The War of 1812 in Illinois Territory-- Part 3: Enter Thomas E. Craig

Meanwhile, Governor Edwards had reached the head of Peoria Lake (where Peoria is today) and now didn't meet up with Samuel Hopkins' Army, so returned to Fort Russell.

About that same time, Captain Thomas E. Craig led a party of two boats up the Illinois River to Peoria.  His boats, as he alleged, were fired upon  in the night by Indians who had been harbored and protected by the French citizens of Peoria.

He then burned the greater part of the French village and captured a number of its people.  He carried them downriver  and put them ashore in the early part of winter just below Alton.

--Brock-Perry

The War of 1812 in Illinois-- Part 1

From Free Pages Roots Web."

Upon the declaration of war  in June 1812, the Potawatomies and most other Indian tribes in the Illinois Territory strongly sympathized with the British, whom they saw as valuable allies in keeping the intruding American settlers from taking their land.ar of 1812."

They had been  hostile and restless for some time previous and blockhouses and small family forts were the order of the day for American settlers who were mostly in the southern part of the future state. There were often Indian  attacks on them.

Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards, becoming apprehensive of an outbreak of Indian hostility as the situation between the United States and Britain worsened, constructed Fort Russel a few miles from the present-day city of Edwardsville (named for him).  Sadly, the exact location of this fort is not known today (probably north of the city).

Taking the field in person, he made Fort Russell his personal headquarters and collected a force of 250  mounted volunteers who were later reinforced by two companies of rangers, under  Col. William Russell, numbering about 100 men.

--Brock-Perry

The Hargrave Family and War of 1812-- Part 2: Ninian Edwards Attacks

Following the massacre at Fort Dearborn (present-day Chicago), Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards Became convinced that  the Potawatami and Kickapoo Indians were going to launch a major attack on settlements in southern Illinois.  In his capacity as commander-in-chief in the Territory, he took it upon himself to launch a campaign against them.

The force of 400 that he assembled included mounted militia volunteers commanded by  Charles Rector and Benjamin Stephenson.  On October 18, 1812,  Edwards and his force marched out of Fort Russell (near present-day Edwardsville).  Near present-day Springfield, he burned  two Kickapoo villages on  the Saline Fork of the Sangamon River.

From there, they turned west and marched to present-day Peoria where they attacked villages associated with the Kickapoo, the Miami and the Potawatomi.  According to Edwards' account to the U.S. Secretary of War, they burned the villages and large amounts of provisions.  They also captured 80 horses, killed more than  two dozen Indians and captured 4 prisoners.

That accomplished, they returned to Fort Russell in November 1, 1812.  There Edwards proclaimed that the Indian problems had been solved and he released the militia.

Two of the men with Benjamin Stephenson were Robert Hargrave (son of John Robert) and Joseph Palmer (son-on-law of John Robert.)

--Brock-Perry

Early History of Peoria-- Part 2: The Coming of the War of 1812

During 1810, a series of raids were launched by Illinois Indians which resulted in a great deal of anxiety among the settlers.  Throughout the next year, British representatives from Canada; still upset  over their defeat in the American Revolution, continued to encourage the Indians to attack the white settlers throughout the Illinois Territory.

The War of 1812 began in June of that year and that caused the French settlers in Peoria to be at war with the British and their Indian allies, including the Potawatomi.  Because the French settlers at Peoria had a close relationship with the Potawatomi, their position was extremely difficult.

In August of 1812,  the American post at Chicago, Fort Dearborn, was taken by the Potawatomi, and many of the soldiers and residents  were killed or taken prisoner. Thomas Forsyth of Peoria, half brother and  partner of Chicago trader John Kinzie, went north to negotiate with the Indians for the return of the prisoners.

In the meantime, Governor Ninian Edwards had been receiving reports that Peoria was a hotbed of Indian troubles.  In October, 1812, just a few months after Fort Dearborn, the governor led an attack  of mounted troops across the prairies from Fort Russell near Edwardsville (no one is sure where this fort's actual location was), and destroyed the Potawatomi village of Chief Black Partridge at the upper end of Lake Peoria, on the east side of the river.

Although the soldiers found the village deserted, they plundered and burned it.  In clashes with nearby Indians, 25 to 30 were killed.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Stephenson of Illinois-- Part 10: Dispersing the Indians

They found a deserted Sac village near modern-day Quincy, Illinois,.  They then  marched  east to the Illinois River and followed it to Peoria.

From there they went north to Gomo's village which they found to also be deserted.

There were no battles in the campaign, but it did disperse the Indians and forestalled further attacks.

The force returned to Fort Russell near Edwardsville by late October 1813.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Stephenson=-- Part 6: A Line of Blockhouses Across the Illinois Territory

From the Benjamin Stephenson House Site "The War of 1812 and Indian Threat."

In the early days of the Illinois Territory, Indians posed a definite threat to white settlement.  The fact that the British constantly meddled in Indian affairs trying to stir them up, made matters worse.

When Ninian Edwards, for whom Edwardsville is named, became territorial governor in 1809, he organized and strengthened the territory's militia.  Benjamin Stephenson was appointed brigade commander of the militia and later became adjutant.

One of the first things Stephenson did was to build a line of blockhouses across the state from east to west.  This line was anchored by Fort Russell, just north of Edwardsville.

--Brock-Perry

Archaeologists Look for Fort Russell in Illinois-- Part 2

In 1812 Indians killed a settler near what is now the Village of Pochahontas and another near present-day Alton.  This caused Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards to order the construction of several blockhouses (two-story windowless) where settlers could take refuge, at twenty mile intervals between the Mississippi and Kaskaskia rivers.

Troops were stationed at Fort Russell and cannons from Fort de Chartres, a former French outpost, were brought in for defense.

Kind of Sad When You Lose a Whole Fort.  --Brock-Perry

Archaeologists Look for Fort Russell-- Part 1

From the April 3, 2012, Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer by Oliver Wiest.

They are still looking for the site of Fort Russell which was built 200 years ago to protect Edwardsville from  Indian attack during the War of 1812.  A government land office survey puts its site around Springfield Road northwest of Edwardsville.

A musket ball was found along Route 159, north of town.  The fort might have been there, but then again it might not.

What they do know is that it was a 150-foot square fortification located along what was then called Edwards Trace, now Springfield Road.  This path had been used by American Indians for a thousand years.

--Brock-Perry

Illinois' Colonel Benjamin Stephenson-- Part 2

Benjamin Stephenson was born July 8, 1769, in York, Pennsylvania.  His father James was a private in the Revolutionary War and served as a waggoner at Valley Forge during the horrendous winter of 1777.  His mother Mary was the daughter of Lt. Col. James Reed who also was in the Revolution.

In the 1790s, his parents moved to Martinsburg, Virginia.  In 1799, Benjamin married Lucy Swearingen and moved to Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1803.

In 1807, he moved to Logan County, Kentucky and waited for the opening of the Illinois Territory in 1809.

In June 1809, Territorial Governor Ninian Edwards appointed Stephenson sheriff of Randolph County.  he later was appointed adjutant general of Illinois state militia under commander Edwards.  In September 1812, there were eight companies with 570 men at Fort Russell in Edwardsville commanded by Stephenson.

From 1814-1815, he was in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1815, he was appointed by President James Madison as Receiver of Moneys in the Edwardsville Land Office, a position he held until his death Oct. 12, 1822.

--Brock-Perry