[1] George D. Prentice (1802-70), founder of the Louisville _Journal_,
was graduated from Brown University in 1823. Two years later he became
editor of the Connecticut _Mirror_ and in 1828-30 had charge of the
_New England Weekly Review_. In the spring of 1830, at the earnest
solicitation of several influential Connecticut Whigs, he went West to
gather data for a life of Henry Clay. Once in Kentucky he threw all
the force of his political genius in support of Clay's policy. On
November 24, 1830, he issued the first number of the Louisville
_Journal_, which through his able management was soon recognized as
the chief Whig organ in the West. Wholly devoted to Clay's cause,
its own reputation rose and declined with that of its champion.
The _Journal_ maintained an existence till 1868, when Henry
Watterson consolidated it with the Courier, under the title of
_Courier-Journal_. Prentice is reputed to have been the originator of
the short, pointed paragraph in journalism. His _Life of Henry Clay_
(Hartford, 1831) is well known. In 1859 he published a collection
of poems under the name _Prenticeana_ (New York). It was reprinted
in 1870 with a biography of the author by G. W. Griffin
(Philadelphia).--ED.
[2] John M. Peck, a Baptist minister, went as a missionary to St.
Louis in 1817. After nine years of preaching in Missouri and Illinois,
he founded (1826) the Rocky Spring Seminary for training teachers and
ministers. It is said that he travelled more than six thousand miles
collecting money for endowing this school. In 1828 Peck began
publishing the _Western Pioneer_, the first official organ of the
Baptist church in the West, and served as the corresponding secretary
and financial agent of the American Baptist Publication Society from
1843 to 1845. He died at Rocky Springs, Illinois, in 1858. Peck made
important contributions to the publications of the early historical
societies in the Northwest. His chief independent works are: _A Guide
for Emigrants_ (Boston, 1831), republished as _A New Guide for
Emigrants_ (Boston, 1836); _Gazetteer of Illinois_ (Jacksonville, 1834
and 1837); _Father Clark or the Pioneer Preacher_ (New York, 1855);
and "Life of Daniel Boone," in Jared Sparks, _American Biography_.
Judge James Hall was born in Philadelphia (1793), and died near
Cincinnati in 1868. He was a member of the Washington Guards during
the War of 1812-15, was promoted to the 2nd United States artillery,
and accompanied Decatur on his expedition to Algiers (1815). Resigning
in 1818, he practiced law at Shawneetown, Illinois (1820-27), and
filled the office of public prosecutor and judge of the circuit court.
He moved to Vandalia (1827) and began editing the _Illinois
Intelligencer_ and the _Illinois Monthly Magazine_. From 1836 to 1853
he was president of the commercial bank at Cincinnati, and acted as
state treasurer. He published: _Letters from the West_ (London, 1828);
_Legends of the West_ (1832); _Memoirs of the Public Services of
General William Henry Harrison_ (Philadelphia, 1836); _Sketches of
History, Life and Manners of the West_ (Philadelphia, 1835);
_Statistics of the West at the Close of 1836_ (Cincinnati, 1836);
_Notes on the Western States_ (Philadelphia, 1838); _History and
Biography of the Indians of North America_ (3 volumes, 1838-44); _The
West, its Soil, Surface, etc._ (Cincinnati, 1848); _The West, its
Commerce and Navigation_ (Cincinnati, 1848); besides a few historical
novels. For a contemporary estimate of the value of Hall's writings
see _American Monthly Magazine_ (New York, 1835), v, pp. 9-15.
For Timothy Flint, see Pattie's _Narrative_, in our volume xviii, p.
25, note 1.
Major Alphonso Wetmore (1793-1849) was of much less importance as a
writer on Western history than those above mentioned. He entered the
23rd infantry in 1812, and subsequently was transferred to the 6th. He
served as paymaster for his regiment from 1815 to 1821, and was
promoted to a captaincy (1819). In 1816 he moved with his family to
Franklinton, Missouri, and later practiced law in St. Louis. His chief
contribution to Western travel is a _Gazetteer of Missouri_ (St.
Louis, 1837).--ED.
[3] The reference is to Shakespeare's _King John_, III, iv.--ED.
[4] For a brief sketch of the history of Louisville, see Croghan's
_Journals_, in our volume i, p.136, note 106.--ED.
[5] The seven stations formed on Beargrass Creek in the fall of 1779
and spring of 1780 were: Falls of the Ohio, Linnis, Sullivan's Old,
Hoagland's, Floyd's, Spring, and Middle stations. Beargrass Creek, a
small stream less than ten miles in length, flows in a northwestern
trend and uniting with two smaller creeks, South and Muddy forks,
enters the Ohio (not the Mississippi) immediately above the Falls of
the Ohio (Louisville).--ED.
[6] It is only at high stages of the river that boats even of a
smaller class can pass over the Falls. At other times they go through
the "Louisville and Portland Canal." In 1804 the Legislature of
Kentucky incorporated a company to cut a canal around the falls.
Nothing effectual, however, beyond surveys, was done until 1825, when
on the 12th of January of that year the Louisville and Portland Canal
Company was incorporated by an act of the legislature, with a capital
of $600,000, in shares of $100 each, with perpetual succession. 3665
of the shares of the company are in the hands of individuals, about
seventy in number, residing in the following states: New-Hampshire,
Massachusetts, New-York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, and
Missouri, and 2335 shares belong to the government of the United
States.
In December, 1825, contracts were entered into to complete the work of
this canal within two years, for about $375,000, and under these
contracts the work was commenced in March, 1826. Many unforeseen
difficulties retarded the work until the close of the year 1828. At
this time the contractors failed; new contracts were made at advanced
prices, and the canal was finally opened for navigation December 5th,
1830. When completed it cost about $750,000. Owing to the advanced
season at which it was opened, the deposites of alluvial earth at the
lower extremity of the canal, or debouchure, could not be removed; and
also from the action of the floods during the succeeding severe winter
on the stones that had been temporarily deposited on the sides of the
canal, causing them to be precipitated into the canal, it was not used
to the extent that it otherwise would have been. During the year 1831,
406 steamboats, 46 keelboats, and 357 flatboats, measuring 76,323
tons, passed through the locks, which are about one fourth the number
that would have passed if all the obstructions had been removed.
The Louisville and Portland Canal is about two miles in length; is
intended for steamboats of the largest class, and to overcome a fall
of 24 feet, occasioned by an irregular ledge of limerock, through
which the entire bed of the canal is excavated, a part of it, to the
depth of 12 feet, is overlaid with earth. There is one guard and three
lift locks combined, all of which have their foundation on the rock.
One bridge of stone 240 feet long, with an elevation of 68 feet to top
of the parapet wall, and three arches, the centre one of which is
semi-elliptical, with a transverse diameter of 66, and a
semi-conjugate diameter of 22 feet. The two side arches are segments
of 40 feet span. The guard lock is 190 feet long in the clear, with
semicircular heads of 26 feet in diameter, 50 feet wide, and 42 feet
high, and contains 21,775 perches of mason-work. The solid contents of
this lock are equal to 15 common locks, such as are built on the Ohio
and New-York canals. The lift locks are of the same width with the
guard lock, 20 feet high, and 183 feet long in the clear, and contain
12,300 perches of mason-work. The entire length of the walls, from the
head of the guard lock to the end of the outlet lock, is 921 feet. In
addition to the amount of mason-work above, there are three culverts
to drain off the water from the adjacent lands, the mason-work of
which, when added to the locks and bridge, give the whole amount of
mason-work 41,989 perches, equal to about 30 common canal locks. The
cross section of the canal is 200 feet at top of banks, 50 feet at
bottom, and 42 feet high, having a capacity equal to that of 25 common
canals; and if we keep in view the unequal quantity of mason-work
compared to the length of the canal, the great difficulties of
excavating earth and rock from so great a depth and width, together
with the contingencies attending its construction from the
fluctuations of the Ohio River, it may not be considered as
extravagant in drawing the comparison between the work in this and in
that of 70 or 75 miles of common canalling.
In the upper sections of the canal, the alluvial earth to the average
depth of twenty feet being removed, trunks of trees were found more or
less decayed, and so imbedded as to indicate a powerful current
towards the present shore, some of which were cedar, which is not now
found in this region. Several _fireplaces_ of a rude construction,
with partially burnt wood, were discovered near the rock, as well as
the bones of a variety of small animals and several human skeletons;
rude implements formed of bone and stone were frequently seen, as also
several well-wrought specimens of hematite of iron, in the shape of
plummets or sinkers, displaying a knowledge in the arts far in advance
of the present race of Indians.
The first stratum of rock was a light, friable slate, in close contact
with the limestone, and difficult to disengage from it; this slate did
not, however, extend over the whole surface of the rock, and was of
various thicknesses, from three inches to four feet.
The stratum next to the slate was a close, compact limestone, in which
petrified seashells and an infinite variety of coralline formations
were imbedded, and frequent cavities of crystalline incrustations were
seen, many of which still contained petroleum of a highly fetid smell,
which gives the name to this description of limestone. This
description of rock is on an average of five feet, covering a
substratum of a species of cias limestone of a bluish colour,
imbedding nodules of hornstone and organic remains. The fracture of
this stone has in all instances been found to be irregularly
conchoidal, and on exposure to the atmosphere and subjection to fire,
it crumbles to pieces. When burnt and ground, and mixed with a due
proportion of silicious sand, it has been found to make a most
superior kind of hydraulic cement or water-lime.
The discovery of this valuable limestone has enabled the canal company
to construct their masonry more solidly than any other known in the
United States.
A manufactory of this hydraulic cement or water-lime is now
established on the bank of the canal, on a scale capable of supplying
the United States with this much-valued material for all works in
contact with water or exposed to moisture; the nature of this cement
being to harden in the water; the grout used on the locks of the canal
is already _harder_ than the _stone_ used in their construction.
After passing through the stratum which was commonly called the
water-lime, about ten feet in thickness, the workmen came to a more
compact mass of primitive gray limestone, which, however, was not
penetrated to any great depth. In many parts of the excavation masses
of a bluish white flint and hornstone were found enclosed in or
incrusting the fetid limestone. And from the large quantities of
arrow-heads and other rude formations of this flint stone, it is
evident that it was made much use of by the Indians in forming their
weapons for war and hunting; in one place a magazine of arrow-heads
was discovered, containing many hundreds of these rude implements,
carefully packed together and buried below the surface of the ground.
The existence of iron ore in considerable quantities was exhibited in
the progress of the excavation of the canal, by numerous
highly-charged chalybeate springs that gushed out, and continued to
flow during the time that the rock was exposed, chiefly in the upper
strata of limestone.--_Louisville Directory for 1835._--FLAGG.
[7] A circumstance, too, which adds not a little of interest to the
spot, is the old Indian tradition that here was fought the last battle
between their race and the former dwellers in Kentucky--the _white
mound-builders_--in which the latter were exterminated to a man. True
or false, vast quantities of human remains have, at low stages of
the Ohio, been found upon the shores of Sandy Island, one mile
below, and an extensive graveyard once existed in the vicinity of
Shipping-port.--FLAGG.
[8] _Kentucke_ is said to have a similar meaning.--FLAGG.
[9] Ohio is thought by some philologists to be a corruption of the
Iroquois word, "Ohionhiio," meaning "beautiful river," which the
French rendered as La Belle Rivière; see also Cuming's _Tour_, in our
volume iv, p. 92, note 49.--ED.
[10] At the age of twenty-five, Henry M. Shreve (1785-1854) was
captain of a freight boat operating on the Ohio. In 1814 he ran the
gauntlet of the British batteries at New Orleans, and carried supplies
to Fort St. Phillip. The following year, in charge of the "Enterprise"
he made the first successful steamboat trip from New Orleans to
Louisville. Later he constructed the "Washington," making many
improvements on the Fulton model. Fulton and Livingstone brought suit
against him but lost in the action. May 24, 1824, at the instigation
of J. C. Calhoun, then secretary of war, Congress appropriated
seventy-five thousand dollars (not $105,000, as Flagg says) for the
purpose of removing obstructions from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
As early as 1821, Shreve had invented a device for removing snags and
sawyers from river beds. But it was not until after two years'
fruitless trials with a scheme devised by John Bruce of Kentucky, that
Barbour, at Calhoun's suggestion, appointed Shreve superintendent of
improvements on Western rivers (December 10, 1826). This position he
held until September 11, 1841, when he was dismissed for political
reasons. In the face of discouraging opposition Shreve constructed
(1829) with government aid the snagboat "Heleopolis" with which he
later wrought a marvellous improvement in navigation on the Ohio and
Mississippi. From 1833 to 1838 he was engaged in removing the Red
River "raft" for a distance of a hundred and sixty miles, thus opening
that important river for navigation. For a good biography of Shreve,
see the _Democratic Review_, xxii (New York, 1848), pp. 159-171,
241-251. A fair estimate of the importance of his work can be gained
from the following statistics; from 1822-27 the loss from snags alone,
of property on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, including steam and
flat-boats and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500; the like loss
from 1827-32 was reduced to $381,000, although the volume of business
had greatly increased.--ED.
[11] The "Baltimore" (73 tons) was built at Pittsburg in 1828; the
"Roanoke" (100 tons), at Wheeling in 1835. It is reported that from
1831 to 1833, of the sixty-six steamboats which went out of service,
twenty-four were snagged, fifteen burned, and five destroyed by
collision with other boats. See James Hall, _Notes on the Western
States_ (Philadelphia, 1838), p. 239.--ED.
[12] The keel-boat Hindoo, with merchandise to the amount of $50,000,
is a late instance.--FLAGG.
[13] Brown's Island, two miles and a half long by half a mile at its
greatest width, is located six or seven miles above Steubenville,
Ohio, following the course of the river.--ED.
[14] The keel-boat was usually from sixty to seventy feet long, and
fifteen to eighteen broad at beam, with a keel extending from bow to
stern, and had a draft of twenty to thirty inches. When descending the
stream, the force of the current, with occasional aid from the pole,
was the usual mode of locomotion. In ascending the stream, however,
sails, poles, and almost every known device were used; not
infrequently the vessel was towed by from twenty to forty men, with a
rope several hundred feet in length attached to the mast. These boats
were built in Pittsburg at a cost of two to three thousand dollars
each.
The barge was constructed for narrow, shallow water. As a rule it was
larger than the keel-boat; but of less draft, and afforded greater
accommodations for passengers.
Broad-horn was a term generally applied to the Mississippi and Ohio
flat-boat, which made its advent on the Western waters later than the
barge or the keel-boat. It was a large, unwieldy structure, with a
perfectly flat bottom, perpendicular sides, and usually covered its
entire length. It was used only for descending the stream.
"The earliest improvement upon the canoe was the pirogue, an invention
of the whites. Like the canoe, this is hewed out of the solid log; the
difference is, that the pirogue has greater width and capacity, and is
composed of several pieces of timbers--as if the canoe was sawed
lengthwise into two equal sections, and a broad flat piece of timber
inserted in the middle, so as to give greater breadth of beam to the
vessel." Hall, _Notes on the Western States_, p. 218.--ED.
[15] Flint.--FLAGG.
[16] For an account of the first steamboat on the Ohio, see Flint's
_Letters_, in our volume ix, p. 154, note 76.--ED.
[17] Latrobe.--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ Charles J. Latrobe (1801-75) visited the United
States in 1832-33. His _Rambles in North America in 1832-3_ (New York,
1835) and _Rambles in Mexico_ (New York and London, 1836) have much
value in the history of Western travel.
[18] The first steamer upon the waters of the Red River was of a
peculiar construction: her steam scape-pipe, instead of ascending
perpendicularly from the hurricane deck, projected from the bow, and
terminated in the form of a serpent's head. As this monster ascended
the wilds of the stream, with her furnaces blazing, pouring forth
steam with a roar, the wondering Choctaws upon the banks gave her the
poetic and appropriate name of _Pinelore_, "the Fire-Canoe."--FLAGG.
[19] This quotation is from _Botanic Gardens_, book i, chapter i, by
Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802).--ED.
[20] For Rome, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 160,
note 77.--ED.
[21] Green River, rising in central Kentucky, flows west through the
coal fields to its junction with the Big Barren; thence it turns
north, and empties into the Ohio nine miles above Evansville, Indiana.
Beginning with 1808 the state legislature expended large sums of money
for improving navigation on Green River. As a consequence small
steamboats may ascend it to a distance of more than a hundred and
fifty miles. The length of the stream is estimated at three hundred
and fifty miles.--ED.
[22] Diamond Island, densely wooded, is located thirty-six miles below
the mouth of Green River, and seven miles above Mount Vernon. Its name
is perhaps derived from its shape, being five miles long and one and a
half wide.--ED.
[23] For note on Hendersonville, see Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume
iv, p. 267, note 175.--ED.
[24] John J. Audubon, born in Louisiana (1780), was a son of a wealthy
French naval officer; his mother was a Spanish Creole. Educated in
France, he returned to America (1798) and settled near Philadelphia,
devoting his time to the study of birds. In 1808 he went west and
until 1824 made fruitless attempts to establish himself in business in
Kentucky and Louisiana. He issued in London (1827-38) his noted
publication on the _Birds of America_, which was completed in
eighty-seven parts. During 1832-39 he published five volumes entitled
_Ornithological Biographies_. Audubon died in 1851. See M. R. Audubon,
_Audubon and his Journals_ (New York, 1897).--ED.
[25] For the historical importance of the Wabash River, see Croghan's
_Journals_, in our volume i, p. 137, note 107.--ED.
[26] The Wabash and Erie Canal, which connects the waters of Lake Erie
with the Ohio River by way of the Maumee and Wabash rivers, has played
an active rôle in the development of Indiana, her most important
cities being located upon its route. The Ohio section was constructed
during the years 1837-43, and the Indiana section as far as Lafayette
in 1832-40; the canal being later continued to Terre Haute and the
Ohio River near Evansville. Although the federal government granted
Indiana 1,505,114 acres for constructing the canal, the state was by
this work plunged heavily in debt. After the War of Secession the
canal lost much of its relative importance for commerce. June 14,
1880, Congress authorized the secretary of war to order a survey and
estimate of cost and practicability of making a ship canal out of the
old Wabash and Erie Canal. The survey and estimate were made, but the
matter was allowed to drop. See _Senate Docs._, 46 Cong., 3 sess.,
iii, 55.--ED.
[27] For an account of New Harmony and its founder, George Rapp, see
Hulme's _Journal_, in our volume x, p. 50, note 22, and p. 54, note
25.--ED.
[28] Flagg is evidently referring to Robert Owen, the active promoter
of the scheme. A brief history of his activities is given in Hulme's
_Journal_, in our volume x, p. 50, note 22.
For Robert Dale Owen see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxiv,
p. 133, note 128.--ED.
[29] "Declaration of Mental Independence" delivered by Robert Owen
(not Robert Dale Owen) on July 4, 1826, was printed in the New Harmony
_Gazette_ for July 12, 1826. An extended quotation is given in George
B. Lockwood, _The New Harmony Communities_ (Marion, Indiana, 1902), p.
163.--ED.
[30] For an account of William Maclure, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in
our volume xxii, p. 163, note 81.
In reference to the Duke of Saxe Weimar, see Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our
volume xxi, p. 71, note 47.--ED.
[31] On Shawneetown and the Shawnee Indians see our volume i, p. 23,
note 13, and p. 138, note 108.--ED.
[32] For a brief statement on the salines, see James's _Long's
Expedition_, in our volume xiv, p. 58, note 11.--ED.
[33] An excellent account of the Mound Builders is given by Lucien
Carr in Smithsonian Institution _Report_, 1891 (Washington, 1893), pp.
503-599; see also Cyrus Thomas, "Report on Mound Explorations" in
United States Bureau of Ethnology _Report_ (1890-91).--ED.
[34] Hanging Rock is the name given to a high sandstone escarpment on
the right bank of the river, three miles below Ironton, Ohio.--ED.
[35] Blennerhasset's Island is two miles below Parkersburg, West
Virginia. For its history, see Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume iv, p.
129, note 89.--ED.
[36] A brief description of Rock Inn Cave (or Cave-in-Rock) may be
found in Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume iv, p. 273, note 180.--ED.
[37] For Schoolcraft, see Gregg's _Commerce of the Prairies_, in our
volume xx, p. 286, note 178.--ED.
[38] It is a remarkable circumstance, that this term is employed to
signify the _same_ thing by all the tribes from the Arkansas to the
sources of the Mississippi; and, according to Mackenzie, throughout
the Arctic Regions.--FLAGG.
[39] See Cuming's _Tour_, in our volume iv, p. 268.--ED.
[40] Ford's Ferry is today a small hamlet in Crittenden County,
Kentucky, twenty-five miles below Shawneetown. Flagg is referring
probably to the Wilson family. Consult Lewis Collins, _History of
Kentucky_ (Covington, 1874), i. p. 147.--ED.
[41] Since the remarks relative to "the remarkable cavern in the
vicinity of _Tower Rock_, and not far from Hurricane Island," were in
type, the subjoined notice of a similar cave, probably the same
referred to, has casually fallen under my observation. The reader will
recognise in this description the outlines of _Rock-Inn-Cave_,
previously noticed. It is not a little singular that none of our
party, which was a numerous one, observed the "hieroglyphics" here
alluded to. The passage is from Priest's "American Antiquities."
"_A Cavern of the West, in which are found many interesting
Hieroglyphics, supposed to have been made by the Ancient Inhabitants._
"On the Ohio, twenty miles below the mouth of the Wabash, is a cavern
in which are found many hieroglyphics and representations of such
delineations as would induce the belief that their authors were indeed
comparatively refined and civilized. It is a cave in a rock, or ledge
of the mountain, which presents itself to view a little above the
water of the river when in flood, and is situated close to the bank.
In the early settlement of Ohio this cave became possessed by a party
of Kentuckians called 'Wilson's Gang.' Wilson, in the first place,
brought his family to this cave, and fitted it up as a spacious
dwelling; erected a _signpost_ on the water side, on which were these
words: 'Wilson's Liquor Vault and House of Entertainment.' The novelty
of such a tavern induced almost all the boats descending the river to
call for refreshments and amusement. Attracted by these circumstances,
several idle characters took up their abode at the cave, after which
it continually resounded with the shouts of the licentious, the
clamour of the riotous, and the blasphemy of gamblers. Out of such
customers Wilson found no difficulty in forming a band of robbers,
with whom he formed the plan of murdering the crews of every boat that
stopped at his tavern, and of sending the boats, manned by some of his
party, to New-Orleans, and there sell their loading for cash, which
was to be conveyed to the cave by land through the States of Tennessee
and Kentucky; the party returning with it being instructed to murder
and rob on all good occasions on the road.
"After a lapse of time the merchants of the upper country began to be
alarmed on finding their property make no returns, and their people
never coming back. Several families and respectable men who had gone
down the river were never heard of, and the losses became so frequent
that it raised, at length, a cry of individual distress and general
dismay. This naturally led to an inquiry, and large rewards were
offered for the discovery of the perpetrators of such unparalleled
crimes. It soon came out that Wilson, with an organized party of
forty-five men, was the cause of such waste of blood and treasure;
that he had a station at Hurricane Island to arrest every boat that
passed by the mouth of the cavern, and that he had agents at Natchez
and New-Orleans, of presumed respectability, who converted his
assignments into cash, though they knew the goods to be stolen or
obtained by the commission of murder.
"The publicity of Wilson's transactions soon broke up his party; some
dispersed, others were taken prisoners, and he himself was killed by
one of his associates, who was tempted by the reward offered for the
head of the captain of the gang.
"This cavern measures about twelve rods in length and five in width;
its entrance presents a width of eighty feet at its base and
twenty-five feet high. The interior walls are smooth rock. The floor
is very remarkable, being level through the whole length of its
centre, the sides rising in stony grades, in the manner of seats in
the pit of a theatre. On a diligent scrutiny of the walls, it is
plainly discerned that the ancient inhabitants at a very remote period
had made use of the cave as a house of deliberation and council. The
walls bear many hieroglyphics well executed, and some of them
represent animals which have no resemblance to any now known to
natural history.
"This cavern is a great natural curiosity, as it is connected with
another still more gloomy, which is situated exactly above, united by
an aperture of about fourteen feet, which, to ascend, is like passing
up a chimney, while the mountain is yet far above. Not long after the
dispersion and arrest of the robbers who had infested it, in the upper
vault were found the skeletons of about sixty persons, who had been
murdered by the gang of Wilson, as was supposed.
"But the tokens of antiquity are still more curious and important than
a description of the mere cave, which are found engraved on the sides
within, an account of which we proceed to give:
"The sun in different stages of rise and declension; the moon under
various phases; a snake biting its tail, and representing an orb or
circle; a viper; a vulture; buzzards tearing out the heart of a
prostrate man; a panther held by the ears by a child; a crocodile;
several trees and shrubs; a fox; a curious kind of hydra serpent; two
doves; several bears; two scorpions; an eagle; an owl; some quails;
_eight_ representations of animals which are now unknown. Three out of
the eight are like the elephant in all respects except the tusk and
the tail. Two more resemble the tiger; one a wild boar; another a
sloth; and the last appears a creature of fancy, being a quadruman
instead of a quadruped; the claws being alike before and behind, and
in the act of conveying something to the mouth, which lay in the
centre of the monster. Besides these were several fine representations
of men and women, _not naked_, but clothed; not as the Indians, but
much in the costume of Greece and Rome."--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ This same account is given by Collins (_op. cit._, in
note 40), and is probably true.
[42] Hurricane Island, four miles below Cave-in-Rock, is more than
five miles in length. The "Wilson gang" for some time used this island
for a seat of operation.--ED.
[43] Golconda is the seat of Pope County, Illinois. See Woods's
_English Prairie_, in our volume x, p. 327, note 77.
On or just before Christmas, 1806, Aaron Burr came down the Cumberland
River from Nashville and joined Blennerhasset, Davis Floyd, and others
who were waiting for him at the mouth of the river, and together they
started on Burr's ill-fated expedition (December 28, 1806). Their
united forces numbered only nine batteaux and sixty men. See W. F.
McCaleb, _Aaron Burr's Conspiracy_ (New York, 1903), p. 254 ff.
For a short account of Paducah, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our
volume xxii, p. 203, note 110.--ED.
[44] It has since been nearly destroyed by fire.--FLAGG.
[45] On Fort Massac, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, in our volume iii, p.
73, note 139.--ED.
[46] Wilkinsonville, named for General James Wilkinson, was a small
hamlet located on the site of the Fort Wilkinson of 1812, twenty-two
miles above Cairo. Two or three farm houses are today the sole relics
of this place; see Thwaites, _On the Storied Ohio_, p. 291.
Caledonia is still a small village in Pulaski County, Illinois. Its
post-office is Olmstead.--ED.
[47] For account of the attempt at settlements at the confluence of
the Ohio and Mississippi, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume
xxii, p. 204, note 111.--ED.
[48] For America see Ogden's _Letters_, our volume xix, p. 44, note
30, and Woods's _English Prairie_, our volume x, p. 327, note 77.
The scheme known as the "Internal Improvement Policy" was authorized
over the governor's veto by the Illinois general assembly on February
27, 1837, in response to the popular clamor for its adoption. The
object was to open the country for immigration and hasten its natural
development by constructing railroads and canals as yet not needed
commercially. Ten million two hundred thousand dollars were
appropriated by the act, including two hundred thousand dollars to be
given directly to the counties not favored. Surveys were made, and
speculation was rife. Then followed a collapse, and six million five
hundred thousand dollars were added to the state debt. The scheme was
later referred to as the General Insanity Bill.--ED.
[49] The English Island of 1836 is probably the Power's Island of
today. It is three miles long, and forms a part of Scott County,
Missouri, more than twenty miles above Cairo.--ED.
[50] Herbert.--FLAGG.
[51] For a sketch of Cape Girardeau, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, in
our volume iii, p. 80, note 154.--ED.
[52] A superior quality of kaolin, or china clay, is mined in large
quantities in Cape Girardeau County. Marble ninety-nine per cent pure,
is procured in abundance.--ED.
[53] "Muddy River," usually called "Big Muddy," is the English
translation of the French _Rivière au Vase_, or _Vaseux_. Formed by
the union of two branches rising in Jefferson County, Illinois, it
flows in a southwesterly direction and empties into the Mississippi
about twenty-five miles above Cape Girardeau. It is one hundred and
forty miles long.--ED.
[54] Fountain Bluff is six miles above the mouth of the Big Muddy.
Flagg's descriptions are in the main accurate.--ED.
[55] Grand Tower, seventy-five feet high, and frequently mentioned by
early writers, is a mile above the island of the same name, at the
mouth of the Big Muddy, and stands out some distance from the Missouri
side. Grand Tower Island was an object of much dread to boatmen during
the days of early navigation on the Mississippi. A powerful current
sweeping around Devil's Oven, frequently seized frail or unwieldy
craft to dash it against this rock. Usually the boatmen landed, and by
means of long ropes towed their vessels along the Illinois side, past
this perilous rock.--ED.
[56] The Mississippi between the mouth of the Kaskaskia River and Cape
Girardeau offered many obstructions to early navigation. As at Grand
Tower, the boatmen frequently found it necessary to land and tow their
boats past the dangerous points, and here the Indians would lie in
ambush to fall upon the unfortunate whites. The peril of these places
doubtless lent color to their nomenclature. Flagg's descriptions are
fairly accurate except in the matter of dimensions, wherein he tends
to exaggeration.--ED.
[57] $105,000.--FLAGG.
[58] For Red River raft, see James's Long's _Expedition_, in our
volume xvii, p. 70, note 64.--ED.
[59] In reference to the American Bottom, see Ogden's _Letters_, in
our volume xix, p. 62, note 48.--ED.
[60] For an account of Ste. Genevieve, see Cuming's _Tour_, in our
volume iv, p. 266, note 174.
According to Austin, cited below, La Motte (or La Mothe) Cadillac,
governor of Louisiana, went on an expedition (1715) to the Illinois in
search of silver, and found lead ore in a mine which had been shown
him fifteen miles west of the Mississippi. It is believed by some
authorities that this was the famous "Mine la Mothe," at the head of
the St. Francis River. Schoolcraft, however, says that Philip Francis
Renault, having received mining grants from the French government,
left France in 1719, ascended the Mississippi, established himself the
following year near Kaskaskia, and sent out small companies in search
of precious metals; and that La Mothe, who had charge of one of these
companies, soon discovered the mine that still bears his name. It was
operated only at intervals, until after the American occupation, when
its resources were developed. Under the Spanish domination
(1762-1800), little was done to develop the mine. In 1763, however,
Francis Burton discovered the "Mine à Burton," on a branch of Mineral
Fork. Like the "Mine la Mothe," it was known to the Indians before the
discovery by the whites, and both are still operated. Burton was said
to have been alive in 1818, at the age of a hundred and six; see
Colonel Thomas Benton's account of him in St. Louis _Enquirer_,
October 16, 1818.
For an account of primitive mining operations, see Thwaites,
_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xiii, pp. 271-292; Moses Austin,
"Lead Mines of Ste. Geneviève and St. Louis Counties," _American State
Papers_ (_Public Lands_), iii, pp. 609-613; and H. R. Schoolcraft,
_Lead Mines of Missouri_ (New York, 1819).--ED.
[61] From 1738 to 1744, the mines were considered as public property:
but in the year last mentioned François Vallé received from the French
government a grant of two thousand arpents of land (1,666 acres)
including "Mine la Mothe," and eighteen years later twenty-eight
thousand arpents (23,333 acres) additional. At Vallé's death the land
passed to his sons, François and John, and Joseph Pratt, a transfer
confirmed by Congress in 1827. The next year it was sold to C. C.
Vallé, L. E. Linn, and Everett Pratt. In 1830 it was sold in part and
the remainder leased. In 1868 the estate passed from the hands of the
Vallés.--ED.
[62] Pilot Knob is a conical-shaped hill, a mile in diameter, in Iron
County, Missouri, seventy-five miles southwest of St. Louis, and is
rich in iron ore. In the War of Secession it was the scene of a battle
between General Sterling Price and General Hugh B. Ewing (September
26, 27, 1864).
Iron Mountain is an isolated knob of the St. François Mountains in St.
François County, eighty miles south of St. Louis. One of the richest
and purest iron mines in the United States is found there.--ED.
[63] The Peoria were one of the five principal tribes of the Illinois
Confederation. They resided around the lake in the central portion of
Illinois, which bears their name. In 1832 they were removed to Kansas,
and in 1854 to Indian Territory, where, united with other tribes, they
still reside.--ED.
[64] For a short account of Fort Chartres, see A. Michaux's _Travels_,
in our volume iii, p. 71, note 136.--ED.
[65] For Prairie du Rocher see A. Michaux's _Travels_, in our volume
iii, p. 70, note 133. The legend referred to is, "Michel de Couce" by
James Hall, in his _Legends of the West_.
Contrary to Flagg's statement that there exists no description of Fort
Chartres worthy of its history, Philip Pittman, who visited the place
in 1766, gives a good detailed description of the fort in his _Present
State of the European Settlements on the Missisippi_ (London, 1770),
pp. 45, 46.--ED.
[66] For location and date of settlement of Herculaneum, see
Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 212, note 122.
On a perpendicular bluff, more than a hundred feet in height, in the
vicinity of Herculaneum, J. Macklot erected (1809) what was probably
the first shot-tower this side of the Atlantic. The next year one
Austin built another tower at the same point. According to H. R.
Schoolcraft in his _View of the Lead Mines of Missouri_ (New York,
1819), pp. 138, 139, there were in 1817 three shot-towers near
Herculaneum, producing in the eighteen months ending June 1 of that
year, 668,350 pounds of shot. From the top of small wooden towers
erected on the edge of the bluff, the melted lead was poured through
holes in copper pans or sieves.--ED.
[67] For the location of the Platine (usually spelled Plattin), see
Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 212, note 123. Lead
mining has been carried on in this district, intermittently, since
1824.--ED.
[68] See Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 212, note
123.--ED.
[69] The following extract from the Journal of Charlevoix, one of the
earliest historians of the West, with reference to the Mines upon the
Merrimac, may prove not uninteresting. The work is a rare one.
"On the 17th (Oct., 1721), after sailing five leagues farther, I left,
on my right, the river Marameg, where they are at present employed in
searching for a silver mine. Perhaps your grace may not be displeased
if I inform you what success may be expected from this undertaking.
Here follows what I have been able to collect about this affair, from
a person who is well acquainted with it, and who has resided for
several years on the spot.
"In the year 1719, the Sieur de Lochon, being sent by the West India
Company, in quality of founder, and having dug in a place which had
been marked out to him, drew up a pretty large quantity of ore, a
pound whereof, which took up four days in smelting, produced, as they
say, two drachms of silver; but some have suspected him of putting in
this quantity himself. A few months afterward he returned thither,
and, without thinking any more of the silver, he extracted from two or
three thousand weight of ore fourteen pounds of very bad lead, which
stood him in fourteen hundred francs. Disgusted with a labour which
was so unprofitable, he returned to France.
"The company, persuaded of the truth of the indications which had been
given them, and that the incapacity of the founder had been the sole
cause of their bad success, sent, in his room, a Spaniard called
Antonio, who had been taken at the siege of Pensacola; had afterward
been a galley-slave, and boasted much of his having wrought in a mine
at Mexico. They gave him very considerable appointments, but he
succeeded no better than had done the Sieur de Lochon. He was not
discouraged himself, and others inclined to believe that he had failed
from his not being versed in the construction of furnaces. He gave
over the search after lead, and undertook to make silver; he dug down
to the rock, which was found to be eight or ten feet in thickness;
several pieces of it were blown up and put into a crucible, from
whence it was given out that he extracted three or four drachms of
silver; but many are still doubtful of the truth of this fact.
"About this time arrived a company of the King's miners, under the
direction of one _La Renaudiere_, who, resolving to begin with the
lead mines, was able to do nothing; because neither he himself nor any
of his company were in the least acquainted with the construction of
furnaces. Nothing can be more surprising than the facility with which
the company at that time exposed themselves to great expenses, and the
little precaution they took to be satisfied of the capacity of those
they employed. La Renaudiere and his miners not being able to procure
any lead, a private company undertook the mines of the Marameg, and
Sieur Renault, one of the directors, superintended them with care. In
the month of June last he found a bed of lead ore two feet in
thickness, running to a great length over a chain of mountains, where
he has now set his people to work. He flatters himself that there is
silver below the lead. Everybody is not of his opinion, but will
discover the truth."--FLAGG.
[70] Flagg's account agrees with a much longer treatment by Lewis C.
Beck, in his _Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri_
(Albany, 1823), with the exception that the latter says there were no
inscriptions to be found on the gravestones. Beck himself makes
extended quotations from the _Missouri Gazette_, November 6, 1818, and
subsequent numbers. Though no doubt exaggerated, these accounts were
probably based on facts, for a large number of prehistoric remains
have been found in St. Louis County and preserved in the Peabody
Museum at New Haven, Connecticut, and elsewhere.--ED.
[71] For an account of Jefferson Barracks, see Townsend's _Narrative_,
in our volume xxi, p. 122, note 2.--ED.
[72] For the history of Carondelet, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our
volume xxii, p. 215, note 124.
For reference to Cahokia, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, in our volume
iii, p. 70, note 135.
On May 20, 1826, Congress made an appropriation of fifteen thousand
dollars to the secretary of war, for the purpose of purchasing the
site for the erection of an arsenal in the vicinity of St. Louis.
Lands now far within the southeastern limits of the city were
purchased, and the buildings erected which were used for arsenals
until January 16, 1871, when they were occupied as a depot for the
general mounted recruiting service.--ED.
[73] A name of Algonquin origin--_Missi_ signifying great, and _sepe_
a river.--FLAGG.
[74] Indian name for the "Falls of St. Anthony."--FLAGG.
[75] That the Mississippi, the Missouri, and, indeed, most of the
great rivers of the West, are annually enlarging, as progress is made
in clearing and cultivating the regions drained by them, scarcely
admits a doubt. Within the past thirty years, the width of the
Mississippi has sensibly increased; its overflows are more frequent,
while, by the diminution of obstructions, it would seem not to have
become proportionally shallow. In 1750, the French settlements began
upon the river above New-Orleans, and for twenty years the banks were
cultivated without a _levee_. Inundation was then a rare occurrence:
ever since, from year to year, the river has continued to rise, and
require higher and stronger embankments. A century hence, if this
phenomenon continues, what a magnificent spectacle will not this river
present! How terrific its freshets! The immense forest of timber which
lies concealed beneath its depths, as evinced by the great earthquakes
of 1811, demonstrates that, for centuries, the Mississippi has
occupied its present bed.--FLAGG.
[76] In 1764 Auguste Chouteau made tentative plans for the
fortification of St. Louis. In obedience to an order by Don Francisco
Cruzat, the lieutenant-governor, he made a survey in 1781 for the
purpose of perfecting these earlier plans. In the same year the
stockade was begun immediately south of the present site of the
courthouse. In 1797 the round stone tower which Flagg mentions was
constructed and preparations made for building four additional towers;
the latter were never completed. From 1804 to 1806 these
fortifications were used by the United States troops, and then
abandoned for military purposes. The commandant's house served as a
courthouse from 1806 to 1816; and the tower as a jail until 1819. For
a detailed description of the plans, see J. F. Scharf, _St. Louis City
and County_ (Philadelphia, 1883), p. 136 ff.--ED.
[77] For a brief sketch of William H. Ashley see Maximilian's
_Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 250, note 198. He purchased (1826 or
1827) eight acres on the present site of Broadway, between Biddle and
Bates streets, St. Louis, where he built a handsome residence.
Bloody Island, now the Third Ward of East St. Louis, was formed about
1800 by the current cutting its way through the neck in a bend of the
river. For a long time it was not determined to what state it
belonged, and being considered neutral ground many duels were fought
there, notably those between Thomas H. Benton and Charles Lucas
(1817), United States District Attorney Thomas Rector and Joshua
Barton (1823), and Thomas Biddle and Spencer Pettis (1830). The name
was derived from these bloody associations.--ED.
[78] For a sketch of Charlevoix, see Nuttall's _Journal_, in our
volume xiii, p. 116, note 81.--ED.
[79] D'Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, sent a
detachment of soldiers to St. Louis in 1767. Later, these troops were
transferred to the south bank of the Missouri, a few miles above its
mouth, where "Old Fort St. Charles the Prince" was erected. General
Wilkinson built Fort Bellefontaine on this site in 1805. From 1809 to
1815 this was the headquarters of the military department of Louisiana
(including Forts Madison, Massac, Osage, and Vincennes). It was the
starting point of the Pike, Long, and Atkinson expeditions. On July
10, 1826, it was abandoned for Jefferson Barracks, but a small arsenal
of deposits was maintained here until 1834. The land was eventually
sold by the government (1836). See Walter B. Douglas's note in
Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_ (New
York, 1905), v, pp. 392, 393.--ED.
[80] North of Missouri River, twenty miles above its confluence with
the Mississippi, where the bluffs of the two streams unite, two
smooth, treeless, grass-covered mounds stand out from the main bluffs.
These mounds, a hundred and fifty feet in height, were called by the
early French "mamelles" from their fancied resemblance to the human
breast.--ED.
[81] Alton, twenty-five miles above St. Louis, is the principal city
of Madison County, Illinois. In 1807 the French erected here a small
trading post. Rufus Easton laid out the town (1818), and named it for
his son. The state penitentiary was first built at Alton (1827), but
the last prisoner was transferred (1860) to the new penitentiary at
Joliet, begun in 1857. Alton was the scene of the famous
anti-Abolitionist riot of November 7, 1837, when Elijah P. Lovejoy was
killed.--ED.
[82] Captain Benjamin Godfrey donated fifteen acres of land and
thirty-five thousand dollars for the erection of a female seminary at
Godfrey, Madison County, Illinois. The school was opened April 11,
1838, under the title of the Monticello Female Seminary, with Rev.
Theron Baldwin for its first principal.--ED.
[83] The plans mentioned here were probably being agitated when Flagg
visited Alton in 1836. The act incorporating the first railroad in
Illinois was approved January 17, 1835; it provided for the
construction of a road from Chicago to a point opposite Vincennes. By
the internal improvement act of February 27, 1837, a road was
authorized to be constructed from Alton to Terre Haute, by way of
Shelbyville, and another from Alton to Mount Carmel, by way of Salem,
Marion County; but the act was repealed before the roads were
completed. The Cumberland road was constructed only to Vandalia,
Fayette County, though the internal improvement act contemplated its
extension to St. Louis.--ED.
[84] The French village is no doubt Portage des Sioux. In 1799 Francis
Leseuer, a resident of St. Charles, visited the place, which was then
an Indian settlement. Pleased with the location he returned to St.
Charles, and secured a grant of the land from Don Carlos Dehault
Delassus, lieutenant-governor of Upper Louisiana, organized a colony
from among the French inhabitants of St. Charles and St. Louis, and
occupied the place the same autumn.--ED.
[85] Grafton, Jersey County, Illinois, was settled in 1832 by James
Mason, and named by him in honor of his native place. It was laid out
(1836) by Paris and Sarah Mason.--ED.
[86] The Illinois Indians (from "Illini," meaning "men") were of
Algonquian stock, and formerly occupied the state to which they gave
the name. They were loyal to the French during their early wars, later
aided the English, and were with great difficulty subdued by the
United States government. Separate tribes of the Illinois Indians were
the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigami, Moingewena, Peoria, and Tamaroa.
On a high bluff just above Alton there was formerly to be seen a huge
painted image known among the Indians as the Piasa Bird. To the
natives it was an object of much veneration, and in time many
superstitions became connected therewith. First described in the
_Journal_ of Father Jacques Marquette (1673) its origin was long a
subject of speculation among early writers. Traces of this strange
painting could be seen until 1840 or 1845, when they were entirely
obliterated through quarrying. See P. A. Armstrong, _The Piasa or the
Devil among the Indians_ (Morris, Illinois, 1887).
The version of the tradition given by Flagg was probably from the pen
of John Russell, who in 1837 began editing at Grafton, Illinois, the
_Backwoodsman_, a local newspaper. Russell had in 1819 or 1820
published in the _Missourian_ an article entitled "Venomous Worm,"
which won for him considerable reputation. Russell admitted that the
version was largely imaginative; nevertheless it had a wide
circulation.--ED.
[87] For a sketch of Tonty, see Nuttall's _Journal_, in our volume
xiii, p. 117, note 85.--ED.
[88] Beardstone, Cass County, Illinois, was laid out by Thomas Beard
and Enoch Marsh (1827). During the Black Hawk War (1832), it was the
principal supply base for the Illinois volunteers.--ED.
[89] For an account of the Illinois Canal, see Flint's _Letters_, in
our volume ix, p. 186, note 93.--ED.
[90] By act of Congress approved May 6, 1812, three tracts of land,
not exceeding on the whole six million acres, were authorized to be
surveyed and used as a bounty for the soldiers engaged in the war
begun with Great Britain in that year. The tract surveyed in Illinois
Territory comprehended the land lying between the Mississippi and
Illinois rivers, extending seven miles north of Quincy, on the former
stream, and to the present village of De Pue, in southeastern Bureau
County, on the latter; it embraced the present counties of Calhoun,
Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Hancock, McDonough, Fulton, Peoria,
Stark, Knox, Warren, Henderson, and Mercer, and parts of Henry,
Bureau, Putnam, and Marshall.--ED.
[91] Cap au Gris was a point of land on the Mississippi, in Calhoun
County, Illinois, just above the mouth of the Illinois. J. M. Peck, in
his _Gazetteer of Illinois_ (1837), from which Flagg derives his
account of this place, says that a settlement had been formed there
about forty years earlier. The town of this name is now in Lincoln
County, Missouri. There is no foundation for the belief that La Salle
had erected a fort here.--ED.
[92] Montgomery, on the right bank of Illinois River, in Pike County,
was laid out by an Alton Company, for a new landing. Naples is a small
village in Scott County. Havana, founded in 1827, is the seat of
justice for Mason County. Pekin is in Tazewell County.--ED.
[93] Peoria, now the second largest city in Illinois, is situated a
hundred and sixty miles southwest of Chicago, on the west bank and
near the outlet of Lake Peoria, an expansion of the Illinois River.
Its site was visited in 1680 by La Salle. Early in the eighteenth
century a French settlement was made a mile and a half farther up, and
named Peoria for the local Indian tribe. French missionaries were in
this neighborhood as early as 1673-74. In 1788 or 1789 the first house
was built on the present site of Peoria and by the close of the
century the inhabitants of the old town, because of its more healthful
location, moved to the new village of Peoria, which at first was
called La Ville de Maillet, in honor of a French Canadian who
commanded a company of volunteers in the War of the Revolution. Later
the name was changed to its present form. At the opening of the War of
1812-15, the French inhabitants were charged with having aroused the
Indians against the Americans in Illinois. Governor Ninian Edwards
ordered Thomas E. Craig, captain of a company of Illinois militia, to
proceed up the Illinois River and build a fort at Peoria. Under the
pretense that his men had been fired upon by the inhabitants, when the
former were peaceably passing in their boats, Craig burned half the
town of Peoria in November, 1812, and transferred the majority of the
population to below Alton. In the following year, Fort Clark--named in
honor of General George Rogers Clark--was erected by General Benjamin
Howard on this site; but after the close of the war the fort was
burned by the Indians. After the affair of 1812, Peoria was not
occupied, save occasionally, until 1819, when it was rebuilt by the
Americans. The American Fur Company established a post there in 1824.
See C. Ballance, _History of Peoria_ (Peoria, 1870).--ED.
[94] Benjamin Howard (1760-1814) was elected to the state legislature
of Kentucky (1800), to Congress (1807-10); appointed governor of Upper
Louisiana Territory (1810), and in March, 1813, brigadier-general of
the United States army in command of the 8th military department. He
died at St. Louis, September, 1814.--ED.
[95] Kickapoo Creek rises in Peoria County, flows southeasterly and
enters Illinois River two miles below Peoria.--ED.
[96] Robert Walter Weir (1803-89), after studying and painting in New
York, Florence (1824-25), and Rome (1825-27), opened a studio in New
York, and became an associate and later academician of the National
Academy of Design. He was professor of drawing in the United States
Military Academy at West Point from 1832 to 1874. Weir is best known
for his historical paintings, prominent among which are "The Bourbons'
Last March," "Landing of Hendric Hudson," "Indian Captives," and
"Embarkation of the Pilgrims." He built and beautified the Church of
Holy Innocents at Highland Falls, West Point. His two sons, John
Ferguson and Julian Alden, became noted artists.--ED.
[97] By order of the war department (May 19, 1834), Lieutenant-Colonel
S. W. Kearny was sent with companies B, H, and I of the 1st United
States dragoons to establish a fort near the mouth of Des Moines
River. The present site of Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, at the head of
the lower rapids of the Mississippi, was chosen. The barracks being
completed by November, 1834, they were occupied until the spring of
1837, when the troops were transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
As early as 1721 a French fort (La Baye) had been erected at Green
Bay, on the left bank of Fox River, a half league from its mouth.
After suffering many vicissitudes during the Fox wars it was later
strengthened, and when occupied by English troops in 1761, was
re-named Fort Edward Augustus. After the close of the War of 1812-15,
the United States government determined to exercise a real authority
over the forts on the upper Great Lakes, where, in spite of the
provision of Jay's Treaty (1794), its power had been merely nominal.
In 1815 John Bowyer, the first United States Indian agent for the
Green Bay district, established a government trading post at Green
Bay, and made an ineffectual attempt to control the fur trade of the
region. The following year, Fort Howard, named in honor of General
Benjamin Howard, was built on the site of the old French fort. With
the exception of 1820-22, when the troops were transferred to Camp
Smith, on the east shore, Fort Howard was continuously occupied until
1841, when its garrison was ordered to Florida and Mexico. Later, from
1849 to 1851, it was occupied by Colonel Francis Lee and
Lieutenant-Colonel B. L. E. Bonneville, and then permanently abandoned
as a garrison, although a volunteer company was stationed there for a
short time during the War of Secession. Almost every trace of the old
fort has been obliterated. Consult _Wisconsin Historical Collections_,
xvi, xvii; also William L. Evans, "Military History of Green Bay," in
Wisconsin Historical Society _Proceedings_, 1899, pp. 128-146.--ED.
[98] Hennepin, on the east bank of the Illinois River, was laid out in
1831 and made the seat of justice for Putnam County.
Ottawa, the county seat of La Salle, was laid off by the canal
commissioners (1830) at the junction of the Fox and Illinois
rivers.--ED.
[99] Flagg's description of this noted bluff is accurate. After
careful investigations, Francis Parkman, the historian, was convinced
that _Le Rocher_ or Starved Rock is the site of Fort St. Louis,
erected by La Salle in December, 1682. On his departure in the autumn
of 1683, La Salle left the post in command of his lieutenant, Henri de
Tonty, who was soon succeeded by De Baugis. In 1690 Tonty and La
Forest were granted the proprietorship of the stronghold, but in 1702
it was abandoned by royal order. By 1718 it was again occupied by the
French, although when Father Charlevoix passed three years later, it
was once more deserted. The tradition which gave rise to the name
Starved Rock was well known; see _Tales of the Border_ (Philadelphia,
1834); Osman Eaton, _Starved Rock, a Historical Sketch_ (Ottawa,
Illinois, 1895); and Francis Parkman, _La Salle and the Discovery of
the Great West_ (Boston, 1869).
Pontiac was assassinated in 1769 instead of 1767. For accounts of the
Ottawa and Potawotami, see Croghan's _Journals_, in our volume i, p.
76, note 37, and p. 115, note 84, respectively.--ED.
[100] For a biographical sketch of Pierre and Auguste Chouteau, the
elders, see James's _Long's Expedition_, in our volume xvi, p. 275,
note 127.--ED.
[101] The imprint of a human foot is yet to be seen in the limestone
of the shore not far from the landing at St. Louis.
With reference to the _human footprints in the rock at St. Louis_, I
have given the local tradition. Schoolcraft's detailed description,
which I subjoin, varies from this somewhat. The print of a human foot
is said to have been discovered also in the limestone at Herculaneum.
Morse, in his _Universal Geography_, tells us of the tracks of an army
of men and horses on a certain mountain in the State of Tennessee,
fitly named the Enchanted Mountain.
"Before leaving Harmony, our attention was particularly directed to a
tabular mass of limestone, containing two apparent prints or
impressions of the naked human foot. This stone was carefully
preserved in an open area, upon the premises of Mr. Rappe, by whom it
had previously been conveyed from the banks of the Mississippi, at St.
Louis. The impressions are, to all appearance, those of a man standing
in an erect posture, with the left foot a little advanced and the
heels drawn in. The distance between the heels, by accurate
measurement, is six and a quarter inches, and between the extremities
of the toes thirteen and a half. But, by a close inspection, it will
be perceived that these are not the impressions of feet accustomed to
the European shoe; the toes being much spread, and the foot flattened
in the manner that is observed in persons unaccustomed to the close
shoe. The probability, therefore, of their having been imparted by
some individual of a race of men who were strangers to the art of
tanning skins, and at a period much anterior to that to which any
traditions of the present race of Indians reaches, derives additional
weight from this peculiar shape of the feet.
"In other respects, the impressions are strikingly natural, exhibiting
the muscular marks of the foot with great precision and faithfulness
to nature. This circumstance weakens very much the supposition that
they may, _possibly_, be specimens of antique sculpture, executed by
any former race of men inhabiting this continent. Neither history nor
tradition has preserved the slightest traces of such a people. For it
must be recollected that, as yet, we have no evidence that the people
who erected our stupendous Western tumuli possessed any knowledge of
masonry, far less of sculpture, or that they had even invented a
chisel, a knife, or an axe, other than those of porphyry, hornstone,
or obsidian.
"The average length of the human foot in the male subject may,
perhaps, be assumed at ten inches. The length of each foot, in our
subject, is ten and a quarter inches: the breadth, taken across the
toes, at right angles to the former line, four inches; but the
greatest spread of the toes is four and a half inches, which
diminishes to two and a half at the heel. Directly before the prints,
and approaching within a few inches of the left foot, is a
well-impressed and deep mark, having some resemblance to a scroll,
whose greatest length is two feet seven inches, and greatest breadth
twelve and a half inches.
"The rock containing these interesting impressions is a compact
limestone of a grayish-blue colour. It was originally quarried on the
left bank of the Mississippi at St. Louis, and is a part of the
extensive range of calcareous rocks upon which that town is built. It
contains very perfect remains of the encrinite, echinite, and some
other fossil species. The rock is firm and well consolidated, as much
so as any part of the stratum. A specimen of this rock, now before us,
has a decidedly sparry texture, and embraces a mass of black blende.
This rock is extensively used as a building material at St. Louis. On
parting with its carbonic acid and water, it becomes beautifully
white, yielding an excellent quick-lime. Foundations of private
dwellings at St. Louis, and the military works erected by the French
and Spaniards from this material sixty years ago, are still as solid
and unbroken as when first laid. We cite these facts as evincing the
compactness and durability of the stone--points which must essentially
affect any conclusions, to be drawn from the prints we have mentioned,
and upon which, therefore, we are solicitous to express our decided
opinion."--FLAGG.
[102] For the history of Fort Chartres, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, in
our volume iii, p. 71, note 136.
For a biographical sketch of St. Ange, see Croghan's _Journals_, in
our volume i, p. 138, note 109.--ED.
[103] At the close of 1767 Captain Francisco Rios arrived at St. Louis
in pursuance of an order of D'Ulloa, governor of Louisiana. The
following year he built Fort Prince Charles, and although at first
coldly received, won the respect of the inhabitants by his tact and
good judgment. After the expulsion of D'Ulloa in the revolution of
1768, Rios returned with his soldiers to New Orleans.--ED.
[104] Spain retroceded Louisiana to France by the treaty of San
Ildefonso (October 1, 1800). The latter transferred the territory to
the United States by the treaty signed at Paris, April 30, 1803.
The attack on St. Louis mentioned by Flagg, occurred May 26, 1780. The
expedition, composed of Chippewa, Winnebago, Sioux, and other Indian
tribes, with a Canadian contingent numbering about seven hundred and
fifty, started from Mackinac. See R. G. Thwaites, _France in America_
(New York and London, 1905), p. 290; and "Papers from Canadian
Archives," _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xi, pp. 152-157.--ED.
[105] Dangerous passes on the Mississippi were rendered doubly
perilous to early navigators by the presence of bands of robbers. An
incident occurred early in 1787, which led to a virtual extermination
of these marauders. While ascending the river, Beausoliel, a wealthy
merchant of New Orleans, was attacked near Cotton Wood Creek by the
Culbert and Magilhay freebooters. After being captured, the merchants
made good their escape through the strategy of a negro, killed many of
their captors, and returned to New Orleans to report the state of
affairs. The following year (1788) the governor issued a proclamation
forbidding boats to proceed singly to St. Louis. Accordingly a fleet
of ten boats ascended and destroyed the lair at Cotton Wood Creek, the
remaining robbers having fled at their approach. This bloodless
victory marks the close of the freebooting period. The year was
afterwards known in local annals as _L'Annee des dix Bateaux_. See L.
U. Reaves, _Saint Louis_ (St. Louis, 1875), pp. 21, 22; and Scharf,
_St. Louis_, ii, p. 1092.--ED.
[106] In 1805.--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ Every house save one was destroyed by fire on June
11, 1805. The memory of the disaster is preserved in the motto of the
present seal of the city: _Resurget Cineribus_ (she arises from the
ashes).
[107] Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Cruzat, who succeeded (May, 1775)
Captain Don Pedro Piernas, the first lieutenant-governor of Upper
Louisiana, followed the liberal policy of his predecessor and was
highly esteemed by his people. He was followed in 1778 by Captain
Fernando de Leyba, who was sadly lacking in tact and political
ability; he was displaced for incompetency after the Indian attack of
May 26, 1780. Cruzat was reappointed in September and served until
November, 1787. One of the first acts of his second administration was
to direct Auguste Chouteau to make plans for the fortification of St.
Louis; see note 76, _ante_.--ED.
[108] One, which occurred during the summer of the present year, was
extensively felt. In the vicinity of this fortification, to the south,
was an extensive burial-ground; and many of its slumbering tenants, in
the grading of streets and excavating of cellars, have been thrown up
to the light after a century's sleep.--FLAGG.
[109] Colonel John O'Fallon (1791-1865), a nephew of George Rogers
Clark, born near Louisville, served his military apprenticeship under
General William Henry Harrison during the War of 1812-15. Resigning
his position in the army (1818), he removed to St. Louis where he
turned his attention to trade and accumulated a large fortune. He
endowed the O'Fallon Polytechnic Institution, which was later made the
scientific department of St. Louis University, contributed liberally
to Washington University, and built a dispensary and medical college.
It is estimated that he gave a million dollars for benevolent
purposes.--ED.
[110] This quotation is from the pen of an exceedingly accurate writer
upon the West, and a worthy man; so far its sentiment is deserving of
regard. I have canvassed the topic personally with this gentleman, and
upon other subjects have frequently availed myself of a superior
information, which more than twenty years of residence in the Far West
has enabled him to obtain. I refer to the Rev. J. M. Peck, author of
"Guide for Emigrants," &c.--FLAGG.
[111] For recent scientific conclusions respecting the mounds and
their builders, see citations in note 33, _ante_, p. 69.
Mount Joliet, on the west bank of the Des Plaines River, in the
southwestern portion of Cook County, Illinois; Mount St. Charles, in
Jo Daviess County, Illinois; Sinsinawa, in Grant County, Wisconsin,
and Blue Mounds, in Dane County, Wisconsin, are unquestionably of
natural formation. For descriptions of the artificial mounds of
Wisconsin, see I. A. Lapham, "Antiquities of Wisconsin," Smithsonian
Institution _Contributions_, volume vii; Alfred Brunson, "Antiquities
of Crawford County," and Stephen D. Peet, "Emblematic Mounds in
Wisconsin," in _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, iii and ix,
respectively.--ED.
[112] About 1817, when the first steamboat arrived at St. Louis a
sand-bar began forming at the lower end of the city; by 1837, this had
extended as far north as Market street, forming an island more than
two hundred acres in extent. Another sand-bar was formed at the upper
end of the city, west of Blood Island. In 1833 the city authorities
undertook the work of removal, and John Goodfellow was employed to
plow up the bars with ox teams, in order that high waters might carry
away the sand. After three thousand dollars had been expended without
avail, the board of aldermen petitioned Congress (1835) for relief.
Through the efforts of Congressman William H. Ashley, the federal
government appropriated (July 4, 1836) fifteen thousand dollars--later
(March 3, 1837) increased to fifty thousand dollars--for the purpose
of erecting a pier to deflect the current of the river. The work was
supervised by Lieutenant Robert E. Lee and his assistant, Henry
Kayser. Begun in 1837, it was continued for two years, the result
being that the current was turned back to the Missouri side and the
sand washed out; but dikes were necessary to preserve the work that
had been accomplished.--ED.
[113] The dry floating dock was patented by J. Thomas, of St. Louis,
March 26, 1834.--ED.
[114] Three miles from the Mississippi, near the end of Laclede
Avenue, St. Louis, is a powerful spring marking the source of Mill
Creek (French, _La Petite Rivière_). Joseph Miguel Taillon went to St.
Louis (1765), constructed a dam across this creek, and erected a mill
near the intersection of Ninth and Poplar streets. Pierre Laclede
Liguest bought the property in 1767, but at his death (1778), Auguste
Chouteau purchased it at public auction and retained the estate until
his own death in 1829. The latter built a large stone mill to take the
place of Taillon's wooden structure, and later replaced it by a still
larger stone mill. The mill to which Flagg probably refers was not
demolished until 1863. Chouteau enlarged the pond formed by Taillon's
dam and beautified it. This artificial lake, a half mile in length and
three hundred yards in width, was long known as Chouteau's Pond, and a
noted pleasure-resort. In 1853 it was sold to the Missouri Pacific
Railroad, drained, and made the site of the union railway station and
several manufacturing establishments.--ED.
[115] N. M. Ludlow, assisted by Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark and
Colonel Charles Keemle, in 1835 secured subscriptions to the amount of
thirty thousand dollars, later increased to sixty-five thousand, for
the purpose of erecting a theatre on the southeast corner of Third and
Olin streets. The first play was presented on July 3, 1837. Designed
by George I. Barnett, the building was of Ionic architecture
externally and internally Corinthian. It was used until July 10, 1851,
when it was closed, the property having been purchased by the federal
government as the site for a custom house; see Scharf, _St. Louis_, i,
p. 970.
The Planter's Hotel was probably the one Flagg referred to, instead of
the St. Louis House. It was located between Chestnut and Vine streets,
fronting Fourth street. The company was organized in 1836, the ground
broken for construction in March, 1837, and the hotel opened for
guests in 1841.
Joseph Rosati (1789-1843) went to St. Louis in 1817 and was appointed
bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of St. Louis, created two years
earlier. Active in benevolent work, he founded two colleges for men
and three academies for young women, aided in establishing the order
of Ladies of the Sacred Heart, and was the chief promoter in the
organization of the Sisters' Hospital and the first orphan asylum. He
was called to Rome in 1840, and at the Feast of St. Andrew, 1841,
appointed Peter R. Kenrick as his coadjutor. Bishop Rosati died at
Rome, in 1843.--ED.
[116] John B. Sarpy and his two younger brothers, Gregoire B. and
Silvestre D. came to America from France about the middle of the
eighteenth century. After engaging in the mercantile business in New
Orleans, John B. went to St. Louis (1766) and was one of its earliest
merchants. After twenty years' residence there, he returned to New
Orleans. His nephew of the same name, at the age of nineteen (1817)
was a partner with Auguste Chouteau and was later a member of the firm
of P. Chouteau Jr. and Company, one of the largest fur companies then
in America.
Pierre Menard (1766-1844) was in Vincennes as early as 1788. He later
made his home at Kaskaskia, and held many positions of public trust in
Illinois Territory. He was made major of the first regiment of the
Randolph County militia (1795), was appointed judge of common pleas in
the same county (1801), and United States sub-agent of Indian affairs
(1813). He was also a member of several important commissions, notably
of that appointed to make treaties with the Indians of the Northwest.
His brothers, Hippolyte and Jean François, settled at Kaskaskia. The
former was his brother's partner; the latter a well-known navigator on
the Mississippi River. Michel Menard, nephew of Pierre, had much
influence among the Indians and was chosen chief of the Shawnee. He
founded the city of Galveston, Texas. Pierre Menard left ten children.
Henry Gustavus Soulard, the second son of Antoine Pierre Soulard, was
born in St. Louis (1801). Frederic Louis Billon, in his _Annals of St.
Louis_ (1889), mentions him as the last survivor of all those who were
born in St. Louis prior to the transfer of Louisiana to the United
States (1803).
For short sketches of the Chouteaus, see James's _Long's Expedition_,
in our volume xvi, p. 275, note 127, and Maximilian's _Travels_,
in our volume xxii, p. 235, note 168; for Pratte and Cabanné, see
our volume xxii, p. 282, note 239, and p. 271, note 226,
respectively.--ED.
[117] Within six years after the founding of St. Louis, the first
Catholic church was built. This log structure falling into ruins, was
replaced in 1818 by a brick building. The corner-stone of the St.
Louis cathedral (incorrectly written in Flagg as cathedral of St.
Luke) was laid August 1, 1831, and consecrated October 26, 1834.--ED.
[118] The painting of St. Louis was presented by Louis XVIII to Bishop
Louis Guillaume Valentin Du Bourg, while the latter was in Europe
(1815-17).--ED.
[119] For the early appreciation of fine arts in St. Louis, see the
chapter entitled "Art and Artists," written by H. H. Morgan and W. M.
Bryant in Scharf, _St. Louis_, ii, pp. 1617-1627. Scharf, in speaking
of the paintings in the St. Louis cathedral says, "of course the
paintings of the old masters are copies, not originals."--ED.
[120] In this outline of the Cathedral the author is indebted largely
to a minute description by the Rev. Mr. Lutz, the officiating priest,
published in the Missouri Gazetteer.--FLAGG.
[121] In 1823, at the solicitation of the federal government, a band
of Jesuit missionaries left Maryland and built a log school-house at
Florissant, Missouri (1824) for educating the Indians. See sketch of
Father de Smet in preface to this volume. The building was abandoned
in 1828 and the white students transferred to the Jesuit college
recently constructed at St. Louis. On December 28, 1832, the state
legislature passed "an act to incorporate the St. Louis University."
The faculty was organized on April 4, 1833.--ED.
[122] We are informed by Rev. J. C. Burke, S.J., librarian of the St.
Louis University, that the work referred to by Flagg is, _Atlas Major,
sive, Cosmographia Blaviana, qua Solum, Salum, Coelum accuratissime
describuntur_ (Amsterdami, Labore et Sumpibus Joannis Blaeu MDCLXXII),
in 11 folio volumes.
The _Acta Sanctorum_ (Lives of the Saints) were begun at the opening
of the seventeenth century by P. Heribert Rosweyde, professor in the
Jesuit college of Douai. The work was continued by P. Jean Bolland by
instruction from his order, and later by a Jesuit commission known as
Bollandists. Work was suspended at the time of the French invasion of
Holland (1796) but resumed in 1836 under the auspices of Leopold I of
Belgium. Volume lxvi was issued in 1902.--ED.
[123] For accounts of General Henry Atkinson and of Council Bluffs,
see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 229, note 152, and
p. 275, note 231, respectively.--ED.
[124] The cave described here is Cliff or Indian Cave, more than two
miles below Jefferson Barracks on the Missouri side.--ED.
[125] River des Pères is a small stream rising in the central
portion of St. Louis County, flowing southeast, and entering the
Mississippi at the southern extremity of South St. Louis, formerly
Carondelet.--ED.
[126] This is an historical error. La Salle did not build a fort at
this place, nor did he here take possession of Louisiana.--ED.
[127] Pittsburg, laid out in 1836, is a hamlet in Cahokia Precinct,
St. Clair County. A railroad six miles in length was constructed
(1837) between Pittsburg and a point opposite St. Louis.--ED.
[128] This group of Indian mounds, probably the most remarkable in
America, is on the American Bottom, along the course of Canteen Creek,
which rises in the southern portion of Madison County, Illinois, flows
west, and enters Cahokia Creek. Monk, or Cahokia, Mound, about eight
miles from St. Louis, is the most important of the group. William
McAdams, who made a careful survey of this mound, wrote a good
description of it in his _Records of Ancient Races in the Mississippi
Valley_ (St. Louis, 1887); also E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis, "Ancient
Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, comprising the Result of
extensive original Surveys and Explorations," in Smithsonian
_Contributions_, i.--ED.
[129] The monastery of La Trappe was founded in 1122 (sometimes
incorrectly given as 1140). Originally affiliated with the order of
Fontrevault, it was made a branch of the Cistercian order (1148).
Contrary to Flagg's account, La Trappe did not have a separate
existence until the time of Rançe, who was made abbot in 1664. The
account of Rançe's conversion given here by Flagg, is recognized by
historians as merely popular tradition. See Gaillardin, _Les
Trappistes_ (Paris, 1844), and Pfaunenschmidt, _Geschichte der
Trappisten_ (Paderborn, 1873).--ED.
[130] The Trappists went to Gethsemane, Nelson County, Kentucky, in
1805. Three or four years later they moved to Missouri, but almost
immediately recrossed the Mississippi and built the temporary
monastery of Notre Dame de Bon Secours on Cahokia Mound, given to them
by Major Nicholas Jarrot. For a description of this establishment by
an eye witness, see H. M. Brackenridge, _Views of Louisiana_
(Pittsburg, 1814), appendix 5. New Melleray, a Trappist monastery
twelve miles southwest of Dubuque, Iowa, was commenced in 1849 and
completed in 1875. For its history, together with a short account of
the Trappists' activity, see William Rufus Perkins, _History of the
Trappist Abbey of New Melleray_ (Iowa City, 1892).--ED.
[131] Father Urbain Guillet is recorded as having officiated several
times in the Catholic church at St. Louis.--ED.
[132] Thomas Kirkpatrick, of South Carolina, made the first settlement
on the site of Edwardsville (1805). During the Indian troubles
preceding the War of 1812-15, he built a block-house, known as Thomas
Kirkpatrick's Fort. When Madison County was organized (1812),
Kirkpatrick's farm was chosen as its seat. He made the survey for the
town plat in 1816, and named the place in honor of Ninian Edwards. See
W. R. Brink and Company, _History of Madison County, Illinois_
(Edwardsville, 1882).--ED.
[133] In May, 1838, it was entirely consumed by fire.--FLAGG.
[134] John Adams later retired from business, and was elected sheriff
on the Whig ticket. Flagg's account seems to be considerably
overdrawn.--ED.
[135] Collinsville was platted May 12, 1837. Augustus, Anson, and
Michael Collins, three brothers from Litchfield, Connecticut, had
settled here a few years earlier and built an ox-mill for grinding and
sawing, a distillery, tanning yards, and cooper and blacksmith shops.
The town was first named Unionville, and John A. Cook made the first
settlement about 1816.--ED.
[136] Upper Alton, two and a half miles from Alton, was laid out in
1817 by Joseph Meacham, of Vermont, who came to Illinois in 1811; see
_History of Madison County_, p. 396.
The origin of Shurtleff College was the "Theological and High School"
commonly known as the Rock Spring Seminary, established (1827) by John
M. Peck, D. D. The latter was closed in 1831, and opened again the
following year at Alton, under the name of Alton Seminary. In March,
1832, the state legislature incorporated the institution as "Alton
College of Illinois." For religious reasons the charter was not
accepted until 1835, when the terms of incorporation had been made
more favorable. In January, 1836, the charter was amended, changing
its title to Shurtleff College, in honor of Benjamin Shurtleff, M. D.,
who had donated ten thousand dollars to the institution. Although from
the first emphasizing religious instruction, a theological department
was not organized until 1863. The school is still under Baptist
influence.--ED.
[137] Hillsboro, the seat of Montgomery County, twenty-eight miles
from Vandalia, was platted in 1823.--ED.
[138] In his description of the barrens, Flagg follows quite closely
J. M. Peck, _Gazetteer of Illinois_ (Jacksonville, 1837), pp. 11, 12.
The term barrens, according to the _Century Dictionary_, is "a tract
or region of more or less unproductive land partly or entirely
treeless. The term is best known in the United States as the name of a
district in Kentucky, 'The Barrens,' underlaid by the subcarboniferous
limestone, but possessing a fertile soil, which was nearly or quite
treeless when that state began to be settled by the whites, but which
at present where not cultivated, is partly covered with trees." See a
good description in our volume iii, pp. 217-224.--ED.
[139] According to the War Department's _List of Military Forts, etc.,
established in the United States from its Earliest settlement to the
present time_ (Washington, 1902), a Fort Gaines was at one time
located at Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. The town is now the
seat of East Florida Seminary, a military school. Among the numerous
lakes in the vicinity, Alachua, the largest, occupies what was
formerly Payne's Prairie. Through this prairie a stream issuing from
Newman's Lake flowed to a point near the middle of the district, where
it suddenly fell into an unfathomed abyss named by the Indians Alachua
(the bottomless pit). The whites gave this name to the county, and
called the abyss "Big Sink." This place became a favorite pleasure
resort until 1875, when the sink refused longer to receive the water,
and Payne's Prairie, formerly a rich grazing land, was turned into a
lake. Numerous tales connected with Big Sink were circulated, and it
seems probable that Flagg is referring to this locality.--ED.
[140] For a sketch of Daniel Boone, see Bradbury's _Travels_, in our
volume v, p. 43, note 16; and for a more complete account consult
Thwaites, _Daniel Boone_ (New York, 1902).
Simon Kenton (1755-1836) having, as he supposed, killed a neighbor in
a fight, fled from his home in Virginia to the headwaters of the Ohio
River. He served as a scout in Dunmore's War (1774) and in 1775 with
Boone, explored the interior of Kentucky. Captured by the Indians
(1778), he was condemned to death and taken to the native village at
Lower Sandusky, whence he made his escape. Later he served with
distinction in campaigns under George Rogers Clark, and was second
only to Daniel Boone as a frontier hero. In 1784, Kenton founded a
settlement near Limestone (Maysville), Kentucky. He took part in
Wayne's Campaign (1793-94), and was present at the Battle of the
Thames (1813). In 1820 he moved to Logan County, Ohio, and sixteen
years later died there in poverty, although before going to Ohio in
1802 he was reputed as one of the wealthiest men in Kentucky. See R.
W. McFarland, "Simon Kenton," in Ohio State Archæological and
Historical Society _Publications_ (1904), xiii, pp. 1-39; also Edward
S. Ellis, _Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone ... with sketches of
Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and other Leaders in the Settlement of the
West_ (Philadelphia, 1884).
Colonel William Whitley (1749-1813), born in Virginia, set out for
Kentucky about 1775, and built in 1786 or 1787 one of the first brick
houses in the state, near Crab Orchard, in Lincoln County. A noted
Indian fighter, he participated in the siege of Logan's fort (1777),
and Clark's campaigns of 1782, and 1786. He also led several parties
to recover white captives--his best known feat of this character being
the rescue of Mrs. Samuel McClure (1784). In 1794 he was the active
leader of the successful Nickajack expedition, directed against the
Indians south of Tennessee River. He fell at the Battle of the Thames
(1813), whereat it was maintained by some of his admirers, he killed
the Indian chief Tecumseh. See Collins, _Kentucky_, ii, pp. 403-410;
but this doubtful honor was also claimed by others.--ED.
[141] Alexander Spotswood (1676-1740) was appointed governor of
Virginia (1710). Taking a lively interest in the welfare of the
colonists, he attained among them high popularity. Quite early, he
conceived the idea of extending the Virginia settlement beyond the
mountains, to intercept the French communications between Canada and
the Gulf of Mexico; but he failed to secure the aid either of his
province or of the mother country. In the summer of 1716 he organized
and led an expedition for exploring the Appalachian Mountains, named
two peaks George and Spotswood, and took possession of the Valley of
Virginia in the name of George I. On his return, he established the
order of "Tramontane," for carrying on further explorations, whose
members were called "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," for the reason
which Flagg gives. For a contemporary account of this expedition, see
"Journal of John Fontaine" in Anna Maury, _Memoirs of a Huguenot
Family_ (New York, 1853). Spotswood was displaced as governor in 1722,
but was later (1730) appointed deputy postmaster of the colonies.--ED.
[142] Macoupin Creek flows southwesterly through the county of the
same name, westerly through Greene County, and empties into Illinois
River at the southwestern extremity of the latter county. It is now
believed that Macoupin is derived from the Indian word for white
potatoes, which were said to have been found growing in abundance
along the course of this stream.
Carlinville, named for Thomas Carlin, governor of the state in
1834-42, was settled about 1833.
Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister, laid a plan in 1835 for
founding a college to educate young men for the ministry. He entered
land from the government at the price of one dollar and twenty-five
cents an acre, and disposed of it to the friends of his cause at two
dollars, reserving twenty-five cents for his expenses and turning over
the remaining fifty cents to the proposed college. By May, 1837, he
had entered over 16,656 acres. The people of Carlinville purchased
eighty acres from him for the site of the school. The enterprise lay
dormant until 1857, when the state chartered the school under the
title of Blackburn University, which was opened in 1859.--ED.
[143] Others say the peninsula was discovered on Easter-day; _Pasqua
florida_, feast of flowers; whence the name.--FLAGG.
[144] "In the year 1538, _Ferdinand de Soto_, with a commission from
the Emperor _Charles V._, sailed with a considerable fleet for
America. He was a Portuguese gentleman, and had been with _Pizarro_ in
the conquest (as it is called) of Peru. His commission constituted him
governor of Cuba and general of Florida. Although he sailed from St.
Lucar in 1538, he did not land in Florida[A] until May 1539. With
about 1000 men, 213 of whom were provided with horses, he undertook
the conquest of Florida and countries adjacent. After cutting their
way in various directions through numerous tribes of Indians,
traversing nearly 1000 miles of country, losing a great part of their
army, their general died upon the banks of the Mississippi, and the
survivors were obliged to build vessels in which to descend the river;
which, when they had done, they sailed for Mexico. This expedition was
five years in coming to nothing, and bringing ruin upon its
performers. A populous Indian town at this time stood at or near the
mouth of the Mobile, of which _Soto's_ army had possessed themselves.
Their intercourse with the Indians was at first friendly, but at
length a chief was insulted, which brought on hostilities. A battle
was fought, in which, it is said, 2000 Indians were killed and 83
Spaniards."--_Drake's Book of the Indians_, b. iv., c. 3.--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ Consult Edward G. Bourne (Ed.), _Career of Hernando
de Soto_ (New York, 1904).
[A] "So called because it was first discovered by the Spaniards on
Palm Sunday, or, as the most interpret, Easter-day, which they
called _Pasqua-Florida_, and not, as Thenet writeth, for the
flourishing verdure thereof."--_Purchas_, p. 769.
[145] "After a long and fatiguing journey through a mountainous
wilderness, in a westward direction, I at last, from the top of an
eminence, saw with pleasure the beautiful land of Kentucky. * * * It
was in June; and at the close of day the gentle gales retired, and
left the place to the disposal of a profound calm. Not a breeze shook
the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the summit of a commanding
ridge, and, looking round with astonishing delight, beheld the ample
plains, the beauteous tracts below. * * * Nature was here a series of
wonders and a fund of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and
industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully coloured,
elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavoured; and I was diverted with
innumerable animals presenting themselves continually before my view.
* * * The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the
settlements, browsing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the
herbage on these extensive plains, fearless because ignorant of
man."--[Narrative of Colonel Daniel Boone, from his first arrival in
Kentucky in 1769, to the year 1782.]--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ Boone's Narrative was actually written by John
Filson, from interviews with the pioneer. The stilted style is of
course far from being Boone's product.
[146] George Herbert.--FLAGG.
[147] Mungo Park, born in Scotland (1771), was engaged by the African
Society (1795) to explore the course of the Niger, which he reached
July 20, the following year. While on a subsequent tour he was drowned
in that river (1805). See his _Travels in the interior district of
Africa_ (London, 1816).--ED.
[148] July 4.--FLAGG.
[149] The Prairie.--FLAGG.
[150] For an account of Vandalia, see Woods's _English Prairie_, in
our volume x, p. 326, note 75.--ED.
[151] The first number of the _Illinois Monthly Magazine_ was issued
in October, 1830. Late in 1832 Hall removed to Cincinnati, when he
soon began issuing the _Western Monthly Magazine_, or continuation of
the former publication, whose subject matter was largely historical,
dealing with the early settlement of the West. For an account of Judge
James Hall see _ante_, p. 31, note 2.--ED.
[152] Hall.--FLAGG.
[153] Hurricane Creek rises near the line of Montgomery and Shelby
counties, flows southerly through the western portion of Fayette
County, and enters Kaskaskia River twelve miles below Vandalia. The
banks of this creek were formerly heavily timbered, and the low
bottoms were occasionally inundated. Flagg considerably exaggerated
the actual condition of this region.--ED.
[154] Carlyle, the seat of Clinton County, forty-eight miles east of
St. Louis, was laid out in 1818.
The Vincennes and St. Louis stage route passed through Lebanon,
Carlyle, and Salem. At the last place, the road divided, one branch
running south to Fairfield, the other passing through Maysville and
both again uniting at Lawrenceville. Augustus Mitchell, in his
_Illinois in 1837_ (Philadelphia, 1837), p. 66, says: "From
Louisville, by the way of Vincennes to St. Louis, by stage, every
alternate day, 273 miles through in three days and a half. Fare,
seventeen dollars."--ED.
[155] Lebanon was laid out by Governor William Kinney and Thomas Ray
in July, 1825.
Little Silver Creek rises in the northeastern portion of St. Clair
County and flowing southwesterly joins Silver Creek two miles below
Lebanon. The latter stream is about fifty miles in length, rises in
the northern part of Madison County, runs south into St. Clair County,
and enters Kaskaskia River.--ED.
[156] _Tradition_ telleth of vast treasures here exhumed; and, on
strength of this, ten years ago a company of fortune-seekers dug away
for several months with an enthusiasm worthy of better success than
awaited them.--FLAGG.
_Comment by Ed._ Rock Spring was a mere settlement in St. Clair
County, eighteen miles from St. Louis, on the Vincennes stage road,
and about three miles southwest of Lebanon. Its name was derived from
a series of springs issuing from a rocky ledge in the vicinity. John
M. Peck selected this site (1820) for his permanent residence, and
established the Rock Spring Theological Seminary and High School
(1827), which four years later was transferred to Alton and made the
foundation of Shurtleff College. In 1834 Rock Spring consisted of
fourteen families.
[157] Peter Cartwright is said to have suggested the idea of founding
a Methodist college at Lebanon. After the citizens of the town had
contributed $1,385, buildings were erected and instruction commenced
in 1828. The college was named in honor of Bishop William McKendree,
who made a liberal donation to the school (1830).--ED.
[158] In March, 1814, a commission appointed by the state legislature
the preceding year, selected the site of Belleville for the seat of
St. Clair County. George Blair, whose farm was chosen as the site,
platted and named the county seat. The town was incorporated in 1819.
See _History of St. Clair County, Illinois_ (1881), pp. 183, 185.--ED.
[159] For a brief history of the inception of St. Louis University,
see _ante_, p. 169, note 121. At a meeting of the trustees on May 3,
1836, a commission was appointed to select a new site for the
university. A farm of three hundred acres recently purchased, on the
Bellefontaine road, three and a half miles from St. Louis, was chosen;
plans were formulated, contracts made, and the foundations dug. On the
death of the contractors, the enterprise was abandoned; but the land,
sold a few years later, proved a valuable investment. See Scharf, _St.
Louis_, i, pp. 860, 861.--ED.
[160] For a note on Florissant, see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our
volume xxi, p. 125, note 4.--ED.
[161] This valley appears to have been the bed of an ancient
lake.--FLAGG.
[162] Bridgeton, still a village, about fifteen miles northwest of the
St. Louis courthouse, was incorporated February 27, 1843. It was
settled by French and Spanish families, about the time that St. Louis
was established. A fort was built as a protection against the Indians,
and William Owens was placed in command. In consequence the place was
until the time of its incorporation generally known to the Americans
as Owen's Station.--ED.
[163] Until after the middle of the nineteenth century, St. Louis
County ranked among the coal-producing districts of Missouri. Today no
coal is mined there save for the fire-clay industry or other immediate
local use. Dr. B. F. Shumard in his "Description of a Geological
Section on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Commerce," in
Geological Survey of Missouri, _First and Second Annual Reports_
(Jefferson City, 1855), p. 176, describes _La Charbonnière_ mine;
which appears to have been operated at that time. He reports the coal
vein as being only about eighteen inches in thickness. On page 184 of
the above report, an interesting map is given, showing the location of
coal mines in St. Louis County.--ED.
[164] For an account of St. Charles, see Bradbury's _Travels_, in our
volume v, p. 39, note 9.
For the Mandan villages, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume
xxii, p. 344, and note 316, and volume xxiii, p. 234, note 192.--ED.
[165] The following extract from a letter dated September, 1819,
addressed by Mr. Austin to Mr. Schoolcraft, respecting the navigation
of the Missouri, well portrays the impetuous character of that river.
It shows, too, the great improvements in the steam-engine during the
past twenty years.
"I regret to state that the expedition up the Missouri to the Yellow
Stone has in part failed. The steamboats destined for the Upper
Missouri, after labouring against the current for a number of weeks,
were obliged to give up the enterprise. Every exertion has been made
to overcome the difficulty of navigating the Missouri with the power
of steam; but all will not do. The current of that river, from the
immense quantity of sand moving down with the water, is too powerful
for any boat yet constructed. The loss either to the government or to
the contractor will be very great. Small steamboats of fifty tons
burden, with proper engines, would, I think, have done much better.
Boats like those employed, of twenty to thirty feet beam, and six to
eight feet draught of water, must have _uncommon_ power to be
propelled up a river, every pint of whose water is equal in weight to
a quart of Ohio water, and moves with a velocity hardly credible. The
barges fixed to move with wheels, worked by men, have answered every
expectation; but they will only do when troops are on board, and the
men can be changed every hour."--FLAGG.
[166] For a sketch of Franklin, Missouri, see Gregg's _Commerce of the
Prairies_ in our volume xix, p. 188, note 33.--ED.
[167] The first settlement was made at St. Charles in 1769. La
Chasseur Blanchette located the site, and established here a military
post. The first mill in St. Charles County is said to have been built
by Jonathan Bryan on a small branch emptying into Femme Osage Creek
(1801). Francis Duquette (1774-1816), a French Canadian who came to
St. Charles just before the close of the century, erected a mill on
the site of the old round fort.--ED.
[168] One year after the above was written, the author, on a visit to
St. Charles, walked out to this spot. The willow was blasted; the
relics of the paling were gone; the grave was levelled with the soil,
but the old ruin was there still.--FLAGG.
[169] For a description of Bloody Island, see _ante_, p. 115, note 77.
The duel mentioned by Flagg is probably the one that occurred between
Joshua Barton, United States district attorney, and Thomas Rector, on
June 30, 1823. Barton had published in the _Missouri Republican_ a
letter charging William Rector, surveyor general of Missouri,
Illinois, and Arkansas, with corruption in office. The latter being
absent, his brother Thomas issued the challenge. Barton's body was
buried at St. Charles near the old round tower ruins.
In the summer of 1817, Charles Lucas challenged Thomas H. Benton's
vote at the polls. On the latter calling him an insolent puppy, Lucas
challenged him to a duel. The affair took place August 12, 1817, and
both parties were wounded. On September 27 of the same year, a second
duel was fought, in which Lucas was mortally wounded. Joshua Barton
was the latter's second. In the _Missouri Republican_ (St. Louis,
March 15, 1882) there was printed an address by Thomas T. Gantt,
delivered in Memorial Hall at St. Louis, on the celebration of the
centennial birthday of Thomas H. Benton, in which the details of this
deed were carefully reviewed.
During the political canvass of 1830, a heated discussion was carried
on in the newspaper press between Thomas Biddle and Spencer Pettis.
Pettis challenged Biddle to a duel. Both fell mortally wounded, August
29, 1830.--ED.
[170] Marais Croche (Crooked swamp) is located a few miles northeast
of St. Charles, and Marais Temps-Clair (Clear-weather swamp), just
southwest of Portage des Sioux. The former is often mentioned for its
beauty.--ED.
[171] "I cultivated a small farm on that beautiful prairie below St.
Charles called 'The Mamelle,' or 'Point prairie.' In my enclosure, and
directly back of my house, were two conical mounds of considerable
elevation. A hundred paces in front of them was a high bench, making
the shore of the 'Marais Croche,' an extensive marsh, and evidently
the former bed of the Missouri. In digging a ditch on the margin of
this bench, at the depth of four feet, we discovered great quantities
of broken pottery, belonging to vessels of all sizes and characters.
Some must have been of a size to contain four gallons. This must have
been a very populous place. The soil is admirable, the prospect
boundless; but, from the scanty number of inhabitants in view,
rather lonely. It will one day contain an immense population
again."--_Flint's Recollections_, p. 166.--FLAGG.
[172] At the time Flagg wrote, St. Charles, like many other Western
towns, entertained the hope that the Cumberland Road would eventually
be extended thereto, thus placing them upon the great artery of
Western travel. See Woods's _English Prairie_, in our volume x, p.
327, note 76. Also consult T. B. Searight, _The Old Pike_ (Uniontown,
1894), and A. B. Hulbert "Cumberland Road," in _Historic Highways of
America_ (Cleveland, 1904).
Boone's Lick Road, commencing at St. Charles, runs westward across
Dardenne Creek to Cottleville, thence to Dalhoff post-office and
Pauldingville, on the western boundary of the county. Its total length
is twenty-six miles.--ED.
[173] St. Charles College, founded by Mrs. Catherine Collier and her
son George, was opened in 1836 under the presidency of Reverend John
H. Fielding. The Methodist Episcopal church has directed the
institution.
Madame Duchesne, a companion of Mother Madeline Barral, founder of the
Society of the Sacred Heart, started a mission at St. Charles in 1819;
but the colony was soon removed to St. Louis. In 1828, however, she
succeeded in establishing permanently at St. Charles the Academy of
the Sacred Heart, with Madame Lucile as superior.--ED.
[174] For sketches of the Potawotami, Miami, and Kickapoo, see
Croghan's _Journals_, in our volume i, pp. 115, 122, 139, notes 84,
87, 111; for the Sauk and Fox, see J. Long's _Voyages_, in our volume
ii, p. 185, note 85; for the Iowa, Brackenridge's _Journal_, in our
volume vi, p. 51, note 13.--ED.
[175] Flagg makes an error in speaking of Boone's Lick County, since
there was none known by that name. He evidently had in mind Warren
County, organized in 1833 from the western part of St. Charles County.
Boone County created in November, 1820, with its present limits, named
in honor of Daniel Boone, is in the fifth tier of counties west from
Missouri River.--ED.
[176] For an account of Daniel Boone and Boone's Lick, see Bradbury's
_Travels_, in our volume v, pp. 43, 52, notes 16, 24, respectively.
Daniel Boone arrived at the Femme Osage district in western St.
Charles County, in 1798. He died September 26, 1820 (not 1818).--ED.
[177] There seems to be little or no foundation for this statement.
Consult J. B. Patterson, _Life of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak or Black
Hawk_ (Boston, 1834), and R. G. Thwaites, "The Story of the Black Hawk
War," in _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xii, pp. 217-265.--ED.
[178] For biographical sketch of General William Clark, see Bradbury's
_Travels_, in our volume v, p. 254, note 143.--ED.
[179] Obed Battius, M.D., is a character in James Fenimore Cooper's
novel, _The Prairie_ (1826).--ED.
[180] An Illinois legislative act approved January 16, 1836, granted
to Paris Mason, Alfred Caverly, John Wyatt, and William Craig a
charter to construct a railroad from Grafton, in Greene County, to
Springfield, by way of Carrollton, Point Pleasant, and Millville,
under the title of Mississippi and Springfield Railroad Company. The
road was, however, not built.--ED.
[181] For a description of Macoupin Creek, see _ante_, p. 226, note
142. Flagg draws his information concerning Macoupin Settlement from
Peck, _Gazetteer of Illinois_. According to the latter the settlement
was started by Daniel Allen, and John and Paul Harriford, in December,
1816. As regards Peck's statement that Macoupin Settlement was at the
time of its inception the most northern white community in the
Territory of Illinois, there is much doubt. Fort Dearborn (Chicago),
built in 1804, and evacuated on August 15,1812, was rebuilt by Captain
Hezekiah Bradley, who arrived with two companies on July 4, 1816, and
a settlement sprang up here at once.--ED.
[182] The first settler in Carrollton was Thomas Carlin, who arrived
in the spring of 1819. In 1821 the place was chosen as the seat of
Greene County, and surveyed the same year, although the records were
not filed until July 30, 1825. See _History of Greene and Jersey
Counties, Illinois_ (Springfield, 1885).--ED.
[183] Apple Creek, a tributary of Illinois River, flows in a western
trend through Greene County.--ED.
[184] Whitehall, in Greene County, forty-five miles north of Alton,
was laid out by David Barrow in 1832. Pottery was first made there in
1835, and has since become an important industry, contributing largely
to the rapid progress of which Flagg speaks.--ED.
[185] Manchester is in Scott County, midway between Carrollton and
Jacksonville, being about fifteen miles from each. It was settled as
early as 1828.--ED.
[186] Diamond Grove Prairie, five miles in extent, is a fertile
district in Morgan County, just south of Jacksonville. Diamond Grove
was formerly a beautifully timbered tract situated in the middle of
this prairie, two miles south of Jacksonville. It was some 700 or 800
acres in extent.--ED.
[187] Illinois College was founded in 1829 through the effort of a
group of Jacksonville citizens directed by the Reverend John M. Ellis
and the Yale Band--the latter composed of seven men from that college
who had pledged themselves to the cause of Christian education in the
home missions of the West. The latter secured from the friends of the
enterprise in the East a fund of $10,000. Late in 1829 the
organization was completed and in December, 1830, Reverend Edward
Beecher, elder brother of Henry Ward Beecher, was persuaded to leave
his large church in Boston and accept the presidency of this
institution. In 1903 the Jacksonville Female Academy, started in 1830,
was merged with the Illinois College, which had from the first been
dominated by the Presbyterian Church.--ED.
[188] Jacksonville, the seat of Morgan County, was laid out in 1825 on
land given to the county for that purpose by Thomas Armitt and James
Dial. The town was largely settled by people from New England, who
gave a characteristic tone to its society. Jacksonville is today the
seat of several important state institutions.--ED.
[189] In June, 1835, Ithamar Pillsbury, with two associates, sent out
under the auspices of the New York Association, entered a large tract
of land and selected a site for a town to be styled Andover, which was
eventually platted in 1841, in the western portion of Henry County,
fifty miles north and northwest of Peoria. The first settlers were
principally from Connecticut, but soon several Swedish families
migrated thither, and in time the settlement was composed primarily of
that nationality. On returning East in the autumn of 1835, after
planting the Andover colony, Pillsbury had an interview with Dr. Caleb
J. Tenny, of Wethersfield, Connecticut. At the latter's instigation a
meeting of Congregationalists was held, and a group of influential New
Englanders organized themselves into the Connecticut Association.
Shares were sold at $250 each, which entitled the holder to one
hundred and sixty acres of prairie land, twenty acres of timber land,
and a town lot in a proposed colony to be founded in Illinois. On May
7, 1836, the first entry was made by the committee of purchase. After
the latter's return a new committee was sent out and the town of
Wethersfield, in the southeastern corner of Henry County, was laid out
in the spring of 1837. For an account of the founding of Andover and
Wethersfield, and the names of persons serving on the various
prospecting committees, see _History of Henry County, Illinois_
(Chicago, 1877), pp. 137-141, 524-526.--ED.
[190] Since the above was written, the emigrants have removed.--FLAGG.
[191] Joseph Duncan, born in Kentucky, was presented with a sword by
Congress for his gallant defense of Fort Stephenson in the War of
1812-15. In 1818 he moved to Kaskaskia, was appointed major-general of
the Illinois militia (1823), and elected state senator (1824). In 1827
he was sent to Congress by the Jacksonian Democrats. He resigned in
1834 to accept the governorship of Illinois, which he occupied until
1838. He is said to have erected the first frame building in
Jacksonville. He moved to this place in 1829, dying there January 15,
1844.--ED.
[192] Porter Clay (1779-1850), a brother of Henry Clay, was for many
years a Baptist minister at Jacksonville.--ED.
[193] Flagg is probably referring to William Weatherford, who served
in the state senate (1834-38) from Morgan County.--ED.
[194] The first settlement on the present site of Springfield was made
by John Kelly (1819). In 1822 the lots were laid off, but not recorded
until the following year, when the town was named. Soon after its
incorporation in 1832, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, and Edward
Baker began agitating the question of moving the state capital to
Springfield from Vandalia. After a severe struggle, complicated with
the internal improvement policy, their efforts succeeded in 1837. The
legislative act of that year went into effect July 4, 1839, and the
general assembly commenced its first session at Springfield in the
following December.--ED.
[195] Sangamon River is formed by the union, six miles east of
Springfield, of its north and south forks. The former, rising in
Champaign County, flows through Macon and a part of Sangamon counties;
the latter intersects Christian County. The main stream runs in an
easterly direction, forms the boundary of Cass County, and joins the
Illinois River nine miles above Beardstown. The river is nearly two
hundred and forty miles in length, including the north fork, and was
named in honor of a local Indian chief.--ED.
[196] Mechanicsburg, fifteen miles east of Springfield, was laid out
and platted in November, 1832, by William S. Pickrell.--ED.
[197] "I will never, if possible, pass a night in any place where the
graveyard is neglected." Franklin has no monument!--FLAGG.
[198] Turgot.--FLAGG.
[199] Decatur, surveyed in 1829, is the seat of Macon County,
thirty-nine miles from Springfield. It was named for Commodore Stephen
Decatur.--ED.
[200] For a later description of the Mormon settlement in Missouri,
and an account of their stay at Nauvoo, Illinois, see Gregg's
_Commerce of the Prairies_, in our volume xx, pp. 94-99 and
accompanying notes. For a psychological treatment of Joseph Smith and
bibliography of Mormonism, see Isaac W. Riley, _Founder of Mormonism_
(New York, 1902).--ED.
[201] Missourians.--FLAGG.
[202] For a year after the above was written, the cause of Mormonism
seemed to have received a salutary check. It has since revived, and
thousands during the past summer have been flocking to their Mount
Zion on the outskirts of Missouri. The late Mormon difficulties in
Missouri have been made too notorious by the public prints of the day
to require notice.--FLAGG.
[203] Grand Prairie, as described by Peck in his _Gazetteer of
Illinois_, was a general term applied to the prairie country between
the rivers which flow into the Mississippi and those which empty into
the Wabash. "It is made up of continuous tracts, with long arms of
prairie extending between the creeks and smaller streams. The southern
points of the Grand prairie are formed in the northeastern parts of
Jackson county and extend in a northeastern course between the streams
of various widths, from one to ten or twelve miles, through Perry,
Washington, Jefferson, Marion, the eastern part of Fayette, Effingham,
through the western portion of Coles, into Champaign and Iroquois
counties, where it becomes connected with the prairies that project
eastward from the Illinois River and its tributaries. Much of the
longest part of the Grand prairie is gently undulatory, but of the
southern portion considerable tracts are flat and of rather inferior
soil."--ED.
[204] Illinoisians.--FLAGG.
[205] Shelbyville, selected as the seat of Shelby County (1827), was
named in honor of Isaac Shelby, early governor of Kentucky. It is
located about thirty-two miles southeast of Decatur, and was
incorporated in May, 1839.--ED.
[206] 1835.--FLAGG.
[207] Eight families from St. Clair County settled (1818) in the
vicinity of certain noted perennial springs in the southwestern corner
of what was later organized into Shelby County. For some time the
colony was known as Wakefield's Settlement, for Charles Wakefield, who
had made the first land entry in the county in 1821. John O. Prentis
erected the first store there in 1828, and shortly afterwards secured
a post-office under the name of Cold Springs.--ED.
[208] Philosophy, vol. i.--FLAGG.
[209] Sidney Rigdon (1793-1876), after having been a Baptist pastor at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and later associated with the Disciples in
Ohio, established a branch of the Mormon church with one hundred
members at Kirtland, Ohio. Joseph Smith, who had founded the
last-named church at Fayette, New York (April 6, 1830), went to
Kirtland in February of the following year. Aided by Rigdon, Smith
attempted to establish a mixed communistic and hierarchical organized
community. Mormon tanneries, stores, and other enterprises were built,
and the corner-stone of a $40,000 temple laid July 23, 1833. Through
improvident financial management, the leaders soon plunged the
community deeply in debt. The Kirtland Society Bank, reorganized as
the Kirtland Anti-Bankers Company, after issuing notes to the amount
of $200,000, failed, and Smith and Rigdon further embarrassed by an
accumulation of troubles fled to Jackson County, Missouri, where
Oliver Cowdery by the former's order had established the Far West
settlement. Joseph Smith was assassinated by a mob (June 27, 1844) at
Carthage, Illinois, and Brigham Young succeeded him. Sidney Rigdon,
long one of Smith's chief advisers, and one of the three presidents of
the Mormon church at Nauvoo, combated the doctrine of plurality of
wives. He refused to recognize the authority of Young as Smith's
successor, and returned to Pennsylvania, but held to the Mormon faith
until his death in 1876. In 1848 the charter granted to the city of
Nauvoo by the Illinois state legislature, was repealed. The Mormons
thereupon selected Utah as the field of their future activity, save
that a few members were left in Missouri for proselyting purposes.
Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), educated at the University of Glasgow,
came to the United States (1809) and joined the Presbyterian church.
Refusing to recognize any teachings save those of the Bible, as he
understood them, he and his father, Thomas Campbell, were dismissed
(1812) and with a few followers formed a temporary union with the
Baptist church. Disfellowshiped in 1827, they organized the Disciples
of Christ, popularly known as the Campbellites. The son published the
_Christian Baptist_, a monthly magazine, its name being changed (1830)
to the _Millennial Harbinger_. He held several public offices in the
state of Virginia, and in 1840 founded Bethany (Virginia)
College.--ED.
[210] Kirtland is now deserted, and the church is occupied for a
school.--FLAGG.
[211] See Woods's _English Prairie_, in our volume x, p. 327, note
76.--ED.
[212] Or "_beef_."--FLAGG.
[213] Salem, the seat of Marion County, was settled about 1823, when
the county was organized.--ED.
[214] Philosophy, b. i., chap. 1.--FLAGG.
[215] Mount Vernon, a village seventy-seven miles southeast of St.
Louis, was chosen as the seat of justice for Jefferson County, when
the latter was organized in 1818.--ED.
[216] Mud Creek rises in the northwestern part of Perry County, flows
through the southwestern part of Washington and the southeastern part
of St. Clair counties, and enters the Kaskaskia two miles below
Fayetteville.
In January, 1827, the state legislature in organizing Perry County
appointed a commission to select a seat of justice to be known as
Pinckneyville (Pinkneyville), its town site being located and platted
in January, 1828.--ED.