Stark County, Illinois - Chapter 2: Indians of Illinois, 1887

FIE origin of the American Indian is a subject of deep interest to the etlinoloo-ist, even as it is one of instruction and entertainment to the general reader. The ei'a of their establishment as a distinct and insulated people must be credited to a ])eriod immediately subsequent to the division of the Asiatic .peo])le and the oi-igin of languages. No dou])t whatever can exist when the American Indians are regarded as of Asiatic origin. They are descended directly from the survivors of that people who, on being driven from their fair possessions, retired to the wilderness in sorrow, reared their children under the saddening influences of their unquenchable griefs, and, dying, bequeatiied them only the habits of the wild, cloud-roofed homes of their exile. From that time forward the America Indian, as we know him, has existed.

That there were a widely ditferent people here is not dis]nited ; for there are existing numerous evidences of a civilization akin to that of the lumbering districts of the Canadas, ]\Iichigan and Wisconsin. The question of prehistoric settk^nents on the Pacific coast and the statement of tiie ])artial occupation of the Mississi])pi valley by Caucasians in the dim past, are ])oints well sustained. M. L. Page du Pratz, a French savant, met, in his travels among the Natchez, the celebrated and aged Indian antiquarian, Moucacht Ape, who, in 1745 crossed the MTssissippi and reached the Pacific by the Columbia river. Moucacht related, among other experiences that, after visiting many nations, he shortly came to the last, a people one day's journey from the (xreat Water and'al)Out a league distant from the Beautiful I'iver. who were hiding themselves in the woods from white-bearded men who came everv vear in a i)ark for a vellow, stinking' wood, and to steal the young women foi' slaves. By tliis ])eople the traveler was at once received as a chief by his own family, '' because they thought with reason that one who had seen white men and many nations should have more mind than one who had never been from home and had seen none but red men." These bearded disturbers of their peace, the natives furtlier infoi-med him, went always clothed, no matter how warm tlie weather : their wea])ons also made a great noise and sent forth hre, and they came from where the sun sets. Seeing that it was the yellow wood wliich seemed to l)ring theih there, following the counsel of the old men, the ])eo])le were fast destroying that odorous attraction, so that they hoped in time they should be no more molested.

Exceeding!}' curious to see these white-bearded men who were neither English, French, nor Spanish, Moucacht Ape entered heartily into a plan to attack those who should next come. It was now about the time of their annual arrival. All the families in the vicinity of their landing-])lace liad retired from the coast lest their young women should be captui-ed. Our hero had smelt gunpowder and was not afraid. Leaving their camp, near the Beautiful river, the warriors journeyed five days to a point on the coast where were two great i-ocks, between which em])tied into the sea a shallow stream on whose banks grew the yellow wood. It was between the t\v() rocks that the foreigners ran their vessel when they came ashoi'e. Seventeen days the warriors now waited the arrival of their prey. All had been arranged in council for the attack. Presently they espied the vessel in the distance, and hiding themselves, they watched an o]>])()rtunity foui' days more. At length two boats, containing thirty men, put olf from the ship and entered the little stream between the rocks. When the strangers were well scattered gathei'itig wood and taking in water, the natives fell upon them and killed eleven, the rest escaping. Having slaughtered the strangers like a savage, Moucacht Ape examined their dress and physique like a scientist. The bodies vvere thick, short and very white ; the head was heavy, the hair short, and instead of hats they were clotli wound round the head. The dress was neither of wool nor bark, but of a soft stuff like the old cotton shirts of Europeans. That which covered the leg and foot was of one piece. Only two of the dead had firearms, with powder and balls. Joining some northern natives, who had come to assist at the slaying of the strangers, Moucacht Ape continued his journey along the coast until lie reached their village, when the old men of the place dissuaded him from proceedingfarther, saying that the country beyond was cold, barren, and tenantless. Therefore he returned to his own ])eople by the route he went, having been absent on the westei'n tour hve years.

The Illinois Indians were of the Algonquin family, and were divided into live tribes - the Teorias, Kaskaskias, Moingwenas, Kahokias, and Tamaroas. The}' had gained possession of their lands by subduing and driving away the Quapays, a Dakota tribe, and in 16-10 they nearly exterminated the Winnebagos, after which time they held undisputed possession of the domains until l(i56, when the Irocpiois Indians began a long-continued war with them, which was soon followed by a hot contest Avith the Sioux tribe. The Illinois at this time formed one of the strongest Indian confederacies, and were ex})ert bowmen, but not canoemen. They would move to the broad plains bcN'ond the Mississippi each year for a, summer-hunt, and in the wintei' would s])en(l four or live months on a southern chase - returning to rest at Kaskaskia, their beautiful city of arbor-like cabins, covered with double water- ])roof mats. Each cal)in. as a rule, would contain four fires, around each of which the families would gather. The population of their city in its best days was about 8,000 people. Although they were constantly at war, and were greatly addicted to vice, they listened to th(^ earnest teachings of Marquette and other French raissonaries. were finally converted, and were much improved in their conversion. The name of their chief was Chicago, lie visited France in 1700. and was hio-hlv esteemed and entertained bv the I'rench Government officials.

a" little over two hundred years ago. in the summer of 1680, the Iro quois Indians made an attack upon the Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes of the Illinois confederation. They drove Lieut. Tonti, who was under the command of La Salle, from Creve ( 'oeur Fort, near the outlet of the Peoria lake. The chief object of the Iroquois was to destroy the Illinois Indians and lay claim to their lands, as they had done to those belono-intr to manv other tribes, always fighting their way and leavintj their battle-fields - which extended from the Atlantic coast to the Wal)ash river, and from the Ohio river to and even north of the Great Lakes - strewn with their victims. It was with a great slaughter that they con(]uered the hitherto strong and im])ortant ])eople, laid waste their great city of Kaskaskia. and drove them from their wigwams to wander in broken Ijands over their broad domain. Many of the Illinois were murdered and their homes burned to ashes, while as many as 9< >0 Avere taken prisoners. The young corn in the field was cut down and burned ; the pits which contained the products of the ])revious year were opened and their contents scattered with wanton waste ; the graves had been robbed of their dead and the bodies dragged forth to be devoured by buzzards. In the center of all this devastation and ruin, the spoilers, says La Salle, had built for themselves a lodge, and covered it with human bones and the scalps of the Illinois. A few of the lodge-poles that had esca})ed the fire and renuiined standing, were adorned Avith human skulls, thus presenting a most frightful scene, with all these ghastly relics, where only a few days previous had stood the proud city of the Illinois, the largest ever built by northern natives, its extent being over a mile square. It was a lovely place in the bosom of the beautiful valley, and was Nveli chosen for a home. Just on the opposite side of the river stood the sandstone blulf, tall and stately, its summit overlooking the broad valley of many woodclad islands up and down the river, and the swift current of the water rushing along at its base as it had done for thousands of years gone by. AVeU had the Illinois looked on this majestic rock as a fit place of refuge in case of danger. But little did they think that it would remain after them as a monument of their last battle, and that it should be the scene of the final extermination of their })roud and powerful })eople. From this great battle the Illinois never fully recovered. They were constantly at war with the Iroquois and Sioux, and later with the Pottawatomies. The allies of Pontiac, the Ottawa chief, after the assassination of that chieftain by the hands of the Illinois, nearly exterminated the latter - a part of them taking refuge on the sandstone bluff. "When first visited bv the whites, the Pottawatomie confederation numbered nearly 12. Odd souls, and were divided into five tribes; in 1S50 only eighty-four of them remained.

In the Avinter of 1680-81, being the next winter after the destruction of the city of Kaskaskia, La Salle formed a plan of a colony on tlie sandstone bluff. The design AA-as to include French and Indians of

La Salle made a trij) down the Mississip})i river, and, when he reached its month, on the Gth day of April, 1682, he took formal i)ossession of all land drained b}' the great river in the name of his sovereign, Louis XIV. of France, and called the new acquisition Louisiana. After his return up the river he and his lieutenant, Tonti, began, in December, 1682, the work of clearing off the top of the sandstone bluff to build a fort, which ^vas afterward called Fort St. Louis. The weather was bitter cold, and the wind blew terrifically ; but they worked steadily on, and soon had completed a number of storehouses and dwellings, all of which were inclosed in a stockade. On the bottoms around the rock were domiciled 20,0(»0 Iroquois souls, 4,iM»u of whom were warriors. In March, 168-1, the Iroquois attacked this rocky citadel ; but, after a six days' fight, withdrew, taking with them a few prisoners, who afterward made their escape. Tonti commanded Fort St. Louis, upon the rock, until 1702, when, it is said, he was forcibly displaced from the command on account of some alleged irregularity ; after which he wandei'ed through the Southern wilds until 1748, when, shattered in health, he returned to the scene of his former glory - dying in the fort the following spring, and being bui-ied on tlie west side of the rock. It has been stated that, after his death, the Frenchmen in control of the fort treated the Indian maidens so scurvily that their fathers and brothers destro3^ed the fort and drove away the Frenchmen. Charlevoix says that in 1721 he saw palisades upon the rock, which he supposed were built by the Illinois ; but no authentic account is given of the rock being used as a fort other than from 1682 to 1719, previous to the last battle of the Illinois, at Avhicli time it was merely used as a place of refuge, and not of fortification.

Patrick Kennedy, who made a voyage up the Illinois river in 1773, speaks of the French as residing on an island at Joliet, and of their making salt from the salt ponds on the south bank of the Illinois river opposite Buffalo Rock, which is about tln-ee miles above the sandstone bluff. A few of the principal actors in the Black Hawk war of 1832 were considered by the whites to be of French and Indian ancestry; and there are families living yet in the Illinois valley that trace their lineao'e as far back as to the davs of Tonti.

The earliest accounts I find of the Pottawatomie Indians south of Lake Michigan is in 167I-, when Marquette mettiiemon liis return with La Salle from the ^[ississi]>i)i, on a part of which journey he was attended by a band of IlHnoisand also a band of Pottawatomie Indians. So far as lean learn, they were the first of the tribe who ever saw the countr}^ south of Lake Micliigan, as their former home was about Green Bay. In the following year, 1675, Marquette, after spending the winter at Chicago, established at Kaskaskia on Easter Sunday, his mission, which was called by its zealous founder, ''The Immacuhite Conceiition." This mission was continued here until 1690, when it was moved to Soutliern Kaskaskia, on the Kaskaskia river, which empties into the Mississi])pi river in St. Clair county.

fast from their old home on Green Bay into the more hospital)le ro^-ions south of Lake Michigan. As they were found in tlieir southern homes in different bands and under different names and leaders, thei)rohabilities are that they left in parties. The number of the Pottawatomies is hard to determine ; but as near as I can discover there must have been 1,800 of them at the time of the asseml)Iy of the Algon(|uin Confederation at Niagara in 1783, when there were 450 Pottawatomie warriors present. The fraternal relations existing between the Pottawatomies and Ottawas were of the most harmonious character ; they lived almost as one people, and were joint owners in their hunting o-rounds. Their relations were scarcelv less intimate and friendlv with the different bands of the Sioux tribe. Xor were the Chippewas more sti'angers to the Pottawatomies and Ottawas than the latter were to each other ; they claimed an interest in the lands occu})ied to a certain extent Ijy all jointly, so that all three tribes joined in the joint treaty for the lirst sale of their lands ever made to the United States, which was made in Chicago in 1821, when the tribes named, except the Sioux, ceded to the United States 5,000,000 acres in Michigan. Xorthern Illinois was particularly the possession of the Pottawatomies: but. as before stated, it is hnpossible to fix the time when they first settled here. Thev undoul)tedlv came bv degrees, and by deo^reesestal^lished themselves, encroaching at first upon the Illinois tribe, advancing more and m«)re. sometimes by good-natured tolerance and sometimes bv actual violence. But they did not come into exclusive possession here until the final extermination of the Illinois tribes, which must have been some time between 1766 and 1770, when all but eleven were destroyed in the siege of '' Starved Rock." The only authentic account of this great tragedy that is obtainable is from Meacheile, an old Pottawatomie chief, through Judge J. D. Caton, who was an intimate acquaintance of the chief. Meacheile associated his earliest recollections with their occupancy of the country. lie remembered well the battle of ''Starved Rock," and the final extinction of the lllin(jis tribe of Indians. He was present at the siege and final catastrophe ; and although but a boy at the time, and used to the war and Woodshed that were continually going on between the tribes, the terrible event made such a strong impression ujion his young mind that it ever remained fresh and vivid.

The cause of the dreadful destruction of the Illinois tribe is attributed to the death of Pontiac, the great Ottawa chief, which occurred in 1766. He was the idol of his peo])le, and was lieloved and obeyed scarcely less by the Pottawatomies. They believed the Ilhnois Indians were at least accessory to his murder and so held them res])on sible; consequently the Ottawas and Pottawatomies in connection with the Chippewas, united all of tlieir forces in an attack upon those whose deadly enemies they liad now become.

The Illinois Indians had never fully recovered from the great catastrojihe they had suffered nearly a century before at the hands of the terrible Iroquois. Their spirit and their courage seemed broken, and they submitted U) encroachments from the north In* their more enterprising neighbors - Avith an ill-will, no doubt, but 'without pro tecting their rights by force of arms, as they would have (U)ne in former times - and songlit to revenge themselves upon those whom they i-egarded as their actual enemies, in an underhaiuied and treacherous way. In the war thus waged by the allies against the Illinois the latter suffered disaster after disaster, till the sole remnant of that once proud nation, whose uame had been mentioned with respect from Lake Supe- I'ior to the mouth of the Ohio, and from the Mississip])i to the Wabash river, now found suiticient space upon the half acre of ground which crowns the summit of " Starved Rock."

As the sides are })erpeiulicular, except on the southeast, where oue may ascend with difficulty by means of a sort of natural stairway, and where some of the ste])s are only a few inches wide and as miich as three feet in height, not more than two persons can ascend abreast, and ten men could easily re[)el ten thousand with the means of warfare then at their command. Of late, as was probably the case when Lieut. Tonti commanded Fort St. Louis u})on the rock, a broad staii'way has been erected over the worst places, so that it may be easily ascended In' touris^.

The length of time that the Illinois were confined u})on the rock it is hard to determine ; but it is easy to imagine that they had not pi'e- ])ared provisions enough for a very extended encampment, and that their enemies depended upon their lack of the same, wliich we can readily appreciate must occui- soon to a savage jieople who rarely antici- ])ate the future by storing up suj)})lies. On the noi'th or river side the upper rock overhangs the water somewhat, and tradition tells us how the confederates placed themselves in canoes under the cornice-like rocks, and cut the thongs of the besieged when they lowered their vessels to obtain water fi'om the I'iver, and so reduced them by thirst as well as by starvation. At last the time came when the unfortunate I'emnant of the once honored Illinois Nation could hold out no longer, and they awaited but a favorable opportunity to attempt their escape. This was at last afforded by a dark and stormy night, when, led by their few remaining warriors, all stole in profound silence down the steep and narrow declivity, to be met hy a solid wall of their enemies. The horrible scene that then ensued is easier to imagine than to describe. No quarter was asked and none was given. For a time the howling of the tempest was drowned by the yells of the combatants and the shrieks of their dying victims. It is difficult to judge of the number of the Illinois that were quartered u])on the rock. During this awful battle the braves fell one by one, fighting like very fiends ; and fearfully did they avenge themselves upon their enemies. The few women and children, whom famine had left but enfeebled skeletons, fell easy victims to the war clubs of the terrible savages, who deemed it almost as much a glory to slaughter the emaciated women and helpless children as to strike down the men who were able to make resistance with arms in their hands. They were bent- upon the utter extermination of their hated enemies, and most successfully did they bend their savage energies to the bloody task.

been th^o^YU up by the \vil(l prairie-Avinds. The wails of the feeble and the shouts of the strong liad ceased to fret the air, and the night- Avind's mournful sighs througli the neighljoring pines sounded like a requiem, the Hash of the hghtning in the dark and clouded sky lit up the a^vful scene like tall funeral tapers. Here AYas enacted the fitting finale to the work of death which had been commenced by the destruction of the city of Kaskaskia - scarcely a mile away on the op])osite side of the riYer - nearly a century Ijefore by the still more saYage and terrible Iroquois. Yet all were not destroyed, for, in the darkness and confusion of the fight, elcYen of the most athletic warriors broke through the besieging lines. From their high ])erch on the isalated rock they had marked well the little nook below into which their enemies had moored at least a part of their canoes, and to these they rushed with headlong speed, unnoticed by their foes. They threw themselYes into the boats, and rowed hurriedly down the rapids below. They had been trained to the use of the paddle and the canoe, and knew cYery intricacy of the channel, so that they could safely naYigate it CYen in the dark and boisterous night. They k^ew their deadly enemies would soon be in their wake, and there was no safe refuge for them short of St. Louis. They had undouljtedly been without food for many days, and had no proYisions with them to sustain their waning strength ; and yet it was certain death to stop l)y the way. Their onl}^ hope was in pressing forward by night and by day, without a moment's pause - scarcely looking back, yet cYer fearing that their pursuers would mjike their appearance from around the point they had last left behind them. If they could reach St. Louis, there they would be safe ; if overtaken they would perish, as had the rest of their tribe. It was truly a race for life, and, as life is sweeter than reYenge, we may safely presume that the pursued were impelled to greater exertions than the pursuers.

Until the morning light revealed that their canoes were gone the confederates belicYed that their sanguinary work had been so thoroughl}'" done that not a living soul of the Illinois people remained. But as soon as the escape was discoYered a hot pursuit was commenced. But those who ran for life won the race. They reached St. Louis before their enemies came in sight, and told their appalling tale to the commandant of the fort, from whom they receiYed protection and a generous sujiply of food, which their famished condition so much required. This had barely l)een done when their enemies ap})eared and fiercely demanded their victims, that no drop of huinan blood might longer circulate in the Yeins of their hated enemies. This was refused, and they retired with thi'eats of future vengeance upon the fort - which, however, they never had the means of executing.

After their epeniies had gone, the Illinois, who never afterwards claimed that name, thanked their white friends for their kind entertainment, and. full of sorrow that words cannot express, they slowly ])addled their way across the river to seek a new home and new friends among the tribes who then occujned the southern part of Illinois, and who listened to their sad story with sympathy and kindness. This is the last that we really know of the last of the Illinois. We do not know that a drop of their blood now animates a human being; but their name is perpetuated in tliis great state, of whose record in the l)ast all are so proud, and as to whose future the hopes of all are so sanguine.

Proclamations affecting the Indian tribes here were issued as earlv as 1764, land sales registered as earl\^ as 1773, and the regulation Indian treaties in 1795.

On Decern l)er oO, 1764, General Thomas Gage issued his proclamation respecting lands in Illinois. It provided liberty for the Catholic I'eligion, for the removal of the French inhabitants should they not desire to become subjects of the British, etc., etc., and other stipulations entirely foreign to the spirit of the British.

In 1773 the Indian deeds to the Illinois com])any were made. The tracts deeded to the Illinois compsmy included hinds along the Illinois river to Chicago, or Garhck creek, and thence fifty leagues north to the battle-ground of tlie Bewaria and Eenard Indians in 1727.

By the treaty of Greenville, 1795, 640 acres where Chicago now stands, 1,280 acres at the mouth of the Illinois, 640 acres at the old Piorias village, near the south end of Illinois lake, were reserved to the savages concerned in that treaty.

On August 13, 1803, the United States negotiated a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, at Vincennes, with the remnant of several Illinois tribes then grou])ed undei* the name of Kaskaskias. By this treaty all their lands were ceded exce})t 350 acres near the town (which 'was secured to them by Congress in 1791), and also 1,280 acres, to be selected by them. The annuity promised was $1,000, or $500 more than allowed in the Greenville treaty of 1795 ; $100 per annum toward the supj)ort of a ]H*iest who would also act as school teacher ; $300 toward the erection of a church, and $580 to pay off their debts. This cession comprised all lands from the mouth of the Ohio to twelve miles below the mouth of the Wal)ash, to the ridge between the head waters of the Wabash and Kaskaskia and along this ridge until it reaches the waters flowing into the Illinois, to the mouth of that river, and thence down the Mississippi to the Ohio.

The treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Sacs and Foxes made ]Sroveml)er 3, 1804, ])rovided for the cession of all the country bounded by the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Fox and Illinois rivers, on condition of the first ])arty paying in goods $2,234.50, and an annuity of $600 to the Sacs and $400 to the Foxes. It was also stipulated that their wars with the Great and Little Osages should forever cease, and that amity should forever exist between the first and second parties. The chiefs signing were Layauvois, Pashepahoe or The Giger, Quashquame or Jumping Fish, Outchequaha or Sun Fish, Ilahshequaxhiqua or the Bear. The witnesses were Pierre Choteau, Aug. Choteau, Charles Gratiot, John Griffin, Wm. Prince, secretary to General Harrison, who signed for the United States.

The treaty of Portage des Sioux, of September 14, 1815, was signed by Black Hawk, May 13, 1816, at St. Louis. It was siiiq)ly a renewal of the treatv of 1804, and the chief declared he was wheedled

At the Council of Chicago, held August 17, 1821, General Louis Cass defined tlie Pottawatomie country as extending along both sides of the Illinois river and all its triljutaries and along the western shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, with other possessions south of Lake Erie. This treaty was concluded after much dela}' and five millions acres of land became the property of the United States. Tlie last treaty with the Pottawatomies prior to their removal was made at Chicago, September 26, 1833. At this treaty the Indians were actually made drunk, and signed away their possessions' in this condition. In'l835 thev received their last annuitv in Illinois, and shortlv after were removed to Northwestern Missouri.

In 1831 a missionarv. Rev. Jesse Hale, was sent into the military tract to labor among the Indians. Louis Bailey was his interpreter. Hale delivered his sermon all right ; so did Bailey interpret it correctly. Shaubena then said : " To what white preacher say, I say, maybe so ! Are all white men good ? I say, maybe so. Do white men cheat Indian i' I sav, maybe so. Governor Cole gave me, Shaubena, hunting grounds and told me to hunt. Your big AVhite-sides (Gen. Whiteside) come along and tell Shaubena jn/eA'-a-c/tee (clear out).'' Having said this he tore and tramped upon Governor Cole's agreement with him. Hale adopted conciliatory measures, and stated : " Whiteside is a bad white man." Shaubena replied : '' If Avhite man steal Indian's land, hang him I '' This last sentence settled Hale's life among tlie tribes. Running toward Hennepin, he arrived there safe, continued his return trip east, and Shaubena never heard of him again.

In early years it was tlie custom of the Indians to spend a part of the vear along the streams in this part of Putnam countv. Indeed thev were known to visit Harris W. ^Miner's cabin in herds, stav several days, complete a series of trades, and pui'chase meal. He rememl)ers seeing the chief rolled in liis blanket, s]ee])ing or loafing for days, while the young men of the band were engaged in foraging or hunting.

The Ottawa chief, Pontiac, and the remnant of his tril)e, who, after the Franco-British war, selected the country in the vicinity of Wilmington for his principal village, and there located in 1764-5. In 17<)9, he was killed by a chief of the Illinois, Kineboo, during the council of Joliet Mound, held that year. In this Indian village, the first fulll>lood Indian friend of the whites. Shabbonee, Avas born about 1 77<i. Although an Ottawa, he married a daughter of the Pottawatomie chief, Spotka, at the moutli of Fox river. At that village he was declared chief of the Pottawat(miies, and shortly after removed the tribe to the head of Big Indian creek, in DeKalb county. In 1807 he visited Tecumseh. which visit was returned in 181<». In 1811 he was l)resent at the council of Tincennes. presided over by (xcneral Harrison. In 1812, the couriers of Tecumseh arrived in Illinois, offering largesses to the tribes who would aid the British against the United States. Shabbonee resisted the offer until the fall of 1812, when he and twenty-tAvo of his warriors left to aid Tecumseh. He was present at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, as was also Billy Caldwell or SaiH/cnu/.sJ/. During the Winnebago and Black Hawk war, he rendered incalculable good to the settlers, and died regretted in (Trundvconntv, July 17, 1859. His wife, Pokanoka. was drowned in Mazen creek, (Trundy county, Xovember ?>(), 18G4. It is related that in 1832 he visited this part of the niilitarv tract, warning the people to leave. Acting on this information. John Essex, David Cooper, Tliomas Essex, Sr., and Thomas, Jr., with their families set out for the fort near Pekin, but all returned to their pioneer homes with the exception of Tliomas Essex, Jr., who settled near Peoria.

It is related that one of the jUMmary causes of the l^lack Hawk war was from an incident that ha})pened in Liverpool townshi[), Fulton county. Joseph Farris, Asa Smith, and Bird Ellis, while out hunting, espied a youno- Indian, caught him, cut switches and whi])ped him with tliem. lie attem]>ted to escape and while doing so one of the ])arty struck him on the head with a gun, and they left him near the Indian camp. He recovered so as to get to his friends, but died just as they arrived at Peoria, where they had carried him on a litter.

The immediate cause of the Indian outbreak in 1830 was the occu- ]>ation of Black Hawk's village, on the Rock river, by the whites, dui'ing the absence of the chief and his braves on a hunting expedition, on the west side of the Mississi])pi. AVlien they returned, they found their wigwams occu]ned by white families, and their own women and children were shelterless on the banks of the river. The Indians were indignant, and determined to re])Ossess their village at all hazards, and early in the spring of 1831 recrossed the ]\Iississippi and menacingly took possession of their own cornfields and cabins. It may be well to remark here that it was expressly sti})nlated in the treaty of 18(»1, to which they atti'ibuted all their troubles, that the Indians should not be o])lio-ed to leave their lands until tliev were sold bv the United States, and it does not appear that tliey occupied any lands other than those owned bv the government. If this was true, the Indians had good cause for indignation and complaint. But the whites, driven out in tui-n by the retui-ning Indians, became so clamorous against what they termed the encroachments of the natives, that Governor Ileynolds, of Illinois, oi'dered General Gaines to Rock Island with a military force to drive the Indians again from their homes to the west side of the Mississippi. Black Hawk says he did not intend to be provoked into war by anything less than the blood of some of his own ])eo})le; in other words, that there would be no war unless it should IxM-ommenced by the ])ale faces. But it was said, and probably tliought by the military connnanders along the frontiei", that the Indians intended to unite in a general war against the whites, from Rock river to the Mexican boi-ders. But it does not appear that the hardy fi-ontiersmen themselves had any fears, for their ex|)erience had been that, when well treated, their Indian neighboi's were not dangerous. i>lack Hawk and his band had done no more than to attempt to repossess the old homes of which they had been deprived in their absence. No blood liad been shed. Black Hawk and his chiefs sent a fiag of truce, and a new ti-eaty was made, by which Black Hawk and his band agreed to remain for- ever on tlie Iowa side and never recross the river without the permission of the -President or the Governor of Illinois. Whether the Indians clearly understood the terms of this treat}^ is uncertain. As was usual, the Indian traders had dictated terms on their Ijehalf, and tliey had received a large amount of provisions, etc., from the government, but it may well be doubted whether the Indians comprehended that they could never revisit tlie graves of their fathers without violatino- their treatv. Thev undoul)tedlv thought tliat tliev had agreed never to recross the Mississip])i witli liostile intent. However this may be, on the 6th day of April, 1832, Black Hawk and his entire l)and, with their women and children, again recrossed the Mississippi in plain view of the garrison of Fort Armstrong, and went up Rock river. Although this act was construed into an act of hostility by the military authorities, who declared that Black Hawk intended to recover his village, or the site where it stood, by force ; but it does not appear that he made any such attempt, nor did his appearance create any special alarm among the settlers. They knew that the Indians never went on tlie war })ath encumbered with the old men, their women and their children. The war commenced, however, and among the enemies of the Hawk, there were none more j^ronounced than the early settlers of Spoon I'iver precinct, as shown in the military history.