Rock Island County, Illinois - The whole text, 1908 (part 1 of 16)

The whole text

Historic Rock Island County; history of the settlement of Rock sland County from the earliest known period to the present time ... embracing references of importance, and including a biography of Rock Island County's well-known citizens. Rock Island, 111. Kramer & Co., 1908.

Contents: :Part one: Historic Rock Island County. Part two: i Biographical history of Rock Island County's early settlers and leading | business men. J

Foreword

TWVj work iiiulf'rtiikcn by the publishers of Historic Rock Island County is manifestly a work in the interest of posterity and the historian of the future. Much that has perinan(>nt value in history-making for this section of the Mississippi \'alley is here presented in concise form and is written within the memory of people who largely contributed to its social, political and industrial development. It needs no prophetic vision to forecast the future of this community as one of greater prosperity, greater achievement and greater potentiality, anil the mighty river flowing past our door - destined, it is believed, to bear upon its bosom the commerce of the inland seas - is vocal with the message it carries to the southland on its way to join the waters of the Ciulf. Amid scenes of quiet, beauty in prairie groves, on the undulating slopes of wooded hillsides, and within the shadow of Inisy and growing cities, "the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep," but their work lives after them, ami their years of toil and hardship, not unmixed with the dangers of frontier life, are glorified in the annals of Historic Rock Island County. Carlyle tells us that the study of biography is the most universally pleasant and profitable of all studies. The present volume, therefore, is rich in biographical information brought down to date, and the publishers confidently believe that the history of men and women, no less than the record of successful business enterprises makes for value and perpetuity in a work of this kind. In this connection, also, they wish to express their gratitude to all who have in any way aided in its preparation. Historic Rock Island County, as its name implies, is an integral part of the story of a great state; and if, when the larger history of Illinois shall be written, the historian finds within these pages aught that adds lustre to the glory of the commonwealth, then indeed will the realization of the hope that prompted their publication be complete.

William A. Meese

THE first pt'oplc wild iiili;il)itcil the coiititrv, iinw Hock Island ('(lunt/. were redmcii. What tril^es first occupied this ground is not known, hut in tlie first part of the seventeenth ccntiirv, it was the huntina; grounds of the once powerful tribes known as the Ilb'ni, or Illinois, who were a confederation of several tribes, the Taniaroas, Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, and Peorias, and with whom were also classed the Mascoutins, sometimes called the Sixth Tribe. These tribes all were of the great Algonquin nation. Marquette in his journal speaks of meeting the mini in 107.3, when he stopped at the Des Moines River, and afterwards when, on his return, he came by way of the Illinois River from its mouth to Lake Michigan. The scene of the Illinois' main residence was, however, in the central and southern parts of the state.

About 1722 northwestern Illinois became the home and the hunting ground of the Sacs and Foxes, The word "Ou-Sakis" or ''Sau- Kee," now written Sac and Sauk, is derived from the compound word " A-Sau-we-Kee " signifying yellow earth, and " Mus-qua-Kcc," the original name of the Foxes, means red earth. The early French named this tribe, Renards and the Americans called them Foxes. These tribes originally lived on the St. Lawrence River near Quebec and Montreal. The Foxes were the first to migrate west. They settled along the river that bears their name and which empties into Green Bay. The Sacs after a long ;ind bloody war with the Iroquois were driven from the St. Lawrence River westward. They wore next engagctl in war with the Wyandottes, and again were they compelled to hurry towards the setting sun, until at length they reached Green Bay on Lake Michigan, near where the Foxes had made their habitation. Hero it seems both tribes were frequently attacked by other tribes of Indians, until at last they united, forming an offensive and defensive union, each however, retaining its tribal name. Through intermarriage and long residence they became substantially one people, an alliance lasting to this day. Both the Sacs and Foxes belong to the Algonquin family.

At what time these two tribes came to Green Bay is not known. Marquette's map of 1673 locates the Foxes on the Fox River between the present Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. Father Claude Allouez, when he established the mission of St. Francis Xavier in 1669, found them located near, and in 1(172 he commenced preaching the gospel to them. Early in the eighteenth centui'y they were driven from Green Bay and the F( x River by the Menominees, who were aided by the Ottawas, Chippewas and the French.

The Sacs and P\)xes made depredations on the French traders and exacted trib^ite from them, whereon the French commandant of the post at Green Bay took a party of his men in covered boats, and while distracting the attention of the Indians, opened fire on them from the water, at the same time that his Menominee allies attacked their vilhige from the banks in the rear. Those who survived the slaughter removed to the Mississippi River. On arriving there they found that country inhabited by the Sauteaux, a branch of the Chippewa tribe. Upon these they commenced war, finally driving them out of the country, which they then took possession of and occupied. This was about 1722.

These tribes next waged war upon the Mascoutins and in a battle opposite the moutli of the Iowa River defeated and almost exterminated this tribe. They then formed an alliance with the Pottawattomies, Menominees and Winnebagoes, and together attacked the Illinois and gradually drove these people further southward.

The Sacs and Fo.xes have warred with the Sioux, the Pawnees, Osages and other Indians, and their record shows that they ranked among the fiercest and most warlike tribes. Drake said of them: "The Sacs and Foxes are a truly courageous i)eople, shrewd, politic and enterprising, with not more of ferocity and treachery of character than is common among the tribes by whom they were surrounded."

Tlie first recognition b}- our government of the Sacs and Foxes was in the treaty made at Ft. Harmar, January 9, 17S9, which guaranteed: "The individuals of said nations shall be at liberty to hvmt within the territory ceded to the United States, without hindrance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves peaceably and offer no injury or aimoyance to any of the sulijects or citizens of tlie said United States."

In 1804 William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, and afterwards President of the United States, was instructed by President Jefferson to institute negotiations with the Sacs and Foxes to purchase their lands. At this time, Black Hawk had risen to the position of war chief of the Sac tribe. Four chiefs or headmen of the Sacs and two chiefs of the Foxes went to St. Louis, and November 3, 1804, made a treaty with Governor Harrison. By this treaty the Indians ceded all their lands, comprising the eastern third of the present State of Missouri and the territory lying between the Wisconsin River on the north, the Fox River of Illinois on the east, the Illinois on the southeast, and the Mississippi on the west, in all fifty million acres. For this grant the United States guaranteed to the Indians "friendship and ]irotection," paid them $2, 234. .50 in goods, and guaranteed them goods each year thereafter to the amount of .$1,000, 1600 of which was to be paid to the Sacs and $400 to the Foxes. By this treaty it was iiro\idcd in Article 7:

"As long as the lands which are now ceded to the United States remain their property, the Indians belonging to the said tribes shall enjoy the privilege of living and hunting upon them." This article in the treaty caused much trouble between the government and the Sacs and Foxes, and was the main cause of the Black Hawk War. lilack Hawk was not present at its making, and always denied the right of the headmen of the Sac tribe to sign such a treaty for his people.

In the spring of 1804 a white person (a man or boy) was killed in Cuivre settlement by a Sauk (Sac) Indian. A party of United States troops was sent from St. I,ouis to the Rock River village to demand the murderer. The Sacs surrendered and delivered him to the soldiers and he was conveyed to St. Louis and turned over to the civil authorities. During the latter part of October, 1804, Quashquame, one of the Sac chiefs, together with others of his tribe and some of the Foxes, went to St. Louis to try and secure the release of the Sac murderer who was a relative of Quash-quame. It is an Indian custom and usage that if one Indian kills another, the matter is generally compromised with the murdered man's relatives for a property consideration, as Black Hawk said: "The only means with us for saving a person who killed another was by paying for the person killed, thus covering the blood and satisfying the relatives of the murdered man," and the Sacs believed that by the giving of ponies and peltries to the whites they could secure the Indian's release.

Thomas Forsyth, for many years an Indian trader, and from 1816 until 1S30 the agent of the Sacs and Foxes, in a manuscript written in 1832 says of this matter: "Quash-quamc, a Sauk chief, who was the headman of this party, has repeatedly said, 'Mr. Pierre Choteau. Sen., came several times to my canij), offering that if I would sell the lands (ui the east side of the Mississippi River, Governor Harrison would liberate my relation (meaning the Sauk Indian then in prison as aliove related), to which I at last agreed, and sold the lands from the mouth of the Illinois River up the Mississippi River as high as the mouth of Rocky River (now Rock River), and east to the ridge that divides the waters of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and I never sold any more lands.' Quash-quame also said to Governor Edwards, Governor Clark and Mr. Auguste Chouteau, commissioners appointed to treat with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawattomies of Illinois River, in the summer of 1816, for lands on the west side of Illinois River, ' You white men may put on paper what you please, but again I tell you, I never sold my lands higher up the Mississip])i than the mouth of Rock River.' "

It is claimed that the Indians were drunk most of the time they were in St. Louis, a thing not unlikely. Forsyth said the Indians always believed the annuities they received, were presents, and when he in 1818 informed them it was a part of the purchase price of their lands, "they were astonished, and refused to accept of the goods, denying that they ever sold the lands as stated by me, their agent. The Black Hawk in particular, who was present at the time, made a great noise about this land, and would never receive any part of the annuities from that time forward."

When it became known that certain chiefs and headmen had without authority sold their lands, Quash-quame and his companions were degraded from their ranks, Tiama, the son-in-law of Quash-qvuime, being elected to his father-in-law's place.

In 1815 a part of the Sacs and Foxes had migrated to the Missouri River, and September 13, 1815, these Indians sent representatives to the Portage des Sioux, where each tribe made a separate treaty with the government, agreeing to ratify the treaty of November 3, 1804, and to remain separate from, .and render no assistance to, the Sacs and Foxes then living on Rock River.

On the 13th day of May, 181G, another treaty was entered into at St. Louis. This treaty was between the "Sacs of Rock River" and the government. It reaffirmed the treaty of 1804 and all other contracts heretofore made between the parties. To this treaty is attached the mark of Ma-Ka-tai-me-She- Kia-Kiak, or "Black Sparrow Hawk," as Black Hawk was also called. Yet Black Hawk said in 1832: "Here, for the first time, I touched the goose quill to the treaty not knowing, however, that by the act I consented to give away my village. Had they explained to me I should have opposed it and never would have suined their treaty as my recent conduct will clearly prove."

In the treaty of 1804 the government had agreed, in order to put a stop to the abuses and impositions practiced upon the Indians by private traders, to establish a trading house or factory where these Indians could be supplied with goods cheaper and better than from private traders. This the government concluded it was best not to continue, and a new treaty was made by which the United States paid the Indians $1,000 to be relieved from this obligation. l?l:ick Hnwk sijiiiod this treaty. Another treaty was made .August 4, 1824, which reaiFirmed and recognized all former treaties. Each treaty left the Sacs and Fo.xes with less lainl .-intl I'ewer rights.

For years there had existed a bitter feeling between the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes, and .\iigust 19, 1S2."), Willi;im t'lark and Lewis Case on behalf of the government assembled these tribes, together with the Chi]3pewns, Meiiominees, Winnebagoes, lowas, Ottawas and Pottawattomies at Prairie du Chien, and entered into a treaty whose object was to end the wars t)ctween these nations. In this treaty it was agreed that the I'nited States should run a boundary line between the Sioux and the Sacs and Foxes. It seems that this treaty proved \msatisfactory to the Indians, for .July 30, 1830, another treaty was entered into at Prairie du Chien in which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a tract of land twenty miles in width lying south of the line established by the treaty of August li), 1825. The Sioux also ceded a strip twenty miles wide along the north line of said boundary. This forty mile strip was neuti'al territory, open to all for himting and fishing, and was along the Iowa River.

their parents. The husband could at any time di\'orce his wife or add another if lie deemed best, and although the marriage ties were not strong, the ties of consanguinity were I'isidl)- preserved. Hereditary rights were tracetl through the female line. This was accomiilished by means of the Totem, an' institution or emblem which ser\-ed as a distinction for the different clans or families. The family surname was represented by some l)ird or animal, such as Eagle, Hawk, Heron, Deer, Bear, etc. Each Indian was proud of his Totem - in fact it represented a fraternity or secret society. As the different members of a clan were connected by ties of kindred, they were prohibited from intermarriage. A Hear might not marry a Bear, liut cotdd marry an Eagle, Hawk, or member of any other clan. This Totem system furnished the means of tracing family lineage thrcjugh all their >'ears of wandeiing and preserved their hereditary rights.

The Sacs and Foxes had from the early part of the eighteenth century occupied the banks of the Mississippi between the mouth of the Missouri and the Wisconsin, the Sacs occupying the eastern side of the river, and the Foxes its western banks.

S.Vc Axd Fox Customs

The Sacs and Foxes had many peculiar customs, one being that eacli male child was marked at bii-th with either white or black color, the Indian mother alternating the colors so that the nation was evenly di\ided between black and white. This distinction was kept alive during life, the object being to create ri\'alrv and ,-i spii'il of eiunlation between the members of tlu^ tribe. Tims black was the competitor of white in their games and .social customs, and earh side tried to outdo llie other, and in wai- to take more scalps. lilack Hawk belongetl to the "Black" party and Keokuk to the "White" party.

The Homes Of The Sacs

The Sacs' house or wigwam was made by setting posts in the ground and siding it with bark. On top of the posts small poles were laid for rafters upon which strips of bark were laid. These wigwams were about eight ei-n feet wide and from twenty to sixty feet long. West of the Rock River village the Indians cultivated aljout one thousand acres, raising corn, beans, sc[uashes and melons. The Sacs and Foxes planted their corn in the same hill year after yeai'. They would ilig up the hill each year and plant the corn in the middle, cultivating it with a primitive hoe and hoeing it three or four times during a season. These corn hills were quite large, many of them being still visible a few years ago. The farming was doiip principally by the women assisted by the old men and children. From the years 1780 to about 1820, the traders at Prairie dii Chien came to the Sac village for all the corn they used. After the crops were harvested, the Sacs wo\ild prepare to leave for their winter hiuit. Before going they would dig a round liolc in the ground alxiut eighteen inches in diameter. Carefully removing the sod and digging five or six feet they wovdd enlarge it so that it would hold many bushels. These holes they would line with l)ai-k and dry grass and then fill up with tlicir grains and vegetables. When full they would replace the sod and remove all traces of earth, often building a fire over it so ihai im cuciny could find the jilace and steal the supply they had laid u]) for the next spring and siiinnicr. When this was done the Sacs and Foxes would go off into Iowa and Missouri where they would liuiil. In the winter their houses wei'e made bv sticking poles in the ground ami bending tliem over so as to form a luilf circle about twelve feet in diameter. These were covereil with r\igs woven of grass and with hides.

The chief Sac village was located on the north bank of Rock River about two miles from its uio\itli. It was built about 1780, west of where the Rock Island and Peoria Railway crosses the river, and it extended down along the bank in a straggling form. It was one of the largest Indian towns on the continent, the oldest and longest inhabited, and had a population often as high as three thousand. It was the summer home of the Sacs. Here was located the tril)al l)nrying ground, a spot more revered by an Indian than anything else on earth. Here reposed the bones of a century of the Sai' warriors, their wives and children, and here each Sac came once each year to commune with his friends and family who had departed to the "happy hunting grounds," On these occasions all vegetation was removed from the moimd and the mourner addressed words of endearment to the dead, inquiring how they fared in the laud of spirits, and placed food upon the graves. The Sacs were particular in their demonstrations of grief. They darkened their faces with chai'coal, fasted and abstained from the use of vermilion and ornaments of dress.

Black Hawk said: "With us it is a custom to visit the graves of oiu- friends and keep them in repair for many years. The mother will go aliuie to weep over the grave of her child. After he has been successful in war, the brave, with ple.nsure, visits the grave of his father, and repaints the post that marks where he lies. There is no place like that wher(> the bones of oiu- forefathei's lie to go to when in grief. Here, prostrate liy the tombs of iiur forefathers, will the (Ireat Spirit take pitv on us."

The old Indian town has by some been called "Saukenuk." How tins name originated is not known. The first to use it was Armstrong in his "Sauks and the Black Hawk War," published in 1SS7. Catlin refers to it in 1837 as "Saug-e-nug," yet none of our pioneer settlers mention it except as the "Sac Village," or "Black Hawk'.s Village." Judge Spencer in his " Reminiscenses," in speaking of the year 1829, says: "We were here but a few days when two Indians came, the first we had .seen. One of them connnenced talking in a loud voice in the Iiulian language of which we could not understand a word. By ])ointing to the wigwam, saying, 'Saukie Wigeop,' then ])ointing to the ground saying, 'Saukie-Aukie,' and rep(^ating this many times we understood he claimed the land and the wigwam belonged to the-Indians." Caleb Atwater, who was the commissioner employed bv the United States to negotiate with the Indians of the upper Mississippi for the purchase of their mineral lands in 1829, was unable to learn the luune of the Sac town whether because it liad iiono or because the ludians did not care to name it, is not known. Major Morrill Marston who was stationed at Ft. Armstrong from August 1819 to June 1821, in a letter dated November 1820, in speaking of the Sac village said they call it Sen-i-se-pp Ke-he-sau-Kee (Rock River peninsula). When the Major spoke to one of the chiefb- about removing his people west of the Mississippi, the Indian replied, that his people were not willing to leave Ke-bc-sau-Kee because their chiefs and friends were buried there.

In 1S05 Lieutenant Zebulon Pike on behalf of the United States government made an expedition from St. I.ouis to the sources of tlie Mississippi River. He says that the Sacs had three villages, one at the head of the Des Moines Rapids, the second on a prairie about two miles from the Mississippi at Oquawka. and the third on Rock River about three miles from its mouth. The Foxes or Reynards also had three villages, one on the Illinois side above the Rock Island Rapids, one at Dubuque and one near Prairie du Chien. Pike estimated that the Sacs numbered 2,850 souls, of whom 1 ,400 were children, 750 women and 700 warriors. The Foxes numbered 1,750 of whom 400 were warriors, 850 children, 500 women. In 1825 the secretary of war estimated the entire number of Sacs and Fo.xes at 4,600, an increase of over one thousand in twenty years. In 1831, at the commencement of Indian hostilities preceding the Black Hawk War, there were twenty families of whom twelve were Sacs and eight were Foxes, and their total nvmiber is estimated to been five thousand souls, this number including those living in Iowa and Missouri.

A Revolutionary Battle

Wisconsin Rivers, a body of Menominees, Winnebagoes and Sacs and Foxes, in all about six hundred and fifty Indians, and with fifty white traders came down the Wisconsin River in canoes and thence down the Mississippi River to St, I.ouis, and attacked that then Spanish post. The British and their Indian allies on May 26th, made their attack, but were repulsed b_v the inhabitants and the small Spanish garrison. They then crossed the Mississippi River and attacked the American post at Cahokia, Colonel John Montgomery was American commandant of the Illinois, and he having heard of the enemy's movements, was prepared. General George Rogers Clark had while at the Falls of the Ohio learned of the threatened British-Indian invasion, and hurried to the Illinois, arriving on the night of the 25th, and assisted in the defense. The British and Indians were repulsed although one American was killed. General Clark now ordered Colonel ilontgomery to pursue the enemy, and Montgomerj' at the head of an armj' of tliree hundred and fifty soldiers, mo.stly Virginians, including a company of Illinois French Militia and some Spanish, marched to where Peoria now is and destroyed the Indian village on the Illinois. He then took up his march across the prairies to the Sac village near the mouth of Rock River. It was in the first part of June, early accounts do not mention the day of the month, but it was during the season that the Sacs and Foxes were alwaj's at their village cultivating their fields of corn. Black Hawk does not mention this American visit, due probabh- to the fact that an Indian seldom if ever mentions defeat. Colonel Montgomery himself makes scant mention of his journej^ save in a letter WTitten in 1783 to the Board of Commissioners for the Settlement of Western Accounts in which he defends his actions while in the Illinois. He speaks of desiring a leave of absence and says, " It was then he (General George Rogers Clark) informed me of his resolution; and that the Public Interest would not permit of my request beins granted, that I must take command of the expedition to Rock River." He then says: "After giving me instructions, he (Clark) left Kohos (Cahokia) the 4th of Jmie with a small escort for the mouth of the Ohio on his route to Kentucky. I immediately proceeded to the Business I was order'd and march'd three hundred and fifty men to the lake open on the Illinois River, and from thence to the Rock River, Destroying the ToNrtis and Crops proposed. The Enimy not Dareing to fight me as they had so lately Been Disbanded and they could not raise a sufficient force "

James Aird, an early British trader, speaking of this matter in 1805, said that the Sac village was burnt, "by about three hundred Americans, although the Indians had assembled 700 warriors to give them battle." Aird from 1778 on was engaged in trade with the Sacs and Foxes made annual visits to their village and for weeks maintained on Credit (now Suburban) Island a trading post or station.

The French Militia who accompanied Montgomery undoubtedly expected to capture rich booty from the Indians and were greatly disappointed. In a lengthy declaration to M. Mottin de la Balme, pensioner of the King of France and French Colonel, etc.. the inhabitants of Cahokia complain grieviously of the Virginians. They say in speaking of the Rock River Expedition: "Oh, Colonel Clark, affecting always to desire our public welfare and tmder pretext of avenging us, soon formed with us and conjointly with the Spaniards a party of more than three hundred men to go and attack in their own village the savages who had come to our homes to harass us, and after substituting Colonel Montgomery to command in his place, he soon left us.

"It is, then, well to explain to you, sir, that the Virginians, who never employed any principle of economy, have been the cause by their lack of management and bad conduct, of the non-success of the expedition and that our glorioiis projects have failed through their fault : for the savages abandoned their nearest villages, where we have been, and we were forced to stop and not pu.sli on fiu'ther, since we had almost no more provisions, powder and balls, which the Virginian.s had undertaken to furnish us."

Thus at the Sac village at the mouth of Rock River was fought a battle during the War of the Revolution. How long it lasted, were there any killed or wounded, or if British soldiers took part, our early records do not state, but in this farthest west of the Revo- 'utionary engagements, American soldiers like tlieir brothers in the east, triumphed.

At the commencement of the nineteenth century and up to the Black Hawk War, the principal and central figtu-e of the redmen in the upper Mississippi A'alley was the Sac chief. Black Hawk, who was born at the Indian village on Rock River in 1767. Black Hawk was of middling size and as Catlin says, "with a head that would excite the envy of a phrenologist; one of the finest that heaven ever let fall on the shoulders of an Indian." Another Sac chief who had risen from the ranks was Keokuk. His advancement was due to his raising a war party to defend his nation from an expected attack of the Americans during the War of 1812, but which attack never occurred. Although polygamy was practiced among the Sacs and Foxes, Black Hawk had but one wife while Keokuk had seven. Keokuk w-as also born at the Sac village on Rock River in 1783, and died in April, 1848, at the Sac and Fox Agencj' in Kansas.

which lias marked the ccndiict of the former (Sacs) towards the United States on many late occurrences." This disagreement continued to grow, and while some of the Foxes lield with the Sacs, most of the Foxes were inclined to be well disposed to the Americans, as were some of the Sacs, and these friendly Indians arrayed themselves under Keokuk's standard while the war party held to Black Hawk. Black Hawk and Keokuk were thus rival chiefs. Keokuk had never done anything that entitled him to leadership. The Indian standard of character and honor made it the dtity of an Indian to be foremost in the ranks of the war party. Keokuk had few victories to his credit, but he was diplomatic. In 1828 he moved with his following across the Mississippi and built a village on the Iowa. Black Hawk, like Keokuk, was not an hereditary chief, but had risen to the position of chief of the war party through the native vigor of his character and his great success in war. Black Hawk had never stiffered defeat. His band, which w'as much the larger, comprised the chivalry of the Sac and Fox nations. At the beginning of the War of 1812, he offered the services of his nation to the Americans, which from motives of humanity they declined. Yet the British were not loth to accept them, for dii'ectly after this we find that La Guthre, an agent of Great Britain, was at the Rock River village to enlist the Sacs and Foxes on the British side and against the Americans, and we find them fighting us in the War of 1812. From this fact and from this time, Black Hawk's band was known as the "British Band." A study of Black Hawk's life discloses that he possessed those qualities which in a white man would raise him to power and position. Black Hawk was the great Indian commoner. Keokuk was noted as an Indian orator; Black Hawk as an Indian warrior.

The Cause Of Indian Waks

man to ]3().ssess the home and the hunting grounds of his red brother. Discovery by the European nations was considered a right to extinguish the redman's title. England's policy then as now was to claim that all title to land was vested in the crown, that her subjects might occupy the soil, but could not alienate it except to her own people. England treated the Indians as she did her own subjects. When the United States at the close of the Revolutionary War succeeded to this country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, the same principles regarding the title to the Indian lands were carried out, and while in every instance our government had secured title and extinguished Indian rights, by treaty or purchase, we must admit that the consideration was the most trivial, and too often acceptance on the part of the redman was influenced by the force of arms.

"Did the red man foresee his impending doom, his forced retreat towards the setting sun, the gradual breaking up of his power and the final extinction of his race?" Careful study of Indian history leads us to believe that among the Indians, as well as among the white men, there were those who saw the coming storm, "who saw the threatening cloud coming from the east, small at first, scarce a shadow, but gradually becoming more distinct and greater as it traveled westward, and, when it reached the summit of the Alleghanies, it assumed a darker hue; deep murmurs, as of thunder, were heard; it was impelled westward by strong winds and shot forth forked tongues of lightning." On the plains of Abraham, when French stipremacy west of the Alleghanies was forever lost, and Pontiac stood before the British officer who was to proceed westward to secure the fruits of victory and said, "I stand in thy path," he realized the impending conflict, and his note of warning to the chiefs of his nation to "Drive the dogs who wear red clothing into the sea " was his last appeal to save his race. Fifty years later Tecumseh fell a martyr to the Indian cause, and his efforts to stem the westward march of the white man failed. For three years after that Tuscaloosa strove in vain to save his nation, and in 1S32 the Sacs and Foxes on Rock Island soil, under the leadership of their great chief, Black Hawk, made the last determined Indian defense of their homes and the resting place of their forefathers.

Sacs And Foxes Of Today

After their removal to Iowa, they by treaties in 1836 and 1S42 ceded all their lands up to the Missouri River, and in June, 188.5, these people were distributed as follows: On Sac and Fox Resen-ation in Iowa (Tama Count}') about 380; on Pottawatomie and Great Nemaha Agency Reservation, near the northeast corner of Kansas, the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri about 187; on Sac and Fox Reservation in Indian Territory, 457, and Mohoko's band, wandering in the west, about 350 - a total of 1,374. Almost all but the last named band are farmers and herders. The agent at Sac and Fox Agency, Iowa, writing in 1884, said: "For honesty and truthfulness our Indians stand above the average white man with the merchants with whom they deal." Yet in spite of all attemjits to civilize them, the Sacs and Foxes still li\-e in rude huts like their ancestors, cooking their food at a fire made on the ground, the smoke escaping from an opening in the roof; sleeping on bunks of boards arranged on the sides of their huts, wearing blankets, painting their faces, shaving and decorating their heads, as did their ancestors who lived at the old Rock River village. They lack thrift, industry and a spirit of progress. They still offer prayers and hold feasts before planting their crop.s, and another series of prayers and thanksgiving when their crops are gathered. Notwithstanding the efforts of Christian missionaries, holy or consecrated tobacco is still l)vu'ned on certain occasions as incense, and as of yore they still have "Me-sham," a something that profane eyes have never been allowed to see. The modern Sacs and Foxes, while quiet and peaceful, are averse to work and seem at their best visiting the neighboring towns, lounging about smoking, chatting and playing the white man's game - cards.

First White Explorers

Undoubtedly the first white men to cast their eyes upon Rock Island soil were Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette, when they and their five French canoemen, in June 1673, floated from the mouth of the Wisconsin River down the broad Mississippi. We do not know that they landed at any spot in the boundary of what is now Rock Island County, but as they came over the Rock Island rapids, gliding down the swift flowing water, they could not fail to notice the Island of Rock Island with its rocky shores and beautiful groves, for their canoes must needs take the channel on the north shore of the island. All early voyagers remarked upon this locality, and it was generallv considered "the handsomest and most delightful spot of the same size on the whole globe."

We have no record of the first white man who stepped on Rock Island soil. We knowthat as early as 1690 Nicholas Perrot, French commandant of the west, built a post oppo- .site to where Dubuque, Iowa, now is and that in 1695 Pierre Le Sueur built a fort on a large island in the Mississippi River between Lake Pepin and the mouth of the St. Croix, which Charlevoix says became "the centre of commerce for the western parts." Le Sueur discovered lead mines on both sides of the Mississippi River (at Dubuque and Galena), and Penicault, his reporter and companion, speaks of the rapids at Rock Island. We know that agents of Anthony Crozat at some time between the years 1712 and 1717 worked the lead mines around Dubuque and Galena; that as early as 1792 printed maps of this country show the Rock Island Rapids, naming them

"Nine-mile Rapids," and we fnrllier know that from 17S8 to ISlO.Iuiien ])u Biique with a force of Spanish, French and Indian miners operated tlie lead mines near where l)nbiique. Iowa, now is, and floated his lead down the Mississippi to St. Louis and New Orleans, and it is not impossible that some of these people may have explored this co\inty and even lived here; but the first record we have of a white man stopping at this locality is when Lieutenant Pike in 1805 made his trip u]i the Mississippi.

On August 9, 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, an officer in the fnited States Army, in command of twenty soldiers, left St. Louis under instructions from the government to trace the sources of the Mississippi River. ascertain the condition of the Indians, create a better feeling between them and the Americans and to select certain sites upon which to' erect forts. The party made the voyage in a keel boat seventy feet long, and on August 27, 1S05, the party arrived at the mouth of Rock River.

Black Hawk in his autobiography says: "Some time afterwards a boat came up the river with a young American chief, at that time lieutenant, and afterwards General Pike, and a small party of soldiers aboard. The boat at length arrived at Rock River and the young chief came on shoi e with his interpreter. He made us a speech and gave us some presents, in return for which we gave him meat and such other provisions as we could spare.

"We were well pleased with the speech of the yoimg chief. He gave us good advice and said our American father would treat us well. He presented us an American flag which we hoisted. He then requested us to lower the British colors, which were waving in the air, and to give him our British medals, promising to send us others on his return to St. Louis. This we declined to do, as we wished to have two fathers,"

The event related by Black Hawk, and occm-ring at the old Sac village on Rock River, in August, 1S05, was the first raising and unfurling of the United States flag in the valley of the upper Mississippi River. All the country west of the Mississippi had until October, 1803, belonged to Spain, and Lieutenant Pike was the first American representative to navigate the Mississippi north of St. Louis.

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 gave the United States control of both banks of the upper Mississippi River. Previous to this time, but little was known of our upper river by the Americans, and not imtil Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike under orders from our government in 1805 came up the river from St. Louis, to discover its source, and to select locations for future United States posts, did our government have any definite knowledge concerning this country.

At the beginning of the year 1814 the war with England was still in progress and though the warfare was carried on mostly on the lakes, the Atlantic Ocean, and among the eastern states, the west, and especially the upper Mississippi River, were the scenes of important events, which owing to their distance from civilization, the lack of means and the length of time to transport news, were overlooked, and have failed to receive that recognition in American history that events of less importance, but happening in the east were accorded.

St. Louis, the American headquarters for the upper Mississippi River, Cap au Oris, a small French hamlet a few miles north of the mouth of the Illinois River, the deserted old post at Ft. Madison, the mines at Dubuque and the small French settlement and British post at Prairie du Chien were the only settlements on the upper river.

On March 27th, 1813, Ninian Edwards, territorial governor of Illinois, wrote the secretary of war: "If the British erect a fort at the mouth of the Wisconsin, and should be able to retain it two years, this and Missouri territory will be totally deserted, in other words, conquered."

In the beginning of the year 1814 our government decided to build a fort on the upper river at Prairie du Chien (the mouth of the Wisconsin River), where the British had the preceding year fortified the house of the Macinac Fur Company and stationed a company of Michigan fencibles (militia).

The First Expedition

On May 1, 1814, William Clark, governor of Missouri Territory, with a detachment consisting of sixty United States regulars of the Seventh Infantry, and one hundred and forty Illinois and Missouri rangers or volunteers, left Cap au Gris in five fortified keel boats for the mouth of the Wisconsin River there to erect a United States fort. At the mouth of the Rock River they had a slight skirmish with a party of Sauk (Sac) braves.

About the middle of April. Colonel Dickinson left Prairie du Chien, taking with him most of the British forces, together with about three hundred Indian allies. Captain Deace was left in charge of the post. His command consisted of a company of Michigan fencibles;) and a body of Sioux and Fox Indians. When it was learned that an American force was nearing the Prairie, the Indians refused to fight the Americans, and Captain Deace and his British soldiers fled.

Lieutenant Joseph Perkins, who was in command of the United States regulars, on his arrival at the Prairie, took possession of the place and immediately began the erection of a fort, which he named Fort Shelby in honor of Governor Shelby of Kentucky. As soon as the fort was completed Captain John Sullivan's company of fifty rangers, thirty-two rangers from Captain Yeizer's company, together with Governor Clark, left Fort Shelby and returned to St. Louis, arriving there the last of June.

On the 17th of July Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien was attacked by Colonel William McKay in command of one hundred and fifty British soldiers and four hundred Sioux, Winnebago, Menominee and Chippewa Indians, and on the evening of July 19th, the same day Campbell's expedition was defeated, Lieutenant Perkins surrendered Fort Shelby. The British renamed the fort, calling it Fort McKay.

When General Howard, commandant of the American forces in the west, learned of the return of the troops from Prairie du Chien, he immediately organized another expedition to be sent uj) the river to reinforce Fort Shelby.

On July 4, 1S14, the second expedition left Cap au Gris. It consisted of three fortified barges, or keel boats, each with a cabin and all having sails. There were thirty-three regular soldiers and sixty-five rangers (militia), some of the latter being Frenchmen from Cahokia. The expedition including the sutlers' establishment, boatmen, and women and children, making one hundred and thirtythree persons. This expedition was commanded by Lieutenant (acting Brigade Major) John Campbell of the First Regulars (infantry), who with the regulars, contractors, sutlers, women and children, occupied one boat. The two other boats being occupied by the rangers and were commanded by Lieutenant Stephen Rector and Lieutenant Jonathan Riggs. The n\unber of regulars in this expedition has been repeatedly given as forty-two; Major Campbell, however, reports that he had but thirty-three.

they met a party of Indians from Prairie du Chien. with a packet directed to Governor Clark. These Indians informed Campbell that everything was quiet, and that the garrison at .the Prairie (Prairie du Chien) had been completed. The same day T.ieu tenant Rector, of the rangers found a canoe which had a considerable quantity of Indian pro]ierty in it. and which had just been abandoned. On the 18th of July, about twenty miles below the mouth of Rock River, the expedition was met by a party of nine Indians in canoes, bearing a white flag, who informed Major Campbell that they had heard of the American's approach and had come to conduct them to their o^nti town, and to inform them that the Sacs and P'oxes were friend!}^ disposed. The Indians left the keel boats a few miles below the mouth of Rock River, at the mouth of which the boats were met by five other Indians in canoes, who informed the commander that the Indians at the village on Rock River, about a mile above its mouth, wished to hold a council with him. The keel boats proceeded up the river and landed on the Illinois shore opj)osite the lower end of the Island of Rock Lsland. In a short time, about one hundred and fifty warriors, besides women and children of the Sac and Fox nation appeared. Black Hawk was at the head of the party. He approached Major Campbell and asked if he had brought any presents for him from his fnther. Major Campbell told Black Hawk he had, provided he fulfilled the pr:;mises he had made his father in the spring, which was to go to war with the Peaus OVinnebagoes.) Black Hawk replied that he had made his father no such promises, and that his "father was drunk when he said so," but that he was ready to go to war with the Peaus if the government would furnish him with the means. He further said: "The Mississippi is a broad and straight road and the people of the United States shall meet with no ot)structions in traveling."

On the morning of July 19, before breakfast, the boats all set sail and started up the river, with a fine breeze. During the night a part}^ of Indians arrived at the Sac village from Prairie du Chien, coming down Rock River, Black Hawk said they brought the Sacs si.Y kegs of powder and told them that the fort at Prairie du Chien had been captured by the British. These messengers also told the Sacs that the British wished them to again join them in the war against the Americans, which the Indians agreed to do.

Black Hawk's memorj' is at fault. He does not state exactly what these Indian messengers told him. Colonel McKay, whose armj' of British and Indians had attacked Prairie du Chien. in a letter to his superior officer, under date of July 27, 1S14. says that on the 17th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, after the gunboat "Governor Clark '' had been driven from its position by the British cannon and had started down the river, that he immediately sent off a canoe with three men: an lowan. who had come from Mackinac with him, and two of the six Banks, who had joined him on the Fox River. that he gave them four kegs of gun powder and ordered them to pass the "Governor Clark" and get as soon as possible to the rapids at the Rock River, where he believed the gunboat would run aground: that they should collect all the Sauks and annoy the" Governor Clark" and prevent their landing to get fire wood, etc.

Early in the morning, Black Hawk collected his warriors .and determined to attack the boats, which had now started up the river. As Black Hawk says: "I collected my warriors and determined to pursue the boats. I immediately started with my party by land in pursuit, thinking that some of their boats

The boats had just passed the head of Rock IsLand when the boat commanded by Major Campbell was grounded on the rocks, and he was compelled to discharge and put off part of her loading into the other boats before he could release his boat.

After proceeding about six miles the wind increased to a hurricane. Campbell's boat being still heavily loaded, he says: "I was afraid of her dashing to pieces on the rocks, and ordered her to be put shore, which in doing from the severe gale of wind which was blowing, and the roughness of the water, dashed her so hard on shore it was impossible to get her off while the storm lasted." The boat was driven on the north shore of an island lying about six miles east of Moline and which since that day has been known as Campbell's Island. It lies near the eastern shore in Rock Island Coimty and belongs to the State of Illinois.

Black Hawk says: "About half way up the rapids I had a full view of the boats, all sailing with a strong wind; I soon discovered one boat badly managed and was suffered to be driven ashore by the wind: they landed by running hard aground, and lowered their sail, the others passed on."

The ground where the boat landed was covered with high grass, hazel and willow bushes for a considerable distance up and down the shore. Campbell immediately placed two sentinels about sixty yards from the boats and the men then commenced getting their breakfast.

They had not been on the island more than twenty-five or thirty minutes when the Indians commenced their attack, both sentinels were killed the first fire, and one other man on shore. Campbell ordered the cable cut and the boat to be gotten ofT, in doing of which two men were killed and three wounded. Finding the gale blowed directly on land.

The boats of Lieutenants Rector and Riggs were about three miles up the river at this time. Lieutenant Riggs' being in advance. He heard the report of the firing and saw the smoke rising from where Campbell's boat lay. He tacked his boat and signaled Rector, who also tacked and both sailed for Campbell's boat. Rector's boat being the first to reach the scene of the battle. Savages were seen among the trees and bushes, and a large number of Indians were seen coming in canoes from the eastern shore. It was estimated that about four hundred Indians surroimded them. The savages commenced giving their war-whoop and pouring in on them a fire of musketry and arrows. Major Campiiell's right wrist was fractured by a musket ball during the first onslaught, and he was carried into the cabin of his boat and laid on a bunk, while his men gallantly returneil the fire of the Indians.

Campbell's boat was so near the bank that the Indians were able to fire in at the port oar holes. The storm had now become so violent that it was fully an liour before the other boats were able to come to Campbell's assistance.

Riggs' boat was driven ashore about one hundred yards below Campbell's boat, and Rector to avoid a similar fate, had let go an anchor, and lay about twenty yards above Campbell's boat. The rangers from both barges kept up a brisk fire on the Indians.

This unequal contest waged for several hours, when the firing from Campbell's boat becoming less frequent, led Lieutenant Rector to believe that most of Campbell's men were either killed or wounded.

Riggs' boat was the best fortified, but his crew had been weakened. When Campbell's boat was stranded on the rocks he sent a sergeant and ten men to help him off, and Campbell did not return the men.

Rector's boat had among its crew many of the French from (^ahokia who were experienced sailors. Tlip wind was still a raging tempest, and the fire of the Indians was becoming more destructive to the boats. ''At this time." Black Hawk siiys. "I prepared my bow and arrows to throw fire to the sail, which was laying on the boat, and after two or three attempts succeeded in setting the sail on fire." Campbell's boat was soon in flames. lieutenant Rector could not remain inactive and witness the horrible death of Campbell and his companions. In the face of the tempest and the galling fire of the foe, he cut his anchors, a number of his men got out into the water, keeping the boat between them and the Indians, they jnished their boat against the fire of the Indians uj) to Campbell's boat. The wounded in Campbell's boat were first transferred to Rector's boat, and then those who were unhurt; so loaded was Rector's boat that the water was nmning in at the oar holes and almost all of the provisions were thrown overboard to lighten the boat. The Indians all the time kept up a murderous fire. In taking the men from Campbell's boat the Major was shot through the body. Black Hawk in his autobiography states at this time: "We wounded the war chief."

Rector's men still in the water, and keeping the boat between them and the Indians, hauled their boat out into the stream, swimming alongside of the boat until the channel was reached and the boat had been carried out of gunshot, when they climbed into the boat. Rector's boat was crowded, but the men took to their oars and rowed night and day until they reached St. Louis.

The casualties were: killed on Campbell's boat, ten regulars, one woman and one child; on Rector's boat, one ranger, and on Riggs' boat, three rangers; a total of sixteen.

Major Campbell and Dr. Stewart, the garrison surgeon, who was shot in the breast: a total of twenty-one. making the total casualties thirtj'-seven. All fought with the courage of heroes. Rector and his men risked their lives to save their comrades, and the battle at Campbell's Island has no equal for daring and heroism during the War of 1812 in the west.

Lieutenant John Weaver, of the regulars, who was second in command on Campbell's boat acted bravely; it was largely by his exertions that the wounded were safely transferred to Rector's boat.

Almost all of the ammunition for the e.xpedition and the supi^lies for Fort Shelby, except a box of musket balls, was on Campbell's boat and captured by Black Hawk, nothing being saved. The regulars fought with their shirts off. and saved only their arms and fatigue overalls.

After Riggs' boat had gone. Black Hawk's warriors began to plunder Campbell's boat. The first thing that the chief did was to knock the head in of .several barrels of whiskey, which he termed, "bad medicine" and emptied their contents on the ground. He says, "I next found a box full of small bottles and packages, which appeared to be bad medicine also: such as the medicine men kill the white people with when they get sick, this I threw into the river." The re.st of the plunder, which consisted of guns, clothing, provisions, powder, etc., was loaded into their canoes and taken to the Fox village opposite the lower end of Rock Island, where Davenport now is. Before leaving, the Indians took the scalp from Campbell's five dead regulars, and as Black Hawk said when he got to the Fox village, "We commenced dancing over the scalps we had taken."

Historic Rock Island Cou Nit Y.

While Black Hawk and his Indians were dancing over their scalps, several boats passed down the river, among them a large boat, "carrying big g\ms." These boats were the "Governor Clark" and the contractor's and sutler's barges from Prairie du Chien, which garrison Campbell's expedition was intending to strengthen, but which had been attacked by the British under Colonel McKay, on the seventeenth, two days previous.

Captain Yeizer and his gunboats leaving Prairie du Chien during the afternoon on the first day of the attack and started for St. Louis, lea\-ing Lieutenant Perkins and his command, which consisted of sixty men, together with two women and one child, to hold the fort which surrendered July 19th, after a three day's siege.

The Derelict

Lieutenant Campbell's boat lay for many years on the north shore of Campbell's Island, where the State Monument now stands. Benjamin Goble, an old settler often told of seeing the hull imbedded in sand. He says:

"Soon after Stephens left, two men named Smith, took possession of his claim, there were two cabins on it, but neither had a floor. The river was low, so that the hull of the barge burned by the Indians at the time of Campbell's defeat in 1812, (a mistake, it was 1S14) was plainly visible. The Smiths got the hull ashore, found the planks in a good state of preservation and floored their cabins with them." This was in 1829. The Stephens whom he mentions was a planter from the south, who located where Walker Station, two miles east of Moline, now is."

command. The British had great influence witli the northwest Indians, and it is not to be wondered at as they made the Indians believe that the Americans would drive out the Indian, while the British wanted the Indian to retain his lands. In a letter dated August 21, 1814, Colonel R. McDonall, British commandant, wrote Captain Anderson: "Assure them (Sacs and Foxes') that great efforts are being made by the king in their behalf, and that the ministry are determined to make no peace till the lands plundered from the Indians are restored. To attain this purpose, great reinforcements of troops are coming out."

On August 14th, Lieutenant Duncan Graham with six men and an interpreter, left Fort McKay for the Sac village near the mouth of Rock River, his mission being to enlist the Sacs in an expeditiim tn firing up an American gunboat which had been abandoned at a point a short distance above the unoccupied Fort Madison.

On August 21st, the British at Fort McKay were apprised by the Fox Indians that a third American expedition was on its way up the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and Captain Anderson, commanding Fort McKay, sent a dispatch to fjieutenant Graham at the Sac village on Rock River, requesting him to learn all about the Americans and to inform him. At this time there were about 800 braves at the Rock River village. Graham returned to Fort McKay, and on the 27th was again sent to the Sac village near the mouth of Rock River. This time he had with him a company of British soldiers numbering thirty men, also one brass three-pounder and two swivels, his object being to annoy and harass the American expedition and if possible defeat them and drive them back to St. Louis.

The American expedition was formed at Cap au Gris, and consisted of eight large fortified keel boats, carrying a detachment of 334 soldiers, and started on August 23d. It was commanded by Major Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States. On the afternoon of September 5th, the American fleet arrived at the mouth of Rock River. Lieutenant (jraham on his return to the Rock River village found that the Indians now numbered about fifteen hundred, several bands of Winnebagoes and Sioux having joined the Sacs and Foxes, who he said stand by us to the last man." Graham wrote that he would take his position on Rock Island at the rapids, which was the best place for defense that he knew on the Mississippi. On September 5th the British soldiers moved their guns and planted them on the west side of the island at the narrowed part of the channel, about where the present bridge rests on the island. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the American fleet appeared in sight of the British. A storm of rain, thtmder and lightning came on which compelled the American boats to land at the small Willow' Island, about sixty yards above Credit Island (now Suburban Island, Davenport). Here the Americans decided to pass the night. Large numbers of Indians appeared on the Illinois and Iowa shores as well as on Credit Island, but not a gtm was fired. Early the morning of the 6th the British and Indians crossed the Mississippi River to the Fox village on the west bank and went as quickly as possible through the prairie to the beach op])osite the American boats, where they had a close view of them. Lieutenant Graham selected the Sioux to guard the cannon because he said "as they promised they would rather be killed to the last man than give up the guns." The British planted their guns on an elevated spot, where the}' commanded a view of the Willow Island as well as the upper part of Credit Island. This place is about where the dam commences that leads to Subiu'ban Island. The night before Graham had cautioned the Indians not to fire without orders from him, but a Sauk warrior during the night shot a corporal on one of the

American boats commanded by Captain Whiteside. At daj'light Major Tajdor ordered his men to attack the Indians and drive them from the Willou- Island, where they had appeared in large numbers. The American soldiers charged the enemj', who retreated, wading to Credit Island. Major Taylor then ordered Captain Nelson Rector to drop his boat down to Credit Island and rake the island with artillery and drive the Indians off. Rector did so, the Indians retreating unto cover.

Of Rector's charge an early ^Titer said" "Captain Rector was dressed richly, with a splendid military uniform and a large red feather in his hat. Thus equipped, he drew his sword and walked deliberately on an open sand beach, a short distance from the enemy, and ordered his company to follow him. Many Indian guns were fired at him, which he disregarded as if Ihey were popguns. He escaped, but it was miraculous, as he was alone in advance of his company."

Captain Nelson Rector was a brother of Lieutenant Stephen Rector, who on July 19th so heroically rescued Lieutenant Campbell and his ill-fated boat's crew at Campbell's Island.

At this time, about 7 o'clock, the British guns began to play on the American boats. The first shot passed through Lieutenant Hempstead's boat. Lieutenant Graham in his report dated September 7th said: "In about three-quarters of an hour the largest of their boats, which was ahead of the others, after having about fifteen shots through her, began to push off, and dropped astern of the rest, and made her way down the ctirrent. The others soon followed her. We kept firing at them along the bank as far as the ground would permit us to drag the guns, but thej' soon got out of our reach." The engagement lasted about one hour. Major Taylor in his report said: "I was compelled to drop down about three miles before a proper place presented itself for landing, as but few of the boats had anchors sufficient to stop them in the river. Here I halted for the purpose of having the wounded attended and some of the boats repaired, as some of them had been injured by the enemy's artillery." The landing was on the Illinois shore.

The British and Indians had no losses, while the Americans had eleven men badly wounded, three mortally. Taylor's fleet returned to St. Louis. An early writer said: "I saw in the harbor at St. Louis the boats that were in Taylor's battle at Rock Island, and they were riddled with the cannon iialls. 1 think the balls were made of lead - at any rate they pierced the boats considerably."

This was the third American expedition up the Mississippi River in the year 1814, all ending in defeat and disaster. The British and Indians had possession of the country until December 24th, when the peace of Ghent ended the war.

In his autobiography, Black Hawk says: "The Briti-sh landed a big gun and gave us three soldiers to manage it." Writers of Western History have differed regarding Taylor's engagement, some accepting Black Hawk's version, have credited the battle as solely an Indian victory, saying the Indians were re-inforced by only three British soldiers and one cannon. Others have said that there were present a large number of British soldiers. Neither Taylor or (iraham knew who was in command of the other party. and nowhere was I able to learn the details, until during the winter of, 1906 and 1907, I found in the Canadian archives the correspondence between the British officers relating to the part they took in this early western event. From these archives. I learned that Black Hawk had a company of British soldiers with three cannons. That the cannon were first planted on the Island of Rock Island two years before the erection of Fort Armstrong, on ground afterwards occupied by Fort Armstrong and that Subiirban Island as early as 1S14 was known as Credit Island.

First Settlers

The first white settler in this county was CJeorge Davenport, who came to the Island of Rock Island in the spring of 1816 with Colonel William Lawrence and the Eighth Regiment of LTnited States regulars at the time Fort .Armstrong was built. In 1817 Davenport built a double log cabin on the Island of Rock Island at the place where the "Old Davenport House" now stands, one part of which he used as a store in which he carried on the business of an Indian trader. The old ruin now standing on the north shore of the island was built in 1833 and was for many years the" most pretentious residence above St. Louis, the timbers in the old Trading House being used in constructing the new dwelling. In 1824 Russell Farnham came from Warsaw and entered into partnership with Davenport under the firm name of Davenport & Farnham. In 1826 Davenport and Farnham built the house on the main land just west of the P. L. Cable residence and afterwards occupied by John Barrel. This house was used for many years as the seat of justice for this county and in our coiuity records is referred to as the "House of John Barrel."

In 1828 the country along Rock River had not been surveyed and consequently was not open to entry. Yet the fame of the fertility of the soil and the beauty of the coimtry had attracted the pioneer who is always in advance of the settler, and who often is termed the squatter, and these people relying upon the protection of Fort Armstrong began to select homes in this valley. During the year 1828 there were eight settlers to arrive - Captain B. W. Clark, an old soldier named Haney, Judge Pence, \\ho settled on Rock River, and John Kinney, Thomas Kinney, George Harlan, Conrad Leek and Archibald .Allen, the last five settling where Rapids City now is.

The j-ear 1829 brought a number of newcomers - Judge John ^^'. Spencer, who had been here the year before; Louden Case, Sr., and his tlii'ee sons, Jonah, Louden, Jr., and

Charles, who settled on what is now known as the Case place on Rock River: Rinah Wells and his four sons, Rinah, Jr., Lucius, John and Samuel, who also settled on Rock River; Joel Wells, Jr., who settled near Hampton; Joel Wells, Sr., Levi and Huntington Wells, who settled at Moline; Joseph Danforth a * mile above Moline; IMichael Bartlett where Deere tV: Mansur's factor}', Moline, now is; George Goble and his son, Benjamin, about two miles above Moline; William Brashar, who settled south of the present city of Rock Island; Joshua ^'andruff and his sons, who settled on \'andruff's Island; Charles H. Case and Benjamin F. Pike.

Slavery

At this time in the southern part of the the state negroes were held in bondage, under what was known and recognized as the indentured or registered servant's act. This was contrary to the ordinance of 1787 which governed the admission of Illinois into the union as a state, but our Legislature enacted laws which our courts upheld, by which slavery existed in Illinois. In May, 1829, a man named Stephens from St. Louis settled on the Mississippi where Walker Station now is, two miles east of Moline, bringing with him twenty black slaves, and built two cabins. There were but few settlers in this locality, but this new departure was not in accord with their ideas, and in October Joseph Danforth traveled to the nearest justice of the peace, who resided at Galena, and secured from him a warrant for Stephens' arrest for holding slaves. George Goble, the father of Benjamin Goble, knowing Danforth's intention, warned Stephens, who immediately started south with his slaves. Stephens' two cabins were afterwards taken by two brothers named Smith, who floored the cabins with planks taken from the hull of Major Campbell's keel boat, which had burned only to the water's edge, and which had lain imbedded in the sand on Campbell's Island where it stranded on that ill fated July 19, 1814. No one after this ever tried to own slaves in this county, although some of the officers at Fort Armstrong had negro servants, some of whom were held as indentured blacks, a few as slaves. One of the latter afterwards gained national prominence.

Dred Scott was a negro slave owned by Dr. John Emerson, a surgeon in the United States Army, and in the year 1834 came with the doctor from Missouri to Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, where the doctor was stationed. Scott remained at Fort Armstrong until May, 1836, when he went with the doctor to Fort Snelling (now Minnesota) where he married Harriet, a slave of his master, and had two children. Slavery was illegal in both places; in Illinois by our constitution; in Minnesota (Upper Louisiana Purchase) by the Missouri Compromise.

In 1838 Scott was taken to Jefferson Barracks, a military post at St. Louis, Missouri, and here an action was brought in the circuit court of the state by Scott to test the question of his freedom. The St. Louis court held that Scott's residence on free soil had made him Frp;e. The case was appealed to ths supreme court of Missouri which court reversed the decision of the St. Louis circuit court and held Scott was a slave. In the meantime Dr. Emerson had sold Dred and his family to John F. A. Sanford of New York and suit was brought against Sanford in the LTnited States court for Scott's freedom.

This case was tried at St. Louis on May 1 5th, before the court and a jury, and the latter found that "Dred Scott was a negro slave, the lawful property of the defendant." A new trial was refused, and Scott carried his case to the supreme court of the United States.

The final decision in the Dred Scott case was the longest, and up to that period, the most interesting one ever given by the supreme court of the United States. It is reported in the 19th Howard. The substance of the decision was:

"Scott was not made free by being taken to Rock Island in the State of Illinois. As Scott was a slave when taken to Fort Armstrong into the State of Illinois by his owner, and was then held as such, and brought back into Missouri in that character, his status, as free or slave, depended on the laws of Missouri, and not of Illinois, He and his family were not free, but were, by the laws of Missouri, the property of the defendant."

The Settlement Of L.Vnd.S.

In 1828 and the early part of 1829 George Davenport and Russell Farnham entered the lands upon which the old fair grounds were located, and which extended from there about one mile east. William T. Rrashar entered the lands upon a portion of which is now located Chippianock Cemetery. Tliese and other pre-emptions were upon lauds that had for nearly a century been the village and the cornfields of the Sacs. These entries were within the letter, but contrary to the spirit of the treaty of 1804. These lands were not open to settlers, nor brought into the market until the latter part of 1829, and one authority says: "Consequently all who had settled on them previous to this were trespassers, having violated the laws of congress and the pre-existing treaties. The most advanced settlements at that time did not approach nearer than fifty or sixty miles of Rock Island, and the lands for even a greater distance had not been offered for sale, yet the government disposed of a few quarter sections at the mouth of this stream, embracing the site of the village and fields c\iltivated by the inhabitants. The manifest object of this advanced movement upon the Indian settlements was to evade the provisions of the treaty, by having the governmental title to the lands pass into the hands of the individuals, and thus obtain a pretext for removing its owners west of the Mississippi.

By an act of the Illinois Legislature entitled "An act to establish Rock Island County," approved and in force February 9, 1831, it was provided by Section 1 thereof what the boundaries of this county shall be. Section 2 provided that whenever it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the presiding judge of the circuit coiirt of Jo Daviess County, to which this county was then attached, that the said County of Rock Island contains three hundred and fifty inhabitants, it shall be his duty to grant an order for the election of three commissioners, one sheriff and one coroner to serve in and for said county until they be superseded by the persons elected at the next general election, which shall take place after the special election herein jjrovided for. The act then states that after such election the said County of Rock Island shall be considered as organized and entitled to the same rights and privileges as the other counties in this state. Owing, however, to the Black Hawk War no effort was made to organize the county until 183.'^, when on Monday, July .'5, in pursuance of due notice the legal voters of this county to the number of sixty-five met at the "House of John Barrel." and elected county officers.

The Beginning Of Trouble

In the spring of 1831, when Black Hawk and his people returned from their winter hunt, they found the few white settlers whom they had left the fall before increased by naany new comers. They found the Indian homes occupied by pale faces, and among their corn hills they found the white man's wagon. But more aggravating yet, they found the bones of their ancestors disturbed and laid bare upon the ground by the white man's plow. Bhick Hawk and his people had borne much the past few years but this seemed too much. He protested, and was told the white man had bought the land from his white father in Washington. He could not understand this. Judge John W. Spencer in' his "Reminiscences" says: "Black Hawk gave the settlers to understand that after this season they must go south of Rock River, or above Pleasant Valley. * * * This move on the part of the Indians made it necessary for the settlers to look about and see what they could do for their protection." and, Judge Spencer says, "We had petitioned the governor of the state in the summer of 1829 without his taking any notice, but now we concluded to try it again. We made a statement of our grievance, and of the order of Black Hawk for our removal, anil forwarded it with all possible haste to the governor. This had the desired effect."

The Rock Island Petition

"April 30, 1831. "His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Illinois: "We, the undersigned, being citizens of Rock River and its vicinity, beg leave to state to your honor the grievances which we labor under and pray your protection against the Sac and Fox tribe of Indians who have again taken possession of our lands near the mouth of Rock River and its vicinity. They have, and now are, burning our fences, destroying our crops of wheat now growing b}' turning in all their horses. They also threaten our lives if we attempt to plant corn, and say they will cut it up; that we have stolen their lands from them, and they are determined to exterminate us, provided we don't leave the country. Your honor, no doubt, is aware of the outrages that were committed by said Indians heretofore. Particularly last all, they almost destroj-ed all our crops, and made several attempts on the owners' lives when the}' attempted to prevent their depredations, and actually wounded one man by stabbing him in several places. This spring they act in a much more outrageous and menacing manner, so that we consider ourselves compelled to beg protection of you, which the agent and garrison on Rock Island refuse to give, inasmuch as they say they have no orders from government: therefore, should we not receive adequate aid from your honor, we shall be compelled to abandon our settlement, and the lands which we have purchased of the government. Therefore, we have no doubt but vour honor will better anticipate our condition than it is represented, and grant us immediate relief in the manner that to you may seem most likely to produce the desired effect. The number of Indians now among us is about six or seven hundred. They say there are more coming, and that the Pottawattomies and some of the Winnebagoes will help them in case of an irruption with the whites.

"The warriors now here are the Black Hawk's party, with other chiefs, the names of whom we are not acquainted with. Therefore, looking up to you for protection, we beg leave to remain, yours, etc." (Signed)

The Indian Agent Reports

The settlers not hearing from Governor Reynolds and receiving no aid from the officials at Fort Armstrong, applied to the Indian agent, and he wrote the following letter:

"Respected Sir: I have again to mention to you that the Black Hawk (a Sac chief) and his party are now at their old village on Rock River. They have commenced planting corn and say they will keep possession. I have been informed that they have pulled down a house and some fences which they have burned. They have also turm^d their horses in wheat fields and say they will destroy the wheat so that the white people .shall not remain among them.

"This is what I expected from their manner of acting last fall, and which I mentioned to you in my letter of the Sth October last. I would not be at a loss were it not for the seventh article of the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes of 3d November, 1804.

"I respectfully ask, would it not be better to hold a treaty with those Indians and get them to remove peaceably, than to call on the military to force them off? None of this band has as yet called on me for information- A few ha\-e been at my agency to have work done at the smith's shops. I have the honor to be,

Whiskey The Cause

One of the settlers living on what is now Vandruff's Island, kept a sort of tavern where whiskey was sold, and here the Indians came to barter for fire water. Black Hawtk saw his people bartering off their peltries and game for whiskej' and he saw the ruin that the white man's "fire water"' was creating among them. He protested and begged the white man to stop selling the Indians whiskey, but the sale went on. One day he, with some five or six of his braves, paddled in their canoes from their village to Vandruff's Island. Silently the old chief marched up to the cabin followed by his braves. They did not stop to knock, but entered the door and silently rolled the barrel of whiskey outside the cabin, knocked in the head with their tomahawks and allowed the pale faces' "fire water" to run on the ground. Then thej' rowed back to their village.

This last act of the Indians greatly excited the whites and Benjamin F. Pike, a settler, afterwards our first sheriff, was sent to Belleville in St. Clair County to personally ask the governor for assistance. He took with him the following petition from the settlers.

The Second Petition

"Farnhamburg, May 19, 1S31. "To his Excellency, the Governor of the State of Illinois: "We. the undersigned, citizens of Rock River and its vicinit}-, having previously sent a petition to your honor, praying your protection against the.se Sac Indians who were at that time doing every kind of mischief as was set forth and represented to your honor; but feeling ourselves more aggrieved and our situation more precarious, we have been compelled to make our distress known to you by sending one of our neighbors who is well acquainted with our situation. If we do not get relief speedily we must leave our habitations to these savages and seek safety for our families by taking them down into the lower counties and suffer our houses and fences to be destroyed, as one of the principal war chiefs has threatened if we do not abandon our settlement his warriors should burn our houses over our heads. They were, at the time v/e sent our other petition, destroying our crops of wheat, and are still pasturing their horses in our fields, burning our fences, and have

"We have tried every argument to the agent for relief, but he tells us they are a lawless band, and he has nothing to do with them until further orders, leaving us still in suspense, as the Indians say if we plant we shall not reap, a proof of which we had last fall; they almost entirely destroyed all our crops of corn, potatoes, etc. Believini; we shall receive protection from 3'our excellency we shall go on with our farms until the return of the bearer; and ever remain your humble supplicants, etc."

This petition was signed by almost all the persons who signed the first petition. On his way to Belleville in St. Clair County, where Governor Reynolds lived, Mr Pike stopped over in Fulton County where he secured the following affidavit:

"Personally appeared before me, Stephen Dewey, an acting justice of the peace in and for said County of Fulton, and State of Illinois, Hiram Sanders and Ammyson Chapman, of the aforesaid count}- and state, and made oath that some time in the month of April last they went to the old Indian Sac town, about thirtj' miles up Rock River, for the purpose of farming and establishing a ferry across said river, and the Indians ordered us to move awav and not to come there again and we remained there a few hours.

"He therefore ordered the Indians to throw our furniture out of the house; they accordingly did so and threatened to kill us if we did not depart. We therefore discovered that our lives were in danger, and consequently moved back again to the above county.

"Present, Benjamin F. Pike, before me, a justice of the peace in and for the said countj% and made oath and deposed, that he has resided in the vicinitj- of Rock River, in the State of Illinois, for almost three years last past ; that he is well acquainted with the band of the Sac Indians whose chief is the Black Hawk, and who have resided and do now reside near the mouth of Rock River in this state; that he understands so much of the said Indian language as to converse with the said Indians intelligibly: that he is well satisfied that said Indians, to the amount of about three himdred warriors, are extremely unfriendly to the white people; that said Indians are determined, if not prevented by force, to drive off the white people, who have some of them purchased land of the United States near said Indians, and said Indians to remain sole occupiers of the said country.

"That said Indians do not onlj' make threats to this effect, but have, in various instances, done much damage to said white inhabitants, by throwing down their fences, destroying the fall grain, pulling off the roofs of houses, and positively asserting that if the whites do not go away they would kill them: that there are about forty inhabitants and heads of families in the vicinity of said Indians who are immediately affected by said band of Indians; that said Pike is certain that said forty heads of families, if not protected, will be compelled to leave their habitations and homes from the actual injury that said Indians will commit on said inhabitants; that said band of Indians consists, as above stated, of about three hundred warriors, and that the whole band is actuated by the same hostile feelings towards the white inhabitants; and that, if not prevented by an armed force of men, will commit on said white inhabitants. That said Indians have said that they would fis;ht for their country where they reside, and would not permit the white people to occupy it at all. That said white inhabitants are desirous to be protected, and that immediately, so that they may raise crops this sprina; and summer.

Governor Reynolds Acts

Pike presented his petition from the Rock River settlers and these affidavits personally to Governor Reynolds, who on the same day issued a call for seven hundred mounted militia, to move the Indians west of the Mississippi River. He also wrote the following letter to General Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs :

"Sir: In order to protect the citizens of this state, who reside near Rock River, from Indian invasion and depredations, I have considered it necessary to call out a force of militia of this state of about seven hundred strong, to remove a band of the Sac Indians who are now about Rock Island. The object of the government of the state is to protect those citizens by removing said Indians, peaceably if they can, but forcibly if they must. Those Indians are now, and so I have considered them, in a state of actual invasion of the state.

above call on the militia and that in or about fifteen days a sufficient force will appear before said Indians to remove them, dead or alive, over to the west side of the Mississippi; but to save all this disagreeable business, perhaps a request from yoii to them for them to remove to the west side of the river would effect the object of procuring peace to the citizens of the state. There is no disposition on the part of the people of this state to injure those unfortunate and deluded savages if they will let us alone; but a government that does not protect its citizens deserves not the name of a government. Please correspond with me at this olace on this subject.

Felix St. Vrain, the then agent for the Sacs and Foxes, had in the meantime gone to St. Louis and in the following letter sets out the situation at Rock River:

"Respected Sir: Since my last of the loth inst. on the subject of the band of Sac Indians, etc., the Indian village on Rock River near Rock Island, I have heard from the Indians and some of the whites that a house had been unroofed instead of pulled down and burned, and that the fence had caught fire by accident. As regards the destroying of the wheat, etc., the Indians say that a white man hauled some timber through a field and left the fence down by which means their horses got into the field. This, however, has been contradicted by the white inhabitants of that place. They say that the Indians are constantly troubling them by letting their horses into their fields and killing their hogs, etc. This, however, I am confident is occasioned in a great measm-e by whiskey being given to the Indians in exchange for their guns, traps, etc.

the Hlack Tlnmdor, wlio is the ]irincipal of that band. I told them that they had sold those lands to the government of the United States and that they ought to remove to their own lands. They then said that they had only sold the lands south of the river. I then produced the treaties and explained to them that they had relinquished their rights as far as the Ouisconsin. Quash-quam-me (the Jumping Fish) then said that he had only consented to the limits being Rock River, but that a Fox chief agreed (as he understands, afterwards) for the Ouisconsin; that he (Quash-quam-me) had been deceived and that he did not intend it to be so. I had considerable talk with them on this subject, and could discover nothing hostile in their disposition unless their decided conviction of their right to the place could be construed as such. I have been informed that a white man and his family had gone to an Indian village on the borders of Rock River about forty miles from Rock Island, for the purpose of establishing a ferry, and that the Indians at that place had driven them away at the same time saying to them that they would not hurt them, but they should not live there. This village is occupied by a mixture of Winnebago, Sac and Fox band and headed by the Prophet, a chief. I have the honor to be

"Superintendency of Indian Affairs. "St. Louis, May 28, LS3L "Sir: I have the honor to inclose you a copy of a letter of '26th inst., just received from the Governor of Illinois, by which you will perceive he has thought it necessary to call out a force of about 700 militia for the jjrotoction of the citizens of that state, who reside near Rock River, and for the purpose of remoA-ing a band of Sacs which he states are now about Rock Island.

"As the commanding general of this division of the army, I have thought it my duty to communicate to you the above information; and for the pm-pose of putting you in possession of the views of the government in relation to this subject, as well as to inform you of the means which have been heretofore employed for the removal of the Sacs now complained of, I enclose to you herewith coi)i('s of my correspondence with tlie war department and with the agent for those tribes, also extracts from such of their reports as had immediate relation to the subject.

"The Sacs and Foxes have been counseled with on the subject of their removal from the lands which they had ceded to the United States. The prospect of collisions with the white settlers who were then purchasing those lands, and the interminable difficulties in which they would be involved thereby were pointed out, and had the effect of convincing a large majority of both tribes of the impropriety of remaining at their old village. They, therefore, acquiesced in the justice of the claim of the United States and expressed their willingness to comply with my request to remove to their new village on lowy River, west of the Mississippi, all but parts of two bands headed by two inconsiderable chiefs, who, after abandoning their old village, have, it appears, returned again, in defiance of all consequences.

"Those bands are distinguished and known by the name of 'The British Party,' having been for many years in the habit of making annual visits at Maiden in Upper Canada for the purpose of receiving their presents, and it is believed to be owing in a great measure to the counsels they have there received, that so little influence has been acquired over them by the L^nited States agents.

bing Chief, and. indeed, all the other real chiefs and principal men of both tribes, it should be observed that they have constantly and zealously co-operated with the government agents in furtherance of its views, and in their endeavors to effect the removal of all their property from the ceded hinds.

"Any inform.ation in my possession which you may deem necessary in relation to this subject will be promjitly afforded. With high respect, I have the honor to be

"P. iS. The agent for the Sacs and Foxes (Mr. St. Vrain) has received his instructions and will perform any service you may require of liini with the Sacs and Foxes."

"Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the '26th inst.. informing me of your having considered it necessary to call out a force of militia of about seven hundred for the protection of t he citizens of Illinois who reside near Rock Island invasion and for the purpose of removing a band of Sac Indians who are now about Rock Island, etc.

' ' You intimate that to prevent the necessity of employing this force, perhaps a request from me to those Indians to remove to the west side of the Mississippi would effect the object of procuring peace to the citizens of your state. In answer of which I would beg leave to observe, that every effort on my part has been made to effect the removal of all those tribes who had ceded their lands. For the purpose of affording you a view (in part) of what has been done in this matter, I enclose you herewith extracts from the reports of the agents for the Sacs and Foxes, by which it will be seen that every means,- short of actual force, has been emplo\'ed to effect their rcmo-\-al.

"I have communicated the contents of your letter to General fiaines, who commands the western division of the army, and who has full power to act and execute any military movement deemed necessary for the protection of the frontier. I shall also furnish him with such information regarding the Sacs and Foxes as I am possessed of, and wouhl beg leave to refer you to him for any further proceedings in relation to this subject. I have the honor to be, with great respect, "Your obedient servant,

"Sir: I have received undoubted information that the section of this state near Rock Island is actually invaded by a-ho.stile band of the Sac Indians headed by Black Hawk; and in order to repel said invasion, and to protect the citizens of the state, I have, under the provisions of the constitution of the United States and the laws of this state, called on the militia, to the number of 700 men, who will be mounted and ready for service in a very short time. I consider it my duty to lay before you the al)ove information, so as you, commanding the military forces of the United States in this part of the Union, may adopt such measures in regard to said Indians as you deem right.

"The above mentioned mounted volunteers (because such they will be) will be in readiness immediately to move against said Indians, and, as Executive of the State of Illinois, I respectfully solicit your co-opera-