Kendall County, Illinois - Chapter 13: More Bloodshed, 1877

Chapter 13: More Bloodshed

jfO LIFE was lost within the limits of Kendall county, which might have induced a belief that the Indians were not so dangerous after all, and wished rather to frighten than to kill the settlers. But within a mile of our county line they showed their hand, and again in a more terrible massacre within ten miles. It is possible, however, that these last were committed by a different band of Indians. They were a mixture of Sacs and Foxes, and Winnebago and Pottawatomie outlaws, and were led by savage, with high cheek bones, a flat nose and black eyes, and said to have been the son of Simon Gurty, a well-known Revolutionary outlaw who found refuge at last among the Indians of the Ohio, and in Wayne's war, when Col. Crawford was taken prisoner, laughed in fiendish glee while he burnt him alive. Mike aspired to be a chief, but was never wholly trusted by the Indians. He had married a squaw and had a family of sons, some of whom are now living with their tribe in the far West. He acted as interpreter at a council held near the mouth of Crow creek in 1827, between Gen. Cass and the Indians, and at the close the General gave him a silver medal as a mark of esteem. He fastened it about his neck by a buckskin string, and wore it until death. As soon as the war opened, Gurty and his band scoured the country for blood and plunder, and having raided the country south of us, they came this way, guided b}'^ a treacherous half-breed called Tenge Forqua, who had often experienced the hospitalities of the settlers.

Indian Creek

is a romantic stream that rises near Shabbona Grove, in DeKalb county, and empties into Fox river in the town of Dayton, LaSalle county, eight miles above Ottawa. At the mouth of the creek, William Davis - with his family - settled in 1830, and in 1831 built him a cabin and a blacksmith shop, and had thrown a dam across the creek, intending to build a mill. The latter incensed the inhabitants of an Indian village a few miles farther up the creek, as it prevented the fish from coming up, but no serious trouble was apprehended.

An Indian Massacre

took a claim close by Davis, and was building his cabin when the war began. Mr. Pettigrew and family also occupied a claim in the neighborhood. There were at Davis' house, Mr. Phillips, the mill-wright who was building his mill, his wife and child, and Henry George, a visitor from Bureau county.

When the alarm was given they all went to Ottawa, but after three or four days, by the advice of Davis, they returned, arriving at their cabins about noon. May 21. Several other settlers also returned. Gurty'sband drew near the settlement about the same time, and watched their chance, and about four o'clock in the afternoon, crawled along under the creek bank and so came up into the yard before they were seen. The women and younger part of the families of Davis and Hall were in the house, also Mr. Pettigrew and family, who had not yet removed to their own cabin. Davis himself, with Phillips, Hall, George and Robert Norris, who were there getting some work done, were in the shop. Two of Hall's sons and one of Davis' were plowing in the field. They thought themselves strong enough to repel any ordinary attack, and might have done so had they not been so completely surprised. A dog barked, and Mrs. Pettigrew, looking out at the door, said, '* 0, God, here are the Indians now!" Her husband sprang forward instantly to close the door, and was shot down while doing so ; while the savages pouring in soon completed the work of death. Most of the men at the shop were killed before they could make any defence, but Davis, who was a most powerful man and utterly fearless, did not sell his life so easily. He shot down the nearest Indian, and clubbing his rifle, rushed into their midst, and was not slain until he had dispatched three more, and bent his rifle barrel with the fury of his blows. A dozen men like Davis would probably have whipped the entire band, though, if he had been less confident of his strength, perhaps he would have remained longer at the fort, and thus saved his life and the lives of his friends. The young men at work in the field unhitched their oxen and escaped, and another of Hall's sons escaped by running under the creek bank. A little son of Davis, called Jimmy, seven years old, and two of Hall's daughters, Sylvia and Rachel, aged respectively eighteen and sixteen years, were saved alive, through the influence of a petty Sac chief, for the sake of the ransom, and were hurried off" by him and his braves through the woods to where their ponies were tied. The others remained to wreak their vengeance on the dead bodies, and on the stock. They shot horses, cattle and hogs, and even the chickens in the yard did not escape their rage, so savagely did the shedding of blood excite them. Then robbing the murdered families of everything they could carry, they went on toward Holderman's. Fifteen persons were killed, viz : Davis, wife, two sons and daughter. Hall and wife, Pettigrew, wife and child, Phillips, wife and child, Norris and George.

The news was published in probably every newspaper in the United States, and awakened a tide of sympathy for the frontier people, and especially for those captive girls.

Adam Payne Murder Of The Missionary

black beard that hung to his waist, and was well known, having preached about through the western settlements for years. He had been to Ohio, and on his return stopped in Chicago a few days to preach. The commander at Fort Dearborn, at the same time, was pressing horses to mount a company of rangers, and Payne, who had a splendid horse, in order to save it, decided to go to Hennepin, below Ottawa, where his brother Aaron lived.

The morning he left he preached his last sermon, at the northern end of the military parade ground, corner of South Water street and Michigan Avenue. His sermon was two hours long, but he held his audience of traders, soldiers, citizens and Indians, spell-bound to the close, as he pressed upon them the reality of eternal things. When he came to Plainfield to put up for the night, he found the people in a state of great excitement over the news of the Indian Creek massacre. They imagined that the country was being over-run by an army of savages, who would not spare a soul alive, and that the woods all around were full of them. Besides this, the stockade there was too small to accommodate the multitude, so that it had been decided to break up and go to Chicago. They were to start the next morning after Payne's arrival, and tried to prevail on him to go with them, but he would not. He wished to see his family, and believed that his profession and his acquaintance with the Indians, and, if it came to the worst, the fleetness of his splendid bay mare, would carry him through safely. So, in the morning, Plainfield was west. He rode on without being molested until he passed Holderman's Grove, when there was a sudden report of guns, and a bullet pierced his shoulder, and another struck his horse. The Indians probably saw him from their hiding-place. They used to cut bushes and make a little barricade by the road, where they watched for travelers. One such hiding-place was found in a tree at the north-west corner of Kellogg's Grove, where they could overlook all the surrounding country. Payne immediately put his horse on the run, and outstripped the savages, who would probably have given up the chase but for the fact that they knew he was wounded. Across the countrv thev went like the wind, pursuer and pursued. Across the slough and up tlie next rise of ground west of Holderman's the fugitive urged his panting steed, but the race was nearly oyer. A little beyond the grove the horse dropped from exhaustion and loss of blood, and Payne deciding that his best course was to bravely stand his ground, waited until the Indians came up. and with his Bible in one hand and the other pointing heavenward, he appealed for mercy. Two of the three Indians were moved at this, but the third struck him on the head* from behind, and he expired in a few moments. His head was placed on a pole, and at night the whole band assembled, laden with spoils from the houses of the settlers, and held a wild war dance around the spot where their victim fell. The body was found a few days afterwards by a company of rangers, or volunteer cavalry, and buried. The scalp was stuck up on a ramrod, with fifteen or sixteen little sticks around it, indicating the number they had taken.

Another Story Of The Murder

It was as large as the palm of a man's hand, and as thick as a little finger. It was probably left by the Indians through the belief that ill-luck would attend them by having the scalp of a man of God.

Another Story

or Indian tradition, says that Gurty had once been Payne's interpreter, and when he recognized the body, after the dance was over, he was filled with remorse, and having buried it he burnt his most valuable articles over the grave to appease the Great Spirit. If that is true, the remains of Adam Payne sleep to-day not far from the south-west corner of Big Grove township, and the body found was that of a Dunker preacher who was also missed about the same time. As the Indians themselves gave this account, there is so far an air of great probability about it. Mr. Cummins was Payne's step -son, and Mrs. Payne and her family went down with him and the Holdermans to a prairie camp in Putnam county. She never received any of her husband's effects, though she lived for a long time in the hope that she should.

The following, from Vetal Vermet, who lived here at the time, corroborates the main features of the story, while difiering in some minor parts. He says :

" Rev. Mr. Payne lived at Holderman's Grove at the time of the Indian war. Just before it commenced he had to go to Chicago on business, and when he returned found his family and the other settlers gone. He resumed his journey, but coming across some Indians hid in the grove, they chased him about seven miles in a southern direction, when they shot him, and he fell from his horse some time after he was killed. There we found and buried him, but his head we never found."' Mr. Vermet gives the following particulars of

Other Deaths

"While at the Ottawa fort, Capt. McFadden with James Beresford and Zeke Warren wanted me to go with them to pick strawberries at Indian creek, but 1 refused, as there was too much danger. They went, and Warren soon returned bringing the bad news. Then a company of us went out and found McFadden hid in a bunch of willows. He was wounded in the leg, and his injured horse had carried him three miles and fell dead. We then searched for Beresford, and found him dead and scalped where he was first attacked.

" Mr. Schemerhorn and his son-in-law, Mr. Hazleton. owned a farm at Mission Point. After we had been at the fort a week or two they wanted me to get ready and go back with them to our homes to look after our household goods, and I agreed to go with them the next day. But when they came for me my horse was gone. I had turned him out to feed on the prairie, and could not find him, so they went without me, taking a young man with them. About seven miles from Ottawa they were surrounded by Indians and killed, though the young man escaped. We at once went out and found the bodies, bringing them back to Ottawa, but the Indians had gone."