Full Text of History of Vermillion County Illinois -- Chapter II

Scanning and OCR by Joy Fisher, jfisher@us-genealogy.net

------------------------------------------------------------------
USGENWEB NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced 
in any format for profit or presentation by other organiza-
tions or persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this
material, must obtain the written consent of the contri-
butor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and
contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this 
consent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


CHAPTER II.

THE ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS VERMILION COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN--THE TWO GREAT NATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
--ORIGIN OF THE IROQUOIS--THE ALCONQUINS THE FRIEND OF THE FRENCH--
THE IROQUOIS THE FRIEND OF THE BRITISH--THE MIAMI CONFEDERACY--THE
ILLIN] NEARLY RELATED TO THE MIAMIS--THE PIANKESHAWS A TRIBE OF THE
MIAMI CONFEDERACY--THE HABITS OF THE MIAMIS--THE PIANKESHAWS
ALONG THE WABASH RIVER-THE KICKAPOOS-THEIR VILLAGES IN THIS SEC-
TION--THE PEACE MEDAL--THE KICKAPOO TREATIES--THE POTTOWATOMIES
THE LAST TO LEAVE THIS TERRITORY--THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTOWATOMIES
IN 1838-THE PASSING OF THE INDIAN.


	When the Western Continent was discovered a new race of people was found.
As the eastern coast was explored and colonized the natives proved to be quite
similar, differing when at all, in degree of appearance and characteristics.
Because the discovery of America was made, in although a futile yet an earnest
search for a shorter route to India, these natives were called Indians. Later,
when it was learned that a new country instead of India had been found, the
natives were distinguished by the name of American Indians. This new race
was found to inhabit the entire new land from the Gulf of Mexico to the country
north of the Great Lakes, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river,
and westward to the Rocky mountains.

	In appearance the people of this newly found race were pleasing. They were
tall, straight and well proportioned; of a copper-colored skin, long coarse and
perfectly straight hair; strong features with high cheek-bones, and had black,
piercing, expressive eyes. Bodily deformity was unknown and, until they adopted
the vices of the Europeans, but little diseases prevailed among them. They had
vigorous constitutions and astonishing powers of endurance.

	One writer in the early times who had lived with them, summed up their
characteristics in these words: "They were indolent, taciturn, and unsocial;
brave and sometimes generous in war; unflinching under bodily torture; 
revengeful, treacherous, and morose when injured or offended; not always
grateful for favors; grave and sagacious in council; often eloquent in speech; 
sometimes warm and constant in friendship, and occasionally courteous and 
polite." 

	While the American Indian from Florida to the Rocky mountains spoke a
variety of dialects, there were, perhaps, not more than eight radically distinct
languages among them. All the races were more or less nomadic in their habits,
yet each tribe had its own territory as a habitat. The migration of the American
Indian was from the west to the east, and generally, with a tendency toward a
southern direction. The white man came into America and went from the east
to the west; the red man went from the west to the east.

	Nothing is really known of the origin of the race-all theories so far
advanced lacked satisfactory substantiation, and become but conjecture. One
fact alone remains undisputed, and that is the direction whence they came. In
most of the tribes there was a legend, handed down from one generation to
another of "having come from the shore of the great sea, far to the setting
sun," without doubt meaning the Pacific ocean. As the white man explored
the territory east of the Mississippi river, two great families of Indians were
found. These families were known as the Algonquins and the Iroquois. They
in turn were divided into many tribes or clans, each with a different name.
These two families were to the white man, apparently, distinct people. They
were antagonistic, and irrevocably sworn enemies. While the Algonquins were
the more numerous, the Iroquois were the dominant nation.. This, according to
Indian tradition, had not always been the case, however. Long before the
Europeans came to the new world, the Iroquois were a peaceful people. Their
principal village was on the northern side of the lakes about where Montreal
is now situated. They made "the planting of corn their business," and were
under a sort of subjection to the Adirondacks. Adirondack was the Iroquois
name for Algonquin, and was supposed to be the source of all the tribes 
considered a part of the Algonquin family. The habitat of the Adirondacks 
surrounded the village of the Iroquois. Naturally the Adirondacks despised the
Iroquois who had as their business, work "fit only for women." The Adirondacks
delighted in the more manly employment of hunting, and going to war with
other tribes.

	As time went by, however, the game grew scarce and wandered further, and
was more difficult to get and the Adirondacks felt the need of help from the
young men of the Iroquois. So they induced these peaceable people to join them
in the chase. An unforseen condition arose. The young Iroquois became more
expert than their teachers in the hunt and showed a greater power of endurance
of fatigue. This aroused the hatred of the Adirondacks, and one night they
murdered the young men of the Iroquois whom they had with them. The chief
of the Iroquois complained but they were treated with contempt. The Adirondacks 
had no fear of the Iroquois, thinking they were but "as women." At last
the Iroquois were aroused to action and they determined upon revenge. The
Adirondacks hearing this, declared war. The Iroquois were defeated, and forced
from their country to the south side of the Lakes. Here they ever afterward
lived, but they were a changed people. They had learned to fight, and in time
they became a powerful nation. They formed a strong confederacy afterward
called the Five and later the Six Nations. Their habitat was through what is now
the State of New York. Living as they did in the midst of their old enemies,
the Adirondacks, they yet became their conquerors. The Iroquois went east
into New England, and west as far as the "Country of the Illini," subjugating
other tribes from whom they constantly exacted tribute. The Iroquois have
fittingly been called the "Romans of the Western World."

The Algonquins, through their various tribes, inhabited the vast territory now
included in all of Canada, New England, a part of New York and Pennsylvania,
all of the States of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, eastern
North Carolina north of Cape Fear, a large portion of Kentucky, and Tennessee,
and all north and west of these States, east of the Mississippi river.

	The early settlers of New England, the Dutch coming to the Hudson river,
and the French discovering the St. Lawrence river, all found the Algonquins in
possession of this part of the country. Those on the Hudson river early were
made subject to the Iroquois. When Champlain established Quebec, he found
the Algonquins very friendly. They were as usual making ready to fight their
perpetual enemy, the Iroquois. Champlain taught them the use of the white
man's arms and himself led them to victory in a memorable battle on the lake
since called by his name. This act, simple as it seemed in itself, determined 
the history of America. The undying hatred of the French, on the part of the
Iroquois, was aroused. They became the perpetual enemy of the Frenchman and
all of his friends, and interests. Through their compact with the Dutch, which
was inherited by their conquerors, the English, the Iroquois were always sworn
to the interests of Great Britain, and were ever their allies. They held 
themselves a steady barrier to French invasion of New England, and were an aid 
to the colonies on the coast. On the other hand, the Algonquins were as loyal 
friends to the French, and their good will made the exploration of the 
representatives of this nation westward possible and their possession of the 
Mississippi Valley a matter of course.

	The territory now known as Vermilion County, Illinois, was the home of the
confederacies of the Algonquin family called the Miamis, with later the 
Kickapoos, and Pottowatomies, with temporary occupancy by scattered bands of
Shawnees and Delawares. The eastern limit of the possessions of the Illini was
the ridge which divides the waters of the tributaries of the Illinois river from
those of the Wabash river. The Miami Confederacy is the earliest known
occupant of this section of country. The Miamis were without doubt originally a 
branch of the great Illinois Nation. Their claim to relationship of
the two made by earliest writers is agreed to by no less authority than Gen.
William Henry Harrison, whose long official connection with both the Illinois 
and the Miamis, gives his theories great weight.

	The separation of the tribes which took place before the white man 
explored the upper Mississippi river, and by the time of occupancy seemed to be 
complete. This separation was, indeed so complete that in the wars waged against
the Illini by the Iroquois, the Sacs and Foxes, and other enemies, the Miamis
never made offer of assistance, yet there were the best of reasons to believe 
they were one family originally. Their language, manners and customs were so
nearly identical, that little doubt can exist that they were at one time the 
same nation. According to their own tradition, the Miamis and the Illinois as 
well, came, originally, from the Pacific ocean. Their first permanent stopping 
place of which the white man has knowledge, was at the Des Moines river. Here 
they separated. The migrations of the Miamis from the west of the Mississippi
river eastward, can be followed readily through the mass of records handed
down from the missionaries, travelers and officers connected with the French.
Their travel extended through what is now Wisconsin, and northern Illinois
around the southern end of Lake Michigan, to Detroit and thence up the Maumee
river and down the Wabash river and eastward through Indiana, and Ohio as
far as the Great Miami river.

	Father Claude Dablon made a visit to a Miami village on the Fox river
in 1670, and writes of the natives in a letter preserved in the Jesuit Relations 
of 1670 and 1671. He calls them the "Oumaimi, one of the Illinois Nation, which
is, as it were, dismembered from the others in order to dwell in these 
quarters." He describes the Miami chief in these words: "The physiogomy of the 
chief, Telmchonia, was as mild and as attractive as any one could desire to see, 
and, while his reputation as a warrior, was great, his features bore a softness 
which charmed all those who beheld him. He never spoke to his subjects, but 
imparted his orders through some of his officers." This pen picture of a man 
whose subjects, and maybe relatives, lived in this section of country where we 
now have our homes, is interesting to us, but must not confuse us into thinking 
his people were without the well known characteristics of the savage of the 
plains.

	The Miami Confederacy consisted of the Miamis proper, the Weas, and the
Piankeshaws. This confederacy was known to the Iroquois and was often
called "Twight-wees" by them.

	The Miamis proper are known to have been at what is now the city of
Fort Wayne, in charge of the portage at that place, as early as 1699, and a few
years later the Weas are described as having their fort and cultivated fields on
the plains below what is now the city of LaFayette, in Indiana. This section
is even yet known as the Wea plains.

	When the French first explored the Wabash river, they found the 
Piankeshaws in possession of the land on either side of that stream from its 
mouth to the Vermilion river. A part, at least, of this territory, was ceded to 
the Delawares, who, in turn, in 1804, made a session of it to the United States.

	From the time the white man came into this country of the Illini (or 
Illinois) its eastern limit was known to be the ridge which divides the waters 
flowing into the Illinois river from the streams which drain into the Wabash 
river. This same ridge was the western limit of the country of the Miamis.

	There is no room for doubt that the earliest proprietors of the territory 
which is now Vermilion County, were the Miamis, or, to be yet more explicit, the 
first people known to have owned these fields and streams, these prairies and 
timber, belonged to the Piankeshaw tribe, of the Miami Confederacy. The superior
number of the Miamis and- their great valor enabled them to extend the limit
of their hunting grounds eastward into Ohio, and far within the territory of
the Iroquois. Unlike the Illini, the Miamis held their own until they were
placed upon an equal footing with the tribes eastward by obtaining possession
of firearms with which they were able to maintain their tribal integrity and 
independence. Again, unlike the Illini, they did not keep faith with the French. 
They traded and fought with the French, English and Americans as their interests 
or passions inclined; they made peace or declared war against other nations
of their own race, as policy or caprice dictated. More than once they compelled
the arrogant Iroquois to beg, from the governor of New York, that protection
which they, themselves, had failed to secure by their own prowess.

	The Miamis became bold and independent, and did not appeal to the French
as an attractive field for missionary work. As a result of this, the Jesuit 
Relations and pastoral letters of the priesthood have less to say of this 
Confederacy than of any of the other western tribes, the Kickapoos alone 
excepted.

	Trade with the Miamis was sought with great eagerness, by both the French
and the English. This involved wars between the Miamis and the Iroquois and
constant reduction of their numbers.

	After the French were driven from the Mississippi Valley, the Miamis were
compelled to defend their title from the arrogant claims of the British. They
took a conspicuous part in the conspiracy of Pontiac. This conspiracy failed,
and Pontiac went to Fort Chartres which he kept from the actual possession of
the British for two years. The cessation of hostilities, and the transfer of 
Fort Chartres to the British, was secured through a conference between Pontiac 
and George Croghan, Department Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This conference
was held within the country of the Miamis. Croghan and Pontiac met on the
familiar trail, which crosses the southern part of Vermilion County. This trail
crossed the southeast corner of the town of Sidell and it is even yet distinctly
discernible in the northwestern part of Edgar County where it has been marked
by a tablet.

	Beside the wars into which the Miamis were drawn, they were greatly
reduced in numbers by reason of the ravages of smallpox; whole villages were
depopulated by this dread scourge. As the years passed, the Miamis were
degraded by the vices of the white man, and became weakened and easily overcome 
by their enemies. The Kickapoos and the Pottowatomies drove them to the east of 
the Wabash river before white men came to settle this part of the Wabash Valley.

	The early settler came into contact and were better acquainted with these
Indians who came later, than with the Piankeshaws, or any other tribe of the
Pottowatomies. The Kickapoos were associated with, or were a part of, the
Mascoutins, a tribe who had, some time before the appearance of the Kickapoos,
as such, in the Wabash Valley, gone to the mouth of the Ohio river. Writers
differ in considering the relationship between these two tribes. They are 
sometimes classed as the same, arid sometimes, as two distinct people. Even 
while they were regarded as separate bands or subdivisions of a tribe, it had to 
be admitted that their language and customs were identical. They always occupied
contiguous villages and hunted in company with each other, over the same 
country. They were always united in interests. No instance is on record where
they were ever arrayed against each other, or where they ever took opposite
sides in any alliance with other tribes. Treaties were always made with the
Kickapoos when both were involved, and instances are recorded when known
Mascoutins signed their names as Kickapoos.

	The Kickapoos were connected with the Northwest, being first noticed by
Samuel Champlain, in 1612, "residing near the place called Sakinam," meaning
the country of the Sacs, which bordered on Lake Huron, in the vicinity of 
Saginaw Bay. Father Claude Allouz visited "a mixed village of Miamis, Kickapoos
and Mascoutins, on Fox river, in the winter of 1669-70. Like the Miamis, the
Kickapoos were not inclined to receive religious impressions from the early 
missionaries. Tonti quaintly records their ruthless murder of Father Ribourd in
these words:-"They carried him away and broke his head." Other instances
are on record of their cruelty to the missionaries. Previous to 1718 they had
villages on the Rock river, having- been driven thither by the scarcity of game
and enmity of the Sioux. The Rock river is laid down on a map of La Salle's
discoveries as the Kickapoo river-"the Assin-Sepe."

	The Kickapoos came into the Wabash Valley as disputers of the Miamis'
claim as early, at least, as 1765. The distinction between them and the Mascou-
tins is inferred from the record made as late as 1815, of the Mascoutins 
residing on the west bank of the Wabash between Vincennes and the Tippecanoe 
river, and the Kickapoos living a short distance above them, in several large 
villages. On the other hand, it is a well-known fact that an important Kickapoo 
village was located at the mouth of the Vermilion river, a few miles south of 
Danville, and a large Kickapoo burial ground was to be found a few miles west on 
the Salt Fork of the Vermilion river.

	No instance is recorded where the Kickapoos assisted either the French or
British in any of the intrigues or wars for the fur trade, or the acquisition of
disputed territory in the Northwest. They early incurred the displeasure of the
French, but there is no record that they became the allies of the British on any
occasion.

	As a military people the Kickapoos were inferior to the Miamis, the 
Delawares, and the Shawnees, in movements requiring large bodies of men, but 
they excelled in predatory warfare. Small parties of five to twenty would push 
out hundreds of miles from their villages and swoop down upon a feeble 
settlement, or an isolated pioneer's cabin, and make off before an alarm could 
be given. The Kickapoos were very much attached to the country along the 
Vermilion river and General Harrison, then the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
had great trouble in gaining their consent to cede it to the United States. They
valued it highly as a hunting ground, and also because of the minerals it was
supposed to contain. But they were not alone in an appreciation of this 
territory. The Government was desirious of its possession, and General Harrison
was determined to secure it. In a letter dated December 10, 1809, addressed to
the Secretary of War, General Harrison expressed his anxiety to have the
Kickapoos release their title as high up as the Vermilion river. He particularly
coveted the tract "bounded on the east by the Wabash, on the south by the
northern line of the so-called Harrison Purchase, extending from opposite the
mouth of Raccoon creek, northwest fifteen miles; thence to a point on the
Vermilion river twenty-five miles in a direct line from its mouth; thence down
the latter stream to its confluence." "This small tract of land (of about 
twenty-five miles square, is one of the most beautiful that can be imagined. It 
is, moreover, believed to contain a rich copper mine. The Indians are so 
extremely jealous of any search being made for this mine that the traders were 
always cautioned not to approach the hills which were supposed to contain it."

	Beckwith's Historic Notes of the North-West (foot-note, page 164), states
that there was a mistake made in this letter concerning the mineral in this
mine; that it was not copper but a mineral having something like the appearance
of silver. Explorations on the bluffs of the Little Vermilion, in the seventies,
resulted in the discovery of a number of ancient furnaces; with the charred 
coals and slag remaining in and about them. The furnaces were crude, consisting 
of shallow excavations of irregular shape in the hillsides. These basins were 
but a few feet across; they too, were lined with fine clay. The bottoms of the 
pits were connected by ducts, or troughs, also made of fireclay, leading into 
reservoirs, a little distance lower down the hillside, into which the metal 
could flow, when reduced to a liquid state, in the furnace above.

	The pits were carefully filled with earth and every precaution was taken 
to .prevent their discovery, a slight depression on the surface of the ground 
being the only indication of their presence. These mines were, from every 
appearance, entitled to a claim of considerable antiquity, and were probably 
"the silver mines of the Wabash," of which repeated mention is made by early 
writers.

	The most plausible explanation of the use to which this metal was put was
given, at the time the mines were explored by a half-breed Indian whose 
ancestors lived in the vicinity and were in the secret. He said that, after 
being smelted the metal was sent to Montreal, where it was used as an alloy with 
silver and made into brooches, wristbands and other jewelry, and returned to the
traders to be disposed of to the Indians.

	The territory described by General Harrison, extended into the southeast
corner of what is now Vermilion County, and is yet a tract of the same 
description, for it is one of the most beautiful to be imagined, for, together 
with the adjoining territory in that part of the county, it makes the richest 
farm lands to be found any where. This land, although coveted by Harrison, was 
not ceded to the United States until, at a treaty made at Edwardsville, in 1819. 
This was ten years after the above quoted letter was written, but, meanwhile, 
Tecumseh had "taken up the hatchet against the white people" and all Governor 
Harrison's time was taken in "fighting it out," as Tecumseh said, and securing 
the Wabash Valley to the white man.

	Since the battle of Tippecanoe was only indirect in results of influence 
to the settlement of Vermilion County, a brief mention of its importance, is 
only admissible. True it is, it made.the occupancy of this territory possible at 
that time. When making the treaty the Kickapoos claimed the entire territory 
which they ceded as theirs "by descent from their ancestors, by conquest from 
the Illinois Nation (probably inferring the Miamis a part of the Illinois 
Nation) and by uninterrupted possession for more than half a century."

	As compared with other Indians, the Kickapoos were industrious and 
intelligent, and cleanly in their habits. They were better armed and clothed 
than the other tribes. The men, as a rule, were tall, sinewy and active; the 
women were lithe, and many of them by no means lacking in beauty. Their dialect 
was soft and liquid as compared with the rough gutteral language of the 
Pottowatomies. The Kickapoos lived to themselves and did not, as a rule, mix 
with the white people; because of this they preserved their characteristics. The 
vices of the white man were less temptation to them than to other tribes. They 
were never of great numbers, as compared to the Miamis or Pottowatomies, but 
their energy was great so that they well compared. In language, manners and 
customs the Kickapoos resembled the Sacs and Foxes, whose allies they were 
generally counted.

	The Kickapoos shared the part of the Wabash Valley with the Pottowatomies
after the last years of the i8th Century. The Pottowatomies had been neighbors 
of the Miamis to the north for some time before the treaty of Greenville, in 
1795. At this time the Pottowatomies announced their determination to settle 
upon the Wabash river. They made no pretentions to ownership of that country, 
and gave, as their reason for taking the Miami territory, that "they were tired 
of eating fish and wanted to eat meat."

	The Pottowatomies had gradually wandered from the Lake Huron country
southward, without any fixed land of their own. The other tribes called them
squatters. They were of the same family as the Ottawas and Ojibbeways with
but a difference of dialect, not a difference of language. Their manners, as
well as their dialect, were rough and barbarous, as compared with other 
Algonquin tribes. They were loyal to the French, maintaining their alliance so 
long as New France existed in America. When other Indians "as far west as the
Illinois" were induced to be bound by the "Silver Covenant Chain" and desert
the French at the Siege of Niagara, the Pottowatomies were not counted in the
number. After the French were vanquished by the British the Pottowatomies
heartily upheld their kinsman Pontiac, in his attempt to recover the country.

	The Pottowatomies fought with the British during the Revolutionary war,
and in the war of i8i2, being a menace to the frontiers of Kentucky, Ohio and
Pennsylvania. It was the Pottowatomies who perpetrated the massacre at Fort
Dearborn, August 15, 1812. After settling themselves in the Wabash country,
the Pottowatomies agreed with the Kickapoos, already there, that they, together,
would take possession of the north and west sides of the river, leaving the east
side for the Miamis, now grown too weak to resist this arrangement.

	This was a hard bargain for the Miamis, but they could make no resistance;
they were dealing with a stronger people.

	One of these mixed Pottowatomie towns was located but a short distance 
outside of present-day Vermilion County. The exact location of this town is a 
matter of record in a speech made by the renowned Indian chief, "Kesis" (the 
Sun), to General Wayne, when telling of his own village which was "a day's walk 
below the Wea town on the Wabash." He referred to the village which stood on the
Site of the Shelby farm near Cayuga, which is yet owned by descendents of the
family living in Vermilion County, Illinois. Evidences of Indian fighting have
been found in various parts of Vermilion County. The old Baird farm, now
owned by John Baird, near Indianola, has given much evidence of a battle having 
been fought at that spot, but it is impossible to determine whether it was
between the Pottowatomies, or the Kickapoos against the Piankeshaws, or was
even at an earlier date. The Revolutionary war was concluded without Great
Britain making any provision for her Indian allies, who continued their 
hostilities. No treaty had been made between the United States and the Wabash
tribes. The Indians of this territory were a menace to the frontier, and there
seemed no help for it. The United States government tried peaceable means
to bring an end to Indian depredations, and, failing in this, sent out 
expeditions into the Wabash country, under General Harrison and then under 
General Charles Scott, and last under General Wilkinson, which, in every case, 
resulted in the burning of Indian villages, the devastation of their fields and 
the capture of wom- en and children, but not the conquering of the Indians 
themselves. The prison- ers were taken to Fort Washington. Again the government 
tried to bring the Wabash tribes to a treaty of peace. Grown vindictive and 
arrogant beyond words, the Indians declined all overtures.

	General Putnam, who was the Indian Agent of the Ohio Company, at Marietta, 
at the hazard of his life, visited the hostile tribes, and finding they would 
not go to Philadelphia nor Fort Washington, he induced them to meet at 
Vincennes. Starting from Fort Washington, August 26, 1792, he went to Vincennes, 
reaching there September 12. He was accompanied by the Moravian missionary, John 
Heckwelder. They took the surviving prisoners who had been captured by General 
Scott and General Wilkinson the previous year, with them. There were one hundred 
forty persons put into the boats and taken down the Ohio and up the Wabash 
rivers. The Indians who had already come to Vincennes when they reached there, 
September 12, "were assembled upon the banks of the river, and when they saw 
their friends approaching," wrote Heckwelder, "they discharged their guns in 
token of joy and sang the praises of those from whom they had been separated, in 
terms peculiar to themselves."

	The prisoners were at once delivered to their friends. For the next ten 
days the Indians came daily to make the treaty. By the morning of the twenty-
fourth, delegates representing the Eel Creeks, Wea, Pottowatomie, Mascoutin, 
Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, Kaskaskia and Peoria tribes, had all arrived. Speeches 
were made by both General Putnam for the United States, and the assembled chiefs 
and definite articles of peace were concluded. These were signed on the twenty-
seventh of September, 1792. This was the first treaty ever entered into between 
the United States and the several Wabash tribes. It was a treaty of peace and 
friendship only. General Putnam took many presents with him when he went to 
Vincennes to make this treaty. Among these were two large white wampum belts of 
peace with a silver medal suspended to each, bearing the arms of the United 
States.

	When the chiefs of the several tribes had signed the articles of the 
treaty, General Putnam addressed them as follows: - "Brothers, listen to what I 
say: We have been for some days past engaged in establishing a peace and we have 
succeeded through the influence of The Great Spirit. Brothers, we have wiped off 
the blood, we have buried the hatchet, on both sides, all that is past shall be 
forgotten." Taking up the belts, he continued: "Brothers, this is the belt of 
peace which I now present to you in the name of the United States. This belt 
shall be the evidence of, and the pledge for, the performance of the articles of 
the treaty of peace which we have concluded between the United States and your 
tribes this day.

	"Brothers, whenever you look at this, remember that there is a perpetual 
peace and friendship between you and us, and that you are now under the 
protection of the United States. Brothers, we will hold this belt in our hands,- 
here at this end, the United States holds it, and you hold it by the other end. 
The road you see is broad, level and clear. We may now pass to one and another 
easy and without difficulty. Brothers, the faster we hold this belt the happier 
we shall be. Our women and children will have no occasion to be afraid any
more. Our young men will observe that their wise men performed a good
work. Brothers, be all strong in that which is good. Abide all in this path,
young and old, and you will enjoy the sweetness of peace." After speaking this
way General Putnam delivered the belts.

	Among the Indians present was the renowned Pottowatomi chief, "Kesis,"
whose village was the one mentioned above, located on the site of the Shelby
farm, near the mouth of the Vermilion river.

	There was an old Indian burial ground, near the mouth of the Middle Fork
of the Vermilion river when the first settlers came to this section. This burial
ground bore all evidence of having been used by the Indians many years prior
to the time of the cession of the territory along the Vermilion river. Any one
curious to locate the site of the old burying ground can do so on the bluffs 
near the mouth of the Middle Fork four miles West of Danville.

	There are no signs of its once use as a burial place. It has not had any
such use since the removal of the Pottowatomies west in 1838, and few who
pass on the road beneath the bluffs every day know that it was ever a burial
ground.

	It was sixty odd years after the signing of the treaty at Vincennes, that 
two young men, living on a farm near this burying ground, were walking by the
river, when they saw a skull which had evidently been washed out of the bluff.
They made search and found a grave from which it had come. Examining the grave, 
a medal was found. It may be this skull was not found by accident, as this story 
would imply, but was the result of digging in the grave, seeking treasure. 
Whatever the cause of finding the medal, the article itself, and its being in a 
grave in this burying ground, is the matter of interest.

	This medal is reproduced in this volume and it can readily be seen to be
exactly as the description given by the Moravian missionary, of the peace medal
presented by General Putnam to the Indians at the Vincennes treaty in 1792.
This medal is of silver set in a rim of the same metal. The engraving is by
hand, of course, and is very distinct. It can be studied with little trouble 
from the illustration. The side upon which is engraved the Coat of Arms of the
United States was explained to the Indians by Gen. Putnam in these words:-
"Brothers, the engravings on this medal distinguish the United States from all
other nations; it is called their arms, and no other nation has the like. The 
principal figure is a broad eagle. This bird is a native of this country and is 
to be found in no other part of the world; and both you and the Americans being
born in this land and having grown up together with the eagle, they have placed
him in their arms, and have engraved him on this medal, by which the great
chief. General Washington, and all the people of the United States, hold this
belt fast. The wings of the eagle are extended to give protection to all our
friends, and to assure you of our protection so long as you hold fast this belt.
In his right foot the eagle holds the branch of a tree, which, with us, is an 
emblem of peace, and it means that we love peace, and wish to live in peace with 
all our neighbors, and to assure you, that while you hold this belt fast, you 
shall always be in peace and security, whether you are pursuing the chase, or 
reposing yourselves under the shadow of the bough. In the left foot of this bird 
is placed a bundle of arrows; by this is meant that the United States have the
means of war and that when peace cannot be obtained or maintained with their
neighbors, on just terms, and that if, notwithstanding all their endeavors for
peace, war is made upon them, they are prepared for it."

	The other side of the medal needed no interpretation to an Indian. It 
tells its own story better than any words could. The Indian has thrown his 
tomahawk, the emblem of war, at the foot of the tree under whose roots it was to
be typically buried. With his other hand, the Indian has extended the pipe
of peace (after he, himself, had smoked it) to Washington, and he, representing
the United States, has reached his hand to receive and smoke. These acts of
friendly feeling insures protection to the pioneer plowman and his cabin in the
background. The eye in the rim of this medal shows that it has never been 
suspended.

	Since it is believed that Kesis, the great Chief, was buried in this 
burying ground, it is reasonable to think that this medal was buried with him. 
The young men sold the medal to Samuel Chester at the time, and he later 
disposed of it to Josephus Collett of Terre Haute, and it is now in the 
possession of Mrs. Lynne Beckwith of Danville, Illinois. The Pottowatomies were 
the last of their race to leave the Wabash country. They were the redmen with 
whom the early settlers of this section were best acquainted. Whatever notion of
the American Indian there has been handed down from one generation to
another, in this section, was had from association with the Pottowatomies.

	There were reservations made for them in both Indiana and Illinois, but 
the white man crowded them out, and at last they were sent beyond the 
Mississippi river.

	The final migration of the Potowatomies from the Wabash Valley was
under charge of Col. Pepper and Gen. Tipton and took place in the summer
of 1838. It was a sad sight, these children of the forest being driven from
the homes of their childhood. Bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams
of their infancy, the graves of their revered ancestors, leaving these sacred
scenes to be desecrated by the plowshares of the white man. No wonder the
downcast warriors wept-the old men trembled and the swarthy cheek of the
youth paled. There were about one thousand persons of all ages in the line
of march. Reluctantly they wended their way toward the setting sun, watching 
their chances to break into the brush and return to their dearly loved homes,
saying they would rather die than leave their country. When they reached
Danville they halted several days being in want of food. Without tents, and
a liberal supply of food, there was much suffering among them. While at
Danville they camped on the Dave Fowler farm. During their stay there were
many deaths.

	The mournful procession passed on across Illinois, without adequate means
of conveyance for the weak, the aged and the infirm. Several years later the
Miami Nation was removed to their western homes by coercive means under
an escort of United States troops. This once proud and powerful nation
was far inferior in point of numbers to the Pottowatomies. Their removal
took the last of the original proprietors of the section, thenceforth to be 
known as Vermilion County, Illinois, to beyond the Mississippi river. This left 
the fields and plains, the woods and rivers, which had been the red man's home
to the use of the white man.

	Generations have come and gone since the American Indian has lived in
Eastern Illinois. All that is now known of him is through the questionable
tales found in books, or worse, the representation of his life as shown on the
stage, coined as it is from those of his race west of the Mississippi river.

	The American Indian has passed from his old haunts as has passed the
buffalo, the wild game, the beaver and even the woods, from the borders of
the streams.