Crawford-Clark County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter II 1883
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Book Title: HISTORY OF CRAWFORD AND CLARK COUNTIES, ILLINOIS

CHAPTER II.*
*By W.H. Perrin.

PRE-HISTORIC OCCUPATION OF THE COUNTRY—THE MOUND BUILDERS—RELICS AND WORKS OF
THE LOST RACE—THE MEROM MOUNDS—EARTHWORKS AND MOUNDS AT HUTSONVILLE—OTHER
RELICS. ETC—THE INDIANS—DELAWARES AND KICKAPOOS—THEIR POSSESSION OF SOUTHERN
ILLINOIS—HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THEIR TRIBES, ETC.—LOCAL FACTS AND TRADITIONS.

        "The verdant hills
   Are covered o'er with growing grain,
   And white men till the soil
   Where once the red man used to reign."

LONG ago, before this country was possessed by the red Indian, it was occupied
by another race—the Mound Builders—whose works constitute the most interesting
class of antiquities found in the United States. These relics and works of a
lost race, antedate the most ancient records, and their character can only be
partially gleaned from the internal evidences which the works themselves afford.
Of the strange people who reared them, we know absolutely nothing beyond
conjecture. If we knock at their tombs, no spirit comes back with a response,
and only a sepulchral echo of forgetfulness and death reminds us how vain is the
attempt to unlock the mysterious past upon which oblivion has fixed its seal.
How forcibly their bones, moldering into dust in the mounds they heaped up, and
the perishing relics they left behind them, illustrate the transitory character
of human existence. Generation after generation lives, moves and is no more;
time has strewn the track of its ruthless march with the fragments of mighty
empires; and at length not even their names nor works have an existence in the
speculations of those who take their places.

   Modern investigations have thrown much light upon the origin of the human
race. A writer upon the pre-historic period, says: "The combined investigations
of geologists and ethnologists have developed facts which require us to
essentially modify our pre-existing views as to the length of time during which
the human race has occupied our planet. That man lived at a time far too remote
to be embraced in our received system of chronology, surrounded by great
quadrupeds which have ceased to exist, under a climate very different from what
now prevails, has been so clearly demonstrated that the fact must now be
accepted as a scientific truth. Revelations so startling, have been received
with disquiet and distrust by those who adhere to the chronology of Usher and
Petarius, which would bring the various migrations of men, the confusion of
tongues, The peopling of continents, the development of types, and everything
relating to human history, within the short compass of little more than four
thousand years.

   "Those great physical revolutions in Europe, such as the contraction of the
glaciers within narrow limits, the gradual change of the Baltic from salt to
brackish water, the submergence and subsequent elevation of a large portion of
southern Russia and northern Germany, the conversion of a portion of the bed of
the Mediterranean Sea into the desert of Sahara, the severance of France from
England, Europe from Africa and Asia from Europe, by the Straits of Dover,
Gibralter and the Dardanelles, and the dying out of the volcanic fires of
Auvergne—all these great physical changes which geologists, by universal
consent, admitted were infinitely older than any authentic history or tradition,
must now be comprehended in the Human Epoch."

   Says Sir John Lubbock: "Ethnology is passing through a phase from which other
sciences have safely emerged, and the new views in reference to the Antiquity of
Man, though still looked upon with distrust and apprehension, will, I doubt not,
in a few years, be regarded with as little disquietude as are now those
discoveries in astronomy and geology which at one time excited even greater
opposition." However strange these new views may appear, they but prove the
origin of man at a time, as previously stated, far too remote to be embraced in
the "received system of chronology." Speaking of the ruins of the magnificent
cities of Central America, Davidson says: "The mind is almost startled at the
remoteness of their antiquity, when we consider the vast sweep of time necessary
to erect such colossal structures of solid masonry, and afterward convert them
into the present utter wreck. Comparing their complete desolation with the ruins
of Baalbec, Palmyra, Thebes and Memphis, they must have been old when the latter
were being built."

  The relics and ruins left by the Mound Builders—the lost race which now repose
under the ground—consist of the remains of what were apparently villages,
altars, temples, idols, cemeteries, monuments, camps, fortifications and
pleasure grounds. The farthest of these discovered in a northeastern direction
was near Black River, on the south side of Lake Ontario. From this point they
extend in a southwestern direction, by way of the Ohio, the Mississippi, the
Gulf of Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and Yucatan, into South America. Commencing in
Cattaraugus County, N. Y., there was a chain of these forts and earthworks,
extending more than fifty miles southwesterly, and not more than four or five
miles apart, evidently built by a people "rude in the arts and few in numbers."
Particularly in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys are located many of these
works, and some of the most extensive known to exist. "One of the most august
monuments of remote antiquity," says Foster, "to be found in the whole country,
may still be seen in West Virginia, near the junction of Grave Creek and the
Ohio River. According to actual measurement it has an altitude of ninety feet, a
diameter at the base of 100 feet, at the summit of forty-five, while a partial
examination has disclosed within it the existence of many thousands of human
skeletons." In the State of Ohio, at the mouth of the Muskingum, among a number
of curious works, was a rectangular fore containing forty acres, encircled by a
wall of earth ten feet high, and perforated with openings resembling gateways.
In the mound near the fort were found the remains of a sword, which appeared to
have been buried with the owner. Resting on the forehead were found three large
copper bosses, plated with silver, and attached to a leather buckler. Near the
side of the body was a plate of silver, which had perhaps been the upper part of
a copper scabbard, portions of which were filled with iron rust, doubtless the
remains of a sword.

   The earthworks which seem to have been erected as means of defense, usually
occupy hill-tops and other situations easily fortified, to put it in modern
terms. In Ross County, Ohio, is a fair illustration of this class, and is thus
described by Squier and Davis, two eminent archaeologists: "This work occupies
the summit of a lofty, detached hill, twelve miles westward from the city of
Chillicothe, near the village of Bourneville. The hill is not far from one
hundred feet in perpendicular height, and is remarkable, even among the steep
hills of the west, for the general abruptness of its sides, which at some points
are absolutely inaccessible. * * * * The defenses consist of a wall of stone,
which is carried round the hill a little below the brow; but at some places it
rises, so as to cut off the narrow spurs, and extends across the neck that
connects the hill with the range beyond." Nothing like a true wall, however,
exists there now, but the "present appearance is rather what might have been
expected from the falling outward of a wall of stones, placed, as this was, upon
the declivity of a hill." The area inclosed by this wall was 140 acres, and the
wall itself was two miles and a quarter in length. Trees of the largest size now
grow upon these ruins. On a similar work in Highland County, Ohio, Messrs.
Squier and Davis found a large chestnut tree, which they supposed to be 600
years old. "If to this we add," they say, "the probable period intervening from
the time of the building of this work to its abandonment, and the subsequent
period up to its invasion by the forest, we are led irresistibly to the
conclusion that it has an antiquity of at least one thousand years. But when we
notice, all around us, the crumbling trunks of trees, half hidden in the
accumulating soil, we are induced to fix on an antiquity still more remote."

   At Merom, Indiana, are works of a very interesting character, which have been
thoroughly investigated and described by scientists. These works have yielded a
number of skulls, which, says Foster, "will form the basis of certain ethnic
speculations as to the character of the Mound Builder, and his affiliation with
other distinct and widely disseminated peoples." Mr. F. W. Putnam thus describes
them: "The fort is situated on a plateau of Loess, about 120 feet in height
above low water, on the east bank of the river. On the river side, the bank,
which principally consists of an outcrop of sandstone, is very steep, and from
the western line of the fortification, while deep ravines add to its strength on
the other side; the weak points being strengthened by earthworks. The general
course of the work is from the north, where it is very narrow, not over fifty
feet, owing to the formation of the plateau, south along the river bank about
725 feet to its widest portion, which is here about 375 feet east and west. From
this point it follows a deep ravine southerly about 460 feet to the entrance end
of the fort. The bank traversed by the entrance road is here much wider than at
other portions, and along its outer wall, running eastward, are the remains of
what was evidently once a deep ditch. The outer wall is about thirty feet wide,
and is now about one and a half feet high; a depressed portion of the bank, or
walk-way, then runs parallel with the outer wall, and the bank is then continued
for about twenty feet further into the fort, but of slightly less height than
the front. Through the center of these banks there are the remains of a distinct
road-way, about ten feet in width. From the northeastern corner of this wide
wall the line continues northwesterly about 350 feet, along the eastern ravine,
to a point where there is a spring, and the ravine makes an indenture of nearly
100 feet to the southwest. The mouth of the indenture is about 75 feet in width,
and the work is here strengthened by a double embankment. The natural line of
the work follows this indenture, and then continues in the same northerly course
along the banks of the ravine to the narrow portion of the plateau, about 550
feet, to the starting point. There is thus a continual line, in part natural and
in part artificial, which, if measured in all its little ins and outs, would not
be far from 2,450 feet. Besides the spring mentioned as in the indenture of the
eastern ravine, there is another spring in the same ravine, about 175 feet to
the north of the first, and a third in the southwestern corner of the work.
Looking at all the natural advantages offered by this location, it is the one
spot of the region, for several miles along the river, that would be selected
to-day for the erection of a fortification in the vicinity, with the addition of
the possession of a small eminence to the north, which in these days of
artillery would command the fort. Having this view in mind, a careful
examination was made of the eminence mentioned, to see if there had been an
opposing or protective work there, but not the slightest indication of earthwork
fortification or mounds of habitation was discovered. * * * * On crossing the
outer wall, a few low mounds are at once noticed, and all around are seen large,
circular depressions. At the southern portion of the fort, these depressions, of
which there are forty-five in all, are most numerous, thirty-seven being located
on the northern side of the indenture of the eastern ravine. These depressions
vary in width from ten to twenty-five or thirty feet, and are irregularly
arranged. One of the six depressions opposite the indenture of the eastern
ravine is oval in shape, and is the only one that is not nearly circular, the
others varying but a foot or two in diameter. Two of these depressions were dug
into, and it was found that they were evidently once large pits that had
gradually been filled by the hand of time with the accumulation of vegetable
matter and soil that had been deposited by natural action alone. In some
instances large trees are now growing in the pits, and their many roots make
digging difficult. A trench was dug across one pit, throwing out the soil
carefully until the former bottom was reached at a depth of about five feet. On
this bottom, ashes and burnt clay gave evidence of an ancient fire; and at a few
feet on one side, several pieces of pottery, a few bones of animals, and one
stone arrow-head were found. A spot had evidently been struck where food had
been cooked and eaten; and though there was not time to open other pits, there
is no doubt but that they would tell a similar story; and the legitimate
conclusion to be drawn from the fact is, that these pits were the houses of the
inhabitants or defenders of the fort, who were probably further protected from
the elements and the arrows of assailants by a roof of logs and bark or boughs.
The great number of the pits would show that they were not for a definite and
general purpose; and their regular arrangement would indicate that they were not
laid out with the sole idea of acting as places of defense; though those near
the walls of the fort might answer as covers, from which to fire on an opposing
force beyond the walls; and the six pits near the eastern indenture, in front of
three of which there are traces of two small earth-walls, would strengthen this
view of the use of those near the embankment. The five small mounds were
situated in various parts of the inclosure. The largest was nearly fifty feet in
diameter and was probably originally not over ten feet in height. It had been
very nearly dug away in places, but about one fifth of the lower portion had not
been disturbed. From this was exhumed one nearly perfect human skeleton, and
parts of several others that had been left by former excavators. This mound also
contained several bones of animals, principally of deer, bear, opossum and
turtles; fragments of pottery, one arrow-head, a few flint chips and a number of
thick shells of unios, two of which had been bored near the hinge. This mound
has yielded a number of human bones to the industry of Dr. H. Frank Harper. The
second mound, which was partly opened, was some twenty-five feet in diameter and
a few feet in height, though probably once much higher. In this a number of
bones of deer and other animals were found, several pieces of pottery, a number
of shells and a few human bones. The other three mounds, one of which is not
over ten or twelve feet in diameter and situated the farthest north, were not
examined internally. The position of all the mounds within the inclosure, is
such as to suggest that they were used as observatories; and it may yet be
questioned if the human and other remains found in them were placed there by the
occupants of the fort, or are to be considered under the head of intrusive
burials by the later race. Perhaps a further study of the bones may settle the
point. That two races have buried their dead within the inclosure is made
probable by the finding of an entirely different class of burials at the extreme
western point of the fortification. At this point Dr. Harper, the year previous,
had discovered three stone graves, in which he found portions of the skeletons
of two adults and one child. These graves, the stones of one being still in
place, were found to be made by placing thin slabs on end, forming the sides and
ends, the tops being covered by other slabs, making a rough stone coffin in
which the bodies had been placed. There was no indication of any mound having
been erected, and they were placed slightly on the slope of the bank. This kind
of burial is so distinct from that of the burials in the mound, that it is
possible that the acts may be referred to two distinct races who have occupied
the territory successively, though they may prove to be of the same time, and
simply indicate a special mode, adopted for a distinctive purpose."

   We have devoted considerable space to the Merom Mounds, from the fact that
their near proximity renders them of peculiar interest in the history of
Crawford County, more especially, as another group of mounds on the west side of
the Wabash, near Hutsonville, were investigated and described by the party to
whom we are indebted for the foregoing description of the works near Merom. Of
the mounds near Hutsonville, the same authority says: "A group of fifty-nine
mounds is to be seen a few miles up the river from Merom, on the Illinois side
at Hutsonville. The relative position and size of the mounds are shown by a cut
from a plan made by Mr. Emerton. This group commences just beyond the
river-terrace, and widens out to the east and west, covering a distance of about
1,000 feet from the mound on the extreme east to that furthest west, and
continues southward, back from the river, on the second or prairie-terrace, some
1,400 or 1,500 feet. The greater number of the mounds forming the group are
situated in the northern half of the territory covered, while only ten are on
the south of this central line. The mounds are very irregularly disposed over
the territory included in the limits, and vary in size from fourteen to eighteen
feet to forty-five or fifty in diameter, and are now from a foot and a half to
five feet in height, though probably formerly much higher. Four of the mounds at
the southern portion of the group were surrounded by a low ridge, now somewhat
indistinct, but still in places about a foot in height. These ridges are
composed of dirt, evidently scooped -up from round the base of the mound, as
between the ridge and the mound there is still a slight and even depression. The
ridges about the southernmost mounds have openings nearly facing each other,
while the one to the north of them has the ridge broken on both the eastern and
western sides, and the one still further to the north has the ridge entire.

  "In referring to this group of mounds I have called them mounds of habitation,
and it seems as if that was most likely to have been their use. First, from the
character of the surrounding country, which is level, and only some twenty-five
or thirty feet above the present level of the river, with every indication of a
clear, damp soil in former times, though the part now under cultivation is
covered with a heavy growth of trees, several large trees even growing
immediately on some of the mounds. What would be more natural to persons wishing
to avail themselves of this terrace-prairie and proximity to the river, than to
make a mound on which to erect their dwelling?

   "Secondly, their great variation in size and irregularity in position would
indicate that a number of persons had got together for some common purpose, and
each family working with a common view to provide for certain ends, had erected
a mound, varying in size according to the number at work upon it, or the degree
of industry with which its makers worked during the time at their disposal.

   "Thirdly, four of the mounds were most carefully examined, to ascertain if
they were places of burial, one of them being opened by digging a trench through
it some three or four feet in width, and to a depth of about one to two feet
below the level of the surface on which the mound was built. The other three
were opened from the top, by digging down in the center until the original
underlined surface was reached. None of these excavations brought a single bone
or an implement of any kind to light, but, on the contrary, showed that the
mounds had been made of various materials at hand, and in one case ashes were
found which had probably been scraped up with other material and thrown upon the
heap.

   "Fourthly, the ridge surrounding four of the mounds may be the dirt thrown up
to help support a palisade or stake fence enclosing these particular mounds for
some special purpose. The absence of human remains and all refuse in the shape
of kitchen heaps, as well as implements, would seem to indicate that it was a
place of resort at special seasons, or for some particular purpose. That the
mounds are of quite ancient date there can be no question; but beyond the fact
that at least a second growth of trees has taken place on some of them, we have
no data for indicating their age."

   There are no other mounds or earthworks, so far as we have been able to
learn, in the county. But in many portions of the State they are numerous, and
in some very large. Between Alton and East St. Louis there is a group containing
some sixty odd structures in which is included the great mound of Cahokia, which
is denominated the "monarch of all similar structures in the United States." But
our space will not admit of further description of the works and relics left by
this strange people—works that contain no inscriptions which, like those found
on the plains of Shinar, or in the valley of the Nile, can unfold the mysterious
of by-gone centuries. The questions, who were the Mound Builders? who reared
these mysterious structures? have never been satisfactorily answered. We can
only exclaim with Bryant—

    " A race that long has passed away 
Built them, a disciplined and populous race, 
Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek 
Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms 
Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock 
The glittering Parthenon."

   Following the Mound Builders, and supposed by some writers to have been their
conquerors, came the red Indians, the next occupants of this country. They were
found here by the Europeans, but how long they had been in possession of the
country, there is no means of knowing. Like their precursors, the Mound
Builders, "no historian has preserved the story of their race." The question of
the origin of the Indian has long interested archaeologists, and is one of the
most difficult they have been called on to answer. It is believed by some that
they were an original race indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. A more common
supposition, however, is that they are a derivative race, and sprang from one or
more of the ancient peoples of Asia. In the absence of all authentic history,
and even when tradition is wanting, any attempt to point out the particular
theater of their origin must prove unsatisfactory. The exact place of their
origin, doubtless, will never be known, yet the striking coincidences of
physical organization between the oriental types of mankind point unmistakably
to some part of Asia as the place from whence, they emigrated. Instead of 1,800
years, the time of their roving in the wilds of America, as determined by
Spanish interpretation of their pictographic records, the interval has perhaps
been thrice that period. Scarcely three thousand years would suffice to blot out
every trace of the language they brought with them from the Asiatic cradle of
the race, and introduce the present diversity of aboriginal tongues. Like their
oriental progenitors, they have lived for centuries without progress, while the
Caucasian variety of the race, under the transforming power of art, science and
improved systems of civil polity, have made the most rapid advancement. At the
time of their departure eastward a strong current of emigration flowed westward
to Europe, making it a great arena of human effort and improvement. Thence
proceeding further westward, it met, in America, the midway station in the
circuit of the globe, the opposing current direct from Asia. The shock of the
first contact was the beginning of the great conflict which has since been waged
by the rival sons of Shem and Japheth.*
* Davidson.

   The first thought of the red men, when hostilities commenced on the Atlantic
border, was to retire westward. From the eastern shores of the continent they
were pressed backward toward the setting sun, strewing their path with the bones
and skeletons of their martyred warriors. They crossed the Alleghanies, and,
descending the western slope, chanting the death-songs of their tribe, they
poured into the Mississippi Valley. Halting upon the prairies of the "Illini,"
amid the forests that bounded the southern streams and shaded the luxurious
valleys, the warlike Delawares and the bloodthirsty Kickapoos made the last home
of their own choosing. How long they occupied this section of the State, is not
definitely known, for no rude pyramid of stone or "misshapen tomb," with
traditional narratives transmitted by hereditary piety from age to age, tell the
exact period of time when they first planted their wigwams on the banks of the
Embarras and the Wabash. It is enough to say, however, that they were not
allowed to remain here in peace. From across the ocean the colonists of a new
and powerful people came, and effected a lodgment at isolated spots within
hearing of the roar of the Atlantic surf. They grew into a great multitude, and
like the little stone cut out of the mountains by unseen hands, were rolling on
as a mighty avalanche, overwhelming all in its way. In the early glimmering of
the nineteenth century, the Indians were forced to lake up their line of march
from southern Illinois, nor allowed to pause, until far beyond the great Father
of Waters.

   The Indians occupying this portion of Illinois, when the first actual
settlers came to the territory, were the Delawares and Kickapoos, with
occasional small bands from other tribes. The Delawares called themselves Lenno
Lenape, which signifies "original" or "unmixed" men. "When first met with by
Europeans," says Gallatin, "they occupied a district of country bounded easterly
by the Hudson River and the Atlantic; on the west their territories extended to
the ridge separating the flow of the Delaware from the other streams emptying
into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay." The Delawares had been a
migratory people. According to their own traditions, many hundred years ago,
they resided in the western part of the continent; thence, by slow emigration,
they reached the Alleghany River, so called from a nation of giants, the
"Allegewi," against whom they (the Delawares) and the Iroquois (the latter also
emigrants from the west) carried on successful war; and still proceeding
eastward, settled on the Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna, and Potomac Rivers,
making the Delaware the center of their possessions. By the other Algonquin
tribes the Delawares were regarded with the utmost respect and veneration. Thev
were called "fathers," "grandfathers," etc.*
* Taylor's History.

   The Quakers who settled Pennsylvania treated the Delawares in accordance with
the rules of justice and equity. The result was that, during a period of sixty
years, peace and the utmost harmony prevailed. This is the only instance in the
settling of America by the English, where uninterrupted friendship and good will
existed between the colonists and the aboriginal inhabitants. Gradually, and by
peaceable means, the Quakers obtained possession of the greater part of their
territory, and the Delawares were in the same situation as other tribes—without
lands, without means of subsistence, and were threatened with starvation.

   The territory claimed by the Delawares subsequent to their being driven
westward from their former possessions, by their old enemies, the Iroquois, is
established in a paper addressed to Congress, May 10, 1779, from delegates
assembled at Princeton, N. J. The boundaries as declared in the address were as
follows: "From the mouth of the Alleghany River at Fort Pitt, to the Venango,
and from thence up French Creek, and by Le Boeuf (the present site of Waterford,
Penn.) along the old road to Presque Isle, on the east; the Ohio River,
including all the islands in it, from Fort Pitt to the Ouabache, on the south;
thence up the River Ouabache to that branch, Ope-co-mee-cah, (the Indian name of
White River, Indiana,) and up the same to the head thereof; from thence to the
headwaters and springs of the Great Miami, or Rocky River; thence across to the
headwaters of the most northeastern branches of the Scioto River; thence to the
westernmost springs of the Sandusky River; thence down said river, including the
islands in it and in the little lake (Sandusky Bay), to Lake Erie, on the west
and northwest^ and Lake Erie, on the north." These boundaries contain the
cessions of lands made to the Delaware Nation by the Wyandotts, the Hurons, and
Iroquois. The Delawares, after Gen. Wayne's signal victory in 1794, came to
realize that further contests with the American colonies would be worse than
useless. They, therefore, submitted to the inevitable, acknowledged the
supremacy of the whites, and desired to make peace with the victors. At the
close of the treaty at Greenville, made in 1795 by Gen. Wayne, Bu-kon-ge-he-las,
a Delaware chief of great influence in his tribe, spoke as follows: "Father,
your children ail well understand the sense of the treaty which is now
concluded. We experience daily proofs of your increasing kindness. I hope we may
all have sense enough to enjoy our dawning happiness. All who know me, know me
to be a man and a warrior, and I now declare that I will, for the future, be as
steady and true, friend to the United States as I have, heretofore, been an
active enemy."

   This promise of Bu-kon-ge-he-las was faithfully kept by his people. They
evaded all the efforts of the Shawanee prophet, Tecumseh, and the British, who
endeavored to induce them, by threats or bribes, to violate it. They remained
faithful to the United States during the war of 1812, and, with the Shawanees,
furnished some very able warriors and scouts, who rendered valuable service to
the United States during this war. After the Greenville treaty the great body of
Delawares removed to their lands on White River, Indiana, whither some of their
people had preceded them, while a large body of them crossed the Wabash into
Southern Illinois. They continued to reside on White River and the Wabash, and
their branches, until 1819, when most of them joined the band emigrating to
Missouri, upon the tract of land granted by the Spanish authorities in 1793,
jointly to them and the Shawanese. Others of their number who remained behind,
scattered themselves among the Miamis, Pottawatomies and Kickapoos, while
others, including the Moravian converts, went to Canada.

   The majority of the nation, in 1829, settled on the Kansas and Missouri
Rivers. They numbered about 1,000, were brave, enterprising: hunters, cultivated
lands and were friendly to the whites. In 1853 they sold the Government all the
lands granted them, excepting a reservation in Kansas. During the late
Rebellion, they sent to the United States army 170 out of their 200 able-bodied
men. Like their ancestors, they proved valiant and trustworthy soldiers.

   The Kickapoos, who also dwelt in this portion of the State, were but a
remnant of a once powerful tribe of Indians. The following bit of history
contains some items of interest: In 1763 the Kickapoos occupied the country
southwest of the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. They subsequently moved
further south, and at a more recent date dwelt in portions of the territory on
the Mackinaw and Sangamon Rivers, and had a village on Kickapoo Creek, and at
Elkhart Grove, from which they roamed southward hunting game. They were more
civilized, industrious, energetic and cleanly than the neighboring tribes, and,
it may also be added, more implacable in their hatred of the Americans. They
were among the first to commence battle, and the last to submit and enter into
treaties. Unappeasable enmity led them into the field against Gens. Harmar, St.
Clair and Wayne, and to be first in all the bloody charges on the field of
Tippecanoe. They were prominent among the Northern Nations, which, for more than
a century, waged an exterminating war against the Illinois Confederacy. Their
last hostile act of this kind was perpetrated in 1805, against some poor
Kaskaskia children whom they found gathering strawberries on the prairie above
the town which bears the name of their tribe. Seizing a considerable number of
them, they fled to their villages before the enraged Kaskaskias could overtake
them and rescue their offspring. During the years 1810 and 1811, in conjunction
with the Chippewas, Pottawatomies and Ottawas, they committed so many thefts and
murders on the frontier settlements that Gov. Edwards was compelled to employ
military force to suppress them. When removed from Illinois they still retained
their old animosities against the Americans, and went to Texas, then a province
of Mexico, to get beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.


Additional Comments:
Extracted From:

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD AND CLARK COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
EDITED BY WILLIAM HENRY PERRIN.

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS,
LAKESIDE BUILDING.
1883.


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