War of 1812 in Illinois Territory-- Part 4: Enter Zachary, Exit Zachary, British Offensive

Other desultory expeditions marked the campaigns of 1813 and 1814.

The Indians, meanwhile, gaining courage, began near continuous marauding raids on American settlements.

Later, in 1814,  an expedition led by Major (later U.S. president)  Zachary Taylor ascended the Mississippi River as far as  Rock Island, where he found a large force of Indians supported by British regulars with artillery.  Finding himself unable to cope with so formidable a foe, Major Taylor retreated down the river.

On the site of the present-day town of Warsaw, Illinois, he threw up fortifications which eh named Fort Edwards.  However, he was subsequently compelled to retreat.

The same year, the British with their Indian allies, descended from Mackinac and capture Prairie du Chien and burned Forts Madison and Johnston, after which they retired to Cap Au Gris.

The Treaty of Ghent, signed December 24, 1814, closed the war although no formal treaties were made  with the tribes until the following year.

--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

Hargrave Family & War of 1812-- Part 3: Then Came Craig and a Little Girl Named Ninian

A second attack on Peoria occurred beginning on November 5 and ended on November 9 and was carried out by men under the command of Captain Thomas  Craig of the Illinois militia.  A large number of French citizens and Potawatomie were killed.

These attacks not only angered the people of Peoria, but angered the U.S.  Government as well because they had been carried out against Indians loyal to Black Partridge and Gomo, two leaders who had not gotten involved in Tecumseh's  War and were considered friendly to U.S. interests.

Ninian Edwards, having lost the confidence of the Madison  administration, then left the Illinois Territory and moved to Kentucky, but continued as governor of the Illinois Territory until 1818.

She mentions that one of the Hargrave families named a little girl Ninian.

--Brock-Perry

The Hargrave Family and War of 1812-- Part 1: Willis Hargrave

From Jeanne Hargrave blog at Word Press.

Back on August 16, I wrote about the first four companies of Illinois Territory Rangers.  One of them was commanded by William McHenry, whose name is now on McHenry County, Illinois, as well as the City of McHenry in that county.  Before I started this blog, I believed my county's name came from the famous fort in Baltimore.  You learn something new all the time.

Another company was commanded by Willis Hargrave, one of Jeanne's ancestors.

On July 20, 1810, 40-year-old Willis Hargrave (son of William and Elizabeth Miles  Hargrave) was appointed  Captain of the 3rd Regiment of Illinois Militia.  The unit became known as Captain Hargrave's Company of Mounted Volunteers.

In mid-1810, the census found his wife, Jane Brown Hargrave, and their younger children alone in Randolph County, Illinois Territory.  With Willis in the field  were sons Seth (age 16) and Samuel (age 20).

In 1811, Willis Hargrave, age 41 by then,  enlisted with a new military group and was appointed Major of the 4th Regiment  of Illinois Militia on November  29, 1811.

--Brock-Perry

Some More on the Illinois Rangers

From Clinton Illinois genealogy "Muster Rolls of Volunteers -- 1812"

Although Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards had several times during the years 1811-1812 recommended to the U..S. Secretary of War the enlistment of  one or more companies of "Rangers" to protect the frontier, and Congress in 1811 passed an act  authorizing the organization of ten companies of rangers, which was afterwards  organized as the 17th United States Regiment, under Colonel William Russell of Kentucky, an Indian fighter of bravery and experience, it does not appear that more than one company was recruited in the Illinois Territory.

However, four companies were now allotted for the defense of Illinois, whose respective captains were  Samuel and William B. Whitesides, James R. Moore and Jacob Short.

Independent Cavalry Companies were also organized for the protection of  the remote settlements  in the lower Wabash country, of which Willis Hargrave, William McHenry, Nathaniel Journey.

William McHenry was the namesake of McHenry County (where I live) and the city of McHenry which is also in the county.  I was always under the opinion that the county and city were named after Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the subject of our "Star-Spangled Banner."

Captain Craig, at Shawneetown, and William Boon at Big Muddy, were respectively commanders ready to make the Indians pay for any attacks.

--Brock-Perry

Thomas E. Craig

From the "Alton" book by Cheryl Eichar Jett.

Several Native American attacks were recorded during the early settlement of Illinois years.

During the War of 1812. Captain Thomas E. Craig burned a Native American village in Northern Illinois (Peoria) capturing 77 French, French-Native American, Native American and American  individuals.

Historian James E. Davis said that Craig "shunted this assortment of humanity down  the Illinois River, abandoning them on a dreary November day south of modern Alton."

Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards. embarrassed by the debacle, compensated those stranded in the Alton area.

--Brock-Perry

About That Captain Thomas E. Craig-- Part 3: Destruction of the French Village at Peoria

Continued from August 4, 2021. 

In his book "Illinois in the War of 1812" author Gillum Ferguson said he wanted to be fair to the plight of the Illinois Indians.  "I wanted to give the Indians their fair due without romanticizing them," said Ferguson, who recounted a "possible" massacre of  Indians in the central Illinois area where U.S. troops reportedly wiped out Indian women and children in an encounter that took place in what is now Logan County.

But accounts on what took place vary.

What is a matter of record is the destruction of the French village in Peoria  by Captain Thomas Craig of Shawneetown.  

After finding the village deserted when he arrived, Craig allowed his men to ransack the unguarded cottages and storehouses.

--Brock-Perry

About That Captain Thomas E. Craig-- Part 2

Gillum Ferguson explained the Indian situation in Central Illinois back then, saying that Gomo, an Indian chief who had years earlier traveled to Philadelphia to meet George Washington, sought peace for his village near present-day  Chillicothe, Illinois.  Meanwhile, across Peoria Lake to the south was the village of Shequenebec whose chief was a mystic -- and increasingly hostile to the settlers.

About fifteen miles south of Peoria, on the  Mackinaw River was a  mixed village of Kickapoo, Potawatomi,  Ottawa and Chippewa, with about sixty warriors, "all desperate fellows and  great plunderers."

At this point in his research on Illinois in the War of 1812, he found that the last thing written about the future state was a long article in  1904.

For the record, Ferguson said that the United States declared war on Britain in June 1812.  A peace treaty was signed in December 1814, but the Battle of New Orleans (made famous by singer Johnny Horton) took place in January 1815.

While doing research for his book, Ferguson visited Peoria and other sites across the Midwest (Illinois Territory stretched into parts of Wisconsin and Michigan).    The staff at the Peoria Historical Society collection at Bradley University were very helpful to him.

--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

Early History of Peoria-- Part 1: Becoming the Illinois Territory

From the January 2011 Peoria Magazine "Fort Clark constructed in 1813" by Mark L. Johnson.

Just over 200 years ago, the small village of Lake  Pimiteoui, which would grow into today's City of Peoria, was gradually adjusting to life  as part of the new nation of the United States. 

On February 3, 1809, the U.S. Congress had established the territory of Illinois,  which included all of modern day Illinois, Wisconsin and the upper western peninsula of Michigan and northeastern Minnesota.  Ninian Edwards, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky, was appointed  by President James Madison as the governor of the new territory, and he served in that position until Illinois was granted statehood eight years later.

In the 1810 federal census, just 12,181 white settlers lived in the Illinois Territory.  At that time, the village of Peoria was attached to St. Clair County, and the census put its population at 93.  Most of these early Peorians were of French descent, having arrived from Canada and were primarily trappers and traders.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Clark in Peoria-- Part 2

In October 1812, Ninian Edwards, Illinois Territory governor, launched a three-pronged attack on Indian villages at Peoria Lake (where Peoria is now located and a wide place in the Illinois River).  He believed the villages harbored warriors who had attacked American settlements.  Edwards led a horse-mounted force and destroyed Black  Partidge's village on the east side of the lake.

On November 5, 1812,  Captain Thomas Craig arrived by  boat at Peoria.  Unknown to Craig, William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs (yes, that William Clark as in Lewis & Clark Expedition) and Ninian Edwards had retained the services of Thomas Forsyth to monitor Indian movements at Peoria Lake.  

Despite Forsyth's protest that the community was not involved, Craig arrested a few dozen of the village's inhabitants, burned part f the community, and transported those he detained downriver to Alton.

To assert American authority over the Peoria Lake area, in 1813, a force of about 1,400 men under  the command of Brigadier General  Benjamin Howard returned to The area to erect Fort Clark.  In addition they destroyed  what remained of Gomo's and Black Partridge's  abandoned villages.  William Garner Sr. was a member of this force.

In retaliation, Indians under Black Partridge attacked Fort Clark, but were repulsed and later signed a treaty of peace.

--Brock-Perry

Captain William Boon's Company, Mounted Volunteers

From Publications of Illinois Historical Society, Vol. 9

Capt. William Boon's Company  (This man might also be William Boone.)

William Garner Sr. was in this company.

Muster roll of a company of mounted volunteers from Randolph county, Illinois  territory, commanded by Capt. William Boon, and called into service by His Excellency, Ninian Edwards, Governor of said territory, from  the 6th day of March, 1813, to the 5th day of June, 1813.

Captain William Boon

First Lieutenant John Lacey

Second Lieutenant William Bilderback

Ensign John Bilderback

Four sergeants, Four corporals, Sixty-nine privates.

There were two Bilderbacks listed as privates:

Charles Bilderback

Daniel Bilderback

And, there were three Garners in it listed as privates:

Charles Garner

Francis Garner

William Garner

--Brock-Perry

American Girl's Caroline Abbott and the War of 1812-- Part 4: Post War and Expansion West

**  The growth of American manufacturing after the war.

**  American victories against the British in the War of 1812 were proof of America's military and naval strength.  (Well, I have to disagree with this one.  We got lucky.  Thank you Napoleon.)

**  Britain and Canada eventually allying with America following the war.

**  American expansion into the West instead of the North.

**  Settlement of Ohio and further west into the territories of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

**  Initial farm work as a rough endeavor involving the entire family, including young children, and relying on neighbors and family members.

**  Continues westward expansion of the frontier, resulting in  the admission of Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois and Alabama into the Union four years after the War of 1812.

**  America as a country today.

Again, any girl reading this book series will have a great knowledge of U.S. history from this era.  Why, I wouldn't even have to do this blog.

--Brock-Perry

Illinois' 200th!!!!!-- Part 1: The Illinois Territory During War of 1812

I'll be taking a few days' break to write about the bicentennial of Illinois becoming a state in 1818.

From Wikipedia.

During the War of 1812, the Illinois Territory was the scene of fighting between American settlers and soldiers and Indians.  At the time, the Illinois Territory consisted of modern Illinois and parts of Minnesota and Michigan.

Tensions between Americans and Indians had been increasing in the years before the war.  Present-day Peoria was the site of a major Indian concentration and the chief there was a big supporter of Shawnee Prophet Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh.

There were few U.S. soldiers in the area which was the far frontier at the time.  Ninian Edwards, Illinois Territorial governor directed militia operations.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Stephenson of Illinois-- Part 9: More Indian Problems

But in 1813, problems with the Indians resurfaced in the Illinois Territory as there were scattered attacks in Illinois as well as in the Missouri Territory.

By August 1813, General Benjamin Howard of Missouri had gathered both Illinois and Missouri Rangers and militia.  The Illinois militia was commanded by Benjamin Stephenson.  Howard's army of 1,400 marched north along the Mississippi River.

Howard's men were on the west side of the river while Stephenson was on the east.

--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

Benjamin Stephenson of Illinois-- Part 2

He served as representative from Illinois Territory in the U.S. Congress 1814-1816 and was representative to the convention that wrote the first Illinois Constitution in 1818.

In 1820 he built the house that still stands and is believed to be the oldest standing house in the state.

Benjamin Stephenson died October 10, 1822 and is buried in Edwardsville.

Stephenson County in Illinois, in the northern part of the state, is named for him.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Stephenson of Illinois-- Part 1

On Saturday,. April 7, I wrote about the War of 1812 muster taking place at the Stephenson House in Edwardsville, Illinois, on April 14.  I am familiar with this town because it is on Route 66, but i didn't know about the Stephenson House so did some more research.

From Wikipedia.

Colonel Benjamin Stephenson was a prominent citizen and politician.  Born 1769 in Pennsylvania, moved to Virginia in 1788, then moved to Kentucky and to the Illinois Territory in 1809.

He was an Illinois militia colonel and commanded a regiment in the War of 1812.  In 1813, he was appointed adjutant of the Illinois militia.

--Brock-Perry

Samuel Hopkins-- Part 2: War of 1812 Service

In 1812, Samuel Hopkins was appointed commander in chief of the Western frontier which consisted of the Illinois and Indiana Territories.  He was in the Peoria War and commanded at Spur's Defeat.  I will have to research Spur's Defeat.

After these losses, he resigned his commission.

He was a member of the 13th U.S. Congress 1813-1815 and was succeeded by Alney McLean, who I have already written about.

He is buried at Spring Garden Cemetery in Henderson, Kentucky,  alongside two of his daughters.

Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Hopkins County, Kentucky are named after him.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Future American President Defeated at Rock Island, Illinois Territory

SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1814:  At Rock Island, Illinois territory, an American force led by Major Zachary Taylor is defeated by an alliance of Sac (Sauk), Fox, Kiikaapol (Kickapoo), Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and Sioux led by Chief Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiak).

They were assisted by British Indian Department officers.

Definitely not the last time we hear from Chief Black Hawk.

Also on September 5th:  The British withdraw from Bangor and Hampden, District of Maine.

Good Thing Chicago's Hockey Team Isn't  Called the Makataimeshekiakiaks.  --Brock-Perry