Rock County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 3 of those read), 1908 (part 2 of 11)

The first session of the territorial legislature of Wisconsin was held in Belmont, in what is now Iowa county, in the fall of 1836. The territory of Wisconsin then comprised what is now Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and a part of the Dakotas. The legislature was then composed of the council and the house, corresponding to the senate and the assembly of the present day. On November 11, 1836, a bill was introduced in the council to locate and establish the seat of the territorial government. This motion was referred to the council as a committee of the whole, which held two sessions that day and devoted all of the following day to the consideration of the bill. On November 14 the further consideration of the bill was postponed one week. During that week there was lobbying as keen as that of later days, and either history or tradition tells us that the pockets of the solons of that first session of the legislature were filled with deeds to desirable lots in each place begging for the location of the territorial capital. No doubt Mr. Booby, of the town of Kushkanong, was there doing his best.

The committee of the whole finally reported in favor of Madison as the location of the territorial capital, and the matter being before the council on the 23d day of November, a motion was made to strike out Madison and insert Fond du Lac in the bill. This motion was lost by a vote of 6 to 7. A motion was next made to substitute Dubuque for Madison. This motion was lost by a vote of 5 to 8. Successive motions were then made to strike out Madison and insert the names of the following places, viz. : Portage, Helena, Milwaukee, Racine, Belmont, Mineral Point, Platteville, Astor, Cassville, Belleview, Kushkanong, Wisconsinapolis, Peru and "Wisconsin City, each of these motions being lost by a vote of 6 to 7 in favor of Madison. In the house the name of Kushkanong does not appear to have been considered. Madison, having received a majority of the votes in both council and house, became the seat of government of the territory of Wisconsin. Of the places voted for Dubuque and Peru were in what is now Iowa. The Wisconsin City that entered the arena was not the seat of learning upon Rock river, but was another paper town on the Wisconsin river in what is now Iowa county. Astor was a boom town that has gone the way of all the others, and with it Wisconsinapolis, a paper town near Portage.

With its failure to get the territorial capital the town of Kushkanong ended its brief but hopeful existence. A few lots were sold, and then in December, 1836, Kinzie made a deed of the town site to one James L. Thompson in trust for parties, not named, who held equities in the place. The equities seem to have been considered of small value, for the tract was shortly after sold as a farm for $600; and from the seventy-five blocks and the sites reserved for "state purposes" and for "county purposes" the husbandman has ever since gathered his crops; but the proposed bridge has never spanned Rock river.

lapse of that boom they passed out of sight forever. It is not yet seventy-five years, only a little measure of time, since the earliest settler, looking across the broad sweep of the Rock River valley, said, "Here I will make my home," yet in those few years these places have been forgotten. Very few of the present inhabitants of Rock county can point out their sites and very few know even their names. Those old towns, those forgotten places, have left no traces of their existence except the time-worn maps and the records of the few conveyances in the office of the register of deeds, and even their names can only be found by searchers after curious things in the archives of the county; and where those forgotten places were once laid out in blocks and streets and pretentious reservations the bobolink sings in the meadow in the summer time, and the autumn winds chant their songs of the coming winter in the fields of rustling corn; and "there labor sows and reaps its sure reward, and peace and plenty walk amid the glow and perfume of full garners."

From the north line of Rock county near the south end of Lake Koshkonong to the state line at Beloit there extends along Rock river an almost continuous line of Indian mounds and Indian villages and camp sites. Some are found in other parts of the county on the prairies and about the smaller lakes, but the greater number are along the river banks. These, too, are forgotten places, some belonging to the unknown and remote past, others to a period that touched shoulders perhaps with the days of the early pioneer, but all the work of a people that have long since passed away. Of the forgotten places of which we have already written no trace remains, not even a broken hearthstone or a fallen wall; while in the old village and camp sites of the people who occupied the land before the coming of the white man there are always to be found the stone weapons and tools, the ornaments and amulets, the broken pottery, the ancient workshops and the calcined stones of the fireplaces of the ancient people.

Lake Koshkonong, the lower end of which projects a little more than a mile into the north end of the town of Milton, has a shore line of about thirty miles. The shores of this lake are singularly rich in Indian mounds and village sites, with old gardens, threshing pits and kitchen middens. In 1906 H. L. Skav- lem, of Janesville, and Professor A. B. Stout, now of Madison, surveyed and mapped the mounds, and their work shows 480 mounds along the lake shore, fifty of which are ef&gies. The nature of the lake shore is such that but a small part of it is cultivated, the greater part of it being used as pasture land, and from this fact the mounds are well preserved except as to the damage done to them by relic hunters. Forty-eight of these mounds, in five groups, are in the town of Milton in Rock county. The largest single group on the lake shore is called the Koshkonong group, containing seventy-five mounds, in Jefferson county on the west side of the lake. On the west shore in section 6 of the town of Milton is the site of a Fox village, and upon Bingham's point on the east shore is the site of a Pottawatomie village. Farther north on the Carcajou point on the west shore of the lake is the site of a large \Yinnebago village that was occupied by that part of the tribe under the leadership of the chief, White Crow, as late as the time of the Black Hawk AYar. These village sites are doubtless very old. During the last fifty years they have been constantly searched for relics of the people w^ho once lived upon them, and great quantities of such relics have been found, ranging from stone implements to the rude iron axes of the early French traders; but each year's plowing and each heavy railfall brings more and more of them to light.

In Vol. 5 of the "Wisconsin Archaeologist," in an article prepared by Charles S. Brown, secretary of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, on Wisconsin antiquities, is the following list of mounds in Rock county, beginning at the north line of the town of Milton and extending to the south line of the town of Beloit :

In the town of Fulton, a group of oblong and conical mounds on the west side of the river at Indian ford ; a group of the same character near the above on the east side of the Rock river; an oval enclosure in the village of Fulton ; some conical mounds north of and near the village; and a series of mounds north and west of and near the mouth of Catfish river. These last named were upon the site of Carramana. The list also notes a village site at Indian ford.

foot of Lake Koslikonong, and also the Fox village site at the foot of the lake ; and a reference is made to a number of mounds that had formerly existed about the small lakes in the vicinity of the village of Milton.

In the town of Beloit, several groups on the east side of the river four miles north of the city of Beloit, on the west half of section 1 ; three groups on the bluffs and bottom lands on sections 13 and 24; several effigy mounds two miles north of Beloit; a group on the Weirick farm two miles north of Beloit; a group of conical, effigy and other mounds on the Adams property at the north city limits ; another called the Eaton group about onehalf mile north of Beloit College ; a group on the bank of Turtle creek in the southeast quarter of section 36; and the large and beautiful group of conical, oval and effigy mounds on the Beloit College grounds, the largest in Rock county with the exception of the Afton group described later herein.

There is also noted a village site at Beloit, which is taken to be, from the best procurable data, that of Carramana, the Walking Turtle, who was prominent as a Winnebago chief in the early history of Wisconsin.

In the town of Turtle, effigies on the bluff near the state line on section 31 ; another group of effigies and conical mounds on the southwest quarter of the same section ; another group on the notheast corner of section 30; a group near the schoolhouse on the east side of Turtle creek ; and a mound on the bank of the creek four miles north of the city of Beloit.

The zealous work of Mr. Brown having inspired the members of the Archaeological Society in this vicinity to a greater activity, we are able to add a number of sites of mounds, villages and camps to the list prepared by him.

There has been reported to the writer by a responsible person a location of three tumuli on the Hubbell farm on section 30 of the town of Fulton, and a number of flint implements have been gathered in the immediate vicinity. This location is a mile south of the mouth of the Catfish river and is on the west bank of Rock river.

land for the first time last spring, the evidences of a village site were brought to light. A visit to this locality showed the site of a workshop and two campfires indicated by the circles of calcined stones. The writer has procured from this locality a large number of broken chert spear and arrow heads, one stone ax and 110 knives, spear heads and arrow heads that are intact. These implements are made of a variety of differently colored cherts, with some hornstone, chalcedony, quartzites, and one arrow head of agate, a material not found in this part of the country.

In the soutlieast quarter of section 15 of the town of Janesville so many stone implements have been found as to indicate the existence of either a camp or village site, and one mile south in the north part of section 23 is a similar locality. These tracts have both yielded in past years large numbers of stone relics, the finest of the quartzites in the writer's collection having been found upon section 23.

On the high sand bluff overlooking Spring brook in the city of Janesville there were until recently two mounds, one a circular mound, the other an effigy. A cement block manufacturing company is now cutting away the bluff for use in its business, and last spring the effigy was destroyed. On the south side of Eastern avenue, in the northwest quarter of section 1 of the town of Eock, are three tumuli that have been cut down badly by the plow. West of the tumuli is a well-preserved garden site, the little hillocks standing as erect as if they had been made yesterday instead of a century ago. And along Western avenue, on the north side of the bend of Eock river, in the south part of Janesville, the writer believes there was once an Indian village, his belief being founded upon the number and character of the stone implements found in that locality. As all that section of the city has been built up for many years, no other evidence can now be procured ; but in past years the yield of implements was large and the character of them, both as to material and workmanship, generally very fine. The writer has a large number of spear and arrow heads and several axes from this ground, gathered years ago by an excellent old Irishman who had brought with him from the old country an unshakable belief in the "elf stones," and who to the day of his death held fast to his faith in the mysterious qualities of the shapen flints showered from the clouds by the little people of the air.

South of the city of Janesville there are several small tumuli on section 3, some on section 22, and some on section 35 of the town of Rock, and a large group that is now known as the Afton group on section 28. There is also a large village site on section 19, upon the farm formerly owned by Simon Antisdell. Many flint implements and quantities of broken pottery have been found upon this tract, and it affords the evidence peculiar to such locations in the burned stones of the old fireplaces. In the southwest corner of this tract is a prehistoric workshop upon a slight mound or elevation. When the waiter visited this place some years ago he found great quantities of workshop chippings and fragments of chert, and he was so fortunate also as to find several good specimens of chert arrow heads, and one very delicate implement of the kind usually but erroneously classed as perforators or drills.

One very unusual oblong mound is on the farm of Nels Chrispenson on section 14 of the town of Newark. The mound is unusual in this particular, that it is the only one in the township, that it is far away from any stream, that there are no similar structures nearer than Afton or Beloit, that with the exception of those in the town of Porter there are no other mounds in the western part of the county, and that there is no evidence of Indian occupation nearer than a possible camp site on section 19 of the same town, five miles away. The Chrispenson mound is about five feet high and about sixty feet long on its longer axis. It was excavated some twenty years ago and four skeletons were found in it. Since that time it has not been disturbed.

Some mounds have been reported from the towns of Avon, Janesville, Turtle and Porter that are not included in the foregoing lists, but the reports are indefinite and no opportunity has yet been had to verify them.

The Afton group lies in section 28 of the town of Rock, at the west end of the bridge across Rock river, upon land owned by W. J. Miller. We first learned of these mounds some sixteen years ago from a young man Avho said he had dug into a mound near the bridge and that there was "nothing in it." In January, 1893, with H. L. Skavlem, the writer made an examination of the village site on section 19 in the town of Rock, and we then crossed the hill to hunt up the young man's mound. The ground was then covered with an impenetrable thicket, into which one could neither see nor push, and all that we could find were two small ridges not far from the highway, that we concluded were windfalls, covered by an accumulation of earth and sod. We gave no further attention to this locality until May, 1907, when we found the thicket cleared away and some of the large trees cut down, and the twenty acres upon which the mounds are located turned into pasture, except that three of the mounds and portions of three others lie outside the pasture fence upon open tilled ground.

On June 1, 1907, Mr. Skavlem and the writer made a survey of this group - that is, Mr. Skavlem did most of the surveying, and the writer spent the greater part of the time in admiring the mounds, cheering Skavlem in his labor, and hunting mushrooms. This did not arise from any lack of enthusiasm on the writer's part, or any desire to shirk work, but it arose solely from a somewhat acrimonious discussion as to whether Skavlem's four-foot stride or the writer's regulation twenty-eightinch step afforded the best standard of measurement. Our main dependence, however, was upon the surveyor's chain.

There are twenty-two mounds in this group, five of them being circular tumuli, three oblong tumuli, nine linear and five effigies. They lie close together in a bunch in the northeast corner of the twenty-acre tract. The most beautiful of the effigies is that of an eagle, very symmetrical, and measuring seventy-five feet from wing tip to wing tip. Three of the linear mounds are each seventeen rods long, and the longest of the effigies is sixteen rods ; and two of the linears are parallel, lying three rods apart. The group lies upon a side hill facing the southeast, looking towards the river, and the axis of each oblong, linear and effigy mound is from northwest to southeast. Viewed as they were when we last saw them, late in the afternoon of a perfect June day, facing the shining water and with the shadow of the old oak trees falling upon them, these forgotten places, these works of the ancient people, produced upon us an impression of interest and even of veneration that will never be effaced.

The implements of the Indians who once peopled Rock county, their work in stone and in copper, do not differ in any particular from those found in other localities in this part of the country. The material in the stone implements is that usually found in this vicinity, and the workmanship is equal to that of any other part of the United States. Many implements and weapons of copper are found, and also of brass and of iron procured from the early traders and settlers. The most interesting finds, however, are those made by the aborigines of stone. These, as stated, are usually of the material peculiar to this vicinity, but finds have been made of obsidian, agates and hematites, that could only have come from a great distance, either in the rough block or in the finished implement, ornament or weapon. These objects are usually found in the greatest quantities near Rock river, the Catfish river and Bass and Turtle creeks ; but many have been found away from the streams, and frequently in localities where they would least be looked for. Thousands have been picked up, idly looked at, and then thrown away or destroyed; and other thousands have gone to enrich the collections of museums and of private individuals ; and as new land is cleared and broken to the plow other thousands will yet come to light. The supply seems to be inexhaustible ; the land is literally sown with them. And whatever may be the contribution of Rock county in the future to the interests of archaeology, here, as all over the world, there will always be hidden somewhere in the soil these implements of peace and weapons of war fashioned by man in the age of stone. The corrosions of time will never change them, while in the alchemy of nature all our implements of toil and our weapons of warfare will be destroyed.

The history of the territory, of which Rock county is a portion, begins with that of the western hemisphere. It is full of interest not only for those who have found homes on its fertile prairies and in its thriving villages and cities, but for all who are interested in the growth and development of the Mississippi valley. The discovery of this hemisphere is claimed by at least four European nations, while three have claimed, by reason of such discovery, some title to or interest in large portions thereof.

The Norsemen claim that the earliest discovery of the western continent, of which there is a credible record, w^as by Bjarni Herjulfson, the son of Herjulf Bardson, in 985 or 986. The home of Herjulf and Bjarni was in Iceland. They were Vikings. In 985, while Bjarni was absent, Herjulf sailed to Greenland. Bjarni, on his return, attempted to follow his father. He was, however, driven from his course by severe north winds, but continued his voyage until he sighted what is believed to be the coast of New England. It is not known how far south Bjarni sailed, but it is conjectured that he reached the latitude of Boston.

About the year 1000, Leif, the son of Eric the Red, and known as Leif Ericson, a hardy and adventurous Viking, who had learned of the discovery of Bjarni, with a crew of thirty-five Norsemen sailed south-westerly from Greenland to find the land that Bjarni had discovered. They sailed far enough south to find a country where grapes grew, which they called Vinland and where they spent the winter. The precise location of this place is unknown, but it is believed to have been on the New England coast and possibly at or near Fall River, Mass.

In the spring of the next year after the return of Leif from his voyage of discovery, Thorwald, his brother, made a voyage to the country that Leif had discovered. He reached Vinland and remained there three years. While there a party of nine of the aborigines were captured by the Norsemen and eight of them put to death. The other, making his escape, informed his tribe of the massacre. The Lidians thereupon attacked the Norsemen while asleep and mortally wounded Thorwald. He died and was buried in the land discovered by him, in pursuance of his request, and a cross was erected at the head and foot of his grave. Longfellow's "Skeleton in Armor" is supposed to have been suggested by the burial of Thorwald on the New England coast.

Another distinguished explorer was Thorfin Karlsefne (i. e., Thorfin the Hopeful, or Manly), from Norway. He possessed large means and an illustrious ancestry, being related to the most famous families of the North, while several of his ancestors were kings. In 1006 he visited Greenland on a trading voyage and passed the winter at the home of Leif Ericson. He there met Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, another brother of Leif, and, with the consent of Leif, they were married. They fitted out a vessel and made a voyage to Vinland and located at what is now called Buzzards bay. In the following spring Karlsefne loaded his vessel and returned to Greenland, wholly abandoning the settlements in Vinland. The Norsemen made no claim to any portion of the North American continent by reason of their discoveries.

Nearly five centuries later the navigators of other nations, seeking a shorter route to the Indies, came to the western shores of the Atlantic and by reason of their discoveries made extravagant claims to large portions of the continent. Such claims were made by Spain, by France and by England.

The claim of Spain was founded, primarily, on the discoveries of Christopher Columbus in 1492, and his later voyages, and the discovery of Ponce de Leon. Columbus did not, at any time, discover the main land of the northern hemisphere. On October

12, 1492, he landed on an island of the Bahama group, which he called San Salvador. After discovering and exploring other islands of the group, he returned to Spain. He afterwards made three voyages, but on none of them did he discover the main land of what is now the United States.

Columbus was a native of Genoa, where he was born about 1440. He began to follow the sea at an early age and was engaged in many enterprises on the Mediterranean. He removed to Lisbon about 1470, where he remained until 1482, when he went to Spain. From his observations he had reached the conclusion that by sailing west from Spain he could reach the Indies. After arriving in Spain he induced Queen Isabella to furnish him with two small vessels with which to attempt the discovery of a new route to the Indies. A third vessel was supplied by himself and friends. With these three small vessels he made his first voyage, which was successful, and was followed by three others. He died in Yalladolid in 1506.

On the return of Columbus from his first voyage, Ferdinand and Isabella informed Pope Alexander VI. of the great discovery made by Columbus. King John of Portugal claimed jurisdiction and authority over Guinea and the islands westerly thereof under a grant from the pope, and, on learning of the discoveries of islands by Columbus, insisted that such islands were within his domain and belonged to him, as king of Portugal, by virtue of such grant. As this claim was likely to create a conflict between Spain and Portugal, both of which were under the dominion of the pope, he was appealed to by Ferdinand to declare the rights of Spain. The pope thereupon, and on May 2, 1493, issued a papal bull, ceding to Spain the same rights and privileges on the coast of Guinea as those granted to Portugal and dividing the unknown dominion, lying west of Spain and Portugal, into two parts by a line drawn from the north pole to the south pole through a point seventy leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde islands.

All of the American continent lay west of this line, and by the bull issued by the pope, he assumed the right to grant to Spain all that portion of the continent west of the line fixed which, of course, included the territory now embraced in the state of Wisconsin.

Ponce de Leon was born in the city of Leon in the province of Leon, in the northwesterly portion of Spain, about 1460. He won distinction as a soldier in the conflicts with the Moors, and was with Columbus on his second voyage to the West Indies in 1493. Pie was appointed governor of Porto Rico in 1509 by Ferdinand, king of Spain, and is said to have amassed great wealth. He was removed from the office of governor in 1512. lie had been told of a wonderful country that possessed a river of such marvelous virtue that those who, in advanced age, bathed in it, were restored to youth and strength. He believed this idle tale and resolved to find the river that would renew his youth. With three ships, he left the port of St. Germain, on the 3d of March, 1512, and sailed northwesterly, landing on the islands that he passed, making search for the river of youth without success. On Sunday, the 27th of March, he saw what he believed to be an island. Adverse weather prevented his landing until the 2d of April, when he found a most delightful country covered with beautiful flowers. Having first seen it on Palm Sunday he called it, Pascua Florida, and took possession of it for the king of Spain.

Among the Spanish navigators who crossed the Atlantic were Francisco Gordillo, who landed on the Atlantic coast in what is now South Carolina, in 1520, and Stephen Gomez, who reached the New England coast in 1524 or 1525.

The name Florida was given to all of the region now embraced in the United States and Canada. Spain held the actual possession of only a small portion of the territory that it claimed. Its occupation of the territory east of the Mississippi river was confined to that portion lying along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and what is now the state of Florida. The claim of Spain covered the territory northwest of the Ohio and what is now embraced in Rock county, as a part of Florida.

In pursuance of this cession the Spanish occupied St. Louis. On the 2d of January, 1781, a company of Spanish and French, under the command of Don Eugenio Pourri, as captain, marched from St. Louis to St. Joseph in Michigan, where there was a small fort, occupied by a small force of English soldiers, who were compelled to surrender. The Spanish took possession of this fort in the name of the king of Spain. By virtue of the capture of this small fort the Spanish king also laid claim to all of the territory west of the Alleghenies and east of the Mississippi.

A treaty of peace and friendship was entered into between the United States and Spain on October 27, 1795, to prevent all disputes on the subject of boundaries.

By the second article of this treaty, the boundary line between the United States and the Spanish colonies, known as the East and West Floridas, was the same as that of the present state of Florida. This cession extinguished all claims of Spain to the territory northwest of the Ohio and vested in the United States all of her claim, title and interest in such territory.

By another treaty between Spain and the United States, concluded February 22, 1819, Spain ceded to the United States all of the lands claimed by it east of the west bank of the Mississippi river. This cession extinguished all claims of Spain to the territory east of the Mississippi.

The rulers of Spain, who claimed dominion over the territory embraced in Eock county, from the discovery of Columbus in 1492, to the treaty of 1795, when the claim of Spain to the territory northwest of the Ohio was terminated, were as follows :

Verrazano, who sailed under the orders of Francis I, king of France, left the Madeiras in January, 1524, with three ships, two of which were disabled by a severe storm. With the remaining vessel he sailed^ northwesterly and in March sighted land, sup- posed to the coast of North Carolina. After discovering land he took a northeasterly course and sailed along the coast as far as Maine and then returned home. He called the new land discovered by him New France.

Verrazano was born near Florence about 1485. He went to France and entered the service of Francis I, king of France, and while engaged in such service, sailed to the American coast. His life after this voyage is involved in much obscurity and little, if anything, is now definitely known of his later years.

Jacques Cartier sailed from St. Malo in France on the 20th of April, 1534, with two ships. He reached the coast of Newfoundland in July and passed through the straits of Belle Isle into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After spending several weeks exploring the coast of the gulf, he returned to France. Cartier made three voyages to Canada. On his third voyage he sailed on the River St. Lawrence and on October 2, 1585, reached an Indian settlement called Hochelaga, which, because of a high point of land in the vicinity, he called Mount Royal, from which comes the present name of Montreal. On this voyage he raised a cross and took possession of the country for the king of France.

Cartier was born in St. Malo in Brittany in 1494. His early years were passed on the sea. After his voyages across the Atlantic he was created seigneur of the village of Lemoilon, near St. Malo, and spent the remainder of his life there or at St. Malo. The date of his death is unknown.

Other French navigators came to Canada, Roberval in 1541, De la Roche in 1598, Poutgrave in 1600 and 1603, with whom was Samuel de Champlain, De Monts in 1604, with whom, as his pilot, was Champlain.

In 1604, Henry IV of France made De Monts lieutenant general of Acadia, which embraced the territory between the fortieth and the forty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and granted him free exercise of his religion, and by letters-patent to a company of merchants of Rouen and Rochelle, the exclusive trade in furs and fish between the fortieth and fifty-fourth degrees of north latitude. This grant embraced about the northerly half of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and all of Michigan and Wisconsin. It was revoked, however, in 1609.

Brauage on the west coast of France in 1567. His father being a sea captain, he became a skillful pilot. His life was almost wholly spent in explorations in the new world. He was lieutenant under De Monts, and under Count de Soissons, the successor of De Monts, and also under the Prince de Conde. He discovered and named, for himself, Lake Champlain in the state of New York. He was appointed governor of Canada in 1620 and in 1629, while governor and in command of Quebec, was compelled to surrender to an English fleet under the command of David Kirk.

By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye between England and France, in 1632, Canada was restored to France. On May 23, 1633, Champlain was again appointed governor of Canada. He continued to hold the office until his death on Christmas, 1635. He published several volumes relating to his explorations and travels in North America and prepared many maps and charts of the coasts and rivers explored by him.

While Champlain did not reach Lake Michigan, nor come into "Wisconsin, yet before his decease one of his agents, Jean Nicolet, a brave and hardy explorer, discovered the territory now embraced in this state.

Nicolet was sent by Champlain, then governor of Canada, to visit the Winnebagoes. He left Quebec July 1, 1634, and reached Green bay before the end of that year. He went up the Fox river as far as the village of the Mascoutins in Green Lake county, near the city of Berlin. It is probable that he then went to the Illinois country. If so, he may have descended Rock river and passed through Rock county. The next year Nicolet returned to Quebec. Seven years later, while in Quebec, he was informed that the Algonquins had captured a New England Indian and were threatening to put him to death. He immediately started to rescue the unfortunate Abenaquis and while on his way up the St. Lawrence was overtaken by a severe storm that swamped his boat and, being unable to swim, was drowned.

Nicolet was the first white man to visit the territory now embraced in Wisconsin. But little is known of his early life. It is said that he was born in or near Cherbourg, France ; that he was the son of a mail carrier. He arrived in Quebec in 1618, when about twenty years of age. Soon after his arrival at Quebec, he was sent to reside with the Island Algonquins, a tribe of Indians living on the Allumette islands in the Ottawa river.

about 100 miles westerly from Ottawa, to learn the Indian languages. He remained there about two years and then went to the Nipissing Indians and remained with them for a considerable time, when he was recalled to Quebec by Champlain and acted as clerk and interpreter until July 1, 1634. He was then sent to Green bay to visit the AVinnebagoes. It is probable that no other white man visited this territory until 1654, when Radisson and Groseilliers, two French explorers and traders, visited the country south of Lake Superior.

In 1660 Pere Menard, a Jesuit priest, established a mission at the head of Chequamegon bay, on the southerly side of Lake Superior, near the present city of Ashland. This was the first mission established in the territory northwest of the Ohio.

Menard was born in Paris in 1604. He became a follower of Loyola and joined the order of Jesuits in 1624. He went to Montreal in 1640 and soon after went to the Nipissings and labored among them and other Algonquin tribes. In 1656 he was sent to the Cayugas and later to the Oneidas, where he met with success. In 1660 he went to the Ottawas, on or near Keweenaw bay on the south shore of Lake Superior, and then to Chequamegon bay. In 1661 there came an appeal to him to go to the Hurons on the Black river in Wisconsin, and while endeavoring to reach them, he probably strayed from the path around the Bill Cross rapids in the Wisconsin river and perished.

Father Claude Jean Allouez was one of the most zealous and active of the Jesuit missionaries who labored among the Indians in the Northwest. It is probable that he was born in France about 1620, although the place of his birth is not known with certainty. He came to Quebec in 1658, and was for some years connected with the Algonquin missions on the St. Lawrence. In 1665 he was sent to the head waters of the Chippewa to take the place left vacant by the death of Menard. The Hurons and Ottawas ^having removed to Chequamegon bay, he followed them there and selected a site for a mission near where Ashland is now located. Here he built a chapel of bark and established the first Jesuit mission in Wisconsin, which he called La Pointe de Esprit. He remained here for four years and then removed to Green bay, where he founded the mission of St. Francis Xavier which, after two years, was removed to the rapids in the Fox river above Green bay, known as Rapides des Peres, or Rapids of the Fathers, afterwards shortened to Depere. He also founded the mission of St. James on the upper Fox river, and began the mission of St. Michael among the Menomonees on the eastern shore of Green bay. He labored with other tribes in Wisconsin and Illinois and has been called the "Father of Wisconsin Missions." In 1676 he permanently established the mission at Kaskaskia that had been commenced by Marquette. It is said that over 2,000 Indians were converted to Christianity through his labors. He died in 1690, having spent a quarter of a century among the tribes of the Northwest.

The first formal declaration of the sovereignty of France over the Northwest territory was made by Simon Francis Daumont, Sieur de St. Lusson, commissioner of Jean Talon, intendant of New France. St. Lusson, in 1670, was directed by Talon to search for copper mines on Lake Superior and also to take, for the king of France, the possession of the whole interior of the Northwest. He proceeded to carry out his instructions and summoned a number of the Indian tribes to meet him at the falls of the St. Mary on the 14th day of June, 1671. When they were gathered he erected a cross and near it a cedar post, to which he affixed the arms of France, and then, three times in a loud voice made the following declaration and proclamation :

"In the name of the most high, most worthy, and most redoubtable monarch, Louis the XlVth, of the Christian name, king of France and Navarre, we take possession of the said places of St. Mary of the Falls as well as of Lakes Huron and Superior, the Island of Caientolon, and all other countries, rivers, lakes and tributaries, contiguous and adjacent thereunto, as well discovered as to be discovered, which are bounded on the one side by the northern and western seas, and on the other by the south sea, including all its length and breadth."

At each of the three times, in making this proclamation, he raised a sod of earth and cried, "Vive le Roi !" He also attached to the back of the arms of France a statement of his taking such possession, signed by him and the French officers and priests present.

The description contained in this proclamation was very broad and, if sufficiently definite to describe any territory, embraced all of the territory northwest of the Ohio river as well as that west of the Mississippi. What effect this proclamation

France did not promptly follow the announcement of her proclamation by taking actual possession of the country claimed by her. More than a quarter of a century elapsed before she asserted her claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio but, in the last days of the seventeenth and in the early years of the eighteenth centuries, various missions and posts were established by the French in such territory. They were located on or near the water courses and largely along the eastern bank of the Mississippi. Around some of these missions and posts villages grew. Among the larger of these villages were Cahokia (1699), Kaskaskia (1700), Fort Chartres (1720), St. Phillippi (1723), and Prairie du Rocher (1733).

The original Kaskaskia was a small village of the Kaskaskia Indians, situated on the Illinois river near the present village of Utiea, in La Salle county, Illinois. After the mission was established, and in 1700. the tribe removed to the land lying between the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers near their junction. Kaskaskia was the most important of this group of French villages. Its settlers came largely from New Orleans. It was for many years the seat of government of the Illinois country. In 1721 it became a parish and a college and monastery were established there.

At the close of the French and Indian War, imder the treaty of 1763, it passed into the possession of England. On the night of the 4th of July, 1778, it was captured by Colonel George Rogers Clark, commanding a force of Virginia militia. By the cession of Virginia on March 1, 1784, it passed to the United States and for many years was the most important commercial town in the territory northwest of the Ohio. It was the territorial and state capital of Illinois down to 1819, when the seat of government was removed to Vandalia. It was originally located about six miles from the Mississippi. The east bank of the river has been gradually washed away until the river has reached the village and carried away a large portion of it.

U Histoey Of Eock Couxty

a few months prior to that of Kaskaskia. It was one of the most important French settlements in the Mississippi valley. It was located near the east bank of the Mississippi river a few miles below St. Louis. A French mission was established there in 1700. AYhen St. Clair county was organized Cahokia and Kaskaskia were made county seats of the county. When Eandolph county was set off from St. Clair county Cahokia was made the county seat of Eandolph county and continued to be until the county seat was removed to Belleville. In later years it ceased to be of importance.

Fort Chartres was settled and a fort erected there by the French in 1718. It was located on what is known as the American bottom, on the east bank of the Mississippi about sixteen miles north of Kaskaskia. The fort was an irregular quadrangle, with walls twenty-six inches thick of limestone taken from the adjoining bluffs. It was the strongest fortification in the West. During the French occupation of the Mississippi valley Fort Chartres was the seat of the French government of the Illinois country. After the surrender of the valley to England it remained the seat of government of the English until 1772, when a portion of the foundation walls of the fort was washed away by the encroachment of the river, and the seat of government was removed to Kaskaskia. While Fort Chartres was the seat of government of the Illinois country Wisconsin was a part of that country.

Two other important settlements were made by the French in the territory northwest of the Ohio - Detroit, in 1701, and Vincennes, about 1724.

The sovereigns of France from the discovery of America by Verrazano in 1524 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when she ceded to England all of her rights in the territory northwest of the Ohio, were :

England founded her claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio river upon the discoveries of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, 1497-1498. John Cabot was a Venetian who had settled in Bristol, England. He had three sons - Lewis, Sebastian and Sancius. In 1496 a patent was issued by Henry VII to John Cabot and sons. This patent is the earliest surviving document relating to England's connection with this continent.

Under this patent in 1497 John Cabot and his son Sebastian sailed from Bristol, England, westerly on a voyage of discovery. After sailing for fifty-three days land was discovered. The precise location of this discovery has not been determined, but it was probably in the vicinity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the next year Sebastian Cabot continued the explorations commenced by his father and again visited the eastern coast of North America.

Nothing in the nature of colonization followed the voyages of the Cabots. Other English navigators made voyages into the northern Atlantic, but no efforts were made to establish settlements on the main land for more than three-quarters of a century.

On June 11, 1578, a charter was issued to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to make a settlement on the American continent and granting him a large tract of the country at the place where he should locate his settlement. On November 19, 1578, he sailed with a fleet of seven vessels to locate and establish a colony on the Atlantic coast of North America. His voyage was not successful. Misfortune overtook him and he returned to England without having established his colony. On June 11, 1583, he undertook another voyage, and on August 3 reached St. Johns, Newfoundland, where he found thirty-six ships of other nations, engaged in fishing. On August 5 he took possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth and caused the coat of arms of England, engraved on lead, to be fixed to a post erected on the shore. He spent some days in exploration, when a storm overtook him and his largest vessel and much of his provisions were lost. Embarrassed by the loss of his vessel and provisions, he commenced his return August 31. On the night of September 10 he encountered a severe storm and his vessel with all on board was lost, leaving afloat only one of the vessels of his fleet, which returned to England.

In the early part of 1584 Sir Walter Ealeigh, a half-brother to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, received a grant similar to that made to Gilbert, which was confirmed by parliament. On April 27, 1584, he sent out an expedition under the command of Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas to explore the coast of the American continent south of the exploration of Gilbert. They reached the coast of North Carolina July 4, and, after landing and making some examination of the main land, returned to England about the middle of September and made a report of their discovery to Raleigh. The queen, being pleased with the report, suggested that the newly discovered land be called, in honor of herself, "Virginia," and thus a large territory came to be named in honor of England's virgin queen.

On April 9, 1585, Raleigh sent out a fleet of seven ships to establish a colony in Virginia. They landed on Roanoke island August 17, 1585, and the ships then returned to England. In the spring of the next year the fleet of Sir Francis Drake, returning from St. Augustine to England, called at Roanoke island and offered to take colonists back to England. Their supplies having been exhausted, they accepted the offer and returned to England.

Queen Elizabeth died March 24, 1603. She was succeeded by James I. Raleigh was convicted of high treason and his grant of territory in Virginia abrogated. The way was now clear for a new experiment in colonization.

On April 10, 1606, King James granted a charter for the or ganization of two companies to establish colonies in the newly discovered country, one composed of gentlemen from in and about London, England, called the London Company, and the other of gentlemen from in and about Plymouth, England, called the Plymouth Company.

and 41 north latitude, that is, between a line on the south drawn east and west through a point a short distance north of the mouth of Cape Fear river, and a line on the north drawn east and west through what is now the southern portion of Pennsylvania.

The Plymouth Company was granted lands between degrees 38 and 45, that is, between a line drawn east and west through a point near the southerly boundary of Maryland, and a line corresponding with the north line of the state of Vermont and near to the most southerly point of New Brunswick. These grants extended back from the coast fifty miles and into the sea 100 miles.

The first settlement under the charter of 1606 was made on the James river. The fleet that brought the colonists sailed from the Downs, England, on New Year's day, 1607. On April 16 they sighted one of the capes of the Virginia coast, which, in honor of the prince of AVales, they called Cape Henry. They spent a fortnight in exploring the coast to find a suitable place for a settlement. On May 13 (old style) they landed at a point on the north bank of the James river twenty-two miles from its mouth and established there a colony, which they named, in honor of their sovereign, Jamestown, and thus began the first permanent English settlement on the American continent.

The second charter granted to the London Company "all those lands, countries and territories situate, lying and being in that part of America called Virginia from the point of land called Cape or Point Comfort all along the sea coasts to the northward 200 miles; and from said point of Cape Comfort all along the sea coast to the southw^ard 200 miles ; and all that space and circuit of land lying from the sea coast of the precinct aforesaid up into the land throughout from sea to sea west and northwest."

In construing this grant Virginia contended that the southerly line was an east and west line and that the northerly line was a northwest line. Thus construed the charters of 1609 and 1611 embraced the territory northwest of the Ohio river and that within the state of Wisconsin.

Prior to the coming of the Pilgrims they had procured from the London Company a patent for lands within the grant of that company upon which to settle. When they came in 1620 they landed, without authority, upon the coast granted to the Plymouth Company, where no settlements had been made. Being without established law to govern them, before landing and on November 11 (old style) they adopted the following compact:

"In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc and Ireland King, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our King and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonic in ye northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one another, covenent and combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute and frame such just and equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonic, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11 of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord. King James of England, France and Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland ye fiftiefourth, Ano. Dom. 1620."

After signing this compact, and before landing, the Pilgrims organized by choosing John Carver as governor for the ensuing year. They then proceeded to examine the coast to find a suitable landing place. On Monday, December 11 (old style), they selected and landed upon what is now called Plymouth Rock. The number of Pilgrims that sailed in the Mayflower was 102; of these seventy-three were males and twenty-nine females.

The colony consisted of thirty-four males, eighteen of whom brought their wives and children with them. There were nineteen men servants and three maid servants. Of the children twenty were boys and eight girls. Forty-one of the adult males signed the compact. It was not signed by any of the females. Thus began the first permanent English settlement in New England. A considerable number of the descendants of the signers of this compact have found homes in Eock county. Among them are the descendants of John Alden and Elder "William Brewster.

On March 4, 1629, Charles I, king of England, granted to Sir Henry Eosewell and others a charter creating a company by the name of Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England and gave to such company a large tract of land, bounded on the north by a line three miles north of the Merrimac river, on the south by a line three miles south of the Charles river, on the east by the Atlantic ocean, and on the west by the South sea.

The north and south boundary lines of the grant of 1629 have never been located. The north line nearly coincides with the north line of Eock county. The south line crosses Illinois a short distance north of Chicago. Eock county was therefore within the grant made to Massachusetts.

The Dutch claimed the western portion of Connecticut and about 1633 erected a fort where the city of Hartford is now located. In the latter part of 1633 William Holmes and others from Plymouth settled at Windsor, on the Connecticut river north of Hartford, and established a trading post. The Dutch ultimately abandoned their fort and left the Connecticut valley open to English settlement. In 1636 Eev. Thomas Hooker, who came over in 1632 and established a church at Newtown, near Boston, removed with a large portion of his congregation to Hartford and established his church there. Eev. Samuel Stone accompanied Hooker as a teacher in his church. A church was planted at Windsor and another at Wethersfield on the Connecticut river south of Hartford. These three settlements were without any form of government until January 14, 1648, when they held a joint convention, adopted a constitution, which was known as the "fundamental orders," and formed a government. This constitution was prepared by Hooker and is said to have been "the first written constitution known to history that created a government, and it marked the beginnings of American democracy." The new colony was governed for a year by a board of commissioners appointed by Massachusetts. After that time the three towns elected representatives and organized a general court at Hartford, and thus began the government of the new colony. Other settlements were made in the territory now embraced in the state of Connecticut. Among these was Southertown, now

*>.'ote: As there are in Eoek county many descendants of the early settlera of Stonington, the following copy of a portion of the early records of the village may be of interest. The new settlement was without laws, courts or officers. They believed that they were within the jurisdiction of the colony of Massachusetts and, therefore, applied to the General Court of Massachusetts for aid; but the General Court being uncertain whether the settlement was in the province of Massachusetts or the province of Connecticut declined to aid them and advised them ' ' to order their affairs peaceably by common agreement," and thereupon they proceeded to adopt a form of government for themselves, a portion of the record of which is as follows:

"Wherras thear is a difference betwene the 2 CuUonyes of the Matachuselts and Conecticoate about the government of this plac, whearby we are deprived of Expectation of protection from either, but in way of Curtecy, - & whearas we had a command from the generall Court of the Matachusette to order our own busines in peac with common consent till further provition be maid for us, in obedyience to which command we have addressetl our selvs thearunto, but cannot atain it in regard of soomm distractions among ourselves, and thear hath bene injurious insolencys done unto soom persons, - the cattell of others threatened to be taken away, and the chattoll of soom others alredy taiken away by violene.

' ' We haveing taken into consideration that in tymes so full of danger as theas are, unyon of our harts and percons is most conducing to the publick good & safety of the place, - thearfore in pursuance of the same, the better to confirm a mutual confydence in one another, & that we may be preserved in righteousness and peac with such as do commerc with us, & that misdemeanors may be corrected and incorrygable persons punished; - we hose names are hereunto subscribed, do hearby promis, testify & declare to maintain and defend with our persons and estait the peac of the plac and to aid and assist one another acoarding to law & rules of righteousness acoarding to the true intent and meaning of our asoeiation till such other provition be maide ffor us as may atain our end above written, whereunto we willingly give our assent, & neither ffor ffear hoape or other respects shall ever known as Stonington, on Long Island sound. The first settler in this locality was William Chesebrough, who came there in 1649. He was soon joined by Thomas Stanton, Walter Palmer, Captain George Denison, Captain John Gallup and others.*

The first charter of Connecticut was issued by Charles II to .John Winthrop, John Mason and others interested in the "colony or plantation of Connecticut," on April 23, 1662.

The persons to whom the grant was made were by the grant created a corporation by the name of the "Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut in New England in relinquish this proniis till other provition be maid ffor us. And we do not this out of anny disrespec unto ether of the afoarsaid governments which we are bound ever to honor, but in the vacancy of any other governments; - nether is it out of any sinister end or privat reveng, but for the causes aforesaid.

George Denison, Thomas Shaw, Nathaniel Chesebrough^ Elihu Palmer, Thomas Stanton, Elisha Chesebrough, Moses Palmer, Walter Palmer, Tho. Stanton. Willm Chesebrough, Samuel Chesebrough. Upon the request of severall among us to enter into this asociation with us theay are admitted and have accordingly subscribed thear names. June 30, 1658.

' ' By vertue of this Asociation, that justice may not be obstructed, &c the peac preserved, - we maid choise of Captain Georg Dennyson, & Willm Chesebrough to be Comytioners to issue out warrants & to cause to be brought before them anny suspitious percons, or ffor anny misdemenor, & and to hear & determine the casses, and to pronounce sentence upon them & to see the judgment executed, provided it extend not to the los of life or limb or banishment or stigmatizing; in such casses as thear power will not reach due punishment ffor the Crime, then to talk order thear percons may be secured, and sent whear justice may procede against them.

' ' And further theay are to issue all other differences, whether of debts or cases, and to kepe a register of thear actions provided allwaies the action excede not fforty pound.

America." The tract of land described in it was bounded on the north by the south line of the grant to Massachusetts, on the east by Narraganset bay, on the south by the sea and a line running from the said Narraganset bay on the east to the South sea on the west.

The whole of the Connecticult grant was south of the south line of the grant to Massachusetts and therefore none of the territory claimed by Connecticut is embraced in the state of Wisconsin.

The claim of New York to lands in the territory northwest of the Ohio had very little if any foundation. It was in substance that the home of the tribes of Indians known as the Five Nations was in New York; that these tribes had waged a destructive and exterminating war against the Illinois Indians and driven them out of the their country and taken possession of it; and that, therefore, the territory from which the Illinois Indians had been driven by the Five Nations in these wars belonged to the state of New York. Neither Massachusetts, Connecticut nor New York ever had possession of any portion of the territory northwest of the Ohio.

As soon as the Virginia colony became thoroughly established its population began to increase. It required only a few years to develop a race of hardy and enterprising hunters and frontiersmen, who were not satisfied to permit the vast domain west of the Alleghanies to remain unexplored nor to pass into the pos' session of the French. They found their way across the mountains and began to push back the frontier. They soon reached the headwaters of the Ohio, where they found a delightful region in which they began to make their permanent homes. To facilitate the settlement of the country an association was formed in 1748 by Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia council ; Lawrence and Augustine Washington, half-brothers of George Washington, and Thomas Henbury, a wealthy merchant of London. The name adopted by the association was the Ohio Company.

On May 19, 1749, 200,000 acres south of the Ohio were by a royal order placed at the disposal of the Ohio Company, free of rent for ten years, provided that a hundred families should be settled thereon in seven years and a fort built and maintained.

them and who visited Detroit to barter their furs, kept the French advised of the migration from Virginia. Marquis DuQuesne de Menneville was appointed governor of Canada. He arrived at Quebec in July, 1752. Within a few months after his arrival he sent a force to take possession of the country at the headwaters of the Ohio.

The plan adopted by the French to secure the control of the territory was to establish a line of stockades or forts from the lakes to the headwaters of the Ohio, and thence down that river to their settlements on the Mississippi, and thus connect Canada with Louisiana and prevent the English settlers from occupying the territory west of the AUeghanies. It was a bold and comprehensive scheme, but it was not to be successful. It failed to take into account the energy, activity and courage of the Virginians. As soon as Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia was advised that the French were proceeding to carry out their plan and had constructed a stockade on the line fixed by them he promptly, on October 30, 1753, dispatched George Washington, who was not then twenty-two years of age, but was an experienced woodsman, with a formal demand to withdraw from the territory claimed by Virginia.

Washington, after a hazardous journey, presented the demand to M. de St. Pierre, the French commander at I'ort Le Boeuf, who at once declined to comply with it.

Governor Dinwiddie proceeded to take such steps as were deemed necessary to prevent further encroachments by the French. In February, 1754, he commenced the construction of a stockade at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers where they form the Ohio, and which was then called The Forks, but now Pittsburg.

Within a few weeks, and as soon as a force could be raised, Colonel Joshua Fry. with Washington second in command, was sent forward to occupy the fort. Colonel Fry became ill and the command devolved upon Washington.

In the meantime a French force had captured the incomplete fort constructed by Governor Dinwiddie and retained possession of it. Thus began that serious struggle known in history as the French and Indian War, to determine whether the great territory northwest of the Ohio should remain English or French ter-

It is not the intention at the present time to inquire into the causes of the antagonisms between England and France, or the result of such antagonisms, except in so far as they have affected our state and county.

When Washington w^as advised that the incomplete fort at The Porks had been assailed by a French force and captured he continued his march toward the fort and took up a position at what was called Great Meadows. He was here advised that a French force was in the vicinity waiting to surprise and defeat him. He at once decided to treat the French to a surprise and promptly did so, killing ten of the French force, including its commander, and taking twenty-two prisoners.

The fort at The Forks having been lost to the Virginians, Washington constructed another at Great Meadows, which was named Fort Necessity, as a base for future operations against the French. While at Great Meadows Washington received a reinforcement of 150 soldiers from Virginia and North Carolina and about an equal number of Indians. A large French force was sent forward in aid of those at The Forks, and Washington found himself confronted with a force of 1,400, while his own force was about 300 whites and a few Indians.

On July 3, 1754, Washington was attacked by a force of about 600 French. He successfully resisted the attack and held his fort for the day. His supplies being exhausted, he was compelled to surrender the fort, but upon the condition that he be allowed to march away with the honors of war.

This first campaign in the struggle between the English and French resulted favorably to the French. It was not, however, a lasting success, for the defeat of Virginia in attempting to protect her frontier against French encroachments aroused not only Virginia and all of the colonies having unprotected western frontiers but the government of England, for if the French were not driven from the territory granted to the colonies by England, France would rule this continent and the English colonies bo confined to the Atlantic coast.

fort at The Forks was named Fort DuQuesne in honor of the Marquis DuQuesne de Menneville, the governor of Canada. It bore this name until the approach of General John Forbes in 1758 with an English force of 6,000 men, when it was abandoned and destroyed by the French. During the next year a new fort was built by General Stanwix, which was named Fort Pitt in honor of "William Pitt, first earl of Chatham, then a very popular and influential member of the English government and known as the "Great Commoner." The information of the repulse of Washington was received with much surprise in Virginia, and while both English and French nations Avere professedly at peace and were endeavoring to adjust their difficulties in America, both were preparing to defend by force the rights claimed by them. Virginia appealed to England for aid, and General Braddock, an experienced officer, with two regiments of 500 men each, was ordered to Virginia. He arrived on February 20, 1755. The duty assigned to him was to capture and hold Fort DuQuesne. Washington, who had retired from the army, was invited by Braddock to become a member of his staff and he accepted the invitation.

The war thus commenced continued until the surrender of Quebec September 13, 1759, and the surrender of Montreal September 8, 1760. Fort DuQuesne was abandoned by the French and occupied by the English November 25, 1758.

By the definitive treaty between England and France, signed at Paris on February 10, 1763, France ceded to England all of its right and title to the territory east of the Mississippi except a small portion in Louisiana.

After the treaty of Paris between England and France was signed, and on October 7, 1763, George III issued a proclamation in relation to the government and boundaries of the territory ceded by France. By this proclamation such territory was divided into four provinces - Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Granada. The southerly line of Quebec, as fixed by this proclamation, ran from Lake Nipissing, near the northeast shore of Georgian bay, easterly, crossing the St. Lawrence river at 45 degrees north latitude, near the northerly line of New York and Vermont. The territory now embraced in Wisconsin was not affected by the proclamation. It did, however, contain provisions that affected the colonies whose gi'ants ran "from sea to sea." It provided that no governor of the colonies should grant patents for lands beyond the bounds of his province and that no official of an Atlantic colony should allot any lands situated farther west than the sources of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic, and all persons were forbidden to make any purchase or settlement of any lands so reserved.

By this proclamation the king also reserved under his sovereignty, protection and dominion, for the use of the Indians, all lands not included within the limits of the governments of Quebec and East and West Florida. The territory northwest of the Ohio, including that portion embraced in the state of Wisconsin, was a portion of the lands not included in either of the three governments. One of the purposes of this proclamation undoubtedly was to reassert the right of England to control the territory embraced in the charters of Virginia. Massachusetts and Connecti-

In April, 1774, the parliament of England passed an act known as the Quebec Act, by which the boundaries of the province of Quebec were extended southerly to the Ohio river so as to include the territory north of that river, thus making Wisconsin a part of the province of Quebec.

"Provided always, that nothing herein contained relative to the boundary of the province of Quebec shall in any wise affect the boundaries of any other colony."

"Provided always, and be it enacted, that nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to make void, or to vary or alter any right, title or possession derived under any grant, conveyance, or otherwise howsoever, of or to any lands within the said province, or the provinces thereto adjoining, but that the same shall remain and be in force, and have effect, as if this act had never been made."

The proclamation of 1763 organizing the province of Quebec did not make the territory northwest of the Ohio a part of that province or establish a government for that territory. No separate government was established for it by England prior to the Quebec Act of 1774. It seems to have been conceded by the British government that the territory northwest of the Ohio was included in the charter of Virginia and that it was the duty of that province to provide for its government. Virginia denied the right of the British parliament to include any portion of her territory in the boundaries of the province of Quebec without her consent.

The passage of the Quebec Act produced serious apprehension and distrust on the part of the colonists. From the time of the passage of the act the current of events moved rapidly toward the final separation of the colonies from the mother country. In May General Gage, as governor of Massachusetts, arrived in Boston with four regiments. The Connecticut legislature condemned the action of parliament. General Gage dissolved the general court of Massachusetts. Governor Dinwiddie dissolved the house of burgesses of Virginia. Conventions were called and met to appoint delegates to a colonial congress. The people assembled and compelled the councilors appointed by General Gage to resign. The first continental congress met in Philadelphia and adopted a declaration of rights, insisting on self-government. The Massachusetts house of representatives resolved itself into a provincial congress and appointed a committee of safety. It also voted to enrol 12,000 minute men. The Connecticut assembly ordered that preparation be made to resist the British government. The colonists of Rhode Island seized forty-four pieces of ordnance in the batteries at Newport. A party of colonists at Portsmouth, N. H,, entered a fort and carried away 100 barrels of powder. A Maryland convention voted £10,000 with which to purchase arms. The first blood of the revolution was shed at Concord. The fortress at Ticonderoga was captured by Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. The fortress at Crown Point was taken by Colonel Seth Warner. The second continental congress met at Philadelphia and selected George Washington to command the colonial forces. Generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne arrived in Boston with 12,000 fresh troops. The battle of Bunker Hill was fought and the War of the Revolution began.

During this period the purpose of the colonists of Virginia was in no way uncertain. In 1774 in every county a committee of safety was appointed and an independent company of minute men formed, who were sworn to obey the orders of the committee. On March 20, 1775, the Virginia convention met in the old St. John's church in Richmond. It was in this convention that Patrick Henry made that wonderful appeal for action, that was at once effective and is more frequently quoted than any other utterance of that exciting period.

The general assembly of Virginia met on May 6, 1776, at Williamsburg. On May 15 this convention unanimously adopted two important resolutions, one directing its delegates to the general congress to propose to that body that it declare the united colonies free and independent states. The other resolution was to provide for the appointment of a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government. A bill of rights was prepared and adopted June 12, and on June 29, five days before the declaration of independence, a preamble and constitution were adopted.

By this constitution all lands that were embraced in the charter of 1609, and that had been included within the boimdaries of other colonies, were ceded and released to such other colonies, and the constitution then declared that other respects stand as fixed by the charter of King James I, in the year 1609, and by the public treaty of peace between the courts of Britain and France, in the year 1763."

The constitution did not fix the name of the new government, but it declared that all commissions and grants should run "in the name of the commonwealth of Virginia."

The colony of Virginia by the adoption of a constitution was the first of the English colonies in America to sever her relations with England and declare and exercise her own sovereignty. The constitution adopted by her delegates was the first constitution creating an effective and independent government by the people.

Its adoption was the first assertion of independent sovereignty by the colonists and marked the way from colonial government to independent statehood for the other colonies. After the adoption of the constitution the convention at once proceeded to elect Patrick Henry governor. He took the oath of office July 5, and the government of the new state at once went into operation.

These acts and proceedings of the colony of Virginia are of especial interest to the citizens of Wisconsin, for during all of this active and interesting period of the history of our country the territory embraced in the state of Wisconsin was claimed by Virginia as a part of her domain.

After the Treaty of Paris was signed by France, releasing to England all of her rights in the territory north of the Ohio, a large number of the French residing in that territory left it and English soldiers came in and occupied the posts.

After Virginia had severed her relations with England and declared herself an independent government she insisted that the territory northwest of the Ohio belonged to her and that the occupation thereof by the soldiers of England must cease.

There was in the territory of Virginia south of the Ohio a stalwart young frontiersman and Indian fighter of Scotch-Irish descent, named George Rogers Clark. He had fought the Indians in the Dunmore War and was anxious to aid his native colony in her struggle for independence. From his knowledge of the conditions existing in the Mississippi valley he became convinced that the English forces occupying the posts in that portion of

Virginia could be expelled from it. After carefully maturing a plan for an expedition for that purpose he proceeded to Williamsburg, the seat of government of the new state, and presented his plan privately to Governor Patrick Henry, who approved it and appointed him a major of militia and authorized him to enlist the men necessary for his expedition. As his success depended upon secrecy, he had difficulty in securing the men he desired. The ostensible purpose of the enlistment was to protect the settlers south of the Ohio from incursions by the Indians. His real purpose he did not care to disclose, fearing that the English might be advised of it and be prepared to meet him. He, however, succeeded in raising a force of from 150 to 200 men, and on June 24, 1778, embarked on the Ohio. He halted at the falls of the Ohio, where Louisville is now situated, constructed a blockhouse on an island in the nliddle of the falls and planted corn for future use. He left there those of his force who were unable to endure the fatigue of the coming campaign. He here first disclosed to his men the real purpose of the expedition. He then proceeded down the river to the site of old Fort Massac, below the mouth of the Tennessee river. Hiding his boats there, he made as rapid a march as possible to Kaskaskia. The post was completely surprised and on July 4, 1778, surrendered without resistance. He then sent a detachment to capture Cahokia. This post also surrendered without resistance. Clark remained at Kaskaskia to establish and put in operation a government for the protection of the people. Being advised that it was the purpose of Hamilton, the lieutenant governor of Quebec, who was in command of the post of Vincennes, to retake Kaskaskia, Clark decided to anticipate his action and take Vincennes. On February 7, 1779, Clark, with a portion of his army, commenced his advance on Vincennes. On February 18 he appeared before Vincennes and on the next day Hamilton surrendered the post. Want of space prevents a statement in detail of the strategy, courage and endurance of Clark and his little band in securing these successes.

George Rogers Clark was born near Monticello, in Albemarle county, Virginia, on November 12, 1752. His ancestors are said to have been Scotch-Irish. His early years were spent in Caroline county, Virginia. He fitted himself for a surveyor. He served under Governor Dunmore against the Indians in what is known as the Dunmore War. In 1775 he went into that portion of the territory of Virginia now embraced in the state of Kentucky, and there pursued his profession. When the Indians, under the influence of the British, invaded the homes of the settlers, Clark became the leader of the people in defending and protecting themselves. He was appointed a major of militia in 1776 and was also elected a delegate to the Virginia convention. He did not reach Williamsburg, where the convention was held, until it had adjourned. He procured the formation of the new county of Kentucky, embracing that portion of Virginia now the state of Kentucky. The incursions of the Indians into the white settlements for theft, rapine and murder were encouraged and promoted by the British soldiers in the Mississippi valley. Clark believed that they should be driven off from Virginia territory. He sent spies into their camps and on their reports matured the plan for their expulsion that he presented to Governor Patrick Henry. It was said of him : "All that rich domain northwest of the Ohio was secured to the republic at the peace of 1783 in consequence of his prowess."

He died near Louisville, Ky., February 18, 1818, and was buried in the Cave Hill cemetery. The place where he sleeps is marked by a small stone upon which are the letters "G. R. C. "

The period of the Revolution, so full of strenuous effort, exalted patriotism, patient endurance, personal sacrifice and inspiring achievement, presents no grander character than that of George Rogers Clark. No soldier of the revolutionary period possessed higher qualities. His wonderful self-possession, great tact and power of endurance, with his indomitable will, enabled him to overcome almost insurmountable difficulties, endure incredible hardships and achieve complete and important successes without loss of time or men. It is doubtful if any other officer of that day could have conceived and carried to a successful termination the campaign planned and executed by him, the results of which probably hastened the successful termination of the struggle of the colonies for independence and saved to the future nation that marvelously rich and extensive valley without which it never could have expanded to the Pacific coast and become the great and influential nation that is now our pride.

coast and have received scant recognition and appreciation. Complete justice may be done him without in any way detracting from the reputation of the able and patriotic officers and soldiers of the eastern colonies. His name should be honored and his heroic services kept in remembrance by all who have found homes in the vast domain from which he expelled the foes of our country.

Colonel Clark captured Kaskaskia July 5, 1778, Cahokia fell a few days later, and Vincennes in August, 1778. In October, 1778, the house of burgesses of Virginia passed an act organizing the county of Illinois, which provided that

"All the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio shall be included in a distinct county which shall be called Illinois county, and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the council, may appoint a county lieutenant or commandant-in-chief in that county during pleasure."

In pursuance of this act Governor Patrick Henry on December 12, 1778, appointed as county lieutenant John Todd, who organized a county government. He was unsuccessful in his administration of the affairs of the county, and, becoming discouraged, left Illinois in the autumn of 1779 and returned to Kentucky. He did not resign his office. In his absence his deputy, Richard Winston, performed the duties of lieutenant and was later appointed lieutenant of the county. Rock county was a portion of the new county of Illinois. This was the first county organization to which the territory embraced in Rock county became subject.

Upon the expulsion of the British Virginia promptly asserted her sovereignty and proceeded to establish a government and enforce law and order in her western domain.

After the expulsion of the British from the territory northwest of the Ohio and the organization of that territory into a county and the establishment of a civil government therein, Virginia insisted that if there were doubts about her right to the territory northwest of the Ohio under her charters she was entitled to it by conquest, for after she became an independent state she had raised troops and sent them, under her own officers and at her own expense, into the territory described in her charters and claimed by her, and had driven out those who denied her

Neither Massachusetts, Connecticut nor New York at any time entered into the possession of any portion of the territory northwest of the Ohio. Nor did either of those colonies in any way aid or offer to aid Virginia in her efforts to exclude the British from that territory. Nor did they or either of them, prior to the conquest by George Rogers Clark, in any way protest against the claim of Virginia that the territory northwest of the Ohio belonged to her under her charters.

On December 16, 1773, the "Boston tea party" occurred. It was followed by an act of parliament closing the port of Boston. This act was called the "Boston port bill." When the passage of the act was announced the colonists that were opposed to British rule were thoroughly aroused. Serious deliberation was given the situation. A meeting of representatives of all the colonies was proposed by Virginia, New York and Rhode Island and agreed to by all of the colonies. Massachusetts was requested to fix the time and place of meeting.

On June 17, 1774, the legislature of Massachusetts adopted a resolution fixing September 1, 1774, at Philadelphia, as the time and place of such meeting. All of the colonies except Georgia sent representatives to this meeting, and she agreed to concur in what should be done by the representatives of the other colonies.

The meeting convened on September 5, 1774, and organized by the election of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, as president, and Charles Thomson, of Philadelphia, as secretary. This meeting is called "the first continental congress." It adopted articles of association of the colonies and considered many matters pertaining to their welfare. On October 26 it adjourned to meet at Philadelphia May 10, 1775.

At the time fixed the congress reassembled in Philadelphia. Peyton Randolph was again elected president. On his resignation during the session, John Hancock was elected president. Among the important proceedings of this session was the appointment on June 15 of George Washington as commander-in-chief of the armies of the colonies.

On June 11. 1776, congress adopted a resolution providing that a committee be appointed to prepare the form of a confederation to be entered into between the colonies, and on the fol- lowing day a committee of five was appointed. The committee made its report, embracing articles of confederation, which were under consideration from time to time until July 9, 1778, when they were finally adopted. The first article declared that the style of the confederacy should be "The United States of America." The articles were ratified by all of the colonies except Maryland, which refused to ratify them until those colonies whose territory extended to the Mississippi released to the confederacy all of their claims to the territory northwest of the Ohio. Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York insisted that their claims to such territory were just and valid claims and should be recognized, while the colonies making no claim to any part of such territory strenuously objected to the allowance of such claims and persisted in their refusal to join in the adoption of the proposed articles of confederation if such claims were to be recognized and allowed.

After much delay and discussion the colonies making claims to the lands northwest of the Ohio, for the purpose of getting rid of all antagonisms and promoting harmony between the colonies, and to secure the adoption of the articles of confederation, generously consented to cede to the new government to be formed all rights claimed by them in the territory northwest of the Ohio.

The War of the Revolution, that began on the village green of Lexington April 19, 1776, was terminated by the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1783. Immediately thereafter negotiations were begun for a treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain. Provisional articles therefor were signed at Paris November 30, 1782. The final definative treaty was not signed until September 3, 1783.

By the first article of this treaty "His Britanic Majesty" acknowledges the thirteen original states "to be free, sovereign and independent states," "and for himself, his heirs and successors relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof."

The second article contains a description of the territory relinquished, which was all of the territory of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of the Floridas.

The seventh article provides that His Britanic Majesty should with all convenient speed "withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the said United States, and from every post, place and harbor within the same."

From April 10, 1606, to June 29, 1776, more than 170 years, a period much longer than from the Declaration of Independence to the present time, the territory now embraced in Rock county was a portion of the colony of Virginia. From June 29, 1776, to March 1, 1784, such territory was a part of the state of Virginia. During the colonial period there were thirty-four colonial governors, and from the organization of the state to the date of the cession by Virginia to the United States there were four governors: Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson and Benjamin Harrison.

Among the most distinguished men of Virginia of the colonial period was Patrick Henry. He undoubtedly exercised greater influence than any other man in persuading the colonists to declare their independence.

He was a Virginian by birth. His father was John Henry, from Aberdeen, Scotland, and his mother of Huguenot ancestry. He was born in Studley, Hanover county, May 29, 1736. His opportunities for education were limited and he was not disposed to avail himself of such as the country afforded. Fishing and hunting seemed to possess more charms for him than schools. After an imperfect preparation he was at the age of twenty-four admitted to the practice of the law. He seems to have promptly won distinction in his profession. In 1774 he was chosen a delegate to the Virginia convention, and in 1775 a delegate to the second continental convention, and was by that convention on August 28, 1775, appointed colonel of the First regiment of regulars. He was also appointed commander-in-chief of the forces of Virginia. He resigned his commission February 28, 1776. In 1780 he became a member of the legislature of Virginia and was reelected annually until 1784, when he was chosen governor. He was reelected five times and declined the last election. He was tendered many responsible and honorable positions, which he declined. He died June 6, 1799, at sixty-three years of age.

Of the able and patriotic citizens of Virginia at the period of the Revolution none possessed greater influence or rendered more important service in the cause of independence than Patrick Henry. He seemed peculiarly adapted to the work of transforming the colonies into a new nation with a republican form of government. His great power as an orator, his resolute courage and his loyalty to the interests of the colonies made him one of the foremost men of his age.

Various Indian tribes claimed title to portions of the northwest territory paramount to the title conveyed to the United States by the treaties and cessions above mentioned. These claims were, by various treaties with the Indians at different times, wholly extinguished.

England did not withdraw her armies and garrisons from the territory relinquished by her, as required by the treaty of 1783, but, without reason therefor, retained possession of some of the posts and places occupied by her at the time the treaty was signed, until July 11, 1796, when General Wayne took possession of Detroit and raised there the American flag.

The United States having become the owner of the territorynorthwest of the Ohio, congress, to provide a form of government for it, on July 13, 1787, adopted an ordinance.

This ordinance provided that congress should appoint a governor, a secretary and a court to consist of three judges ; that the governor and judges, or a majority of them, should adopt and publish such laws of the original states, criminal and civil, as might be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the territory, and which should be in force until the organization of a general assembly in the territory.

The ordinance further provided that when there should be 5,000 free male inhabitants of full age in the territory they should have authority to elect representatives from their counties and townships to a general assembly ; that the general assembly should consist of the governor, legislative council and a house of representatives ; that the legislative council should consist of five members, selected by congress from ten persons nominated by the representatives ; and that the governor, legislative council and house of representatives should have authority to make laws for the good government of the territory, not repugnant to the provisions of the ordinance.

Articles 1 and 2 of the ordinance contained a very complete bill of rights. They provided for religious toleration; that the inhabitants should be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of trial by jury; that the people should have a proportionate representation in the legislature ; that judicial proceedings should be according to the course of the common law; that all persons should be bailable except for capital offenses "where the proof shall be evident or the presumption great"; that all fines should be moderate; that no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted ; that no man should be deprived of his liberty or property but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land ; that when a public exigency required the taking of private property full compensation should be made therefor, and that no law should interfere with or affect private contracts. It also declared that

"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

On October 16, 1787, congress, in pursuance of the above ordinance, appointed General Arthur St. Clair governor of the territory. Congress also appointed Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong and James Mitchell Varnum judges. John Armstrong declined the appointment and John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his place.

On April 7, 1788, a New England colony of forty-eight persons, under the leadership of General Rufus Putnam, reached Fort Harmar, at the junction of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. They were the first permanent settlers in Ohio. They proceeded to lay out and establish a village -w hich was at first called Adelphia, but the name of which was afterwards changed to Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI of France, thus recognizing her friendship for the American colonies.

Governor St. Clair did not reach the territory until July 9, 1788. when he was received with a salute from the guns of the fort at Marietta.