Warren Township (part 1 of 5)

Warren Township

In 1831, Black Hawk and his band had crossed to their old homes on Rock River, but had negotiated a treaty and returned to the west side of the Mississippi, receiving liberal presents of goods and provisions from the Government, and promised never to return without the consent of the President of the United States or the Governor of Illinois. But on the 6th day of April, 1832, he again recrossed the Mississippi with his entire band and their women and children. The Galenian, edited by Dr. A. Philleo, of May 2, 1832, says that "Black Hawk was invited by the Prophet, and had taken possession of a tract about forty miles up Rock River, but that he did not remain there long, but commenced his march up Rock River." Capt. William B. Green, now of Chicago, but who served in Stephenson's Company of mounted rangers, says that " Black Hawk and his band crossed the river with no hostile intent, but to accept an invitation from Pittawak, a friendly chief, to come over and spend the Summer with his people on the head waters of the Illinois," and the movements of Black Hawk up Rock River before pursuit by the military, seems to confirm this statement. There seems to be no question of the fact that he carne in consequence of an invitation from the Prophet or Pittawak, or both, as his people were in a starving condition.

Others who agree with Green, that Black Hawk did not come to fight and had no idea of fighting, say that he had retired to the west side of the Mississippi the previous year under treaty, receiving a large quantity of corn and other provisions, but in the Spring his provisions were gone, his followers were starving, and he came back expecting to negotiate another treaty and get a new supply of provisions.

There is still another explanation that may enable the reader to harmonize the preceding statements and to understand why Black Hawk returned in 1832. It is well known that in nearly all the treaties ever made with the Indians, the Indian traders dictated the terms for their allies and customers, and, of course, received a large share of the annuities, etc., in paym'ent for debts due to them. Each tribe had certain traders who supplied them. George Davenport had a trading post at Fort Armstrong. His customers were ^largely the Sacs and Foxes, and he was held in high esteem by them, in fact his word was their law. It is said that Black Hawk's band became indebted to him for a large amount and were unable to pay. They had not had good luck hunting during the Winter and he was likely to lose heavily. If Black Hawk, therefore, could be induced to come on this side of the river again and the people could be alarmed so that a military force could be sent in pursuit of him, another treaty could be made, he might assist in making terms and get his pay out of the payments the government wrould make, and all would be well. Mr. Amos Farrar, who was Davenport's partner for some years, and who died in Galena during the war, is said to have declared, while on his death-bed, that the " Indians were not to be blamed, that if they had been let alone there would have been no trouble - that the band were owing Mr. Davenport and he wanted to get his pay and would, if another treaty had been made."

In a letter to Gen. Atkinson, dated April 13, 1832, Davenport says : " 1 have been informed that the British band of Sac Indians are determined to make war on the frontier settlements. * From every information that I have received I am of the opinion that the intention of the

Just such a letter as he or any other trader would have written to cause a pursuit, and consequent treaty. Black Hawk evidently understood the fame. He was leisurely pursuing his way up Rock River, waiting for the rst appearance of the military to display the white flag and negotiate as he had done the previous year.

Although Black Hawk's movement across the Mississippi, on the 6th of April, was at once construed into a hostile demonstration, and Davenport skillfully cultivated the idea, he was accompanied by his old men, women and children. !N"o Indian warriors ever went on the war path encumbered in that way. More than this, it does not appear, from the sixth <lay of April until Stillman's drunken soldiers fired on his flag of truce, on the 12th of May, that a single settler was murdered, or sufiered any material injury at the hands of Black Hawk or his band. In truth, Hon. H. S. Townsend, of Warren, states that in one instance, at least, where they took corn from a settler, they paid him for it. Capt. W. B. Green writes: " 1 never heard of Black Hawk's band, while passing up Rock River, committing any depredation whatever, not even petty theft." Frederick Stahl, Esq., of Galena, states that he was informed by the veteran John Dixon, that " when Black Hawk's band passed his post, before the arrival of the troops, they were at his house. Ne-o-Pope had the young braves well in hand, and informed him that they intended to commit no depredations, and should not fight unless they were attacked."

Whatever his motive may have been, it is the unanimous testimony of the survivors, now residing on the old battle-fields of that day, that except the violation of treaty stipulations and an arrogance of manner natural to an Indian who wanted to make a new trade with the " Great Father," the Sacs under Black Hawk committed no serious acts of hostility, and intended none, until after the alternative of war or extermination was presented to them by Stillman's men.

Certain it is that the people of Galena and of the mining district generally apprehended no serious trouble and made no preparations for war until Capt. Stephenson brought the news of Stillman's rout, on the loth of May.

Some United States troops arrived at Galena from Prairie du Chien on the 1st of May, and about the same time Black Hawk commenced his march up Rock River, from the Prophet's Village, but there was no serious alarm among the inhabitants of the settled portions of Jo Daviess County, and the troops went to Rock Island (Fort Armstrong) on the Tth. About that time, J. W. Stephenson, John Foley and Mr. Atchison returned from a reconnoitering expedition, and reported that the Indians had " dispersed among the neighboring tribes." The Galenian of May 16th, printed before the tidings of Stillman's fiasco had reached Galena, said: " It is already proved that they will not attempt to fight it out with us, as many have supposed. Will the temporary dispersion of Black Hawk's band among their neighbors cause our troops to be disbanded?'"'

On Saturday, May 12, Gov. Reynolds was at Dixon Ferry, with about two thousand mounted riflemen, awaiting the arrival of Gen. Atkinson's forces from Fort Armstrong. A day or two previous, Major Isaiah Stillman, " with about four hundred well-mounted volunteers," says the Galenian, " commenced his march with a fixed determination to wage a war of extermination wherever he might find any part of the hostile band." Just before night, on the 12th of May, 1832, Stillman's forces encamped at White Rock Grove, in what is now Ogle County, about thirty-five miles from Dixon. He was in close proximity to Black Hawk's encampment but did not know it. Black Hawk was at that moment making arrangements to propose to treat for peace. Stillman's men were well supplied with whisky. Some authorities state that they had with them a barrel of " fire water," and many of them were drunk. They were all eager to get sight of an Indian, and were determined not to be happy until each had the gory scalp of a Sac dangling at his belt. Extermination was their motto, although the game they minted had committed no depredations.

Soon after, becoming aware of the immediate presence of an armed force, Black Hawk sent a small party of his braves to Stillman's camp with a flag of truce. On their approach, they were discovered by some of the men*, who, without reporting to their commander, and without orders, hastily mounted and dashed down upon the approaching Indians. These, not understanding this sudden movement, and apparently suspicious, retreated towards the camp of their chief. The whites fired, killed two and captured two more, but the others escaped, still pursued by the reckless volunteers. When Black Hawk and his war chief, JSTe-o-pope, saw them dashing down upon their camp, their flag of truce disregarded, and, believing that their overtures for peace had been rejected, they raised the terrible war-whoop and prepared for the fray.

It was now the turn of the volunteers to retreat, which they did with wonderful celerity, after murdering their two prisoners, without waiting for the onslaught, supposing they were pursued by a thousand savage warriors. The flying rascals rushed through the camp, spreading terror and consternation among their comrades, but late so eager to meet the foe. The wildest panic ensued, there was " mounting in hot haste," and without waiting to see whether there was any thing to run for, every man fled, never stopping until they had reached Dixon's Ferry or some other place of safety, or had been stopped by the tomahawk or bullet. The first man to reach .Dixon was a Kentucky lawyer, not unknown to fame in Jo Daviess County, who, as he strode into Dixon, reported that every man of Stillman's command had been killed except himself. Another man, named Comstock, never stopped until he reached Galena, where he reported that " the men were all drunk, as he was, got scared and made the best time they could out of danger, but that he didn't see a single Indian." All accounts concur in the main facts, however, that the men were drunk, and that the white^flag displayed by Black Hawk was fired upon in utter disregard of all rules of warfare recognized, even among 'the Indians. The whites had commenced the work of murder, and the Indians, losing all hope of negotiation, determined that extermination was a game that both parties could play at. Gen. Whiteside, were in command at Dixon, at once marched for the fatal field, but the enemy fone, the main body having moved northward, and the rest scattered in small ands to avenge the death of their people upon unoffending settlers. Eleven of Stillman's men were killed, among whom were Captain Adams and Major Perkins. Their mutilated remains were gathered and buried, and the place is known as " Stillman's Run " to this day. This was the commencement of hostilities, and justice compels the impartial historian to record that the whites were the aggressors. Many of the volunteers appreciated . the fact, too. It was not such grand sport to kill Indians when they found that Indians might kill them, and especially when war had been wantonly commenced by firing upon and killing the bearers of the flag of peace. They grumbled and demanded to be mustered out, and were dismissed soon after by Governor Reynolds. Another call was issued, and anew regiment of volunteers was mustered in at Beardstown, with Jacob Fry as Colonel; James D. Henry, Lieutenant Colonel, and John Thomas, Major. The late commanding general, Whiteside, volunteered as a private.

The fatal act of Stillman's men precipitated all the horrors of Indian border warfare upon the white settlements in Jo Daviess County, as it then existed, and in the adjoining portions of Michigan Territory. Nor is it certain that all the outrages were perpetrated by the " British Band." It is certain that young Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes joined Black Hawk, and after the war suddenly closed at Bad Axe, it was ascertained that many of the murders had been committed by these Indians. Among the first results of " Stillman's defeat " was the descent of about seventy IncMans upon an unprotected settlement at Indian Creek, where they massacred fifteen men, women and children of the families of Hall, Davis and Pettigrew, and captured two young women, Sylvia and Rachel Hall. These girls, seventeen and fifteen years old respectively, were afterwards brought in by Wiunebagoes to Grat iot Grove, and were ransomed by Major Henry Gratiot, for two thousand dollars in horses, wampum and trinkets, and came to Galena.

May 15, 1832, Capt. James W. Stephenson arrived at Galena with the startling intelligence of Stillman's disastrous defeat and the commencement of bloody hostilities by the Indians, creating intense excitement among the people. The ringing notes of the bugle called the settlers and miners together on the old race course on the bottom near the river, near the foot of "Washington Street, Galena, and a company of mounted rangers was organized, with James W. Stephenson for captain. At 3 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, May 19, Sergeant Fred Stahl (now a respected citizen of Galena) and privates William Durley, Vincent Smith, Redding Bennett, and James Smith, started to bear dispatches to Gen. Atkinbon at Dixon's Ferry, with John D. Winters, the mail contractor, for guide, -but on Sunday, 20th, Sergeant Stahl returned and added to the alarm of the people by reporting that his party had been ambuscaded by the Indians just on the edge of Buffalo Grove, now in Ogle County, fifty miles from Galena, about 5 o'clock P. M. Saturday afternoon, and that Durley was instantly killed and left on the spot. Stahl received a bullet through his coat collar, and James Smith alterwards found a bullet hole in his hat and became intensely frightened. After the war, the leader of the Indians told Dixon that he could have killed the young fellow (Stahl) as well as not, but he had a fine horse, and in trying to shoot him without injuring the animal, he shot too high, as Stahl suddenly stooped at the same time.

The Galenian of May 23, 1832, says: "The tomahawk and scalping knife have again been drawn on our frontier. Blood of our best citizens has been spilt in great profusion within the borders of Illinois. * * The Indians must be exterminated or sent off."

In the same paper it is said that " fortifications for the defense of the town are rapidly progressing. On Saturday last (19th) a stockade * was com-

* A stockade was made by first digging a trench and standing upright in it timbers from 6 to 12 inches in diameter, from 10 to 14 feet long, and hewed to a point on the top end. These timbers were placed close together, so that when the trench was filled with menced near the centre of the town." On the bluff above (near the corner of Ferry and Prospect Streets), on a spot selected by Lieut. J. R. B. Gardenier, commanding the stockade and a large part of the town, a blockhouse was erected and a battery planted, manned by an artillery company, of which Lieut. Gardenier was captain. (On the northeast corner of Perry and Main Streets there stood a stone house occupied by Maj. Campbell; a little distance behind it was a well that is still in existence, and above the well, towards Bench Street, was a log house built by Dr. Hancock; a short distance west of Hancock's house was another log cabin that is still standing on the west side of Perry Street, and in the northwest corner of Perry and Bench Streets was another little cabin. The stockade included these houses and the well, extended from near the middle of Bench Street nearly to the rear of Campbell's stone house, and along Bench Street from a point nearly opposite Col. Strode's residence, east about 200 or 250 feet. A blockhouse was built at the northwest corner. Col. Strode lived on the northwest side of Bench Street, a little way west from Perry, and the gate of the stockade was directly opposite his residence.)

On Monday, May 21, *Gol. J. M. Strode, commanding the 27th Regiment Illinois Militia, proclaimed martial law, and required every able bodied man to work on the stockade from 9 A. M. to 6 P. M. Strode's proclamation also prohibited the sale of spirits u at any of the groceries or taverns in Galena from 8 o'clock A. M. until 7 o'clock P. M.," and all persons were " positively prohibited from firing guns without positive orders, unless while standing guard to give an alarm."

Capt. II. II. Gear's Company consists of 60 men. Capt. Beedle's Company of 40 or 50 men. Capt. Aldenrath's Company from East Fork is also in town.

A block house and stockade are built at Apple River (near Elizabeth) and a company of 46 men organized, commanded by Vance L. Davidson, James Craig and James Temple, Lieutenants.

At White Oak Springs, ten miles from Galena, a stockade was erected, and a company of 70 organized. Benj. W. Clark, Captain ; John R. Shultz, J. B. Woodson, Lieutenants.

At the New Diggings, nine miles from Galena, was another company of 69 men under command of L. P. Yosburgh, Captain ; P. Carr and H. Cavener, Lieutenants; and at Vinegar Hill a company of 52 men was commanded by Capt. Jonathan Craig, with Thos. Kilgore and R. C. Bourn, Lieutenants. There was also a large company of nearly 100 men at Gratiot's Grove."

earth there would be a solid wooden wall 8 to 10 feet in height. In the inside a platform was built on which the inmates could stand to fire over the top, and the walls were also pierced with loop-holes.

May 23, Felix St. Yrain, Agent for the Sacs and Foxes, bearer of dispatches, left Gen. Atkinson's headquarters, on Rock River, accompanied by John Fowler, Thos. Kenney, Wm. Hale, Aquilla Floyd, Aaron Hawley, and Alexander Higginbotham. At Buffalo Grove they found the body of the lamented Durley, and buried it a rod from the spot where they found it. The next day (24th) they were attacked by a party of thirty Indians, near Kellogg's " old place." St. Train, Fowler, Hale and Hawley were killed. The other three escaped and arrived at Galena on the morning of the 26th.

From the time the first volunteers were mustered out by Gov. Reynolds on the 26th or 27th of May, until the new levies were organized on the loth of June, numerous murders were committed by the Indians, and the only protection the people had were their own brave hearts and strong arms. Trie atrocities perpetrated by the Indians upon the bodies of their victims, aroused the vengeance of the settlers and miners, many of whom had previously felt that the Indians were not so much in fault, and had been needlessly provoked to bloodshed.

On the 30th day of May, 1832, a meeting of the citizens of Galena and vicinity, called by Col. Strode, to consider the perilous situation of the mining district and devise measures for security and protection, was held at the house of M. & A. C. Swan (standing then on the corner of Main and Green Streets, opposite De Soto House). William Smith, Esq., was called to the chair, and Capt. James Craig appointed Secretary.

On motion of Dr. Meeker, a committee of nine, consisting of Moses Meeker, William Hempstead, Michael Byrne, Robert Graham, Mr. Shears, James Craig, D. R. Davis, Mr. Thomas and David McNair, were appointed to deliberate and propose such measures as they may think best calculated to secure the object in view. This committee subsequently reported a series of resolutions, that the picketing and block houses be finished; that a garrison of 100 to 150 men be detailed, one third to be quartered in the garrison, and the others to be equally divided in the two extremities of the town, independent of the artillery and horse companies; that not less than 15 men belonging to the artillery company lodge in the block house every night; recommending that two companies be made of Capt. Stephenson's company and that they and Capt. Craig's company elect a major to command the squadron; that these companies shall be stationed in the vicinity of Galena, and shall keep out a sufficient number of spies or scouts to form a circuit of from 10 to 25 miles around Galena, and report every evening; that all persons subject to military duty be immediately enrolled, held in readiness for active service, and to parade with their arms and equipments every evening at four o'clock; that at least ten days provisions for one thousand men, with fifty barrels of water, be kept constantly in the stockade ; that there must be unity of action between the forces under Gen. Dodge and the mounted men of this place, and that Dr. A. T. Crow, William Smith, Esq., and James Craig should prepare an address to the citizens of the mining district, in order to remove some existing misunderstanding * between the people of the town and country.

* The people of the country coming to Galena for safety were not provided for as they thought they ought to be. The people of the town were all excited, had their own business (the little that remained) to manage, and probably left their country neighbors to take care of themselves. Numbers of them were encamped on the bottom near the river for some time, no provision for them having been made within the stockade. Miners refused to come into town for this reason. They said, " We may as well remain at home as to goto the Point, where no arrangements have been made for us." A feeling of jealousy or bitterness sprang up in consequence, and to this the committee had reference.

Address

To the Citizens of the Mining District, embracing the County of Jo Daviess in the State of Illinois, and the Western parts of the Territory of Michigan on the Upper Mississippi:

Inhabiting, as we do, a countiy isolated from our brethren both of the State and of the Union, to which we belong, surrounded by a savage and hostile enemy, who have raised both the tomahawk and scalping knife, alike on the defenseless inhabitants, as the soldier going forth to battle. Already have we witnessed the fall of a Durley, a St. Vrain, a Hale, a Fowler, and a Hawley on this side of Rock River, while the scalping knife is still reeking in the blood of our fellow-citizens between Rock River and Peoria, and two of our sisters (Sylvia and Rachael Hall) are groaning in captivity amongst a savage enemy - our communication cut off by land from the south and east. Prevented by Indian hostility from cultivating our farms and gardens, receiving but little succor from the State to which we belong, or from the General ' Government, receiving but scanty supplies by way of the Mississippi, which must eveiy day become more precarious. Thrown as we are upon our defensive means and resources, let us rally to the standard of our country, and husband with the utmost care the means we can command for our preservation and protection. Our supplies of every kind are principally in this place; already are our means of security advancing rapidly to a completion, and here will be a place of security for our women and children ; here also will be food and raiment for them. It is but too true that some of our citizens have been too remiss in their duty ; the flame of patriotism does not burn alike in every bosom ; and the soldier will look with pity and not with contempt at his less gifted neighbor. But when common danger threatens, let brethren unite the more closely, and while our enterprising men shall contend with an enemy in the open field, let those who remain at home do their duty in procuring and preparing all the means of defense and preservation in their power.

The time can not be distant when our situation must be known to our brethren abroad, and if we can defend our position but a short time, we may reasonably look for the succor which both the State and General Government are bound to give us. Let us do with alacrity the duty assigned to each of us, and forget our little bickerings and jealousies. Let us finish our stockading and block houses. Let us examine the country, watching the approach and movements of any hostile party that may be in our borders ; meet and chastise them if we can; and when peace shall again gladden our ears, we will then settle our misunderstanding if any should then remain.

A. T. Crow Wm. Smith

On the 6th of June the Galenlan says : " The stockade in Galena is nearly done, and those in the country are in a tolerable state of completion." But it is evident from the above address and from concurrent testimony that the people did not all rally to the work as earnestly as the commander wished. Perhaps they did not realize that they were in any immediate danger, and they had to attend to their own business affairs. To show them the importance of completing their defenses and of attending to duty as well as to give the citizens some practice in case the Indians should really make a night attack, some of the officers, including Col. Strode planned to have a false alarm, by firing the cannon by midnight the Monday night following the meeting. The date and results of the " scare " are given in a letter from Dr. JSTewhall to his brother, dated Galena, June 8, 1832, as follows :

" The Indian war has assumed an alarming^ character. On Monday night last (4th) we had an alarm that the town was attacked. The scene was horrid beyond description; men, women and children flying to the stockade. I calculated seven hundred women and children were there within fifteen minutes after the alarm gun was fired - some with dresses on and some with none; some with shoes and some barefoot; sick persons were transported on other's shoulders ; women and children screaming from one end of the town to the other. It was a false alarm. Had there been an Indian attack, I believe the people would have fought well."

Many ludicrous incidents are related of this " big scare," ludicrous afterwards and now, but not then, when all save a few in the secret fully believed the Indians were upon them. Among these, it is said that the worthy postmaster didn't stop to put on his trousers, and rushed into the stockade wrapped in a sheet, calling wildly for somebody to bring him a pair of pants. A Mrs. Bennett was already there making cartridges, and as the P. M. was rushing about for some clothes, she handed him a musket, with the cool remark, " Here, take this gun, and don't be scared to death."

The next day, when the people learned how cruelly their fears had been played upon, their indignation knew no bounds. All business was suspended. Colonel Strode and his associates fled the town, an impromptu indignation meeting was held at Swan's tavern, at which strong denunciatory resolutions were passed and a committee appointed to investigate the matter, of which Rivers Connack, the old Methodist minister, was chairman. After a few days, popular indignation subsided, and Colonel Strode returned. His motive was good, but the means adopted did not quite meet the approval of the citizens, and the experiment was not repeated.*

The Indians have already taken about forty scalps in the whole. News has this day arrived of one more man (Mr. Auberry) having been killed and scalped, near Blue Mound.f

June 8, Captain Stephenson's company of mounted rangers found the bodies of St. Yrain, Hale, Fowler and Hawley four miles south of Kellogg's Grove, and buried them.

Colonel Win. S. Hamilton arrived in Galena with two hundred and thirty Indians, mostly Sioux, with some Menominees and Winnebagoes, on the 8th. These Indians left Galena on the 10th, to join General Atkinson at Dixon's Ferry, all anxious to obtain Sac scalps. Black Hawk's band reported moving slowly northward.

On the night of June 8, the Indians stole fourteen horses just outside the stockade on Apple River (Elizabeth), and on the night of the 17th ten more were stolen. The next morning, Captain J. W. Stephensoii. with twelve of his men and nine from Apple River fort, started on the trail of the red thieves, and overtook them about twelve miles east of Kellogg's Grove, southeast of Waddam's Grove, and pursued them several miles, until a little northeast of Waddam's (in Stephenson County), the Indians (seven in number, says Captain Green,) took refuge in a dense thicket and awaited the attack. Stephenson dismounted his men, and, detailing a guard for the horses, led his men in a gallant charge upon the concealed foe, received their fire and returned it, returning to the open prairie to load. Three times the brave boys charged upon this fatal thicket, losing a man each time. Only one Indian was known to be killed. He was bayonetted by private Hood, and stabbed in the neck by Thomas Sublett. This Indian was scalped several times, and a piece of his scalp-lock is now (1878) in the possession of Wm. H. Snyder, Esq., of Galena. The three men killed were Stephen P. Howard, George Eames and Michael Lovell. Stephensoii himself was wounded. After the third charge, Stephenson retreated, leaving

* Tuesday night, July 24, a fire broke out in Dr. Crow's stable in the stockade, and two horses were burned. It was said that there was powder stored in the stable, and there was another scare, but this time the stampede w&sfrom the stockade. Amos Farrar died at his house in the stockade the same night.

his dead where they fell, and returned to Galena, arriving on the 19th. Of this desperate battle, Governor Ford says : " This attack of Captain Stephenson was unsuccessful, and may have been imprudent; but it equalled any thing in modern warfare in daring and desperate courage."

On the evening of June 14, live men, at work in a cornfield at Spafford's farm, five miles below Fort Hamilton, on Spaiford's Creek, and on the morning of the 16th Henry Apple, a German, were killed within half a mile of the fort. Gen. Dodge, with twenty-nine men, at once pursued them about three miles, when they were discovered, eleven in number, in open ground, but were not overtaken until they crossed the East Pick-e-tone-ka, and entered an almost impenetrable swamp, at Horse Shoe Bend. At the edge of the swamp, Dodge ordered his men to dismount and link horses. Four men were left in charge of the horses, four were posted around the swamp to prevent the escape of the savages, and the remainder, twenty-one in number, advanced into the swamp about half a mile, where they received tire of the Indians, and three men fell severely wounded. Gen. Dodge instantly ordered a charge. The Indians were found lying under the bank of a slough, and were not seen until the soldiers were within six or eight feet of them, when they fired. The whole hostile party were killed and scalped in one or two minutes, except one who swam the slough in an attempt to escape, and was shot down on the opposite bank. In this battle F. M. Morris and Samuel Wells were mortally, and Samuel Black and Thomas Jenkins severely, wounded. This was the first victory achieved over the murderous Sacs, and occasioned great rejoicing in the settlements.

On the 20th Stephenson's and Craig's companies, under command of Col. Strode, went to Waddam's Grove to bury the remains of Howard, Eames and Lovell, which they did, but left the dead Indian above ground. On their return they heard some suspicious sounds, but pushed on in the night to Imus's (in Bush Township) and returned to Galena in safety. Afterwards, says Capt. Green, who was with Stephenson's company, we learned that " a large party of Sacs were within a half-hour's march of us, when we left the graves of our dead comrades."

This party, which numbered about 150, had left the main body of Sacs on the Rock River, and, after following Strode's command, were, undoubtedly, the same who made a furious attack on the stockade at Apple River, on the night of the 24th, under the following circumstances: F. Dixon, dispatches to Gen. Atkinson. They had passed Apple River Fort when they were fired upon by Indians, and Welsh was badly wounded. His companions told him to retreat to the fort, and to give him time, turned upon the foe and raised a yell. This temporarily checked them ; Welsh reached the fort and gave the alarm. Their stratagem succeeded. Dixon dashed through the savages, and escaped to Galena. Kirkpatrick and Herclerode gained the fort; the gate was shut, and for three quarters of an hour the battle raged. The women and girls made cartridges and loaded the muskets. Herclerode was killed while taking deliberate aim at an Indian over the top of the pickets. The number ot Indians killed was not known, but they were supposed to have lost several, and finally withdrew, after stealing a large number of cattle, and destroying considerable property.

party of Indians, and two of them, James Boxley and John Thompson, were tilled. Major Stephenson with thirty men started immediately on receipt of the news to bury the murdered men and pursue the murderers. The bodies were shockingly mangled and both scalped, and Thompson's heart cut out. The Indians were followed to the residence of Mr. Jordan, on the Mississippi, where they had stolen a canoe and crossed the river. These Indians could hardly have been any of Black Hawk's band, unless they Lad deserted and were making their way back to the west side of the Mississippi.

On the 30th of June, all the inhabitants north of Galena and on the Mississippi, this side of Cassville, came into Galena for safety. It was not then considered safe to go a mile out of town without a strong guard.

Captain George "W". Harrison, in command of Fort Hamilton, on the Pick-a-ton-e-ka, thirty miles from Galena, after vainly endeavoring to get a cannon, went to Colonel Hamilton's furnace and cast several lead pieces, intended for two-pounders, which were properly mounted at the stockade, and answered every purpose.

June 20, 1832, the ladies of Galena, represented by Mrs. Nancy B. Lockwood, Mrs. Sarah B. Coons, and Miss Elizabeth A. Dodge, committee, presented a stand of colors to Captain Jas. W. Stephenson's company. On the 21st, " The daughters of the lead mines " presented a flag " to our Father War Chief," General Henry Dodge. Afterwards, on the 15th of July, the ladies of the mining country, represented by Miss Margaret C. Brophy and Miss Bridget F. Ryan, presented a stand of colors to Captain Bazil B. Craig's company, and about the same time, Misses Catherine S. and Amelia G. Dyas presented colors to Captain Alex. M. Jenkins.

It must be' remembered that Black Hawk's forces kept on their march up Rock River, with the evident intention of returning to the west side of the Mississippi, as the forces of General Atkinson below prevented their return by the way they came, and they as evidently believed, after the affair with Stillman, that no flag of truce or proposals for peace would be received by the whites. But various Indian signs were discovered on the Mississippi River. July 6, Lieutenant Orrin Smith was sent, with twenty men, to Jordon's farm, opposite Dubuque mines, to scour the country there. On the 9th, Indians were in the vicinity of Rountree's Fort (Plattsville), where they held a war dance around the scalp of a woman. On the 10th, the Gralenian says : " To-day we learn that the trail of the Indians shows that they must have come from the west of the Mississippi, in a direction from Dubuque's mines."

These facts indicate very plainly that Black Hawk and his band were not responsible for all the outrages committed in the mining district, but that some of them, at least, are to be attributed to Indians from the west, while others, it is now known, \vere committed by young Winnebagoes.

July 14, Governor Reynolds, Colonel Field (Secretary of State), Judges Smith and Brown, Colonels Hickman, Grant, Breese and Gatewood, Captain Jeffreys and others arrived at Galena from the army. These gentlemen reported that the Indians were entirely destitute of provisions, and were endeavoring to reach and re-cross the Mississippi.

July 15, an express arrived at Galena, stated that Captain Harney, of the U. S. A., had found and pursued the trail of the Indians for thirty miles, passing four of their encampments in that distance, and that he found many signs of their want of provisions, " such as where they had butchered horses, dug for roots, and scraped the trees for bark," and it became evident that the military had concluded that l>lack Hawk was doing his best to escape to the west side of the Mississippi. Orders were sent to troops stationed on the banks of that River " to prevent or delay the Indians from crossing until the brigade sent by General Atkinson could come up with them." Indian outrages had now nearly ceased in Jo Daviess County, and a brief sketch of the movements of the troops from Dixon's Ferry to Bad Axe will close this part of the history.

On the loth of June, 1832, the new levies of volunteers in camp at Dixon's Ferry were formed into three brigades. The first was commanded by General Alexander Posey; the second by General Milton R. Alexander, and the third by General James D. Henry.

June 17, Captain Adam W. Snyder, of Colonel Fry's regiment, sent to scout the country between Rock River and Galena, while encamped near Burr Oak Grove, in what is now the Township of Erin, Stephenson County, was fired upon by four Indians. He pursued and killed them, losing one man mortally wounded. Returning, he was attacked by seventy Indians, both parties taking positions behind trees. General Whiteside, then a private, shot the leader of the band, and they retreated, but were not pursued. Snyder lost two men killed and one wounded.

June 25, a detachment of General Posey's brigade, commanded by Major John Dement, and encamped at Kellogg's Grove, or Burr Oak Grove, as it was then called, was attacked by a large party of Indians and a sharp skirmish ensued. Major Dement lost five men and about twenty horses killed. The Indians left nine of their number stretched upon the field. General Posey, then encamped at Buffalo Grove, hastened to the relief of Dement, but the Indians had retreated two hours before ho arrived. He returned to Kellogg's Grove to await the arrival of his baggage wagons, and then marched to Fort Hamilton, M. T.

Gen. Atkinson commenced his slow and cautious march up the river about the 25th of June, and finally reached Lake Kushkanong, where he was joined by Gen. Alexander's brigade, and then continued his march to White River or Whitewater, where he was joined by Posey's brigade and the Galena battalion under Maj. Dodge. Gen. Alexander, Gen. Henry and Maj. Dodge were sent to Fort Winnebago for supplies. Here they heard that Black Hawk was making his way toward the Wisconsin River, and, disobeying orders, Henry and Dodge started in pursuit (Gen. Alexander ail' I his brigade returning to Gen. Atkinson), struck the broad, fresh trail of the Indians and followed them with tireless energy. Ever and anon they would find old men, women and children, who could not keep up and had been abandoned to their fate by the flying Indians; some were killed. One old man left to die was sitting against a tree, and was boldly shot and scalped by a surgeon, who afterwards exhibited the scalp as a trophy of his valor.

Black Hawk was overtaken at Wisconsin River, and his braves offered battle to enable the women and children to cross the river. The battle of Wisconsin Heights, at which the Indians' were badly whipped by our troops, and ''worse whipped by starvation," says Mr. Townsend. was fought on the 22d of July, 1832. Skirmishing commenced a little after noon, but the heaviest fighting was about sunset. The first Indian killed was discovered walking ahead of the troops with a pack of meat on his back. A soldier fired but missed him, when he turned and threw down his gun but was bayonetted after his surrender by Sample Journey. The fighting ceased about 10 o'clock P. M., and tlie men bivouacked for rest on their arms. " About daybreak," says Capt. D. S. Harris, then a lieutenant in command of Stephenson's Company, " the camp was alarmed by the clarion voice of the Prophet from a hill nearly a mile away. 'At first we thought it was an alarm, but soon found that the Prophet wanted peace. Although he was so far distant I could hear distinctly every word, and I understood enough to know that he did not want to fight. The interpreter said that he said that they ' had their squaws and families with them and were starving - that they did not want to fight any more, but wanted peace and would do no more harm if they could be permitted to cross the Mississippi in peace.' " Mr. P. J. Pilcher, now of Elizabeth, who was also there, says that they were awakened by the shrill voice of the chief, and that he plainly understood: "Ne-com, P-e - e-1 - o-o-o;" "Friends, we fight no more." Mr. Pilcher says he told Henry what the Indian said, but Henry said "pay no attention to any thing they say or do, but form in line of battle." The Winnebagoes in camp also informed the officers of the meaning of the Prophet's message, and " early in the morning," says Pilcher, " they went with us to the spot where the Indian had stood, when he proclaimed peace, and there we found a tomahawk buried" an emphatic declaration that so far as Black Hawk and his band were concerned hostilities were ended. No attention was paid to this second attempt to negotiate peace. It is said that the oificers had no interpreter and did not know what the Prophet said until after the war closed. This excuse is exploded by the direct and emphatic testimony of Capt. Harris and Mr. Pilcher, but the starved and dying Indians must be exterminated.

The next morning not an Indian remained on the east side of the Wisconsin. Gen. Henry pushed back for supplies and Gen. Atkinson's "bottled forces" coming up, the pursuit was renewed, and the battle of Bad Axe was fought August 2, 1832. "For eight miles," says Townsend, "we were skirmishing with their rear guard," and numbers of squaws and children were killed. Mr. Townsend says he passed one squaw that had been shot and fallen on her face. On her back was strapped a child. The same shot that killed its mother had broken its arm, but in spite of this it was sitting on the back of its dead parent gnawing in its ravenous hunger the raw flesh from a horse-bone.

The battle of Bad Axe terminated the war, and Black Hawk's surrender, subsequent visib to "Washington, and return to his people in Iowa, are events familiar to the reader. After nearly half a century has passed since the stirring events narrated occurred, and the Indians have long since disappeared before' the westward advance of civilization, it is but just that the truth should be recorded. Passion and prejudice have passed away, and it must be admitted that " when the tomahawk and scalping knife were drawn " in 1832, it was only after the whites had commenced the carnival of blood by first firing on the flag of truce at "Stillman's Run." The vindictive pursuit and murder of women and children after the Prophet had, in person informed his ruthless pursuers that " his people were starving and wanted peace," can not be justified. It was as savage an act as the savages themselves had committed. It must be added also that after Stillman's defeat, Black Hawk, then an old man, lost all control of his young braves, who were led by N"e-o-Pope. Bat for that fatal act of Stillman's drunken soldiers, in all human probability the subsequent acts of savage barbarity by both Indians aud whites had remained undone. "Fire-water"

Local Histoky

SECTION 1. - Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, that all that tract of country lying within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning on the northwest corner of the state, thence down the Mississippi River to the northern line of the military tract, thence east with said line to the Illinois River, thence north to the northern boundary of this state, thence west with said boundary line to the place of beginning, shall constitute a county, and to perpetuate the memory of Colonel Joseph Hamilton Daviess, who fell in the battle of Tippecanoe, gallantly charging upon jhe enemy at the head of his corps, the said county shall be called Jo Daviess.

Origin of the Name. - The singular name of Jo Daviess was not given to the county by its citizens. The name Ludlow was incorporated in the original bill, and was intended to honor and perpetuate the memory of the naval hero of that name. When the bill was under consideration in the House of Representatives, a member moved to strike out " Ludlow," and insert the name of " Daviess," in honor of Colonel Jo Daviess, a Kentuckian, who fell at the head of his regiment at the battle of Tippecanoe, Indiana. Another member moved to amend the amendment by inserting before Daviess the word " Jo," giving as a reason that as there was a member of the House of the name of Daviess, the people might think the honor was intended for him, and that it would be indelicate for the House, by any direct act, to transmit their names to posterity. This motion, made in jest, was carried by a large majority, and the name Jo Daviess was incorporated in the bill with the expectation that " Jo " would be struck out by the Senate. The Senate, however, passed the bill without amendment, and the name by common use has become as pleasant to the ear as the ordinary names of counties.

An old Gazetteer of Missouri and Illinois, published in 1822, now in the possession of William Hempstead, Esq., says the military tract referred to in the act creating Jo Daviess County, commenced at the mouth of the Illinois River, extended north 162 miles to a line running east from the Mississippi to the Illinois River, and included all that country between the two rivers, an area equal to 240 townships of six miles square, covering 8,640 square miles and embracing 5,529,600 acres.

This tract of land was appropriated by Congress to pay military bounties for the war of 1812, and hence its designation as the military tract. This Gazetteer 'is the only accessible authority for the extent of this tract< and it may or may not be exactly accurate or authentic. There must be some law of Congress on the subject, but the writer was unable to find it during the limited time assigned for the compilation of these pages. .

SECTION 2 of the law creating Jo Daviess County further provided that the qualified voters residing within said county "shall meet at the Village of Galena, on the first Monday of June next (1827) and elect three County Commissioners, one Sheriff and one Coroner for said county; and Charles St. Vrain, David G. Bates and Patrick Hogan are heraby appointed judges of said election, who shall give notice, appoint two clerks, and conduct the said election as other elections for the same officers are now required by law to be published and conducted."

SECTION 3. That, for the present, until the true boundaries of the county be known and provision therefor be made by law, for establishing the permanent seat of justice for said county, all courts shall be held at the said Tillage of Galena.

SECTION 4 provided that Jo Daviess should be a part of the first judicial circuit, and that the justices of the peace of the county or any three of them, might hold court. Section five defined the duties of prosecuting attorneys, and section six declared that the county should vote in all general elections, in conjunction with Peoria, Fulton, Schuyler, Adams and Pike Counties.

The boundaries and regulations thus established were not disturbed in any essential particular until January, 1836, when the Counties of Winnebago, Whiteside, Kane and Ogle were organized.

In accordance with the provisions of section two of the law under which Jo Daviess County was erected, an election was held on the first Monday in June, 1827, for the officers named in that section. There are no records to be found in the archives of the county to show the number of voters in the county at that time. It is a lamentable fact that in nearly all the counties whose history we have attempted to write, there seems to have been an inexcusable carelessness or negligence about preserving official papers. For this carelessness no valid excuse can possibly be offered, and, in fact, none should be accepted. On the other hand, there ought to have been a heavy penalty imposed upon all officials who failed to preserve intact the official papers of the offices they filled. If this had been the practice in the early days of Jo Daviess, Carroll and other counties, to write their history would be a comparatively easy task. As it is, with many important documents unpreserved, the task is an arduous and difficult one. The loss of the pioneer poll-book of Jo Daviess County, with only one voting precinct within its boundaries, is an important link missing from its chain of history. To determine the number of votes polled at Galena on the first Monday in June. 1827, with any degree of accuracy, is an impossibility. To arrive at any thing like accuracy, the only recourse is to an old poll-book of Fever River Precinct, Peoria County, under date of August 7, 1826, which is probably a record of the first election held in the Galena section of Northwestern Illinois. At that election, as is already elsewhere stated, Nehemiah Bates, J. W. Shull and Andrew Clamo were judges or inspectors, and B. Gibson and Joseph Hardy, clerks. That poll-book bears the names of 202 voters - not one of whom is known to be alive now. In June, 1827, there must have been at least one hundred and fifty more voters, as under the laws in existence at that time no territory could be organized as a county with less than three hundred and fifty mialih'ed voters. There may have been more than this number of voters in Fever River Precinct at the time of the first election for county officers for Jo Daviess County, but certain it is there was but one voting precinct in all of that territory now so densely populated.

This election was held on the first Monday in June. On the 5th day of that month, there seems to have been a session or meeting of two of the county commissioners elected - James Harris and Jonathan Browder. This meeting of the county commissioners was held at the " tavern " of Messrs. Abbott & Swan, on the site now occupied by Waggoner's book store, at the corner of Main and Green Streets. On the llth and 18th days of June, special or called sessions were held, but no record of their proceedings

This day James Harris and Jonathan Browder, two of the County Commissioners for said County, met at the house of Abbott and Swan, in the town of Galena, in said county, at which meeting the said two commissioners appointed Hugh R. Coulter to act as County Commissioners Clerk in and for said county. Said clerk, after appointed, as aforesaid, delivered a bond to the County Commissioners of said county for the use of the same in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, agreeably to the statute ,in such cases made and provided, with David G. Bates and John Ray his securities. The Court then organized itself and proceeded to business.

Stroder Inman was recommended to said Court as a proper person to fill the office of Constable in and for said county, who gave a bond as the law directs (after receiving his appointment), with John Foley his security. Said Constable then took the several oaths prescribed by law in open court, before entering on the duties of his office.

The County Commissioners Court met pursuant to their adjournment. ' Present, Jas. Harris and Jonathan Browden, as before. Ebenezer Orn, one of the commissioners elected for said county, appeared, received a certificate of his election, took the several oaths prescribed by law (which were, administered by the clerk), all of which being done in usual form, said Commissioner took his seat, and the Court then proceeded to business.

Stroder Inman, constable, was appointed as an illisor to attend on said court and to perform the duties of Sheriff, according to the statute in such cases made and provided.

A petition was presented, signed by several of the inhabitants of said county, praying said Court to recommend John Foley and Hugh II. Coulter as suitable persons to fill the office of Justices of the Peace in and for said county, whereupon it was

Ordered, That John Foley and-Hugh R. Coulter be recommended to the Governor of this state as suitable persons to fill the office of Justices of the Peace within and for said county, agreeable to the petition of P. Hogan and others.

A petition was presented by sundry citizens, praying said Court to recommend Geo. "W. Lott, of said county, to the Governor of this state, to fill the office of Justice of the Peace in and for said county, whereupon it was

Ordered, That Georsce W. Lott be recommended to the Governor of this state as a suitable person to fill the office of Justice of the Peace within and for said county, at the petition of P. Hogan and others.

At a special term of the County Commissioners Court of Jo Daviess County, held at the house of Messrs. Abbott and Swan, in the Town of Galena, June 18, 1827 - present, Ebenezer .Orn and Jonathan Browder, county commissioners, and Hugh It. Coulter, clerk. Samuel Kain was appointed an illisor to attend on said court.

A petition was presented by Patrick Hogan, Esq., requesting said court to prepare a safe place of confinement for John Kelley, who stood committed for an assault and battery with an intent to murder, committed on the body of Elisha Eldredge; whereupon it was ordered that Stroder Inman, constable, is hereby authorized to provide a safe place of confinement for John Kelley, who now stands convicted of an assault and battery with an attempt to murder, on the body of Eldredge, and to provide for said Kelley comfortable board until he can be further dealt with according to law.

Ordered, That a tax of one fourth per cent be levied on all personal property (belonging to the citizens of said county) made taxable by law.

Ordered, That Martin Warren be, and he is, hereby appointed by this court an assessor to assess the tax of said county, agreeably to the statute in such cases made and provided.

It is hereby certified that the foregoing is a true copy, verbatim et literatim, from the loose papers in my office, and entered in this book by order of the court this 20th day of March, A. D. 1833, and of the Independence of the United States the fifty-seventh.

From this certificate there is no reason to doubt that the proceedings of these sessions of the first Board of County Commissioners of Jo Daviess County were kept on loose slips of paper, and that six years had passed before any attempt was made to preserve them as matters of record.

From the reason that no term of the Circuit Court was held in Jo Daviess County until June, 1828, it is fair to presume that the above named citizens never qualified or* served in the capacity for which they were selected.

July 23, 1827, a special session of the County Commissioners Court was held, when the county was divided into three election precincts - Galena, Centreville and Shullsburg. The Galena precinct was described as follows:

Commencing at Lockwood's furnace and running on a parallel line to James Foley's Vinegar Hill, thence due west to the Mississippi River ; thence down said river to Apple Creek ; thence up said river and embracing all settlements on said river to Vanmatre's furnace and its vicinity; thence to the place of beginning at Lockwood's furnace.

Beginning at Vanmatre's old furnace, on Apple River; thence on a parallel line .to White Oak Springs; thence to G. W. Lett's establishment; thence to Chandler's Fort; thence to intersect the Galena precinct line at the Mississippi River.

To embrace all that tract of country beginning at Vanmatre's old furnace, and running east to the county line ; thence north on said line twenty miles ; thence to J. (or I.) Boner's, intersecting Centreville precinct line.

It may be of interest to the reader to know something of the territory embraced in these three precincts - to know the beginning and terminus of their several lines, and the location of the several places named in their boundaries. Fifty-one years, almost, have come and gone since these precincts were established. The ravages of these years have blotted out many landmarks once familiar to the people, and, while the names of such places as " Vanmatre's old furnace," " Lott's establishment," etc., are still familiar to them, of many with whom the writer talked, the fewest number could tell where they were located. To re-establish these old places in the minds of the public, and preserve them to posterity as a part of the history of Jo

Vanmatre's old furnace was on Apple River, near the present site of the village of Elizabeth, and probably at what was known in early times as Georgetown.

The same session of the Commissioners Court that erected the three original voting precincts also ordered an election to be held on the first Monday in August, 1827, for the choice of three justices of the peace and one constable in the Galena precinct; one justice of the peace and one constable in the Centreville precinct, and one justice of tlie peace and one constable in the Shullsburg precinct. The court also ordered that, in the Galena precinct, the election should be held at the house of John S. Miller, and in the Shullsburgh precinct at the house of Jesse W. Shull. The voting place in the Centreville precinct was not named. The polls were ordered to be opened at ten o'clock in the morning, and to be kept open until four o'clock in the afternoon.

A careful examination of subsequent entries on the commissioners' record fails to show who were elected justices of the peace at that election. Among the old bonds on file in the county clerk's office, there are three bonds made respectively by William T. Managan, George H. Eymer and "William Troy, who were elected as constables at the August election - but not the scratch of a pen to show who were elected as justices of the peace.

Managan's bond, in the sum of $500, with Duke L. Smith and L. P. Yoeburg, was filed October 30, 1827. George H. Eymer's bond, in the same sum, John S. Miller and John Foley, sureties, was filed October 11, 1827, and Troy's bond, in the same sum, with John Furlong and John Foley as bondsmen, was also filed October 11, 1827 - the two last named being the first constables to qualify and enter upon a discharge of their duties as such officers.

From the fact that the first term of Circuit Court held in the county was held by justices of the peace - John Connolly, Hugh R. Coulter and Abner Field, as judges, we are led to the conclusion that these were among the five justices ordered to be elected by the County Commissioners Court at their session, July 23, 1827, the order regulating which has already been quoted. Mr. John Lorrain says in his " History of Jo Daviess County," prepared in the Centennial year :

In 1828, John Connolly, H. R. Coulter, Abner Field and James Harris were elected justices of the peace; Wm. Risley, county treasurer; Abner Field, clerk, and John Foley, sheriff, but on account of his not getting his certificate of election to Vandalia in thirty days, according to law, he was not confirmed, but the records show that he acted as such.

The same authority says further that " the first circuit court held in the county commenced on the 20th day of June, 1828, and that John Connolly, Hugh R. Coulter and Abner Field, justices, presided ' as judges.' " If these "judges" were not elected on the first Monday in August, 1827, they must have been elected in the Spring of 1828. They were not elected in August,

1828, for they sat as circuit court judges in June, 1828. So we are left to the irresistible conclusion that they were elected on the first Monday in August, 1827, and not in 1828, as stated by Mr. Lorrain. This position is strengthened by the fact that in the early days of Illinois elections for county and state officers were held in August, as they are now held in August in the State of Kentucky, and on the second Tuesday of October in Ohio and Indiana.

July 24, 1827, John S. Miller was granted a license to keep tavern for one year, on the payment of $9, and James Craig was appointed county assessor, when the court adjourned.

On the 27th of July a special session of the court was held, when the office of county clerk was declared to be vacant, because Hugh R. Coulter, the clerk, did not keep his office at the county seat, as provided by law. At the last meeting of the court, on the 24th of July, they had entered an order directing the sheriff to call on Mr. Coulter and demand of him the records, books, papers, etc., belonging to the office. There is no entry of the return made bv the sheriff, but from the fact that the court proceeded to appoint Abner iField as clerk it is fair to presume that Mr. Coulter " accepted the situation," and turned over the records, etc., without much reluctance.

The next entry on the record was the appointment of D. G. Bates to serve as judge of election in the place of Moses Meeker, who had been appointed when the precinct was first created.

This sessiun of the court also established a schedule of prices to regulate the charges of tavern keepers. Saloons or places devoted exclusively to the sale of liquors were not so fashionable in those days as at present, but no tavern was a tavern without its bar of liquors. The first license granted for the sale of spirituous liquors appears to have been issued to P. Harkey. The standard of charges fixed by the County Commissioners Court was as follows :

Fifty-one years of time have brought about many changes, and if the Board of Supervisors (successors to County Commissioners)were to attempt to fix the rates of charges of " tavern " keepers and retail dealers in spirituous liquors, in 1878, the attempt would be regarded as an unconstitutional and intolerable infringement upon the rights of man.

Friday, July 27, 1827, Abner Field was appointed to the office of county clerk, and Saturday, the 28th, he gave bonds in the sum of $1,000 for a faithful discharge of the duties of the office. John Foley and George M. Egnew were his bondsmen.

The same day (Saturday) James Craig appeared before the court, and, stating his reasons (business engagements), declined to serve as county assessor, and George M. Egnew was appointed to the vacancy.

The first account allowed against the county was to Patrick Hogan, and was in the sum of $8.12|-, for stationery furnished for the use of the county. John Foley was next allowed $10 for four days' services as county clerk,

Strother Inman was allowed the sum of $50 for carrying the June election returns to the secretary of state at Vandalia, then the state capital. He was also allowed $16 * constable fees, in the case of "The People of the State of Illinois vs. John Kelly, apprehended on a charge of attempt to murder." Each one of the commissioners was allowed the sum of $10 for official services up to date.

A session of the County Commissioners Court was held on the third and fourth days of September, but there was no business of any note to claim their attention. On the 18th of that month, the commissioners again met, and at this session passed sundry orders relating to the holding of the first term of the Circuit Court, and

John S. Miller's house* was known as " Miller's tavern," and was situated on or near the corner of what is Branch and Dodge Streets, in that part of the city called " Old Town." On the same day the above order was entered, the following named citizens and voters were selected to serve as petit jurors : James Craig, John Chandler, Thomas Gray, Francis Kirkpatrick, John Barrel], James Smith, Thomas Drum, Joseph Hardy, John Kay, William Henry, James Langworthy, Samuel Whitesides, Martin Warren, Moses Eastman, James Cherry, James Kindall, Adam Hymer, Thomas Hymer, Peter Carr, George Ferguson, William H. Smith, James Brady, Enoch Wethers and William Brazier.

Ordered, That the treasurer assess the tax ordered to be levied by this court of one half of one per cent, and that he make his return of said assessment to the clerk of this court on or before the first Monday of November next.

If Mr. Miller ever made a report of his services as assessor and treasurer, the records fail to show it, and there are no papers on file (at least, none can be found) to show the assessed valuation of the personal property of Jo Daviess County at that time, nor the amount of revenue derived from the assessment of one half of one per centum thereon.

The court next passed upon their claims for services as commissioners, and allowed themselves $1.50 per day, each, "for every day they served during the present term, and that John Foley be allowed $3 per day for his services."

In those days the commissioners appear to have been at the service of the public - that is, to have been very accommodating, for whenever any one wanted a license to keep a " tavern," all that was necessary was to

* Mr. Lorrain says in his Centennial History " the first court was opened in a building put up with rough boards, by Charles Peck, on the corner where the Dt- Soto House now stands." If Mr. L. is correct in this statement, and there seems to be no good reason to doubt its authenticity, then Miller's house or tavern was never occupied for Circuit Court purposes. That the first term of the court was held in the building described by Mr. Lorrain is most reasonable, from the fact that there was a very large attendance, and it is not probable that there was a house in the village at that time large enough to hold one half of he spectators.

advise the county clerk of their wants, when the commissioners would be notified and a called or special session of the court would be held. In one instance, October 3, 1827, Barney Ferguson desired a license to keep a " tavern." The commissioners were called together, the desired license was granted, and, without the transaction of any other business, the court adjourned.

The last session of the court of 1827 was held on the 3d of December, which was devoted to " squaring up " the accounts of the officials, making allowances for sundry necessary articles furnished the county, etc.

The first session for 1828 was held on the 3d of March, when a " tavern" license was granted to Robert Duncan, and a second grand jury selected - no term of the Circuit Court having been held in 1827. The names drawn for this grand jury, as taken from the record, were Duke L. Smith, H. Flewellyn, William Carr, Jno. B. Campbell, A. P. Yanmeter, Patrick Hogan, D. G. Bates, Benson Hunt, Richard W. Chandler, George Ames, John D. Winters, Richard Murphy, Charles Gear, Frederick Holloway, James Foley, James Mitchell, Thomas McCrary, Jesse W. Shull, M. Finley, James Lynch, B. B. Lawless, John W. McClintick, Owen Riley, William H. Monson.

At the same session, the following named were drawn to serve as petit jurors: John Chandler, Thomas Gray, Francis Kirkpatrick, John Barrell, James Smith, Thomas Drum, James Hardy, John Ray, William Henry, James Langworthy, Isaac Martin, Willis St. Johns, Amos Farrar, Thomas Bennett, James Kindall, Adam Hymer, Thomas Hymer, Peter Carr, Robert Duncan, William H. Smith, H. H. Gear, Davison Parish, William Brazier, Elias Phelps.

At a called session of the County Commissioners Court, held on the 2d of May, 1828, an assessment of one half of one per centum was ordered to be levied upon the personal property owned in the county to meet the expenses of the county, and Hugh R. Coulter was appointed county treasurer, and ordered to give bond in the sum of $1,000. At this session Mr. Coulter was also licensed to keep " tavern."

According to Mr. Lorrain, " the first term of the Circuit Court was commenced on the 20th day of June, 1828, with John Connolly, Hugh R. Coulter and Abner Field, justices of the peace, as judges.

The grand jury consisted of the following named persons: Herbert Flewellyn, Patrick Hogan, Richard W. Chandler, Michael Murphy, Charles Gear, Frederick Hollman, James Foley, James Mitchell, Roland R. Holmes, Hugh W. Shannon, James Craig, John Ellis, John A. Wakefield, Joseph Conway, Joel Wright, Jesse W. Shull and A. P. Vanmeter, of which Richard Chandler was foreman.

The first indictment was filed on the second day of the term, and charged one Michael Dee with assault with intent to commit murder. He was tried and found guilty, but the records fail to show what penalty (if any) was imposed by the court.

The next term of the Circuit Court commenced on the 6th of October, 1828 - John Connolly, Jas. Harris, Abner Field, Hugh R. Coulter and - Burke, justices of the peace, serving as judges. This session lasted three weeks and three days, with 200 cases on the docket, all but twenty of which were cleared from the docket.

The first divorce case came up for trial at this term of the Circuit Court, and was entitled Mary Hall vtt. John Hall - John Turney, plaintiff's attorney. The divorce was granted.

History Of Jo Davies8 County

In 1828, Moses Meeker, James Mitchell, Moses Hallett, and F. Berry, were the only citizens regularly engaged in farming and raising crops. Every other person was either directly or indirectly engaged in mining.

In this year (1828), steamboats began to make regular trips between St. Louis and Galena, taking lead to St. Louis, and bringing back supplies. Merchants who bought goods at New York, Philadelphia, and other Eastern markets, had them shipped via New Orleans and the Mississippi River, to Galena. Among the boats engaged in this trade, were the " Josephine," Clark, master; u Missouri," Culver, master; and the " Red Rover," Throckmorton, master. There were others, of course, but their names and the names of their masters are buried out of memory.

This year, Charles S. Hempstead came to Galena as an attorney, from St. Louis, where he had commenced the practice of his profession as early as 1814:. In the office of his son, William Hempstead, collector of U. S. revenue, may be seen the old square table that was made for his St. Louis office when he first opened a law office in that city.r In its time it was considered a grand piece of office furniture, and Hempstead's office was regarded as the most gorgeously furnished of any in that city. But by the side of the furniture to be found in ordinarily furnished law offices of 1878, it is very plain and commonplace. Soon after his arrival here, Mr. Hempstead opened an office, from which time until the date of his death, December 10, 1874, he continued a permanent resident, and prominent and leading lawyer of the county. At the time of his death he was the oldest lawyer in practice in the state, and probably the oldest one in the United States.

Within one year from the time the county machinery was put in motion (June 5, 1827), there was a very rapid influx of immigrants, and at the June session (1828) of the County Commissioners Court, three additional voting precincts were established to accommodate the voters who had settled out in the different sections of the county. June 3, on petition of William R. McAdams and others, Menominee precinct was established with the following boundaries: " Beginning at the Sinsinawa, thence running north with me main stream of said Sinsinawa to a grove known by the name of Big Hickory Grove, on the head of the south fork of Little Platte ; thence west down the Platte to the Mississippi River to a point opposite the Menominee Mound ; thence east by said mound to the beginning."

The house of Mr. McAdams was designated as the voting place, and William R. McAdams, George Davidson, and Robert Henderson, were appointed judges of election.

The order next following related to the presentation, by Mr. Strode, of a petition in relation to a road district including Galena. The petition was received and put on file, and at a later period during the session, the district was declared established.

The Court next considered the erection of Apple River Precinct, which was established as follows: "Beginning at Major Ankeny's on Small Pox, running east to the Lewiston road; thence along the road to Plumb River; thence down said river to the Mississippi; thence up said Mississippi River

The voting place was ordered to be at the house of John D. Winters, and John D. Winters, George Ames, and Warner Lewis were appointed judges of election. This precinct was established on petition of John D. "inters and others.

This was the first piece of office furniture provided for the use of the county clerk's office. Up to this time there was no place to keep either books or papers. Papers, such as petitions, accounts, etc., are said to have been "filed away in the hats or pockets of the officials, and the books carried from the office to the house of the clerk or others in charge of them, and then carried back to the office." When papers began to accumulate, and grew too numerous to file away in the bookcase referred to, and filled the hats and pockets of the officials, they were ' dumped ' in barrels and boxes. And one official gentleman with whom the writer had frequent interviews during the progress of this work, said that in the winter seasons of those days, when kindling was scarce, the barrels and boxes of old county, documents afforded ready means of starting fires. It must be remembered, however, that this gentleman is something of a wag, and that he was not born until a good many years after the county was organized. But it is beyond doubt that a good many of the early documents of the county that ought to have been preserved, are not to be found.

June 4, James B. Campbell presented a petition signed by himself and others, praying for the erection of Plattville precinct. The prayer of the petitioners was granted, and the following boundaries established: "Beginning at the mouth of the Platte River and running up the same to the Big Hickory Grove, on the head of the south fork of the Little Platte ; thence east to the ridge dividing the waters of the Fever River from those of Platte River, and to include all the country of Jo Daviess County lying north of said line.

The house of Rountree & Campbell was designated as the voting place, and John Rountree, Frederick Hollman, and John Jones, were appointed to be judges of election.

The same day Hugh R. Coulter presented his bond as County Treasurer, with Isaac Chambers and Thomas McCraney as bondsmen. From subsequent entries in the Commissioners journal of proceedings it seems that Mr. Coulter's bond was not satisfactory to the tax-payers, for on the 12th of the same month D. G. Bates appeared before the Court and made complaint as to the insufficiency of Coulter's bond. The latter was cited to appear before the Commissioners and give additional security, etc. Rather than give additional security Mr. Coulter preferred to resign the office, and his resignation was accepted by the Court, and on the 13th William Risley was appointed to the vacancy.

Up to this time, and in fact up to March, 1829, there are no entries to be found showing an assessment of personal property for purposes of taxation. Neither are there any written evidences to show that any tax had been collected, and we are left to one of two conclusions - first, that if there had been an assessment and collection of taxes, the officials failed to make the proper record; and, second, if such record was made, it was made on loose paper and subsequently lost. The only source of revenue of which any trace can be found from the organization of the County up to this date appears to have been from " tavern " license. The charges for such license were from nine to sixteen dollars, and as almost every housekeeper aspired to be a " tavern " keeper, the sum derived from this source (including liquor license, or license for retailing liquors) was not inconsiderable.

The first trace of money derived from taxation of which there is any record appears under date of March 3, 1829. At a regular session of the County Commissioners Court on that day the following entry was made :

Ordered, That the Sheriff be charged with the sum of $833 for taxes assessed for county purposes on personal property for the year 1828, and that he be charged with all the fines in the Circuit Court that have been imposed, and other fines for which he may be accountable.

The Sheriff tendered and filed the Treasurer's receipt for the following sums paid into the treasuiy during the years 1828 and 1829, and it is

There is no record to show the total valuation of the personal property in 18*28, as found by the Assessor, but it -is very clear that if a tax levy of one-half of one per cent returned $833 of county revenue, the total valuation must have been $166,000.

In 1825 the number of men working in the mines was 100 ; in 1826 the number had increased to a little over 400, and in 1827 the population was estimated at 1,600. Of this number 283 were credited to the sixty log cabins that made up' the village of Galena. In 1830, according to the TL S. census report, the population was only 2,111, so that the increase from 1827 to 1830 was not very heavy, but it is to be presumed the population was not permanent - that the miners were coming and going - and that when the census of 1830 was taken, the business of the miners was at a "stand still," in consequence of the low price of lead, and that the operators were absent at their homes in other places, so that it is not unreasonable to suppose that the population in 1828 and 1829 was greater than it was in 1830.

June, 1828, the first road view was ordered. A petition was presented to the County Court asking for the location of a public or county road " commencing at Galena and to run by the nearest and best way, by the way of McDonald & Earns' furnace, so as to intersect the Lewiston road at Rush Creek." John D. Winters, John Thomas and John McDonald were appointed viewers. The petitioners were required to deposit $16 with the County Clerk to cover the cost of the view and survey, if the viewers reported unfavorably. If their report was favorable, the deposit was returned, and the expenses sustained by the county. Such was the established practice in all the counties.

Another road was petitioned for at the same time - from Galena to Shullsburg. [At that time the people of this part of the Galena section did not know whether they belonged to Illinois or the Michigan territory, which embraced all of the present State of Wisconsin. Jesse W. Shull, the founder of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, was at one time - from August, 1828, to 1829 - one of the County Commissioners of Jo Daviess County, so that that part of Wisconsin was embraced within the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess County.] Joseph Hardy, Henry Gratiot, and Samuel Whitesides were appointed viewers. Their report was favorable, the deposit of sixteen dollars was returned to the petitioners, and the road established.

In those days the Commissioners Court had jurisdiction over the persons of orphan minors, and would " bind them out." The first exercise of this jurisdiction was in June, 1828, when the Court

Ordered, That Sarah Tessat, an infant minor, under fourteen years of age, be bound as an apprentice to Moses Meeker, to serve until sbe is eighteen years of age."

About this time the people began to agitate the necessity of building a county jail, and on the 12th of June the Court took the matter under consideration, and ordered that a jail be " built of two thicknesses of ten-inch square timber, with a vacancy between the two thicknesses to be filled with rock, as to the lower room, so that the lower room shall be fifteen feet square in the clear and eight feet high. The floors to be made of ten-inch square timber, covered with two-inch plank, to be put on bias and fastened down well with sufficient spikes; one door- way in the lower room, well cheeked - one shutter opening inwardly and the others outwardly - the shutters to be made of two thicknesses of one and a half inch oaken plank. The upper part to be composed of only one wall of ten-inch square timber, but to be well secured with strong rafters, heavy sheeting/' etc. A site was selected in " Old Town," on or near the site now occupied by the Presbyterian Church, but the jail was not commenced until June, 1829, when a contract for its erection was awarded to Messrs. William Bennett and Eli S. Lattin. From some cause these contractors did not, as appears from the records, complete the jail, for January 20, 1830, John S. Miller was appointed by the Commissioners to complete it and "fix the same as to make it comfortable for the reception of prisoners," Until completed, some time in 1830, when a prison was needed, a room or building was rented wherever it could be found. Early in the Spring of 1828 a building on Bench Street, near the old Mansion _House, was used for a jail, and in which a man was imprisoned on a charge of shooting another one in Vinegar Hill, but he managed to escape and fled the country before trial. In those days there was not as much need of prisons as there was a few years later, for the reason that there were not so many evil-doers. Merchants would some times leave their store doors open and unguarded over night. Piles of mineral would be left in exposed conditions, but it was never disturbed. But when the county was fully organized, courts established and lawyers came to settle here, then came frequent infractions and violations of law. Evil-doers grew bolder and had less fear of statute laws than they had of the laws made by the miners. Among them there was a strict regard for the rights of each other, and to feloniously invade their rights or dishonestly appropriate any of their property was sure to bring instant and speedy panishment. There were none of the delays known to statute laws - no changes of venue - but arrest and immediate trial and punishment (if found guilty) followed in quick succession after detection.

The jail was completed and ready for use in the season of 1830, and in September, 1836, when the right of claimants to the lots they held under permit from the general government was being passed upon by a commission appointed by an act of Congress for that purpose, was the subject of the following little episode:

The commission referred to was composed of three persons: Daniel Wann and John Turney, of Galena, and Samuel Leech, of Quincy - Daniel Wann, chairman. The commission was provided with a plat of the town, and when it met as a court of adjudication, the clerk, or some other one, commenced at lot No. 1, and asked, "Who claims lot No. 1?" The claimant would respond, " I claim that lot," and if there were no objections his claim was considered valid, and it was recorded in his name. Lot No. 2 was disposed of in the same way, and so on until the entire plat was disposed of. When they came to the lot on which the jail was built, " Lot No. - ; who claims it?" there was no response, although the county authorities had occupied it for county purposes by permit from the government agent. There was no response. Silence reigned for some moments, which was finally broken by one George Madeira, who said: ;'I claim that lot. I arn the first man that occupied it as a residence, and according to the rules that govern here I am entitled to possession." The pith of the joke flashed across the minds of the commission and the crowd in attendance in a moment, and then followed a roar of laughter that shook the building to its very foundations. Madeira had been the first man to occupy it - the jail - after its completion, on an indictment for some criminal offense, but the facts being presented to the governor, he ordered the attorney for the people to enter a nolle prosequi against the indictment, and he was released from imprisonment. Some years after the occurrence of the episode referred to, Mr. Madeira emigrated to California, where, at last accounts, he had become a wealthy, useful, influential and highly respected citizen.

In 1832, when the Black Hawk war broke out, this jail was seized by the government, torn down, removed to another place, and re-erected as a block house by the Twenty-seventh Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. September 8, 1832, immediately after the close of the war, the commissioners met, and among their first business caused the following entry to be made:

Ordered, That the clerk make out an account against the United States for the price of the jail of said county, which was taken for public use, together with the damages the county sustained by reason of said jail having been taken, and lay the same before the proper tribunal for adjustment.

March 9, 1833, the account had not been adjusted, and the clerk submitted to the commissioners court the following itemized bill, which was approved by the court, and ordered to be entered of record:

A certified copy of this bill was made out under seal of the court, properly attested and forwarded to the proper United States authorities. A subsequent order, entered on the 12th of March, indicates that the claim was favorably considered by the authorities of the general government, and that arrangements were made for its payment, for it was

Ordered, That whatever money the Government may allow for the jail and damages, be paid to H. Newhall (the county treasurer) and retained by him for the purpose of procuring suitable buildings for the county.

"Whatever may have been the prospect for receiving pay, damages, etc., from the government when the above orders were passed, no records were found showing when or what amount was received. Some " old settlers " say the matter was referred to a member of Congress from this district at the time, and that to the best of their memory nothing ever came of it.

June 13, 1828, the County Court commenced to agitate the propriety of securing grounds for county buildings, and appointed David G. Bates, Samuel C. Muir, Mathew C. Comstock, J. S. Miller and Richard W. Chandler as commissioners to select suitable grounds, etc., with instructions to report their action in the premises to the County Court on the following Tuesday - June 20. At that time the committee appeared before the commissioners and reported that they had nothing to report - that they had made no selection of grounds, and asked to be discharged, which request was granted, and an order entered dismissing them from a further consideration of the subject.

Wednesday, the 21st, Samuel C. Muir, Mathew C. Comstock and D. G. Bates were appointed to the same duty, and on the 28th this committee also reported that they had been unable to find a suitable location, and were also discharged.

Ordered, That a court house be erected on the lot heretofore set apart by the agent for the erection "of a school house, on the "bench" near the house of J. S. Miller; and that James Harris, Samuel C. Muir and D. G. Bates be authorized to contract for the building of the said court house and jail, and that they be authorized to pledge the revenue of the County of Jo Daviess for the payment of $2,000 on account of said buildings.

This order was not immediately carried out, as from Mr. Lorrain's Centennial History, and from other sources of information, it appears that (with the exception of the jail completed in 1830) all the buildings used by the county were rented or leased until the completion of the present court house and other county buildings.

Ordered, That a tax of one half of one per cent be levied and collected on town lots, slaves, indeLtured or registered servants, pleasure carriages, distilleries, stock in trade, horses, mules, mares, asses, neat cattle three years of age, watches and otheriappendages, and all other property not real in the possession of citizens."

At that date lands were not taxable. The title was still in the government, and could not be occupied except by permit from the general government. [Full reference to the conditions that withheld the lands in the Galena section from actual occupation by individuals and their consequent taxation, will be found in the preceding pages of this book.]

Under date of June 3, 1829, the following entry appeared, and from which it will be seen by reference to the maps, that the Rock Island precinct extended down below the present City of .Rock Island, to the north line of the south tier of townships of Mercer County. The north line of the military tract commenced at the northwest corner of the southwest township of that county, and extended east to the Illinois River, a few miles below the present City of Hennepin, in Putnam County.

It appearing to the satisfaction of the court that a considerable portion of the Plattsville election precinct is out of the bounds of Jo Daviess County, it is therefore ordered that said precinct be vacated and that such part thereof as does pertain to said county be attached to Menominee precinct.

Ordered, That the following be established as a district for the election of Justices of the Peace and Constables in Jo Daviess County, to be called the Rock Island precinct, to-wit : Beginning at the intersection of the Maria Dosia and Rock Rivers, thence along the said Maria Dosia to the middle of the Mississippi River; thence along the middle of said river to the northern boundary line of the military tract; thence east along the said line to a point due south from the place of beginning; thence due north to the place of beginning.

It is ordered that the elections in said precinct be held at Farnhamsburg, and that George Davenport, John Barrel and Casner be appointed judges of election.

Ordered, That William Bennett and Eli S. Lattin be allowed the sum of two hundred dollars in part pay for building a jail in Jo Daviess County.

December 7, 1829, Joseph Ogee, who had established himself on Rock River, at the crossing of the old Galena and Fort Clark (Peoria) state road, as a tavern keeper, made application for license to keep a ferry. The license was granted, and the following ferry rates fixed by the court:

At the same session of the court (Dec. 8), John Barrel was granted a license to maintain a ferry across the Mississippi River at Rock Island, and to charge the same rates as those established by George Davenport.

Before adjournment, the court directed its attention to fixing the rates of " tavern keepers " for the year 1830. We have heretofore incorporated within these pages the first standard of prices thus established for the government of landlords and saloon keepers, but as this one is a little more elaborate, we reproduce it from the musty old record :

In January, 1830, the people began to manifest some anxiety to know where they lived, whether in the State of Illinois or the Michigan Territory, and on the 20th of that month the county commissioners

Ordered, That D. R. Davis be and he is hereby employed to run a random line from Galena, taking as his data the observation of Lieutenant Sourdine, and establishing a temporary line for the government of the officers of Jo Daviess, between the County of Jo Daviess and the Territory of Michigan.