Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 6: Vigo County. Its Ancient Owners and Changes, 1891

LET us suppose, dear reader, that you had been here when Co¬ lumbus came and found this continent, and further suppose that you had lived on to the present, and have changed in your ap¬ pearance and nature, as have the generations that came and passed away from that time to the present hour, and had now sat down to tell a bevy of children the story of your eventful and changing life. It would tax your memory certainly, but as you proceeded, even you would become more and more interested in the narrative.

Commencing with your earliest recollections as a little papoose strapped to a heavy piece of bark and leaned up against a great tree that stood near the bank of the river, about the center of now Main street, Terra Haute; then your school days, when you were carried down to the river and thrown in and taught to swim before you could walk, and then you passed on to the high school and learned to use the bow and arrow, rob birds' nests, capture the birds and torture them to death slowly, and then learn to hunt and kill large game, and that you graduated into a big man when you hunted, tortured, killed and scalped men, and how you became a great chief, because you had more scalps to your belt than any other candidate in that election campaign; then when you were a very old Indian,' and had eaten a great many of the poor fellows you had slipped up on and killed, and your teeth had fairly worn out over your great feasts of men and. dogs, and your arms had grown too weak to longer draw the strong bow or throw the deadly stone hatchet, that there came to Terre Haute one day some white men, and showed you their beautiful glass beads, and fireguns and pow- der, and gave you a drink of their fire-water. After drinking the fire-water you went to sleep, and napped somewhat longer than did "Hip Van Winkle," and when you woke up it was the year 1540, and you were then a Spaniard, again a boy, and your chief and fa¬ vorite diet was macaroni, with a deep and abiding faith in the effi¬ cacy of the inquisition to regulate the morals and religious senti¬ ment of all mankind. You were a loyal subject of Spain then, because Columbus had discovered the continent, and twentyeight years after his arrival other Spaniards had landed and pushed west to the Mississippi, and as there were then no other white claimants to Vigo county this was all included in the "find." The whole world then must have been boys, because you know a boy claims everything he finds, and if a bad boy, is ready to fight for it. As the first Spaniard settler in what is now Yigo County, you were quietly dieted on noodle soup from 1540 to 1702 or 162 years. This long rest given you arose from the fact that at that time the principal industry in Europe was fighting out their big holy wTars. You see the people did not know what all the fighting and killing each other was about, but it was taken for granted that their dear and be¬ loved kings did, and this faith in the wisdom and goodness of the king was often strengthened in the darkest hour, by his being an infant, an imbecile, crazy or killing himself in some of his nightly orgies by eating and drinking too much. As a Vigoan you would read about these great wars in Europe, and you, from your memories in the scalp trade, would conclude that in the course of time the Old World would become nearly as civilized as your people were when you were a happy and innocent papoose and a cannibal with a good appetite. In 1702, just when you weregetting to be a very old Span¬ iard, and was really getting very tired of a constant diet of maca¬ roni, you woke up one morning and lo, and behold, you were a Frenchman, with a nice mess of frogs for breakfast. A change of cooks and diet is good for the appetite and health, and now you went back in your life and was a rollicking devil-may-care courier des bois , nearly as wild and naked as when you were a well-grown papoose on the banks of the Wabash. As a loyal Vigoan you changed your allegiance from Spain to France, and of all the kings and potentates in the world you preferred that sensuous and most beastly of men, Louis XV., and thought he was a paragon of per¬ fection. You accepted the appointment as a local agent of the fur traders, and soon had a wife in every tribe that patronized your store. You made some good land trades when you " dickered " a bottle of awful whisky for two or three adjoining States. In time your county town was moved from Paris, France, to Quebec, but as much handier as this made it, you did not bother to go there to get your license in any of your marriages with the natives. You owed

Then there came many years in which it was doubtful whether what is now Yigo county belonged to the province of Canada or to Louisiana. Both sides belonged to France, but in defining the territory between the two provinces it was doubtful just where the line ran. It bothered you to be a Blue-nose and a Creole at the same time.

Vincennes from its foundation to the close of the French occu¬ pation belonged to the province of Louisiana. Fort Chartres was the seat of government of the district of New Orleans and the prov¬ ince. Fort Ouiatanon on the upper Wabash belonged to Canada, and was under the control of the commandant at Detroit, and the dividing line was somewhere between Vincennes and Ouiatanon. Du Pratz says: "The dividing line between Louisiana and Canada was not very well ascertained. It is of little importance to dispute here about the limits of these two neighboring colonies as they both appertain to France." But this was of great importance to you as a good Vigoan. You could not be forever worried and distressed with doubts on the subject of where you should record your " marks and brands " or get your saloon license, or persuade the sheriff to summon you on the grand jury. When you had about determined to bring it as a leading question into the next election, in the year 1732, the dividing line was definitely fixed, running east and west on the center of Main street, Terre Haute, through the county. Thus what is now Vigo county was divided on that line. The line passed east and west through the county, through Terre Haute and through the center of your cabin then standing in the center of now Main street. This was the first case in the county of a " house divided against itself" and it did not stand. In describing this line Terre Haute is called "the Highlands of the Wabash."

You well remember what a dilemna you were in in the year 1736, when there came a call to arms from the Louisiana side to fight the Natchez and Chickasaw Indians and the English fur traders. Vin¬ cennes, the first ruler in Indiana, was then in command of Port Vincennes, and he obeyed the call and went with forty Iroquois to the war, and was killed, and the king appointed Louis St. Ange to the command at Port Vincennes. But you got along fairly well as part Canuck and part Creole, and as you were not certain to which you really owed obedience you compromised by no decided fealty to either.

But November 29, 1760, Montreal capitulated and Canada be¬ came English. Do you remember that day reading the dispatches that you were now half French and half English, a sure enough

" alf an' alf." This division was getting to be serious, and you felt that you were liable to have some trouble with yourself. What is now the county of Vigo, even Terre Haute, your cabin and even yourself were divided in halves by the line between England and France. Fortunately only three years were allowed to elapse with you in this divided uncertainty, when in the treaty between the two countries all the territory east of the Mississippi was surrendered to England.

You could readily adjust yourself to being an Englishman, and you were greatly pleased to have restored the unity of the whole of the territory of Vigo county. In less than a year, however, there arose new complications. The English had bought "a pig in a poke." A great conspiracy was formed among the Indians, and in 1761 they determined to drive off the English and repossess the country. This uprising was discovered in time and frustrated. But in the spring of 1763, the greatest of all the Indian chiefs, Pontiac, formed an Indian confederacy and took armed possession of the northwest. Then all this Ohio valley for two years was un¬ der the control of Pontiac, and while you were supposing yourself, on the quiet when any of Pontiac's men were visiting you, a loyal British subject, yet England at best had no more real authority here then than she had around the north pole. Consequently the French officers had to remain at their posts to await the arrival of the English to whom they were ordered to surrender them. And Pontiac had closed "the glorious gate" to Wabash, the route by which they would come. In 1765 Lieut. Fraser was permitted to pass down the Ohio on a mission of conciliation to Pontiac's forces, but after a brief stay he was glad to escape down the Mississippi. He was followed soon after by Croghan, down the Ohio, who was captured near the mouth of the Wabash by a party of Kickapoos, who carried him a prisoner up the Wabash to Fort Ouitanon. Fort¬ unately he found the Weas quite friendly, and he was treated kindly and had much freedom, and he was soon entertained as an honored guest, on fresh dog garnished with lizards. He was turned loose and permitted to leave; passing down the Wabash he met Pontiac, and after they had talked matters over Pontiac finally agreed to accept the English Great Father in lieu of the French Great Father and cease hostilities. He and Croghan then together passed up the river, stopped at Terre Haute and told the news that the war was over, and this part of the country was English.

October 10, 1765, St. Ange, commandant at Vincennes and Fort Chartres, delivered his command formally to Capt. Sterling, of the Forty-second Highlanders - the famous "Black Watch," and in this manner Vigo county passed under English rule.

you know, and flattered yourself that matters were permanently settled. But in 1778 a new face came suddenly over affairs, by the appearance of Gen. George Rogers Clarke and Francis Yigo, as rebels against England. You must remember how you proposed to keep up an " armed neutrality " in this affair until after Vin¬ cennes fell, and then you became an original rebel. Your long previous life had finely adapted you to, not only sudden, but radical changes in your politics and allegiance. In 1779 you headed a call for a ratification meeting over the glory of what is now Vigo county, becoming a part of Illinois county, Va. June 20, 1790, under Gov. St. Clair, Knox county was formed, which included all the country between Hamilton and St. Clair counties from the Ohio to the British line on the lakes.

Resume. - Our school children should be familiar with " the chain of title" to the lands in Vigo county. It is a part of the history of the locality. It is the important eras in our history, simplified into the story of how the possession and ownership of the land we occupy has come down to us. The following is a short and yet a lucid statement of the facts:

When America was discovered by the Europeans, the lands of Vigo county and vicinity were occupied by the Miami Indians and their kindred tribes. Whether they gained possession by inherit¬ ance, by purchase, or by conquest none can tell.

By right of discovery England claimed the central portions of America "from sea to sea" and made grants to Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut with such indefinite western boundaries that each claimed an interest in the territory northwest of the Ohio river. France claimed the valley of the river St. Lawrence and the "wilderness world westward and southward to its uttermost bounds." Spain claimed the regions along the Gulf of Mexico with indefinite northern boundaries.

France first occupied the region northwest of the river Ohio, establishing trading posts and missionary stations. Later English colonists crossed the mountains for the purpose of occupying this territory. The struggle between the French and English to enforce their rival claims culminated in what is known as the " French and Indian " war. After the close of this war, by the treaty of Paris in 1763, the king of France ceded to his Britannic majesty, in full right, Canada with all its dependencies, including the region north¬ west of the Ohio.

During the war of the Revolution, Virginia troops under George Rogers Clarke conquered this territory from Englaild and occupied the military posts. At the close of this war, by the treaty of peace concluded at Paris in 1783, his Britannic majesty relinquished to the United States all claims to the government and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof, including the territory northwest of the river Ohio, the Mississippi river having been made the western boundary despite the claims of Spain and protests of France.

The United States or the several States have a clear title to all the lands described in the boundary lines of the treaty, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy. [Yol. VIII, Wheaton's United States Reports. See the United States Statutes at Large, Yol. I, page 465, for similar decisions.]

By an act of congress passed September 6, 1780, the States preferring claims to lands in the western territory were recom¬ mended to cede the same to the general Government for the good of the Union. In accordance with this recommendation New York in 1781, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in 1785, and Connecticut in 1786, ceded their claims to the northwest territory to the general Government, Virginia and Connecticut making certain reserva¬ tions, not including what is now Vigo county.

Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty with Great Britain, congress undertook measures for acquiring the Indian title to the northwest territory. George Rogers Clarke and others were appointed to proclaim peace, and to treat with the tribes of this region. At Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785, they concluded a treaty with the Delaware, Chippewa and other Indian tribes, by which certain lands in Ohio were ceded to the United States.

The territory northwest of the river Ohio was organized in 1787, and Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor and min¬ ister of Indian affairs. At Fort Hamar, January 9, 1789, Gov. St. Clair concluded a treaty with the Delawares, Pottawattamies, and other tribes, by which the treaty of Fort McIntosh was confirmed, and all lands east, south and west thereof claimed by said tribes were relinquished to the United States. At Greenville August 3, 1795, Gen. Anthony Wayne concluded a treaty of peace with the Miamis, Delawares, Pottawattamies, Eel Rivers and other tribes, by which old boundary lines were confirmed and several tracts of land within the boundaries of Indiana were ceded to the United States.

At Fort Wayne, June 7, 1803, Gov. Harrison concluded a treaty with the above-mentioned tribes, by which a large tract of land, including Vincennes, was ceded to the United States.

treaty with the Miamies, Delawares, Eel Rivers, Pottawattamies,Weas and other Indian tribes, by which they ceded to the United States nearly 3,000,000 acres of land along the Wabash river below the mouth of Raccoon creek, including the lands of Vigo county. While the boundaries between Indian tribes were not very definite, yet this treaty, with those made at earlier and later dates, extin¬ guished beyond doubt all title of the Indians to the lands of Vigo county.

May 7, 1784, a committee of the Continental Congress reported an ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the western territory and for other purposes.

This ordinance and subsequent acts provided for a survey of the public lands into townships six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles - the north and south lines dividing the land into ranges six miles wide, and the east and west lines dividing the ranges into townships. The townships were divided into thirty-six sections, each one mile square containing 640 acres, and these sections were divided into quarter sections. Owing to the convergence of meridian lines toward the north, to irregular Indian boundaries, and to large streams of water, fractional sections often occur. The sections are designated by numbers from one to thirty-six, the townships by numbers, indicating their distance from the base line, and the ranges by numbers indicating their distance from the standard meridian.

In 1796 a surveyor-general was appointed and the survey of lands in Ohio authorized. In 1804 the powers of the surveyor-gen¬ eral were extended, and the survey of lands in Indiana territory was authorized. By the same act a district land office was estab¬ lished at Vincennes, the Vincennes district including the lands of Vigo county.

The lands of Indiana were surveyed from the second principal meridian, 86° 28' west from Greenwich, and from a base line cor¬ responding nearly with 38° 30' north latitude. The lands of Vigo county are in Ranges 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 west of the second princi¬ pal meridian, and in Townships 10, 11, 12 and 13 north of the base line of Indiana.

The method of sale was, first, extinguishment of Indian title; second, survey of the lands; third, return of the plats of survey to the district land office; fourth, advertisement and public sale, afterward private sales. The lands were sold at a minimum price of $2 per acre, payable one-fourth cash, the balance in three equal installments within two, three and four years respectively. The credit system was abolished July 20, 1820, and the minimum price reduced to $1.25 per acre. On making the cash payment the pur¬ chaser received a certificate from the register of the district land office, which was assignable, and entitled the holder to possession of the land mentioned therein. When full payment was made, the register of the district office issued a certificate of the fact to the purchaser. When this certificate was deposited in the general land office, the United States, by the President, issued to the owner of such certificate a patent for the land mentioned therein.

The lands of Vigo County were surveyed by Deputy Surveyors William Harris and Arthur Henrie, in the years 1814, 1815 and 1816, and the public sale was made September 13 and 14, 1816, at the Vincennes land office.

Vigo county. - In 1790 the region now known as Indiana and Michigan was organized into a county and named in honor of Gen. Knox. Other counties from time to time were organized from the territory of this county until it was reduced to a narrow tract of land extending from the southern to the northern boundaries of the State. In 1817 the northern part of Knox county was organized into a county called Sullivan county, and in 1518 a portion of Sul¬ livan county was organized into a separate county, and named in honor of Col. Francis Vigo.

Other lands. - Besides the lands sold by the United States to in¬ dividuals, there is the sixteenth section, or its equivalent, in each township, which the Government granted to the townships to aid the people in the maintenance of public schools. These sections are known as school lands.

To aid the State in building canals to connect the navigable waters of Lake Erie and the tributaries of the Ohio, the United States granted to the State great quantities of land, known as canal lands.

Later, certain lands, returned by the deputy surveyors as swamp lands, were granted to the State to aid it in reclaiming swamp and waste lands.