Elkhart County, Indiana - Chapter 1: The Historic Backgrouxd, 1916

Footprints of La Salle - Iroquois Attack the Illinois at Starved Rock - Indian League Organized by La Salle - vincennes and the oxher french settlements - fort Chartres Built - Surrendered to British - Wholesale French Migration - Clark as Father of American Northwest - County of Illinois Erected - Organization of the Northwest Territory - Divisions of the Northwest Territory - Indiana Territory Divided - The Lords of the Soil Dispossessed - Founding of Prophet's Town - Harrison and Tecumseh to "Fight It Out" - Battle at Prophet's Town - The War of 1812 - The Harrison Campaigns - The Public Land Survey - Organization of the State - Development OF State and Formation of Counties.

The steps which approach the creation of Elkhart County, passing along wide sweeps of history, commence to fall nearly three centuries before its geographical limits were defined. In 1541 De Soto ascended the Mississippi from the south and penetrated the country to a point considerably above the mouth of the Arkansas, laying the groundwork of French Louisiana, and during the first third of the seventeenth century the Catholic orders of France established missions among the Indians of the Copper Lake region. Later, the fur traders and the Jesuits cooperated, and Marquette loomed as the great figure of the Catholic Church in the Northwest. In 1675 he died cjuietly and piously on the shores of Lake Michigan.

It was La Salle, however, who was to leave his footprints, faint though they be, upon the history of Northern Indiana and the valley of the St. Joseph. Both Priest and Cavalier were of the real nobility, and Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle was to follow in the footsteps, perfect the discoveries of Father Jacques Marquette, and broaden the scope of New France. In 1669, six years before the death of Marquette, excited by the reports of the Indians in regard to a river which rose in the country of the Senecas and flowed to the sea, he started with a party of twentyfour maintained at his own expense, on a tour of discovery. After overcoming the most vexatious difficulties, he reached the Ohio and descended it to the falls. Returning to his trading post of LaChine, and pondering his plan of discovering a new route to China and the East, he was startled by the reports of Marquette and Joliet. This seemed, to his eager mind, the first step toward the realization of his dream, and centering everything in the enterprise, he sold his property and hastened to France, where he secured loans of money, and prepared to carry out his plans upon a large scale. Constructing a' large vessel - the Griffin - he set out with a party of thirty men and three monks, August 7, 1679, for the scene of Marquette's discoveries. He first conceived the idea of securing the country, thus discovered, by a series of forts, which should form a barrier to resist the Liicroachnients of the English, who were gaining a strong hold on the Atlantic border. This received the encouragement and aid of Frontenac, who was then Governor General of Canada, and, rebuilding Fort Frontenac as a base of operations, he set sail for Lake ^Michigan. Arriving at Green Bay, he loaded his vessel with furs and sent it, under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors, on its return voyage. Waiting there for the Griffin's return until forced to give it up in despair, he set out with canoes to pursue his enterprise, and landed at St. Joseph. Following the river bearing the same name, he reached the Kankakee by a short portage, and passed down that river to the Illinois. Marquette's mission had been established near the present site of Utica, in La Salle County, Illinois. There, in December, 1669, La Salle found an Indian town of 460 lodges temporarily deserted, and, passing on to where the city of Peoria now is, found another village of about eighty lodges, where he landed, and soon established amicable and permanent relations. With the consent of the tribes, La Salle soon built the fort of Crevecoeur, a half a league below, and then early in March of 1680, set out for Fort Frontenac, in Westen New York, and thence to ^lontreal to repair the loss of his vessel, the Griffin.

In the meanwhile the Jesuit faction, engaged in fierce competition with him in securing the peltry trade of the Indians and jealous of La Salle's success, and the English of the Atlantic border, united in stirring up the Iroquois to assault La Salle's Illinois allies in his absence. "Suddenly," says Parkman, "the village was awakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste with the announcement that he had met on his way an army of Iroquois approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed; startled warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war." There Tonti, La Salle's able lieutenant, left in charge of the fort, found himself weakened by the early desertion of most of his force, and now, an object of suspicion to his allies, in an awkward and dangerous predicament. Undaunted by the untoward circumstances, he joined the Illinois, and when the Iroquois came upon the scene, in the midst of the savage melee, faced the 580 warriors and declared that the Illinois were under the protection of the French king and the governor of Canada, and demanded that they should be left in peace, backing his words with the stateinent that there were 1,200 of the Illinois and sixty Frenchmen across the river. These representations had the effect of checking the ardor of the attacking savages, and a temporary truce was effected. It was evident that the truce was but a ruse on the part of the Iroquois to gain an opportunity to test the truth of Tonti's statements, and no sooner had the Illinois retired to their village on the north side of the river than numbers of the invading tribes, on the pretext of seeking food, crossed the river and gathered in increasing numbers about the village. The Illinois knew the design of their foe too well, and, hastily embarking, they set fire to their lodges, and retired down the river, when the whole band of

Iroquois crossed over and finished tlieir work of havoc at their leisure. The Illinois, in the meanwhile, lulled into a false security, divided into small bands in search of food. One of the tribes, the Tamoroas, "had the fatuity to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were assailed by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and verj' few of them were killed, but the women and children were captured to the number, it is said, of seven hundred," many of whom were put to death with horrible tortures. Soon after the retreat of the Illinois, the Iroquois discovered the deception of the Frenchmen, and only the wholesome fear they had of the French governor's power restrained their venting their rage upon Tonti and his two or three companions. As it was, they were dismissed, and bidden to return to Canada.

It was in the wake of these events that La Salle returned in the winter of 1680 and found this once populous village devastated and deserted, surrounded by the frightful evidences of savage carnage. Disheartened but not cast down, he at once set about repairing his fortune. Discerning at once the means and object of his enemies, he set about building up a bulwark to stay a second assault. Returning to Fort Miami on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan, he sought to form a defensive league among the Indians whom he proposed to colonize on the site of the destroyed village of the Illinois. He found ready material at hand in remnants of tribes fresh from fields of King Philip's war; he visited the Miamis and by his wonderful power won them over to his plans; and then in the interval, before the tribes could arrange for their emigration, lie launched out with a few followers and hurriedly explored the ^ilississippi to the Gulf. Returning to Michilimackinac in September 1682, where he had found Tonti in May of the previous year. La Salle, after directing his trusty lieutenant to repair to the Illinois, prepared to return to France for further supplies for his proposed colony, but learning that the Iroquois were planning another incursion, he returned to the site of the destroyed village and with Tonti began, in December, 1682, to build the fort of St. Louis, on the eminence which is now known in history as "Starved Rock." Thus the winter passed, and in the meanwhile. La Salle found employment for his active mind in conducting the negotiations which should resuU in reconciling the Illinois and the Miamis and in cementing the various tribes into a harmonious colony. The spring crowned his efforts with complete success. "La Salle looked down from his rocks on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of bark and rushes, or cabins of logs, were clustered on the open plain, or along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged in the sun, naked children whooped and gamboled on the grass. Beyond the river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more with the lodges of the Illinois, who, to the number of 6,000, had returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling place. Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the neighboring prairie, were the cantonments of half a score of other tribes and fragments of tribes, gathered under the protecting aegis of the French - Shawnees. from the Ohio, Abenakis from ]^Iaine, and Miamis from the sources of the Kankakee and the valley of the St. Joseph." In the meanwhile, a party was sent to Montreal to secure supplies and munitions to put the colony in a state of defense, which, to the disappointment and chagrin of the sorely beset leader, he learned had been detained by his enemies, who, by a change of governors had come into official power. Devolving the command of the enterprise upon Tonti, La Salle set out in November, 1683, for Canada and France, where he hoped to thwart his enemies and snatch success from the very jaws of defeat. Triumphant over his enemies, he returned to America in 1685, and after wandering ineffectually for two years in the inhospitable wilderness of Texas, fell dead, pierced through the brain by the bullet of a treacherous desperado of his own band. It was not until the latter part of 1688 that Tonti, with grief and indignation, learned of the death of La Salle. In 1690, Tonti received from the French government the proprietorship of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, where he continued in command until 1702, when by royal order the fort was abandoned and Tonti transferred to* Lower Louisiana. This fort was afterward reoccupied for a short time in 1718 by a party of traders, when it was finally abandoned.

to the wars between France and Great Britain, but after the peace of Ryswick, the project was taken up with renewed activity. In 1698, large numbers of emigrants, under the lead of officers appointed by the Crown,' left France for the new world, and in the following year made the settlement of Biloxi, on Mobile Bay. In 1700, the settlement of the French and Indians at old Kaskaskia was removed to the spot where the village of that name now stands. A year later, a permanent settlement was made at Detroit by Antoine de la Motte Cadillac, who, in July of that year, arrived from Montreal with a missionary and one hundred men, and in 1795 was authorized by the French government to grant land in small quantities to actual settlers in the vicinity of Detroit.

In 1702, Sieur Juchereau and a missionary named Mermet, established a "poste" at Vincennes. Trouble with the Indians, and the wet, swampy condition of the surrounding country, delayed the development of the little settlement here, but throughout the early history of the country this post continued to be of the first importance.

In 1718, Fort Chartres was erected on the Mississippi, sixteen miles above Kaskaskia. About the fort rapidly sprang up a village, which was subsequently called New Chartres ; five miles away, the Village of Prairie du Rocher became a 'growing settlement, while all along the river between Kaskaskia and the fcrt a strong chain of settlements was formed within a year after the fort was finished. The erection of Fort Chartres at this point, however, was dictated by national considerations rather than by fear of the savages. The colonization of Louisiana consequent upon the exploration of the Mississippi and the influx of colonists who found a home at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, made this section the key to the French possessions in America, the connecting link between Canada and Louisiana. Here the French settlers, but little disturbed by the forages of the Sacs and Foxes, pushed their improvements up to the Illinois, while lands were granted, though perhaps never occupied, some distance up this stream. The military force found occupation in supporting the friendly Illinois tribes against the Iroquois and Sacs and Foxes, and in unsatisfactory or disastrous campaigns against the Chickasaws. In the meantime, from the Southwest the

Spaniards were jealovisly watching the French colonists, while the British, gradually pushing westward, were building forts near the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

The European war of 1741-46, in which France and England were opposed, was echoed in these western wilds, and it was found that the fort must be strengthened or abandoned. The former course prevailed, and in 1750 the old fortress of wood was transformed into one of stone, and garrisoned by a full regiment of French grenadiers. It was from this point that an important contingent went out to the capture of George Washington and his forces at Fort Necessity, July 4, 1754, and thus furnished to George II one of the causes for a declaration of hostilities and a beginning of the "Old French war." In the ensuing war, a detachment burned Fort Granville, sixty miles from Philadelphia ; another party routed Major Grant near Fort Duquesne, but, compelled to abandon that fortress, set it on fire and floated down the river in the light of its destroying flames ; again a large detachment, augmented by a considerable number of friendly Indians, assisted in the vain attempt to raise the British siege of Niagara, leaving dead upon the field the flower of the garrison. The fort was no longer in condition to maintain the offensive, and, learning that the British were preparing at Pittsburgh to make hostile descent upon him, the commandant writes to the governor general: 'T have made all arrangements according to my strength, to receive the enemy." The victory on the Plains of Abraham decided the contest, but the litde backwoods citadel, knowing but little of the nature of the struggle, dreamed that it might be the means of regaining, on more successful fields, the possessions thus lost to the French Crown. The news that this fort, with all territory east of the river, had been surrendered without so much as a sight of the enemy, came like a thunder-clap upon this patriotic colony. Many of the settlers, with Laclede, who had just arrived at the head of a new colony, expressed their disgust by going to the site of St. Louis, which they supposed to be still French ground.

Though transferred by treaty to the English in 1763, the fort was the last place in North America to lower the white ensign of the Bourbon King, and it was not until the latter part of 1765 that the British formally accepted the surrender of Fort Chartres. Pontiac, the unwavering friend of the French, took upon himself, unaided by his former allies, to hold back the victorious English. Major Loftus, Captains Pitman and Morris, Lieutenant Frazer, and George Crohan, some with force, some in disguise, and others with diplomacy, sought to reach the fort to accept its capitulation, but each one was foiled and turned back with his mission unaccomplished, glad to escape the fate of that Englishman for which Pontiac assured them he kept a "kettle boiling over a large fire." Wearied out with the inactivity of the French, the Indians sought an, audience with the commandant, and explained their attitude. "Father," said the chieftain, 'T have long wished to see thee, to recall the battles which we fought together against the misguided Indians and the English dogs. I love the French and I have come here with my warriors to avenge their wrongs." But assured by St. Ange that such service could no longer be accepted, he gave up the struggle, and the flag of St. George rose in the place of the fair lilies of France. Thus another nationality was projected into this restricted arena, a situation which was immediately afterward still further complicated by the secret Franco-Spanish treaty, which made the west bank of the Mississippi the boundary of the Spanish possessions. "It is significant of the different races, and the varying sovereignties in that portion of our country," says a writer, "that a French soldier from the Spanish City of St. Louis should be married to an Englishwoman by a French priest in the British colony of Illinois."

At the first announcement of the treaty the natural hostility of the people to the English induced large numbers of the colonists to prepare to follow the French flag, and a hegira followed which swept out of the colony fully one-third of its 3,000 inhabitants. There was still a large number left, forming the largest colony in the West; but there were forces constantly at work which gradually depleted its numbers. Under the British rule, an abnormal activity among traders and land speculators was developed. The natives were constantly overreached in trade by unscrupulous persons protected by the dominant power, and representatives of land purchasing organizations were acquiring vast tracts of country from ignorant savages, who had Httle comprehension of the meaning or consequences of these transactions. These schemes and practices, though happily brought to naught by the Revolution, rendered the Indians, for a time, savagely hostile, and left their blighting influence long after their removal. The lack of proper sympathy between the governing race and the governed, the hostility of the savages in which they were involved with the British, induced many of the French colonists to leave their old homes as rapidly as they could make arrangements to do so.

The British garrison had hitherto occupied the old French Fort Chartres, but one day iu 1772, the river having overflowed its banks, and swept away a bastion and the river wall, the occupants fled with precipitate haste to the high ground above Kaskaskia, where they erected a palisade fort. This was the principal achievement of the British forces, up to the beginning of the war with the colonies. In this struggle removed from the scene of active operations, the commandant resorting to the favorite means of the British during their entire early history on this continent, furnished supplies and munitions of war to the savages, and thus equipped, incited them to war upon the unprotected frontier settlements in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Virginia.

So disastrous in their consequences and distracting in their influence were these attacks, that Colonel George Rogers Clark early set about procuring the means to effectually check them. Recognizing the British posts at Kaskaskia and Vincennes as the source of the Indians' supplies and inspiration, he directed his efforts toward the capture of these points, and, enlisting the interests of Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, securing such help as he could give, Clark was able on June 24, 1778, to start from the falls of the Ohio with 153 men for Lower Illinois. So skillfully did he manage his movements that he caught the garrison napping, and captured, on the 5th of July, both force and fort without the spilling of a drop of blood. Cahokia fell in like manner without a blow.

Ohio, his force being so much smaller than he had expected, he found it necessary to change his plan of operations. In his journal, Clark gives his reasons for the change as follows : "As Post \'incennes, at this time, was a town of considerable force, consisting of nearly 400 militia, with an Indian town adjoining, and great numbers continually in the neighborhood, and, in the scale of Indian, affairs, of more importance than any other, I had thought of attacking it first ; but now found that I could by no means venture near it. I resolved to begin my career in the Illinois, where there were more inhabitants, but scattered in different villages, and less danger of being immediately overpowered by the Indians : in case of necessity, we could probably make our retreat to the Spanish side of the Mississippi ; but if successful, we might pave our way to the possession of Post Vincennes." This shrewd forecast of the situation was abundantly confirmed by the issue of events. His sagacity in dealing with the conquered posts of Kaskaskia and Cahokia was reenforced by the announcement of the treaty entered into between France and the Colonies, and in August the delegation of French citizens, which had been sent from Kaskaskia to Vincennes, returned bearing the joyful news that the whole population had sworn public allegiance to the United States, and had displayed the American flag. On the receipt of this intelligence from Clark, the Virginia Assembly in October erected the whole territory thus conquered into the County of Illinois and provided for its government. This first attempt to organize the county west of the Ohio was thwarted, however, by the descent of the British from Detroit in the following December.

The French population had garrisoned the fort at the suggestion of Clark, who subsequently sent Captain Helm as a representative of the American government and an agent to the Indians. On the approach of the British, Captain Helm and one private alone occupied the fort, who, by putting on a bold front, obtained from the besiegers the honors of war. This sudden change in the situation boded serious evil to the Kentucky frontier, and necessitated prompt action upon the part of Colonel Clark. Learning in December, 1779, that the English commandant, Henry Hamilton, had greatly weakened his force by sending detachments elsewhere, Clark determined to attack the enemy at once with what troops he could collect. After enduring almost incredible hardships and overcoming obstacles that would have been insurmountable to any less determined officer.

Clark found himself once more before the enemy. Here his skillful dispositions and unparalleled audacity were again crowned with success, and on February 24th he received the capitulation of the English garrison.

The temporary success of the English did not long defer the plans of the \"irginia commonwealth, and the conquered territory was at once placed under control of civil authority, John Todd representing the sovereignty of Virginia as county lieutenant. This was the forerunner of the Northwest Territory and the birth of civil government in the Northwest. Todd's instructions were broad enough to meet the whole case ; he was to conciliate the French and Indians ; to inculcate on the people the value of liberty, and to remove the grievances that obstruct the happiness, and increase the prosperity of that country. These certainly were the great ends to be achieved if possible, but in the nature of things their accomplishment was not possible. The French population was easily conciliated, but the education of a life-time, and the hereditary characteristics of the race rendered them incapable of appreciating the value of liberty. They had grown up under the enervating influence of the most arbitrary manifestations of monarchical government, and self-government involved too great a risk for this simple folk. The result was a lack of sympathy with the new order of things, more decided, perhaps, than under British rule. To this was added a business competition, to which they were unaccustomed; more frequent hostile incursions of the Indians in which the savages gradually forgot the old-time love for the French, and the repeated losses by the inundations of the river, made up a sum of discouragements which gradually depleted this country of the French inhabitants. This loss was but imperfectly repaired, notwithstanding the fertility of the soil had been widely published, and a considerable number had already found much better advantages there than the older colonies afforded ; yet the Indian depredations that followed the Revolutionary war deterred others from following until the general pacification at Greenville in 1795.

On the 13th of July, 1787, Congress passed an ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the r)hio River, which had been ceded to the United States by \'irginia three years before.

and in October following :\Iaj.-Gen. Arthur St. Clair was elected by Congress as go\ernor. In July, 1788, the governor arrived at Fort Harmar (now Marietta), Ohio, where, during that year, the temporary government of the territory was organized. During the first two years of his administration, St. Clair was busily engaged with the details of governmental organization and negotiating with the Indian tribes, who found it difiicult to understand the principles upon which the whites made war. On the Sth of January, 1790, the governor found leisure to proceed to Kaskaskia to organize the government in that quarter. In August, 1788, Congress had provided for the adjustment of land disputes among the settlers at Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and on the arrival of St. Clair early in 1790 this matter engrossed the larger part of his attention. Among the earliest acts of his administration was the erection of the first county, including all the present State of Illinois, extending as far north as the mouth of Little Mackinaw Creek, and named St. Clair after the governor. The general situation is described bv the governor in his report to the Secretary of War as follows: "The Illinois country, as well as that upon the Wabash, has been involved in great distress ever since it fell under the American dominion. The people with great cheerfulness supplied the troops under George Rogers Clark and the Illinois regiment with e\'erything they could spare, and often with much more than they could spare with any convenience to themselves. Most of the certificates for these supplies are still in their hands unliquidated, and in many instances, when application has been made to the State of Virginia, under whose authority the certificates were granted, payment has been refused. The Illinois regiment being disbanded, a set of men, pretending to the authority of Virginia, embodied themselves, and a scene of general depredation ensued. To this succeeded three successive and e.xtraordinary inundations of the Mississippi, which either swept away their crops ox prevented their being planted. The loss of the greater part of their trade with the Indians, as well as the hostile incursions of some of the tribes which had ever before been in friendship with them, and to these was added the loss of the whole of their last crops of corn by an untimely frost. E.xtreme misery could not fail to be the consequence of such accumulated misfortunes.

r)n the 7th of May, 1800, the President of the United States approved an act of Congress, entitled "An Act to Divide the Territory Northwest of the Ohio into Two Separate Governments." The one retaining the former name was composed of the present State of Ohio, a small part of Michigan, and a small part of Indiana, being that part in the southeast corner which had been ceded to the United States by the Indians, in the treaty of Greenville. The other district was denominated the Indiana Territory, and embraced all the region east of the Mississippi, and between the lakes and the Ohio. The population of all this tract of country, by the census of 1800 was 4,875, of which a small portion in Clark's grant was of English descent ; the remainder, mostly of French extraction, resided at or near Kaskaskia, Vincennes and Detroit. William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of Indiana Territory, and during his administration he discovered and thwarted the reckless speculation in public lands, which was greatly interfering with the prosperity of the new territory. Governor Harrison thus describes the situation in a letter from \^incennes to Mr. Madison : "The court established at this place, under the authority of the State of Virginia, in the year 1780, assumed to themselves the right of granting lands to every applicant. Having exercised this power for some time, without opposition, they began to conclude that their right over the land was supreme, and that they could, with as much propriety, grant to themselves as to others. Accordingly an arrangement was made by which the whole country, to which the Indian title was supposed to be extinguished, was divided between the members of the court, and orders to that effect were entered on their journal, each member absenting himself frofti court on the day the order was to be made in his favor, so that it might appear to be the act of his fellows only. The authors of this ridiculous transaction soon found that no advantage could be derived from it, as they could find no purchasers, and the idea of holding any part of the land was by the greater part of them abandoned. A few years ago, however, the claim was discovered, and a part of it purchased by some of those speculators who infest our country, and through these people a number of others, in different parts of the United States, have become concerned, some of whom are actually preparing to make settlements. The price at which the land is sold enables anybody to become a purchaser, one thousand acres being frequently given for an indifferent horse or rifle gun." By the treaty of 1795, the whole of the Indian Territory was reserved to the Indians, and, during his administration. Governor Harrison was engaged in negotiating with the natives for further cessions of their lands.

In 1805, Michigan was made a separate territory, and the same year the first Legislature for Indiana Territory was assembled at Vincennes. There were then five counties in the territory - Knox, Dearborn and Clark within the present bounds of Indiana, and St. Clair and Randolph within those of Illinois. At the session of 1808, the County of Harrison was formed, and an apportionment of the representatives to the Legislature was made, by which three members were to be elected from the County of Knox, one from Harrison, two from Clark and three from Dearborn - nine in all. The Territory of Indiana was divided in 1809, and the western part denominated Illinois. The boundary then, as now, was the Lower Wabash, and the line running north from Vincennes, where it last leaves the Wabash. In 1810, the counties of Gibson, Warwick, Washington, Perry, Switzerland and Posey were added, and in 1 81 5 the law creating Jackson and Orange was passed. Governor Harrison having been appointed, in the fall of 1812, to command the Northwestern army, Thomas Posey was appointed governor of the territory, and in the following year the seat of government was moved from Vincennes to Corydon.

It will be observed that when the colonies had achieved their independence, and as a nation, through the cession of Virginia, became heir to the vast territory northwest of the Ohio, there existed a prior claim to that country, and one that was not likely to be easily extinguished. Notwithstanding the repeated attempts of the national government to obtain a peaceable possession and its partial success in securing favorable treaties with the various tribes, it required the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, before the Greenville treaty of 1795 gave to the whites the undisputed possession of what is now the State of Ohio. Ctit the boundaries established by this treaty gave the Indian nations all the territory within the present State of Indiana, except the following tracts :

2 - One tract two miles square, on the Wabash River, at the end of the portage from the ^laumee River, about eight miles westward from Ft. Wayne.

5 - The Town of \'incennes and adjacent lands, to which the Indian title had been extinguished, and all similar lands at other places in possession of the French and other settlers.

6 - The strip of land east of the boundary line, running directly from the site of Fort Recovery, so as to intersect the Ohio River at a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky.

When General Harrison became governor of Indiana Territory, he was invested with authority by the general government to make such further treaties as would best extinguish the claims on the Indians. Accordingly at Vincennes, September 17, 1802, a meeting of certain chiefs and head men of the Pottawattamie, Eel River, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia and Wea tribes, appointed the Pottawattamie chiefs. \\'inamac and Topinepik, and the Miami chiefs. Little Turtle and Richardville, to settle a treaty for the extinguishment of Indian claims to certain lands on the borders of the Wabash, in the vicinity of \'incennes. On June 7, 1803, at Fort Wayne, certain chiefs and head men of the Delaware, Shawnee, Pottawattamie, Eel River, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes ceded to the United States about 1,600,000 acres of land. Again at Vincennes, on the iSth day of August of the following year, the Delawares ceded their claim to the tract of land lying between the \\'abash and the Ohio rivers, and south of the road which led from \'incennes to the falls of the Ohio, the Piankeshaws relinquishing their claims to the same tract a few days later. By a treaty concluded near Mncennes, August 21, 1805, the governor secured from certain chiefs and warriors of the Delaware, Pot- tawattamie, Miami. Eel River and Wea tribes the cession of their lands lying southeast of the line running northeasterly from a point about fifty-seven miles due east from \'incennes, so as to strike the general boundary line (running from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River to Fort Recovery), at the distance of fifty miles from the commencement on the Ohio. On the 30th of December, this year, at Vincennes, the Piankeshaw tribe ceded about two million six hundred thousand acres of land lying west of the Wabash, and at Fort Wayne, September 30, 1809, the chiefs of the Delaware, Eel River, Pottawattamie and Miami tribes ceded to the United States about two million nine hundred thousand acres of land lying principally on the southeastern side of the Wabash, below the mouth of the Raccoon Creek. The chiefs of the \\'ea tribe in the following month met Governor Harrison at Vincennes and acknowledged the validity of this treaty, which was also confirmed by the sachems and war chiefs of the Kickapoos December 9, 1809, besides ceding a further tract of about one hundred and thirteen thousand acres of land.

Thus far the Indians had maintained amicable relations with the whites, though it was becoming evident that there was a disturbing element among them brewing discontent. In 1805, Tecumseh and his brother, La-le-was-i-kaw (Loud Voice) resided at one of the Delaware villages on the west fork of the White River, within the present limits of the County of Delaware. Some time during that year "Loud Voice" took upon himself the character of prophet and reformer, and earnestly inveighed against the use of whisky, the practice of Indian women marrying white men, and the selling of lands, pointing out the deterioration of the natives by their contact with the whites and the tendency of the policy adopted. His crusade against their evils attracted quite a band of Shawnees about him, who about the end of 1805 moved to Greenville, Ohio. The increase of their numbers and the knowledge of their sentiments with reference to the whites, aroused considerable alarm among the settlers, until the spring of 1808, when the band removed to the Wabash near the mouth of Tippecanoe Creek, where they established the famous Prophet's Town. These proceedings had not escaped the watchful eye of Governor Harrison, who sent repeated remonstrances and warnings to the band. The only result was to call forth from the Prophet a deprecatory reply and a profession of friendship for the whites. The matter proceeded until in iSiO a rupture seemed likely to occur at any moment.

In August, Tecumseh, accompanied by seventy-five warriors, came to Vincennes to have an interview with Governor Harrison. From the 12th to the 22d there was a series of conferences which developed the grievances and determinations of the natives. In one of these conferences Tecumseh said: "Since the treaty of Greenville you have killed some Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Delawares and Miamis, and you have taken our land from us ; and I do not see how we can remain at peace with you if you continue to do so. If the land is not restored to us, you will see, w-hen we return to our homes, how it will be settled. We shall have a great council, at which all the tribes shall be present, when we shall show to those who sold that they had no right to the claim they set up ; and we shall see what will be done with those chiefs that did sell the land to you. I am not alone in this determination. It is the determination of all the warriors and red people that listen to me." At a subsequent talk Governor Harrison asked Tecumseh, explicitly, if the Indians would forcibly resist an attempt to survey the lands ceded at Fort Wayne, and was answered in substance, that they would resist. Said he: "We do not wish you to take the lands." Governor Harrison replied that his "claims and pretentions would not be acknowledge by the President of the United States." "Well," said Tecumseh, "as the great chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up the land. It is true he is so far off that he will not be injured by the war. He may sit still in his town and drink his wine while you and I will have to fight it out."

In the meantime, this disaffection among the Indians was increased by the action of the British authorities in Canada, though no positive hostilities occurred until the middle of 181 1. During the summer of this year, depredations were committed by straggling parties upon the property of the settlers. Several surveying parties were driven away, and others killed. During this period Governor Harrison was striving by peaceful means to break up the confedera- tion of the. tribes, and preparing to erect a fort on the Wabash for the protection of the settlers in that vicinity. In the latter part of June, Harrison sent an address to Tecumseh, and the prophet, to which the chiefs made a lengthy reply, and proposed to visit the governor again in person. In pursuance of this project, Tecumseh came to Vincennes in the latter part of July with about three hundred attendants; but, being met by a formidable array of troops, repeated his assurance of amicable intentions, and immediately left to draw the Southern tribes into the confederation.

During these negotiations, the governor had suspected the designs of the Indians, and, though at one time partially convinced that the chiefs would allow matters to be adjusted without an appeal to arms, had finally become impressed that the confederation at the Prophet's Town must be suppressed by force. To this end, acting under the authority of the general government, a force of some nine hundred men set out in September from Vincennes under command of Harrison. The little army moved up the Wabash, and erected Fort Harrison on the east bank of the Wabash, above where the City of Terre Haute now stands. Leaving a small garrison here, the remainder of the army moved in the direction of Prophet's Town, encamping on the 2d of November two miles below the mouth of the Big Vermillion River, where a small block-house was erected on the west bank of the Wabash. Leaving a sergeant with eight men to garrison it, with orders to protect the boats employed in transporting supplies to the army, the rest of the force proceeded to the Indian village, arriving at this point on the 6th of November. The Indians, showing no disposition to give battle, the little army selected a site for encampment on the banks of Burnett Creek, seven miles northeast of the present City of Lafayette. The troops encamped in order of battle, with clothes and accoutrements on, fire arms loaded, and their bayonets fixed. The Indians began the attack at a quarter past four in the morning, immediately after the governor had risen to prepare for the business of the day. But a single gun was firecl by the sentinels, or by the guard, in the direction of the attack, as they retreated precipitately to the camp. As the troops were asleep on their arms, they were soon at their stations, though the war-whoop and the attack so soon followed the first alarm that the lines were hroken in several places, and one of the companies was driven from its position in the line toward the center of the camp. The want of concert among the Indians, and their irregular mode of warfare, did not allow them to take full advantage of their success, or of the blunders of their opponents, so that as the resistance was very obstinate along the line, they were in the end obliged to retreat in great haste. The loss of General Harrison's force amounted to 37 killed and 151 wounded, of which latter number 25 afterward died of their wounds. The Indians engaged in the battle of Tippecanoe were probably between six and seven hundred, and their loss was about equal to that of the whites. After burning the Indian town, which had been abandoned by the savages, the army returned to Vincennes on the 17th of November. The result of the expedition was favorable to the peace of the frontiers. Immediately after their defeat, the surviving Indians, having lost faith in their leader, returned to their respective tribes, the Prophet taking up his residence among a small band of W'yandots.

The rupture of the peaceful relations between the United States and Great Britain by the declaration of war by the former in June, 1812, was foreshadowed for some time previous, and the Canadian authorities taking advantage of the Indian disturbance of the preceding year found no difficulty in securing the support of the Northwestern tribes. Accordingly, the culmination of the international differences was preceded by various acts of hostility on the part of the defeated Indians. The American Government had not been unmindful of the situation, and during the spring and summer of 181 2 had caused the erection of blockhouses, and picketed forts throughout the Indiana settlements which were exposed to Indian depredations. Notwithstanding these precautions, on the nth of April preceding the declaration of war, an attack was made on a settlement on the west side of the Wabash, about thirty-five miles above \'incennes. The wife of Mr. Hutson, his four children and his hired man were murdered in his absence, and on the 22d IMr. Harryman, with his wife and five children, was killed on the same side of the Wabash, at the mouth of Embarrass Creek, about five miles from A'incennes. About the middle of the Mav following, a great council of the Indians was held at one of their villages on the Mississinewa River, at which nearly all the northwetern tribes were represented. The general expression at this council was in favor of maintaining peaceful relations with the United States, though at the same time refusing to surrender those who were guilty of the murders mentioned. Tecumseh, dissatisfied with the action of the council, left with his following, and soon successfully attacked, with the assistance of the British, the northern forts at :Mackinaw and Chicago. On the i6th of August, General Hull surrendered Detroit, which so emboldened the Winnebagoes, Pottawattamies and Kickapoos that they sent out war parties to prey upon the frontier settlements. Two men were killed while making hay near Fort Harrison on the 3d of September. On the 4th, an attack was made on the fort, during which one of the blockhouses was set on fire, the garrison, however, eventually repelling the attack. On the 3d occurred the "Pigeon Roost massacre." Two men hunting bee trees were surprised and killed by a party of ten or twelve Shawnees, who that night attacked the Pigeon Roost settlement, situated within the present limits of Scott County, and in the space of an hour killed one man, five women and sixteen children.

In August, 1812, Governor Harrison was appointed majorgeneral of the forces being raised in Kentucky, and in the middle of September arrived with a force of 2,700 men at Fort Wayne, where a force of Indians had been besieging the place since the beginning of the war. They retreated on the approach of the relieving force. General Harrison sending out several detachments in pursuit. These detachments failed to overtake the savages, but destroyed the important village of 0-nox-see, on the Elkhart River, Little Turtle's town on the Eel River, and a ^liami village near the forks of the Wabash. In the latter part of September, General Harrison was invested with the command of the Northwestern army, and assigning the duty of operating against the Indians on the Wabash and Illinois Rivers to a force of 2,000 troops stationed at Vincennes, he began preparations for his campaign against Detroit. The force at Vincennes, under the command of General Hopkins, set out early in November for the purpose of penetrating the Indian country as far as the Prophet's town, which had been rebuilt. This village and a large one in the near vicinity belonging to the Kickapoos were destroyed and a detachment sent out to destroy one seven miles out on Wild Cat Creek. Here the detachment met with a repulse. The whole force then prepared to attack the savages, but were delayed by stress of weather for a day or two, and when they reached the point, though naturally easy of defense, the Indians were found to have deserted the place. The lack of clothing and the severity of the weather made the further pursuit of the savages impracticable, and the expedition returned to Vincennes in safety.

In pursuance of his plans against Detroit, General Harrison had established a depot of supplies at the rapids of the Maumee, with the intention of moving thence a choice detachment of his army, and, while making a demonstration against Detroit, to cross the straits on the ice and actually invest Maiden, the British stronghold in Canada. Before attempting this, however, it became necessary to break up the Miami villages on the Mississinewa River, and thus cripple any attack that might be attempted from this quarter. Although the Miamis professed to be neutral, their participation in the attacks upon Forts Wayne and Harrison made it probable that a favorable opportunity would render them susceptible to the influence of the hostile tribes. A detachment of 6ck) troops proceeded from Dayton, Ohio, in the middle of December, and a few days later surprised an Indian town occupied by a number of the Delawares and Miamis, and advancing down the river destroyed three other villages, when the expedition returned and encamped on the site of the first village. On the following morning, about a half hour before day, while the officers were holding a council of war, the savages made a determined attack upon the camp. In this engagement, which lasted about an hour, the troops suffered a loss of eight killed and forty-two wounded. The Indians, who numbered about 300 and were under the command of Little Thunder, a nephew of Little Turtle, suffered a much heavier loss, and were forced to make a hasty retreat, leaving the whites in possession of the ground and of a large number of prisoners captured in the surprise of the first village. The want of provisions and forage, the severity of the cold, and the rumor that Tecumseh was at the principal village further down the Mississinewa River, deterred the troops from making any further advance, and a retreat toward Greenville was begun and accomplished without serious annoyance from the savages. In the following summer Perry's victory on the lake paved the way for Harrison's victory over the Indians and British in the battle of the Thames River, on the 6th of October, which ended the hostilities in the Northwest. On the 22d of July, 1814, Harrison concluded a treaty at Greenville; Ohio, by which the Indians buried the tomahawk, whether the war ceased with the British or not, but this proviso was put out of the question on the 24th of December by the treaty of Ghent. With the return of peace, further treaties were negotiated with the various Indian tribes, and the survey of the lands thus made secure, was rapidly pushed forward.

The public lands of the General Government were all surveyed upon the same general system. To this end, "meridian lines" running due north from the mouth of some river are first established. These are intersected at right angles by "base lines" running east and west. The "first principal meridian" is a line running due north from the mouth of the Miami, and is, in fact, the east line of the State of Indiana. The "second principal meridian" is a line running due north from the mouth of Little Blue River, eighty-nine miles west of the former. The only base line running through this state crosses it from east to west in latitude 38° 30', leaving the Ohio twenty-five miles above Louisville, and striking the Wabash four miles above the mouth of the White River. From this base line the Congressional townships of six miles square are numbered north and south, and from the second principal meridian all the ranges of townships are numbered east and west, except the counties of Switzerland, Dearborn, and part of Franklin, Union, Wayne and Randolph. This part of the state was surveyed in townships from a base line of fifteen miles north of the former, and in ranges west of the first principal meridian. The "Clark Grant" in Clark County and the old French lands in Knox County are also exceptions to the regularity of the general survey of the state. Townships are subdivided into thirty-six equal parts, or thirty-six square miles, containing 640 acres each, called sections. These sections are subdivided into halves, of 320 acres, and quarters, of 160 acres each, which last are again subdivided into halves, of eighty acres and quarters of forty acres each. "Fractions" are parts of sections intersected by streams, or confirmed claims or reservations, and are of various sizes. The sections of a township are designated by numbers, beginning with the northeast corner and following in regular order to the west side, the second tier of sections beginning on the west side of the township and proceeding east. That portion of the state in the southeast corner, which was included in the Ohio survey, was disposed of at the Cincinnati land office. The rest of the public lands in this state were principally disposed of at offices established at Jeffersonville, Vincennes, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Winamac.

The restoration of peace with Great Britain, and the pacification of the Indians in 1S15, brought a great increase of population to the territory, so that in December of this year the General Assembly of the territory adopted a memorial to Congress asking the admission of Indiana into the Union as a state. Under an enabling act of Congress, a convention to form a constitution was elected, and held its sessions from the loth to the 29th of June, 1816, and, on the nth of December following, the state was formally admitted to the Union by a joint resolution of Congress.

Until the close of the territorial government, more than threefourths of the state was in possession of the Indians, or had been so recently purchased as not to have been surveyed and exposed to sale. The maps of the state, even as late as 1818, represented the Indian boundary as starting from a point in the northern part of Jackson County and running northeast to the Ohio line, near Fort Recovery, and northwest to the Wabash, a few miles above Terre Haute, Vincennes was then by far the most considerable town in the new state. The Indian trade was then large ; there was generally one or more companies of United States troops at Fort Knox at that place; the business at the land office and the bank, and the inclination of the French to settle in a village rather than on a farm, brought together a population of nearly 2,000.

Corydon. the seat of government, had a good stone court house built by the speaker of the Territorial Legislature, who, it is said, was often called from the hammer and trowel to the chair. The other buildings there, not exceeding 100 in number, were either cabins or of hewn logs. The sites of New Albany and Madison presented here and there a few comfortable houses, and perhaps loo cabins. Jeffersonville and Lawrenceburg had been longer settled, but except the then fine residence of Governor Posey at the former place, there was no other good building in either, and Charleston, Salem, \'evay. Rising Sun and Brookville were then talked of as having magnificent prospects for the future. There were very few large farms in the state in 1816. The range of wild grass, the mast and roots were so abundant in the woods that bogs, cattle and horses required but little other food, and that was in general corn alone. It is probable that a single cornfield of from five to twenty acres constituted at least seven-eighths of the farms then cultivated in the state.

In 1828 the General Government purchased the "ten-mile strip" along the northern end of the state, and, in 1832, extinguished the remaining claims of the Indians, save the numerous reservations in the northern part. In 1835 the greater part of the natives were removed west of the Mississippi, and by 1840 all save a few had emigrated from the special reservations. Among these were several bands in the St. Joseph Valley, Michigan, whose picturesque departure is given elsewhere. As the state was thus left free for settlement, the surveyor pioneered the advancing civilization, and counties were rapidly organized in response to the growing demand of the increasing population. The tide of immigration came principally from the South at first, and later from the East, the organization of counties giving a pretty clear indication of the nature of this development. At the organization of the state government, fifteen counties had been formed, and others were organized as follows: 1817, Daviess, Pike, Jennings, Sullivan; 1818, Crawford, Dubois, Lawrence, Monroe, Randolph, Ripley, Spencer, \"anderburg, Vigo; 1819, Fayette, Floyd, Owen; 1820, Scott, Martin; 1821, Bartholomew, Greene, Henry, Parke, Union; 1822, Decatur, Marion, Morgan, Putnam, Rush, Shelby ; 1823, Hamilton. Johnson, Madison, Montgomery; 1824, Allen, Hendricks, Vermillion; 1825, Clay; 1826, Delaware, Fountain, Tippecanoe; 1828, Carroll, Hancock, Warren; 1829, Cass; 1830, Boone, Clinton, Elkhart, St. Joseph; 1831, Grant; 1832, LaGrange, LaPorte ; 1834, Huntington, White; 1835, ]\Iiami,