The Upper Mississippi Valley
While the Ohio country--the lower half of the States of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois--was throwing off its frontier character, the remoter
Northwest was still a wilderness frequented only by fur-traders and
daring explorers. And that far Northwest by the sources of the
Mississippi had been penetrated by few white men since the seventeenth
century. The earliest white visitors to the upper Mississippi are not
clearly known. They may have been Pierre Radisson and his
brother-in-law, Ménard des Grosseilliers, who are alleged to have
covered the long portage from Lake Superior to the Mississippi in or
about 1665; but the matter rests entirely on how one interprets
Radisson's vague account of their western perambulations. At all events,
in 1680--seven years after the descent of the river from the Wisconsin
to the Arkansas by Marquette and Joliet--Louis Hennepin, under
instructions from La Salle, explored the stream from the mouth of the
Illinois to the Falls of St. Anthony, where the city of Minneapolis now
stands, five hundred miles from the true source.
There the matter of exploration rested until the days of Thomas
Jefferson, when the purchase of Louisiana lent fresh interest to
northwestern geography. In 1805 General James Wilkinson, in military
command in the West, dispatched Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike with a party
of twenty men from St. Louis to explore the headwaters of the great
river, make peace with the Indians, and select sites for fortified
posts. From his winter quarters near the Falls, Pike pushed northward
over the snow and ice until, early in 1806, he reached Leech Lake, in
Cass County, Minnesota, which he wrongly took to be the source of the
Father of Waters. It is little wonder that, at a time when the river and
lake surfaces were frozen over and the whole country heavily blanketed
with snow, he should have found it difficult to disentangle the maze of
streams and lakes which fill the low-lying region around the headwaters
of the Mississippi, the Red River, and the Lake of the Woods. In 1820
General Cass, Governor of Michigan, which then had the Mississippi for
its western boundary, led an expedition into the same region as far as
Cass Lake, where the Indians told him that the true source lay some
fifty miles to the northwest. It remained for the traveler and
ethnologist Henry Schoolcraft, twelve years later, to discover Lake
Itasca, in modern Clearwater County, which occupies a depression near
the center of the rock-rimmed basin in which the river takes its rise.
It was not these infrequent explorers, however, who opened paths for
pioneers into the remote Northwest, but traders in search of furs and
pelts--those commercial pathfinders of western civilization. There is
scarcely a town or city in the State of Wisconsin that does not owe its
origin, directly or indirectly, to these men. Cheap and tawdry enough
were the commodities bartered for these wonderful beaver and otter
pelts--ribbons and gewgaws, looking-glasses and combs, blankets and
shawls of gaudy color. But scissors and knives, gunpowder and shot,
tobacco and whiskey, went also in the traders' packs, though traffic in
fire-water was forbidden. These goods, upon arrival at Mackinac, were
sent out by canoes and bateaux to the different posts, where they were
dealt out to the savages directly or were dispatched to the winter camps
along the far-reaching waterways. "Returning home in the spring, the
bucks would set their squaws and children at making maple-sugar or
planting corn, watermelons, potatoes, and squash, while they themselves
either dawdled their time away or hunted for summer furs. In the autumn,
the wild rice was garnered along the sloughs and the river mouths, and
the straggling field crops were gathered in--some of the product being
hidden in skillfully covered pits, as a reserve, and some dried for
transportation in the winter's campaign. The villagers were now ready to
depart for their hunting-grounds, often hundreds of miles away. It was
then that the trader came and credits were wrangled over and extended,
each side endeavoring to get the better of the other." ¹
¹ Thwaites, Story of Wisconsin, p. 156.
This traffic was largely managed by the British in Canada until 1816,
when an act of Congress forbade foreign traders to operate on United
States soil. But a heavier blow was inflicted in the establishment of
John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, which was given a substantial
monopoly of Indian commerce. From its headquarters on Mackinac Island
this great corporation rapidly squeezed the clandestine British agents
out of the American trade, introduced improved methods, and built up a
system which covered the entire fur-bearing Northwest.
Of this remoter Northwest, the region between Lakes Erie and Michigan
was the most accessible from the East; yet it was avoided by the first
pioneers, who labored under a strange misapprehension about its climate
and resources. In spite of the fact that it abounded in rich
bottom-lands and fertile prairies and was destined to become one of the
most bountiful orchards of the world, it was reported by early
prospectors to be swampy and unfit for cultivation. Though Governor Cass
did his best to overcome this prejudice, for years settlers preferred to
gather mainly about Detroit, leaving the rich interior to fur-traders.
When enlightenment eventually came, population poured in with a rush.
Detroit--which was a village in 1820--became ten years later a thriving
city of thirty thousand and the western terminus of a steamboat line
from Buffalo, which year after year multiplied its traffic. By the year
1837 the great territory lying east of Lake Michigan was ready for
statehood.
Almost simultaneously the region to the west of Lake Michigan began to
emerge from the fur-trading stage. The place of the picturesque trader,
however, was not taken at once by the prosaic farmer. The next figure in
the pageant was the miner. The presence of lead in the stretch of
country between the Wisconsin and Illinois rivers was known to the
Indians before the coming of the white man, but they began to appreciate
its value only after the introduction of firearms by the French. The ore
lay at no great depth in the Galena limestone, and the aborigines
collected it either by stripping it from the surface or by sinking
shallow shafts from which it was hoisted in deerskin bags. Shortly after
the War of 1812 American prospectors pushed into the region, and the
Government began granting leases on easy terms to operators. In 1823 one
of these men arrived with soldiers, supplies, skilled miners, and one
hundred and fifty slaves; and thereafter the "diggings" fast became a
mecca for miners, smelters, speculators, merchants, gamblers, and
get-rich-quick folk of every sort, who swarmed thither by thousands from
every part of the United States, especially the South, and even from
Europe. "Mushroom towns sprang up all over the district; deep-worn
native paths became ore roads between the burrows and the
river-landings; sink-holes abandoned by the Sauk and Foxes, when no
longer to be operated with their crude tools, were reopened and found to
be exceptionally rich, while new diggings and smelting-furnaces, fitted
out with modern appliances, fairly dotted the map of the country." ¹
¹ Thwaites, Story of Wisconsin, p. 163.
Galena was the entrepôt of the region. A trail cut thither from Peoria
soon became a well-worn coach road; roads were early opened to Chicago
and Milwaukee. In 1822 Galena was visited by a Mississippi River
steamboat, and a few years later regular steamboat traffic was
established. And it was by these roadways and waterways that homeseekers
soon began to arrive.
The invasion of the white man, accompanied though it was by treaties,
was bitterly resented by the Indian tribes who occupied the Northwest
above the Illinois River. These Sioux, Sauk and Foxes, and Winnebagoes,
with remnants of other tribes, carried on an intermittent warfare for
years, despite the efforts of the Federal Government to define tribal
boundaries; and between red men and white men coveting the same lands
causes of irritation were never wanting. In 1827 trouble which had been
steadily brewing came to the boiling-point. Predatory expeditions in the
north were reported; the Winnebagoes were excited by rumors that another
war between the United States and Great Britain was imminent; an
incident or even an accident was certain to provoke hostilities. The
incident occurred. When Red Bird, a petty Winnebago chieftain dwelling
in a "town" on the Black River, was incorrectly informed that two
Winnebago braves who had been imprisoned at Prairie du Chien had been
executed, he promptly instituted vengeance. A farmer's family in the
neighborhood of Prairie du Chien was massacred, and two keel-boats
returning down stream from Fort Snelling were attacked, with some loss
of life. The settlers hastily repaired the old fort and also dispatched
messengers to give the alarm. Galena sent a hundred militiamen; a
battalion came down from Fort Snelling; Governor Cass arrived on the
spot by way of Green Bay; General Atkinson brought up a full regiment
from Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis; and finally Major Whistler
proceeded up the Fox with a portion of the troops stationed at Fort
Howard, on Green Bay.
When all was in readiness, the Winnebagoes were notified that, unless
Red Bird and his principal accomplice, Wekau, were promptly surrendered,
the tribe would be exterminated. The threat had its intended effect, and
the two culprits duly presented themselves at Whistler's camp on the
Fox-Wisconsin portage, in full savage regalia, and singing their war
dirges. Red Bird, who was an Indian of magnificent physique and lofty
bearing, had but one request to make--that he be not committed to
irons--and this request was granted. At Prairie du Chien, whither the
two were sent for trial, he had opportunities to escape, but he refused
to violate his word by taking advantage of them. Following their trial,
the redskins were condemned to be hanged. Unused to captivity, however,
Red Bird languished and soon died, while his accomplice was pardoned by
President Adams. In 1828 Fort Winnebago was erected on the site of Red
Bird's surrender.
The Winnebagoes now agreed to renounce forever their claims to the lead
mines. Furthermore, in the same year, the site of the principal Sauk
village and burying-ground, on Rock River, three miles south of the
present city of Rock Island, was sold by the Government, and the Sauk
and Foxes resident in the vicinity were given notice to leave. Under the
Sauk chieftain Keokuk most of the dispossessed warriors withdrew
peacefully beyond the Mississippi, and two years later the tribal
representatives formally yielded all claims to lands east of that
stream. Some members of the tribe, however, established themselves on
the high bluff which has since been known as Black Hawk's Watch Tower
and defied the Government to remove them.
The leading spirit in this protest was Black Hawk, who though neither
born a chief nor elected to that dignity, had long been influential in
the village and among his people at large. During the War of 1812 he
became an implacable enemy of the Americans, and, after fighting with
the British at the battles of Frenchtown and the Thames, he returned to
Illinois and carried on a border warfare which ended only with the
signing of a special treaty of peace in 1816. For years thereafter he
was accustomed to lead his "British band" periodically across northern
Illinois and southern Michigan to the British Indian agency to receive
presents of arms, ammunition, provisions, and trinkets; and he was a
principal intermediary in the British intrigues which gave Cass, as
superintendent of Indian affairs in the Northwest, many uneasy days. He
was ever a restless spirit and a promoter of trouble, although one must
admit that he had some justice on his side and that he was probably
honest and sincere. Tall, spare, with pinched features, exceptionally
high cheekbones, and a prominent Roman nose, he was a figure to command
attention--the more so by reason of the fact that he had practically no
eyebrows and no hair except a scalp-lock, in which on state occasions he
fastened a flaming bunch of dyed eagle feathers.
Returning from their hunt in the spring of 1830, Black Hawk and his
warriors found the site of their town preëmpted by white settlers and
their ancestral burying-ground ploughed over. In deep rage, they set off
for Malden, where they were liberally entertained and encouraged to
rebel. Coming again to the site of their village a year later, they were
peremptorily ordered away. This time they resolved to stand their
ground, and Black Hawk ordered the squatters themselves to withdraw and
gave them until the middle of the next day to do so. Black Hawk
subsequently maintained that he did not mean to threaten bloodshed. But
the settlers so construed his command and deluged Governor Reynolds with
petitions for help. With all possible speed, sixteen hundred volunteers
and ten companies of United States regulars were dispatched to the
scene, and on the 25th of June, they made an impressive demonstration
within view of the village. In the face of such odds discretion seemed
the better part of valor, and during the succeeding night Black Hawk and
his followers quietly paddled across the Mississippi. Four days later
they signed an agreement never to return to the eastern banks without
express permission from the United States Government.
On the Indian side this compact was not meant to be kept. Against the
urgent advice of Keokuk and other leaders, Black Hawk immediately began
preparations for a campaign of vengeance. British intrigue lent
stimulus, and a crafty "prophet," who was chief of a village some
thirty-five miles up the Rock, made it appear that aid would be given by
the Potawatomi, Winnebagoes, and perhaps other powerful peoples. In the
first week of April, 1832, the disgruntled leader and about five hundred
braves, with their wives and children, crossed the Mississippi at Yellow
Banks and ascended the Rock River to the prophet's town, with a view to
raising a crop of corn during the summer and taking the war-path in the
fall.
The invasion created much alarm throughout the frontier country. The
settlers drew together about the larger villages, which were put as
rapidly as possible in a state of defense. Again the Governor called for
volunteers, and again the response more than met the expectation. Four
regiments were organized, and to them were joined four hundred regulars.
One of the first persons to come forward with an offer of his services
was a tall, ungainly, but powerful young man from Sangamon County, who
had but two years before settled in the State, and who was at once
honored with the captaincy of his company. This man was Abraham Lincoln.
Other men whose names loom large in American history were with the
little army also. The commander of the regulars was Colonel Zachary
Taylor. Among his lieutenants were Jefferson Davis and Albert Sidney
Johnston, and Robert Anderson, the defender of Fort Sumter in 1860, was
a colonel of Illinois volunteers. It is said that the oath of allegiance
was administered to young Lincoln by Lieutenant Jefferson Davis!
Over marshy trails and across streams swollen by the spring thaws the
army advanced to Dixon's Ferry, ninety miles up the Rock, whence a
detachment of three hundred men was sent out, under Major Stillman, to
reconnoitre. Unluckily, this force seized three messengers of peace
dispatched by Black Hawk and, in the clash which followed, was cut to
pieces and driven into headlong flight by a mere handful of red
warriors. The effect of this unexpected affray was both to stiffen the
Indians to further resistance and to precipitate a fresh panic
throughout the frontier. All sorts of atrocities ensued, and Black
Hawk's name became a household bugaboo the country over.
Finally a new levy was made ready and sent north. Pushing across the
overflowed wilderness stretches, past the sites of modern Beloit and
Madison, this army, four thousand strong, came upon the fleeing enemy on
the banks of the Wisconsin River, and at Wisconsin Heights, near the
present town of Prairie du Sac, it inflicted a severe defeat upon the
Indians. Again Black Hawk desired to make peace, but again he was
frustrated, this time by the lack of an interpreter. The redskins'
flight was continued in the direction of the Mississippi, which they
reached in midsummer. They were prevented from crossing by lack of
canoes, and finally the half-starved band found itself caught between
the fire of a force of regulars on the land side and a government supply
steamer, the Warrior, on the water side, and between these two the
Indian band was practically annihilated.
Thus ended the war--a contest originating in no general uprising or
far-reaching plan, such as marked the rebellions instigated by Pontiac
and Tecumseh, but which none the less taxed the strength of the border
populations and opened a new chapter in the history of the remoter
northwestern territories. Black Hawk himself took refuge with the
Winnebagoes in the Dells of the Wisconsin, only to be treacherously
delivered over to General Street at Prairie du Chien. Under the terms of
a treaty of peace signed at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island) in September,
the fallen leader and some of his accomplices were held as hostages, and
during the ensuing winter they were kept at Jefferson Barracks (St.
Louis) under the surveillance of Jefferson Davis. In the spring of 1833
they were taken to Washington, where they had an interview with
President Jackson. "We did not expect to conquer the whites," Black Hawk
told the President; "they had too many houses, too many men. I took up
the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people could no
longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would
have said, 'Black Hawk is a woman--he is too old to be a chief--he is no
Sauk.'" After a brief imprisonment at Fortress Monroe, where Jefferson
Davis was himself confined at the close of the Civil War, the captives
were set free, and were taken to Philadelphia, New York, up the Hudson,
and finally back to the Rock River country.
For some years Black Hawk lived quietly on a small reservation near Des
Moines. In 1837 the peace-loving Keokuk took him with a party of Sauk
and Fox chiefs again to Washington, and on this trip he made a visit to
Boston. The officials of the city received the august warrior and his
companions in Faneuil Hall, and the Governor of the commonwealth paid
them similar honor at the State House. Some war-dances were performed on
the Common for the amusement of the populace, and afterwards the party
was taken to see a performance by Edwin Forrest at the Tremont Theatre.
Here all went well, except that at an exciting point in the play where
one of the characters fell dying the Indians burst out into a war-whoop,
to the considerable consternation of the women and children present.
A few months after returning to his Iowa home, Black Hawk, now
seventy-one years of age, was gathered to his fathers. He was buried
about half a mile from his cabin, in a sitting posture, his left hand
grasping a cane presented to him by Henry Clay, and at his side a supply
of food and tobacco sufficient to last him to the spirit land, supposed
to be three days' travel. "Rock River," he said in a speech at a Fourth
of July celebration shortly before his death, "was a beautiful country.
I liked my town, my cornfields, and the home of my people. I fought for
it. It is now yours. Keep it, as we did. It will produce you good
crops."
The Black Hawk War opened a new chapter in the history of the Northwest.
The soldiers carried to their homes remarkable stories of the richness
and attractiveness of the northern country, and the eastern newspapers
printed not only detailed accounts of the several expeditions but highly
colored descriptions of the charms of the region. Books and pamphlets by
the score helped to attract the attention of the country. The result was
a heavy influx of settlers, many of them coming all the way from New
England and New York, others from Pennsylvania and Ohio. Lands were
rapidly surveyed and placed on sale, and surviving Indian
hunting-grounds were purchased. Northern Illinois filled rapidly with a
thrifty farming population, and the town of Chicago became an entrepôt.
Further north, Wisconsin had been organized, in 1836, as a Territory,
including not only the present State of that name but Iowa, Minnesota,
and most of North and South Dakota. As yet the Iowa country, however,
had been visited by few white people; and such as came were only hunters
and trappers, agents of the American Fur and other trading companies, or
independent traders. Two of the most active of these free-lances of
early days--the French Canadian Dubuque and the Englishman
Davenport--have left their names to flourishing cities.
To recount the successive purchases by which the Government freed Iowa
soil from Indian domination would be wearisome. The Treaty of 1842 with
the Sauks and Foxes is typical. After a sojourn of hardly more than a
decade in the Iowa country, these luckless folk were now persuaded to
yield all their lands to the United States and retire to a reservation
in Kansas. The negotiations were carried out with all due regard for
Indian susceptibilities. Governor Chambers, resplendent in the uniform
of a brigadier-general of the United States army, repaired with his
aides to the appointed rendezvous, and there the chiefs presented
themselves, arrayed in new blankets and white deerskin leggings, with
full paraphernalia of paint, feathers, beads, and elaborately decorated
war clubs. Oratory ran freely, although through the enforced medium of
an interpreter. The chiefs harangued for hours not only upon the
beautiful meadows, the running streams, the stately trees, and the other
beloved objects which they were called upon to surrender to the white
man, but upon the moon and stars and rain and hail and wind, all of
which were alleged to be more attractive and beneficent in Iowa than
anywhere else. The Governor, in turn, gave the Indians some good advice,
urging them to live peaceably in their new homes, to be industrious and
self-supporting, to leave liquor alone, and, in general, to "be a credit
to the country." When every one had talked as much as he liked, the
treaty was solemnly signed.
The "New Purchase" was thrown open to settlers in the following spring;
and the opening brought scenes of a kind destined to be reënacted scores
of times in the great West during succeeding decades--the borders of the
new district lined, on the eve of the opening, with encamped settlers
and their families ready to race for the best claims; horses saddled and
runners picked for the rush; a midnight signal from the soldiery,
releasing a flood of eager land-hunters armed with torches, axes,
stakes, and every sort of implement for the laying out of claims with
all possible speed; by daybreak, many scores of families "squatting" on
the best pieces of ground which they had been able to reach; innumerable
disputes, with a general readjustment following the intervention of the
government surveyors.
The marvelous progress of the upper Mississippi Valley is briefly told
by a succession of dates. In 1838 Iowa was organized as a Territory; in
1846 it was admitted as a State; in 1848 Wisconsin was granted
statehood; and in 1849 Minnesota was given territorial organization with
boundaries extending westward to the Missouri.
Thus the Old Northwest had arrived at the goal set for it by the
large-visioned men who framed the Ordinance of 1787; every foot of its
soil was included in some one of the five thriving, democratic
commonwealths that had taken their places in the Union on a common basis
with the older States of the East and the South. Furthermore, the
Mississippi had ceased to be a boundary. A magnificent vista reaching
off to the remoter West and Northwest had been opened up; the frontier
had been pushed far out upon the plains of Minnesota and Iowa. Decade
after decade the powerful epic of westward expansion, shot through with
countless tales of heroism and sacrifice, had steadily unfolded before
the gaze of an astonished world; and the end was not yet in sight.
Bibliographical Note
There is no general history of the Northwest covering the whole of the
period dealt with in this book except Burke A. Hinsdale, The Old
Northwest (1888). This is a volume of substantial scholarship, though it
reflects but faintly the life and spirit of the people. The nearest
approach to a moving narrative is James K. Hosmer, Short History of the
Mississippi Valley (1901), which tells the story of the Middle West from
the earliest explorations to the close of the nineteenth century, within
a brief space, yet in a manner to arouse the reader's interest and
sympathy. A fuller and very readable narrative to 1796 will be found in
Charles Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags (1900). Still more
detailed, and enlivened by many contemporary maps and plans, is Justin
Winsor, The Westward Movement (1899), covering the period from the
pacification of 1763 to the close of the eighteenth century. Frederick
J. Turner, Rise of the New West (1906) contains several interesting and
authoritative chapters on western development after the War of 1812; and
John B. McMaster, History of the People of the United States (8 vols.,
1883-1913), gives in the fourth and fifth volumes a very good account of
westward migration.
An excellent detailed account of the settlement and development of a
single section of the Northwest is G. N. Fuller, Economic and Social
Beginnings of Michigan, Michigan Historical Publications, Univ. Series,
No. 1 (1916). A very readable book is R. G. Thwaites, The Story of
Wisconsin (rev. ed., 1899), containing a full account of the early
relations of white men and red men, and of the Black Hawk War. Mention
may be made, too, of H. E. Legler, Leading Events of Wisconsin History
(1898).
Among the volumes dealing with the diplomatic history of the Northwest,
mention should be made of two recent studies: C. W. Alvord, The
Mississippi Valley in British Politics (2 vols., 1917), and E. S.
Corwin, French Policy and the American Alliance (1916).
Aside from Lincoln, few men of the earlier Northwest have been made the
subjects of well-written biographies. Curiously, there are no modern
biographies, good or bad, of George Rogers Clark, General St. Clair, or
William Henry Harrison. John R. Spears, Anthony Wayne (1903) is an
interesting book; and Andrew C. McLaughlin, Lewis Cass (1891), and Allen
Johnson, Stephen A. Douglas (1908) are excellent. Lives of Lincoln that
have importance for their portrayal of western society include: John T.
Morse, Jr., Abraham Lincoln (2 vols., 1893); John G. Nicolay and John
Hay, Abraham Lincoln, a History (10 vols., 1890); and Ida M. Tarbell,
Life of Abraham Lincoln (new ed., 2 vols., 1917).
The reader will do well, however, to turn early to some of the works
within the field which, by reason of their literary quality as well as
their scholarly worth, have attained the dignity of classics. Foremost
are the writings of Francis Parkman. Most of these, it is true, deal
with the history of the American interior prior to 1763. But Frontenac
and New France under Louis XIV (Frontenac edition, 1915), and A
Half-Century of Conflict (2 vols., same ed.) furnish the necessary
background; and The Conspiracy of Pontiac (2 vols., same ed.) is
indispensable. Parkman's work closes with the Indian war following the
Treaty of 1763. Theodore Roosevelt's Winning of the West (4 vols.,
1889-96) takes up the story at that point and carries it to the collapse
of the Burr intrigues during the second administration of Thomas
Jefferson. This work was a pioneer in the field. In the light of recent
scholarship it is subject to criticism at some points; but it is based
on careful study of the sources, and for vividness and interest it has
perhaps not been surpassed in American historical writing. A third
extensive work is Archer B. Hulbert, Historic Highways of America (16
vols., 1902-05). In writing the history of the great land and water
routes of trade and travel between East and West the author found
occasion to describe, in interesting fashion, most phases of western
life. The volumes most closely related to the subject matter of the
present book are: Military Roads of the Mississippi Valley (VIII);
Waterways of Western Expansion (IX); The Cumberland Road (X); and
Pioneer Roads and Experiences of Travellers (XI-XII). Mention should be
made also of Mr. Hulbert's The Ohio River, a Course of Empire (1906).
Further references will be found appended to the articles on Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin in The Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th edition).
Opportunity to get the flavor of the period by reading contemporary
literature is afforded by two principal kinds of books. One is
reminiscences, letters, and histories written by the Westerners
themselves. Timothy Flint's Recollections of the Last Ten Years (1826)
will be found interesting; as also J. Hall, Letters from the West
(1828), and T. Ford, History of Illinois (1854).
The second type of materials is books of travel written by visitors from
the East or from Europe. Works of this nature are always subject to
limitations. Even when the author tries to be accurate and fair, his
information is likely to be hastily gathered and incomplete and his
judgments unsound. Between 1800 and 1840 the Northwest was visited,
however, by many educated and fair-minded persons who wrote readable and
trustworthy descriptions of what they saw and heard. A complete list
cannot be given here, but some of the best of these books are: John
Melish, Travels in the United States of America in the Years 1806 & 1807
and 1809, 1810 & 1811 (2 vols., 1812); William Cobbett, A Year's
Residence in the United States of America (1818); Henry B. Fearon,
Sketches of America (1818); Morris Birkbeck, Letters from Illinois
(1818); John Bradbury, Travels in the Interior of America in the Years
1809, 1810, and 1811 (1819); Thomas Hulme, Journal made during a Tour in
the Western Countries of America, 1818-1819 (1828); and Michael
Chevalier, Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States (1839).
Copies of early editions of some of these works will be found in most
large libraries. But the reader is happily not dependent on this
resource. Almost all of the really important books of the kind are
reprinted, with introductions and explanatory matter, in Reuben G.
Thwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 (32 vols., 1904-07), which is
one of our chief collections of historical materials.
INDEX
A.
Abadie, D', Governor of the French, New Orleans, 33.
Adams, John, 71, 72, 74.
Alabama, Georgians in, 173.
American Fur Company, 192-193.
Amherst, General Sir Jeffrey, 3, 14.
Anderson, Robert, 201.
Aranda, Count d', quoted, 76.
Armstrong, Fort (Rock Island), 203.
Astor, J. J., 192.
Atkinson, General Henry, 196.
B.
Bank, National, 179.
Beauvais, M., of Kaskaskia, 29.
Belêtre, Captain, commandant at Detroit, 4.
Birkbeck, Morris, quoted, 105-106.
Black Hawk, Indian leader, 198-199; enemy of Americans, 198, 199-200;
rebellion, 160, 200-203; after defeat, 203-204; later life and death,
204-205.
Blue Licks, Battle of, 71.
Bouquet, Colonel Henry, 15-16, 17.
Bushy Run, Battle of, 15-16.
C.
Cadillac, see La Mothe-Cadillac.
Cahokia, Pontiac at, 18; school for Indians at, 30; under English, 31;
taken by Clark, 48, 55; British try to seize, 69.
Caldwell, Captain, 71.
Campbell, Colonel, British commandant at Detroit, 6.
Campus Martius, fortification in Ohio, 81.
Canada passes to British control, 1.
Carver, Jonathan, 12.
Cass, Lewis, statesman of the Northwest, 183; life, 184-186; Governor of
Michigan, 190; expedition into Mississippi regions, 190-191; aids
against Indians, 196.
Cass Lake, 191.
Chartres, Fort, French commandant sends message to Indians, 14; Pontiac
at, 17; "center of life and fashion," 30; after cession to English, 31;
Saint-Ange commands, 33; Croghan invited to, 35; Sterling reaches, 36.
Chillicothe (O.), 100.
Chouteau, Pierre, 32-33.
Cincinnati, named, 82; migration to, 99; legislature in, 131; education,
171.
Clark, G. R., in Illinois country, 48; life and character, 48-49;
delegate to Virginia Assembly, 49; proposes capturing British posts, 50;
commissioned by Virginia council, 51; expedition, 51-56; at Kaskaskia,
59-60, 60-61; expedition to Vincennes, 61-66; plans expedition against
Detroit, 67; failure of plan, 68; later life and death, 68; expedition
against Miami towns, 71; agreement of 1785 with Indians, 79.
Clay, Henry, 164, 205.
Cleaveland, Moses, 99.
Columbus (O.), Cumberland Road reaches (1833), 166.
Continental Congress claims Northwest, 71.
Corydon (Ind.), capital removed from, 177 (note).
Croghan, George, 34-36.
Cumberland Gap, 102.
Cumberland Road, 165-168, 178.
Cutler, Dr. Manasseh, 80-81, 82.
Cuyahoga River, Pontiac halts English at, 3.
D.
Davis, Jefferson, 201, 203, 204.
Dearborn, Fort, 149, 152, 153.
Deckhard rifle, 120.
Defiance, Fort, 92, 94.
Detroit, occupied by French, 2-3; surrenders to English, 4; in 1760,
4-5; Pontiac plans destruction of, 11; council with Indians at, 17;
Clark plans attack, 67-68; British refuse surrender, 83; Wayne obtains
cession of Indian land near, 95; garrison at, 152; Hull's expedition for
relief of, 153; growth, 193.
Douglas, S. A., statesman of Northwest, 183; life, 184-187.
Duquesne, Fort, see Pitt, Fort.
E.
East Florida, province provided in Proclamation of 1763, 24, 24 (note),
33; plan for Spain to resume possession, 73.
Education in Northwest, 129-130, 170-171.
Erie Canal opened (1825), 102, 176.
Erie, Lake, French settlement on, 2-3; Perry's victory on, 154.
F.
Fallen Timbers, Battle at, 92-94.
Flint, Timothy, Western Monthly Review, 169.
Florida, see East Florida, West Florida.
France supports Spain in her American policy, 72-74.
Franklin, Benjamin, advice to British ministers, 20; acquires western
land, 38, 39; on committee for boundary negotiation, 72, 74.
French settlements in Northwest, 2, 28-33; Loftus's expedition against,
33-34; under English control, 36-37.
Fur trade, 191-193.
G.
Gage, General Thomas, 34, 36.
Galena (Ill.), 195, 196.
Gallatin, Albert, 164, 165.
Gallipolis, attempt to build French colony at, 81.
Garfield, J. A., 100.
Ghent, Peace of, 172.
Gibault, Pierre, French priest, 48, 55, 59, 62.
Gladwyn, Major, 11, 12.
Gnadenhütten, massacre at, 70.
Great Britain refuses to give up fortified posts, 83.
Greenville, Fort, 91, 94; Treaty of, 131.
Grenada, province provided in Proclamation of 1763, 24, 24 (note).
Grosseilliers, see Ménard des Grosseilliers.
H.
Hamilton, Henry, Lieutenant-Governor at Detroit, 43; and the Indians,
47; part in Revolution, 57 et seq.
Harmar, General Josiah, 80, 84, 85.
Harmar, Fort, 80.
Harrison, W. H., in Northwest Territory, 131-132; on Indians, 133-134;
conference with Tecumseh, 139-140, 140-143; at Tippecanoe, 144-147;
chief in command in West, 153-154, 156.
Harrison, Fort, 144, 152.
Hayes, R. B., 100.
Helm, Lieutenant, 59.
Hennepin, Louis, 190.
Henry, Patrick, 49, 51.
Hillsborough, Lord, on British policy in regard to Indian reservations,
26.
Howard, Fort, 196.
Huguenots forbidden to emigrate, 29.
Hull, General William, 138, 153, 156.
I.
Illinois, a county of Virginia, 56; after War of 1812, 161; admitted as
State (1818), 161, 177 (note); immigration, 162; frontier settlers in,
173; Southerners in, 174-175; population (1818), 177 (note); indentures,
182; slavery, 182-183.
Indiana, settlement, 98; formed from part of Northwest Territory, 132;
population (1800-10), 132-133; (1810-16), 161; (1820), 177 (note); after
War of 1812, 161; admitted as State (1816), 161; immigration, 162;
frontier settlers in, 172; Southerners in, 174-175; indentures, 182;
slavery, 182.
Indianapolis, Cumberland Road reaches, 166; capital removed to (1825),
177 (note).
Indians, parleys with Rogers, 3-4; incited by French against English, 4;
relations with French at Detroit, 5; menace to English, 7-8; protest
against English encroachments, 8-9; Pontiac's conspiracy, 9 et seq.;
method of warfare, 15; trade with, 25, 44-45; reservation by
Proclamation of 1763, 25-27; attack Croghan's band, 34-35; in
Revolution, 45 et seq.; massacre at Gnadenhütten, 70; agreements with,
78-79; rebel against Americans, 82-83; incited by British, 83-84;
punitive expedition against Miamis, 84-85; Wayne against, 89 et seq.;
danger on Ohio River from, 108; cessions by, 132, 135, 140; relations
with white settlers, 133-135; Tecumseh's conspiracy, 136 et seq.; Battle
of Tippecanoe, 144-146; raids of 1812, 149; menace removed after War of
1812, 160; trouble with Winnebagoes, 196-198; Black Hawk War, 200-203;
treaties, 206-207.
Iowa, organized as Territory (1838), 208; admitted as State (1846), 208.
Itasca, Lake, 191.
J.
Jay, John, 72, 74.
Jay Treaty, 94-95, 181.
Jefferson, Thomas, 51, 67, 72, 164.
Jefferson Barracks (St. Louis), 203.
Jefferson City (Mo.), Cumberland Road marked out to, 166.
Johnson, Allen, Jefferson and his Colleagues cited, 138 (note).
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, opinion of Northwest America, 21, 22.
Johnson, Sir William, visits Detroit, 6; Pontiac surrenders to, 18;
sends Croghan against Indians, 34.
Johnson, W. S., 39.
Johnston, A. S., 201.
Joliet, Louis, 189.
K.
Kaskaskia, French settlement, 28, 30; under English, 31; Clark captures,
48, 52-53; Clark at, 60-61; British attack, 69.
Kendall, Amos, quoted, 156.
Kentucky, organized as county of Virginia, 49; frontier settlers in,
172.
Keokuk, Indian chief, 198, 200, 204.
Knox, William, British Under-Secretary for the Colonies, 22.
L.
Laclède, Pierre, 32.
La Mothe-Cadillac, Antoine de, founds Detroit (1701), 2.
La Salle, Réné-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de, 2.
Laulewasikaw, "Prophet," Brother of Tecumseh, 135, 147-148.
Laurens, Henry, 72.
Le Bœuf, Fort, 14.
Lee, "Light-Horse Harry," 89.
Leech Lake, Pike reaches, 190.
Leopard-Chesapeake affair, 138.
Lexington (Ky.), aspires to be "Athens of the West," 171.
Lincoln, Abraham, 184-188, 201.
Lincoln, Thomas, father of Abraham, 185.
Loftus, Major, 33.
"Long Knives," 101.
L-os-anti-ville, 82; see also Cincinnati.
Louisiana Purchase, 161, 190.
Louisville (Ky.), education in, 171.
M.
McAdam, John, devises road construction, 165-166.
Mackinac, Fort, 152, 153.
Malden, Fort, 153.
Marietta (O.), founded, 81; settlers from New England, 99.
Marquette, Jacques, Jesuit missionary, 189.
Mason, George, 51.
Massac, Fort, 52.
Maysville Road Bill (1830), 178.
Ménard des Grosseilliers, 189.
Miami, Fort, 88, 92.
Michilimackinac, 95.
Minnesota organized as Territory (1849), 208.
Mississippi, Georgians in, 173.
Mississippi Valley, 24-25.
Missouri, population of Territory (1812-18), 161-162; frontier settlers
in, 173.
Monroe, Fortress, 204.
Montreal, fall of (1760), 1.
N.
National Road, see Cumberland Road.
New England, westward migration from, 99; 175-177.
New Orleans, Indians seek equipment at, 18; Jackson's victory, 159.
New Orleans, The, first steamboat in West, 168.
Niagara, council with Indians at, 17.
Northwest Territory, extent of, 1-2; French settlements, 2; Franklin
advises British to retain, 20; ignorance of country, 21-22; questions of
settlement and government, 22 et seq.; settlement, 37 et seq., 79-82;
Continental Congress claims, 71; Treaty of Paris gives to U. S., 75;
state claims yield to nation, 77; migration to, 97 et seq.; character of
country, 110-112; pioneer life, 112 et seq.; in War of 1812, 151 et
seq.; loses frontier character, 162; religion, 170; education, 170-171;
sectionalism, 173-174; Southern influence, 176-177; national issues,
178-179; form of government, 179-180; slavery, 180-184; explorations
upon upper Mississippi, 189-191; fur trade, 191-193; lead-mining,
194-195; after Black Hawk War, 205-206; Indian treaties, 206-208;
bibliography, 211-214; see also names of States.
O.
Ohio, settlement, 98 et seq.; routes to, 102 et seq.; formed from part
of Northwest Territory, 132; admitted as State (1802), 132, 165; means
of transportation in, 157; frontier settlers in, 172; Southerners in,
174-175.
Ohio Company, 39, 80-81.
Ohio River, emigrants on, 106-109.
Ordinance of 1787, 77-78, 131, 180, 181, 182.
Oswego, Pontine surrenders at, 18.
Ottawa (Ill.), French settlement near, 2.
Ouiatanon, 35.
P.
Paine, R. D., The Fight for a Free Sea cited, 153 (note).
Paris, Treaty of (1783), 20, 22, 75.
Parkman, Francis, quoted, 5-6, 19, 32-33.
Perry, Commodore O. H., 154.
Pike, Lieutenant Z. M., 190.
Pitt, Fort, 15, 16, 17, 34, 36.
Pittman, Captain, 34.
Pontiac, Indian chief, 3; conspiracy, 9 et seq.; power broken, 17;
further plots, 34; meets Croghan, 35.
Presqu'isle (Erie), council with Indians at, 17.
Proclamation of 1763, 24, 24 (note), 41-42.
"Prophet," see Laulewasikaw.
Prophet's Town, 139.
Putnam, General Rufus, 80, 81, 82.
Q.
Quebec, province provided under Proclamation of 1763, 24, 24 (note).
Quebec Act (1774), 41-43.
R.
Radisson, Pierre, 189.
Raisin River, 153.
Rayneval, secretary to French Foreign Minister, 74.
Recovery, Fort, 91.
Red Bird, Indian chief, 196, 197.
Revolution, effects on West, 45.
Rocheblave, commandant at Kaskaskia, 54.
Rogers, Major Robert, 3, 4.
Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted, 61, 156.
S.
Sackville, Fort, 55.
Saint Ange de Bellerive, 18, 19, 33, 36.
St. Anthony, Falls of, Hennepin reaches, 190.
St. Clair, General Arthur, 81, 84, 85-87, 89.
St. Joseph, Fort, 69-70.
St. Louis, French settlement near, 2; French town, 18; established
(1764), 32; Saint-Ange retires to, 36; under Spanish rule, 69; education
in, 171.
St. Louis, Fort, 2.
Ste. Genevieve, 32.
Schoolcraft, Henry, 191.
Scioto Company, 81.
"Seven Ranges," 80, 99-100.
Sheridan, Lieutenant-General P. H., 100.
Sherman, John, 100.
Sherman, General W. T., 100.
Sinclair, Lieutenant-Governor Patrick, 69.
Slavery, 180-184.
Snelling, Fort, 196.
Spain, cessions to, 18, 28; ally of France, 69; seizes Fort St. Joseph,
69-70; American policy, 72-73; plan presented at peace negotiation,
73-74.
Stanwix, Fort, Treaty of, 78.
"Starved Rock," 2.
Sterling, Captain Thomas, 36.
Stillman, Major, 202.
Symmes, Judge J. C., of N. J., 82.
V.
Tariff, attitude of Northwest toward, 178-179.
Taylor, Zachary, 201.
Tecumseh, plans confederacy, 135 et seq.; at Prophet's Town, 139;
confers with Harrison at Vincennes, 139-140, 140-143; sympathy with
British, 148, 150; joins British in 1812, 152; killed, 154.
Thames, Battle of the, 154.
Tippecanoe, Battle of, 144-147.
Transportation, difficulties, 163-164; highways, 164-168; stage lines,
167; steamboats, 168-170; Erie Canal, 176; roads and canals, 178; on
Mississippi River, 195.
V.
Vandalia, projected colony, 39.
Vandalia (Ill.), Cumberland Road graded to, 166.
Vaudreuil, Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de, Governor of Canada, 1, 3.
Venango, Fort, 14.
Vergennes, Charles Gravier, Comte de, French Foreign Minister, 74.
Vigo, François, 60-61.
Villiers, Neyon de, 31.
Vincennes, French colony, 2; under British, 31; surrenders to Clark, 55;
captured by British, 58-59, Clark retakes, 63-66, 69; Harrison and
Tecumseh in conference at, 139-140, 140-143.
W.
Wabash Valley, French settlement in, 2.
Waite, Chief Justice M. R., 100.
Walpole, Thomas, 39.
War of 1812, popular in West, 151; standing army, 152; volunteers
called, 152; in the West, 153-154; military organization, 154-156; lack
of transportation facilities, 157-158; life of frontier soldiers,
158-159; peace (1815), 160.
Warrior, The, Government supply steamer in Black Hawk War, 203.
Washington, George, acquires western land, 38-39.
Wayne, "Mad Anthony," 89 et seq.
Wayne, Fort, 94, 152; Treaty of, 135.
Wekau, Indian chief, 197.
Welby, Adlard, quoted, 163.
West Florida, province provided under Proclamation of 1763, 24, 24
(note), 33; plan for Spain to resume possession of, 73.
Western Reserve, 99, 102, 172, 175.
Wharton, Samuel, 39.
Whistler, Major, 196, 197.
Wilkinson, General James, 190.
Willing, The, Clark's boat, 61, 64, 66, 67.
Winnebago, Fort, 197.
Wisconsin admitted as State (1848), 208.
Wythe, George, 51.
The Chronicles of America Series
1. The Red Man's Continent
by Ellsworth Huntington
2. The Spanish Conquerors
by Irving Berdine Richman
3. Elizabethan Sea-Dogs
by William Charles Henry Wood
4. The Crusaders of New France
by William Bennett Munro
5. Pioneers of the Old South
by Mary Johnson
6. The Fathers of New England
by Charles McLean Andrews
7. Dutch and English on the Hudson
by Maud Wilder Goodwin
8. The Quaker Colonies
by Sydney George Fisher
9. Colonial Folkways
by Charles McLean Andrews
10. The Conquest of New France
by George McKinnon Wrong
11. The Eve of the Revolution
by Carl Lotus Becker
12. Washington and His Comrades in Arms
by George McKinnon Wrong
13. The Fathers of the Constitution
by Max Farrand
14. Washington and His Colleagues
by Henry Jones Ford
15. Jefferson and his Colleagues
by Allen Johnson
16. John Marshall and the Constitution
by Edward Samuel Corwin
17. The Fight for a Free Sea
by Ralph Delahaye Paine
18. Pioneers of the Old Southwest
by Constance Lindsay Skinner
19. The Old Northwest
by Frederic Austin Ogg
20. The Reign of Andrew Jackson
by Frederic Austin Ogg
21. The Paths of Inland Commerce
by Archer Butler Hulbert
22. Adventurers of Oregon
by Constance Lindsay Skinner
23. The Spanish Borderlands
by Herbert Eugene Bolton
24. Texas and the Mexican War
by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson
25. The Forty-Niners
by Stewart Edward White
26. The Passing of the Frontier
by Emerson Hough
27. The Cotton Kingdom
by William E. Dodd
28. The Anti-Slavery Crusade
by Jesse Macy
29. Abraham Lincoln and the Union
by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson
30. The Day of the Confederacy
by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson
31. Captains of the Civil War
by William Charles Henry Wood
32. The Sequel of Appomattox
by Walter Lynwood Fleming
33. The American Spirit in Education
by Edwin E. Slosson
34. The American Spirit in Literature
by Bliss Perry
35. Our Foreigners
by Samuel Peter Orth
36. The Old Merchant Marine
by Ralph Delahaye Paine
37. The Age of Invention
by Holland Thompson
38. The Railroad Builders
by John Moody
39. The Age of Big Business
by Burton Jesse Hendrick
40. The Armies of Labor
by Samuel Peter Orth
41. The Masters of Capital
by John Moody
42. The New South
by Holland Thompson
43. The Boss and the Machine
by Samuel Peter Orth
44. The Cleveland Era
by Henry Jones Ford
45. The Agrarian Crusade
by Solon Justus Buck
46. The Path of Empire
by Carl Russell Fish
47. Theodore Roosevelt and His Times
by Harold Howland
48. Woodrow Wilson and the World War
by Charles Seymour
49. The Canadian Dominion
by Oscar D. Skelton
50. The Hispanic Nations of the New World
by William R. Shepherd
Transcriber's Notes
Detailed Notes Section:
Chapter 2.
On Page 21, add period after possession in the sentence: The English
people had, however, only the vaguest notion of the extent, appearance,
and resources of their new possession.
Chapter 3.
On Page 53, and also Page 205, war-whoop was hyphenated between two
lines for spacing. The word was not used elsewhere in this book, but in
other chronicles it is spelled with a hyphen. We retained the hyphen.
Chapter 5.
On Page 101, easy-going was hyphenated between two lines for spacing. On
Page 30, easy-going occurred in the middle of a sentence, and was
hyphenated. We retained the hyphen.
Pack-horse (Page 106) and pack-horses (Page 116) were spelled with a
hyphen in Chapter 5, but packhorse (Page 157) and pack-horses (Page 159)
of Chapter 7 omitted the hyphen. We did not make any adjustments to the
spelling of these words.