Bureau County, Illinois - Chapter 3: Prehistoric Peoples That Webb Here, 1885

War, Etc., Etc. Etc

THE REMAINS OF GREAT CITIES - THE MOUND BUILDERS - THF. INDIANS - WINNEBAOO WAB, CAPTURE AND DEATH or RID BIRDBLACK HAWK WAR - FIRST BLOODLESS CAMPAIGN IN 1831 - BLACK HAWK ENTERS INTO A TREATY - STARVED ROCK, THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN ILLINOIS - JOLIET AND MARQUETTE - LA SALLE'S COLONY AND FORT ST. Louis - Two HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY AND POSSESSION OF THE COUNTRY - FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST, MADE 1682, AT STARTED ROCK - CAPTS. WILLIS, HAWS AND STEWART'S COMPANIES AND MEN FROM BUREAU COUNTY, IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR, ETC., ETC. ETC.

THE investigations of archaeologists show that there have been several distinct races of people here prior to the coming of the present inhabitants. By this enumeration are placed the founders and builders of those great cities of Central America, whose extensive remains have been found, as one race, the Mound Builders as another, and then the Indians, who were here when America was discovered. But many suppose from the variety and characteristic differences in what are known as the Mound Builders, that is, in the marked differences in the mounds found, that there were distinct races among these, which, for convenience, we now designate as one.

The crumbled walls, fallen columns, the debris of great temples and pyramids, and perhaps palaces, that cumber the ground in profusion, in places, for a circumference of miles, give evidences which cannot be mistaken, of great and splendid cities, " whose lights had fled, whose garlands dead" ages before were laid the foundation stones of Balbec or Troy. The mind is dazed with the idea of the remoteness of their antiquity. The slow crumbling of these colossal walls of hardest stone tell of a people whose civilization had reached far beyond any race of whom we can find any living evidences, and that ante-dates the coming of the Anglo- Saxon. In fact, so long has been the sweep of time since they lived, built their great cities and wholly passed away, that some eminent antiquarians believe they were here and had gone before the coming of the Mound Builders, and they do not hesitate in the expression of the judgment that this continent is truly the Old World, and that the crowning act in the creative energies that brought man first into existence, were manifested here ages and centuries before a similar development in the East.

Probably the mounds are the oldest records obtainable of the works of man, and therefore these remarkable antiquities are intensely interesting. Within the limits of the United States are the great majority of them, and so varied and widely scattered are they over the continent that they may well be considered of chief interest to the antiquarian and edifying to students of history every where. The oldest records of the works of man in the world! How they extend the horizon of the past; how eloquent they are! Here the faintest tradition is at fault, and the oldest human bones yet discovered are modern compared to these mute monuments of man's thought and patient, combined labors. Sir Charles Lyell concedes that certain human bones found in California must have lain there 80,000 years.

These mounds and other works of the Mound Builders consist of remains of what were apparently villages, altars, temples, idols, cemeteries, monuments, battle-fields, forts, camps and pleasure grounds, etc. And they . enable us to tell something of the civilization and industries and habits of a people, every vestige of whose physical bodies has long since dissolved into its original elements. One system of mounds is traced from Lake Ontario in a southwestern direction by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, the Gulf, Texas, New Mexico and Yucatan, into South America. In New York is a chain of forts, not more than four or five miles apart, and extending more than fifty miles in a southerly direction. Further south they increase in magnitude and number. In West Virginia, near the junction of Grove Creek and the Ohio, is one of the most interesting monuments found in the whole country. It is 90 feet high, diameter at the base 100 feet, and at the summit 45 feet. Many thousands of partial human skeletons were found in it. At the mouth of the Muskingum, in Ohio, is a number of curious works, among others a rectangular fort containing forty acres, encircled by a wall ten feet high, in which are openings resembling gateways. AtCircleville on the Scioto, there are two forts in juxtaposition, the one an exact circle 60 rods in diameter, and the other a perfect square, 55 rods on each side. The circular one was surrounded by two walls, with an intervening ditch 20 feet in depth. The remains of a walled town were found near Chillicothe. This was built on a hill 300 feet high, and surrounded by a wall ten feet high, the area inside containing 130 acres. On the south side of it were found the remains of what appeared to have been a row of furnaces, about which cinders were found several feet in depth. In the bed of the creek which runs at the foot of the hill were found wells that had been cut through solid rock. These were three feet, in diameter at the top.

One of the most singular of these earthworks was found in the lead-mine region. It resembled some huge animal, the head, ears, nose, tail and legs and general outline being very perfect and easily traced. It was built upon a high ridge in the prairie, the elevation being 300 yards wide and 100 feet in height, and rounded on the top by a heavy deposit of clay. Along the line of the summit and thrown up three feet high, is the outline of the quadruped, measuring 250 feet from the nose to the tip of the tail, and a width of body of eighteen feet ; the head is thirty-five feet in length, ears ten, legs sixty, and tail seventy -five. The curvature in the legs was natural to an animal lying on its side. The general appearance resembled the figure of the extinct megatherium. Why this singular work, involving so much labor, or for what purpose it was intended, cannot now be conjectured, nor by what people it was made. Many similar figures have been found in Wisconsin. Thousands of mounds are found along the Mississippi Kiver and all over northern Illinois.

Mr. Breckinridge, who studied the antiquities of the western country in 1817, referring to the mounds in the American Bottom, says: ' ' The great number and the extremely large size of some of them may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidences of their antiquity. I have sometimes been induced to think that at the period when they were constructed there was a population as numerous as that which once animated the borders of the Nile or the Euphrates, or of Mexico. The most numerous as well as considerable of these remains are found in precisely those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, namely, from the mouth of the Ohio, on the east side of the Mississippi, to the Illinois River, and to the west from the St. Francis to the Missouri. I am perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this country." Nearly opposite St. Louis are traces of two such cities, in a distance of five miles.

The largest mound in the United States is in the American Bottom, six and a half miles northeast of St. Louis, known as Monk's Mound. It is over 100 feet high, and 800 yards in circumference at the base. The top contains three and a half acres, and half way down is a terrace, extending the whole width of the mound. Excavations show human bones and white pottery.

Generation after generation lives, moves and is no more; time has strewn the track of its ruthless march with the fragments of mighty empires; and at length not even their names or works have an existence in the speculations of those who take their places.

r-As many as thirty mounds have been found in Bureau County, none of them large either in height or circumference, and everything about them indicates they were not probably built by the same tribes or perhaps nations, that constructed the immense mounds in Southern Illinois or Ohio. A group of eight mounds is situated in the bottoms of the Illinois River and Bureau Creek, near Bureau Junction. The land on which they are located has been farmed for PSOI*- baU>» go/ *->- century, and this cultivation has so changed and moved the surface soil that their true dimensions can only be approximately determined. Three of the smallest of these mounds lie to the northeast at a right angle to the other five, which are somewhat larger and extend in a direct line toward the southwest. They range in distance apart from fifty to one hundred feet, and are in height above the natural surface from two and a half to seven feet.

_Mr. A. S. Tiffany made openings in the extreme northeast mound. At a depth of fifteen inches was found a bed of ashes several inches in thickness, which extended in all directions beyond the opening. At a depth of five feet a few bones, much decomposed, were found. They were parts of two individuals. A small number of bone awls were lying near them. The opening was extended sixteen feet and the remains of two individuals were found with their heads toward the north. Under the head of the individual lying upon the west side was discovered a porphyry crescent-shaped implement of rare beauty. It is polished on both sides and all its edges are nicely wrought. A flint knife was found in the same place, about where the right hand of the skeleton would rest At the northeast corner of the excavation, with the decomposed bones of another person, a bone awl or needle was found, about four inches in length, but a portion had been brokenoff. It was gracefully tapering and finely pointed.

A few pieces of pottery, all of the same character generally obtained from mounds, occurs or has been frequently found in this locality. The crania of the skeleton found

In jinother one of the small mounds was found the much decayed bones of a youth. In the other mounds no remains of especial interest were found.

Another group of twenty mounds are situated on the bluffs near Bureau Junction. This group varies in height from eighteen inches to three feet. They are systematically arranged and are from eighteen to three hun - dred feet apart. Explorations in this group revealed one skull, decayed wood and coal, and pebbles. On one is an oak stump, showing 450 annular rings; another similar stump shows 160 rings. On another stands a large white oak tree.

In Arizona are to be found many remarka- . ble evidences of prehistoric peoples whose history has never been written. It is only told by the empty irrigating canals, the ruins of populous towns, vacant cliff dwellings, inscribed rocks, and broken pottery found in many parts of the Territory. Before the European saw this continent two races had lived and died in Arizona. The earliest people built their houses in valleys that are now deep ravines, and the cliff dwellings that are seen to-day resting in the sides of deep arroyostwo hundred feet above the bottom of the gorge once stood upon solid ground, and yet so many years have elapsed since then that now the houses are high and dry and accessible only to hardy climbers. Time has dug away the foundations as well as scarred and chipped the inhabitations. Between the age of the cliff-dwellers and that of the white man come the race who built the canals and formed the valleys. Dry and parched and barren as a great part of Arazona is to-day, there was a time, of which abundant proof exists, when the valleys were rich and fertile, and when great cities were populated by an active, capable, and energetic people. Who were those industrious beings? No one can tell. Toltec or Aztec, black or white; from Egypt or Peru, none can say. Time has nearly destroyed evidences of their existence. In the lapse of ages their history has grown almost a mythology. What a race they were, though ! No farming for them, if you please, on any small scale. They had ditches to bring water to their crops that would astonish the soil-tillers of to-day, and their houses were castles.

Perhaps the most extensive of their ruins now, are at the place called Casa Grande, in the Gila Eiver Valley, six miles below Florence and five miles south of the river. When first I discovered by the Spaniards, in 1540, the I largest building of the group was four stories high, and had walls six feet in thickness. A hundred years ago one house still remained which was 420x260 feet. To-day there is but a suggestion left of the former magnificence of the houses, but one may still ! see that the walls were made of mud and gravel, held together by a hard cement, and rooms are still coated with cement. Near Casa Grande are the remains of an irrigating canal which has been traced for forty miles, and which must have watered thousands of acres which to-day are dry, neglected wastes. Miles of these wide canals can be seen scattered over the Territory. Everywhere are the evidences of a prehistoric occupation of the land. In building the city of Prescott, workmen unearthed not only household and farming implements, but discovered old foundations as well, and as Arizona is settled and explored there may yet be found more traces of the people who lived and died here, leav- ing suggestion as to who they were, where they came from, whither they went. What care we for Pompeii ? We have a vaster, richer field in which to search for treasures hid for

Indians. - Vast number of Indian tribes were all over the eeBtinejjtLwhen it was discovered. Some were numerous, powerful aad warlike, and others were feeble remnants of once great communities, and all were without cultivation or any refinement or the semblance of a literature, and were far behind in the early advance of civilization of the Mound Builders. Ethnologists are not agreed that they were an original race of men, indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. The hair of the red man is round ; in the black man flat, and the white man's is oval. These distinctive traits are unvarying and are strong evidences of original different races of men. In the pile of the European's hair the coloring matter is distributed by means of a central canal, but in the Indian and black it is incorporated in the fibrous structure of the hair. The differences, therefore, in the hair of the European, Indian and Negro, are radical, and indicates three distinct races of men, or branches of the human family, and a trinary origin. A religious bent of mind characterized all the tribes, but it was of the rudest order of ignorant and childish su perstitions and horrid ceremonies. There was no progress in them from their low savagery, and they would, had they never been disturbed by the white man, have probably remained perpetually in their degrading savagery and ignorance. And their tradition says of the coming of the white man and civilization: "The Indians had long dis. cerned a black cloud in the heavens coming from the east, which threatened them with disaster and death. Slowly rising at first, it seemed a shadow, but soon changed to substance. When it reached the summit of the Alleghanies it assumed a darker hue; deep murmurs, as of thunder were heard ; it was impelled westward by a strong wind and shot forth forked tongues of lightning." Pontiac saw this coming storm and said to the Saxon: " I stand in thy path." To his assembled chiefs he exclaimed: "Drive the dogs who wear red clothing into the sea." Fifty years after the defeat of Pontiac, his follower, Tecumseh, plotted the conspiracy of the Wabash. For years the forest haunts of his clansmen rang with his stirring appeals, and the valleys of the West ran with blood of the white invaders. In the south the Appalachian tribes waged cruel wars under Tuscaloosa.

The Algonquins and Iroquois were the great tribes who figured in the history of Illinois. The former occupied most of the country between the 35th and 65th parallels of latitude.

The Illinois Confederacy was the five tribes: the Tamaroas. Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias and Peorias. The Illinois, Miamas and Delawares, are of the same stock. Tradition says they came from the far West. In 1670 their chief town was on the Illinois River, seven miles below Ottawa. It was then called Kaskaskia, and according to Marquette at that time contained seventy, four lodges, each of which domiciled several families. It was visited in 1679, by La Salle; the town then counted 60 lodges and the tribes numbered 6,000 to 8,000 souls. Their chief towns were burned by the Iroquois, and their extensive patches of beans, pumpkins and corn destroyed, and the Iroquois pursued the fugitives down the Illinois River. They became involved in the Pontiac conspiracy,but through many defeats and contact with civilization, their war-like spirit was gone, and they did not yield to Poutiac's solicitations when he threatened to " consume their tribes as the fire doth the dry grass of the prairie." Finally, when Pontiac lost his life at the hands of an Illinois, the tribes which had followed his fortunes descended from the north and the east to avenge his death and almost annihilated them. And tradition says, that a band of fugitives, to escape slaughter, took refuge on the high rock which had been the sight for Fort St. Louis. They were besieged by a superior force of the Pottawattomies, which the great strength of this natural fortress enabled them easily to keep at bay. But starvation, however, soon was a more cruel foe than the savage, and accomplished what the enemy could not. Their provisions were soon gone and their supply of water was stopped by the enemy severing the cords attached to the vessels by which they elevated it from the river below. From their high point of view they could look for the last time .upon their beautiful hunting-grounds and then chant their death-songs, and with Indian stoicism lie down upon the rocks and die, where for many years their bones were seen whitening on the summit of "Starved Bock," by which name it will in all future time be known. Thus perished the Kaskaskias and Peorias, of whom at one time Du Quoin was chief, and of the once powerful tribes but a score are now left in the world. The little remnant of them left are in the Indian Territory.

The Sacs and Foxes dwelt in the northern portion of Illinois. The'word " Sau-kee," now written " Sac," is derived from the compound word " A-saw-we-kee," of the Chipewa language, signifying yellow earth, and " Mus-qua-kee," the original name of the Foxes, means red earth. These two tribes by long residence contiguous to each other, had become substantially one people. They came originally from near Quebec and Montreal.

The Foxes came first and established themselves on the river that bears their name. They warred with the French on Green Bay and were signally defeated.

The Sacs became involved in a long and bloody war with th e Iroquois, and were driven west. Starting west they encountered the Wyandottes, by whom they were driven farther and farther along tho lake shores until they reached their relatives and friends, the Foxes, on Green Bay. Here the two tribes united for self -protection against surrounding tribes. The Jesuit, Allouez, visited them in the winter of 1672, and also extended his labors from the Sacs to the Foxes; the later remembering some cruel outrages at the hands of the French treated the gentle missionary with rude contempt, but by great patience, he eventually procured a respectful hearing, and they were converted, after the fashion of ignorant barbarians, and it is said every one in the village could soon make the sign of the cross. And they painted this sign on their shields and started upon tho war-path and gained signal victories and firmly believed the sign of the cross was a powerful talisman in battles of conquering power.

From Green Bay they came to northern Illinois, and drove out the Sauteaux, a branch of the Chippewas. They eventually formed alliances with the Pottawattomies, and warred to extermination with different tribes of the Illinois south of them. They and the Winnebagoes, Menomonees and other tibes attempted to destroy the village of St. Louis, and were only prevented by the timely arrival of George Kogers Clark, with five hundred men, from carrying out their designs. Finally their names became known to the world, and the history of these people culminated in the events of the Black Hawk war, where the volunteer soldiery of the State of Illinois, in 1832, closed the last of the Indian

Black Hawk War. - As this condensed account of the Indians brings us to the time of this war, and as this was the last combined act of the Indians in the valley to beat back the white race, we deem it best to conclude what we may have to say of the Indians by a short account of the Black Hawk war.

Edwards' History of Illinois says: "During Gov. Edwards' administration, the Indians on the Northwestern frontier became troublesome. The tribes were at war among themselves about their boundary lines, and soon hostilities were extended to the whites. Before serious war had occurred with the whites, a treaty of peace was signed at Prairie du Chien, on the 19th of August, 1825, in which the whites acted more the part of mediators than otherwise between the Winnebagoes and Sioux, Chippewas,Sauks, Foxes and other tribes, defining the boundaries of each. But this failed to keep them quiet. ! Their depredations and murders continued frequent, and in the summer of 1827 the acts of the Winnebagoes especially became very alarming. A combination was formed by the different tribes, under Red Bird, to kill or drive off all the whites above Bock River. And operations were commenced by the Winnebagoes and Pottawattomies making a foray and killing two white men in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien, on the 24th day of July, 1827, and on the 30th of the same mouth they attacked two keel-boats which had, on their upward trip, conveyed military stores to Fort Snelling, killing two of the crew and wound- j ing four others before they were repulsed. | They threatened seriously the settlers at the lead mines, as they had always resented the ; act of the people in taking possession of these mines. Gov. Edwards, July 14, ordered Gen. Hanson's brigade (then located on the east side of the Illinois River) to be in readiness for immediate service. On the same day he ordered Col. T. M. Meal's Twentieth Regiment (from Sangamon) to receive 600 volunteers and rendezvous at Fort Clark, and march forthwith to Galena. Under this call Col. Neale recruited one cavalry company, Capt. Edward Mitchell; four companies of infantry, by Capts. Thomas Constant, Reuben Brown, Achilles Morris and Bawlin Green; Adjutant, James D. Henry. The command marched to Peoria. Red Bird and six of his principal chiefs had surrendered and the volunteers returned from Peoria to their homes,

The surrender of Red Bird had been secured before this force reached the grounds, largely by the action of the Galena miners, who had an order from Gov. Edwards to organize and place themselves under the command of Gen. Henry Dodge, and thus formed a valuable auxiliary force to Gen. Henry Atkinson's command of 600 regulars. These had marched into Winnebago country and captured Red Bird, by his voluntarily coming into camp and giving himself up. Red Bird and his companions were placed in confinement, where he soon died, and some of his warriors were tried, convicted and hanged for complicity in the murder of white settlers, on the 26th of December, 1827. Black Hawk was one of the captured party; upon trial he was acquitted. The death of Red Bird ended the Winnebago war. The tribe was thoroughly humbled and showed only the most peaceable disposition for some time. Edwards says: "A talk was subsequently had with them in which they abandoned all the country south of the Wisconsin River. After this there was a general peace with the Indians throughout the Western frontier." But the Indians continued to occupy the lands they had ceded, and Gov. Edwards urged constantly their removal by the War Department, beyond the limits of the State, as their presence was a constant menace and retarded the immigrants from occupying the lands the Indians had ceded. The Government, impelled by the appeals of Edwards and the terrors of the settlers, brought the subject to the attention of the Indians, and urged them to go to their own lands beyond the Mississippi Eiver. It was finally arranged they should be allowed to remain twelve months.

In 1829 the President issued a proclamation, and in pursuance thereof, all the country above the mouth of Bock River (the ancient seat of the Sac nation) was sold to American families, and in 1830 it was taken possession of by many of them. To avoid further threatened troubles, another treaty was entered into with the Sacs and Foxes, on the 15th day of July, 1830, by the provisions of which they were to remove peacefully beyond the Mississippi. With those who remained at the Indian village at the mouth of Bock River, an arrangement was made by the settlers by which they were to live together peaceably, and as good neighbors; the Indians cultivating their old fields as formerly. Black Hawk, however, a restless and uneasy spirit, who had ceased to recognize Keokuk as Chief, and who was known to be still under pay of the British, emphatically refused either to remove from the lands or respect the rights of the settlers. He insisted that Keokuk had no authority to make such a treaty, and he proceeded to gather around him a large body of warriors and young men of the tribe who were eager to put on the war paint and to adorn their belts with the white men's scalps. He determined to dispute the rights of the whites to their possessions in the heart of the ancient seat of the nation. He had conceived the gigantic scheme of uniting all the nations, from the Bock River to the Gulf of Mexico; and thus once more and for the last time was made the effort to combine all the Indians and " drive the white dogs into the sea."

April, 1831, Black Hawk at the head of from three to five hundred warriors, recrossed the river. He also had a large number of allies from the Kickapoos and Pottawattomies. He formally notified the whites to leave, and upon their refusing to comply with his order, he commenced a general destruction of their property. Governor Beynolds declared war and called for volunteers. This call was made May 27, 1831. and all this northwestern portion of Illinois at once was resounding with the clamors of war. The call was for 700 men, to report at Beardstown in fifteen days. So many responded that the Governor had to accept the services of 1,600 men. They were moved to Busbville and organized into two regiments and two battalions. The army arrived at Bushville June 25. Six companies of regular troops, under Gen. Gaines, from Jefferson Barracks, arrived at Fort Armstrong. Thus completed, the army encamped eight miles below the Sac village, on the Mississippi River, and Gens. Gaines and Duncan concerted measures of attack But Black Hawk, realizing the danger of his position, on the night of the 25th quietly recrossed the river, leaving his village deserted. The soldiers thus found it the next day. and completely destroyed it. Governor Ford says: "Thus per ished this ancient village, which had been the delightful home of 6, 000 to 7,000 Indians, where generation after generation had been born, had died and been buried." Gen. Gaines had to send the second peremptory demand to Black Hawk requiring him and his band to return and enter into a treaty. On the 30th day of June, 1831, he, with about thirty Chiefs of the Sacs came, and in full council with Governor Reynolds and Gen. Gaines, signed an agreement, stipulating that " no one or more shall ever be permitted to recross said river to the usual place of residence, nor any part of their old hunting-grounds east of the Mississippi Eiver, without permission of the President of the United States, or the Governor of the State of Illinois." The troops were disbanded and their surplus provisions given to the Indians, who had by their foolish invasion made it impossible to raise any crop for that season. Thus ended without bloodshed the first campaign of the Black Hawk war in | 1831.

This treaty with Black Hawk brought but a short respite of peace to the country. The next spring he again recrossed the river, and commenced his march up Eock River Valley, with 500 warriors mounted on their ponies, while the squaws and papooses went by way of the river in canoes. Gen. Atkinson, stationed at Fort Armstrong, warned him to return, but the savages pushed on to the country of the Winnebagoes and Pottawattoniies, and here engaged to make a crop of corn. The Chief 's purpose in this was to enlist these tribes in his aid in the war, but they would not yield to his entreaties.

April 16, 1832, Gov. Reynolds called for 1,000 Illinois volunteers, and they were to meet in Beardstown, on the 24th of that month. So threatening were the movements of the Indians, that Maj. Stillman with 200 men was ordered to guard the frontier near the Mississippi, and Maj. Bailey the settlements along the Illinois River. Pursuant to the Governor's call, 1,800 men assembled at

Beardstown, and were organized into a brigade of four regiments and an "odd" and a "spy" battalion. An election for field officers on the 28th was held. Col. John Thomas to command the First, Jacob Fry, the Second. CoJ. Abram B. De Witt, the Third, and Col. Samuel M. Thompson, the Fourth. Capt. Abraham Lincoln's company was in the Fourth Regiment. Gov. Reynolds placed Gen. Whiteside in command, and accompanied the expedition.

April 29 the army started from Beards - town and proceeded to Oquawka, and here they received a boat-load of supplies from Gen. Atkinson, who was at Fort Armstrong; then to the mouth of Rock River, where they were received into the United States service by Gen. Atkinson; from this point the Commanding General with 400 troops proceeded up Rock River, while the volunteers under Gen. Whiteside marched through the swamps in the vicinity of the stream. They arrived at Dixon on the 10th of May, where they found Majs. Stillman and Bailey with their forces, where they had been some time guarding the frontier. A scouting party of five men was sent out to confer with the chiefs of the Pottawattomies, and who getting lost, returned after three days. They reported having fallen in with some of Black Hawk's men, and that his army was encamped on Old Man's Creek, twelve miles above Dixon. Stillman and Bailey besought the Governor for permission to take their forces and reconnoiter the enemy's position, which was granted. On the 14th of May they started with 275 men, and soon reached Old Man's Creek, pursuing their course up that stream about fifteen miles and camped for the night. Three Indians, bearing white flags came into camp, and were taken in custody; these were soon followed by five more who came near the camp, it was judged, for the purpose of inviting an attack. In this they succeeded, as a party of Stillman's men started in pursuit; soon three- fourths of the command were joined in the irregular scramble and chase across the prairie, overtaking and killing two Indians, and pursuing the others to the edge of the timber. Here Black Hawk, with about forty of his men, arose from their ambush naked and yelling like devils, charged the assailants, who were a mere scattered mob by this time, and who at once turned in a more eager retreat than had been their mad pursuit; fleeing in terror before the infuriated savages. Stillman and his officers had ordered and entreated the men not to go in this foolish chase, but they rushed heedlessly and recklessly on, and as foolishly fled upon the first flush of danger, only increasing their own danger and confusion. Maj. Stillman, Gov. Zadock Casey and other officers tried in vain to prevent the panic and inglorious flight. Maj. Perkins and Capt. Adams with about fifteen men made a brave stand, and checked the savages and saved a general slaughter. The brave Adams lost his life in this heroic stand, his body being found the next day near the bodies of two dead Indians who had fallen by his hand before he was overpowered and slain. As a result of this shameful conduct of the soldiers, eleven whites were killed and seven Indians bit the dust before the fifteen gallant defenders of the panic-stricken army or rabble. Had half the wild mob kept their heads and joined them the enemy would not only have been defeated but probably captured. They fled back to their camp and there told the remain der of the army such horrid stories of Black Hawk and his solid legions, that these broke camp and joined the stampede, the larger portion going to Dixon, but many were so scattered and had become so wild with fright that they continued to flee south, and for weeks lone stragglers arrived at Peoria and at other points south as far as Beardstown and Springfield. The valor of these men was not at fault as was afterward tested. They were merely raw recruits who had not learned that in battle the safest place is in prompt obedience to their officer, and facing the enemy, regardless of the odds in the enemy's favor.

This battle-field has gone into history as Stillman's Run. His defeat spread consternation over the State. Gen. Scott with 1,000 troops was at once sent out to the seat of war. Gov. Reynolds called for new levies, the call being dated June 3d, and appointing them to meet at Beardstown and Hennepin, June 10.

The men in the service asked to be discharged, but in the great emergency they heeded the appeal of the Governor and agreed to remain twelve or fifteen days longer.

When the news of Stillman's defeat had reached the army at Dixon, a Council of War was called, and the whole army marched to the battle-field. The dead were recovered, in most instances frightfully mutilated, and were buried.

Black Hawk retreated into Wisconsin, and on the 6th of June made an attack on Apple River Fort, near the present town of Elizabeth, twelve miles from Galena. Three messengers on their way from Dixon to Galena were fired upon within half a mile of the fort, but they escaped. The inhabitants had fled to the forts. Twenty-five armed men were in the fort, and they made a determined resistance and drove off the sav-

The new levies assembled at Beardstown and Hennepin, and the two forces were soon ordered to Fort Wilbourne, a small fortification on the south bank of the Illinois River, about a mile above Peru, which had been erected by Lieut. Wilbourne for the protection of the stores entrusted to his care by Col. March.

Several thousand volunteers had assembled, at first a promiscuous multitude. The Governor appealed'to the old forces who had been discharged, and among others who re-enlisted was Abraham Lincoln, who had been a Captain in Col. Thompson's regiment, and now entered Capt. Isle's Company as a private. On the 16th day of June the brigades were organized, Gen. Posey commanding the First, Melton K. Alexander, the Second, and James D. Henry, Third; Gen. Atkinson in general command. Four additional battalions were organized for special purposes, commanded severally by Bogart, Bailey, Buckmaster and Dement.

On the 17th Col. Dement was ordered to report to Col. Zachary Taylor at Dixon, the main army soon to follow. On his arrival at Dixon, he was ordered to take his position at Kellogg' s Grove. After the first night there a detachment was sent to examine a reported fresh Indian trail. They started at daylight, and within 300 yards of the Fort discovered several Indian spies, and despite the cries and commands of Col. Dement and Lieut. -Gov. Casey, these raw soldiers gave chase and recklessly followed them into Black Hawk's ambush of 800 naked, howling savages, whose sudden appearance and fierce onslaught started a pellmell stampede of the whites for the fort.

In the confused retreat which followed, five whites who were without horses were killed, and the others reached the fort only in time to close the gates upon the enemy, who attacked the inmates furiously, the fight lasting several hours, and they only retired when they had to leave nine of their braves dead on the field. No one in the fort was killed; but several were wounded, Col. Dement having three shots through his clothing. At 8 o'clock next morning messengers were sent fifty miles to Gen. Posey for assistance, and toward sundown they appeared at the rescue. Gen. Posey started in pursuit of the enemy the next day. The enemy had used his usual tactics of scattering his retreating forces, and discovering this the pursuit was .abandoned. The army marched up Eock River, expecting to find the enemy near its source. On the 21st of July the enemy was overtaken on the bluffs of the Wisconsin and a decisive battle was fought, lasting till the sun went down, and driving and scattering the savages, killing 168 that were found on the field, and twenty-five were found on the trail the next day, dead. Gen. Henry lost only one killed and seven wounded. Gens. Henry and Atkinson's forces, 1,200 in all, met them at the Blue Mounds.

On the 25th the whole army started in pursuit of Black Hawk, whose trail could be easily followed by the abandoned articles and dead bodies, that told plainly the story of the deplorable condition of his army. The fugitives were fleeing the State, and had reached the Mississippi River, and were making hasty preparations to cross, when they were overtaken and the final and decisive battle of Bad Axe was fought on the 2d day of August. It was a merciless slaughter, in which warriors, women and children were slain. Seventeen Americans were killed and over 150 Indians. Black Hawk had escaped up the river. He was pursued by a band of Winnebagoes. They were gone twenty days and returned with Black Hawk

Such was the bloody and sad scene that closed the last great attempt at regular war upon the whites by the combined forces of the red men. Black Hawk was the true successor of Pontiac and Tecumseh. He wore their fallen mantles well and worthily, but able as he was, after his daring efforts to make a stand against the oncoming invaders of his happy hunting grounds in northern Illinois, the best effort he could make was a feeble one compared to those of his predecessors, and indicated the decay of his people - swiftly dying of the contact of the white man and civilization. Since the Black Hawk war we have had nothing more terrible than local forages, and the occasional scalping of an isolated settler or traveler, or horse-stealing expeditions, in which murder was only an incident. The Indian has gone. Here we have nothing left of him but a memory. In the struggle for existence he has paid the great penalty of ignorance and slowly but surely passed away from the earth. In the long and unknown ages he was here he did nothing - accomplished nothing - and this would have doubtless continued had he been left unmolested by the white man millions of years, save only what he had always been doing - breeding wretchedness and the vilest ignorance and savagery. He loved his wild freedom - he would not have our civilization. Ever ready to sing his death song and die, he would not be enslaved. Liberty or death was all he knew, and he stared fate in the face with a stoicism truly sublime. His existence here is but a memory, much like the shadowy and unsubstantial legends of his own tribes. In the long centuries of his possession of the greatest and richest portion of the world, he did nothing, was nothing; and saving the corrupted Indian names given to certain places, there is nothing to prevent all memories of him from passing into annihilation and oblivion with his own valueless person and life. He lived only to hunt and tight - "born in the wild wood, rocked on the wave,'' he despised the refinements, the enervating pleasures, the trammels of civilization. The captured warrior and the decoyed dupe of the cunning merchantmen, he was stupefied with whisky and sold into slavery, yet this failed as completely to make an humble slave of him always as would an effort to make cringing menials of the eagles of the crags. In this respect his nature was the opposite of the negro; and no white race has excelled, if any has ever equaled him, in his determination to be absolutely free - to be his own liberator and defy all the powers that might assail him here. This heroic trait saved his exit from the world from the reproach of contempt.

The treatment of the Indians, from the time of the first coming of the whites on the Atlantic shores to the present time, has been often wrong and sometimes criminal; just and sensible but rarely. Their fate was voiced well when Pontiac said, " "White man, I stand in thy path." It was barbarous ignorance standing in the way of intelligence and industry; one or the other must perish. The survival of the fittest lays its inexorable hand here, as everywhere, cold and passionlesb and omnipotent, and the weaker take their places in the ranks of the innumerable multitudes and pass away from the face of the earth.

interest in Illinois is Starved Eock, on the south bank of the Illinois Kiver, seven miles below Ottawa. The beetling-rock cliffs rise from the waters one hundred and thirty-six feet. Three hides rise thus perpendicularly like a giant watch-tower piercing the clouds. The fourth side recedes gradually inward from the river, in one place very steep, and this rapid descent can be mounted only by narrow steps, and along deep crevices in the rocks that bear no signs of vegetation save sparsely scattered stunted cedars and mountain ivy. The walls are of gray sand-stone. The gen- - eral shape of this impregnable, eternal castle is circular, and from any point of view the effect is most inspiring and majestic. In many places are overhanging crags and deep crevices where once the wild beast fixed his lair, or the deadly reptiles retreated for safety. A part of the summit is smooth sand stone, and the whole contains nearly an acre in area. From the midst of the flowing waters rises this wonderful rock pyramid, looking far up and down the river and away over the winding belts of timber and the grand sweep of rich meadow lands - the eternal, silent sentinel - and in the aeons of its watches the coming and going of nations, dynasties, races and generations of men are but as the snow-flake on the river, "a moment white then gone forever. " It is now a noted resort for excursion and pic-nic parties, fascinating the visitor with its romantic scenery, and enchanting all with the wide-spread panoramic views from its summit. Of itself it will always possess a deep interest to all beholders, and it is but natural it should arrest the interest and attention of the adventurous white men who discovered what is now the State of Illinois. Two hundred and eleven years ago - 1673 - Joliet and Marquette, in their voyage of discovery for the great river .(Mississippi), which was supposed to run to the Pacific

Ocean, after finding the river and passing down it far enough to learn that the river emptied into the Southern Ocean, were returning to the St. Lawrence to report their great success, when they discovered the Illinois River and passed up it on their way to Lake Michigan. When they reached Starved Eock the party of nine persons landed their canoes and ascended to the top of the tower and erected a cross and in the name of the king and the church took possession of the country. Salutes were fired in honor of the king and prayers and invocations addressed to the Virgin.

In 1682 La Salle, the earliest follower of Joliet, founded a colony here, under a charter from the court of France, built a rnde fort on the summit of the rock, called it Fort St. Louis, and named the country New France. This was the first white settlement made in the West. Near the base of Starved Eock are found the works of the Mound Builders, the flint instruments, the mounds, the pathways worn and cut in the rocks in going and returning from the top of this natural fort, plainly telling that every different race of men that ever occupied this country had found here the same land mark and refuge that attracted Joliet and La Salle and brought the first settlement in the Mississippi Valley.

The two hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Starved Rock by Joliet and Marquette was celebrated in 1873. The meeting was held on top of the rock, and a large crowd was present and many speeches were made. A high pole was erected on the highest point and the stars and stripes floated out on the breeze where two hundred years ago the tri-colors of France had waved as emblems of French authority and power. These revelers looked out over the same winding river which in the distant curves of the stream became mere silver threads in the forest fringe; the same flower-bedecked prairies, the same sweeping modulations of hill and valley; but once they were covered with great herds of buffalo, deer and elk, and the red man, with his many villages and wigwams, especially in the view westward into this county - all indicating that here were gathered in countless numbers - like a great trysting place - the wild beasts and the wild men. Now the same enchanting view is over civilized life, equally numerous, and instead of the silent solitude of the waste places, all is vocal with the glad song of civilization and the joys and blessings of a rich, active and prosperous people. 4^+*' ^t^

Bureau County f^n the Black Hawk. - At the time of this war the county was all Putnam, and it is only by selecting out of the lists furnished by Putnam County, we are enabled to give the names of nearly all who went from what was afterward Bureau County. Captain George B. Willis, of Hennepin, raised a company for the Fourth Brigade, Fortieth Regiment, commanded by Col. John Strawn. This was mustered out of service at Hennepin, June 18, 1832, George B. Willis, Captain; Timothy Perkins, First Lieutenant; Samuel D. Laughlin, Second Lieutenant. Among the privates who were afterward citizens of this countj were John Cole, Williamson Durley, OoelDoolittle, James G. Foristal, Aaron Gunn (now living in La Salle); John Hall, William Hoskins, Michael Kitterman; Robert A. Leeper, Charles Leeper, these were brothers of H. B. Leeper, now residing in Princeton; Roland B. Moseley, John Moore; Elijah Phillips, who was killed by the Indians, June 18; Daniel Prunk, whose son is now living in Tiskilwa; Joseph W. Rexford; Solomon and Leonard Roth, brothers, one of whom is still living; Nelson Shepherd, still living; George P. Wilmouth, John Williams, Curtis Williams and Hoskin K. Zenor.

Capt. William M. Stewart also had a company from Putnam County, in the same brigade and regiment of Willis' company. We note in this company Private Madison Studyvin.

Another company in the same command was Capt. William Haws' company. Capt. Haws died only a few months ago, aged eighty-four years, at his home near Magnolia; he dropped dead on retiring from the dinner table. Although very old, his sudden and most unexpected death was a great shock to his wide circle of friends and acquaintances, among whom he had lived a long and useful life.

| William L. Isaac, is now one of the influential citizens of the county, and a Supervisor. The Indians commenced their forays and massacres of the scattered settlements in Illinois as early as 1810. That is, they then began to sow the seeds of bloody war against the Americans or English, as much of their previous intercourse had been with the French in this part of the West. The first massacre of note was on Cache River, not far above Cairo, where they murdered two families. Seven persons - three women and j two children - were ot the victims. Then a murderous foray was made by them on Wood River, now in Madison County, and soon, the burning cabins and the fleeing fugitives from all the outlying settlements told the story of the progress of the awful visitation throughout southern Illinois. Those who escaped fled to the forts, and for four years the people thus existed, suffered, were massacred, and many good people were driven penniless from the county. The war of 1812-15 was peace were made, and people again resumed the work of building homes and laying the foundations for the great State of Illinois. The Indians of southern Illinois had been driven mostly away, or they were pretty thoroughly subjugated. But in northern Illinois it was different. The white man was only at Fort Dearborn, and in 1827 he was in the northwest corner of the State in the hunt for fortunes in the lead mines, and his presence here was regarded with an evil eye by the Indian. His jealous nature and his treacherous disposition were soon aroused, and he wanted to fill himself with patriotic whisky and commence his congenial work of massacring the weak and defenseless, especially the women and children, or where a hundred of them could find an unarmed white man to torture and kill. This continued until it culminated in the battle of Bad Axe in 1832, and the overthrow of Black Hawk and his co-conspirators.

Nicholas Smith, only surviving son of " Dad Joe " Smith, informs us that his father's family was, in 1829, on a claim where Rock Island now is, and that near them was an Indian encampment, and, especially when they could get whisky, they were often very threatening and annoying. One day his father had gone to Galena after some of their remaining goods, and he, only eighteen years old, was mowing about a mile from home, when his younger brother came as fast as he could with word that the Indiana were about to tnurder the family. He dropped his scythe and hurried to the house and found two bucks trying to kill a man, a neighbor who happened to be there, and his mother with the two little girls had taken refuge in the weeds near the house. He relieved his neighbor and then rushed into the house and got his gun. An Indian followed him and struck at him with his tomahawk, and when he got his gun the Indian ran. He heard an outcry from his mother and looking saw an Indian holding her by the hair and trying to tomahawk her. His little brother had fortunately arrived on the horse and seeing the Indian trying to kill his mother, had spurred the horse upon him, and the boy and mother were in the life struggle when he started to their rescue with his gun, which unfortunately was not loaded, and the Indian fled. He had inflicted an ugly wound in his mother's face. On another occasion he was hewing logs for their future house, and several Indians came up and were loafing around. He was working away and paying no attention to them, when one of them slipped up and told him an Indian was following Smith's little sister, and was going to kill her. He dropped his ax and saw the savage following the child with his butcher-knife concealed by his side in his hand. He fled when Smith noticed and started toward him. We only give these as evidences of the disposition of the savages when they had whisky, and as historical facts in the inception of those Indian depredations that finally led to the Black Hawk war.

Another incident related to us by Mr. Smith was connected with the outbreak of 1832. It is not only of interest as one of the first scenes in the actual war, but it is strongly illustrative of some of the incidents of frontier life. He had gone to Ottawa to mill. The trip was a very serious and tiresome one, as he had to hire a skiff and ferry his grain over the river, and then go to the mill and borrow a wagon to haul it from the skiff to the mill - about two miles. He was gone nearly a week and got home, and the first thing he noticed was his father walking up and down the road, gun in hand, and greatly excited. He soon learned the whole country was threatened with an Indian out- break; people were fleeing for their lives. The Smiths locked up their smoke-house and loaded a team and started for Galena, and here they stayed for several months. The Galena stage was stopped, and every house on the way to Galena was deserted, and they were about the last family that passed along the road.