possible, all causes of controversy, so that peace and harmony might be established between the United States and the Indian tribes; to regulate trade among the Indians; to neglect no opportunity that might offer of extinguishing the Indian rights to lands westward as far as the Missis- sippi, and northward as far as the completion of. the forty-first degree of north latitude; to use every possible endeavor to ascertain the names of the real head men and warriors of the several tribes, and to attach these men to the United States by every possible means; to make every exertion to defeat all confederations and combinations among the tribes, and to conciliate the white people inhabiting the frontier towards the Indians .*
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