The War of 1812 was finally settled by the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. However, this treaty did not stop the British from encouraging and supporting the Indians in their raids into the Illinois Territory. The settlement at Lake Pimiteoui remained unoccupied, save for troops occasionally garrisoning the fort as did trappers and Indians when the troops weren't there.
Indians apparently set fire to the fort and burned most of the structure in 1818.
The first group of American settlers to come to the Fort Clark location after Illinois became a state in 1818 arrived in April 1819. These settlers were Abner Eads, Josiah Fulton, and his brother Seth Fulton from Virginia; Joseph Hersey of New York; and S. Daugherty, J. Davis, and T. Russell of Kentucky.
Eads and Hersey arrived with pack horses and the rest arrived on keel boats, apparently poled upriver.
Upon their arrival, they reportedly found the walls of two deserted cabins standing close to the river. It is possible that the soldiers garrisoned here when Fort Clark was built six years earlier had erected these cabins. They were made suitable for use and became the first two residences of Peoria.
The settlers also found enough of the remains of Fort Clark to determine that it had indeed been a fort.
--Brock-Perry
No comments:
Post a Comment