Madison County, Illinois - Biographical sketches (1 of 2 so headed), 1882 (part 1 of 3)

Clinton H Co

I HERE are few stiulies more interesting and profitable to mankind than that of the past experiences, deeds, thoughts and trials of the human race. The civilized man and the untutored savage alike desire to know the deeds and lives of their ancestors, and strive to perpetuate their story. National patriotism and literary pride have prompted many, in all times, to write and preserve the annals of particular peoples. But narrow prejudice and selfish interests too often have availed to suppress the truth or to distort facts. It is the aim of this work to coUe-taad preserve, in enduring and popular form, .some of the facts of the early settlement, and sub-sequent growth of a great county of a grand State. The families whose ancestors were early on the ground, and whose members have made the county what it is, are worthy of remembrance ; and their difficulties and sorrows, customs, labors and patriotism, should not be allowed to fall into oblivion. By a knowledge of these the present generation will be instructed, and the future will be guided.

All history, if projjerly written, is interesting ; and there is not a town, city or hamlet, - nay, we might say, not a family or an individual on the globe, - whose history might not be more or less valuable to posterity.

From the ancient days, away back in the dim aud shadowy past, when the human race first arrived at a state of intelligence sufficient to enable them to transmit a traditionary or written account of themselves, all along down the teeming ages, cue progenitors have left in various ways, and by different means, inform ition, more or less mythical, of the age and generation in which they played their ephemeral part on the world's ever-changing theatre of action. It is graven in bronze on tha wjnierful wjrks of the central nations of Africa, around those " dim fountains of the Nile ;" the gray old pyramids in the valley of " tweiiti/ thousand cities " are coverei with the hieroglyphical language of the " shadowy past." The vast and mighty " palaces and piles stupendous," hoary with the dust of unknown centuries, that bewilder the traveler 'mid Egypt's drifting sands, upon the plains of the E.iphrates, and hidden away in the tiger-hunted jungles of the " farthest Ind ;" the gigantic ruins of Southern and Central America, under the snow-capped Cordilleras and among the wondrous forests of Yucatan ; the seamed and wrinkled pyramids of the Aztecs, in Mexico and California, and the ten thousand crumbling evidences of a powerful civilization scattered throughout the great valley of the Mississippi, all bear testimony of countless attempts to transmit knowledge to posterity.

The written historj' of the American Continent dates back scarcely four centuries, yet within that comparatively short period its pages have garnered from her hills and mountains, from her grand rivers and mighty inland seas, valuable additions to the world's stock of knowledge.

Like the Eastern Continent, our own has its historic points, - its nuclei around which cluster the memories of heroic deeds, the story of martyrs, and the legends of a barbarous past. St. Augustine, Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, Quebec, Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Kaskaskia are localities about which gather volumes of history.

The advance of civilization on the North American Continent has been more rapid than in any other portion of the globe ; and, within the memory of living men, the fairest and richest portions have been wrested from the dominion of the wilderness and the savage, and changed into a highly-cultivated region, filled with a race of industrious and thriving people. Prominent among the localities rich in historic lore is the region of the Mississippi river. It early claimed the attention of two of the most powerful nations of Europe, whose pioneers and avant couriers were boldly pushing into the then unknown countries lying towards the " Great South Sea," eagerly looking for gold and precious stones, for fabled Eldorados, and fertile lands.

Dim traditions, fragmentary legends, stories of bloody warfare, of disaster and defeat ; essays, letters, and public documents, all bearing, more or less, upon the history of the county, have been carefully examined.

To collect and arrange in one volume these various fragments, this abundant material, and to give the cream of all the best authors who have treated the subject, together with all additional information it was possible to obtain, and present it in readable form, has been the object of the publishers of the present work.

We know, full well, the task was not a light one ; the contemplated work was by no means a holiday frolic. Hard, steady application aud untiring energy were necessary to accomplisli it.

The utmost pains have been taken to read thoroughly and compare carefully the various writers, and to sift out and reconcile discrepancies, for historians not unfrequently disagree upon minor points. The work of reading and comparing was no ordinary one, and the difficulty has not been so much in collecting as in nuiking a judicious and truthful use of the abundant material at hand.

The traditions of the Indians, as given by Heckewelder and others, have been quoted, as an important factor in the sum total of knowledge concerning this region ; and the early discoveries of Marquette, La Salle, Hennepin, and other French adventurers in the valley of the Mississippi and the basin of the great lakes of the Northwest, with a brief sketch of the title to the fee of the millions of acres of prolific soil within its splendid domain have also demanded a large share of attention, as preliminary to tiie troubles which grew out of the conflicting claims of the French and English crowns, resulting in a contest for supremacy, md in which not only all the contiguous region, but the entire French and English possessions in America, a large share of Europe, and immense regions in Asia and the islands of the sea, ivere interested and involved.

Another object to be gained by this work, is to bring to the .ijtice of the people, the immense resources which a bountiful Providence has bestowed upon them, and which it becomes, not merely a privilege to use, but a duty to improve. How little is now known of these treasures, and how greatly profitable such information may be, needs only a thought to comprehend. Our fortile soils, our noble timber trees, our genial climate, our inexiaustible mineral treasures, and our easy facilities for commerce, iro, in a great degree, unknown even to our own population. This volume seeks to develop an appreciation of them, and to itimulate a desire to improve and extend them.

Tlien, local customs, old family traits and anecdotes are so -icli in interest and so full of instruction to the young, that they )Ught never to be forgotten. These, sa many as time and dili- ;t'n(!e could gather, are hare recorded and will be found to form I ) unimportant or uninstructive portion of this volume.

and in establishing a character for its people, are the efforts of its citizens to educate their children and to provide for social religious worship. These two interests will, therefore, show most accurately the tastes, the habits and aspirations of a community. Hence they have been made prominent in the ensuing narrative, and it is confidently hoped that they will not only interea our readers, but will be studied and appreciated.

The work will be found embellished with views of public and private property, in various parts of the county, and with portraits and biographies of many of the prominent men of the past and present.

The Constitution of the United States and of this State, and a roster of the soldiers of the War of 1812, Black-Hawk, Mexican War, and of the late Rebellion, have been inserted with a view to make the work more creditable, alike to the publishers and people of the county.

The work may be incomplete in some particulars. Nor indeed is it possible for it to be otherwise ; but we hope, so far as it goes, it is truthful and accurate.

We trust, however, that it will be the means of preserving from the empire of decay a host of incidents, recollections, and anecdotes, relating to the hardy pioneers and first settlers of the county, which, in the estimation of the historian and student of history, are of priceless value, but which otherwise would soon fade from the memories of the living.

Whether this has been well done, is not for us to say. A generous and intelligent public must decide. It is not permitted any man to attain perfection. Its regions lie beyond our reach. We feel, however, in submitting this work to the inspection of the patrons, whose public spirit made possible its preparation, that satisfaction which results from a consciousness of faithful endeavor and an earnest desire to fulfil the expectations of all.

Geographical Position

,N 1784 the North Western Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia. It embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and Mississipjii rivers; and north, to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and that portion of JMinncsota lying on the east side of the Mississippi river. On the first day of March, I7S4, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, delegates in Congress on the part of Virginia, executed a deed of cession, by which they transferred to the United States, on certain conditions, all right, title and claim of Virginia to the country known as the Northwestern Territory. But by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles, being greater than the united areas of the Middle and Southern states, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign states and eight territories, with an aggregate population at the present time of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one-third of the entire population of the LTnited States.

Its lakes are fresh-water seas, upon whose bosom floats the commerce of many states. Its far-stretching prairies have more acres that are arable and^sroductive than any other area of like extent on the globe.

For the last quarter of a century the increase of population and wealth in the north-west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.

Eakly Explorations

In the year 1512, on Easter Sunday, the Spanish name for which is Pascua Florida,* Juan Ponce de Leon, an old comrade of Columbus, discovered the coast of the American continent, near St. Augustine, and in honor of the day and of the blossoms which covered the trees along the shore, named the new-found country Florida. Juan had been led to undertake the discovery of strange lands partly by the hope of finding endless stores of gold, and partly by the wish to reach a fountain that was said to exist deep within the forests of North America, which possessed the power of renovating the life of those who drank of or bathed in its waters. He was made governor of the region he had visited but circumstances prevented his return thither until 1521 ; and then he went only to meet death at the hands of the Indians.

In the meantime, in 1516, a Spanish sea-captain, Diego Miruelo, had visited the coast first reached by Ponce de Leon, and in his barters with the natives had received considerable quantities of gold, with which he returned home and spread abroad new stories of the wealth hidden in the interior.

Ten years, however, passed before Pamphilo de Narvaes undertook to jsroseoute the examination of the lands north of the Gulf of Mexico. Narvaez was excited to action by the late astonishing success of the conqueror of Montezuma, but he found the gold for which he sought constantly flying before him ; each tribe of Indians referred him to those living farther in the interior. And from tribe to tribe he and his companions wandered. They suScred untold privations in the swamps and forests ; and out of three hundred followers only four or five at length reached Mexico. And still these disappointed wanderers persisted in their original fancy, that Florida was as wealthy as Mexico or Peru.

Among those who had faith in that report was Ferdinand de Soto, who had been with Pizarro in the conquests of Peru. He asked and obtained leave of the King of Spain to conquer Florida at his own cost. It was given in tlie year 13o8. With a brilliant and noble baud of followers he left Europe and in May, 1538, after a stay in Cuba, anchored his vessels near the coast of the Peninsula of Florida, in the bay of Sl)iritu Santa, or Tampa bay.

1540, they followed the course suggested by the Florida Indians, who wished them out of their country, and going to the north-east, crossed the rivers and climbed the mountains of Georgia. De Soto was a stern, severe man, and none dared to murmur. De Soto passed the winter with his little baud near the Yazoo. la April, 1541, the resolute Spaniard set forward, and upon' the first of May reached tlie banks of the great river of the West, not far from the 35tli parallel of latitude.*

A month was spent in preparing barges to convey the horses, many of which still lived, across the rapid stream. Having successfully passed it, the explorers pursued their way northward, into the neighborhood of New Madrid ; then turning w'estward again, marched more than two hundred miles from the Mississippi to the highlands of White river ; and still no gold, no gems, no cities - only bare prairies, and tangled forests, and deep morasses To the south again they toiled on, and passed their third winter of wandering upon the Washita. In the following spring (1542), De Soto, weary with hope long deferred, descended the Washita to its junction with the Mississippi. He heard, when he rf ached the mighty stream of the west, that its lower portion flowed through endless and uninhabitable swamps.

The news sank deep into the stout heart of the disappointed warrior. His health yielded to the contests of his mind and the influence of the climate. He appointed a successor, and on the 21st of May died. His body was sunk in the stream of the Mississippi. Deprived of their energetic leader, the Spaniards determined to try to reach Mexico by land. After some time spent in wandering through the forests, despairing of success in the attempt to rescue themselves by land, they proceeded to prepare such vessels as they could to take them to sea. From January to July 1543, the weak, sickly band of gold-seekers labored at the doleful task, and in July reached, in the vessels thus built, the Gulf of Mexico, and by September entered the river Pauuco. Oue-half of the six huadred f who had disembarked with De Soto, so gay in steel and silk, left their bones among the mountains and in the morasses of the South, from Georgia to Arkansas.

De Soto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened

DeSoto probably was at the lower Chickasaw bluffs. The Spaniards called the Mississippi Rio Grande, Great River, which is the literal meaning of the aboriginal nauie.

such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by De Soto's defeat. As it was, for more than a century after the expedition, the west remained utterly unknown to the whites.

The French were the first Europeans to make settlements on the St. Lawrence river and along the great lakes. Quebec was founded by Sir Samuel Champlaiu in 1608,* and in 1G09 when Sir Henry Hudson was exploring the noble river which bears his name, Champlain ascended the Sorrelle river, and discovered, embosomed between the Green mountains, or " Verdmont," as the chivalrous and poetic Frenchman called them, and the Adirondacks, the beautiful sheet of water to which his name is indissolubly attached. lu 1613 he founded Montreal.

During the period elapsing between the years 1607 and 1664, the English, Dutch, and sSwedes alternately held possession of portions of the Atlantic coast, jealously watching one another, and often involved in bitter controversy, and not seldom in open battle, until, in the latter year, the English became the sole rulers, and maintained their rights until the era of the Revolution, when they in turn were compelled to yield to the growing power of their colonies, and retire from the field.

The French movements, from the first settlement at Quebec, and thence westward, were led by the Catholic missionaries. Le Caron, a Franciscan friar, who had been the companion and friend of Champlain, was the first to penetrate the western wilds, which he did in 1616* in a birch canoe, exploring lake Huron and its tributaries. This was four years before the Pilgrims

In 1634, three Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf, Daniel, and Lallemand, planted a mission on the shores of the lake of the Iroquois, (probably the modern Lake Simcoe), and also established others along the eastern border of Lake Huron.

From a map published in 1660, it would appear that the French had at that date, become quite familiar with the region from Niagara to the head of Lake Superior, including considerable portions of Lake Michigan.

In 1641, Fathers Jogues and Raymbault embarked on the Peuetanguishine Bay for the Sault St. Marie, where they arrived after a passage of seventeen days. A crowd of two thousand natives met them, and a great council was held. At this meeting the French first heard of many nations dwelling beyond the great lakes.

Father Raymbault ditd in the wilderness in 1642, while enthusiastically pursuing his discoveries. The same year, Jogues and Bressani were captured by the Indians and tortured, and in 1648 the mission which had been founded at St. Joseph was taken and destroyed, and Father Daniel slain. In 1640, the mis.sions St Louis and St. Ignatius were also destroj'cd, and Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemaud barbarously tortuivd by the same terrible and unrelenting enemy. Literally did those zealous missionaries of the Romish Church "take their lives in their hands," and lay them a willing sacrifice on the altar of their faith.

It is stated by some writer that, in 1G54, two fur traders accompanied a band of Ottaivas on a journey of five hundred leagues to the west. They were absent two years, and on their return brought with them fifty canoes and two hundred and fifty Indians to the French trading posts.

They related wonderful talcs of the countries they had seen, and the various red nations they had visited, and described the lofty mountains and mighty rivers in glowing terms. A new impulse was given to the spirit of adventure, and scouts and traders swarmed the frontiers and explored the great lakes and adjacent country, and a party wintered in lGo9-00 on the south shore of Lake Superior.

In IGGO Father Mesnard was sent out by the Bishop of Quebec, and visited Lake Superior in October of that year. While crossing the Keeweenaw Point he was lost in the wilderness and never afterwards heard from, though his cassock and breviary wore found long afterwards among the Sioux.

A change was made in the government of Xew France in IGGo. The Company of the Hundred Associates, who had ruled it since 1G3'2, resigned its charter. Tracy was made Viceroy, Courcclles Governor, and Talon Intendent.* This was called the Government of the West Indies.

The Jesuit missions were taken under the care of the new goYcnment, and thenceforward became the leaders in the movement to Christianize the savages.

In the same year (_lG6o) Pierre Claude Alloiiez was sent out by way of the Ottawa river to the far west, via the Sault St. Marie and the south shore of Lake Superior, where he landed at the bay of Chegoimegon. Here he found the chief village of the Chippcicag, and established a mission. He also made an alliance with them and the Sacs, Foxes and Illinois,'f against the formidable Iroquois. Alloiiez, the nest year (IGGG) visited the western end of the great lake, where he met the Sioux, and from them first learned of the Mississippi river which they called "Mcssipi." From thence ho returned to Quebec.

In 1GG8 Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette established the mission at the Sault called St. ^larie, and during the next five years Alloiiez, Dablon and Marquette explored the region of Lake .Superior on the south shore, and extending to Lake jMichigan. They also established the missions of Chegoimegon, St. Marie, Mackinaw and Green Bay.

The plan of exploring the ^lississippi probably origijaated with ^larquette. It was at once sanctioned by the Intendent, Talon, who was ambitious to extend the dominion of France over the whole West.

la 1 G70 Nicholas Perot was sent to the West to propose a congress of all the nations .and tribes living in the vicinitv of the lakes; and, in 1G71, a great council was held at Sault St. INIarie, at which the Cross was set up, and the nations of

On the loth of May, 1673, Marquette, Joliet, and five voyageurs, embarked in two birch canoes at Mackinaw and entered Lake Jlichigan. The first nation they visited was the " FoUes-Avoines," or nation of Wild Oats, since known as the Menomonie3, living around the " Baie des Puans," or Green Bay. These people, with whom Marquette was somewhat acquainted, endeavored to persuade the adventurers from visiting the Mississippi. They represented the Indians on the great river, as being blood-thirsfy and savage in the extreme, and the river itself as being inhabited by monsters which would devour them and their canoes together.*

Marquette thanked them for their advice, but declined to be guided by it. Passing through Green Bay, they ascended the Fox River, dragging their canoes over the strong rapids and visited the village, where they found living in harmony together tribes oi X\\& Miamis, i[ascoiLtens-\ ami Kikabeauz or Kicl-ajioos. Leaving this point on the 10th of June, they made the portage to the " Odisconsin," and descended that stream to the Mississippi, which they entered on the 17th with a joy, as Marquette saj-s, which he could not express.''^

Sailing down the Mississippi, the party reached the Des Moines River, and, according to some, visited an Indian village some two leagues up the stream. Here the people again tried to persuade them from prosecuting their voyage down the river. After a great feast and a dance, and a night passed with this hospitable people, they proceeded on their way, escorted by six hundred persons to their canoes. These people called themselves Illinois, or Illinl The name of their tribe was Periiaca, and their language a dialect of the Alfjonquin.

Leaving these savages, they proceeded down the river. Passing the wonderful rocks, which still excite the admiration of the traveller, they arrived at the mouth of another great river, the Fclcitan^.ni, or Missouri of the present day. They noticed the condition of its waters, which they described as " muddy, rushing and noisy."

Passing a great ruck, § they came to the Ouabouskigon, or Ohio. Marquette shows this river very small, even as compared with the Illinois. From the Ohio they passed as far down as the Alamsca, or Arkansas, where they came very near being destroyed by the natives; but they finally pacified them, and, on the 17th of July, they commenced their return voyage.

The party reached Green Bay in September without loss or injury, and reported their discoveries, which were among, the most important of that age. Maniuette afterwards returned to Illinois, and preached to the natives until 1075.

On the 18th of May of that year, while cruising up the eastern coast of Lake Jlichigan with a party of boatmen, he landed at the mouth of a stream putting into the lake from the east, since known as the river Marquette. He performed ma.s.s, and went a little apart to pray, and being

- Sec legend of the great bird, the terrible " Piam," that devoured men and was only overcome by the sacrifice of a brave young chief. The rocks above jVlton, Illmois, have some rude representations of tliis monster.

gone longer than his companions deemed necessary, they went in search of him, and found him dead where he had knelt. They buried him in the sand.

While this distinguished adventurer was pursuing his labors, two other men were preparing to follow in his footstep, and make still further explorations, and, if possible, more important discoveries. These were the Chevalier Robert de la Salle and Louis Hennepin.

La Salle was a native of Rouen, in Normandy. He was educated at a seminary of the Jesuits, and designed for the ministry, but, for reasons unknown, he left the seminary and came to Canada, in 1GG7, where he engaged in the fur trade.

Like nearly every intelligent man, he became intensely interested in the new discoveries of the West, and conceived the idea of exploring the passage to the great South Sea, which by many was believed to exist. He made known his ideas to the Governor-General, Count Frontenac, and desired his co-operation. The Governor at once fell iu with his views, which were strengthened by the reports brought back by Marquette and Joliet, and advised La Salle to apply to the King of France in person, and gave him letters of introduction to the great Colbert, then Minister of Finance and Marine. Accordingly, in 1675, he returned to France, where he was warmly received by the King and nobility, and his ideas were at once listened to, and every possible favor shown to him.

He was made a Chevalier, and invested with the seigniory of Fort Catarocouy, or Frontenac (now known as Kingston) upon condition that he would rebuild it, as he proposed, of stone.

Returning to Canada, he wrought diligently upon the fort until 1677, when he again visited France to report progress. He was received, as before, with favor, and, at the instance of Colbert and his son, the King granted him new letters patent and new privileges. On the 14th of July, 1678, he sailed from Rochelle, accompanied by thirty men, and with Tonti, an Italian, for his lieutenant. They arrived at Quebec on the 13th of Septeaiber, and after a few days' delay, proceeded to Frontenac. Father Lewis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar, of the Recollet sect, was' quietly working in Canada on La Salle's arrival. He was a man of great ambition, and much interested in the discoveries of the day. He was appointed by his religious superiors to accompany the expedition fitting out for La Salle.

Sending agents forward to prepare the Indians for his coming, and to open trade with them, La Salle himself embarked, on the 18th of November, in a little brigantine of ten tons, to cross Lake Ontario. This was the first shij) of European build that ever sailed upon this fresh-water sea. Contrary winds made the voyage long and troublesome, and a month was consumed in beating uji the lake to the Niagara River. Near the mouth of this river the Iroquois had a village, and here La Salle constructed the first fortification, which afterwards grew into the famous Fort Niagara. On the 26th of January, 1679, the keel of the first vessel built on Lake Erie was laid at the mouth of the Cayuga Creek, on the American side, about six miles above the falls.

to forward supplies for his forthcoming vessel. The little barque on Lake Ontario was wrecked by carelessness, and a large amount of the supplies she carried was lost. On the 7th of August, the new vessel was launched, and made ready to sail. She wa? about seven tons' burden.

La Salle christened his vessel the "Griffin," in honor of the arms of Count Frontenac. Passing across Lake Erie, and into the small lake, which they named St. Clair, they entered the broad waters of Lake Huron. Here they encountered heavy storms, as dreadful as those upon the ocean and after a most tempestuous passage they took refuge in the roadstead of Michillimackinac (Mackinaw), on the 27tli of August La Salle remained at this point until the middle of September, busy in founding a fort and constructing a trading-house, when he went forward upon the deep waters of Lake Michigan, and soon after cast anchor in Green Bay. Finding here a large quantity of furs and peltries, he determined to load his vessel and send her back to Niagara. On the 18th of September, she was sent under charge of a pilot while La Salle himself, with fourteen men,* proceeded up Lake Michigan, leisurely examining its shores and noting everything of interest. Tonti, who had been sent to look after stragglers, was to join him at the head of the lake. From the 19ih of September to the 1st of November, the time was occupied in the voyage up this inland sea. On the last-named day, La Salle arrived at the mouth of the river Mlainis, uow St. Joseph. Here he constructed a fort, and remained nearly a month waiting for tidings of his vessel ; but, hearing nothing, he determined to push on before the winter should prevent him. Oa the 3d of December, leaving ten men to garrison the fort, he started overland towards the head-waters of the Illinois, accompanied by three monks and twenty men. Ascending the St. Joseph River, he crossed a short portage and reached the The-a-M-ki, since corrupted into Kankakee. Embarking on this sluggish stream, they came shortly to the Illinois, and soon after found a village of the Illinois Indians, probably in the vicinity of the rocky blufis, a few miles above the present city of La Salle, Illinois. They found it deserted, but the Indians had quite a quantity of maize stored here, and La Salle, being short of provisions, helped himself to what he required. Passing down the stream, the party, on the 4th of January, came to a lake, probably the Lake Peoria, as there is no other upon this stream. Here they found a great number of natives, who were gentle and kind, and La Salle determined to construct a fort. It stood on a rise of ground near the river, and was named Creve- Coeur -f (^brokeu-heart), most probably on account of the low spirits of the commander, from anxiety for his vessel and the uncertainty of the future. Possibly he had heard of the loss of the " Griffin," which occurred on her downward trij) from Green Bay ; most probably on Lake Huron. He remained at the Lake Peoria through the winter, but no good tidings came, and no supplies. His men were discontented, but the brave adventurer never gave up hope. He resolved to send a party on a voyage of exploration up the Mississippi, under the lead of Father Hennepin, and he himself would proceed on foot to Niagara and Frontenac, to raise more means and enlist new men ; while Tonti, his lieutenant, should stay at the fort, which they were to strengthen in the meantime, and extend their intercourse with the Indians.

Hennepm started on his voyage on the last day of February, 1680, and La Salle soon after, with a few attendants, started on his perilous journey of twelve hundred miles by the way of the Illinois Kiver, the Miami, and Lakes Erie j.nd Ontario, to Frontenac, which he finally reached in safety. He found his worst fears realized. The "Griffin" was lost, his agents had taken advantage of his absence, and his creditors had seized his goods. But he knew no such word as fail, and by the middle of summer he was again on his way with men and supplies for his band in Illinois. A sad disappointment awaited hira. He found his fort deserted and no tidings of Tonti and his men. During La Salle's absence the Indians had become jealous of the French, and they had been attacked and harassed even by the Iroquois, who came the long distance between the shores of Lake Ontario and the Illinois -River to make war upon the more peaceable tribes dwelling on the prairies. Uncertain of any assistance from La Salle, and apprehensive of a general war with the savages, Tonti, in September, 1080, abandoned his position and returned to the shores of the lakes. La Salle reached the post on the Illinois in December, 1G80, or January, 1681. Again bitterly disappointed. La Salle did not succumb, but resolved to return to Canada and start anew. This he did, and in June met his lieutenant, Tonti, at Mackinaw.

Hennepin in the meanwhile had met with strange adventures. After leaving Creve-Coeur, ho reached the ilis^issippi in seven days ; but his way was so obstructed by ice that he was until the 11th of April reaching the Wisconsin line. Here he was taken prisoner by some northern Indians, who, however, treated him kindly and took him" and his companions to the falls of St. Anthony, which they reached on the first of May. These falls Hennepin named in honor of his patron saint. Hennepin and his companions remained here for three months, treated very kindly by their captors. At the end of this time they met with a band of French, led by one Sieur de Luth,* who, in pursuit of game and trade, had penetrated to this country by way of Lake Superior. "Willi his band Hennepin and his companions returned to the borders of civilized life in November, 1680, just after La Salle had gone back to the wilderness. Hennepin returned to France, where, in 1684, he published a narrative of his wonderful adventures.

Robert Dc La Salle, whose name is more closely connected with the explorations of the Mississippi than that of any other, was the next to descend the river in the year 1682. Formal possession was taken of the great river and all the countries bordering upon it or its tributaries in the name of the King.

La Salle and his party now retraced their steps towards the north. They met with no serious trouble until they reached the Chickasaw Bluffs, where they had erected a fort on" their downward vo3'agc, and named it Prudhomme. Here La Salle was taken violently sick. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonti to communicate with Count Frontenac. La Salle himself reached the mouth of the St. Joseph the latter part of September. From that point he sent Father Zenobe with his di.-patches to represent hira at court, while he turned his attention to the fur trade and to tha project of com])leting a fort, which he named St. Louis, upon the Illinois Kiver. The precise location of this work is not known. It was said to be upon a rocky bluff two hundred and fifty feet hi^h, and only acces-ible upon one side. There are no bluffs of such a height on the Illinois River answering the description. It may have been on the rocky bluff above La Salle, where the rocks are perhaps one hundred feet in height.

Upon the comj^letiou of this work La Salle again sailed for France, which he reached on the 13th of December, 1683. A new man. La Barre, had now succeeded Frontenac as Governor of Canada. This man was unfriendly towards La Salle, and this, with other untoward eircumstances, no doubt led him to attempt the colonization of the ^lississippi country by way of the mouth of the river. Notwithstanding many obstacles were in his path, he succeeded in obtaining the grai.t of a fleet from the King, and on the 24th of July, 1684, a fleet of twenty-four vessels sailed from Rochclle to America, four of which were destined for Louisiana, ar.d carried a body of two hundred and eighty people, including the crews. There were soldiers, artificers, and volunteers, and also " some young women." Discord soon broke out between M, de Beaujeu and La Salle, and grew from bad to worse. On the 20th of December they reached the island of St. Domingo.

Joutel* was sent out with this party, which left on the 5;h of February, and traveled eastward three days, when they came to a great stream which they could not cross. Here thoy made signals by building great fires, and on the 13th two of the vessels came in sight. The stream was sounded and the vessels were anchored under shelter. But again misfortume overtook La Salle, and the vessel was wrecked, and the bulk of supplies was lost. At this juncture M. de Beaujeu, his second in command, set sail and returned to France. La Salle now constructed a rude shelter from the timbers of his wrecked vessel, placed his people inside of it, and set out to explore the surrounding country in hope of finding the Mississippi. He was, of course, disappointed : but found on a stream, which is named the Yaches, a good site fir a fort. He at once removed his camp, and, after incredible exertions, constructed a fortification sufficient to protect them from the Indians. This fort was situated on Matagorda Bay, within the present limits of Texas, and was called by La Salle Fort St. Louis.

Leaving Joutel to complete the work with one hundred men. La Salle took the remainder of the company and erabarked on the river, with the intention of proceeding as far up as he could. The savages foon became troublesome, and on the 14tli of July La Salle ordered Joutel to join him with his whole force. They had already lost several of their best men, aud dangers threatened them on every side. It would seem from the historian's account of the expedition that La Salle began to erect another fort, and also that he became morose and severe in his discipline, so much so as to get the ill will of many of his people. He finally resolved to advance into the country, but whether with the view of returning to Canada by way of Illinois, or only for the purpose of making further discoveries, Joutel leives in doubt. Giving his last instructions, he left the fort on the 12th day of January, 1687, with a company of about a dozen men, including his brother, two nephews. Father Anastasius, a Franciscan friar, Joutel, and others, and moved north-eastward, as is supposed, until the 17th of March, when some of his men, who had been cherishing revengeful feelings for some time, waylaid the Chevalier and shot him dead. They also slew one of his nephews and two of his servants.

In 1687, France was involved in a long and bloody war. The League of Augsburg was formed by the Princes of the Empire against Louis XIV., and England, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Savoy took up arms, and Louis found himself battling with nearly the whole of Europe, and only Turkey for an ally. This war ended with the peace of Eyswick in 1697.

No material change took place in America, but the colonists were harassed and many of their people killed or carried captives to the Canadas. In 1688, the French possessions in North America included nearly the whole of the continent north of the St. Lawrence, and the entire valley of the Mississippi ; and they had begun to establish a line of fortifications extending from Quebec to the mouth of the Mississippi, between which points they had three great.lines of communication, to wit : by way of Mackinaw, Green Bay, and the Wisconsin River; by way of Lake Michigan, the Kankakee and Illinois Rivers ; and by way of Lake Erie, the Maumee and Wabash Rivers, and were preparing to explore the Ohio as a fourth route.

In 1699, D'Iberville, under the authority of the crown, discovered, on the second c f March, by way of the sea, the mouth of the " Hidden River." This majestic stream was called by the natives " Malbouchia," and by the Spaniards, La Palissadc," from the great number of trees about its mouth. After traversing the several outlets, aud sati.sfying himself a-s to its certainty, he erected a fort near its western outlet, and returned to Franco. An avenue of trade was now opened out, which was fully improved.

At this time a census of New France showed a total population of eleven thousand two hundred and forty-nine Europeans. War again broke out in 1701, and extended over a period of twelve years, ending with the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. This also extended to the American Colonies, and its close left everything as before, with the exception that Nova Scotia was captured in 1710.

In 1803, it was purchased by the United States, for the sura of fifteen million dollars, and the territory of Louisiana and the commerce of the Mi.ssissij)pi river, came under the charge of the United States. Although La Salle's labors ended in defeat and death, he had not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown open to France and the world an immense and most valuable country. Had established several ports, and laid the foundation of more than one settlement there. " Peoria, Kaskaskia and Cahokia are to this day monuments of La Salle's labors; for, though he had founded neither of them (unless Peoria, which was built nearly upon the site of Fort Crevecoeur), it was by those he led into the west that these places were peopled and civilized. He was, if not the discoverer, the first settler of the Mississippi Valley, and as such deserves to be known and honored."*

The French early improved the opening made for them, and before 1693, the Reverend Father Gravier began a mission among the Illinois, and became the founder of Kaskaskia. For some time it was merely a missionary station, and the inhabitants of the village consisted entirely of natives ; it being one of three such villages, the other two being Cahokia and Peoria. This we learn from a letter written by Father Gabriel Marest, dated " Aux Cascaskias, Autrement dit de I'lmmaculee concepcion de la Sainte Vierge, le 9 Novembre, 1712." In this letter, the writer tells us that Gravier must be regarded as the founder of the Illinois mi sions. Soon after the founding of Kaskaskia, the missionary, Pinet, gathered a flock at Cahokia,! while Peoria arose near the remains of Fort Crevecoeur |

In the north, De La Motte Cadillac, in June, 1701, laid the foundation of Fort Poutchartrain, on the strait, (le Detroit), || while in the southwest efforts were making to realize the dreams of La Salle. The leader in the last named enterprise was Leraoine D'Iberville, a Canadian officer, who from 1694 to 1697 distinguished himself not a little by battles and conquests among the icebergs of the " Baye D'Udson or Hudson Bay."

The post at Vincennes, on the Oubache river, (pronounced Wii-ba, meaning summer cloud moving swiftly), was established in 1702. It is quite probable that on La Salle's last trip he established the stations at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Until the year 1750, but little is known of the settlements in the northwest, as it was not until this time that the atten-

'>The autliorities in relation to La Salle are Hennepin : a narrative published in the name of Tonti, in 1697, but disclaimed by him (Charlevoix III, 365. Lettres Edifiantes.

t Bancroft, iii. 196. t There was an Old Peoria on the northwest shore of the lake of that name, a mile and a half above the outlet. From 1778 to 1796 the inhabitants left this for New Peoria, (Fort Clark) at the outlet. American State Papers, .wiii. 476.

II Charlevoix, ii. 284. Le Detroit was the whole strait from Erie to Huron. The first grants of land at Detroit, ). e., Fort Pontchartrain, were made in 1707.

tion of tne English was called to the occupation of this portion of the new world, which they then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary among the Illinois, writing " Aux Illinois," six leagues from Fort Chartres, June 8th, 1750, says : " We have here whites, negroes, and Indians, to say nothing of the crossbreeds. There are five French villages, and three villages of the natives within a space of twenty-one leagues, tituated between the Mississippi and another river, called the Karkadiad, (Kaskaskia). In the five French villages arc, perhaps, eleven hundred whites, three hundred blacks, and some fcixty red slaves or savages. The three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight liundred souls all told* Most of the French till the soil. They raise wheat, cattle, pigs and horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can be consumed, and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New Orleans. '

Again, in an epistle dated November 17th, 1750, Vivier says : " For fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi, one sees no dwellings ^= * * * New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I think, than twelve hundred persons. To this point come all kinds of lumber, bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins, and bear's grease ; and above all pork and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, as forty vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At point Coupee, thirty-five leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations. Fifty leagues farther up is the Natchez pest, where we have a garrison."

Father Marest, witing from the post at Vincennes, makes the same observation. Vivier also says, " Some individuals dig lead near the surface, and supply the Indians and Canada. Two Spaniards, now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are like those of ^lexico, and that if we would dig deeper we would find silver under the lead; at any rate the lead is excellent. There are also in this countrv, beyond doubt, copper mines, as from time to time, large pieces have been found in the streams. "f

At the close of the year 1750, the French occupied in addition to the lower Mississippi posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at the Maumee, in the country of the IViiamis, and one at Sandusky, in what may be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part of the north-west, they liad stations at St. Joseph's on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, at Fort Poatchartraia (Detroit), at Michillimackinac or Massillimaciuac, Fox Kiver of Green Baj', and at Sault Ste. Marie. The fondest dreams of La Salle were now fully realized. The French alone were possessors of this vast realm, basing their claim ou discovery and settlement. Another nation, however, was now turning its attention to this extensive country, and learning of its wealth began to lay plans for occupying it and for securing the great profits arising therefrom.

Discovery Of The Ohio

The largest branch of the Mississippi river from the east, known to the early French settlers as la belle riviere, called "beautiful" river, was discovered by Robert Cavalier de La Salle, in 1669. While La Salle was at his trading-post on the St. Lawrence, he found leisure to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois. While conversing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea.

In this statement the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream. La Salle, believing as most of the French at that period did, that the great rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to embark in the enterprise of discovering a route across the continent. He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Governor and the Intendent, Talon. They issued letters patent, authorizing the enterprise, but made no provisions to defray the expenses.

At this juncture the seminary St. Sulpice decided to send out missionaries in connection with the expedition, and La Salle ofiering to sell his improvements at La Chive to raise the money, the ofi'er was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred dollars were raised, with which La Salle purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies for the outfit.

On the 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twentyfour persons, embarked in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence. Two additional canoes carried the Indian guides.

In three days they were gliding over the bosom of Lake Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the Seneca village on the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present city of Rochester, New York. Here they exjDected to procure guides to conduct them to the Ohio, but in this they were disappointed. After waiting a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian from the Iroquois colony, at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them they could find guides, and oflered to conduct them thence. On their way they passed the mouth of Niagara river, when they heard for the finst time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving among the Iroquois they met with a friendly reception, and learned from a Shawnee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks. Delighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume their journey, and as they were about to start they heard of the arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved to be Louis Juliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the west. He had been sent by the Canadian government to explore the copper mines on Lake Superior, but had failed and was on his way back to Quebec.

On arriving at Lake Superior, they found, as La Salle had predicted, the Jesuit fathers, Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field. After parting with the priests. La Salle went to the chief Iroquois village at Onondago, where he obtained guides and passing thence to a tributary of the Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as far as

Hi8T0Ry Of Iiadison County, Illinois

When Washington was sent out by the colony of Virginia in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French had built a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty commandant at Quebec replied : "We claim the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discoveries of La Salle, and will not give it up to the English. Our orders are to make prisoners of every Englishman found trading iu the Ohio valley."

English Explorations And Settlements

We have sketched the progress of French discovery in the valley of the Mississippi. The first travelers reached tha- river iu 1673, and when the year 1750 broke in upon the father of waters and the great north-west, all was still except those little spots upon the prairies of Illinois and among the marshes of Louisiana.

Yolney, by conjecture, fixes the settlement of Vincennes about 1735.* Bishop Brute, of Indiana, speaks of a missionary station there in 1700, aud adds : " The friendly tribes and traders called to Canada for protection, and then M. De Vincennes came with a detachment, I think, of Carignan, and was killed in 1735. ''f Bancroft says a military establishment was formed there in 1716, aud in 1742 a settlement of herdsmen took place. J In a petition of the old inhabitants at Vincennes, dated in November, 1793, we find the settlement spoken of as having been made before 1742.§ And such is the general voice of tradition. On the other hand, Charlevoix, who records the death of Vincennes, which took place among the Chickasaws, iu 1736, makes no mention of any post on the Wabash, or any missionary station there. Neither does he mark any upon his map, although he gives even the British forts upon the Tennessee and elsewhere. Such is the character of the proof relative to the settlement of Vincennes.

Hennepin, in 1G63-4, had heard of the " Hohio." The route from the lakes to the Mississippi, by the Wabash, was explored 1676,|| and in Hennepin's volume of 1698, is a journal, said to be that sent by La Salle to Count Froutenac iu 1682 or '83, which mentions the route by the Maumee^ and Wabash as the most direct to the great western river.

In 1749, when the English first began to think seriously of sending men into the west, the greater portions of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were yet under the dominion of the red men. The English knew, however, of the nature of the vast wealth of these wilds.

In the year 1710, Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, had matured a plan and commenced movements, the o'ljcct of which was to secure the country beyond the Allegheniis to the English crown. In Pennsylvania, also, Governor Keith and James Logan, Secretary of the Province from 1719 to

1731, represented to the powers of England the necessity of taking steps to secure the western lands. Nothing, however, was done by the mother country, except to take certain diplomatic steps to secure the claim of Britain to this unexplored wilderness. England nad from the outset claimed from the Atlantic to thj Pacific, on the ground that the discovery and possession of the sea coast was a discovery and possession of the country ; and as is well known, her grants to Virginia, Connecticut, and other colonies, were through from " sea to sea." This was not all her claims ; she had purchased from the Indian tribes large tracts of land. This was also a strong argument.

In the year 1684, Lord Howard, Governor of Virginia, held a treaty with the five nations at Albany. These were the great Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras were taken into the confederacy, and it became known as the six nations. They came under the protection of the mother country, and again in 1701 they repeated the agreement. Another formal deed was drawn up and signed by the chiefs of the National Confederacy in 1726, by which their lands were conveyed in trust to England, " to be protected and defended by his majesty, to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs." The validity of this claim has often been disputed, but never successfully. In 1774, a purchase was made at Lancaster of certain lauds within the " colony of Virginia," for which the Indians received £200 in gold and a like sum in goods, with a promise that as settlements increased, more should be paid. The commissioners from Virginia at the treaty were Col. Thomas Lee aud Col. William Beverly.

As settlements extended, and the Indians -.egan to complain, the promise of further pay was called to mind, and Mr. Conrad Weiser was sent across the Alleghenies to Logstown. In 1784,* Col. Lee and some Virginians accomptinied him, with the intention of ascertaining the feelings of the Indians with regard to further settlements in the west, which Col. Lee and others were contemplating. The object of these proposed settlements was not the cultivation of the soil, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. Accordingly after Weiser's conference with the Indians at Logstown, which was favorable to their views, Thomas Lee, with twelve other Virginians, among whom were Lawrence aud Augustine, brothers of George Washington, aud also Mr. Hanbury, of London, formed an association whi.h they called the "Ohio Company," and in 1748 petitioned the king for a grant beyond the mountains. This petition was approved by the Engli-sh government, and the government of Virginia was ordered to grant to the petitioners half a million of acres within the bounds of that colony beyond the Alleghenies, two hundred thousand of which were to be located at once. This portion was to be held for ten years free of quit-rent, provided the company would put there one hundred families within seven years, and build a fort sufficient to protect the settlement. The company accepted the proposition, and sent to London for a cargo suited to the Indian trade, which should arrive in November, 1749.

Other compauiea were also formed about this time in Virginia to colonize the west. On the 12th of June, 1749, a grant of 800,000 acres from the line of Canada, on the north and west, was made to the Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, another of 100,000 acres to the Greenbriar Company. *

The French were not blind all this time. They saw that if the British once obtained a stronghold upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent their settlements upon it, but in time would come to the lower posts, and so gain possession of the whole country. Upon the 10th of May, 1744, Vandreuil, the French governor, well knowing the consequences that must arise from allowing the English to build trading posts in the north- ivest, seized some of their frontier posts, to further secure the claims of the French to the west. Having these fears, and seeing the danger of the late movements of the British, Gallisoniere, then Governor of Canada, determined to place along the Ohio evidences of the French claim to, and possession of, the country. For that purpose he sent, in the summer of 1749, Louis Celeron, with a party of soldiers, to place plates of lead, on which were written out the claims of the French, in the mounds and at the mouths of the rivers. These were heard of by Willliam Trent, an Indian commissioner, sent out by Virginia in 1752, to treat with and conciliate the Indians, while upon the Ohio, and mentioned in his journal. One of these plates was found with the inscription partly defaced. It bears date August lOth, 1749, and a copy of the inscription, with particular account, was sent by De Witt Clinton to the American Anti<|uariau Society, among whose journals it may now be found. These measures did not, however, deter the English from going on with their explorations.

In February, 1751, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio Company to examine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees, on the Miami, about 150 miles above its mouth. From there he went down the Ohio Elver nearly to the falls, at the present city of Louisville, and in November he commenced a survey of the company's lands. In 1751, General Andrew liCwis commenced some surveys in the Greenbrier country, on behalf of the -company already mentioned. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing their forts for defence, and in opening roads. In 1752 having heard of the trading houses on the Miami River, they, assisted by the Ottawas and Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison. The traders were carried away to Canada, and one account says several were burned. This fort, or trading house was called by the English writers Pickawillany. A memorial of the king's ministers refers to it as " Pickawellanes, in the centre of the territory between Ohio and the Wabash." This was the first blood shed between the French and English, and occurred near the present city of Piqua, Ohio. The English were determined on their part to purchase a title from the Indians of lands which they wished to occup)', and in the spring of 1752, Messrs. Fry,f Lomax and Pat on were sent from Virginia to hold a conference with the natives aft Logstown, to learn what they objected to in the treaty at Lancaster, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June, the commissioners met the red men at Log.stown. This was a village seventeen miles below Pittsburgh, upon the north side of the Ohio. Here had been a trading post for many years, but it was abandoned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize the treaty of Lancaster, but the commissioners taking aside Jlontour, the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catherine Montour, and a chief among the six nations, being three-fourths of Indian blood, through his influence an agreement was efK'cted, and upon the 13th of June they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its fullest extent. Meanwhllethe powers beyond the seas were trying to out-manmuver each other, and were professing to be at peace. The Eoglish generally outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, by their polite conduct. But the French, in this as in all cases, proved that they knew best how to manage the n.atives. While these measures were taken, another treaty with the wild men of the debatable land was also in contemplation. And in September, 175;\ William Fairfax met their deputies at Winchester, Virginia, where he concluded a treaty. In the month following, however, a more satisfactory interview took place at Carlisle, between the representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawuees, Twigtwees, and Wyandots, and the commissioners of Penu.sylvania, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio, either as to the force, position, or purposes of the French, Robert Dinwiddle, then Governor of Virginia, determined to send to them another messenger, and learn if possible their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young surveyor, who, at the age of nineteen had attained the rank of major, and whose previous life had inured him to hardships and woodland ways ; while his courage, cool judgment, and firm will, all fitted him fur such a mission. This personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, who then hold considerable interest in western lands. He was twenty-one years old at the time of the appointment.* Taking Gist as a guide, the two, accompanied by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They Icfc Will's Creek, where Cumberland now is, on the 15th of November, and on the 22d reached the Monongahcla, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of the six nations. Here he learned the position of the French, and also that they had determined not to come down the river until the fjllowing spring. The Indians were non-committal, they deeming a neutral position the safest. Washington, finding nothing could be done, went on to Ve nango, an old Indian town at the mouth of the French Creek. Here the French had a fort called Fort J\Iachault. On the 11th of December he reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here he delivered Governor Dinwiddle's letter, received his answer, and upon the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one but Gist, his guide, and a few

Indians, who still remained true to him. They reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754. From the letter of St. Pierre, Commander of the French fort, sent by Washington to Governor DiuwidJie, it was perfectly clear that the French would not yield the West without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made in all the English colonies for the coming conflict, while the French finished their fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications to be in readiness. The Old Dominion was alive. Virginia was the center of great activities. Volunteers were called for, and from neighboring colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac men were enlisting under Governor's proclamation, - which promised two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along th's river they were gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this j^oint, whither Trent had come for aisistance, for his little band of forty-one men, who were working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. The first birds cf spring filled the f jrest with their songs. The swift river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of spring and April showers. The leaves were appearing, a few Indian Scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand, and all was so quiet that Frazier, an old Indian trader, who had been left by Trent in command of the new fort, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten miles up the M jnongahela. Bat though all was so quiet in that wilderness, keen eyes had seen the low entrenchment that was rising at the fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley, and on the morning of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink ; - sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surrender: by the advice of the Half-King, Ward tried to evade the act, but it would not do. Contrecoeur, with a thousand men about him, said 'Evacuate,' and the ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and the next day was bowed off" by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the Monongahela." The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show that the French were determined to hold the country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries : while the English laid claim to thecouatr/ by virtue of the discoveries by the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New Foundland to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first decisive blow had been struck, and the first attempt of the English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands had resulted disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed the fortifications begun at the fork, which they had so easily captured, and when completed gave to the fort the name of Du Quesne. Washington was at Will's Creek, when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched himself at a place called the " Meadows," where he erected a fort called by him Fort Necessity. From there he surprised and captured a force of French and Indians marching against him, but was soon after attacked by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the morning of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.

The English Government immediately planned for campaigns, one against Fort Du Quesne, one against Nova Scotia, one against Fort Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6, and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions. The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was led by the famous Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those acquainted with Indian warfare, suflTered an inglorious defeat. This occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle of Monongahela or " Braddock's defeat." The war continued through various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7, when, at the commencement of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then secretary of state, afterwards Lord Chatham, active preparations were made to carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year : one under General Amherst, against Louisburg; another under Abercrombie, against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third under General Forbes, against Fort Du Quesne. On the 2Gth of July, Louisburg surrendered after a desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie captu red Fort Frontenac, and when the expedition against Fort Du Quesne, of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession, rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the name to Fort Pitt.

The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and General Prideaux was to capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant Prideaux lost his life. Amherst captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, without a blow ; and Wolfe, af:er making the memorable ascent to the plains o{ Abraham, on September 13th, defeated Montcalm. and on the 18Lh the city capitulated. In this engagement, Montcalm and Wolfe bjth lost their lives. De Levi, Montcalm's successor, marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of defeating the Euglish, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian war. It resulted iu the defeat of the French, and the fall of the city of Montreal. The Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was surrendered to the Euglish. This practically concluded the war, but it was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of the Ibervill river in Louisiana, were ceded to Eugland. At the same time, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

On the 13th September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post iu the territory. He arrived there on the 9th of November, and summoned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the French army, surrendered. The North-west Territory was now entirely under the English rule. In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to prevent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fontainbleau, gave to the English the dominion in question. Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the great lakes, comprising a large territory, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States. In 1803 Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to France, and by France sold to the United States. By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including all these and other towns of the north-west, were given, over to England ; but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty in England, established himself at Fort Chartres, bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage, dated December 30th, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Catholics who worshiped here and the right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen. During the years 1775 s-nd 1776, by the operations of land companies and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly established between the Alleghenies and the Ohio river, and western land speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held in Kaskaskia, on July 5th, 1773, an association of English traders, calling themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from the chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on the east side of the Mississippi river south of the Illinois. In 1775 a merchant from the Illinois country, named Yiviat, came to Post Vincennes as the agent of the association called (he "Wabash Land Company." On the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs a deed for 37,497, 600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in the office of a Notary Public at Kaskaskia. This and other land companies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West ; but all were frustrated by the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. On the 20th of April, 1780, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the " United Illinois and Wabash Land Company ; " they afterwards made strenuous efforts to have these grants sanctioned by Congress, but all signally failed. When the war of the Revolution commenced, Kentucky was an unorganized country, though there were several settlements within her borders.

In Ilutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,00!) white and black inhabitants, the whites being a little the more numerous. Cahokia contained fifty houses, 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were east of the Mississippi river, about the year 1771 - when these observations were made - " 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and

238 negroes." From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following extract is made : " Near the mouth of the river Kaskaskia, there is a village which appears to have contained nearly eighty families from the beginning of the late Revolution ; there are twelve families at a small village at La Prairie Du Rochers, and nearly fifty families at the Cahokia village. There are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river." St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time contained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred white and one hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country west of the Mississippi was under French rule, and remained so until ceded back to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the country including New Orleans to the Uaited States. At De'roit, there were, according to Captain Carver, who was in the north-west from 1768 to 1776, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more than twenty miles, although poorly cultivated, the people being engaged in the Indian trade.

On the breaking out of the Ravolution, the British held every post of importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a comfjonent part of Virginia, and the sturdy pioneers of the West, alive to their interests, and recognizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in this part of the New World, held steadily to tht-ir purposes, and those within the commonwealth of Kentucky proceeded to exercise their civil privileges of electing John Todd and Richard Gallaway burgesses, to represent them in the assembly of the present state. The chief sjiirit in this far-out colony, who had represented her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move of unequalled boldness. He had been watching the movements of the British throughout the north-west, and understood their whole plan. He saw it was through their possession of the post at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them easy access to the various Indian tribes in the north-west, that the British intended to penetrate the country from the north and south, and annihilate the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel, afterwards General George Rodgers Clark. He knew that the Indians were not unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could the British be defeated and expelled from the north-west, the natives might be easily awed into neutrality ; by spies sent for the purpose, he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements might easily succeed. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at once entered heartily info Clark's plans. The same plan had before been agitated in the Colonial Assemblies ; but there was no one until Clark came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the scene of action to be able to guide them.

Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, received on the second of January two sets of instructions : one secret, the other open. The latter authorized him to proceed to enlist seven companies to go to Ken- tucky, subject to his orders, and to serve three months from their arrival in the west. The secret order authorized him to arm the troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand, at Pittsburg, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.

With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburg, choosing rather to raise his men west of the mountains. Here he raised three companies and several private volunteers. Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he navigated as far as the falls, where he took possession of and fortified Corn Island, between the present sites of Louisville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may yet be found. At this place he appointed Col. Bowman to meet him with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route. Here he announced to the men their real destination. On the 24th of June he embarked on the river, his destination being Fort Massac or :\Iassacre, and then marched direct to Kaskaskia. The march was accomplished and the town reached on the eyeniug of July 4. He captured the fort near the village, and soon after the village itself, by surprise, without the loss of a single man or killing any of the enemy. Clark told the natives that they were at perfect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the conflict they would, and he would protect them from any barbarity from British or Indian foes. This had the desired effectand the inhabitants at once swore allegiance to the American arms, and when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6:h of July, they accompanied him, and through their influence the inhabitants of the place surrendered. Thus two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the English into the possession of Virginia. During the year (1779) the famous " Land Laws " of Virginia were passed- The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the pioneers of Kentucky and the north-west than the gaining of a few Indian conflicts. These grants confirmed in the main all grants made, and guaranteed to actual settlers their rights and privileges.

After providing for the settlers, the laws provided for selling the balance of the public lands at forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims over many of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity vote.* These gentlemen opened their court on October, 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and continued until April 26, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided three thousand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor, - George May, who assumed the duties on the 10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the next year (1781) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Mississippi commenced. The Government of Spain exacted such measures in relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side of the river, f

The settlements in Kentucky were being rapidly filled by emigrants. It was during this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the West in this j-oung and enterprising commonwealth.

The settlers did not look upon the building of the fort in a friendly manner as it arou.sed the ho.stility of the Indians. Spain had been friendly to the colonies during their struggle for independence, and though for a while this friendship appeared in danger from the refusal of the free navigation of the river, yet it was finally settled to the satisfaction of both nations. The winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusually severe ones ever experienced in the West. The Indians always refered to it as the " Great Cold." Numbers of wild animals perished, and not a few pioneers lost their lives. The following summer a party of Canadians and Indians, attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possesion of it in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolting colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they were compelled to abandon the contest. They also made an attack on the settlements in Kentuckv, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable manner, they fled the country in great haste. About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress concerning the western lauds claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this subject finally led New York, on the 19th of February, 17S0, to pass a law giving to the delegates of that State in Congress the power to cede her western lands for the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress during the next month, but no steps were taken concerning it until September 6th, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the states claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body. This basis formed the Union, and was the first after all of those legislative measures, which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,Michigan,Wiscousin and Jlinnesota. In December of thesameyear, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might easily have been effected by Clark, had the necessary aid been furnished him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew that the safety of the North-West from British invasion lay in the capture and retention of that important post, the only unconquered one in the territory.

Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the counties of Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson, and the act establishing the town of Louisville was passed. Virginia in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to,* and the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was anything farther done until 1783. During all that time the colonies were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements. Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio River of American parentage occurred, being that of Mary » American State Papers.

Hi8T0Ry Of Madison County, Illinois

Heckewelder, daughter of the widely known Moravian Missionary, whose baud of Christian Indians suffered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the frontier settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of their neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity, a deed which forever afterwards cast a shade of shame upon their lives. For this and kindred outrages on the part of the whites, the Indians committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1781 and 17S2 in the history of the North- west. During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyaudota. In these, horrible acts of cruelty were practiced on the captives, many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of frontier outlaws. These occurred diiefly in the Ohio Valleys. Contemporary with them were several engagements in Kentucky, in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who, often by his skill and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruction. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the American banner, and on the 30th of JS^ovember, provisional articles of peace had been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her unconquerable colonies; Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October preceding, and the liberty of America was assured. On the 19th of April following, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was proclaimed to the Army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West were as follows : On the north the line was to extend along the centre of the Great Lakes ; from the western point of Lake Superior to Long Lake, thence to the Lake of the Woods ; thence to the head of the Mississippi River ; down its center to the 3 1st parallel of latitude, then on that line east to the head of the Appalachicola River; down its center to its junction with the Flint ; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and thencj down along its center to the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the ce.3sationof hostilities with England, several posts were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these was Detroit, still in the hands of the enemy. Numerous engagements with the Indians throughout Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whcse lands adventurous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by the proper treaty. To remedy this evil. Congress appointed Commissioners to treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the settlement of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the year another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however, not pushed, and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the North-west she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of December preceding, authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and the Northwest Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion. To General Clark and his soldiers, however, she gave a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situated anywhere north of the Ohio wherever they chose to locate them. They selected the region opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the village of Clarksville, about midway between the cities of New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana.

While the frontier remained thus, and General Ilahlimand at Detroit refused to evacuate, alleging that he had no orderj from his king to do so, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the spring of 17S4, Pittsburg was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian council at Fort Mcintosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in appearance. He says, " Pittsburg is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the North of Ireland, or even Scotland There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per hundred lbs. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops flour, wheat, skins and money. There are in the town, four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persaasion, nor church nor chapel."

Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A land office was opened at Louisville, and measures were adopted to take defensive precaution against the Indians, who were yet, in some instances, incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this year, 1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no entries were recorded until 1787. The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished, they held large tracts of lands, and in order to prevent bloodshed Congress adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the Ohio, now in its possession. On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made with the Wabash Indians. The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made in 1781, that at Fort Mcintosh in 178.5, and through these vast tracts of land were gained. The Wabash Indians, however, afterwards r-'fused to comply with the provisions of the treaty made with them, and in order to compel their adherence to its provisions, force was used.

During the year 1786, the free navigation of the Mississippi came up in Congress, and caused various discussions, which resulted in no definite action, only serving to excite speculation in regard to the Western lands. Congress had promised bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution, but owing to the unsettled condition of aflairs along the Mississippi respecting its navigation, and the trade of the Northwest, that body, had in 1783 declared its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could be concluded between the two governments. Before the close of the year, 17S6, however, it was able, through the treaties with the Indians, to allow some grants and settlements thereon, and on the 14th of September Connecticut ceded to the general government the tract of land known as the '' Connecticut Reserve," and before the close of the year a large tract of land was sold to a company, who at once took measures to settle it. By the provisions of this grant, the company were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a de- ducticjii of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies, [ they received 750,000 acres bounded on the south bj the Oliio, on the east by the Seventh range of townships, on the , west by the Sixteenth range, and on the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without the reservatioa. In addition to this Congress afterward granted 100,000 acres [ to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the resolutions of 1789 and 1790. While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the cession was made by Virginia, 1784, a plan wag offered, but rejected. A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition of slavery, which prevailed. The plan was then discussed and altered, and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. By this proposition the Territory was to have been divided into ten States by parallels and meridian lines. There were, however, serious objections to this plan ; the root of the difficulty was in the resolution of Congress passed in October, 17tO, which fixed the boundaries of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Virginia and Massachusetts they desired a change, and in July 1786, the subjeet was taken up in Congress and changed to favor a division into not more than five States, and not less than three ; this was approved by the Legislature of Virginia. The subject was again taken up by Congress in 17S6, and discussed throughout that year, and until July 1787 when the famous " compact of 1787 " was passed, and the foundati.jn of the government of the Northwest laid. This compact is fully discussed and explained in the sketch on Illinois in this book, and to it the reader is referred. The passage of this act and the grant to the Kew England Company was soon followed by an application to the Government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, for a grant of land between the Miamis. This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and being greatly pleased with them, ofilTed similar terms to those given to the New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury Board with power to act, and a contract was concluded the following year. During the autumn the directors of the New England Company were preparing to occupy their grant the following spring, and upon the 23d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superlntendt ncy of General Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the surveyors and their assistant^, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartford and proceed on their journey westward, the remainder to follow as soon as possible. Congress in the meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and to prevent unauthorized iutrusions, and two days later appointed Arthur St. Clair Governor of the Territory of the Northwest.

American Settlements

The civil organization of the Northwest Territory was now complete, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from the east began to come into the country rapidly. The New England Company sent their men djring the winter of 1787-8, pressing on over the Alleghenics by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock's road, and which has since been made a national turnpike from Cumberland, westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled on, and by April were all gathered on the Ycmghiogheny, where boats had been built, and a once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived on the 7th of that mouth, and unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded as the pioneers of Ohio, this little band can justly claim that honor.