USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 32
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frequently went down to watery graves. An exchange of shots from the boatmen, which was inevitable, precipitated a rain of lead, during which the river ran red with the blood of the dead and wounded. No pen can portray the courage and bravery displayed by the pioneers who were the chief actors in these tragedies ; no words can convey the depth of filial de- votion, the endearing ties of tenderness and love that bound families to- gether, and made the log cabins in which they dwelt, amid scenes of desola- tion and death, abodes of virtue and fidelity and even happiness. And, it is doubtful, whether the men or women were the more courageous. Both were nevertheless experts in handling the rifle, had acquired the art of marksmanship, and were as learned in woodcraft and cunning as the red- handed marauders who sought their lives by day and night.
Acting upon the advices furnished by Hamtramck, Governor St. Clair, who was at Kaskaskia, abandoned all hope of making peace treaties with the Miamis and their confederacies, and proceeded at once by water to (red skins. He took his departure from Kaskaskia on the IIth of June, Fort Washington, the headquarters of General Harmar, to consult with him as to the better plan for carrying out an expedition against the hostile but before leaving the place entrusted to Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Territory, the duties of Governor, with instructions to execute the provisions of the Congressional resolutions relative to the lands and settlers on the Wabash river, and to proceed to Vincennes, lay out a county at that point, establish the militia and appoint the requisite number of military and civil officers for the Old Post. Besides finding the terrible tangle in land matters (already referred to in a preceding chapter) he discovered that in July, 1800, there were one hundred and twenty-three heads of families living at Post Vincennes who were residents of the place in 1783; and while busily engaged in looking into measures to confirm these ancient inhabitants in their possessions, rights and titles to real estate given them by the general government, a deputation of eighty Americans waited on him, praying for the confirmation of various land grants which the cele- brated court had made between the years 1779 and 1787. Quite a num- ber of the French inhabitants importuned him on the same subject, which led him to call on the court to explain their transactions in the premises and to say some uncomplimentary things about Mr. Le Grand, the clerk, whom he charged with falsifying vouchers and records, and being guilty of "such gross fraud and forgery as to invalidate all evidence and informa- tion which might otherwise have been acquired from the papers."
Secretary Sargent and Major Hamtramck were very popular with the inhabitants of the Old Post, who gave assurances of their high regard for both officers in a nicely-worded communication addressed to Mr. Sar- gent on July 23, 1790. The names of some of the judges of land-grant fame are among the signatures to the document, indicating, it would seem, that Sargent's chastisement of them for alleged judicial misconduct was
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mild, and that the citizens regarded it proper to put them forward on state occasions. The communication reads :
"To the Honorable Winthrop Sargent, Esq., secretary of the territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio, and now vested with all the powers of gov- ernor and commander-in-chief thereof :
"The citizens of the town of Vincennes approach you, sir, to express as well their personal respect for your honor, as their full approbation of the measures you have been pleased to pursue in regard to their government and the adjustment of their claims, as inhabitants of the territory over which you at present preside. While we deem it a singular blessing to behold the principles of free government unfolding among us, we cherish the pleasing reflection that our posterity will also have cause to rejoice at the political change now originating. A free and efficient government, wisely administered, and fostered under the protecting wings of an august union of states, cannot fail to render the citizens of this wide extended territory securely happy in the possession of every public blessing.
"We cannot take leave, sir, without offering to your notice a tribute of gratitude and esteem which every citizen feels he owes to the merits of an officer [ Major Ham- tramck] who has long commanded at this post. The unsettled situation of things for a series of years previous to this gentleman's arrival tended in many instances to derange, and in others to suspend, the operation of those municipal customs by which the citizens of this town were used to be governed. They were in the habit of submitting the superintendence of their civil regulations to the officer who hap- pened to command the troops posted among them. Hence, in the course of the late war, and from the frequent change of masters, they labored under heavy and various grievances. But the judicious and humane attention paid by Major Ilamtramck, dur- ing his whole command, to the rights and feelings of every individual craving his interposition demands, and will always receive, our warmest acknowledgments.
"We beg you, sir, to assure the supreme authority of the United States of our fidelity and attachment; and that our greatest ambition is to deserve its fostering care, by acting the part of good citizens.
"By order and on behalf of the citizens of Vincennes.
PAUL
"ANTOINE GAMELIN, Magistrate. "PIERRE GAMELIN, Magistrate. "READ GAMELIN, Magistrate. "JAMES JOHNSON, Magistrate. "LOUIS EDELINE, Magistrate. "LUKE DECKER, Magistrate. "FRANCIS BOSSERON, Magistrate. "FRANCIS VIGO, Major Command- ant of Militia. "HENRY VANDERBURGH, Major of Militia."
Mr. Sargent two days later made graceful acknowledgment to the com- munication, in a written statement, in which he said: "Next to that happi- ness which I derive from a consciousness of endeavoring to merit the ap- probation of the sovereign authority of the United States by a faithful discharge of the important trusts committed to me, is the grateful plaudit of the respectable citizens of this territory : and be assured, gentlemen, that I received it from the town of Vincennes tipon this occasion with singular satisfaction. In an event so interesting and important to every individual
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as is the organization of civil government, I regret exceedingly that you have been deprived of the wisdom of our worthy Governor. His extensive abilities and long experience in the honorable walks of public life might have more perfectly established that system which promises to you and posterity such political blessings. It is certain, gentlemen, that the govern- ment of the United States is most congenial to the dignity of human nature, and the best possible palladium for the lives and property of mankind. The services of Major Hamtramck to the public, and his humane atten- tion to the citizens while in command here, have been highly meritorious; and it is with great pleasure that I have officially expressed to him my full approbation thereof. Your dutiful sentiments of fidelity and attachment to the general government of the United States shall be faithfully trans- mitted to their august President. With the warmest wishes for the wel- fare and prosperity of Vincennes, I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant."
Numerous small Indian parties waged irregular war in the spring and summer of 1790 against emigrants and settlers, the localities along the borders of the Ohio river from its mouth to the neighborhood of Pittsburg being the scenes of hostilities. Kentucky suffered much from these forays, which General Harmar, in the summer of 1790, was endeavoring to check with a hundred regular troops and two hundred and fifty Kentucky vol- unteers.
After consultation with Harmar at Fort Washington, General St. Clair, who had gone from Kaskaskia for that purpose, determined to send a strong expedition against the Indian towns on the Wabash. The President of the United States, having clothed St. Clair with authority to call for one thousand Virginia militiamen and five hundred from Pennsylvania, he sent in July, 1790, circulars to county lieutenants of the western counties of those states, and obtained the requisite number of troops, securing from Kentucky, which was then a part of Virginia, three hundred men; from Virginia seven hundred, and from Pennsylvania five hundred. Orders have been given for three hundred of the Virginia militia to rendezvous at Fort Steuben and to march with the regular garrison of that fort to Vin- cennes and join Major Hamtramck, who had instructions to call to his aid the Vincennes militia, and to proceed up the Wabash and attack any of the Indian villages on the river with which he felt able to cope. The remaining twelve hundred militiamen were ordered to assemble at Fort Washington and unite with the regular troops under General Harmar's command. Harmar engaged the Miamis in battle near the head waters of the Maumee in October. Some of the militiamen acted very cowardly, and, in making their retreat, threw away their guns without firing a shot. In the struggle Harmar lost one hundred and eighty-three killed and thirty- one wounded. Among the dead were Major Wyllys and Lieut. Ebe- nezer Frothingham of the regular troops and Major Fontaine, Captains Thorp, McMurtrey and Scott, and Lieutenants Clark and Rogers,
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and Ensigns Bridges, Sweet, Higgens and Thielkeld of the militia. The Indians, who sustained a loss about equal to that of the whites, doffed their feathers and war paint and for a long time were very peaceably in- clined. Hamtramck's experience was altogether different from that Har- mar underwent. He marched with his troops up the Wabash as far as the mouth of the Vermilion river, destroying teh Indian villages at Quiatenon and along the route, and returned to the Old Post, without losing a man or meeting with much opposition. The number of regular soldiers* at Vincennes (Ft. Knox) under command of Major Hamtramck at this time was eighty-three, being a portion of the First United States regiment. The entire regiment only consisted of two hundred and ninety-nine commissioned officers and privates; and in July, 1791, under orders from Governor St. Clair, mobolized at Fort Washington, preparatory to entering upon the expedition against the Miamis, where they were subsequently joined by fourteen htindred militiamen and volunteers. In the memorable battle, which occurred on November 4, 1791, the Indians, whose greater leaders were Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Buck-ong-a-he-las and the notorious Simon Girty, and other renegades of his ilk, gave the whites a terrible drubbing. St. Clair lost thirty-nine officers, killed, and five hundred and ninety-three men killed and missing. The defeat with which the expedition met sorely disappointed the United States government and was the means of stopping the tide of emigration for the time being from the eastern and middle states into the Northwest Territory. Subsequently St. Clair resigned the office of Major General and was succeeded by Anthony Wayne, whose successful campaigns against the red monarchs of the forest were terrible in their effects and eventually brought peace and tranquillity. In March, 1792, Major Hamtramck concluded treaties of peace at Vincennes with representatives of the Wea and Eel river tribes. During the same year, in September, 1792, Rufus Putnam, who was one of the Judges of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and Brigadier- General in the army, came to Vincennes in company with John Hecke- welder, and concluded treaties of peace and friendship with a small band of Indians from the Wabash and Illinois tribes.
The fact that many of the nations signed treaties did not deter some - of their tribesmen from forming foray parties and invading settlements,
*Pierre Gamelin was captain of a company of militia at Vincennes, composed of the following named members: Christopher Wyant, ensign; Peter Thorn, Frederick Mehl, Jeremiah Mays, sergeants; Richard Johnson, Joseph Cloud. Daniel Pea, John Loc, Godfrey Paters, John Murphy, John Laferty, Frederick Barger, George Barger, Peter Barger, Frederick Midler, Benjamin Beckes, Robert Day, Edward Shoebrook, John Westfall, Edward Johnson, Joshua Harbin, John Robbins, John Martin, Abra- ham Westfall, James Watts, Thomas Jordon, William Smith, Daniel Smith, James Johnson, Ezekiel Holiday, Michael Thorne, Solomon Thorne, Daniel Thorne, Charles Thorne, Christian Barkman, John Rice Jones, Patrick Simpson, John Wilmore, Fred- erick Lindsy, Matthew Dibbons, Hugh Demsey, John Culbert, Robert Garavert, Isaac Carpenter.
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murdering and pillaging the settlers, and robbing and tomahawking travelers and emigrants who followed the lonely trails through the wildernesses or wild prairie lands. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, how- ever, for a protracted period, there was a decided lull in Indian hostilities in the Wabash country. In March, 1796, the United States and Spain adjusted the question as to the boundaries of their respective domains by the ratification of a treaty, which also settled further controversies relative to the navigation of the Mississippi river; and before the close of the month of July of the same year, under the provision of a treaty negotiated by John Jay in London, in 1794, the British withdrew from all the posts in the Northwest Territory their soldiers, arms and stores. The Indians, learning of this condition of affairs, realized that with the withdrawal of the British troops from the country the strongest prop on which they had to lean had been removed, and in August, 1795, submitted with great re- luctance to almost any terms Mad Anthony Wayne saw fit to dictate. It was necessary that the United States should become possessed of Indian lands for the purpose of reducing the national debt and to provide for the maintenance of the government, and that, because of its conquest of the country at the time the savages were allied with Great Britain to aid her to maintain supremacy, left the Indians no other recourse than to sub- mit to whatever terms the conqueror saw fit to offer. While Congress' instructions to St. Clair were to pursue pacificatory policies in dealing with the Indians, they also advised him "to neglect no opportunity that might offer of extinguishing the Indian rights to lands westward as far as the river Mississippi and northward as far as the completion of the forty- first degree of north latitude." The Wabash Indians were more contentious than any of the other tribes and for a while refused to make any concessions, which led other nations, who had assented, to change their minds and re- pudiate some of their treaties. "The treaty of Fort Harmar," says *Dunn, "on January 9, 1789, was little more than a farce, and hastened rather than retarded war. The Indians claimed that the few who joined in the treaty were not chiefs, had no authority, and were intimidated by the whites. The war opened in the following summer and raged for five years, the Indians having rather the better of their enemies until they were over- whelmed by Wayne at the rapids of the Maumee in August, 1794. In September, Wayne's army moved to Kekionga, and there estblished a fort which was garrisoned by a strong force of infantry and artillery under Colonel Hamtramck, the former commander of Fort Knox.t The new post was called Fort Wayne, and the place has been so called ever since."
*J. P. Dunn, Indiana, American Commonwealth Series, p. 265.
+"The fort built at Vincennes in 1788," says Mr. Dunn in a footnote, giving as authority St. Clair papers vol. II, p. 92, "was named Fort Knox at the request of General Harmar." Both the date of erection and location of the fort have provoked discussions among historians, who are greatly at variance on the subject, especially
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In September, 1796, Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, went to Detroit, erected the county of Wayne and extended the civil authority of the United States over that section of country. By terms of a treaty which was concluded at St. Ildefonso in October, 1800, Spain agreed to retrocede the province of Louisiana to France; and in April, 1803, France sold and ceded in its entirety Louisiana to the United States in consideration of about fifteen millions of dollars. The Missis- sippi Territory was established in April, 1798, by an act of Congress, and Winthrop Sargent was appointed to the office of Governor of that territory, and in June of the same year William Henry Harrison was chosen as Secretary of the territory northwest of the river Ohio.
Governor St. Clair issued a proclamation in October, 1798, directing the qualified voters of the Northwest Territory to hold elections in their respective counties on the third Monday in December, to elect representa- tives to a General Assembly, which he ordered to convene at Cincinnati in January, 1799. Heretofore the governor and judges of the territory had constituted the civil, military, executive and legislative departments. The representatives, as directed, met at Cincinnati ; and, guided by the pro- visions of the ordinance of 1787, nominated ten persons, whose names were forwarded to the president of the United States. September 16, 1799, was then set by Governor St. Clair for the meeting of the representatives. On March 2, 1779, President Adams selected from the list of the ten nominees the names of Henry Vanderburg, Robert Oliver, Jacob Burnet, James Findlay and David Vance and nominated these gentlemen to sit in the legislative council of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, which nominations were confirmed by the senate. On September 16, 1799, several members of the territorial legislature repre- senting countries that had been previously carved out of the territory, met at Cincinnati, but no organization in either of the houses was perfected until the following September, when Henry Vanderburg was elected president of the legislative council ; William C. Schenk was chosen secretary ; George Howard, doorkeeper, and Abner Cary, sergeant-at-arms. The counties represented, with the names of their respective representatives were: Ham- ilton-William Goforth, William McMillan, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell, Isaac Martin; Ross-Thomas Worthing- ton, Samuel Finley, Elias Langham, Edward Tiffin; Wayne-Solomon Sib- ley, Charles F. Chobert de Joncaire, Jacob Visger ; Adams-Joseph Darling- ton, Nathaniel Massie; Knox-Shadrach Bond; Jefferson-James Pritch- ard; Washington-Jonathan Meigs.
as to location, of which there seems to he no record. Some claim the fort was none other than the one Clark took from Hamilton; others that it stood on the river bank near the foot of Broadway, while still others contend it was four miles above town.
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Henry Vanderburg, first president of the territorial legislature, came to Vincennes with the first influx of Americans, and his name added luster to the old town and gave dignity to the judiciary of the Indiana territory, which he entered at the close of the Revolutionary war, honored and dis- tinguished in the service of his country. Descended of a prominent Dutch pioneer family of New Amsterdam, Judge Henry Vanderburg was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1760, and when a mere lad shouldered a musket and went to the front to fight for American liberty and independence. His public services have been ably noted in an old sketch written many years ago by Judge Law, who obtained the facts of Mrs. Vanderburg, and are of sufficient importance to admit of reproduction in this publication. It is stated in the sketch that Judge Vanderburg was appointed a lieutenant in the Fifth New York regiment to rank as such from the 21st day of No- vember, 1776, his commission being signed by John Jay. He was re- appointed on the 20th day of June 1779, and a year later was made captain of the Continental troops, serving with honor until peace was declared. Independence being secured, imigration began to flow westward and, young Vanderburg following the tide came to Indiana and established himself at Vincennes. Here he married Miss Frances Cornoyer, daughter of Pierre Cornoyer, a member of one of the pioneer families of the town. His judicial career soon became marked. He was appointed justice of the peace and judge of probate for the then new county of Knox, in 1791. As previously announced, in 1799 he was elected president of the legis- lative council of the Northwest Territory holding sessions in Cincinnati ; and the following year was appointed judge of the Indian territory by President Adams, his jurisdiction extending over the vast area which now embraces the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Though filling an exalted position of honor and trust, his official duties imposed upon him many hardships and necessitated pilgrimages that were lonely and hazardous. Judge Law says "he actually held court the same year in Vincennes, Indiana, Kaskaskia, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan, journeying on horseback, unaccompanied save by his body servant, carry- ing their own provisions, through a wilderness occupied solely by the In- dian and wild beast of the forest," thus displaying a fearless and rugged- ness that characterized the ideal pioneers of the northwest. Scholarly, re- fined, a man of fine presence, polished and courtly in manners, he was an honored and distinguished member of the Order of Cincinnati, an organi- zation composed exclusively of officers who had been participants in the war of the Revolution. His commission as an army officer of that period, now in possession of his grandson, Henry Vanderburg Somes, Sr., of Vincennes, is signed by George Washington, president, and Henry Knox, secretary. At his beautiful country villa Bellevue (the present site of Burnet Heights, just beyond the eastern corporate line of the city) Judge Vanderburg frequently entertained in royal style his aristocratic and plebian friends, dispensing the genial and generous hospitality of territorial days.
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There he reared a large family of children, three sons and six daughters, and there he died, on April 12, 1812. His remains were consigned to a grave on his own estate with military honors and the impressive services of the Masonic ritual. Four years after his death, Indiana was made a state and admitted into the Union, and two years after entering into statehood she sub-divided the county of Warrick and took unto herself a new county. It was christened "Vanderburg," in honor of the subject of this sketch.
There were no descendants of the three sons. The eldest, Henry, who graduated in 1832 from West Point, became one of the managers of the American Fur Company, and while acting in that capacity on one of his missions to the extensive hunting and trapping preserves of the company in the northwest was betrayed by Blackfoot Indians and foully murdered. His tragic death is related by Washington Irving, in Bonneville, wherein the author concludes the description of the event in these words: "Such was the fate of Major Henry Vanderburg, one of the best and worthiest traders of the American Fur Company, who by his manly bearing and dauntless courage is said to have made himself universally popular among the bold-hearted rovers of the wilderness." So ended the earthly career of a man who had largely inherited the excellent and brilliant qualities of his distinguished father.
Of the six daughters a number of descendants remain in Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, New York and Indiana. Julia, the eldest, married J. B. McCall, one of the three men in whose honor the name "Lamasco"t originated. Cora LeRoy, the daughter of Elizabeth married Hon. W. W. Belknap, formerly Secretary of War under President Grant. Their only son, Hon. Hugh Belknap, was a member of congress from the Chicago district. Another granddaughter Cornelia Sullivan, married Hon. W. A. Richardson, for many years a member of congress and United States Sen- ator from Illinois, colleague with Stephen A. Douglas .*
The branch remaining in Indiana are the families of the two sons of Frances Sidney Vanderburg, who married Dr. Joseph Somes, a young physician of Northamptonshire, England, who came to America early in the eighteenth century and for nearly fifty years was a practicing physi- cian at Vincennes. Henry Vanderburg Somes their eldest son, was for- merly mayor of Vincennes, and married Mary Elizabeth Bayard in 1864, since which event they have been residents of this city. Four sons and one daughter blessed this union, all of whom, with the exception of Bayard, who lives at Evansville, reside in Vincennes. The other children are Dr. Joseph V., Harry V., Jr., John F., and Mrs. W. F. Calverly. James Ellis, second son, married Mary Oliver, of Hopkinsville, Ky., and with their only child, a daughter, reside at Terre Haute.
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