USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 30
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Arriving at the settlement, which is now the town of Marietta, Ohio, St. Clair, in conjunction with Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Cleves Symmes, who had previously qualified as mem- bers of the General Court of the Territory of the United States North- west of the River Ohio, took the initiatory towards the establishment of government for the Territory by formulating, adopting and publishing the following laws within a period covered from December to August, 1788:
I. A law for regulating and establishing the militia in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio.
2. A law for establishing general Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, (and therein of the powers of single justices) and for establishing county courts of common pleas (and therein of the power of single judges to hear and determine upon small debts and contracts) and also a law for establishing the office of sheriff, and for the appointment of sheriffs.
3. A law establishing a Court of Probate.
4. A law for fixing the terms of the General Court of the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, provides: "The General Court for the territory
*Dillon, History of Indiana, ed, 1859.
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of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, shall hold pleas, civil and crimi- nal, at four certain periods or terms in each and every year in such counties as the judges shall from time to time deem most conducive to the general good; they giving timely notice of the place of their sitting; that is to say, upon the first Monday of February, May, October and December. Provided, however, that but one term be holden in any one county in a year ; and that all processes, civil and criminal, shall be returnable to said court wheresoever they may be in said territory. And as circum- stances may so intervene to prevent a session of the court at the time and place fixed upon, it shall and may be lawful for the court to adjourn from time to time, by writ directed to the sheriff of the county; and to continue all process accordingly : And in case either of the judges shall attend at the time and place aforesaid, and no writ be received by the sheriff, it shall be his duty to adjourn the court from day to day during the first six days of the term; and then to the next term; to which all processes shall be continued as aforesaid. Provided, however, that all issues in fact shall be tried in the county where the cause of action shall have arisen."
5. A law respecting oaths of office.
6. A law respecting crimes and punishment's made treason, murder and house- burning (in cases where death ensued from such burning) punishable by death. The crimes of burglary and robbery were each punishable by whipping, (not exceeding thirty-nine stripes) fine and imprisonment not exceeding forty years. For the crime of perjury the offender was amenable to a fine not exceeding sixty dollars, or whi ?- ping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, and disfranchisement, and standing in the pil- lory for a space of time not exceeding two hours. Larceny was punishable by a fine . or whipping, at the discretion of the court. If the convict could not pay the fine of the court it was lawful for the sheriff, by the direction of the court, to bind such con- vict to labor for a term not exceeding seven years, to any suitable person who would pay such fine. Forgery was punishable by fine, disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory for a space of time not exceeding three hours. The statutes relating to crimes, and providing punishment therefor, contained also the following sections:
"If any children or servants shall, contrary to obedience due to their parents or masters, resist or refuse to obey their lawful commands, upon complaint thereof to a Justice of the Peace, it shall be lawful for such Justice to send him or them so offend- ing, to the jail or house of correction, there to remain until he or they shall humble themselves to the said parent's or master's satisfaction. And, if any child or servant shall, contrary to his bounden duty, presume to strike his parent or master, upon com- plaint and conviction thereof, before two or more Justices of the Peace, the offender shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes.
"If any person shall be convicted of drunkenness before one or more Justices of the Peace, the person so convicted shall be fined, for the first offense, in the sum of five dimes, and for every succeeding offense, and upon conviction, in the sum of one dollar ; and in either case, upon the offender's neglecting or refusing to pay the fine, he shall set in the stocks for the space of one hour, provided, however, that complaint be made to the Justice or Justices within two days next after the offense shall have been committed.
"Whereas, idle, vain and obscene conversation, profane cursing and swearing, and more especially the irreverently mentioning, calling upon, or invoking the Sacred and Supreme Being, by any of the divine characters in which he has graciously con- descended to reveal his infinitely beneficent purposes to mankind, are repugnant to every moral sentiment, subversive of every civil obligation, inconsistent with the ornaments of polished life, and abhorent to the principles of the most benevolent religion. It is expected, therefore, if crimes of this kind should exist, they will not find encouragement or approbation in this territory. It is strictly enjoined upon all officers and ministers of justice, upon parents and others, heads of families, and upon others of every description, that they abstain from practices so vile and irrational;
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and that by example and precept, to the utmost of their power they prevent the neces- sity of adopting and publishing laws with penalties upon this head. And it is here- by declared that government will consider as unworthy its confidence all those who may obstinately violate these injunctions.
"Whereas, mankind in every stage of informed society, have consecrated certain portions of time to the particular cultivation of the social virtues, and the public adoration and worship of the common parent of the universe; and whereas a prac- tice so rational in itself and conformable to the divine precepts is greatly conducive to civilization as well as morality and piety and whereas for the advancement of such important and interesting purposes. most of the Christian world have set apart the first day of the week as a day of rest from common labors and pursuits; it is there- fore enjoined that all servile labor, works of necessity and charity only excepted, be wholly abstained from on said day."
7. A law regulating marriages, among others, contained this provision in its third section: "Previously to persons being joined in marriage as aforesaid, the in- tention of the parties shall be made known by publishing the same for the space of fifteen days at least, either by the same being publicly and openly declared three sev- eral Sundays, holy days, or other days of public worship in the meeting in the towns where the parties respectively belong, or by publication in writing under the hand and seal of one of the judges before mentioned, or of a Justice of the Peace within the county, to be affixed in some public place in the town wherein the parties respectively dwell; or a license shall be obtained of the governor under his hand and seal, author- izing the marriage of the parties without publication, as is in this law before required."
8. A law in addition to a law entitled "A law for regulating and establishing the militia in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio."
9. A law appointing Coroners.
10. A law limiting the times of commencing civil actions and instituting criminal prosecutions.
Having, with his associates, completed the compilation and publication of the foregoing laws, Governor St. Clair repaired to Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum river, and. on the 9th day of January, 1789, concluded a treaty with the Six Nations, the Wyandots, Delawares. Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Sacs. The terms of the treaty, however, were repudiated by all the tribes named, (except the Six Nations) who subsequently denied having any authorized representatives at the meet- ing; and during the early spring of the following year the red demons again went on the war path and continued to murder and rob the inhabit- ants of defenseless white settlements on the western frontiers. Within less than six months after the alleged treaty, following which the Indians seemed to grow more savage, if possible, than before, General Knox, Sec- retary of War, in an official report to the President of the United States dated June 15th, 1789, sums up the Indian situation in the Northwest Territory, and gives expression to the following patriotic and humane sentiments :
"By information from Brigadier General Harmar, the commanding officer of the troops on the frontiers, it appears that several murders have been lately committed on the inhabitants by small parties of Indians probably from the Wabash country. Some of the said murders have been perpetrated on the south side of the Ohio, the inhabitants on the waters of that river are exceedingly alarmed, for the extent of six or seven hundred miles along the same. It is to be observed that the United
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States have not formed any treaties with the Wabash Indians; on the contrary, since the conclusion of the war with Great Britain, hostilities have almost constantly ex- isted between the people of Kentucky and the said Indians. The injuries and mur- ders have been so reciprocal that it would be a point of critical investigation to know on which side they have been the greatest. Some of the inhabitants of Kentucky dur- ing the past year, roused by recent injuries, made an incursion into the Wabash country, and possessing an equal aversion to all bearing the name of Indians, they destroyed a number of peaceable Piankeshaws who prided themselves in their attach- ment to the United States. Things being thus circumstanced, it is greatly to be ap- prehended that hostilities may be so far extended as to involve the Indian tribes with whom the United States have recently made treaties. It is well known how strong the passion exists for war in the mind of a young savage, and how easily it may be inflamed, so as to disregard every precept of the older and wiser part of the tribes who may have a more just opinion of the force of a treaty. Hence, it results that unless some decisive measures are immediately adopted to terminate those mutual hostilities, they will probably become general among all the Indians northwest of the Ohio.
"In examining the question how the disturbances on the frontiers are to be quieted, two modes present themselves, by which the object might perhaps be effected : the first is by raising an army and extirpating the refractory tribes entirely; or, secondly, by forming treaties of peace with them, in which their rights and limits should be explicitly defined, and the treaties observed on the part of the United States with the most rigid justice, by punishing the whites who should violate the same.
"In considering the first mode, an enquiry would arise, whether, under the existing circumstances of affairs, the United States have a clear right, consistently with the principles of justice and the laws of nature, to proceed to the destruction or expul- sion of the savages on the Wabash, supposing the force for that object easily attainable. It is presumable that a nation solicitous of establishing its character on the broad basis of justice, would not only hesitate at, but reject every proposition to benefit itself, by the injury of any neighboring community, however contemptible and weak it may be, either with respect to its manners or power. When it shall be considered that the Indians derive their subsistence chiefly by hunting, and that, according to fixed principles, their population is in proportion to the facility with which they procure their food, it would most probably be found that the expulsion or destruction of the Indian tribes have nearly the same effect; for, if they are removed from their usual hunting grounds, they must necessarily encroach on the hunting grounds of another tribe, who will not suffer the encroachment with impunity-hence they destroy each other. The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war. To dispossess them on any other principle would be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of nature, and of that distributive justice which is the glory of a nation. But, if it should be decided, on an abstract view of the question to be just, to remove by force the Wabash Indians from the territory they occupy, the finances of the United States would not at present admit of the operation.
"By the best and latest information it appears that, on the Wabash and its com- munications, there are from fifteen hundred to two thousand warriors. An expedition against them, with a view of extirpating them, or destroying their towns, could not be undertaken with a probability of success, with less than an army of two thou- sand, five hundred men. The United States troops on the frontiers are less than six hundred :* of that number not more than four hundred could be collected from the
*Detachments of regular troops were stationed at Fort Pitt, Fort Harmar, Fort Washington, Fort Steuben (at the Falls of the Ohio) and at Post Vincennes .- [ Dil- lion, History of Indiana, Vol. i, p. 238.]
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posts for the purpose of the expedition. To raise, pay, feed, arm and equip one thou- sand, nine hundred additional men, with the necessary officers, for six months, and to provide everything in the hospital and quartermaster's line, would require the sum of two hundred thousand dollars; a sum far exceeding the ability of the United States to advance, consistently with a due regard to other indispensable objects."
Colonel John Hardin, a regular United States army officer of Revolu- tionary fame, knowing the Kentuckians' aversion to the red man, in Att- gust, 1789, organized a volunteer company of mounted men at Fort Steuben, and marched from the Falls of the Ohio to the Wabash country to "sack" some Indian villages and exterminate their inhabitants. After devoting a month to the work of destroying corn, pillaging and burning Indian towns, and killing a quantity of savages, the scouting party returned to Kentucky, without having sustained the loss of a single man.
Meantime Governor St. Clair was wrestling hard with the Indian problem, and, in a letter written to President Washington, under date of September 14th, 1789, leaves the inference to be drawn that, probably, Hardin's expedition was without authority or sanction of his superior offi- cers. The letter, of which only a portion is here given, contains the follow- ing comments: "The constant hostilities between the Indians who live upon the river Wabash and the people of Kentucky, must necessarily be attended with such embarrassing circumstances to the government of the Northwest Territory, that I am induced to request that you will be pleased to take the matter into consideration, and give me the orders you may think proper. It is not to be expected, sir, that the Kentucky people will or can submit patiently to the cruelties and depredations of those savages. They are in the habit of retaliation, perhaps without attending precisely to the nations from which the injuries are received. They will continue to retaliate, or they will apply to the Governor of the Northwest Territory (through which the Indians must pass to attack them) for redress. If he cannot redress them (and in the present circumstances he cannot) they also will march through that country to redress themselves, and the gov- ernment will be laid prostrate. The United States, on the other hand, are at peace with several of the nations, and should the resentment of these people [the Kentuckians] fall upon any of them, which is likely enough to happen, very bad consequences may follow. For it must ap- pear to them [the Indians] that the United States either pay no regard to their treaties, or that they are unwilling or unable to carry their engage- ments into effect. They will unite with the hostile nations, prudently pre- ferring open war to a delusive and uncertain peace."
The alarm occasioned by Indian incursions and hostilities during the year 1789 was so great that the United States Congress in September of that year passed an act empowering the president to call out the militia of the respective states for the protection of frontier settlements; and, sub- sequently, the president addressed Governor St. Clair a communication announcing that "It is highly necessary that I should as soon as possible,
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possess full information, whether the Wabash Indians are most inclined for war or peace. If for the former, it is proper that I should be informed of the means which will most probably induce them to peace. If a peace can be established with the said Indians on reasonable terms, the interests of the United States dictate that it should be effected as soon as possible. You will, therefore, inform the said Indians of the disposition of the Gen- eral Government on this subject, and of their reasonable desire that there should be a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to a treaty."
It was made a part of the president's order that the militia at the different posts should act in conjunction with the regular troops. Wash- ington further said, in his message to St. Clair: "I would have it observed forcibly, that a war with the Wabash Indians ought to be avoided by all means consistently with the security of the troops and the national dignity. In the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostilities, it is extremely diffi- cult, if not impossible, to say that a war without further measures would be just on the part of the United States. But, if, after manifesting clearly to the Indians the disposition of the General Government for the preserva- tion of peace, and the extension of a just protection to the said Indians, they should continue their incursions, the United States will be constrained to punish them with severity."
The concluding paragraph of the message contains these words, in which George Washington expressed anxiety for the well being of the citizens of the Old Post: "You will, also, proceed, as soon as you can, with safety, to execute the orders of the late Congress respecting the in- habitants at Post Vincennes, and at the Kaskaskias, and the other villages on the Mississippi. It is a circumstance of some importance, that the said inhabitants should, as soon as possible, possess the lands to which they are entitled, by some known and fixed principle."
The lands referred to above were acquired by the following named heads of families who settled at Vincennes on or before the year 1783, and who had taken the oath of allegiance to the United States, and com- prised 400 acres in each individual tract, being situated in the Old Donation ; and the instructions in the foregoing paragraph in relation thereto were based upon resolutions adopted by Congress in June and August, 1788. confirming titles thereto: Louis Alaire, Joseph Andrez, Francois Brouillet, Francois Boraye, Jr., John Baptiste Binette, Charles Boneau, Vital Ben- cher, Marie, widow of Louis Bayer, Amble Boulon, Charles Bugard, Mit- chel Burdelow, Mitchel Brouillet, Francois Bosseron, Francois Boraye, Sr., Antoine Burdelow, Sr., Louis Brouillet, Louis Bayer, John Baptiste Cardinal, Francois Coder, Pierre Cornoyer, Joseph Chabot, Antoine Cary, Francois Compagniat, Jacques Cardinal, Joseph Chartier, Nicholas Chapard, Joseph Charpontier, Pierre Chartier, Sr., Moses Carter, Antone Dronette, John Baptiste Dubois, John Baptiste Duchene, Charles Delile, Charles Delisle, Pierre Daigneau, Antoine Dorrys, Louis De Claurier, John Baptiste Deloyier, Honore Dorrys, Charles Dudevoir, Amble Delisle, Jacques Denze,
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Joseph Ducharme, Bonaventure Drogier, Nicholas Ditart, Francois Desauve, Louis Edeline, Joseph Flamelin, John Baptiste Javale, Paul Gamelin, Charles Gusille, Toussaint Goder, Antoine Gamelin, Paul Gamelin, Amble Gaurqui- pie, Alexis A. Gallinois, Pierre Gilbert, John Baptist Harpin, Joseph Hunot, Sr., Etienne Jacques, Edward Johnson, Jacques Latrimoille, Francois Log- non, Joseph Lognon, Jacques La Croix, Pierre Laforest, Anthony Lune- ford, Charles Languedoc, Louis Lamere, Jolin Baptiste Mangen, Pierre Sanglois, Joseph Leveron, Louis Laderoute, Francois Languedoc, Pierre Mallet, Antoine Mallet, Andre Montplesir, Louis Meteyer, Francois Winie, John Baptiste Mallet, Nicholas Mayat, Francois Mallet, Joseph Michael, Antoine Marier, Frederick Mahl, Joseph Mallett. John Baptiste Mayes, Michael Nean, John Baptiste Quillet, Joseph Perrdeau. Guillaume Payes, Pierre Perret, Amble Perron, Pierre Zuivez, Sr., John Baptiste Ste. Marie Racine, Joseph Sabelle, Pierre Regnez, John Baptist St. Aubin, Francois Racine, Pierre Andre Racine, Louis Ravellette, Louis Raupiault, Joseph Raux. Joseph St. Marie, Etienne St. Marie, Francois Turpin, Francois Tuidel, Joseph Tougas, Francis Vatchette, John Baptiste Vandray, Sr., Jolin Baptiste Vandray, Jr., Francis Vigo, Alexander Vallez, Antoine Van- drez, John Baptiste Vilray, Angelique, widow of Etienne Phillibert, Mary Louisa, widow of Nicholas Perrot, Felicite, widow of Francois Peltier, Angelique, widow of Francois Basinet, Marie, widow of Nicholas Cardinal, Susanna, widow of Pierre Coder, Marianne, widow of Louis Denoyou, Marie, widow of Hyacinthe Denoyou, Veronique, widow of Guilleaume Daperon, Francois, widow of Ambrose Dagenet, Genevive, widow of Pierre Gremore, Ann, widow of Moses Henry, Catharine, widow of John Baptiste Lafontaine, Madaline, widow of St. Jean Legarde, Veronique, widow of Gabriel La Grande, Maria Louise, widow of John Philip Marie Legras, Louise, widow of Antoine Lefevre, Catarine, widow of Amble Lardoise, Madeline, widow of Joseph Stone, Genevive, wife of Joseph Laboissier, the husband deserted, Renez Godene de Pannah, Agate, widow of Amble Rumay.
Governor St. Clair, accompanied by Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, arrived in the Illinois country in 1790 for the purpose of organizing the government in this section, and to carry into effect the congressional resolutions referred to above relative to the lands and settlers in and about Vincennes and Kaskaskia. St. Clair, however, had previously sent Major Hamtramck, in command at Vincennes, certain despatches containing speeches which were addressed to the Indian tribes on the Wabash. Among the despatches was a letter, (dated at Fort Steuben, Jan. 23, 1790) in which the Governor expressed great pain at having heard of the scarcity of corn prevalent in the settlements about Vin- cennes and hoped that the reports had been exaggerated; "but it is repre- sented to me," he continues in the letter, "that unless a supply of that article can be sent forward, the people must actually starve. Corn can be had here in any quantity ; but can the people pay for it? I entreat you
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to enquire into the matter, and if you find they can not do without it, write to the Contractor's Agent here, to whom I will give orders to send forward such quantity as you may find to be absolutely necessary. They must pay for what they can of it; but they must not be suffered to perish : and though I have no direct authority from the government for this pur- pose, I must take it upon myself."
There was much distress caused by the corn famine at Vincennes in the fore part of the year 1790 and many people were driven to sheer des- peration. Major Hamtramck replied to the letter of Governor St. Clair in March, stating he had sent a boat as directed for the purpose of con- veying eight hundred bushels of corn to the starving people. In the same connection he relates that on the 16th inst. a woman, a boy of about thirteen, and a girl about seven years were forced to the woods by hunger and there committed suicide by eating some nameless poisonous weeds.
It was early in the year 1790 that Governor St. Clair, while at Kas- kaskia, named the territory in which that settlement was located St. Clair county. He appointed civil officers and issued a proclamation directing claimants to show their land titles in order that they might be approved and possessions to the land confirmed. While a large number of claims and title deeds were exhibited, and orders issued for a survey to be made of the lands to those holding them, "only a part of the surveys," says the Governor, were returned, because the people objected to paying the surveyor, and that it was "too true that they were ill able to pay." And in the same report, wherein the foregoing fact is stated, the Governor says :
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