Vincennes Township (part 1 of 14)

Preface

I propose to write a histor}' of YiucenneSj Indiana. This place is the oldest town within the limits of the State of Indiana. With the exception of Detroit, Michigan, which was settled by the French in 16 TO, and of Kaskaskia, Illinois, which was also settled by the French in 1673, it is the oldest town in that vast territorial expanse formerly known as ''The Territory Xorthwest of the Eiver Ohio," out of which the five great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been formed.

In the preparation of the history I will gather material from authentic and reliable sources. Of course some data which I will use have already found their way into print and are now part of the general history of the country. In addition thereto I will consult and be aided by many manuscript documents by learned and truthful men which have never as yet been published. I will also obtain valuable information from (he writings of Bishop Brute, the first Catholic Bishop of Yincennes, from the files of the Western Sun newspaper embracing the years 1807 to 1845, the records of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, reaching from April, 171:9, to the preseni, and Avill trust reliable and well authenticated traditions, and also matters witliin my own personal knowledge with a receptive and retentive memory covering a period of at least sixty-six years.

I will endeavor to make the recital both pleasing and interesting to the reader, and hope to contribute some historic matter concerning the place and its antecedents which have never yet been accessible to the general reader. And above all will endeavor to make the presentation of facts and incidentb both truthful and reliable.

Chapter

A^incennes is situated on the east bank of the AYal^ash River 150 miles above its jimction with the Ohio. It is distant 192 miles west of Cincinnati, Ohio; 151 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri; 236 miles south of Chicago, Illinois; 51 miles north of the Ohio River at Evansville, and 117 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the capital of the State of Indiana.

The United States Government in 1883 made an accurate geodetic survey of the United States. A^incennes was selected as one of the stations for observation. The station herf was located near the geographical centre of the town in the Court House yard off the northeast side of the Court House and is marked by three stones set in concrete, the centre one nearly flush with the surface and bearing an "X^' mark. Latitude of the station point, 38° 40' 39". Longitude west of Greenwich, 5 h, 50 min, .0888 sec, or 87° 31' 28".

It is situated on high grounds beyond the possible reach of inundation and is bounded on the northeast and southwest by beautiful and fertile prairies, and on the southeast by a picturesque range of hills covered in part by forest trees and presenting from the city an attractive and pleasino- landscape view.

The location is peculiarly fortunate and safe, occupying as it does a level depression surrounded on most sides l3y elevated grounds and hills which protect it from the chill v blasts of winter and the destructive storms of summer so prevalent and desolating in portions of the west. The surrounding hills operate as a bulwark to divert and elevate the course of passing winds and thus shield and protect it from their fury, so that during the long period of time the site has 1)een the home of civilization no occasion for alarm has been furnished and not the least damage has been done to life or property within its limits on this account. It has numbered amono; its structures, steeples and towers insecurely anchored, but which stood for years unharmed and until removed by design.

Yincennes in early times was a fine field for sportsmen. As late as 1852 the quail in. the fall of the year invaded the town and as many as desired could be killed without leaving its corporate limits. And during the same time prairie chickens were so numerous that as many as sufficient to satisfy the most grasping sportsman could be killed in its immediate vicinity.

There are on the southeast side of the city three beautiful mounds, the most noted and picturesque evidences of the work of the mound builders to be found anywhere. Tliesc mounds overlook and arc in full view from the city. The} add much to the physical appearance and beauty of the location, and are in fact a handsome background, and from their summits the best view of the city can be obtained. And when viewed from their heights, the city, located as it is upon a level plain, and the streets on either side ornamented with shade trees, appears to advantage and seems as if located in one large, unbroken forest.

There is a fiction connected with these mounds that Gen. Clark, when he approached the place in February, 1779, marched his troops around one of them in a circle many times to impress the inhaljitants with the magnitude of his force. 1^0 such performance ever took place. Gen. Clark says in his account that he did not wish to surprise the people. He met two Frenchmen of the village when he was at Warrior's Is- land, two miles below the place, and by them sent a message to the inhabitants of the town to the effect that he did not wish to surprise them^ and warning all who were friendly to the ^'hair buyer'^ general, as he called Hamilton, to join him in the fort. Warrior's Island in the prairie two miles below Yincennes was in full view of the town and his force could be seen and numbered there, and any such performance as marching around one of the mounds to create a false impression of his force would have been detected and inspired merited contempt and disgust. This alleged performance may be credited to many others designed to magnify the exploits of Clark and invest them with colors of romance akin to the deeds of chivalry. Gen. Clark himself says in his report that when he sent his message to the inhabitants of the town by the two Frenchmen from Warrior's Island that he knew that the French inhabitants were friendly to him, as was also Son/' the most powerful Indian chief in the country. It seems cruel to spoil this romantic story, but regard for truth compels it to be done.

The streets of the city are all level and graded with gravel containing a co-hesive substance wdiich w4ien first taken from its bed is of a dull red color, but upon exposure to the air soon cements and makes a hard and substantial road bed, and also bleaches and presents a bright and shining appearance, and gives the city streets the appearance of threads of silver winding through shaded avenues.

The sidewalks are as level as a sheet of paper, and when improved with granitoid, of which many miles have already l)een constructed, and many more miles are being added each year, gives the city sidewalks that cannot be surpassed anywhere, and but rarely equaled.

The site of Yincennes has always been admired and praised l^y all travellers, who ever visited the place. Count Yolney in his account of his travels refers to it as a garden spot remind- ing him of some of the vine-clad provinces of France. It was in 1796 that he visited the place, and he sa3^s the village on all sides Avas surrounded by the most luxurious vineyards from which abundance of the purest wines were made by the villagers, and that the prairies adjoining the village were covered with the finest fruit orchards he ever saw. This condition as to the fruit orchards continued in the lower prairies until within the memory of men still living. But the vineyards and orchards have now disappeared and their placi-h have been given up to the cultivation of wheat and corn. Mr. Scott, in a gazetteer, published in 1793, says that a pleasant wine was made here of old.

In 1765 Col. Croghan came here to treat Avith the Miami and Illinois tribes. In his report he praised Post Yincennes as "one of the finest situations that can be found." He praised the soil as very rich, "producing wheat and tobacco, and that the tobacco raised here is preferable and superior to that of Maryland and Virginia, and that Post Yincennes is a place of great importance for trade. '^

"In addition to its early settlement and the multitude of interesting incidents connected with its history, its locatioii and surroundings are so attractive that one can readily understand why it was a favorite of the Indians in the earliest times, and subsequently of the French and others of the white race. There are few places where life at all periods has been more thoroughly and philosophically enjoyed than at the 'Old Post' St. Yincents, the modern city of Yincennes.' '

Chapter Ii

Tlio topographical situation and site upon winch the city of Yincennes stands is remarkalde and worth}' of attention. The area it occupies may he called a gravel bank extending from the surface to the water line below. Xo point in tliis area has been pierced and penetrated where this gravel formation has not been exposed. In 1880 the city authorities excavated on Busseron street between Second and Third streets, for a cistern for the use of the fire department. It was excavated to the water line below and gravel and sand were only found in the progress of the work. At a considerable depth below the surface a large isolated lump of coal was found iml)edded in gravel both above and below.

The conformation of the surrounding hills indicate that m the remote past they were the restraining barriers of volumes of water either in a flowing stream or confined lake. Everything around the site of a natural formation indicates the former presence and active agency of water which has been expelled from the surface and the site of the city elevated by some mighty upheaval. A similar but gradual and quiet process has beeU' observable since the adveut of civilized men. In 1804, and for many years after the village was annually surrounded by water and the pirogwa, as they were called, used by the early French settlers, circamnavigated the village at tlood seasons and unloaded their cargoes in the rear of the high ground upon which the Court House stands.

As late as 183G the topographical appearance of the place was unique. The river front at Hart street was called the stone landing. From tliat point abruptly rose and extended along tliG entire river front to the prairie below, a pure gravel hill fifteen or twenty-five feet in height above the present level of the city streets. It presented an abrupt face to the river but gradually sloped in the direction of First street. This gravel hill has been removed by the city authorities to grade streets and fill depressions in other parts of the city. Between this gravel hill and the elevated ground upon which the Court House stands the village was originally located and mostly below Broadway street. This space in many places was unfit for occupation owing to the presence of ponds and surface water. From a point near the intersection of Perry and Fifth streets, running diagonally through the town in the direction of the |)ublic cemetery, the ground was low and little better than a pond, and was covered by water most of the year. Immediately be3ond the high ground upon which the Court House stands was an immense pond called ^'Dinah's ])ond,''" having a depth of several feet, and which was sustained to a considerable depth throughout the year.

The first road leading from Yincennes to the east in the direction of Louisville, Kentucky, was by way of Petersburg over what Avas called the "-''Buffalo trace,'" so-called as stated by old residents who had travelled over it from the fact that it had been originally traced through the intervening forest Ijy the immense herds of buffalo that passed over it in their annual migrations back and forth from the blue grass regions of Kentucky. They crossed the Kentucky River at the '-great crossings'' in Scott county, the Ohio River at the falls at Louisville, and the Wabash at the ford just below this 1)1 ace, and thence to the rich prairie lands of Illinois beyond. This ^'buffalo trace'' was the only and usual route of travel from Yincennes to the east for many 3'ears after ISOi.

As late as 1846 the road to Louisville passed out of town on the southeast and thence to what is now called ''Burnet heights."' and over what was tlien in its course an impassible swamp the road itself being an artificial construction called "^^Cordnroy,'' and animals running at large would mire anywhere outside the roadway itself.

The land on the southeast side of the town as far as the high land beyond was covered with scrub oak bushes that never attained a height greater than ten feet.

The town at first huddled and centered around the present locality of the Catholic Church. The old fort built by Francois Morgan de Yincenne in 1T02, was located on the river between what is now the Catholic Church square and the river, and between Barnet and Yigo streets. The main entrance to the fort was on what is now Church street. The following diagram will give a better idea of the location of the old fort than any mere description.

Old Fort

Around these two places, the church and the fort as a iiucleuS; the town gathered and sprung up. The hotel of Mark Barnet, long tlie principal one, was on the river below

Barnet street, and that of Peter Jones, of a mneh later date, was also on the river l^elow Broadway street where Jordan"* elevator now stands. The space between these points, and extending- a short distance hack from the river, was all the >]3ace occupied by the town. On the northeast side of the (own above Broadway street Avas located the Piankeshaw village and fields, and their Council Honse stood on the high gravel hill where the B. & 0. S. AV. E. K. freight depot no\\ stands. This high hill w^as for many years, and as late as 1850, selected for raising the liberty pole and firing the cannon on the Fourth of July, which was always obser\'ed wiili tlie annual return of that day until Philander Fellows was killed there by a premature explosion.

Tliere lias been expressed by some of late 3'ears a douljt as to tlie location of the old fort. But the doubt thus expressed is not founded upon any authentic or reliable information. The location of the fort as given a1:>ove i< sustained by ail authentic evidence and was always called by the old resideutft of the place ''The Old Bloclc House Lotr The plot of ground was only sulxlivided and sold in parcels as now held as late as 1839. Its location, as stated above, is consistent with all historic references to it, and the happening of known events connected with it. and there is no evidence of its location elsewhere.

According to the report of the State Geologist. Yincennes is situated in one of the richest coal districts in the west. The town itself is built upon coal deposits. The surface within the limits of the city has been pierced in several places and veins of coal have always been found, one layer below the first, and of a superior quality, which will in the future be worked with profit. A coal shaft has been sunk on the east outskirts of the city and superior coal is taken out and has been successfully and profitably operated for several years, and furnishes the cheapest coal used in the city.

Chaptek Iii

The country surrounding Yineennes gives the town a location unsurpassed for heauty. It was originally situated hetween two handsome prairies one above and the other below. The upper prairie extended about t^^'o miles from the limits of the town to Prairie Creek on the north. But this beautiful prairie has been encroached upon by the expansion of the city. Within the past two years it has l^een covered with manufacturing- plants^ Imsiness houses and dwellings and with the same.23rocess continued for a year or two longer it will present a city appearance. But the two prairies l)elow the town remain as they were when the town was settled. They are beautiful and fertile prairies extending from the lower limits of the city some six miles Ixdow. The land was originally granted to the early French settlers by the commandants of the fort. These prairie lands as well as the lots granted in the village were designated upon small slips of paper and no record kept or made of any of the grants so far as known. The titles of the French settlers and claimants rested wholly upon actual possession and occupancy. And the transfer of lots in the village and prairie lands from one to another was made without documentary or written evidence of transfer, but simply Ijy changing possession and occupancy in the same way personal property changed hands. This custom and transfer of real property without any written evidence of transfer gave the commissioners ap|)ointed by tbe Ignited States to examine and report upon the claims of the French to lots and lands much trouble and compelled them to rely upon verbal testimony in such cases. The lots in the village were not numbered, but onh' identified as adjoining lots of other persons. The same disposition of lands was made in the lower and Cathlinette prairies, which adjoin each other in the same imperfect manner and evidenced by descriptions on small slips of paper of which no record was made. The grants in the two prairies l)elow Vincennes except the first granted the church, which contains four arpents, all contain two arpents in front by forty arpents in depth, French measure. A French arpent is a little less than an English acre. The grants in the lov.er prairie were thus divided in small slips so that each proprietor could have a frontage on the Wabash river. The grants in the prairies were not numljered and in transferring them long after deeds were in use, were simply described as bonded by lands of different owners. These prairie lands were afterwards surveyed by the United States government, after it acquired the territor}', and numV)ered. The lower prairie containing b}^ the survey 52 tracts and the Cathlinette prairie 18 tracts. But for years after the survey and numljering of the lands in the two prairies iu all deeds, the same defective mode of conveyance was continued, causing much confusion. The lands in the two prairies below Vincennes were never enclosed by the Frencli. They were cultivated by the owners in a common field. They all lived in the town, French fashion, and went out to the fields each day to cultivate the lands. A turning row was allowed for between each grant to enable the adjoining owners to cultivate their respective portions without trespassing on his neighbor in turning his team. These prairie lands and lots in the town in that part called "French Town,*' were originally, and as late as 1850, owned l)y the French people. But since that time they have changed liands and passed into the possession of other proprietors and but few lots or lands are now owned by the descendants of the original French proprietors.

The lots in the viUage and the hinds in the neighhorhood were all granted hy the commandants of the Post commencing with Francois jMorganne de Yincenne, the huilder of the fort and first conimaiidant^ and all his successors. This is shown by the official report of the judges of the court, dated July 3d, 1790, to Winthrop Sargeant, the secretary of the Territory, in which tliey expressly state that Francois Morgaiine de Yincenne was the builder of the fort and its first commandant. This report can be found in the American state papers and is authentic, and settles beyond question who built the tort.

On the Illinois side of the Wabash adjoining Yincennes is the large and fertile "Allison'^ prairie extending from the river back about eight miles and up and down the river about fifteen miles. This prairie is very rich and produces abundant crops of all kinds and throws upon the Yincennes market as large a volume of produce almost as the County of Knox. It is thickly settled with an industrious population and adds much to the business and prosperity of Yincennes.

By an act of Congress passed March 5, 1791, there was appropriated a large tract of land adjoining Yincennes containing about 5,000 acres for a commons, for the use of all the inhabitants of Yincennes. This tract of land was not enclosed but was used by all the inhabitants of the town for purposes of pasturing their stock of all kinds. This use of the commons continued until the commons lands were sold by the borough trustees from and after 1825. The inhabitants of the town in 1816 joined in a petition to Congress for authority to sell tlie commons lands. In accordance with this petition Congress on April 20, 1818, passed an act transferring the commons lands to the trustees of the borough of Yincennes in trust, however, for the purpose of selling the same, and with the proceeds of sales to drain a pond on the east of the town and to pay any balance remaining to the Yincennes

T'liiversity. The trustees of the horough ]jy an ordinance passed Sei^tember 28. 1818, accepted the trust and proceeded to execute the same. The commons lands were surve3^ed and divided in three divisions, A, B and C divisions. A was divided into 138 lots of 5 acres each, division B was divided into 20-1 lots of 10 acres each and division C was divided into D6 lots of twenty acres each. The lots in these three divisions were sold Ijy the trustees of the borough at different times from and after 1825, and are now held by individual proprietors under the sales inade by the trustees. But the pond adjoining the city Avas not drained by the borough trustees and no part of the proceeds were paid to the Vincennes University.

On the Illinois side of the Waljash Eiver a chain of hills rise near the river and extend along its bank about three miles above and which add much to the scenery surrounding Vincennes. On the Indiana side of the river the picturesque hills on which Fort Knox Avas erected, rise from the water's edge and add much to the scenery in that locality. And these hills commencing at Fort Knox with slight interruptions extend continuously in a circle around Vincennes, terminating with Bunker Hill below the limits of the city. Upon these hills thus surrounding the city, on the east and south, beautiful sites for sulmrban residences are afforded Avliich are being rapidly taken up by wealthy citizens and fine private residences erected thereon. And on these hills on the east is erected the Knox County Poor Asylum, a fine brick structure. On Avhat is usually called the ^'Highlands,'' a splendid structure has been built, some three miles from the city, but in full view from all parts of it, for St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum.

Vincennes has four magnificent parks in close proximity to the city. ''Harrison Park'' is situated in the city limits in Xorth Vincennes and is finely shaded and ])rovided with Avalks and seats for the convenience of visitors. ""Fairview Park," also well shaded and improved, near the limits of the city on the northeast. "Fairgronnd Park,'' a little farther out, is also well shaded and has nnmerons bnil dings for the nse and convenience of visitors. "Harmonic Park/' a half mile still farther out, is also well shaded and improved. All these j^arks can be reached by the cars of the electric railroad. In the summer they are daily resorted to by all parties for picnics, recreation or pleasure and no better places can be found in the vicinity of any city for tlie purpose of amusement and pleasure and escaping from the heat of the city.

Yincennes is blessed with driveways in all directions around the city. And these afford any variety of route and scenery that may be desired. On one route the driver can pass over picturesque hills on a road well improved. On another he can pass over a road well graded and improved and as level as a floor. And on another he can pass over the most beautiful undulating country to be found anywhere. And on another, along a shaded road running by a running stream, which tends to moisten and cool the air. x\nd on the other side of the Wabash he can drive either up or down the river on its banks, well shaded, and on a road as smooth as possible. And on any of the routes he may take he can drive for an evening airing a distance of ten miles through beautiful rural scenery and return to the city without passing twice over the same roadwav.

Chapter Iv

The first houses erected in Vincennes by the French settlers as well as those erected by their Creole descendants, were of timbers set upon end, thatched with straw and plastered with adobe. They were durable and lasting structures. Some &uch hoiicec^ were knoAvn to have stood for upwards of a hundred j'eai.?, and were still in good preservation when torn down to give place to more modern structures. They even resisted much longer the destroying ravages of lire than frame houses. Oiie of them caught fire in the early part of the night between the years 1840 and 1850, and after burning all night, with the aid of the volunteer fire department, was consumed as the sun was casting its first rays over the eastern horizon. They wert comfortable residences, being warm in winter and cool in summer. The first church erected in this way for St. Francis Xavier was used for church purposes for about eighty years, and then for a pastoral residence many years afterwards. Xone of the structures now remain in Vincennes.

The building occupied by the Territorial Government during the time Vincennes was the capitol of the Territory, wai^ situated on the southwest side of Main street about niidwav between Second and Third streets. It was a two story frame building which about fifty years ago was removed to the southeast side of Upper Third street and located just below "Harrison" Park, where it yet stands in a good state of pretervation.

some brick residences. These remained as late as 18-14, but have since entirely disappeared. The brick in these buildings was used in the constrnction of brick buildings in various parts of the city, and may be said to be the beginning of the erection of brick buildings in the city. The survey upon which these buildings stood on the failure of the Steam Mill Company was mortgaged to the United States for $100,000, and the title subject to the mortgage passed to Hall Xeilson, of Washington The United States was subjected to a long litigation to establish its claim, which was not finally settled until 1880, when the government claim was finally quited. The Government then had the survey subdivided into lots and sold all the lots except that portion fronting on the river which was donated to the city for a public park, and is now known as "Harrison'^ Park.

connected with the old mansion have been circulated. One to the effect that there was a subterraneous passage leading from the mansion to the river as a means of escape in case of an}^ hostile attack. Xo such passageway ever had any existence. The mansion itself was the best protection in case oi danger of any place in the vicinity. Another to the effect that in tlie basement there was a duno'eon in which slaves and others were confined. No dungeon was ever in the basement. These stories are akin to anotlier that the huge boulder in the yard of the Eabb residence on Sixth street was the trystring place where Jefferson Davis and Jessie Taylor often met. Jessie Taylor left the place when an infant and never returned to it, and Jefferson Davis was never in Yincennes.

general left in ISll, it was oceupicd hy his son, John C'leves Symmes Harrison, who was as popular and as great a favorite with the people as his father. He was a cultured man. He married the daughter and only child of G-eneral Pike, who was equally cultured. The Vincennes Lihrary was kept in the mansion during the time it was oc-cupied by Symmes Harrison, and it continued to be the resort of the elite and cultured of the place. When he left, a public banquet was tendered him by the citizens of the place, at which he delivered an address. In part, he said: "I had fondly hoped to spend my life here, but cruel fate has decreed otherwise. But rest assured I can never forget the place or the many friends I leave behind me.^^ He died at his father's home in North Bend on the Ohio Eiver, October 30, 1830, of typhoid fever. A fine obituary notice of his death was published in the Western Sun.

After S3anmes Harrison left, the mansion was occupied by G-en. James P. Drake, who was the receiver of public monies at this place, and kept his office there. Gen. Drake was one of the leading men of the State, and was afterwards elected Treasurer of State and removed to Indianapolis, where he died after 1850.

After Gen. Drake left the mansion was greatly neglected and fell into the hands of men who appropriated it to improper use. Gen. John Myers, who lived near on Second street, used it for storing his wheat and corn. And after the completion of the railroad to St. Louis it was occupied by James Gattan as a hotel. But thanks to its durable construction it exhibits no signs of misuse and is now as well preserved and substantial as any building in Vincennes.

It was at the Harrison mansion that the celebrated interview took place between Gen. Harrison and Chief Tecumseh. This interview is often referred to as a treaty. But it was no treatv and was not intended as such. It was called bv Gen.

Harrison for the sole purpose of a friendly exchange of greetings. Gen. Harrison aware of the intrigues and mac-hinatioii of that celebrated chief requested him to come and visit him and that he would assure him of the friendly good will of the government towards the Indian tribes. He was requested to come unarmed and assured he would receive kind and courteous tratment. He agreed to come and did come. But instead of coming unarmed he came with 70 armed warriors, who encamped for the night on Prairie creek, near the preseu t residence of Mr. Kelso. Gen. Harrison, aware of his thus coming with an armed force, prepared to meet him in an interview on the following da}', August 15, 1810. For precaution in case of necessity G«n. Harrison summoned a numbei of his friends, who were well armed and occupied places in the hallway and circular parlor of the mansion This interview was held on the southwest front of the mansion in a grove of trees that surrounded it on that side Some conflicting statements have been made as to where this interview took place. But there should Ix' no doubt about it. Eobert G. McClure and Elihu Stout and many others who were part of Gen. Harrison's guard at the time all stated that this interview was held in the grove in front of the porch on the southwest side of the mansion. Gen. Harrison never left the porch and Tecumseh refused to take a seat on it, but stood in the grove. Gen. Harrison 2:)roceeded to address Tecumseh and his warriors and to assure them of the friendly feeling and good wishes of the government towards the Indians, and was willing to do all possible to promote their comfort and happiness and iDreserve peace. Tecumseh, who understood Englisii imperfectly, here interrupted the general and told the interpreter to tell him he lied. The interpreter fearing if the exact language was given it would produce trouble modified it. But Tecumseh interrupted him and told him to state his exact language and to tell Gen. Harrison he lied when he said the government was friendly to the Indians, but had cheated them and stolen their lands. When this was communicated to the general he terminated the interview and Tecumseh and liis warriors withdrew. This porch and the grove of trees that surrounded it where this interview was held remained until 1840. It was here the great mass meeting and barbecue was held during the exciting political campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too'^ in 1840. The meeting was composed of such numbers that four speakers of national reputation addressed it at the same time. The names of these four speakers were George Gr. Dunn of Bedford, Eichard W. Thompson of Terre Haute, George H. Proffit of Petersburg and John Ewing of Vincennes.

The grounds around the Harrison mansion, extending to the river, were artistically laid out and filled with the choicest fruits and flowers. It was in fact a thing of beauty and a joy and remained in good preservation as late as 1855. The river front and for some distance back was enclosed with a picket fence of locust timbers firmly planted in the ground. The square in front of the mansion, on laying out Harrison's addition, was reserved for a park. The brick used in the construction of the mansion were manufactured by Samuel Thompson, who received for this work 400 acres of land about three miles above the city on the Terre Haute road.

The second brick building erected in Vincennes was the old seminary, which occupied four of the present city squares, bounded by Fourth and Sixth streets and Perry and Hart streets. This seminary was 1)uilt in 1807 and was intended for use of common schools. It was sold by the school authorities in 1839 to Bishop Hailandiere, who started St. Gabriel's College there under the managment of the Udist fathers, who conducted the college until 1844, when they left the diocese and went to New Orleans. It was then converted into an orphan asylum and so continued until the orphans were removed to Terre Haute. The Seminary was then turned over to the Sisters of Providence who established there St. Rose Acadeni}'. Francis Silas Chatard, the present bishop of the diocese, subdivided the square and opened Fifth and Seminar}" streets through it. The old Seminary was torn down in 1883 and the lots of the subdivision have all been sold except the part reserved for St. Eose Seminary, and are now held by private persons, and for the most part covered by fine residences.

As late as 1850 the survey out of which has been carved iu part Judah's addition, was enclosed with a rail fence and used for farming purposes. The part of the town back of the Court House was unoccupied and used for a race track. That portion extending back from Sixth street was Marachall'b field, and extended to the limits of the town and was culiivated in corn. This was divided into lots by Alvin W. Tracy, his executor, in 1855, and the lots sold. All that part of the city above Hart street was vacant except the Harrison mansion, the former residence of Judge Parke and that of Judge Law between them and the Judah square, afterwards called "the Baty place.'' In 1857 the Lutheran Church on Eighth street was built and was then the sole and solitary struetui-e of any kind ijii that quarter.

So late as 1850 the Imiklings of the Steam Mill Company on the river front on what is now "Harrison"' Park remained in a good state of preservation. The main structure of bricK was 700 feet in length and two stories high. It was painted white. From the second story extended a log carriage-way to the river upon which logs floated down the river were carried Ijy steam power into the mill. The Terre Haute Stale Road passed l)eneath this log-way. Immediately above the mill was a tall, brick malt house, and still farther up a large distillery. Around this mill as late as 1850 there were still standing manv larae two-storv brick buildino-s for business and residence purposes. The surroundings indicated that regular streets and paved sidewalks had been constructed. The houses were all finel}^ finished. The Masonic Hall was in one. of them and the walls were beautifully frescoed with tlio symbolical emblems of the order.

The building occupied by the Bank of Vincennes, and subsequently by act of the State Legislature in 1816 adopted as the State Bank of Indiana, and which bank gave rise to the celebrated quo warranto proceedings in the Circuit and Supreme Courts of the State, was located in a brick building on the east corner of First and Broadway streets.

The first building used for court purposes was of logs, situated on the north corner of Second and Broadway streets, and which after it was abandoned for such purposes was, while Fort Knox, was occupied by Federal troops used for hospital purposes for sick, wounded and disabled soldiers.

The second building used for court purposes was purchased from Eobert Buntin, and was located on the west corner of Fourth and Buntin streets, and the county jail and estray pen were on the north corner of the same streets.

The present court square was purchased from Jacob Kuykendall, September 20, 1830, and has ever since been used for court and county purposes.

The old fort built by Francois Morgan de Vincenne in 1702 was built of logs and remained until 1820, when it was torn down and the I'ogs used in its construction were used in building private houses in various parts of the city, and which houses were durable and remained until torn down. One of the houses built of logs from the old fort was situate I on Low^er Sixth street near the Catholic cemetery, and was only torn down a few years ago.

The Old Fort

The old fort on the WaV)ash at Vincennes owed its origin to considerations of military necessity. The French were aware as early as 1650 of the dangers that would in the future imperil their possessions on this continent and prudently endeavored to counteract them. Their colonies on the St. Lawrence river in the north, were widely separated from those on the Gulf of Mexico in the south. It was necessary for protection in a military point of view to connect them by a direct communication. This could not be done along the Atlantic coast as the English, their menacing and hostile rivals, occupied the intervening space in that quarter. It was only feasible by a line of forts through the unbroken and unexplored wilderness of the West. This connection was determined on as early as 1650 by the French ministry in control of affairs. But to execute it was a work requiring time. A survey had to be made and a practicaljle route adopted. It required years to explore this vast expanse of country through which the proposed connection was to be made. Exploring parties would have to grope their way through this extended stretch of wilderness, not only presenting natural obstacles, but filled with savage and in many cases hostile Indian tribes. The entire field stretching for thousands of miles had to be viewed in order to select the most feasiljle route and locate the forts in the proper places. The Mississippi river flowing almost directly north and south, was a natural highway affording easy ingress to the north from the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Lawrence river and the great chain of lakes connected with it were a natural highway opening the heart of the continent to ap- roach from the Atlantic. It was determined to connect these two great natural highways. The St. Lawrence route was direct and continous from the Atlantic to Detroit river. But here its direction was broken and only sustained by a long detour to the north and then an equal distance to the south. To ayoid this circuity and waste of time, it was determined to make the connection from Detroit to the Mississippi at the junction of the Ohio. The site of Vincennes was selected as the place to locate one of the forts. This route was practica- ))le and afforded a water communication in a direct course almost the entire distance. The waters of the Maumee, the St. Joseph, the St. Mary and Wabash riyers, presented natural facilities for cominunication only interrupted by a yery narrow portage. This diyide separating the waters of these riyers is so narrow and contracted that the crystal drops falling on the earth from their home in the sky, are at first puzzled to determine which course to take, whether to seek the cold and sparkling waters of the Atlantic through the gi'eat lakes and the St. Lawrence riyer or the warm and rosy bosom of the Gulf of Mexico through the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi riyers. This route had been selected and determined upon by the French government before 1700. It was supposed for many years that tlie "Ouabasche" was the river that emptied into the Mississippi Eiver. Judge Law in his address of February 22, 1838, says: ''It is a singuhir fact that the Wabash river was known and navigated by the whites long before the Ohio was known to exist."' But this is not a singular fact and results as a natural sequence from the way the country was settled. This continent was first settled by the Europeans along the Atlantic coast, but the Allegheny mountains and the Blue Eidge were barriers forbidding the discovery and settlement of the Mississippi valley from that direction. This could only be done Ijy way of the St. Lawrence and its connecting lakes. And this is the way it was explored and settled. The head waters of the Wabash river being nearer this route of travel from the north was necessarily discovered and navigated before the Ohio.

The old fort here was Iniilt in the fall of 1702. The first of the military forts in the Xorth of the contemplated chain built by the French, was at Detroit in 1701. The next year Francois Morgan de Yincenne, according to the Quebec annals, a trusted officer in the service of the French, was sent with a military force to Iniild three forts on the route selected for the chain of French forts to connect Canada and Louisiana. One at the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary rivers where the city of Fort Wayne now stands, two on the Wabash river, one about seven miles below the present city of Lafayette called "Ouianon/" The third at the site of Vincennes. These forts were certainly built in the order named as that would naturally folloA\', considering the point where the force engaged in their construction started to do the work which was Detroit.

It was the custom of the Frencli in all tlieir explorations and settlements on this coniinent to operate with two forces, the sword and the cross. The one represented the civil, and the other the spiritual power. Aecordiiigly the force tliat came here with de Vincenne in IT 02 to biiikl the fort, and thus hiy the foundation of civilization in these parts, was accompanied by a French Jesuit missionary, who in the fall of 1702 celebrated the holy sacrifice of the mass at this place, in the open air, before the troops, the villagers and thousands of Indians. This mass was said near where the fort was to be built and near where the cathedral now stands. This act of the Jesuit missionary is recited in the Quebec annals and may be taken as the date when the site of Yincennes was consecrated and dedicated to civilization and Christianity.

When the French came here in 1702 to build the fort they were welcomed and kindly received by the Indian tribes inhabiting the Wal3ash country about here. It is certain they gave them no active opposition but made them concessions of land in the village and surrounding country. It is stated in documents still preserved in Quebec that the Indians assisted the French in building both the church and the fort. And this is reasonable to believe from the known amicable relations that always existed between the French and the various Indian tril)es, with whom they came in contact. The French and Indian tribes always lived in peace and concord. Judge Law says in his adress of Februar}', 1838: ^'The French have always succeeded in conciliating the Indians and gaining their coniidence and good will, while the Anglo Saxon has made but little 'progress in claiming their confidence and affection."

The countr}^ around Vincennes has been subject to the sovereignty of several different nationalities. It was first claimed, occupied and colonized by the French. It remained subject to this jurisdiction until the year 1763, when by the treaty of Paris of that year, it was ceded to Great Britain. It remained subject to that power until the capture of Ivaskaskia and other French posts on the ^lississippi river in

July, 1778, and the capture of the old fort here in February, 1779, by Virginia troops under command of George Rogers Clark. It then became a part of the commonwealth of old Virginia. It so remained until 1784, when that state ceded to the general government the territory northwest of the river Ohio, only stipulating in the act of cession that the territory thus ceded, should be divided into new states and admitted into the Union without slavery. And in accordance with this stipulation in the grant of A^'irginia to the general government, the live states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, ^lichigan and Wisconsin, have been carved out of the territory and admitted into the Union as free states.

The old fort here was called by many different names but never during all the time the French continued in possession, was it ever called by the name of ^'Sackville.'^ It was never so called until the British acquired the Northwest Territory after the close of the old French war by the treaty of Paris. The British wishing to obliterate from the minds of the inhabitants all recollection of the French regime named the fort here "Sackville." This was intended as a compliment to Sir Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorset, an English scholar and statesman, who was a great favorite of the English government and who was employed in many important foreign missions. On the death of Lord Burleigh he succeeded him as Prime Minister of England, in which capacity he was regarded in sagacity and fidelity, as equal to his great predecessor, and in his honor the English named the fort here. But the object of the English in naming the fort failed of its purpose. The French did not approve or accept the name and never as long as the fort stood referred to it in any other way than the ''old fort," and would not have known what fort was referred to as "Sackville/' occupied this site was ''Chippccoke/' But I do not know upon what authority the statement is made. Xo reliable document calling the Indian village upon the Wabash at this place l)y that name has yet come under my observation. x\s to the different names the place has been called, Bishop Brute says: "Few places have received so many different appellations in the public documents either of old Virginia, of Congress or even of the territory where it would seem it would be best preserved ; few had their orthography more wonderfully diversified. Beside the "Ancient Poste/"'* "The Poste/' "Au Poste/' "Post Ouabache," "Post St. Francis Xavier/' and finally "Poste Vincents."

The town was never called A'incennes until after IT 36. It has been frequently stated that the place received its name from a place so called in the vicinity of Paris in France. But this is a mistake. The place derives its name from no city in France or elsewhere, but from the French officer who came here in 1702, and built the fort. And this name w^as given the place to jDcrpetuate the memory and heroism of its founder. This was done in consequence of the tragic death and self sacrifice of de Vincenne in a disastrous battle with the Chickasaw Indians. In 1736 the French to force their way and complete their chain of forts, were at war with these Indians who inhabited the country midway between here and the fort at Vicksburg. It was determined by the French in order to complete the chain of forts, to attack them both from the north and south. Accordingly two armies were organized for the purpose. The force from the south was under the command of Bienville. The one from the north under the command of D'Artegette and Francois JMorgan de Vincenne. It was intended the forces should form a conjunction before risking a decisive battle with the Chickasaws. But the forces from the south under Bienville were delayed and failed to form a junction. D'Artegette, unfortunately determined to attack the Indians with the northern forces alone. He did so and was successful in several minor engagements and captured several of their smaller villages. When they approached the stronghold of the Chickasaws in the vicinity of the present city of Memphis, they halted before it in hopes they would be joined by the force from the south under Bienville. As long as that officer remained in the vicinity in a threatening attitude, the Indians and French remained quietly confronting each other. When Bienville retreated with his force and returned to Louisiana, the savages Ijecame emboldened and attacked the French, and defeated them in a bloody engagement. In consequence of this defeat, ^I. D'Artegette, de Vincenne and Father Antoninus Senat, then pastor of St. Francis Xavier church here, who accompanied the expedition as spiritual adviser, were all taken prisoners by the Indians. Father Senat and de Yincenne could have easily escaped with the remnant of the troops that retreated, and came back, and were entreated to do so. The retreat was conducted by M. Yoisin, a young French officer, but both Father Senat and de Yincenne, with self sacrificing devotion of true heroes and martyrs, refused to join the retreating forces and thus save tliemselves, but leave the wounded and dying soldiers to the fury of the savages. Tliey remained with the wounded soldiers and were l)oth Imrned at the stake on Easter Sunday, K3G. This day has always been observed as a holiday in all Catholic churches throughout the world and was a fitting day for the introduction of two martyr saints into the glories of the church triumphant. And from the time the troops who survived and returned to the fort here, this place has been called Alncennes and will ever be called as long as the recollection of lieroism and noble deeds will be appreciated among men. And thus it is clear Yincennes derives its name from an honorable source in perpetuation and remembrance of its founder. On this subject. Bishop Brute, says: "Al- though W8 find no deliberation^ no special act, no express monnment for attaching the name of dc Vincenne to tlie Post, we see how effectually that honorable gratitude gave his name to iV'

Of the three forts built by Francois Morgan de Vincenne in 1702;, the one at this place was destined to endure the longest and become of historic importance. The one built at the junction of the St. Mary^s and St. Joseph's rivers was destroyed by the Indians and the remains seen and described by Gen. Wayne in 1794. The one called Outanon, on the Wabash, was destroyed by the Indians in 1765. But the old fort built here remained until torn down after 1816.

Vincennes was originally settled by the French, as already stated. When they came here and settled they found the country filled with various Indian tribes living together in peace and amity. These tribes were Delawares^ Kickapoos, Mascontens, Miamis, Shawnees, Pottawatomies and Piankeshaws. This place^, from its location on high ground when the whole surrounding country was subject to overflow, made the site of Yincennes a favorite place of resort and abode for the Indian tribes. When the French came here they associated and affiliated with them on terms of equality. The marriages between the French and the Indian races were frequent. From this admixture of blood a dual race was produced called ''Creoles/' This race was for many years the dominant race about here in both town and country, and could, as late as 1855, control all elections in Knox county. The Creole French occupied almost exclusively all tliat part of town below Main street, and the Lower and Cathilinette prairies. Their Indian ancesti'y was easily discernible in their personal appearance with high cheek bones and straight, black hair. They stood erect and held their head high and walked with long strides, and carried their persons upright and as straight as an airow. Many of tlie Creoles were here until long after 1850. But very few specimens are left now surviving in the town or country.

This mixed stock embodied in combination the qualities of the two races or sources of derivation. They inherited all the virtues as well as the vices of the French and Indian in combination. From the French vivacity and good nature, and from the Indian wild, roving and irascible traits of character. The result was that the Creole population was of rather a w Jd and intractable disposition, and mingled with it a love of ease and pleasure. Labor was distasteful and only performed as a matter of necessity to provide for the wants of life and not from any desire to accumulate worldly goods and possessions. Hunting, fishing and dancing and all manner of sports and amusements Avere practiced. The sanu social state was observable here during the Creole supremacy as exists today in the French Arcadian settlements of Lousiana back of the Mississippi River. The dance was a favorite pastime, and the sound of the fiddle and the tread of feei to its strains were more frequently heard than that of the loom or the anvil. This has bsen so within the memory of men still living who well remember the Joyous, free and easy times when Mitchel Eichardville was king of the ball room and led the dance with the strains of his fiddle, and the stamp of his right foot at one and the same time making as mu-h noise with the one as the other.

A favorite dance with the F'rench was the king ball on New Year's niglit. On this occasion the young man chosen as king for the ball had the privilege of selecting his queen for the dance and during the evening. The king and queen were tht most important persons at the ball and enjoyed themselves to their heart's content. The next day the king was expected, by custom, to present his queen with a new dress.

Chicken fighting and horse racing were also resorted to, and were favorite diversions among the Creole French, and all manner of means devised by them to pass away the time and enjoy life without work.

The Creoles were a very sociable and hospitable people. On Easter Sunday it was an invariable custom among them to visit their neighbors and acquaintances and make presents of colored eggs. On Christmas day it was expected that all among them, both 3'oung and old, male and female, should exchange presents with their friends and acquaintances. On N'ew Year's day it was general for them to exchange visits from house to house, and every one was welcome to any house and was expected to partake of the many good things provided for the occasion.

Fighting was common among them and all the Creole men were boastful of their personal prowess. But these fights were all in old fashioned style with such arms only as nature provided. Up to 1844 the elections were attended in the town by all the voters and they were not confined to the townships in which they resided. The great volume of the vote was cast here at the county seat. Election day was a great event, and the voters generally flocked to the county seat to vote and see the sights usual on such occasions. It was the time set apart by custom to settle personal disputes by trial, by battle and many difficulties were adjusted that way on election day. Tiie result was that thousands flocked here on election day to witness these personal encounters. Persons yet living in Vmcennes can remember that on election day as many as a dozen fights would take place one after the other, and when one would cry, "Hold, enough V hostilities would instantly cea&e and the difficulty was settled and at rest. The main battle ground was the intersection of Main and Third streets, and thousands there assembled to witness these pugilistic exercises, and elevated places of observation were at a premium.

The only vehicles to be seen on the streets of Vmcennes as late as 1845 were French carts called "calesclie/' One of them would be a curiosity now. They were creations of necessity, as the old Creole French in their isolated condition here were cut off in a manner from the outside world. These French carts were of home made manufacture. They were twowheeled vehicles with shafts for only one horse. They were entirelv constructed of wood without the use of anv metal whatever. They were used for hauling wood and produce oi every kind, and for every kind of farm work. They were the only vehicle provided for the use of the family either male oi female. In these carts, the body of which was in size and shape very similar to a large dry goods box, an entire Creole family, man, wife and children, would huddle together and jostle along going to church or on a visit, the horse maintaining a brisk trot, and the heads of the household bobbing up and down at a lively rate.

These Creole customs and practices were legitimate fruits of the blending of the French and Indian races. They were all professed Catholics in religion, but paid little attention to the precepts of the church. They, as a general rule, only entered the church on three occasions during life. First, when baptised; then when married, and lastly when carried there to have the last rites of the church performed over their dead bodies. When Father Flaget, afterwards first bishop of Bardstow^n, Ky., came here as resident pastor, December 21, 1792, he tried to curb the Creole population and reform their habits and enforce conformity to church discipline. He condemned their wild and roving habits and fr>olous amusements as being contrary to the teachings of the church. He encouraged agriculture and the mechanic arts and started a free industrial school to instill into their minds habits of industry. He urged them to see that their children attended religious schools where they would form habits of honor, piet^ and virtue and become an honor to their name and a consolation to their grey hairs. He exhorted them to fence about their homes so they would be structures of Christian virtue. He exhorted them to be faithful Catholics and their country would be proud of them as models of religious enlightenment and patriotism. Ite accomplished much good, but was recalled before he had finished his good work.

were held here among the Creoles, as ^vell as other settlers from A^irginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky long after the passage of the ordinance of 1T8T and the state constitution of 1816. In 1830 the trustees of the Borough directed the Marshal to take a census of the population. He did so, and his official return to the Trustees shows the following result: White males, 768; white females, 639; free black males, 63 ; free black females, 63 ; slave males, 12 ; slave females, 20; total population, 1,565.

Vincennes was for a long time after it was founded an outpost in the wilderness. It had no communication with the colonies on the x\tlantic and was to them a ''terra incognita." But the formation of the Territorial Government in 1800 changed all this. When the first comers after that arrived here they found a French settlement speaking that language exclusively, and no more than a dozen English speaking people in the place. The Creole population never learned to speak the English language. When the Territorial Government was formed and Vincennes named as the capital, the seaboard States poured their overflow population composed of u restless, battling swarm of home seekers through the Alleghenies out upon the rich prairies of the west. All these adventurous men directel their steps to Vincennes as a common mecca. As the curtain rose upon the advancing Saxon and Celt they beheld with awe the mystery of a new civilization. The native Indian and Latin races mingled in fraternal accord on the banks of the W^abash. The town was a marvel, a page torn from some book of enchantment. A fragment of Europe suddenly dropped in his path could scarce have awakened more astonishment. He beheld long lines of whito houses thatched with straw and covered with adobe, each with its arcade festooned with trailing vines and half hidden in season under the bloom of peach, cherry and apple trees. In the centre the frowning walls of a citadel overlooking a bel - fried church, and a necropolis entombing a century's dead.

Its streets thronged with brightly dressed, dark-eyed women and well-dressed men chatting in a strange tongue. These people were all seekers after pleasure and social enjoyment, and were not wedded to the acquisition of wealth. He mingled with them in their balls and festive days. In the church the altar blazing with lights before which robed priests chanted Latin prayers and intoned the music of the mass. With such scenes were the first adventurers of the English speaking race confronted on their arrival among the ancient inhabitants of Vincennes. But what became of this civilization ? Where are the lords of the forest who reigned with unbounded sway over these fertile regions? Where the Delawares, the Kickapoos, the Miamis, the Shawees, the Pottawatomies ; nay ! even the half civilized Piankeshaws who with their village occupied one-half the town? Their bows are broken, their council fires extinguished, the graves of their fathers deserted. The white man came, civilization attended him, and desolation and death followed in his train. And what became of the patriarchs of the Post, the gay, the polite, the lively and the hospitable French and Canadians who settled it? The dance has ceased, the sound of the viol is no longer heard. The Anglo-Saxon has usurped the place of the descendants of St. Louis. How many French families whose members were formerly almost as numerous as the leaves ol the forest are now represented by any living members ? Where are the Busserons, the Lasselles, the Geueroms, the Andres, the Burdalows, the Cardinals, the Bazadous, the Amlins, the Richardvilles, the Laderouts, the Eacines? They are all gone. This result is attributable in part to the frequent intermarriage of blood relations, and the impoverishment of the stock. In part from having come in contact with the Anglo-Saxon, that strong and aggressive blood race that al)- sorbs, eliminates, appropriates, enslaves or extinguishes ali races that come into its way, and the result is the stronger has supplanted the weaker.

As long as the French held possession of the Northwest Territory there were no courts of justice at A^incennes or anj'- where else in the French settlements, so far as known. All matters of dispute were decided by the various commandants of the Post, who were de Yincennes, St. Auge, LeGrand and Legras. All concessions of land to the inhabitants were made by them on little slips of paper. Of all these transactions no record was ever made so far as known, and the slips of paper evidencing concessions of land were not recorded. The transfers of land were made by actual transfer of possession as personal property was transferred. This was much the same as the old livery of seizure in English practice. This manner of transferring lands' without record or deed gave the United States commissioners appointed to adjust French grants much trouble, as these old French grants had to be ascertained and adjusted by parole testimony.

After the English acquired the territory in 1763 they only held it until 1779, a period of nineteen years, and nothing was done by them in the matter of establishing civil government in the Northwest Territory.

When Virginia acquired the territory in 1779 by her troops under George Eogers Clark, in the spring of that year an act was passed by the Virginia Legislature for the government of the territory thus acquired. John Todd was appointed ^'Lieutenant of the Country and Comnwnder-in-ChieC He immediately came to Vincennes and issued a proclamation announcing his power and purposes. In June, 1779, he organized ''A Court for the District of Post Vincmnes/' This court possessed both civil and criminal jurisdiction and was com^^osed of the following judges: F. Busseron, L. E. Doline, Pierre Gamelin and Pierre Queray. This court continued in existence until it was superseded by the courts of the United States, appointed under the ordinance of 1787.

When the United States acquired the territory steps were taken by Congress to establish civil government for the territory. On the 13th of July, 1787, an act of Congress was passed organizing the ''Territory Northwest of the River Ohio/' Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed the first governor of the territory. In January, 1790, he sent Wilthrop Sargeant, secretary of the territory, to Post Vincennes to organize the county. Sargeant accordingly came to Vincennes: and did this in the summer of 1790, and named the county he organized ''Knox/' after Gen. Henry Knox, the secretary of war. The court established Ijy him for Knox county was called ''Gvieral Quarter Sessions of the Peace/' It held its first session at the house of John Small, who was appointed sheriff on July -1, 1790. There were present at this session as judges, Antoine Gamelin, Paul Gamelin, Francois Busseron, James Johnson and Luke Decker. Samuel Baird was appointed clerk of this court. It continued until Indiana Territory was organized in 1800.

There was a court of ''Oyer and Terminer, and General Jail Delivery and Nisi Priiis" held at Vincennes in October, 1795, before John Cleves Symmes, senior judge of the Territory Northwest of the Ohio. But little business was done at this session, and was the only term of said court ever held here of which there is any record.

"When Indiana Territory was organized. Henry Vanderburg, William Clark and John Griffin were appointed the first Federal judges of the Territory. Under the Federal Government there were two Courts that exercised jurisdiction in this countv. One was called the ''General Court/' and exercised jurisdiction tlirouglioiit the territory. The other was called ^'Common Pleas/' and its jurisdiction was limited to the several counties and possessed jurisdiction in probate matters. Henry Hurst was clerk of both these courts from their organization until the}^- were superseded by the courts organized by the State Government in 1816.

Since the organization of the State Government probate matters have been transacted by different courts. The first in point of time was the ''Court of Probate.'' The following judges presided in this court in the order named: William Caruthers, William K. McCall, John Ewing, John B. Drennon, Henry Ruble^ Mark Barnett, William L. Coleman, William Polke, John Moore and Eichard P. Price. This -court was adjourned sine die Saturda}^, August 15, 1829.

The above court was succeeded by the ''Probate CouH," which was organized September 7, 1829. The following persons presided as judges in this court in the order named: William Polke, George W. Ewing, Abner T. Ellis, Eobert N. Carnan, George E. Gibson, Eobert P. McCounghey, John H. Harrison, James Thorne and Clark Willis. This court was m 1852 abolished by act of the Legislature.

The Probate Court was succeeded by the ''Court of Common Pleas." This court was organized in this county Jaaiiary 3, 1853. This was not strictly speaking a county court. It v\^as called a district L-ourt and eml)raced several counties, presided over by the same judge. This district, in which IVnox county was situated, was composed of the counties oi Xnox, Daviess, Martin and Pike. This court had jurisdiction -of all probate matters and civil cases when the amount in controversy did not exceed one thousand dollars, but not in cases of slander or where the title to real estate was involved, and in criminal cases less than felony. The following persons presided as judges in this court in this county in the order named: Eichard A. Clements, James C. Deniw, Eich- arc! A. Clements. Jr., "William E. Gardner and James T. Pierce. This conrt was al)olished by an act of the Legisiatnre in 18T3, and its jurisdiction and business was transferred to the Circuit Court.

The most important court in dignity and jurisdiction in the county has ever been the Circuit Court. It has always possessed general common law and equity powers in all cases, both civil and criminal. It was first created by an act of the Territorial liCgislature passed at Corydon in 1814. The first court met in this county May 9, 1814, but no business was transacted, as only the clerk and sheriff were present, but no president judge. The same thing occurred at the following August term, as no president judge appeared. The first term of this court at which any business was transacted was held March 16, 1815, when Isaac Blackford appeared as the president judge, and Daniel Sullivan and James B. McCall a^ associate judges. It was for many years that in this court in addition to the president judge, who was to be a la^v^^er, there were two associate judges who were not necessarily required to be lawyers. The president judges in this court have been in the order named: Isaac Blackford, David Raymond, William Prince, Thomas H. Blake, General W. Johnson, Jonathan Doty, Jacob Call, John R. Porter, John Law, General W. Johnson, Amory Kinney, Elisha M. Huntington, William P. Bryant, John Law, Samuel B. Gookins, Delano R. Eccles, Alvin P. Hovey, William E. Xiblack, Ballard Smith, Michael F. Burke, James C. Denny, John Baker, !N"ewton F. Malott, George W. Shaw, and Orlando H. Cobb, the present incumbent.

Chapter Yiil

Vincennes enjoys the mnqiie distinction as having been known and recognized by name long before she was legally ])orn. It was frequently mentioned as ^'Borough of A^ineennes'' in many official documents and reports and acts of legislatures before any specific act incorporating it was ev^er passed. It was referred to as the ^'Borough of Yincennes" in the act of the Territorial Legislature incorporating the "Vincennes University/' which was passed m 1806. The first act incorporating Vincennes was passed by the Territorial Legislature in 1807. By this act the following persons were created its first board of trustees: Robert Buntin. William Bullitt, Charles Smith, Hyacinthe Lasselle, Joshua Bend, Henr}^ Hurst, Jacob Kuykendall, Touissant Dubois and Peter Jones. The act declared the territory included within the following boundaries to be the limits of the borough: Hart street on the northeast, the church lands on the southwest, the Wabash river on the northwest and Eleventh street on the southeast. These boundaries continued to l)e the limits of the old borough uutil the act of the state legislature passed January 3, 1817, annexed to it "Harrison's Addition." The limits of the borough thus extended, continued to be its limits during the life of the borough organization. The subsequent annex- to include the present limits of the city have all been the work of the city organization.

A number of acts were afterwards passed Ijy the state legislature amendatory in character, but the most important one was the act passed February 14, 1838. This borough organi-

The old Borough of Vincennes during its long continued existence called into her ser^'ice many trustworthy men. Among these I will name the following who filled various positions of trust and honor under the old borough of Vincennes: Jacob D. Early, John Moore, General W. Johnson, Charles H. Tillinghast, Valentine I. Bradle}^, Andrew Gardner, Martin Robinson, Abner T. Ellis, George R. C. Sullivan, Owen Reily, John Ewing, John Collins, Elihu Stout, Samuel Hill, Henry D. Wheeler, J. C. S. Harrison and Jeremiah Donovan.

An election was held on the 25th day of January, 1856, to decide the question whether to abandon the old borough organization and incorporate under the general law of the state providing for the incorporation of cities. This election called out but a light vote. The whole number of votes cast was only 255 of which 181 were in favor and 74 against the adoption, being an affirmative majority of 107 votes in favor of the adoption of the general law of the state for the incorporation of cities. This majority was sufficient, however, to destroy the borough organization and that historical old borough ceased to exist and the new bom city of Vincennes succeeded to its powers and franchises.

The following persons have filled the office of Mayor of Vincennes in the order named: John ^loore, James Dick, William A. Jones, Richard J. ]\lcKenney, Henry V. Somes, George E. Greene, William B. Robinson, James S. Pritchett, William H. Beeson, William B. Searight, James H. Shouse, John Wilhelm, Francis ^lurphy, Oliver G. ^lillcr and George E. Greene.

The following persons have filled the office of clerk : James S. Mayes, John Ewing, Albert ^Montgomery, Charles G. Mathesie, George G. Turney, Eniil Grill, Charles W. Eastham, Charles A. Cripps, Cyrns M. Allen, George E. Greene and Charles Laugel.

The following have been treasurer: Andrew Armstrong, Isaac N. Eastham, Gerhard H. Duesterberg, Joseph Bey, Charles W. Jones, Peter E. McCarthy, Henry B. Duesterberg, Charles G. ]\Iathesie, Frank II. Hoffman and Thomas Eastham.

For a century after the town was founded it was without any incorporation or police guardianship. During all that time the inhabitants were honest and everybody attended to his own business and suffered his neighbor to do the same. The distinction between meiim and tuum was strictly observed. In fact the doors of the houses were without locks or Ijars of any kind. This was the condition of affairs during the French supremacy. With the influx of strangers from the Atlantic States came the necessity for civil organization and police protection. Accordingly, in 1807^ the town was incorporated for the first time as a borough. For many years after this the police protection of the town was satisfactorily performed by the marshal alone. And for a long time afterwards, with the assistance of a single deputy. This continued to be the case during the life of the borough organization. The following persons filled the office of marshal during this period: Jeremiah Donovan, Thomas J. Beeler, Benjamin F. Thorne and A. L. Cornoyer. After the organization of the city government the common council, September 1, 1871, passed an ordinance organizing a police force to assist the marshal in keeping order and preserving the peace. The members of the police force were to be elected by the cily council and were subject to its control, and could be removed l)y the council. This police force was sufficient for the purpose intended. The following persons filled the office of city marshal under the city organization: Emanuel Meisenhelter, John J. Worman, Jeremiah Donovan, Jacob Metzger, John A. Pulliam, William Sachs, John T. McBride, Louis Ilahn, Frank Johnson, George ^>I. White and Thomas Robertson. The General Asseml)lv at the session of 1901 amended the act providing for a metropolitan police so as to include Vincennes within the provisions of that law. This law had already been in force as to many cities of the State for many years. But its provisions only included such cities as had a larger population than Vincennes. The amendment of 1901 made the law applicable to cities having a population as large as Vincennes. Under the metropolitan system the governor of the State is authorized to appoint three police commissioners in cities within its operation, only requiring him to select members so far as possible from the two leading political parties. This restriction on the appointing power of the governor insures a non-partisan board of police commissioners. The governor under this act appointed as the first board of police commissioners for Vincennes, Schuyler C. Beard, Daniel L. Bonner and Dexter Gardner. These appointees are all good and competent men and their appointment gave general satisfaction to the people of the city. These police commissioners are empowered to make rules for the government of the police force, to fix the number of the force ana their compensation, and can remove the members for cause wnen they see proper. The compensation of the commissioners is not fixed by themselves, but by the governor. This police system will in all probability give the city better police protection than the old. This, for the reason that there is no divided responsibility in the appointment of the commissioners or members of the force. The responsibility for the character and qualifications' of the police commissioners rests individually with the governor, and his reputation in the matter is directly and solely at stake and will cause him on that account to appoint qualified and worthy men without bias or prejudice. The same responsibility rests upon the commissioners in the appointment of members of the police force, and will oj)erate upon them in the appointments they make, and thus a competent and trustworthy police force will al-

A^Tien this system first went into operation here there was manifested in some quarters opposition to it. But this opposition and criticism was premature and not well founded. The system has not yet been given a fair trial, and its workings are not yet known. This opposition was in part due to personal considerations, but mainly to partisan prejudice on account of its being supposed to be a Kepublican measure. But this view is erroneous. It is not a Republican measure, but was originally introduced as a Democratic measure and supported by such men as Thomas A. Hendricks, Joseph E. McDonald, William H. English, Isaac P. Gray and Richard J. Bright. But this partisan view should not be entertained. The system should be given a fair trial, and it will be developed that it is a better system than the old.

Vincennes almost from the organization of the territory, has been liberally supplied with newspapers. The establishment of a newspaper in a place is an important era in its history. The press is the great conduit through which intelligence is generally disseminated among the masses. It brings communities in close contact with each other and tends in an eminent degree to enlighten, refine and elevate the character of the masses generally.

The first newspaper established in Vincennes, and in fact in the whole territory, now comprising the State of Indiana, was the Western Sun, by Elihu Stout. The first number of tills paper was issued on July 4th, 1804. It required much labor and endurance to establish this paper. The material for the purpose had to be procured in Kentucky and transported here on pack horses. There were no roads leading from Vincennes to the East at that time. Mr. Stout was compelled to take three horses on his trip to Kentucky to procure material and travel through the wilderness. One of the horses was for himself to ride and the other two for the purpose of carrying the material. But lie persevered and issued his first number July 4, 1804. The publication was regularly continued for nearly two years, when the office was destroyed by fire. But not discouraged, he procured from Kentucky other material, and on the 4th of Jul}^, 1807, issued the first number of his resurrected paper. He continued its publication with regularity until November, 1845, when he was appointed Postmaster at Vincennes, and sold the paper to John R.

Jones. During the time Mr. Stout published the paper he took in partnership many different persons who soon became discouraged and fell by the wayside. The names of these persons it is not necessary to state. After he sold the paper to Jones, it was neglected and for a time its publication suspended. During this time attempts were made to start various papers under different names, but they were all short lived, and soon passed away and were forgotten. Among the number may be mentioned: "Jones' Vincennes Sentinel,'^ "Tlie Indiana Patriot,'^ "The Vincennes Courant,". "The Patriot and Courant." Finally George E. Greene in 1856, purchased the paper and re-issued it under its old name, "Western Sun." From the time he took possession, the paper has been a success, financially and politically, and has become a leading Democratic paper in Southern Indiana. Mr. Greene commenced the publication of a semi-weekly when he took charge and Mr. Purcell, the present proprietor, in 1879 commenced the publication of a daily. Mr. Greene died in 1870 and the paper was purchased by Gen. Eeuben C. Kise. He soon died and the paper was purchased by Dr. Alfred Patton. He subsequently sold the establishment to Andrew J. Thomas & Co. It passed from them to the possession of Eoyal E. Purcell, the present proprietor.

In the early days of the territory many different newspapers were attempted to be started here by Samuel Hill, John Ewing and ^Ir. Osborn, but all these ventures were failures, and the papers they started soon passed out of existence.

In 1816 the Indiana Sentinel was started by X. Blackman, for Willis Fellows, and was published in a brick building opposite the Vincennes steam mill in the upper part of the city, now occupied by "'Harrison Park." This paper was started in the interest of the steam mill company and to ad- vance and advertise its business. The publication of the paper was continued until the failure of the steam mill company some four or five 3'ears after, when its publication ceased.

In 1808 a paper was started here in the interest of Jonathan Jennings, who Avas a candidate for Territorial Delegate to Congress against Thomas Eandolph, who was then District Attorney of the United States for the Indiana territory. Jennings was strongly opposed to the introduction of slavery in the territor}^ and he claimed that Eandolph was at heart in favor of its introduction. To advance his political interests, a paper was started here which took strong ground against the introduction of slavery in the teiTitory and warmly advocated the election of Jennings. But this venture, like all its predecessors, was short lived and ceased to exist with the occasion that called it forth.

The- first paper that can be said to have been founded here in opposition to the Sun was the Vincennes Gazette, started by Eichard Y. Caddington in 1830. This paper was ably edited and became the organ. of the Whig party, and was a success. Mr. Caddington continued its publication until 1855. The paper was then sold to Harvey Mason & Co., who successfully continued its publication until May 28, 1859, when it became the property of Dr. II. M. Smith and ]\I. P. Gee. In 1861 William Denny became proprietor and continued its publication until 1862, when Cyrus M. Allen and Dr. H. M. Smith became OA\Tiers. In a few months Cliarles - I. Williams became proprietor and Cyrus M. Allen continued as editor. In May, 1863, John M. Wilson became proprietor with T. C. Shuber as editor. In January, 1864, William H. Jackson succeeded Shul)er as editor. In a few months it passed into the hands of William H. Jackson and John M. Griffin. On October M, 1865, John M. Griffin became sole

On the 24th February, 1854, AYilliam H. Jackson and James G. Hutchinson commenced the pul^lication of the "News of the Day/' This was a paper devoted to the cause of the Know Xothing party and being located in a community hostile to that party, it soon expired a natural death for want of patronage.

The "Old Post Union" was started by James G. Hutchinson, March 7, 1862. This paper survived but a very short time, and was succeeeded by the "Vineennes Times," the publication of which was commenced by R. Y. Caddington and William H. Jackson. Mr. Jackson, re tired from the paper and was succeeded by Gen. Lazarus Xoble, December 6, 1873. The paper was sold to Malachi Krebs, October 17, 1875, but Krebs failed to pay the purchase money and the paper passed to James J. Mayes, John Mallet and A. V. Crotts. ^ir. Crotts ceased his connection with the paper in 18T9 and it soon after ceased to exist.

The "Vineennes Commercial"' was established by S. F. Horrall, A. Horrall and X. Horrall, March 13, 1877, under the firm name of S. F. Horrall & Sons. This paper was devoted to the interests of the Republican party and was continued by its founders until February 15, 1881, when it passed into the hands of the "Commercial Company," with T. H. Adams as editor. The paper was subsequently purchased by Mr. Adams, who became the sole proprietor and editor, and has continued its publication until the present time. In addition to a weekly a daily edition has been successfully and profitably issued. It is ably conducted and edited and claims to be the organ of the Republican party in this county.

a weekly paper and was edited with marked ability. It claimed to be a Democratic paper, but was erratic in its course, and was never recognized as tlie organ of the Democratic party. It was generally thought to be a political guerilla. It advocated the Henry George theory of a single tax and for want of sufficient patronage ceased to exist about 1884.

I must not omit to notice the "Vincennes Joker and Jocular Jingler/' a small newspaper started here in 1846, in the interest of merriment and good feeling. It was a spicy little sheet and was devoted to personal criticism of a harmless nature. It was ably edited by D. C. Eobinson and William H. Jackson, and was very popular as long as published, but was short lived and soon disappeared.

The "National Era" was founded here by D. W. and A. L. Harbison, devoted to the principles of the Populist party. But with the passing of that party it lost its prestige although its publication is still continued.

The "Knox County Democrat'' was started by Allen Campbell. It was originally started in Monroe City, but was subsequently removed to this place and its publication continued here for several years by Mr. Campbell. It was a weekly paper and strongly advocated the free coinage of silver. Mr. Campbell sold the paper to Frank Signer and the paper was published by him for some time. He finally sold it to its present proprietors, Chancellor and Comfort. Its publication is still continued and it is Democratic in politics.

The "Ladies' Home Ideal'' is a monthly periodical published by Thomas H. Adams. It was started a few years ago and its publication is still continued. It is especially designed to advertise and promote the sale of patent medicines, of which Mr. Adams is proprietor.

although young in years, is now regarded as the peer of any paper published in Vincennes. It is entei-prising and strives to give its patrons the latest news and in this is successful. It is always alive to the best interests of Vincennes and is ever planning and suggesting means to advance the city and help build it up. It publishes both a weekly and daily edition. It is ably edited and is strongly in the interest of Eepublican principles and men.

Vincennes is rich in material of historic interest. Tiiere centre around her memories of a past extending be3^ond the recollections of the living, and reaching farther and farther backward till they gradually fade away and are lost and shrouded in the mists of conjecture. The date when the site of Vincennes was first visited by civilized man cannot be determined with precision at this time, and probably never can be. But it was in all probability as early as the year IGGO. This is not mere speculation, but can be reasoned out as a necessar}^ sequitur by comparison with the happening bf well known and authentic occurrences. Bancroft, in his history of the United States, says, "That no bay, no lake, no river, no mountain in all the vast expanse of this continent has ever 3^et been visited by any explorer but that a Jesuit missionary had been there before him." It is a well known and admitted fact that the early Jesuit missionaries in the Northwest were actuated by no love of gain, but for the sole purpose of discovery and the conversion of the Indian tribes to Christianity. To accomplish this they traversed the vast wilderness of the Northwest, visiting the Indians in their villages throughout the vast country bordering on the great lakes, the Mississippi, the Illinois and the Wabash Elvers. Jacques Marquette was one of the most celebrated and intrepid of these missionaries. He visited all parts of the NortliAvest. He circumnavigated Lake Superior, the largest and most westerly of the great lakes, and with Joliet sailed down the Mississippi river and is well known to have l^een in the Wabash country. Bishop Brute in his writings, says, "That the St. Joseph portage was used by Father Marquette long l)efore La Salle and Hennepin passed through that portage." He further says that "Father Marquette and Allonez passed through that portage on their way to the 'Ouachasche' country soon after IGGO. While there is no positive evidence that Father Marquette Tva? ever at the site of Yincennes, 3'et reasoning by the inductive process we are hound to conclude he was here as early as 1660. It would he unreasonable to suppose that this indefatigable worker for the conversion of the Indians would fail to visit so important a point in the Wabash Valley as this when he

Old Catholic Church

Avas known to be in its vicinity. This site was a favorite resort for all the Indian tribes on both sides of the Wabiish River. It was a safe place of almde for them in consequence of its high situation and the conditions then existing in this part of the surrounding country. From the earliest times until in very recent years the entire country on both sides of the Wabash Eiver were covered with water many feet deep twice during each year during the January and June freshets. During these flood seasons the country for hundreds of miles in all directions from the site of Yincennes was covered with water many feet deep and offered no suitable abiding i^lace for the Indians. As late as 1846 the Wabash and Embarras Eivers annnall}^ overflowed their banks and united their waters, covering the intervening space of eight miles to a depth of seven or eight feet. And in the same way by overflow the White Eiver united its waters with the Wabash to the east to a like depth. In 1846 the steamboat Daniel Boone was carried by the force of the overflow current a short distance above Vincennes from the channel of the Wabash River out into the iDrairie for over a mile, and was only returned to the river with difficulty. And in the same year the United States mail was carried from Vincennes over the overflowed prairies on the Illinois side to the high ground on the Embarras River at Lawrenceville. And this was not an unnsual or singular occurrence, but happened frequently, until the country was protected by levies. These conditions made the site of Vincennes a resort and place of abode for the Indians, as it was always on high ground above the reach of any flood. It was here they had their permanent village and fields which were still visible when the white settlers came to ihe place. It was here they had their council houses and where all the surrounding tribes assembled many times during the year when they returned from the chase or forage. And such a place, where so many of the Indians could be found, it is contrary to reason to suppose that such a :zealous missionary as Father Marquette would fail to visit Avhen he was in the Wabash countrv.

I wish to locate Father Marquette at the site of Vincennes, as it will fix the probable date of his visit. It is well known that he left the Jesuit mission at Kaskaskia a sick and wornout man in consequence of his labors and exposure, to return to St, Ignace, a few days after Easter, 16 « 5. On this, his final trip, he travelled by way of the St. Joseph portage. He -died May 18, 1675, ascending the eastern shore of Lake Mich- igan^ and was buried in the sands of the lake shore before he reached his destination. Therefore he must have visited the site of A^incennes, if at all, prior to 1675, and in all probability about 1060. I have endeavored to locate Father Marquette here, as he is a well-known historic character.

However it may be whether Father Marquette was ever at the site of Yincennes, it is certain beyond a reasonable doubt that some Jesuit missionary had been here prior to 1700. They had accomplished wonderful results in converting the Indians that inhabited the country about the present site of Vincennes. The records of St. Francis Xavier Church, as preserved (I use the words '^as preser\-ed''' as Bishop Brute used them whenever he referred to these records) show from April, 1749, for half a century after the greater part of the entries of baptisms, marriages and funerals were of Indian converts. This vast number of Indian converts to the faith as evidenced by these records as preserved show that the work :0f the missionaries, while fruitful of good, was not the wopk of a day or month, but of many years. The untamed savages of the forest could not be converted to Christianity at short notice. The labors of the missionaries were not only slow, but dangerous. In this connection Judge Law in his address delivered on February 22, 1838, says:

"It was not only toil of hunger and cold that the Jesuit missionaries of the cross were called upon to endure, but many, very many were tomahawked, or what was far worse, burned at the stake. No sooner was it known that their predecessors had perished at the stake or by the scalping knife than new recruit^ offered their services to fill their places^ In fact a mission among the Indians was a labor of love ta these heralds of the cross.''