Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 4: The American Occupation, 1912

Evolution of Madison County - Patrick Henry, First Illinois Governor - British-Indian Attack on St. Louis - Government of the Northwest Territory - Madison County in 1812 and 1912 - Rivers as Civilizing Agents - French and Anglo-Saxon Colonists - About Land Surveys.

The British occupation of the Illinois coun¬ try lasted for thirteen years, from 1765 to 1778, when its conquest by Clark brought it under the American flag. During this period the country was governed by British officials, but there was little English immigration. The condition of the country was chaotic and re¬ mained so for years. There was internal strife between the new comers and the old French residents, due to jealousy; misunderstandings arising, in part, from racial hostility and dif¬ ference in language and modes of living. But they were held together by the common danger of Indian raids and invasions incited by Brit¬ ish attempts to retake the country. After the conquest many of Clark's soldiers settled in the new territory. Others returned to their old homes in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ken¬ tucky, but in the course of time made their way back to the beautiful and fertile country which their valor had won, accompanied by their relatives and friends, and thus began the American settlement of the new country. The Mississippi valley, lying north of the Ohio, was claimed by Virginia under ancient charters dating back to 1609. The Virginia house of delegates, therefore, in October, 1778, established the county of Illinois under the jurisdiction of Virginia.

Patrick Henry was then governor of that state and, by this enactment, became ex officio, the first civil governor of Illinois under Amer¬ ican rule. He appointed Col. John Todd com¬ mandant of the county of Illinois. Although appointed in December, 1778, Todd did not arrive at Kaskaskia until the following May. He immediately proceeded to organize the mil¬ itia, and followed it by ordering an election for judges and other officials. This was the first exercise of the elective franchise in Illinois and marked the establishment of civil govern¬ ment under American auspices, though all the officials elected, with one exception, were French. Late in 1779 Colonel Todd left Kas¬ kaskia, having been appointed to command a Virginia regiment, and fulfilled his duties as commandant thereafter by proxy and written orders. He was soon after killed in battle with the Indians. He was succeeded in command by Col. John Montgomery.

At this time (1780) England and Spain were at war, and the governor of Canada, acting in concert with a British force at Pensacola, planned a concerted attack on the Spanish set¬ tlements on the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis, and the recapture of Vincennes, Kaskaskia and Cahokia. But the southern end of the conspiracy was defeated, by the strategy of the Spanish commander at New Orleans, who promptly took the offensive and check¬ mated the enemy's plans.

In addition to the southern expedition the British plan of campaign included three other movements. One force, under Capt. Charles de Langdale, with a chosen party of Indians as¬ sembled at Chicago, was to make the attack by moving down the Illinois. Another army, sev¬ en hundred and fifty strong, including British and Indians, assembled at Prairie du Chien, under Captain Hesse, moved down the Mis¬ sissippi. "The Indians in Captain Hesse's force," says Hon. William A. Meese, "were Menominees, Sioux, Winnebagoes and Sacs and Foxes, the latter joining the invaders at their village at the mouth of Rock river." As they swept down the river past the Alton bluffs in their war canoes they must have presented a fine spectacle. On May 26, 1780, they ar¬ rived before St. Louis (Pencour) and imme¬ diately attacked the place, killing some of the inhabitants, but were repulsed by the Spanish garrison. In the meantime General Clark, who was at Fort Jefferson, received word of the proposed invasion, and immediately set out with his troops for Cahokia, arriving there the night before the attack on St. Louis, but was not aware of that engagement, the high wind prevailing preventing the signals of the Span¬ iards from being heard. A part of the invad¬ ers, mainly Indians, crossed the river the next day and attacked Cahokia, but were repulsed. The enemy then retreated up the river, a part returning by way of the Mississippi and the remainder by the Illinois. General Clark, after the engagement, immediately started back for Fort Jefferson, near the mouth of the Ohio, to repel the expected attack from the third expedition which was headed for Vin¬ cennes and Fort Massac, but, before leaving, ordered Colonel Montgomery to pursue the enemy, and attack and destroy their towns. That officer followed the invaders to Peoria lake, destroying their crops and villages, and thence to the mouth of Rock river, where was located the main town of the Sacs and Foxes which he captured. This was the ancient seat of the Sacs and Foxes where their village ex¬ tended for a mile along Rock river, and where they cultivated some eight hundred acres of land. Mr. Meese writes: "Refusal of the Sacs and Foxes, over fifty years later, to give up their ancient home, their fields and hunting grounds, and the burial grounds of their an¬ cestors, resulted in the Black Hawk war, and their forced removal toward the setting sun."

There came a curious sequel to this British and Indian attack on St. Louis and Cahokia, in the shape of an international complication of which little is known in history. It came about in this way : In retaliation for the inva¬ sion it was determined by the authorities of St. Louis and Cahokia to capture that outpost. The force raised for the purpose consisted of sixty-five whites, Spaniards and Cahokians, and two hundred Indians. It was commanded by a Spanish captain, Don Eugenio Pourre, and started from Cahokia January 21, 1781. The little army marched across the country, in a northeasterly direction in the depth of win¬ ter, and surprised and plundered the fort at St. Joseph. The British flag was displaced by that of Spain, and possession taken, in the name of "His Catholic Majesty," not only of St. Joseph and its dependencies but of the whole Illinois country. The invaders held the fort but a few days, and then resumed their march back to St. Louis. This rather ridicu¬ lous campaign was followed by queer com¬ plications. On the strength of it Spain made claim to the Illinois country and a part, at least, of Canada, by right of conquest, which claim, of course, both the United States and Great Britain resisted. It was finally adjusted in connection with the treaty of Paris, in 1783, between the colonies and Great Britain. This

Spanish expedition, it will be noted, marched directly across the present territory of Mad¬ ison county, and for four-fifths of the distance through the Madison of 1812.

To resume the story chronologically : The government by Virginia soon virtually col¬ lapsed, though attempts were made to sustain it by various commandants. It was too far from the seat of power in Virginia - and the civic situation became disordered. Virginia finally surrendered her control of the north¬ west country to the United States. The first act of congress for the government of this Northwest territory is delineated in the ordi¬ nance of 1784 which never went into effect. It was followed by the land ordinance of 1785, establishing the township survey system, and, two years later the famous ordinance 1787 was passed by congress. This provided for a territorial form of government for the whole territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. It also provided for its subse¬ quent division into states of the Union. Fur¬ ther, it prohibited slavery and provided for the encouragement of education. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor, with headquart¬ ers at Marietta. In 1790 the Illinois country so called was organized into St. Clair and Knox counties of Indiana and received local government ; that is, through officials ap¬ pointed by the governor.

In 1800 the Northwest territory was divided into districts, the region now occupied by In¬ diana, Illinois, Wisconsin and parts of Mich¬ igan and Minnesota, being designated as the territory of Indiana under Gen. William Henry Harrison as governor. In 1809, on petition of the inhabitants, congress set apart the Illinois country as a separate territory, its bounds embracing the present states of Illi¬ nois, Wisconsin, part of the upper peninsula of Michigan and that part of Minnesota lying

In 1812 Ninian Edwards, who had been ap¬ pointed governor of the new territory on its being constituted, organized the county of Madison embracing all the above territory from the present south line of Madison as extended to the Wabash, thence north to the Canadian line.

With the growth of the territory, the sub¬ division of Madison commenced and contin¬ ued until, when the territory was admitted as a state, it had shrunk to a section bounded on the east by its present east line extended to the northern boundary of the new state and its western boundary as before. At every sub¬ sequent session of the legislature new counties were carved out of its bounds until, in 1831, it had dwindled to its present proportions with eighteen sections, now in Bond, added. These eighteen sections were given to Bond in 1843, making a break in its former eastern bound¬ ary. Since 1843 there has been no change. The sections given to Bond were twelve from what is now New Douglas township and six from Leef.

Thus we have traced the evolution of Mad¬ ison county as a political entity from its first discovery by Marquette and Joliet, in 1673, down to the present time. Its territory, orig¬ inally including the whole of Illinois (north of the county's south line), all of Wisconsin, and parts of Michigan and Minnesota, now comprises twenty-four congressional town¬ ships (whole and fractional), and its area, once some one hundred and sixty thousand square miles, is now seven hundred and twenty square miles. It is twenty-four miles wide, thirty-four miles long on its northern border and thirty-two on its southern. At one time an empire, geographically, it is now reduced to' the limits of a German grand duchy.

gree of north latitude, with the Mississippi as its western boundary. It is bounded on the north by Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery counties ; on the east by Bond and Clinton, and on the south by Clinton and St. Clair. It was organized under the administration of James Madison and takes its name from that pres¬ ident. Its location in the center of the great valley of the Mississippi could not be more favorable commercially, while the fertility of its soil, the salubrity of its climate, the ex¬ tent of its natural resources and the variety of products it is capable of producing, all com¬ bine to make it one of the imperial counties of Illinois.

Over two hundred years ago the beauty of its prairies, the wealth of its forests and abun¬ dance of its game in every form of wild life, were expatiated upon with eloquence and more or less exuberance by the early French explor¬ ers. In those days the rivers were the keys which unlocked the wonders of the unknown land to the admiration of the pioneers. They discovered the vastness of the western wilder¬ ness not by toilsome journey ings through the dense forests covering the country between the Atlantic and the Mississippi, but by coming around the intervening wilderness from the north by way of the lakes and the rivers, or, later on, by ascending the Mississippi from New Orleans. They came into their future home not by what is now the east front door, but came around the lot and entered by the back door. It was an illustration of the long¬ est way round being the shortest way home.

As the water courses were then the only available routes of approach or travel, the place where these routes centered was, in those times, the favored land ; and hence we see, after migration to the western land began, how much importance was attached to this section because of the fact' that here was the conflu¬ ence of the three great rivers - the Mississippi, Missouri and the Illinois, making it the cen¬ tre of commercial interests, and also the point from which future explorations were con¬ ducted.

While the glory of the rivers as a means of transportation has in a great measure de¬ parted, and the locomotive has become the king of commerce, the centers established by nature's water routes became the radiating points of the great railway systems. They pointed their iron bands towards those centers or started new enterprises therefrom. Here is the secret of the marvelous growth of St. Louis, opposite this county, and the reason why it is the metropolis of the valley. The instincts of the first explorers, following na¬ ture's leading, indicated the future seats of commercial empire when they entered into and possessed the land.

But while these early French explorers were brave, far-seeing and adventurous, they were inclined to move along the lines of least re¬ sistance, and to lead indolent and care-free lives. They accepted the good things nature provided, the fish of the rivers, the game of the prairies, the fruits of the trees, the honey of the bees, and the furs of the forests. As far as possible they lived at peace with the Indians ; instructed them in their religion, wel¬ comed them to their rude homes and imitated to a great extent their manner of living. They loved society and lived in villages with nar¬ row strips of land extending from each dwell¬ ing, and a commons for the use of all. They cultivated only their limited strips of land, content if they raised grain and vegetables enough to last through the next winter. Nat¬ urally this mode of colonization did not build up and develop the land as a whole, nor bring the products it was capable of producing to the markets of the world with a return of wealth to the producer. This French occupa¬ tion of Illinois was a sort of sojourn in a lotos land where it was always afternoon. The people were gay, happy and irresponsible, but lacked the enterprise to develop the land they occupied than which no other offered like op¬ portunities. Naturally such a type of civiliza¬ tion had to give way, when a severer type of colonizer came upon the stage of action. With the advent of the Anglo-Saxon came the dis¬ placement of the Latin civilization. Of that brave and adventurous race of avant couriers but few traces remain, while of the superhu¬ man labors and sacrifices of their priests and missionaries to bring the knowledge of the Christian faith to the savage denizens of the forests and prairies, no result survive. Of their missions, which two hundred years ago dotted the banks of the Illinois and Missis¬ sippi, little remains but the record of the deeds of heroism and devotion of their founders, many of whom passed to their reward in a pillar of smoke and flame.

When the hardy volunteers of General Clark, in 1778, swept from the Illinois country the soldiers of King George and raised at all the old French outposts the banner of the new republic, a new era dawned for the Mississippi valley. These soldiers saw that the land they had conquered was a veritable garden of the Lord, and after the close of the Revolutionary war the memory of its beauty and fertility was the lure which drew them back to it. They came with their wives and children, their rel¬ atives, friends and comrades of the war who had not before crossed over the mountain wall of the Alleghanies. They were men who had stormed the British ramparts at King's Mount¬ ain, who had followed Marion in South Caro¬ lina, and at Yorktown had witnessed the flag of the oppressor go down in final defeat. They were from Virginia and the Carolinas, with pioneers from Kentucky and Tennessee seeking a better country than the dark and bloody ground south of the Ohio. These were the first men of the Anglo-Saxon race who en¬ tered upon and settled the fair lands of Mad¬ ison county and laid the foundations of its future greatness. The French of a hundred years before were occupiers of the land, only they took it and left it as they found it. The Anglo-Saxons were builders. They took the land and developed it.

Yet this criticism of the French of the Illi¬ nois country is not true of the same nationality in lower Canada. There they founded an em¬ pire in a stern and bitter contest with nature which endures to this day, with missions founded two hundred and fifty years ago still flourishing and Christianizing. True, a foreign flag floats over them, through the im¬ becility of their rulers and generals, but they have remained a distinct nationality, maintain¬ ing the language, customs and faith of their forbears, while their countrymen in the Illi¬ nois country have vanished from the face of the earth, almost as completely as their Indian associates. Why this difference? Was it be¬ cause life was too easy in the land of the Illi¬ nois, flowing with milk and honey? Their fate was, perhaps, foreshadowed in that of the Illi¬ nois tribe of Indians who were conquered and almost exterminated by the savage Sioux, bred among the regions of northern winters in Minnesota and the country about Lake Supe¬ rior ; and they were equally helpless in conflict with the cruel and relentless Iroquois who dominated the New York country and those parts of Canada bordering lakes Erie and On¬ tario.

In government surveys, in what is known as the Northwest territory, meridian lines were first established running north from the mouth of some noted river. In this state the third principal meridian is a line due north from the mouth of the Ohio. The fourth principal meridian is a line due north from the mouth of the Illinois river. The base line of the third principal meridian runs across the state and strikes the Mississippi twelve miles below the south line of Madison county. Townships are counted either north or south from their base lines and ranges are townships counted east or west from meridians. Thus Helvetia, in the southeast corner of this county, is township 3 north and range 5 west of third principal meridian. In other words Madison county's south line is two townships north of the base line and four townships west of the third principal meridian.

Under this system the county of Madison as at present constituted is divided as follows : Helvetia, t. 3, r. 5; Saline, 4-5; Leef, 5-5; New Douglas, 6-5; St. Jacob, 3-6; Marine,

These congressional townships, as they were termed, were originally known only by the numbers of the town and range, though some had names to designate them more easily. Thus, 3-5 was Highland; 4-5, Saline;

But, with the adoption of township organi¬ zation in April, 1876, superceding the previous commissioner system, each congressional town was given a name for political purposes, as noted in the paragraph above. There are really twenty-four townships in the county, but 4-10, a fractional part of Chouteau island, is incorporated with Chouteau township (4-9), giving the county but twenty-three townships by name, and as political divisions, that is, for purposes of county government.

The area of the county as now constituted is, as stated heretofore, 720 square miles, with an acreage of 461,315.86, and its divisions are given in the "Madison County Gazetteer," as follows :