Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 6: The War of 1812, 1880

Chapter 6: The War of 1812

The Outbreak - Massacre at Fort Dearborn - Slaughter of Prisoners - Kinzie Family Saved - Expedition Against the Indians - An Indian Killed - Town Burned - Peoria Burned - Second Eipediaon Against the Indians - Expedition up the Mississippi - A Desperate Fight - Another Expedition,

For some years previous to the war between the United States arid England, in 1812, considerable trouble was experienced with the Indians. Mai-auding bands of savages would attack small settlements and inhumanly butcher all the inhabitants, and mutilate their dead bodies. To protect themselves, the settlers organized companies of rangers and erected block-houses and stockades in every settlement. The largest, strongest and best of these was Fort Russell, near the present village of Edwardsville. This stockade was made the main rendezvous for troops and military stores, and Gov. Edwards, who, during the perilous times of 1812, when Indian hostilities threatened on every hand, assumed command of the Illinois forces, established his headquarters at this place. The Indians were incited to many of these depredations by English emissaries, who for years continued their dastardly work of " setting the red men, like dogs, upon the whites.'*

In the Summer of 1811 a peace convention was held with the Pottawatomies at Peoria, when they promised that peace shoiild prevail ; but their promises were soon broken. Tecumseh. the great warrior, and fit successor of Pontiac, started in the Spring of 1?11, to arouse the Southern Indians to war against the whites. The purpose of this chieftain was well known to Gov. Harrison, of Indiana Territory, who determined during Tecumseh's absence to strike and disperse the hostile forces collected at Tippecanoe. This he successfully did on Nov. 7. winning the sobriquet of -- Tippecanoe," by which he was afterwards commonly known. Several peace councils were held, at which the Indi- ans promised good behavior, hut only to deceive the whites. Almost all the savages of the Northwest were thoroughly stirred up and did not desire peace. The British agents at various points, in anticipation of war witii the United States, sought to enlist the favor of tlie savages by distributing to tliem large supplies of arms, aninuiniti()n and other goods.

The English continued their insults to our flag upon the high seas, and their government refusing to relinquisli its offensive course, all hopes of peace and safe commercial relations were abandoned, and Congress, on the 10th of June, 1812, formally declared war against Great Britain. In Illinois the threatened Indian troubles liad ahead)- caused a more tliorougli organization of the militia and greater protection by the erection of forts. As intimated, the Indians took the war-path long liefore the declaration of hostilities lietween the two civilized nations, committing great depredations, the most atrocious of which was the

Massacbe At Foet Deaeboen

During the war of 1812 between the United States and England, the greatest, as well as the n)ost revolting, massacre of whites that ever occurred in Illinois, was perpetrated by the Pottawatomie Indians, at Fort Dearborn. This fort was built l>y the Government, in 1804, on the south side of the Chicago river, and was garrisoned l)y .")4 men under command of Capt. Nathan Heakl, assisted by Lieutenant Helm and Ensign Konan ; Dr. Voorhees, surgeon. The residents at the post at that time were the wives of officers Heakl and Helm and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and a few Canadians. Tlie soldiers and Mr. Kinzie were on the most friendly terms witii tiie Pottawatomies and Wirniebagoes, the principal tribes around tiieni.

On tlie 7th of August, 1812, arrived the order from Gen. Hull, at Detroit, to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and distribute all United States property to the Indians. Chicago was so deep in the wilderness that this was the first intimation the garrison received of the declaration of war made on the 19th of June. Tlie Indian chief who brought the dispatch advised Capt. Heakl not to evacuate, but that if he should decide to do so, it be done immediately, and by forced marches elude the concentration of the savages before tlie news be circulated among them. To this most excellent advice the Captain gave no heed, but on the lith held a council with the Indians, apprising them of the orders received, and offering a liberal reward for an escort of Pottawatomies to Fort Wayne. The Indians, with many professions of friendship, assented to all he proposed, and promised all lie re<|uired. The remaining officers refused to join in the council, for they had been informed that treachery was designed, - that the Indians intended to murder those in the council, and then destroy those in the fort. The port holes were open, displaying cannons pointing directly upon the council. This action, it is supposed, prevented a massacre at that time.

Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Capt. Heakl not to confide in their promises, or distribute the arms and ammunition among theui, for it would only put power in their hands to destroy the whiles. This argument, true and excellent in itself, was now certainly inopportune, and would only incense tlie treacherous foe. But the Captain resolved to follow it, and accordingly on the night of the l:Uh, after the distribution of the other property, the arms were broken, and the liarrels of whisky, of which there was a large (juaiility, were rolled (luietly through the sally-port, their heads knocked in ami their contents emptied into the river. On that night the lurking redskins crept near the fort and discovered the destruction of the promised booty going on within. Tlib next morning the powder was seen floating on the surface of the river, and the Indians asserted that such an abundance of " fire-water" liad been emptied into the river as to make it taste " groggy." Many of them drank of it freel}-.

General History Of Illinois

Wells, with 15 friendly Miamis. Capt. Wells heard at Fort Wayne of the order to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and knowing the hostile intentions of the Indians, made a rapid march through the wilderness to protect, if possible, his niece, Mrs. Heald, and the officers and the garrison from certain destruction. But he came too late. Every means for its defense had been destroyed the night before, and arrangements were made for leaving the fort on the following morning.

The fatal morning of the 16th at length dawned brightly on the world. The sun shone in unclouded splendor upon the glass}' waters of Lake Michigan. At 9 A. m., the party moved out of the southern gate of the fort, in military arra}'. The band, feeling the solemnity of the occasion, struck up the Dead March in Saul. Capt. Wells, Avitli his face blackened after the manner of the Indians, led the advance guard at the head of liis friendly Miamis, the garrison with loaded arms, the baggage wagons with the sick, and the women and children following, while the Pottawatomie Indians, about 500 in number, who had pledged their honor to escort the whites in safety to Fort Wayne, l)rought up tlie rear. The party took the road along the lake shore. On reaching the range of sand-hills separating the beach from the prairie, about one mile and a half from the fort, the Indians defiled to the right into the prairie, bringing the sand-hills between them and the whites. This divergence was scarcely effected when Capt. Wells, who had kept in advance with his Indians, rode furiously back and exclaimed, " They are aljout to attack us. Form instantly and charge upon them !" These words were scarcely uttered before a volley of balls from Indian muskets was poured in upon them. The troops were liastily formed into line and charged up the bank. One veteran of 70 fell as they ascended. The Indians were driven back to the prairie, and then the battle was waged by 5-1 soldiers, 12 civilians, and three or four women - the cowardly Miamis having fled at the outset - against 500 Indian warriors. The whites behaved gallantly, and sold their lives dearly. They fought desperately until two-thirds of their number were slain ; the remaining 27 surrendered. And now the most sickening and heart-rending butchery of this calamitous day was conimitied by a young savage, who assailed one of the baggage wagons containing 12 children, every one of which fell beneath his murderous tomahawk. When Capt. Wells, wlio witii the others had become prisoni-r, beiield tiiis scene at a distance, he exclaimed in a tone loud enough to be heard by the savages, " If this be your game, I can kill, too;" and turning his horse, started for the place where the Indians had left their sijuaws and children. The Indians hotly pursued, but he avoided their deadly bullets for a time. Soon his horse was killed and he severely wounded. Witii a yell tlie young l)raves rushed to make him their prisoner and reserve him for torture. But an enraged warrior stabl)ed liim in the back, and he fell dead. His heart was afterward taken out, cut in pieces and distributed among the tribes. Billy Caldwell, a half-breed Wyandot, well-known in Chicago long afterward, buried his remains the next day. Wells street in Chicago, perpetuates his memory.

In this fearful conbat women bore a conspicuous part. A wife of one of thi soldiers, \\ho had frequently heard that the Indians subjected their prisoners to tortures worse than de.ith, resolved not to Im taken alive, and continued fighting until she was literally cut to pieces. Mrs. Heald wiis an excellent equestrian, and an expert in the use of the rifle. .She fought bravely, receiving several wounds. Though faint from loss of blood, she managed to keep in her saddle. A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked liini full in the face, and with a sweet smile and gentle voice said, in iiis own language, " Surely you would not kill a squaw." Tiie arm of the savage fell, and the life of this heroic woman was saved. Mrs. Helm had an encounter with a stalwart Indian, wiio attempted to tomahawk her. Springing to one side, she received the glancing blow on her shoulder, and at the same time she seized the savage round the neck and endeavored to get his sc.ilping-knife which hung in a sheath at his breast. While siie was thus struggling, slie was dragged from his grasp by anothe." and an older Indian. Tiie latter bore her, struggling and resisting, to the lake a'ld plunged her in. She sm>n perceiveil it was not his intention to drown her, because he iield lier in such a position as to keep iier head out of the water. She recognized him to be a celebrated (diief called Black Partridge. Wlieii the firing ceased siie was conducted up tlic sand-bank.

Slaughter Of Prison Er.S.

The prisoners were taken back to the Indian camp, wiiei: a new scene of horror was enacted. The wounded not being included in tlie terms of the surrender, as it was interpreted iiy the Indians, and the British general. Proctor, liaving ofTereil a lilieral biiunty f)r American scalps, nearly all tlie wounded were killed and scalped, and tiie price of the trophies was afterwards paitl by the liritisli general. In tiie stipulation of surrender, Capt. Heald had not iiarticularly mentioned the wounded. Tiiese helpless siifl'erers, on reaching the Indian camp, were therefore regarded liy tiie brutal savages as fit subjects upon which to display their cruelty and satisfy their desire for blood. Referring to the terrible Imtcher}' of the prisoners, in an account given by Mrs. Helm, she says: " An old squaw, infuriated liy the lossjof friends or excited by the sanguinary scenes around her, seemed possessed of demoniac fury. She seized a stable-fork and assaulted one miserable victim, w!io la}' groaning and writiiiiig in the agonies of ids wound, aggravated by the scorching beams of the sun. Witii a delicacy of feeling, scarcely to have been expected under sucli circumstances, Wan-liee-nee-wan stretched a mat across two poles, iietween me and this dreadful scene. I was thus spared, in some degree, a view of its horrors, altiioiigh I eoiild not entirely close my ears to the cries of tiie sufferer. The following uiglit five UKU'e of the wounded prisoners were tomahawked."

Gexeral History Of Illixois Kinzie Family Saved

That evening, about sundown, a council of chiefs was held to decide the fate of the prisoners, and it was agreed to deliver them to the British commander at Detroit. After dark, many warriors frcm a distance came into camp, who were thirsting for blood, and were determined to murder the prisoners regardless of the terms of surrender. Black Partridge, with a few of his friends, surrounded Kinzie's house to protect the inmates from the tomahawks of the bloodthirsty savages. Soon_a band of hostile warriors rushed bj' them into the house, and stood with tomahawks and scalping-knives, awaiting the signal from their chief to commence the work of death. Black Partridge said to Mrs. Kinzie : " We are doing every thing in our power to save j'ou, but all is now lost ; you and your friends, together with all the prisoners of the camp, will now be slain." At that moment a canoe was heard approaching the shore, when Black Partridge ran down to the river, trying in the darkness to make out the new comers, and at the same time shouted, " Who are you ?" In the bow of the approaching canoe stood a tall, manly personage, with a rifle in his hand. He jumped ashore exclaiming, " I am Sau-ga-nash." "Then make all speed to the house; our friends are in danger, aud you only can save them." It was Billy Caldwell, the lialf-breed Wyandot. He hurried forward, entered tlie house with a resolute step, deliberately removed his accoutrements, placed liis rifle behind the door, and saluted the Indians : " How now, my friends ! a good day to you. I was told there were enemies here, but am glad to find only friends." Diverted by the coolness of his manner, they were ashamed to avow their murderous purpose, and simply asked for some cotton goods to wrap their dead, for burial. And thus, by his presence of mind, Caldwell averted the murder of tlie Kinzie famil}' and the prisoners. The latter, with their wives and children, were dispersed among the Pottawatomie tribes along tlie Illinois, Rock, and Wabash rivers, and some to Milwaukee. The most of tliem were ransomed at Detroit the following Spring. A part of them, however, remained in captivit}^ another year.

Expedition Against The Indians

By the middle of August, through the disgraceful surrender of Gen. Hull, at Detroit, and the evacuation of Fort Dearborn and massacre of its garrison, the British and Indians were in possession of tlie whole Northwest. The savages, emboldened by their successes, penetrated deeper into the settlements, committing great depredations. The activity and success of the enemy aroused the people to a realization of the great danger their homes and families were in. Gov. Edwards collected a force of 350 men at Camp Russell, and Capt. Russell came from Vincennes with about .50 more. Being officered and equipped, they proceeded about the middle of October on horseback, carrying with them twenty days' rations, to Peoria. Capt. Craig was sent with two boats up the Illinois, with provisions and tools to build a fort. The little army proceeded to Peoria lake, where was located a Pottawatomie village. They arrived late at night, within a few miles of the village, without their presence being known to the Indians. Four men were sent out that night to reconnoiter the position of the village. The four brave men who volunteered for this perilous service were Thomas Carlin (afterward Governor), and Robert, Stephen and Davis Whiteside. They proceeded to the village and explored it and the approaches to it thoroughly, without starting an Indian or provoking the bark of a dog. The low lands between the Indian village and the troops were covered with a rank growth of tall grass, so high and dense as to readily conceal an Indian on horseback, until within a few feet of him. The ground had become still more yielding by recent rains, rendering it almost impassable by mounted men. To prevent detection, the soldiers had camped without lighting the usual cumji-fires. The men lay down in their cold and cheerless camp, witli many misgivings. They well remembered how the skulking savages fell upon Harrison's men at Tippecanoe during the night. To add to their fears, a gun in the hands of a soldier was carelessly discharged, raising great consternation in the camp.

An Indian Killed

Through a dense fog which prevailed the following morning, the army took up its line of march for tiie Indian town, Capt. .ludy with his corps of sj)ies in advance. In the tall grass they came up with an Indian and his sipiaw, both mounted. The Indian wanted to surrender, but .ludy observed that he " did not leave homo to take prisoners," and instantly shot one of them. With the blood streaming from his mouth and nose, and in his agony " singing the death song," the dying Indian raised hi.x gun, shot and mortally wouiuled a Mr. Wright, and in a few minutes expired. Many guns were immediately discharged at the other Indian, not tlien known to l)e a squaw, all of which missed her. Badly scared, and lier husband killed by iier side, the agonizing wails of the scjuaw were heart-rending. Siic was taken prisoner, and afterward restored to her nation.

Town Burned

On nearing the town a general charge was made, the Indians fleeing to the interior wilderness. Some of their warriors made a stand, when a sharji engagement occurred, but the Indians were routed. In their flight thi'V left behind all tlieir Winter's store of provisions, which was taken, and their town burned. Some Indian children were found who had been left in the liurricd flight, also some disabled adults, one of whom was in a starving condition and with a voracious appetite partook of the i>read given him. He is said to have l)een killed by a cowardly trooper straggling behind, after the main army had resumed its retrograde march, who wanted to be able to boast that he had killed an Indian.

.\boul the timi! Gov. lOdwaids started with his little band against the Indians, (Jen. Hopkins, with 'J, 000 Kentucky rillcmen, left Vincennes to cross the prairies of Illinois and destroy the Indian villages along the Illinois river. Edwards, with his rangers, expected to act in concert with Gen. Hopkins' riflemen. After marching 80 or 90 miles into the enemy's country. Gen. Hopkins" men became dissatisfied, and on Oct. "20 the entire army turned and retreated homeward before even a foe had been met. After the victory of the Illinois rangers they heard nothing of Gen. Hopkins and his 2,000 mounted Kentucky riflemen ; and apprehending that a large force of warriors would be speedily collected, it was deemed prudent not to protract their stay, and accordingly the retrograde march was commenced the very day of the attack.

Peoria Btjkned

The force of Capt. Craig, in charge of the provision boats, was not idle during this time. They proceeded to Peoria, where they were fired on by ten Indians during the night, who immediately fled. Capt. Craig discovered, at daylight, their tracks leading up into the French town. He inquired of the French their whereabouts, who denied all knowledge of them, and said they " had heard or seen nothing ; " but he took the entire number prisoners, burned and destroyed Peoria, and bore the captured inhabitants away on his boats to a point below the present city of Alton, where he landed and left them in the woods, - men, women and children. - in the inclement month of November, without shelter, and without food other than the slender stores they had themselves gathered up before their departure. They found their way to St. Louis in an almost starving condition. The burning of Peoria and taking its inhabitants prisoners, on the mere suspicion that they sympathized with the Indians, was generally regarded as a needless, if not wanton, act of military power.

Second Expedition Against The Indians

In the early part of 1813, the country was put in as good defense as the sparse population admitted. In spite of the precaution taken, numerous depredations and murders were committed by the Indians, which again aroused the whites, and another expedition was sent against the foe, who had collected in large numbers in and around Peoria. This army was composed of about 000 men, collected from both Illinois and Missouri, and under command of Gen. Howard. They marched across the broad prairies of Illinois to Peoria, where there was a small stockade in charge of United States troops. Two days previously the Indians made an attack on the fort, but were repulsed. Being in the enemy's country, knowing their stealthy habits, and the troops at no time observing a high degree of discipline, many unnecessary night alarms occurred, yet the enemy were far away. Tlie arm\" marched uji the lake to Chillicothe, burning on its way two deserted villages. At the present site of Peoria the troops remained in camp several weeks. While there they built a fort, which they named in honor of Gen. George Rogers Clark, who with his brave Virginians wrested Illinois from the Flnglisli during the Revolutionary struggle. This fort was destroyed by fire in 1818. It gave a name to Peoria which it wore for several years. After the building of Fort Crevecoeur, in 1680, Peoria lake was very familiar to Western travel and history ; but there is no authentic account of a permanent European settlement there until 1778, when La Ville de Meillet. mimed after its founder, was started. (Jwing to the quality of the water and its greater salubrity, the location was changed to the present site of Peoria, and by 1706 the old had been entirely abandoned for the new village. After its destruction in 1812 it was not settled again until 1810, and then by American pioneers, though in 1813 Fort Clark was built there.

Kxpedition Up The Mississippi

The second campaign against the Indians at Peoria closed without an engagement, or even a sight of the enemy, yet great was the benefit derived from it. It siiowed to the Indian the power and resources of his white foe. Still the calendar of the horrible deeds of butchery of the following year is long and bloody. A joint expedition again moved against the Indians in 1814, under Gov. Clark, of Missouri. This time they went up the Mississippi in barges, Prairie du Chien being the point of destination. There they found a small garrison of British troops, which, however, soon fled, as did the inhabitants, leaving Clark in full possession. He immediately set to work and erected Fort Shelby. The Governor returned to St. Louis, leaving his men in peaceable possession of the place, but a large force of British and Indians came down upon them, and the entire garrison surrendered. In the mean time Gen. Howard sent 108 men to strengthen the garrison. Of this number 66 were Illinois rangers, under Capts. Rector and Riggs, who occupied two boats. The remainder were with Lieut. Campbell.

A Desperate Fight

At Rock Island Campbell was warned to turn back, as an attack was contemplated. The other boats passed on up the river and were some two miles ahead when Campbell's barge was struck by a strong gale which forced it against a small island near the Illinois shore. Thinking it best to lie to till the wind abated, sentinels were stationed while the men went ashore to cook breakfast. At this time a large number of Indians on the main shore under Black Hawk commenced an attack. The savages in canoes passed rapidly to the island, and with a war-whooj) rushed upon the men, who retreated and sought refuge in the barge. A battle of brisk musketry now ensued between the few regulars aboard the stranded barge and the hordes of Indians under cover of trees on the island, with severe loss to the former. Meanwhile Capts. Rector and Riggs, ahead with their barges, seeing the smoke of battle, attempted to return ; but in the strong gale, Riggs' boat became unmanageable and was stranded on the rapids. Rector, to avoid a similar disaster, let go his anchor. The rangers, however, opened with good aim and telling effect upon the savages. The unequal combat having raged for some time and about closing, the commander's barge, with many wounded and several dead on board - among the former Lieut. Campbell - was discovered to be on fire. Now Rector and his brave Illinois rangers, comprehending the horrid situation, performed, without delay, as cool and heroic a deed - and did it well - as ever imperiled the life of mortal man. In the howling gale, in full view of hundreds of infuriated savages, and within range of their rifles, the}^ deliberately raised anchor, lightened their barge by casting overboard quantities of provisions, and guided it with the utmost labor down the swift current, to the windward of the burning barge, -and under the galling fire of the enemy rescued all the survivors, and removed the wounded and dying to their vessel. This was a deed of noble daring and as heroic as any performed during the war in the West. Rector hurried with his over-crowded vessel to St. Louis.

It was now feared that Riggs and his company were captured and sacrificed by the savages. His vessel, which was strong and well armed, was for a time surrounded by the Indians, but the whites on the inside were well sheltered. The wind becoming allayed in the evening, the boat, under cover of the night, glided safely down the river without the loss of a single man.

Another Expedition

Notwithstanding the disastrous termination of the two expeditions already sent out, during the year 1814, still another was projected. It was under Maj. Zachary Taylor, afterward President. Rector and Whiteside, with the Illinoisan, were in command of boats. The expedition passed Rock Island unmolested, when it was learned the country was not only swarming with Indians, but that the English were there in command with a detachment of regulars and artillery. The advanced boats in command of Rector, Whiteside and Hempstead, turned about and began to descend the rapids, fighting with

Near the mouth of Rock river Maj. Taylor anchored his fleet out in the Mississippi. Durinj^ the night the English planted a battery of six pieces down at the water's edge, to sink or disable the boats, and filled the islands with redskins to butcher the whites, who might, unarmed, seek refuge there. But in this scheme they were frustrated. In the morning Taylor ordered all the force, except 20 boatmen on each vessel, to the upper island to dislodge the enemy. The order was executed with great gallantry, the island scoured, many of the savages killed, and the rest driven to the lower island. In the meantime the British cannon told with effect upon the fleet. The men rushed back and the boats were dropped down the stream out of range of the cannon. Capt. Rector was now ordered with his company to make a sortie on the lower island, which he did, driving the Indians back among the willows ; but they being re-inforced, in turn hurled Rector back upon the sand-beach.

A council of oSicers called by Taylor had by this time decided that their force was too small to contend with the enemy, who outnumbered them three to one, and the boats were in full retreat down the river. As Rector attempted to get under way his boat grounded, and the savages, witli demoniac yells, surrounded it. when a most desperate hand-to-hand conflict ensued. The gallant ranger, Samuel Whiteside, observing the imminent peril of his brave Illinois comrade, went immediately to his rescue, who but for his timely aid would undoubtedly hav'e been overpowered, with all his force, and murdered.

Thus ended the last, like the two previous expeditions up the Mississippi during the war of 1812, in defeat and disaster. The enemy was in undisputed possession of all the country north of the Illinois river, and the prospects respecting those territories boded nothing but gloom. With the approach of Winter, however, Indian depredations ceased to be committed, and the peace of Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814, closed the war.

Illinois Territory Admitted As A State

Constitutional Convention - Meeting of the Convention - Constitution .\dopled - Arbitrary Features - First Election Under the Constitution - Lincoln - Grant - Rawlins - Douglas - Shields - lUinoisans in the War of the Rebellion - Elias Kent Kane - Congrcssion.il Act of Admission - Houndary (Question - Boundary Conventions - Attempt to form Another Territory - Failure of the Attempt - Shadrach Bond - I'icrrc Menard - Other State Oniccrs - Meeting of the General Assembly - Financi.al - Territorial Revenue - Slate Revenue - How Collected - The Whipping I'osl - Earthquakes.

On the 18th day of April, 1818, the Congress of the United States passed an act entitled " An act to enable the people of the Territory of Illinois to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an ciiiial footing with the original States." Immediately after tlie passage, approval and publication of this act, an election was ordered to choose delegates to form a State convention.

At this time there were fifteen organized counties in the territory, all in the southern part of the State, to which section the settlement of the territory liad been confined. These counties were organized in the following clironological order :

Meeting Of The Convention

The convention assembled at Kaskaskia in July, of that year, and completed its labors by signing the constitution on the 26th day of August following. The names of the delegates and the counties they represented are subjoined:

Jesse B. Thomas, of St. Clair county, was chosen to preside over the deliberations of the convention, and William C. Greenup to be its secretary.

Arbitrary Features

" The constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people for their approval or rejection ; nor did the people have much to do with the choice or election of officers generally under it, other than that of governors, the general assemblies, sheriffs and coronors. Notwithstanding the elective franchise was in a blazen manner extended to all white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, having a residence in the State of six months next preceding an}' election, which it will be perceived included aliens, and possibly invited immigration, there was scarcely an office left to be filled by its exercise." - [Stuve's History of 111., p. 297.]

Says Mr. Ford : " The Constitution, as formed, required the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to have been citizens of the United States for thirty years before their election. It also gave power to the Governor to nominate, and the Senate to confirm, all officers whose appointments were not otherwise provided for by the Constitution ; the only exceptions to this rule being the judges of the supreme and inferior courts. State Treasurer and public printer. But motives of favor to particular persons who were looked to to hold office under the new government, induced the convention to make exceptions in both these cases, which, in the case of appointments to office in the hands of the Legislature, became the general rule."

Thus it seems that " the electors of the people were not entrusted with the choice of State officers other than mentioned ; nor of their judges, either supreme, circuit or probate ; nor of their prosecuting attorneys, county or circuit clerks, recorders or justices of the peace ; the appointment of nearl}' all of these being vested in the General Assembly, which body was not slow to avail itself of the powers thus conferred to their full extent." * * * a ^\^q Governor was denied the veto power, but, jointly with the four Supreme Judges, was constituted a council to revise all l)ills passed. For this purpose the judges were required to attend at the seat of government during the sessions of the Legislature, without compensation. If the council of revision, or a majority, deemed it impioper for any bill to become a law, their objections were noted in writing ; but the Ijill might, notwithstanding, be passed over their objections, by a majority, and become a law. While the Executive is commonly a co-ordinate branch of the lawmaking power, here he was entirely stripped, and while the judicial department is never tlius vested, here it was clothed with a quasi legislative prerogative."

Mr. Stuve continues : " The Constitution was about the first organic law of any State in tiie Union to abolish imprisonment for debt. It did not prohibit the Legislature from granting divorces, and this was a fruitful source of legislation, as the old statutes abundantly testif}'. But its worst feature, perhaps, was the want of limitation against the Legislature loaning or pledging the faith and credit of tlie State in aid of, or to the undertaking of, any public or private enterprise, or to the aid of individuals, associations or corporations. The absence of such most necessary limitations, caused her repeated connections afterwards with banking schemes, and her undertaking the vast system of internal improvements in 1837, all of which proved detrimental to her credit, harassing and expensive to her finances, and came near bankrupting and completing her ruin."

Section eighteen of article two provided that " the General Assembly of this State shall not allow the following ofiBcers of the government greater or smaller annual salaries than as follows, until the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four : the Governor, one thousand dollars ; and the Secretary of State, six hundred dollars."

Section two of article three : " The first election for governor shall commence on the third Thursday of September next (1818), and continue for that and the two succeeding days ; and the next election shall be held on the first Monday of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one. And forever after, elections for governor shall be held once in four years, on the first Monday of August."

Section tiiree of the same article : " The first governor shall hold his office until the first Monday of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, and until another governor shall be elected and (jualified to office; and forever after, the governor shall hold his office for the term of four years, and until another governor shall be elected and qualified, but he shall not be eligible for more than four years in any term of eight years," etc.

First Election Under The Constitution

Pursuant to section two of article two of the Constitution, the first election for governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, etc., commenced on the third Thursday of September, 1818, and continued for two days thereafter.

Tlie poll books of the several voting places in the fifteen organized counties that made up the State of Illinois at that time, would be interesting now if it were possible to secure them. But very few, if any, of the voters at that election, are spared to the present. Almost sixty-seven years have come and gone since tlie first Territorial Legislature convened at Kaskiiskia, and sixty-one ycai"s liave liecn engulfed in the vortex of time since the first State officers were elected, in September, 1818. Since then tlie people of the cominonwealtli have participated in no less tlian three wars: tlie Black Hawk war of 18-32, wiiich commenced witiiin the boundaries of the State, tlie Mexican war, and the war against the great Southern rebellion, the prolonged and bloody conflict between Freedom and Slavery, 1861-tJo.

In these sixty-one years this Stjite has given to the parent government one of the most successful warrior chieftains known to history, and two Presidents, - Lincoln, Freedom's martyr, and U. S. Grant, the honored guest of the crowned heads and titled courts of the European and Oriental world. Besides these, others of her sons by birth and adoption, arose to distinction in home and national councils, and filled places of high honor and trust as ministers to foreign courts. Douglas, whose memory is dear to every Illinoisan, if not to every American ; Yates, whose intellect was as exhaustless as the resources of the great State of his home, and only equalled by his generosity of nature ; Shields, the hero of two wars, and Senator from three States, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri ; and John A. Rawlins, the " noblest Roman of them all," who rose from driver of a coal cart and the pseudonym of " Charcoal Johnny," to the exalted position of the nation's war minister. These are a few, and only a few, of those whose wisdom and heroic achievements illuminate the pages of history, and render their names immortal among the great men of earth. They sleep in honored graves, but the memory of their glorious deeds will live in the hearts of men until time shall end.

And when the nation's life was imperilled more than two hundred and fifty thousand men sprang from their prairie homes and " pledged their lives, their fortunes and sacred honors " in defense of the parent government that fostered and protected the Commonwealth in its da3^s of territorial dependency. Heroes every one of them, they followed the bugle's call wherever and while ever an armed foe appeared. Their dead lie buried on every battle field. No State in all the freedom-loving North made a grander record or offered a nobler army of men. lllini - tribe of men, indeed thou art.

Mr. Ford, in his Historj' of Illinois, says in reference to the Constitutional Convention and its members : " The principal member of it was Elias K. Kane, late a Senator in Congress, and now deceased, and to whose talents we are mostly indebted for the I^eculiar features of the Constitution. Mr. Kane was boru in the State of New York, and was bred to the profession of the law. He removed in early youth to Tennessee, where he rambled about for some time, and finally settled in the ancient village of Kaskaskia, Illinois, about the year 1815, when he was about twenty years of age. His talents were both solid and brilliant. After being appointed Secretary of State under the new government, he was elected to the Legislature, from which he was elected, and again re-elected to the United States Senate. He died a member of that body in the Autumn of 1835 ; and in memory of him the county of Kane, on Fox river, was named."

Resohtd, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That, whereas, in pursuance of an act of Congress, passed on the eighteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled " An act to enable the people of Illinois Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States," the people of said Territory did, on the twenty-sixth day of August, in the present year, by a convention called for that purpose, form for themselves a Constitution and State Government, which Constitution and State Government, so formed, is Republican, and in conformity to the principles of the articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the State of Illinois shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever. [Approved, December 3, 1818.]

The Boundaey Question

The act of Congress of the 18th day of April, 1818. referred to in the act just quoted, was based upon the action of the Territorial Legislature in session January, 1818, when a petition for authority to organize as a State was prepared and forwarded to Nathaniel Pope, then Territorial delegate in Congress. Mr. Pope lost no time in presenting the petition to Congress, and that body as promptly referred it to the proper committee, and that committee instructed Mr. Pope to prepare a bill in accordance with the prayer of the petition. Mr. Pope complied with the instructions, but the bill as originally drafted did not embrace the present area of Illinois, and when it was reported to

Congress certain amendments proposed by Mr. Pope, were reported with it. The ordinance of 1787 provided that not less than three nor more than five States were to be erected out of the territor)' northwest of the Ohio River. Three States were to include the whole territory, and these States were to be bounded on the north by the British possessions, but Congress reserved the right, if it should be found expedient, to form two more States out of that part of the territory wliich lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southern extremity cf Lake Michigan.

These important changes in the original bill, says Mr. Ford in his History of Illinois, " were proposed and carried through both Houses of Congress by Mr. Pope on his own responsibility. The Territorial Legislature had not petitioned for them - no one had suggested them, but they met the general approval of the people." The change of the l)oundary line, however, suggested to Mr. Pope - from the fact that the boundary as defined by the ordinance of 1787, would have left Illinois without a harbor, on Lake Michigan - did not meet the unqualified approval of the people in the northwestern part of the new State. For many years the northern boundary of the State was not definitely known, and the settlers in the northern tier of counties did not know whether they were in Illinois or Michigan Territory. Under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, Wisconsin at one time laid claim to a portion of northern Illinois, "including," saj-s Mr. Ford, writing in 1847, "fourteen counties, embracing the richest and most populous part of the State." October 27, 1827, nine years after the admission of the Sute, Dr. Horatio Newhall, who had then recently arrived at the Fever River Settlement, (^Galena,) wrote to his brother, as follows : " It is uncertain whether I am in the Ijoundary of Illinois or Michigan, but direct your letters to Fever River, 111., and they will come safely." In October, 1828, a petition was sent to Congress from the people of that part of Illinois lying north of the line established bj' the ordinance of 1787, and that part of the Territory of Michigan west of Lake Michigan and comprehending the mining district known as the Fever River Lead Mines, praying for the formation of a new territory. A bill had been introduced at tiie previous session of Congress for the establishment of a new territory north of the State of Illinois, to be called " Huron Territory," upon which report had been made, in part, favorable to the wisiies of the petitioners, but they asked for the re-establishment of the line as ordained by Congress in 1787. They declared "that the people inhabiting the territory northwest of the Ohio had a right to expect that the country lying north of an east and west line passing througli the southernmost end of Lake Michigan, to the Mississippi River, and between said lake, the Mississippi and the Canada line, would remain TOfJKTHEK" as a territory and State. They claimed that this was a part of the comjjact, unchangeably granted by the people of the original States to the people who should inhabit the " territory northwest of the Ohio." They declared that the change of the chartered limits, when Illinois was made a State, was an open invasion of their rights when they were unrepresented in either territory ; that "an unrepresented people, without their knowledge or consent, liave been transferred fiom one sovereignty to another." They urged tlial the present "division of the mines and miners by an ideal line, separating into different governniciits individuals intimately connected in similar pursuits, is embarrassing." They asked for "even handed justice," and the restoration of their " cliartered limits." Tiie Miners' Journal, of Galena, of October 2"). 1H2K, which contained the full text of the petition, said : " We do not fully agree with the mismorialists in petitioning Congress agiiin to dispose of that tract of country whicli lias once been granted to Illinois; but we lliink tiiat it would be for the interest of the miners to be erected, together with the adjoining county above, into a separate territory. And we firmly lielieve, too, that Congress departed from the clear and express terms of their own ordinance pa.ssed in the year 1787, when they granted to Illinois nearly a degree and a half of latitude of the CHARTKREH limits of this country. Wiiethcr Congress will annex this tract to the new territory \vc much iloubt, but we be- lieve the ultimate decision of the United States Court will be, that the norther' line of the State of Illinois shall commence at the southernmost end of Lf^ ..^an.'

In 1840 the people of the counties north of the ordinance .^ae sent delegates to a convention held at Rockford to take action in relation to the annexation of the tract north of that line to the Wisconsin Territory, and it is said the scheme then discussed embraced an effort to make Galena the capital of the territory. Resolutions were adopted requesting the senators and representatives in Congress for Illinois to exert their influence in favor of the project. The labors of the convention produced no results, but until the admission of Wisconsin as a State, there was a strong feeling among the people of northwestern Illinois that they rightfully belonged to Wisconsin, and there was a strong desire to be restored to their chartered limits.

This question agitated the people of the section concerned for many years. It entered into their political conflicts and exercised an important influence upon their local affairs. Many of the old settlers down to a late period, condemned this striking departure from the ordinance of 1787, which fixed the present line fifty miles further north. Boundary meetings at various places in the fourteen northern counties continued to be held from time to time, showing the feeling to be deep and wide spread. As late as January 22, 1842, a meeting of this character was held at Oregon City, at which, among others, the following resolution was adopted, and which is here introduced as showing the grounds of complaint, and the purpose of the people to either belong to Wisconsin or set up for themselves :

Resolvid, That in the opinion of this meeting, that part of the Northwest Territory, which lies north of an " east and west line through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan," belongs to, and of right should be, a part of the State or States which have been or may be formed north of said line.

Wisconsin was yet a territory when this meeting was held. It resolved further that the ordinance of 1787 could not be altered or changed without the consent of the people of the original States and of the Northwest Territory ; that as a part of the j^eople of said territory, they would not consent ; that the lines designated in the ordinance were better suited to the geographical situation and local interests of their region ; that they were decidedly opposed to placing any of the territory north of said line within the jurisdiction of a State south of it ; that they recommended the Legislature of Wisconsin to apply for admission into the Union, claiming the line of the ordinance as their southern boundary ; that they disclaimed any intention to absolve themselves from any pecuniary responsibility created by the Legislature of Illinois on account of the internal improvement system, etc. The resolutions were adopted unanimously, and a committee of nine was appointed to proceed to Madison, with full power to consult with the Governor and Legislature of Wisconsin Territory. Governor Doty and the legislature gave them assurance of earnest co-operation in petitioning Congress toward the end in view. But nothing ever came of the clamor. The essential point was, whether the acts of Congress of the Confederate States were of such binding force that a Congress of the United States could not annul or amend them, or, in other words, whether the former possessed a higher power than the latter.

The State Constitution was signed by the members of the Convention on the 26th day of August, but as already stated, the crowning act of State sovereignty was delayed until the 3d day of December, 1818, when the President approved and signed the Congressional act of admission previously quoted. The first election for Governor and other State officers and members of the Legislature was held on the third Thursday, and the two succeeding days (Friday and Saturday) in September, 1818.

Shadrach Bond, a native of Frederick countj', Maryland, who came to Illinois in 1780, was elected governor. He was forty-five years old at the time of his election, having been born in 1773. His education was plain, but he possessed, says Mr. Reynolds, in his Pioneer History, a convivial, benevolent disposition, a shrewd observation of men, and a clear appreciation of events. His person was erect, standing six feet in height, and after middle life he became portly, weighing two hundred pounds. His features were strongly masculine, complexion dark, hair dark, and eyes hazel. He was a favorite with the ladies. His jovial disposition, thorougii honesty and unostentatious intercourse with the people, made him the most popular man of his time. He had been a member of the General Assembly under the Indiana Territory, a delegate to Congress in 1812, and in the latter capacity procured tiie right of pre-emption on the public domain. In 1814 he was appointed Receiver of public moneys at Kaskaskia. After his gubernatorial term expired, he was a candidate for Congress in 1824, against Daniel P. Cook, but was defeated. He was subsequently appointed Register of the land oflSce at Kaskaskia, where he died April 11, 1830.

Pierre Menard, lieutenant governor, was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1767. At the age of nineteen j'ears lie found his way to Vinceunes, and became a clerk in the employ of Col. Vigo, a merchant of that place. In 1790 he formed a partnership with one DuBois, of Vincennes, and removed to Kaskaskia, where they commenced merchandising. His trade with the Indians and in other public capacities, soon made Pierre Menard well known. Nature made him frank, kind and honest. His mind, with but an ordinary education, was strong, and his judgment quick and unerring. His industry was wonderful. He was never idle. He was government agent for the Indians, and that race had the most implicit confidence in his integrity. It has been recorded to his credit, that he could buy their peltries at half the price they (the Indians) would ask from a " Long Knife." Mr. Menard had been a member of the lower house of the Legislature, while Illinois was under the jurisdiction of Indiana Territory, and a member of the Illinois Legislative Council from 1812 to 1818, of which he was the presiding oflBcer. In framing the Constitution the qualifications for lieutenant governor were fii"st fixed the same as the qualifications for governor, *vhich, among otiiers, required United States citizenship of thirty years. But as that would have excluded Mr. Menard, who had only been naturalized ten years, the convention, as a special favor to him, changed the schedule, it being generally conceded that he would be the choice of the people for lieutenant governor. After tiie expiration of his term of office (four years), he declined all further tenders of ])ul)lic position, accepting only that of United States Commissioner to treat with the Indians, whose character he knew so well. He accumulated, it is said, quite a fortune, but it was greatly impaired l>y that kindness of heart which allowed him to become security for friends. The Legislature of 1839 preserved his name in Menard county. He died in 1844, at the age of seventy-seven years.

Elijah C. Berry was the first Auditor of Public Accounts ; John Tliomas, State Treasurer ; Daniel P. Cook,* Attorney General ; Elias K. Kane, Secretary of State ; and Messrs. Blackwell and Berry, State Printers.

The State Legislature convened on the 5th of October, 1818. As the State iiad not 3'et been declared admitted, because Congress was not in session, no legislation or business of any kind was attempted, except the election of oflScers. After a session of eight days a recess was taken until tlie first Monday in .January, 1S19, when the State oflBcers were inaugurated, to whom the territorial officers turned over the keys and archives of tlie

-Mr. Cook only served as Attorney General a lew months. In 1819 he was elected to Congress, and re-elected biennially until 1826, when he was defeated by Governor Duncan. lie rose to a high position in Congres.s, and the last session he w.ns llicrc. he acted as chaimLin of the important cDmniiltec of ways ami means of the lower house. To his services, at this last session, the jicoplc of Illinois are indebted for the donation by Congress of 300,000 acres of land, for the cunstruction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Kor him the County of Cook was appropriately named, as more than half of its great prosperity is owing to his exertions in Congress in favor of the canal. - l-'otd.

young commonwealth. Ninian Edwards, retiring Governor, and Jesse B. Thomas, one of the Federal Judges for the Territory, were elected to the United States Senate, and Illinois was launched on a career of greatness unexampled in the history of States.

Financial

The territorial revenue was raised by tax assessed upon lands. Bottom lands along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers were taxed at the rate of one cent an acre, or one dollar ou every one hundred acres. Uplands were classed as second rate, and were taxed at seventy-five cents per one hundred acres. Unlocated, but confirmed land claims, were taxed at the rate of thirty-seven and one-half cents per one hundred acres. County tax was raised, for the most part, by tax levied on personal property, including slaves or indentured servants between the ages of sixteen and forty years, not to exceed one dollar each. The only realty taxed was lots and houses in towns, and country mansions worth two hundred dollars and upwards. One dollar was levied against every able-bodied, single man of twenty-one years, worth two hundred dollars in taxable property. Two men were appointed to appraise the propertj^ to be assessed. Merchants and ferries were licensed at fifteen and ten dollars respectively. Horses and cattle were taxed at a rate not to exceed fifty and ten cents respectively. The entire territorial revenue* between the 1st of November, 1811, and the 8th of November, 1814 (three years), was reported by the legislative committee on finance, in 1814, to be $4,875.45. Of this amount only $2,516.89 had actually been paid into the treasury; the balance, 12,358.56, remained in the hands of delinquent sheriffs. When the State was declared admitted, December 3, 1818, the total amount of revenue was $7,510.44, a part of which was in the hands of delinquent collectors. The State was in an embarrassed condition, and the Governor, in his message, recommended a temporary loan of $25,000 which was therefore authorized by the Legislature. A sufficient supply of stationery for the use of the first Legislature was purchased for $13.50. The amount paid for stationery for the use of the 29tli session of the General Assembly was $1,680.

State revenue, in the main, was raised by a tax assessed against lands held by nonresidents, and fell almost entirely on the military tract between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Lands were divided by law into three classes, and valued at two, three, and four dollars an acre respectively.

Levies of taxes were made according to the estimates of the sums required to meet accruing expenses, either State or county. The laws required non-residents to enter their lands for taxation directly with the Auditor of State, under oath, as to class, etc., and taxes on their lands were payable to that officer.

The Whipping Post

The whipping post and pillory, as well as slavery, existed in Illinois in the early days of her history. Under the laws of the Territory, whipping upon the bare back, besides other punishments, at the option of the courts was prescribed. The number of stripes were regulated by the grade of offense. Burglary or robbery, thirty-nine stripes; perjury, larceny, receiving stolen goods, and obtaining goods by fraudulent jjretenses, thirty-one stripes; horse-stealing, first offense, fifty to one hundred lashes; hog-stealing, twenty-five to thirty-nine lashes; altering or defacing marks or brands on domestic animals running at large, forty lashes, " well laid on ; " bigamy, one hundred to three hundred strii^es ; sodomy, one hundred to five hundred lashes. In all these offenses there were other penalties, alternatively or additionally, at the option of the court, such as fines, imprisonment, restitution, etc. Fines were collected from those unable to pay, by the sheriif sellins^ them to any one who would pay the fine or costis for sucli term as the court might deem reasonable, and if the delinquent should abscond, the penalty was double the term of servitude and tliirty-nine stripes. Standing in pillory was prescribed, in addition to other penalties, in perjury, forgery, and the altering or defacing of brands or marks on domestic animals. For this last offense, on second conviction, the culprit was to have the letter T branded in the left hand with a red hot iron. To prevent the common crime of killing stock running on the range, every one slaughtering an animal was required to exhibit the ears of hogs, or hides of cattle, to a magistrate or two freeholders witliln three days, under a penalty of ten dollai-s. For aiding the escape of a convict the punishment was the same as that of the culprit, except in capital cases, when stripes, standing in pillory, or sitting on the gallows with the rope adjusted about the neck, at the option of the court, was the penalty. Besides in treason and in murder, the penalty of death was pronounced against arson and rape, and horse-stealing on second conviction. * * * In regard to the collection of debts, the principles of the common law prevailed, which wholly favored the creditor. All the property of the judgment debtor, both real and personal, without any of the present humane features as to exemption, might be levied upon and sold under execution.

To the people of this enlightened and liberal age, such laws seem barbaric in the extreme, and were so in fact. But it may be said in excuse for them that the people were poor, the settlements sparse, and the conditions of the country and of society wild and unsettled, and that the " settlers " were too poor to build jails or penitentiaries. What few jails were built in those days were poor concerns, every way insecure, and offered but little hindrances to the escape of such as were confined within them. As the commonwealth grew older and increased in population and wealth, the people became more liberal and humane, until the last letter of the ininiman enactments herein quoted was entirely expunged froiu the statute books and now exists onl}- in history.

It will not be out of place in this connection, inasmuch as we are tracing the history of Illinois as a Territory and as a State, to go back and refer to an important, and at the time, startling occurrence in the latter part of the year 1810. A series of earthquake shocks commenced on the night of tlie 16th of December of that year, which, according to Dr. Hildreth, a writer of note of that period, continued until the '2ih\i of March following. During the continuance of those earth shocks, the old town at the present site of New Madri(l, on the Missouri side of the Mississippi river, was almost entirely destroyed. Lands were sunken for many miles around there, and down into Northeastern Arkansas. The writer has been told by reliable authority, that in the northeastern corner of Arkansas there is a tract of countr}' known as the " sunken lands," which is an impassible liog or quagmire - tiiat, in the center there is a kind of island, which can be seen from the outer edges, Ijut which has never been reached since the earthquake ihat occiisioned it, and that as late as 1871-'2 there were evidences of animal life on the island, in the presence of deer, etc., supposed to have come from a parent stock left on the island when the eartluiuake subsided. Tl>is assertion is lutl vouclied for as a fact, but is given from what is believed to be reliable authority - the statement of a resident of Arkansas, wliose acquaintance the writer enjoyed while living in that State after the close of the war of the rebellion. But to return to Dr. Hildreth's statement : " The banks of the Mississippi in many places gave way in large ma.sscs and fell into the river, while the water changed to a reddish hue, became thick with mud thrown up from tlie bottom, and the surface, laslied violently by the agitation of the earth beiu'ath, was covered with foam, wliich gathered into nuisses and lloateil along the trembling surface. Its vibrations were felt all over the valley, as far up as Pittsburg." Miul and water was thrown up as high aa the tops of trees. The vibrations were observed by the inhabitants living in that vicinity to be of two characters. One motion was horizontal and the other vertical. Of the two it was noticed that the horizontal vibrations were much the more destructive. The direction of the motion was from northwest to southeast, and numerous fissures opened up extending at nearly right angles with the direction of vibration.