Fayette County, Indiana - Outline History of Indiana, 1885

Outline History of Indiana

THE FRENCH IN INDIANA - GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S CONQUEST OF THE BRITISH POSTS - THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-INDIANA TERRITORY - CONDITION OF THE TERRITORY AT ITS ORGANIZATION - THE FIRST GOVERNOR - TECUMSEH AND THE PROI'IIET - APPREHENSIONS OF INDIAN HOSTILITIES - THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE - THE SLAVERY QUESTION IN THE TERRITORY - THE WAR OF 1812 - INDIANA ADMITTED INTO THE UNIONPROGRESS OF THE NEW STATE.

INDIANA, as a civil division bearing the name, dates its existence from July 4, 1800, when the act of Congress creating Indiana Territory went into effect. It then included Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. The United States census of 1800 found in Indiana 5,641 inhabitants. In 1805 Michigan Territory was struck off, and in 1809, Illinois; from the latter year Indiana dates its present limits. On December 11, 1816 the Territory was admitted into the Union as a State. From its first exploration by white men Indiana constituted a part of New France until 1763, when it was ceded by the French to the English. In the treaty of 1783 Indiana was included in the territory yielded by Great Britain to the United States. While it belonged to the English it was a part of the Colony of Virginia, and was ceded to the United States bj' Virginia in 1784, from which time until the formation of Indiana Territory it formed a part of the Northwest Territory.

Virginia acquired title to the great territory northwest of the Ohio by its several charters from James I, and especially from the one bearing date of May 23, 1609 in which was granted all the territory along the coast for four hundred miles and extending "up into the land throughout from sea to sea.'' Virginia first attempted to exercise authority over this extensive domain in 1769, when the House of

Burgesses passed an act establishing the connty of Botetourt, with the Mississippi Kiver as its western boundary. Fincastle, Va., was the seat of justice of this extensive county. In October, 1788, a Virginia statute provided that "all the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which shall be called Illinois County." Col. John Todd served under appointment of the Governor of Virginia as Civil Commandant and Lieutenant of Illinois, until his death at the battle of Blue Licks in 1782.

The French In Indiana

The first explorations and settlements of the whites were by the French, and were the results of the enterprise of LaSalle, who set out from Canada in 1679, and passing across the lakes descended the Illinois River. The Indians inhabiting the country at that time seem to have made little or no opposition to its occupancy by the neW-comers, and several important French towns were established on the Illinois and Wabash before the eighteenth century was far advanced. The missions and settlements of the French were of necessity established along the routes of travel from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi. The only mode of travel was by canoes.

Among the portages over which the French carried their canoes from one navigable river to another, one was of three miles' length in St. Joseph County^ Ind., from the St. Joseph River to the Kankakee; another was from the Maumee near Ft. Wayne to the Wabash.

The exact period of the first French settlements cannot be ascertained. Early in the eighteenth century a party of French Canadians descended the Wabash, and several settlements were soon established along its banks; among others Vincennes. Many dates have been given of the establishment of Vincennes, some of which are mere conjectures. Volney conjectured the settlement to have been made about 1735; Bishop Brute speaks of a missionary station there in 1700; Bancroft says a military post was formed there in 1716, and in 1742 a settlement of herdsmen was made; Judge Law dates the post back to 1710 or 1711, and the New American Cyclopedia says the party of French Canadians descended the Wabash in 1702 and established towns along the river. At one time the French settlements were represented as in a flourishing condition and this par^ of New France was described as a new paradise, but the settlers degenerated, became ignorant and slothful, and but little superior to the Indians among whom they lived.

GEN. Clark's conquest of the bbitish posts. During the Revolution most of the Western Indians adhered to the British. The possession by the British of the posts established by the French at Detroit, Kaskaskia and Vincennes gave them easy and constant access to the Indian tribes of the Northwest. The bold plan of defeating and expelling the British from their Western posts was conceived and brilliantly executed by a Kentucky backwoodsman, George Rogers Clark. By spies sent for the purpose, who were absent from April 20 to June 22, 1777, Clark satisfied himself that an enterprise against the West, ern settlements might easily be successful. He went to Virginia and submitted his plans to the Government of that State. Gov. Patrick Henry gave him written instructions, authorizing him to enlist seven companies to serve under his orders for three months- Clark's rank at this time was Lieutenant-Colonel. He raised three companies at Pittsburgh, and descended the Ohio to the falls, where he was joined by another company of Kentucky recruits. He loft the falls with four companies on the 21th of June, 1778, during a total eclipse of the sun. He descended the river to Fort Massac, and thence proceeded by land to Kaskaskia, a distance of over 100 miles. Heavy rains had fallen, and were succeeded by hot, sultry weather. Their route lay through a wilderness without a path. On the prairies a July sun beat upon them. Their guide became bewildered. On the 4th of July this party of invaders, with torn and soiled garments and beards of three weeks' growth, came in sight of Kaskaskia. The town contained about 250 houses, and the inhabitants were mostly French. Clark sent forward some 'of his men who could speak French to pass through the streets, making proclamation that all the inhabitants must keep within their houses, under penalty of being shot down in the streets. The next day the little army of invaders marched into the town in two divisions, and in two hours all the inhabitants surrendered and gave up their arms. Not a drop of blood was shed, but the victory was complete. A few days later Clark sent a detachment mounted on French ponies to Cahokia, thirty miles distant, and obtained a surrender of the fort and garrison at that point. An embassy was sent to Vincennes, and in a few days the American flag was floating from the fort and the French inhabitants brought over to the United States.

Clark was compelled to leave only a diminutive force to hold possession of Vincennes, and the British Lieutenant-Governor, Henry Hamilton, then at Detroit, formed the plan of retaking the place, in which he succeeded without difficulty. The latter had a considerable force of British regulars, French volunteers and Indians. Clark with his main force was at Kaskaskia, and his position was one of great peril. His number of men was too small to stand a siege and his situation too remote to call for recruits. He formed the bold and hazardous scheme of capturing Governor Hamilton and retaking Vincennes.

On the 7th of February, 1779, Col. Clark with his little army commenced its march from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. Their route lay through prairies and points of timber. The winter was unusually wet and the streams all high. On the 13th of February they arrived at the Little Wabash and Muddy Rivers. The raius fell every day, and here the men were compelled to wade to their waists and sometimes to their armpits in mud and water. On the 18th, eleven days after their departure, they heard the morning gun of the fort at Vincennes. On the evening of the same day they were at the Wabash, below the mouth of the Embarrass. The party was now in an exhausted condition; the river was out of its banks and all the low grounds covered with water. Again making their way through deep waters they arrived in full view of the town a little before sunset on the 21st. In order to make his force appear formidable Clark ordered his men to march and countermarch i n such a manner that from the intervening ground the enemy were led to count them twice or thrice. Ten or twelve pairs of colors were so displayed on long poles as to be seen above the intervening high land and from a distance made no despicable ajspearance. Gov. Hamilton was awed into a surrender, which was formally made on the 24th.

The expedition of Col. Clark was not excelled in difficTilty, daring and heroic endurance by any during the Revolution. The march from Kaskaskia to Vincennes was one of extraordinary hardship and enterprise. The whole expedition resulted in the successful reduction of all (he British military posts between the Ohio and Mississippi, gave tranquility to the frontier settlements and secured to the United States the whole of this vast territory. The Virginia Legislature passed a complimentary resolution to Clark and his men for their victorious campaign "whereby great advantages may accrue to the common cause of America, as well as to this Commonwealth in particular."

The Northwest Territory

After Virginia and other States had coded to the United States their claims of jurisdiction and soil to the territory lying northwest of the Ohio, it became necessary for Congi^ss to establish civil government in the new extensive region. Accordingly in the summer of 1787, while the convention which framed the Constitution was in session at Philadelphia, Congress at New York passed an "Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio," which has come to be beat known as "The Ordinance of '87." This was the most important act of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. For nearly twenty-nine years it was the fundamental law of Indiana. S. P. Chase in his history of Ohio said of it: " Never, probably, in the history of the world, did a measiu'e of legislation 80 accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed the anticipations of the legislators." Its object was declared to be to " extend the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory; to provide also for the establishment of States and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest."

The territory for which this ordinance provided a government embraced all the land then belonging to the United States northwest of the Ohio. It extended from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, and from the Ohio to the Great Lakes. Five States have been organized from it: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,

Michigan and Wisconsin. The Territorial Government was organized soon after the passage of the ordinance and at first was vested solely in a Governor and Judges. The first Governor was Gen. Arthur St. Clair who was President of Congress when appointed. In 1788 he entered upon his duties at Marietta. During the continuance of the first grade of government, there was no capital of the territory in the proper sense of the term. Laws were passed by the Governor and Judges wherever they happened to be assembled. Some were enacted at Marietta, some at Cincinnati and a few at Vincennes.

About the Ist of January, 1790, the Governor, with other officers, descended the Ohio from Marietta to Fort Washington, at Cincinnati, where he organized Hamilton County, which embraced the western part of the State of Ohio. On the 8th of January the Governor and Secretary arrived at Clarksville, at the falls of the Ohio, on their way to Vincennes. From the falls they proceeded by land along an Indian trail to Vincennes, where they organized the county of Knox, the fourth county organized in the Northwest Territory. It comprised all the territory along the Ohio between the Great Miami and the Wabash. V^incennes was made the seat of justice. Thence they proceeded to Kaskaskia, and there established the County of St. Clair, comprising all the territory from the Wabash to the Mississippi, and named by the Secretary, Winthrop Sargent, in honor of the Governor. Knox and St. Clair Counties were organized for the protection of the French inhabitants, and to carry into effect the agreement in the ordinance of 1787 with reference to the preservation of their rights under the laws and customs alreading existing among them. At Kaskaskia the Governor issued a proclamation, calling upon the French inhabitants to exhibit the titles to their lands, in order to have them examined and confirmed and their lands surveyed.

Indiana Territory Formed

The great extent of the Territory made the ordinary operations of government extremely uncertain, and the efficient action of courts almost impossible in the western parts of the Territory. In the three western places of holding courts, Vincennes, Cahokia and Kaskaskia, there had been held but one court having criminal jurisdiction in the five years from 1795 to 1800. Offenders against justice having no fear of punishment, the French settlements became an asylum for the most vile and abandoned criminals. A committee of Congress on March 3, 1800, recommended a division of the Territory into two distinct and separate governments. Accordingly, on May 7, 1800, an act was passed by Congress making such division, by an act which took effect from and

The Hrst boundary of Indiana Territory on the east was not the same as the eastern boundary of the State. The ordinance of 1787 provided that the middle State which should be formed out of the Northwest Territory, should be bounded on the east by a line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami River, and the committee of Congress which proposed the division of the Territory recommended that the division should be made by this line. The act of Congress, however, made the Greenville treaty line as far as Fort Recovery, the boundary line. The line of division was described as " beginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the Territorial line between the United States and Canada." The Greenville treaty line is found marked on some of the maps of Indiana. Fort Recovery was in Darke County, Ohio, about one mile east of the State line. When Ohio was made a State the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami was made its western boundary, and the lands between this line and the Greenville treaty line were attached to Indiana Territory.

At the time of its organization Indiana Territory comprised a vast region almost uninhabited except by savages. The only settlements of white men were so widely separated that it was impossible for them to contribute to their mutual defense or encouragement. These settlements were four in number. The first was at Clark's grant, at the falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville; the second the old French establishment at Vincennes, on the Wabash; the third comprised a series of French villages, extending from Kaskaskia, seventy-five miles below the site of St. Louis, to Cahokia, five miles below St. Louis; the fourth was Detroit on the Detroit River. The capital was at Vincennes, at this time often written Post Vincents. Numerous tribes of war-like Indians were scattered throughout the northern portion of the Territory, whose hostility to the American settlers was inflamed by the intrigues of British agents and fi-equent outrages by American hunters and traders.

Clark's grant in Indiana was a reservation by Virginia in her cession of the Northwest Territory to satisfy the claims of Gen. Clark and the ofiicers and soldiers under his command in the conquest of the British posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. The quantity of land in the grant was stipulated not to exceed 150,000 acres to be laid off in one tract, the length of which was not to exceed double the breadth, and in such place on the northwest side of the Ohio, as a majority of the officers should choose. The tract was selected and located about the falls of the Ohio, and distributed among the claimants according to the laws of Virginia. An act of the Legislature of that State was passed " to establish the town of Clarkesville, at the falls of the Ohio, in the county of Illinois," by which a Board of Trustees in whom the title of the town was vested in trust. They were directed to sell lots of half an acre each at public auction, subject to the condition that the purchaser should within three years from the day of sale erect a dwelling house " twenty feet by eighteen, with a brick or stone chimney." The Trustees located the tovsm immediately at the foot of the falls. Its position at the head of keel-boat navigation on the lower Ohio was supposed to give it great advantages, and it was for a time a rival of Louisville. Jeffersonville, at the head of the falls, occupied the site of Fort Steuben. Midway between these places and on the opposite side of the river was the then unhealthy town of Louisville, which in 1800 contained a population of 359 souls, and about 150 houses, a printing office and a postoflice.

From the falls of the Ohio, settlements spread over Clark's grant. Vincennes, the capital of the Territory, is described by contemporary writers at the period of the establishment of the Territorial Government, as a handsome town of about 100 houses, some of which were built of freestone. From Cincinnati, settlements extended up the Whitewater Valley. On the first Monday in April, 1801, the first sale of lands west of the Great Miami was held at Cincinnati. In the closing years of the last century, before the establishment of a land ofiBce for the sale of any lands in Indiana, squatters had begun to occupy Government lands in the southwestern' part. Land offices, at which lands in Indiana were sold, were established by the United States as follows: At Cincinnati, May 10, 1800; at Vincennes, March 26, 1804; at Jeffersonville, March 3, 1S07; at Indianapolis and Crawfordsville, March 3, 1819; Fort Wayne, May 8, 1822.

From Cincinnati, the most important town in the eastern division of the Northwest Territory, to Vincennes,the capital of Indiana Territory, was a laborious journey through a wilderness. A common method of making this journey was to embark on the Ohio in a Kentucky boat, sometimes called an ark, with horses and provisions, proceed as far as the falls, and thence by horseback to the Post, more than 100 miles unmarked by a vestige of civilization.

The First Governor

and President. At the time of his appointment he was twenty-seven years old, yet he had already served under Wayne against the Indians as Lieutenant, and distinguished himself for bravery; had been the first delegate in Congress from the Northwest Territory, and had served as Secretary of the Territory. As the Secretary was ex officio Lieutenant-Governor, he had for a considerable time performed the duties of Governor of the Territory before its division, Gen. St. Clair, the Governor, being rarely in the Territory at that time, his residence being in Pennsylvania. When the office of Governor of the new Territory of Indiana was first proposed to young Harrison, he expressed himself as much adverse to accepting it, because he had reason to believe that Gov. St. Clair would soon be retired from the Government of the more populous Eastern Division (now Ohio), and that he would be strongly recommended as his successor. It happened, however, as Gen. Harrison himself has narrated, that two influential supporters of John Adams' administration were desirous of that position, and by their management he became the Governor of Indiana Territory. The Governors were appointed for three years. Harrison was appointed by President Adams in 1800; upon the expiration of his term he was re-appointed in 1803 by President Jefferson; in 1806 he was again appointed by Jefferson; in 1809 he was re-appointed by Pi-esident Madison, and in 1812 again appointed by Madison.

The Territorial Governors were ex officio Superintendents of Indian affairs within their Territories. A few months after President Jefferson came into ofllice he nominated Gov. Harrison a Commissioner to make treaties with the Indians, and the nomination was confirmed by the Senate. The custom of the Government in treating with the Indians had been to appoint two or more persons to represent the Government as Commissioners. The reason given by the President for this departure from the usual course in the case of Indiana Territory was that Louisiana had been ceded to the French, and the French understood the management of the Indians better than any other nation; that to guard against their intrigues it was necessary to form settlements on the Mississippi, the lower Ohio, the Wabash and Illinois Rivers, which could only be done by extinguishing the Indian titles, and this could not be done at once, but by watching opportunities. The President, therefore, did not wish to embarrass the Governor with a colleague. Thus it was that Harrison was the sole representative of the United States in the negotiations with the Indians by which the Indian title to most of the lands of Indiana was extinguished. Gov. Harrrison held this important commission during the entire period of his government of the Territory. He negotiated thirteen

While acting as Commissioner, Harrison was allowed, in addition to his pay as Governor, $6 per day and his expenses, and he could assume the character of Indian Commissioner whenever he thought proper. He was indeed necessarily almost constantly acting under it. The charges he made for pay as Commissioner, however, were only for the time actually employed in specific negotiation. All the compensation he received for these services during the twelve years he held the commission did not exceed $3,000. His charge for one important treaty was $44. It is said that no man over disbursed so many and such large sums of public treasure with so little difficulty in adjusting his accounts with the Government as Harrison while Governor, United States Commissioner and Superintendent of Indian affairs in Indiana Territory. He wisely avoided keeping the public money on hand, and always made his payments by drafts on Washington.

Some of the more important of the early treaties by which the ownership of Indiana lands was transferred to the United States Government are here mentioned. In the treaty at Greenville, August 3, 1795, only a small portion of the lands in the southeastern part of the State was included. On September 17, 1802, Gov. Harrison entered into an agreement at Vincennes with the chiefs of various tribes by which the bounds of a tract at that place said to have been given to its founder were settled, and on June 7, 1803, at Fort Wayne, the same chiefs ceded the lands about Vincennes to the United Stales. Other treaties were concluded at Vincennes in August, 1804: at Fort Wayne in September, 1809; at St. Mary's in October, 1818, and Tippecanoe in 1832.

Tecumseh And The Pkophet

The troubles with the Indians commenced early in the history of the Territory. In July, 1801, the Governor referring to the lawless acts of vagabond whites, wrote to the United States Government: "All these injuries the Indians have hitherto borne with astonishing patience, but though they discover no disposition to make war upon the United States, I am confident that most of the tribes would eagerly seize any favorable opportunity for that purpose, and should the United States be at war with any European nations who are known to the Indians, there would probably be a combination of nine-tenths of the northern tribes against us, unless some means are made use of to conciliate them." President Jefferson did everything in his power to protect the Indians and to induce them to cultivate the soil and adopt the arts of civilized life. Congress was powerless to prevent the atrocities committed by the worthless white men who are ever found prowling along the verge of civilization. The outrages were deplored by thousands of good men.

Early in the history of the Territory Tocumsoh planned his scheme of a confederation of all the Indian nations, by which the whites were to be restrained in their acquisitions of lands. This remarkable man, the most bold and accomplished warrior and diplomatist the tribes of red men ever produced, was for much of his active life a resident of Indiana. He was born not far from the site of Springfield, Ohio, and belonged to the Shawnee nation, his father and his mother being members of different tribes of that extensive people. In 1795 he became a chief. He resided in different parts of the Miami country, in what is now Ohio, until 1798, when he accepted the invitation of the Delawares, then residing in part on White River, Ind., to remove to that region with his followers. Here he resided a number of years, and gradually extended his influence among the Indians.

Tecumseh's brother, known in history as the Prophet, was scarcely less remarkable a man; he was an orator of great power and a religious teacher. About 1804, according to the accounts usually given, the brothers began to work in unison on their grand project of uniting all the Western Indians in one confederacy. Their avowed objects were two- fold: first, the reformation of the savages, whose habits unfitted them for continuous and heroic efforts; second, a union which would make the purchase of land by the United States impossible without the consent of all the tribes, and would give the Indians a strength that would be dreaded. In case of war with the whites a simultaneous attack could be made upon all the frontier settlements, so that white troops could not be sent from one to the aid of another. In 1805, through the influence of the Prophet, a large number of Indians collected at Greenville. In 1806 both Tecumseh and the Prophet were at Greenville, and were visited by representatives of many tribes.

Apprehension Op Indian Hostilities

In the spring of 1808 the brothers removed to a tract of land on the Tippecanoe, a tributary of the Wabash. Here on a spot probably never visited by white men, about 100 miles northwest from Fort Wayne, was the Prophet's town, containing only about 130 souls. Representative Indians from remote parts here visited the Prophet, who continued his efforts to reform his brethren by preaching temperance, depicting the fearful evils the fire-water of the white men had brought upon them, and announcing

Tecumseh traveled from tribe to tribe, strengthening his influence and organizing his league. With the enthusiasm of Peter the Hermit, he journeyed over thousands of miles, visiting remote nations of red men. He visited all the northern tribes on the west bank of the Mississippi, and upon the Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan. In 1807 Gov. Harrison, alarmed at the movements of the two brothers, sent a message of inquiry and remonstrance, couched in severe terms. The Prophet sent a reply, denying that he had any purpose to rouse the tribes to another war. His plan of saving the Indians, he constantly asserted, was by reforming them froai intemperance, uniting them and encouraging industry. In July, 1808, the Prophet went from Tippecanoe to Vincennes, a distance of hundreds of miles, on a pacific message to the Governor. He came with a large number of followers, whom he frequently harangued in the presence of the Governor on the evils of war and intemperance. No persuasion of the whites could induce any of them to touch intoxicating liquors. The Prophet again declared that it was his desire to live in peace with the whites, and called the Great Spirit to witness the truth of his declaration. Whether the Prophet was a religious fanatic or a vile impostor, can never be settled.

Throughout the year 1809 Tecumseh and the Prophet continued to strengthen themselves both openly and secretly. Notwithstanding the.se solemn and repeated declarations of peaceful intentions, the Governor suspected their ultimate designs, and was preparing to meet any emergency. In June, 1809, - Tecumseh with about forty followers again visited the Governor. The Governor wrote to the Government that suspicions of his guilty intentions were strengthened rather than diminished by every interview during this visit of the chief. In September, 1809, the Governor met the chiefs of several tribes at Fort Wayne, and purchased of them more than 3,000,000 acres of land on the Wabash. Tecumseh refused to sign the treaty, and threatened death to those who did. In the year following he visited the tribes as far south as Tennessee, exhorting them to lay aside sectiona jealousies in the hope of preserving their hunting grounds.

The Battle Of Tippecanoe

The Governor stood firm and sent for a few soldiers and organized the militia. In July, 1811, the citizens of Vincennes and its vicinity met while the Legislative Council was in session and memorialized the President on the subject, not so much for a mill- tary force from the Government as for permission to fight the Indians in their own way. The Indians began to prowl through the Wabash Valley. Harrison was promised strong re-enforcements with orders, however, to be backward in employing them. On the Ist of August he advised the Secretary of War of his plans, which were to again warn the Indians to obey the treaty of Greenville, but at the same time to prepare to break up the Prophet's establishment, if necessary. Having received his re-enforcements, the Governor, as Commander, advanced from Vincennes up the Wabash. On the 5th of October he was at Terre Haute, where he built Fort Harrison. Here one of his sentinels was fired upon. On October 31 he was at the mouth of the Vermilion River, where he built a block-house. He then advanced toward the Prophet's town, still, however, offering peace to the Indians. When within a few miles of the Prophet's town Harrison was met by the Indian embassadors, who expressed surprise at his advancing upon them and said that an answer to the Governor's demands upon the Indians had been despatched to him by a Pottawattomie who had left two days before to meet him, but had missed him by taking the road on the south side of the Wabash. Harrison informed them that he had no intention of attacking them until he found that they would not comply with his demands. It was agreed that the army should encamp for the night and in the morning an interview with the Prophet and his chiefs should take place, and in the meantime no hostilities should be committed.

Before daybreak of the morning the treacherous savages crept upon the camp, burst upon the sleeping army like demons, and before the light of day was far advanced the battle of Tippecanoe was fought. Harrison had risen at a quarter after four o'clock, and the signal for calling the men would have been given in two minutes, when the attack commenced. Nineteen twentieths of the men had never been in an action. They behaved well, took their places without confusion, under an exceedingly severe fire, and fought with bravery. The camp fires affording the enemy the means of taking surer aim, were extinguished. With coolness and deliberate valor the white men stood their ground in darkness against the ferocity of the savages, until daylight, and then routed the red men in vigorous charges. The next day they burned the Prophet's town and returned victorious to Vincennes.

The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the 7th of November, 1811. The whites had in this action not more than 700 efficient men - non-commissioned officers and privates; the Indians were supposed to have had from 700 to 1,000 men. The loss of the whites was thirty-seven killed on the field, twenty-five mortally wounded and one hundred and twenty -six wounded; that of the Indians about forty killed on the field, the number of wounded not being known. Among the killed were two Kentucky officers, Col. Joseph H. Daviess and Col. Owen. The battle ground was a piece of dry oak land, skirted on the west by Burnet Creek, with marshy prairies covered with tall grass on the east and west. At the time of the battle Harrison held no raak in the army, but as Governor he was Commander of the ludiaaa Militia, and uader the authority of the War Department he took command of the whole force. The victory made the Commander famous, and twice, in 1836 and in 1810, Indiana cast her electoral vote for " the hero of Tippecanoe."

At the time of the battle Tecumseh was among the southern Indians. When on his return he learned that his brother had brought on the attack and had been defeated, he was exceedingly angry, and it is said reproached the Prophet in the bitterest terms. The defeat had destroyed the power of the brothers, and crushed the grand confederacy before it was completed. Six months after the battle the United States declared war with England. Tecumseh left ladiana for Fort Maiden, ia Upper Canada, joined the British standard, participated in S3yeral engagements against the Americans, and for his bravery and good conduct was made a Brigadier-Geueral. He was killed at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, in the forty-fourth year of his age. Harrison, with whom he had so often conferred, was. the commander of the enemy against whom he foaght in his last battle.

Before the formation of the State constitution several efforts were made to introduce^Africau slavery in a modified form into the Territory of Indiana. Slavery had been introduced into the Illinois country by the French as early as 1720. The ordinance of 1787 prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory was a subject of complaint by some, who, by memorials to Congress from time to time, made efforts to obtain a suspension of the restriction for a limited period. The first petition to Congress was from four persons in Kaskaskia in 1796, asking that slavery might be tolerated there. Before the division of the Northwest Territory and while the first Territorial Legislature was in session at Cincinnati in 1799, petitions were presented by Virginians, who owed lands northwest of the Ohio, asking that they might settle with their slaves on their own lauds. These petitions were promptly rejected, as the Legislature had no power to suspend an ordinance of Congress.

Virginia, Kentucky and other slave States. A large proportion ot the population of the Territory, while not desiring to make Indiana a slave State, believed that a temporary employment of slave labor would greatly encourage immigration and promote the growth and improvement of the country. Early in 1803 a Territorial Convention was held at Vincennes to deliberate on the interests of the Territory. Gov. Harrison was President of the convention. A memorial was sent to Congress, together with a letter of the President of the convention, declaring the assent of the people of Indiana Territory to a suspension of the clause of the ordinance of 1787, forbidding slavery. John Randolph, from the committee of Congress to which this letter and memorial were referred, reported as follows, March 2, 1803:

"That the rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region. That this labor, demonstrably the dearest of any, can only be employed to advantage in the cultivation of products more valuable than any known to that quarter of the United States; that the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of the northwestern country and to give strength and security to that extensive frontier. In the salutary operation of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that the people of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find ample remuner ation for a temporary privation of labor and of immigration. "

This report was made at the close of the session and the subject was brought up again at the next session. The report, together with the letter of Gov. Harri.son and the memorial of the inhabitants of Indiana, was referred to a new committee, of which Csesar Rodney, of Delaware, was Chairman. This committee on February 17, 1804, made a report in favor ot the prayer of the memorial and offered the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery within the said Territory, be suspended in a qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born in the United States, from any of the individual States; provided that such individual State does not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries. And provided, further, that the descendants of all such slaves shall, it males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and if females, at the age of twenty-one years."

This resolution failed to pass and the subject came up again in February, 1800, when another report was made in Congress in favor of the temporary suspension of the prohibition of slavery on the ground that the people of Indiana universally desired such suspension. At the session of the Legislature of Indiana Territory in the winter of 1806-07, resolutions on the subject were adopted and presented to Congress. Another committee of Congress reported in favor of the suspension of the slavery clause of the ordinance for ten years, but the measure was again lost. A committee of the United States Senate reported on November 13, 1807, that it was not expodient to grant the request of the Indiana Legislature. To avoid the restriction in the ordinance against slavery, the Territorial Legislature passed an act September 17, 1807, entitled " An Act concerning the introduction of negroes and mulattoes into this Territory." It legalized the introduction into the Territory of persons of color who were slaves in the States or Territories by requiring the owner or possessor to enter into indentures with his slave, the latter stipulating to serve as an indentured servant for a certain period, at the end of which he was to become free. A record of the indenture was required to be made in the Court of Common Pleas within thirty days after the introduction of the slave or slaves. Children under fifteen years of age were required to serve their former owner or possessor, if males, until the age of thirty-five years; if females, imtil the age of thirtytwo years. Many slave-holders in Virginia, Kentucky, and other slave States, desiring to manumit their slaves, migrated to Indiana and availed themselves of the privileges of this law. In Indiana slaves before the expiration of their term of servitude were termed under the law "indentured servants." This form of servitude was done away with in Indiana by judicial decisions and in Illinois by a clause in the State constitution. Had it not been for the firmness of Congress in resisting what seemed to be a popular demand, Indiana might have been a slave State. The demand that slave-holders who owned land in Indiana should he permitted to employ their slaves in clearing the forests from their own lands seemed just and reasonable to many persons who were not in favor of the extension of slavery.

The War Of

At the commencement of the war of 1812 Indiana Territory had a white population of about 30,000 souls, chiefly in the southern portions of the Territory. All the settlements in Indiana as well as those in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois were much exposed to Indian depredations. The Government had hesitated to employ force against the Indians in Indiana lest all the tribes of the Northwest should be combined against the United States in case of a war with England, which was imminent. Although Gov.

Harrison wrote a few months after the battle of Tippecanoe, " The frontiers never enjoyed more perfect security," yet as soon as hostilities between the United States and England commenced there were gloomy fears of the Indians all along the western frontiers, which rose to universal consternation when the intelligence was spread abroad that the whole of our army under Hull, with Detroit and Michigan, had been surrendered to the combined British forces, commanded by Brock and Tecumseh, leaving our entire outposts in the Northwest almost defenseless. Three points needed protection, fort Wayne and the Maumee, the Wabash, and the Illinois. The troops intended for Fort Wayne were to be put under Gen. Winchester, a Revolutionary officer residing in Tennessee, but little known to the frontier men; those for the Wabash were to be under Harrison, whom the battle of Tippecanoe had given a military reputation in the West; those for the Illinois were to be under Edwards, Governor of Illinois Territory. Such were the intentions of the Government, but the action of the authorities of Kentucky frustrated them and fortunately led to the elevation of the Governor of Indiana to the post of Commander-in-chief of all the forces of the West and Northwest.

Gov. Harrison while at Cincinnati received from Gov. Scott a request to repair without delay to Frankfort. Arriving at the capital of Kentucky, he found a large number of influential citizens of Kentucky assembled, some to witness the inauguration of Gov. Shelby and others by invitation of Gov. Scott, the retiring Governor. A grand council had been held upon the course to be adopted for the defense of the Northwestern frontier, and it had been determined to request Gov. Harrison to take command of the troops on the march and to appoint him aMajor-General in the Kentucky Militia. He accepted the commission, took the oath required by the laws of Kentucky and in a few hours was on horseback to overtake the troops and assume command. Gen. Harrison afterward said that he looked upon this as the most honorable appointment he had ever received. A great State, already distinguished for the talents of her sons, some of whom were Revolutionary officers, placed the Governor of another Territory in command of her troops for a difficult and dangerous expedition. On September 17, 1812, Harrison was appointed by the Government Commander of the Army of the West.

After the surrender of Detroit and Fort Dearborn on the site of Chicago, Forts Wayne and Harrison, in Indiana, were the only military stations on the northwestern frontier in the hands of the Americans. These were re-enforced. The defeat of Hull and the victories of the British and Indians in the Northwest awakened throughout Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky a determination to wipe out the disgrace which had stained our arms, and to avert the desolation that threatened the frontier. In August several regiments which had been raised in Kentucky were directed to the aid of Indiana and Illinois. Vincennes was made the principal rendezvous, and Gen. Hopkins was appointed Commander of the troops on the Wabash. It was arranged that Gen. Hopkins, with between four and five thousand mounted riflemen, should move up the Wabash to Fort Harrison, cross over to the Illinois country, destroy all the Indian villages on the Wabash, march across the prairies to the head-waters of the Sangamon and Vermillion Rivers, and then form a junctionwith the Illinois rangers under Gov. Edwards, and sweep over the villages on the Illinois River. On September 29, Hopkins wrote to the Governor of Kentucky: "My present intention is to attack every Indian settlement on the Wabash, and to destroy their property, then fall back upon the Illinois; and I trust, in all the next month, to perform much service. Serious opposition I hardly apprehend, although I intend to be prepared for it. " In accordance with this determination, Hopkins set out from Fort Harrison with this raw militia-men on October 15, and marched some eighty or ninety miles in the Indian country without obtaining sight of the enemy, when he was compelled to return on account of the insubordination among his men and some of the officers.

Deeply chagrined at the failure of his expedition, Gen. Hopkins did not return to Kentucky, but remained at Fort Harrison to await the raising of another and better disciplined army. On the 11th of November he set out from Fort Harrison with about 1,200 men on an expedition against the Indians of the upper Wabash. Lieut-Col. Butler, with seven boats loaded with supplies and provisions, at the same time ascended the river. On the 19th the army arrived at the Prophet's town, and 300 men were sent to surprise the Indian towns on Ponce Passu Creek, but the villages were fouud evacuated. On the 20th a Kickapoo town containing 120 cabins was burned, and all the winter provisions of corn in the vicinity destroyed. The cold weather of winter was rapidly coming on, many of the men were, as the General said, "shoeless and shirtless," and as the ice in the river began to obstruct the passage, it was deemed prudent to return. The conduct of this detachment contrasts favorably with Hopkins' first army.

The military system under which the wai" of 1812 was carried on would by no means have answered the purposes of the Government in the greater war of the Rebellion. The terms of service for which the men were called out were generally short, not exceeding six months. In many cases the raw militia-men had scarcely learned to drill as soldiers when their term of service expired, and they were succeeded by fresh, untrained recruits. The West, aud especially the region of the Maumee and Lake Erie, was the principal theater of the war. In many parts of the United States there was much opposition to the war, but th^ pioneers of Indiana Territory were enthusiastically in favor of the declaration of war and its vigorous prosecution. Although the population was not large, in every vicissitude of the contest the conduct of the people of Indiana was patriotic and honorable. They volunteered with alacrity, and endured the hardships of the campaigns on the swamps of the Maumee and the St. Marys with patience and cheerfulness.

Peace was made with Great Britain by the treaty at Ghent, December 24, 1814. The Indians, deprived of their British ally and having lost their great leader, Tecumseh, renounced all hope of arresting the advance of the white man. Tribe after tribe during the year 1815 entered into treaties of peace with the United States and acknowledged themselves under the protection of the Government. Confidence was restored to the frontier settlements and immigration again began to push into the forests and prairies. The campaigns of the rangers and mounted infantry who had traversed the rich and delightful lands along the Wabash, the Sangamon and the Illinois, served as explorations of new and fertile countries and opened the way to thousands of pioneers and the formation of new settlements. Although large numbers passed westward to the prairies of Illinois, yet Indiana retained a large share of the rapid immigration. From 1810 to 1820 Indiana increased in population from 24, 520 to 147, 178, an increase of 500 per cent, a rate of growth at that time unexampled in the growth of American States.

Indiana Admitted Into The Union

for the privilege of forming a State constitution and admission into the Union. A bill for these purposes was passed in April, 1816; soon after a convention met at Corydon and on June 29 adopted the first constitution of Indiana. This constitution was formed at a time when there was a lull of party violence and when the era of political good feeling prevailed. On December 11, 1816, the State was admitted as a sovereign member of the Union. Jonathan Jennings, who had long represented the Territory, as Delegate in Congress and had presided over the convention which formed the constitution, was the first Governor. In January, 1821, the Legislature located the seat of government at Indianapolis, and at the same time appointed Commissioners to lay off a town at the site selected and gave it its present name, formed by adding the Greek word polis, meaning a city, to the name of the State.

In the decade from 1820 to 1830 the sales of government lands in the State were rapid, amounting to more than three and one-half million acres; and the population increased 133 per cent. From 1830 to 1840 the population was doubled. In 1833 the Wabash & Erie canal was commenced; in 1834 the State Bank with ten branches was incorporated. The result of these undertakings and others into which the State entered was a debt of over $14,000,000 and a general bankruptcy which retarded the progress and development of the State. In 1846 measures were taken to pay the accumulated interest'on the State debt; in 1850 a new constitution was adopted, and soon the whole economy of the State was changed and prosperity returned. The State is the smallest of the Western States, having an area of 33,809 square miles, but in population it ranks sixth in the members of the Union.