Native American History in Madison County, Illinois
Madison County ILGenWeb Coordinator - Beverly Bauser
Mound Builders of Cahokia | Other Mounds and Relics | The Piasa Bird Legend | Settlers and the Native Americans
War of 1812-14 | The Wood River Massacre | Treaty of 1819 | Miscellaneous Articles Regarding Native Americans
The Story of Piasata - Indian Maiden (includes the Piasa Bird Legend) | The Jane Adeline Wilson story - Captured by Indians
THE MOUND BUILDERS OF
CAHOKIA
One
of the most sophisticated prehistoric Native American
civilization north of Mexico is located at Cahokia Mounds State
Historic Site, a few miles west of Collinsville, Illinois. In
its heyday, Cahokia was larger than London, England – covering
about six square miles, with one hundred twenty manmade earthen
mounds in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and functions. The
Mississippians who lived there were accomplished builders who
erected a wide variety of structures from practical homes to
monumental public buildings. Cahokia as it is now defined was
settled around 600AD. The inhabitants left no written records
beyond symbols on pottery, shell, copper, wood, and stone. The
city’s original name is unknown.
The mounds were named
after the Cahokia tribe, a historic Illiniwek people living in
the area when the first French explorers arrived in the 17th
century. As this was centuries after Cahokia was abandoned by
its original inhabitants, the Cahokia tribe was not necessarily
descended from the original founders.
At the high point
of its development, Cahokia was the largest urban center north
of Mexico. Between 1050 and 1100AD, Cahokia’s population
increased from between 1400 and 2800 people to between 10,200
and 15,300 people. Archaeologists estimate the city’s population
at its peak was between 6,000 and 40,000, with more people
living in outlying farming villages that supplied the main urban
center.
One of the major problems Cahokia faced was
keeping a steady supply of food. A related problem was waste
disposal for the dense population. The population of Cahokia
began to decline during the 13th century, and the site was
eventually abandoned around 1300. Scholars suggest overhunting,
deforestation, and flooding as explanation for abandonment.
Another possibility is invasion by outside peoples. Analysis of
sediment from beneath nearby Horseshoe Lake revealed that two
major floods occurred during the Cahokia period – roughly
1100-1260 and 1340-1460.
Monks Mound is the largest
structure in Cahokia. It is a massive platform mound with four
terraces, ten stories tall. Facing south, it is 100ft high,
951ft long, and 836ft wide. It covers 13.8 acres. It was built
over the course of several centuries. Excavation on the top of
Monks Mound has revealed evidence of a large building, likely a
temple or residence of the Chief. The mound was named after the
La Trappe monks who resided there for a short time around 1809.
The monks came from the Province of Perche in France. Numbering
about 80 in all, they lived upon the mound, which was the gift
of Colonel Nicholas Jarrot of Cahokia. The monks farmed,
repaired watches, and traded with local inhabitants. In 1811,
the monks used the lower terrace for a kitchen garden, and had
the summit of the structure sown in wheat. The monks were not
allowed to speak to another, except in cases of absolute
necessity. They ate two meals a day, which excluded all meat.
They slept in their clothing upon boards, with blocks of wood
for pillows. When a stranger visited, he was welcomed with the
utmost kindness. The monks did not do well in the climate in the
area. Malarial fevers prevailed among them to an alarming rate.
Those who died were buried without a coffin in the field
adjoining their residence. Between 1813 - 1816, they sold off
their personal property, returned the land to Mr. Jarrot, and
left the country for France. In 1907, John Sutter, an
archaeologist, found glass beads which had been made in Italy
250 years before the birth of Christ.
Later, a man by
the name of Hill owned the mound and a large portion of land
adjoining it. He was an enterprising settler, and added to the
structure the La Trappe monks had lived in, and made it a
comfortable residence. Beneath his home was a deep, unwalled
cellar. On the second terrace, Hill dug a well 80 or 90 feet
deep. Old settlers living when the well was dug stated that at
the depth of about sixty feet, pieces of pottery and two sea
shells were found. Those who partook of the well water stated it
had a peculiar taste.
In 1864, Thomas T. Ramey, a member
of the Illinois General Assembly, purchased the Cahokia Mound
site from Mr. Page, who lived in St. Louis. Ramey employed coal
miners from Collinsville and ran a short tunnel into Monks
Mound. He permitted one or two excavations in the mounds south
of the Monks Mound, but as a whole, he was against excavations.
Trees were allowed to grow on Monks Mound until they were cut
down in the 1970s by archaeologists. For a time, Monks Mound was
called the Ramey Mound. During the 1890s, Ramey lobbied the
state for Cahokia’s preservation. His efforts were thwarted by a
Chicago legislator, who remarked in 1913 that his “district
needs parks for live people, and the guys in that mound are all
dead ones.” Finally, in 1925, the State purchased from the Ramey
family 144.4 acres, including Monks Mound, for $52,110. Cahokia
Mounds State Park (part of which is in St. Clair County and part
in Madison County) was then created.
Some of the
excavations throughout the years at the base of the Monks Mound
yielded a tomb or burial place, with the dust of nearly twenty
human skeletons and about a hundred vessels of pottery in almost
perfect condition. The pottery, some resembling vases and
long-necked water bottles, resembled the ancient vessels of the
Nile, painted in a bright red pigment with some of the same
symbols as used by the sun-worshipers in Egypt, and very similar
to symbols on vessels taken by Schliemann from buried Mycenae
and Troy. Other Cahokia relics include stone implements of
agriculture such as hoes, spades, and shovels.
OTHER MOUNDS AND INDIAN
RELICS IN MADISON COUNTY
The Bluffs Near Alton
According to Professor William McAdams, a noted archeologist,
the bluffs of Madison County are an immense cemetery. They were
the common burial place of the tribes who inhabited the land.
Caves were discovered with accumulations of ashes showing that
for long periods they were inhabited by men who lived on animals
and shell fish found along the shore of the Mississippi. In
several caves along the Piasa Creek and the vicinity of the
mouth of the Illinois River further north, human bones, broken
lengthwise to extract the marrow, were found, giving suggestion
to cannibalism.
Along Piasa Creek and other streams
nearby are many mounds that seem to be the remains of dwelling
places. In these mounds kitchen refuse was found. McAdams stated
that a great variety of mounds can still be seen in 1882 in the
vicinity of the Piasa Creek a few miles above Alton, some of
earth covered with stone, others of stone and earth together,
while others were wholly of earth. On the face of the bluffs
were numerous figures of animals and other objects painted with
a red pigment.
Two large
figures were painted on the side of the bluffs west of Alton.
They were discovered by Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit
missionary, and Louis Joliet, a fur trader, during their
expedition on the Mississippi River in 1673. According to the
journals of Marquette, he wrote:
“As we were descending
the river, we saw high rocks with hideous monsters painted on
them, and upon which the bravest Indian dare not look. They are
as large as a calf, with head and horns like a goat, their eyes
are red, beard like a tiger’s and a face like a man’s. Their
tails are so long that they pass over their bodies and between
their legs under their bodies, ending like a fish’s tail. They
are painted red, green and black, and so well drawn that I could
not believe they were drawn by the Indians, and for what purpose
they were drawn seems to me a mystery.”
This original
description of the “hideous monsters” painted on the bluffs did
not include wings, which were added later in a fictional story
written by Mr. John Russell, a Baptist minister and professor at
Shurtleff College in Upper Alton. The story of the Piasa Bird,
although fiction, had an extensive circulation, and is now
widely known.
To read the full story on the Legend of
the Piasa Bird, please click here.
SETTLERS AND THE INDIANS
According to the History of Madison County, Illinois,
published by W. R. Brink in 1882, there were no Indians living
in Madison County within the timeframe of its settlement by the
whites. In the early days, however, the Indians frequently
visited this part of Illinois – mostly with the object of having
conferences with Governor Ninian Edwards at Edwardsville. Large
bands of Indians, sometimes numbering 150 canoes, with each
canoe containing three or four men, women, and children,
frequently passed down the Mississippi River. They sometimes
traveled to St. Louis to meet with William Clark, Governor of
the territory of Missouri. They sometimes stopped at Gillham’s
landing on the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the
Missouri, and proceeded on foot to Edwardsville. An old settler
of the county states that he had seen the men marching along the
road to Edwardsville in a single file, a mile in length. The
squaws and children were generally left at the river to guard
the canoes and belongings. These Indians were the Sacs, Foxes,
Pottawatomies, and Winnebagoes, who lived along the upper
Mississippi near the present towns of Rock Island, Davenport,
and Galena. The squaws usually wanted to barter strings of beads
for green corn, while the braves showed a fondness for whisky.
Another pioneer stated that he saw Indians traveling and camping
near Edwardsville. When the Cahokia was full of water, they
would wallow in the mud in the road, then jump into the creek.
He also saw them playing cards.
Jean Baptiste Cardinal
Taken Captive
A Frenchman by the name of Jean Baptiste
Cardinal settled in Piasa (supposed to be the present site of
Alton) in 1785. There he built a house and resided with his
family. Cardinal was taken captive by the Indians, and his
family fled for refuge to the village of Cahokia.
James
Gillham Searches for Family Who Were Taken Captive
In June
1790, James Gillham was plowing his farm in Kentucky, while his
young son, Isaac, was clearing clods away with a hoe. A party of
Kickapoo Indians stole up to his home and captured Gillham’s
wife and three other children, ranging in age from four to
twelve. The field where he worked was some distance from the
house, and it was not for some time that he discovered his
family had been taken. In the meantime, the Indians hurried away
with their prisoners. Mrs. Gillham was so shocked at the sudden
appearance of the Indians, that she lost her senses. The first
that she could recollect afterward was the voice of her oldest,
son, Samuel, saying, “Mother, we are all prisoners.” The group
traveled in the direction of the Kickapoo village, near the head
waters of the Sangamon River in Illinois. The children’s feet
became so sore and bruised, that the mother tore her clothing to
get rags in which to wrap them. The children were given deer
jerky, but the mother was given no food until they had traveled
some distance from the white settlements. Finally, one night two
Indians returned with one poor raccoon, which they Gillhams and
the Indians shared. One in Ohio, their pace slowed and the
Indians secured more food. They crossed the Wabash River below
Terre Haute, and walked through the present counties of Clark,
Coles and Macon, reaching their Indian village on Salt Creek,
about twenty miles northeast of the present city of Springfield,
Illinois.
Mr. Gillham, upon returning home, found his
house in disarray, with his wife and children gone. Gillham and
his friends lost no time in starting in pursuit, following their
trail. In time the trail was lost, and Mr. Gillham abandoned the
pursuit. He sold his farm in Kentucky and visited Vincennes and
Kaskaskia, with the hope of enlisting the aid of French traders,
who had knowledge of all the Indian tribes in the Northwest.
After five years of disappointment, he learned from French
traders that his family were among the Kickapoos. With two
Frenchmen as interpreters and guides, he visited the Indian
village on Salt Creek, and found his wife and children alive and
well. A ransom was paid through an Irish trader at Cahokia, by
the name of Atchinson. The youngest son, Clemons, could not
speak a word of English, and it was some time before he could be
persuaded to leave the Indian country.
During his visit
through Illinois, Gillham was impressed with the advantages of
the country. In 1797, two years after the recovering of his
family, he became a resident of Illinois. He first settled in
the American Bottom below St. Louis, then moved to Madison
County. In 1815, Congress gave to Mrs. Gillham one hundred and
sixty acres of land at the head of Long Lake in Chouteau
Township, in testimony of the hardship and sufferings she
endured during her captivity among the Indians. The children of
James Gillham were Samuel, Isaac, Jacob Clemons, James, Harvey,
David M., Polly, Sally, and Nancy. James wrote to his brothers
in South Carolina of the advantages of Illinois country, and his
brother, Thomas, left South Carolina in the Fall of 1799, and
reached Madison County at the end of the year. Two other
brothers, John and William, came to Illinois in 1802, both
settling in Madison County. Another brother, Isaac, followed a
couple of years later. Gillham’s oldest son, Isham, was Sheriff
of Madison County from 1812 to 1818. Another son, William,
settled on a farm in the Ridge Prairie, five miles east of
Edwardsville.
Robert McMahan's Wife and Children Killed by Indians
Robert McMahan settled on Ridge Prairie, two miles and a half
southwest from Troy. He was born in Virginia, immigrated to
Kentucky, and in that state married Margaret Clark. He moved to
Illinois in 1793, settling near New Design. His wife and four
children were killed by Indians, and he and his eldest daughter
were taken prisoner. He married a second wife, and raised a
large family. McMahan died in 1822 at the age of 63.
Alexander Dennis and John Van Meter
Murdered by Indians
On July 24, 1802, two men by the name of
Alexander Dennis and John Van Meter were murdered by Indians in
the Goshen settlement, southwest of Edwardsville, not far from
where the Cahokia Creek emerged from the bluff, at a place later
known as Nix’s Ford. This was in Collinsville Township. The murder was committed by a band of
Pottawatamies, led by Chief Turkey Foot. Turkey Foot and his
band were returning from Cahokia to their village in the
northern part of Illinois. They met Dennis and Van Meter, and
killed them without provocation. In the book, “The History of
Madison County” 1882, it was stated the Indians were probably
intoxicated. This occurrence only slightly affected the progress
of the Goshen country. The Indians were usually friendly with
the whites, and this act was looked upon as a solitary incident.
Mr. Price Murdered by Indians at Hunter's Spring
June
20, 1811
Settlers lived mostly in peace with Native Americans
in Madison County until 1811, when hostile feelings grew as the
white man advanced more and more into the West. A man by the
name of Mr. Price, and a companion by the name of Colter, built
a log cabin on the hill above a spring, east of what would
become Alton, and cleared a small tract of land in the bottom.
The spring was located on the northeast corner of Broadway and
Spring Street in Alton, and was discovered in 1804 by James
Preuitt and James Stockden, who at that time were living on the
bluff below what would become East Alton. The spring was later
named Hunter’s Spring, after Charles Hunter, who owned quite a
bit of property east of Henry Street in Alton, which was then
named Hunterstown.
Price and Colter were busy hoeing
corn in their field on June 20, 1811. A small party of Native
Americans approached, seemingly friendly. Price asked if they
came in peace, and one of them laid down his gun and extended
his hand to Price, who took it without suspecting treachery. The
Native held fast to Price, while another shot Price in the back.
The shot was so close, that the powder burned a hole in his
shirt as large as a person’s hand. Colter mounted his horse and
fled, but was shot in the leg. He raised the alarm, and Solomon
Preuitt and two of his brothers, with others, gave pursuit until
coming into the heavy timber in the Wood River Bottoms. Night
was approaching, and they gave up their pursuit. The next day
they found that the Indians had taken refuge under a large tree,
and then escaped.
This event raised the alarm among the
settlers, and from that time until the declaration of peace at
the close of the War of 1812, the settlers lived in constant
fear.
Fear of Indians Resulted in a Man
Shooting His Son
In 1814, a man by the name of Jesse Starkey
and his son had gone out to look for their horses, which had
wandered off from the cabin. Each carried their own rifle. It
was a foggy morning, and they separated to make a more thorough
search. The father and son, each wearing buckskin, tramped
through the timber in the fog. Unknowingly, they had walked
close to each other. Catching a glimpse of something in the fog,
they both raised their weapons and fired. The father shot first
and found that he had shot his own son. Fortunately, the wound
was not fatal, and the son recovered.
Mrs. Jesse Bailes
Killed by Indian
Mrs. Jesse Bailes, daughter of Mr. Bradshy,
then living on Silver Creek in Madison County, was shot in 1814
by an Indian near Sugar Creek. She fled across the prairie to
her father’s house, where she died of her wounds.
THE WAR OF 1812-14
In July 1811,
a Company of mounted Rangers was organized in Madison County,
and blockhouses were built at different points in the county for
protection. A stockade fort was constructed in Chouteau
Township, and around this were gathered a number of families.
Among them was John Gillham and his five sons; three brothers by
the name of Brown; three by the name of Kirkpatrick; and
families by the name of Dunnagan, Sanders, Ferguson, Dodd,
Revis, Beeman, Winsor, Celver, Green, and Smith. Thomas
Kirkpatrick’s fort at Edwardsville sheltered the inhabitants who
had settled in that vicinity; and Chilton’s fort, east of Silver
Creek, about two miles west of the present town of St. Jacobs,
gave protection to the Howards, Gigers, Chiltons, and others who
had settled in that party of the county. Chilton’s fort was
commanded by Major Isaac Ferguson and Captain Abraham Howard.
There were other blockhouses at various points, including one in
Fort Russell Township, known as Jones blockhouse. James
Kirkpatrick’s fort was a couple of miles southwest of
Edwardsville; and southeast was Frank Kirkpatrick’s fort. Beck’s
blockhouse stood in Pin Oak Township. Lofton’s and Hayes’
blockhouses were in Nameoki Township. The Wood River fort was in
Wood River Township; and there was another for about one mile
south of the old town of Milton in Wood River Township.
In 1812, active preparations were made under Ninian Edwards, the
Territorial Governor, for the protection of the frontier.
Companies of mounted Rangers were organized who scoured the
Indian country. Fort Russell was built in the beginning of 1812,
a couple of miles north of the present town of Edwardsville.
This fort was made the headquarters of the Governor and the base
of his military operations. The Governor also held court at Fort
Russell. The cannons of Louis XIV of France were taken from old
Fort Chartres, four miles west of Prairie du Rocher, in Randolph
County, Illinois, and with them and other military decorations,
Fort Russell blazed with considerable pioneer splendor. The fort
was named in honor of Colonel William Russell of Kentucky, who
had command of the ten Companies of Rangers, organized by act of
Congress, to defend the western frontier. Four of these
Companies were allotted to the defense of Illinois, and were
commanded by William B. Whiteside, James B. Moore, Jacob Short,
and Samuel Whiteside. The Whitesides were residents of Madison
County. A small company of Regulars, under command of Captain
Ramsey, were stationed at Fort Russell for a few months in 1812
– the only regular troops at the fort during the war.
Colonel Nicholas Jarrot (previously mentioned as having made a
gift to the French Monks the mound at Cahokia) was a French
patriot, who was wedded to the American cause. He had made an
oath that the British agent and traders at Prairie du Chien were
instigating Indians to violence, furnishing them with arms and
ammunition, and otherwise preparing them for war along the
borders of Western civilization. In April 1812, Gomo, an Indian
Chief, met Governor Edwards at Cahokia to negotiate a treaty.
The Governor addressed them in a forcible speech, laying the
blame for their hostilities with the traders at British
outposts. Governor Edwards told them they could reach a treaty
if they would deliver from their ranks the murderers who had
participated in the Chicago massacre. The Indians then expressed
desire for peace, but declared they could not deliver up the
murderers, who supposedly came from the Winnebago tribe.
Unfortunately, hostilities continued between the whites and
Indians. The Rangers gathered their families in blockhouses,
while attempting to raise corn and other food, with their guns
hanging at their sides while plowing.
THE WOOD RIVER MASSACRE
The
most startling and cruel atrocity committed by the Indians
within the bounds of Madison County was the Wood River massacre,
on July
10, 1814, that resulted in the death of one woman and six
children. This tragedy took place in the forks of the Wood
River, east of Upper Alton. The victims were the wife and two
children of Reason Reagan, two children of Abel Moore, and two
children of William Moore.
Mrs. Rachel Reagan and her
two children were spending the day with her sister, Mrs. William
Moore. The men were away from home at the time. As preparation
began for the evening meal, Rachel decided to go home and pick
some beans to add to the evening meal. Accompanying Rachel were
her two children, two sons of William Moore, and two sons of
Abel Moore. Hannah Bates also went along, but for some reason
decided to turn back. When nightfall came, and the group had not
returned, William Moore (who had returned home) and his wife
went searching for them, taking separate trails. They both found
their loved ones in the dark, with one child barely alive. They
had been stripped naked, bludgeoned with an axe, and scalped.
The next morning the bodies were retrieved and buried in the
Vaughn Hill Cemetery. Alarmed had been raised, and Rangers from
a nearby fort went in pursuit of the Indians. They chased them
into Morgan County, finding one in a lone cottonwood tree. He
was shot and killed. In his pouch was the scalp of Mrs. Reagan.
The remaining Indians hid in the woods, near where Virden now
stands. It was learned later that only one Indian escaped, and
that was the Chief who led the party.
Today, a monument
stands in the memory of those killed in the massacre. It is
located on Fosterburg Road, east of Upper Alton, in front of the
Hilltop Auction. The massacre took place 300 yards behind the
monument.
To read the entire story of the Wood River
Massacre, please click here.
THE TREATY OF 1819
On August 6,
1819, at Edwardsville, a treaty was negotiated between Auguste
Chouteau and Benjamin Stephenson, commissioners of the United
States, and the chiefs of the Kickapoo tribe. The Kickapoos
ceded all their land on the northwest side of the Wabash River,
including their principal village and tract of land covering the
central part of the state of Illinois, estimated to contain
upward of ten million acres. The United States agreed, in
return, to pay the Kickapoos two thousand dollars in silver,
annually, for fifteen successive years, and to guarantee them
peaceable possession of their country on the Osage, and to
restrain all whites from hunting or settling therein. The United
States also promised to furnish two boats in which to transport
the property of the Indians from some point on the Illinois
River to their new place of residence, and to select a white
citizen to accompany them in their journey through the white
settlements. Proclamation was made of this treaty on January 13,
1821.
On February 12, 1824, a group of Indians gathered
on the Springfield Road near Edwardsville, to witness the
hanging of Eliphalet Green, who was tried and convicted for
murder. The Indians wanted to see how civilized man killed their
fellow man.
Indians still continued to visit Edwardsville
until 1827 or 1828. Traces of their camps and the peculiar marks
made in their stripping the bark from trees were visible ten
years later. The Kickapoos at one time had a temporary
encampment near the mouth of Indian Creek, and buried many of
their dead there. In about the year 1824, some Delaware Indians
who came from Indiana camped in the timber bordering the
Cahokia. In a year or so they moved westward. After 1835, a
large body of Pottawatomies passed through the county on their
way to their reservation.
MISCELLANEOUS NEWSPAPER
ARTICLES REGARDING INDIANS OR RELICS IN OR NEAR MADISON COUNTY
HOW IT FEELS TO BE SCALPED
Source: Jersey County
Democrat, November 8, 1867
(As printed in the Springfield
Republican)
William Thompson, a telegraph repairer along the
line of the Pacific Railroad, has had a novel experience. He has
been scalped by the Indians, and yet lives to tell the tale. He
lost his hair just before the capture of the train at Plum Creek
Station, recently reported, and this is the story he tells to
the wondering citizens of Omaha, where he now is:
“About
nine o'clock Tuesday night, myself and five others left Plum
Creek Station, and started up the track on a handcar to hunt up
where the break in the telegraph was. When we came to where the
break proved to be, we saw a lot of the ties piled upon the
track, but at the same moment Indians jumped up from the grass
all around and fired upon us. We fired two or three shots in
return, and then, as the Indians pressed on us, we ran away. An
Indian on a pony singled me out and galloped up to me. After
coming to within ten feet of me, he fired, the bullet entering
my right arm. Seeing me still run, he ‘clubbed his rifle,’ and
knocked me down. He then took out his knife, stabbed me in the
neck, and then making a twirl around his fingers with my hair,
he commenced sawing and hacking away at my scalp. Though the
pain was awful, and I felt dizzy and sick, I knew enough to keep
quiet. After what seemed to be half an hour, he gave me the last
finishing cut to the scalp on my temple, and as it still hung a
little, he gave it a jerk. I just thought then that I could have
screamed my life out. I can't describe it to you. I just felt as
if the whole head was taken right off. The Indian then mounted
and galloped away, but as he went, he dropped my scalp within a
few feet of me, which I managed to get and hide. The Indians
were thick in the vicinity, or I might then have made my escape.
While lying down, I could hear the Indians moving around
whispering to each other, and shortly after placing obstructions
on the track. After lying down about an hour and a half, I heard
the low rumbling of the train as it come tearing along, and I
might have been able to flag it off, had I dared.”
INDIAN MOUNDS
Source: Alton Telegraph, February 14, 1868
It is well known that in various parts of this county, many
curious elevations exist, varying in height from ten to sixty
feet, and generally spoken of as “Indian mounds,” from the
supposition that they were raised by the aborigines as burial
places for their dead. We notice that the author of the
geological survey of Illinois, in commenting upon these
elevations, calls in question the commonly accepted belief of
their artificial formation. He states that these mounds, when
carefully examined, are found to consist of drift clay and
loess, remaining in situ, just as they appear along the river
bluffs, where similar mounds have been formed in the same way,
by the removal of the surrounding strata by currents of water.
Hence, the author infers that these mounds are not artificial
elevations, but are simply outliers of loess and drift, that
have remained as originally deposited, while the surrounding
cotemporaneous strata were swept away by denuding forces. The
simple fact that they were used as burial places by the
aborigines, which seems to be the main argument relied upon in
proof of their artificial origin, is entirely inadequate to
sustain such a conclusion, and they were, perhaps, only selected
for this purpose on account of their elevated position.
Thus, is the ruthless hand of science sweeping away the pleasant
traditions of the red man, which are common in almost every
community. It has always been a gratification for us to look
upon these mounds in the light of monuments of the rude
handiwork of a past age, and as furnishing a dim insight into
the customs of the races which trod our hills and dales a
thousand years ago. But if the theory of the author quoted from
is current, we must award to Dame Nature the credit of rearing
these elevations which antiquarians have heretofore united in
considering to be the work of Indians.
We have, however,
one delightful Indian legend of this vicinity remaining yet
intact, viz: that of the Piasa Bird, and we hope long to
entertain the belief of its truth(?), and to this end,
therefore, we suggest that whenever a geologist, armed with
textbook and hammer, commences an inspection of our bluffs, with
a view of overturning this tradition also, that his hammer be
taken from him, his textbook committed to the flames, and the
man of science given twenty-four hours in which to leave the
town.
INDIANS MOVING FROM SMALLPOX ISLAND
(Island Across from
Alton)
Source: Alton Telegraph, May 29, 1868
On Saturday
morning about eleven o'clock, the branch of the Winnebago tribe
of Indians, which has been for some time encamped on the island
opposite the city, passed this place, bound up the river. They
were stored away in ten large canoes, and numbered some sixty
individuals. The canoes were heavily laden, and the progress of
the expedition was necessarily slow, as it had to contend with
the strong current of the river.
EDWARD RODGERS FARM
HAS LARGE NUMBER OF INDIAN RELICS
Source: Alton Telegraph,
July 30, 1874
Mr. Ed Rodgers (whose extensive farm and fine
residence, east of Upper Alton, attracts the attention of
passersby) often finds large numbers of Indian relics,
especially arrowheads, upon his premises. A portion of the farm
lying in the Wood River Bottom is very fruitful of antiquities,
and Mr. Rodgers there raises quite a crop of relics whenever he
plows. The neighborhood of a large spring on the place seems to
have been a favorite camping ground of the Indians. Mr. Rodgers'
farm was also an early pioneer battleground, and the ruins of an
old fort can still be seen on the brow of the hill, nearly
opposite his residence.
[This farm was located on the current
property of the Alton Mental Health Center on Rt. 140.]
INDIAN RELICS EXHUMED ON SPRING STREET IN ALTON
Source:
Alton Telegraph, October 21, 1875
A few days since, as Street
Commissioner, Benjamin Allen was making some improvements on
Spring Street, an Indian burial ground was opened by the
excavation, from which were taken the skeletons of an Indian
warrior and his squaw, lying side by side. According to the
custom of the aborigines, food had been placed at the head of
each to enable them to make the journey to the “happy hunting
grounds,” and the calabashes or dishes in which the food was
placed were found in the position where they had originally been
placed. The skulls and pottery were in a good state of
preservation, and are now in the care of one of our citizens who
is interested in obtaining a collection of this character.
LEG AND FOOT FOUND IN QUARRY NEAR HOP HOLLOW - ENCASED IN
MOCCASIN
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, April 27, 1901
Mr. D. Lu Roe, foreman of Golike quarries, brought a curious
formation which he found in the quarries at Hop Hollow the other
day. It is a perfectly formed, and part of a human leg. The heel
and ankle show very distinctly, as does the calf of the leg,
which appears to have been pulled away from the rest of the leg.
There are no toes visible on the foot, which appears to be
encased in a moccasin. Mr. Roe says the place where the foot was
blasted out is at least 80 feet from the top of the quarry, and
22 feet from the bottom. It must have gotten there ages ago, and
goes to show that the science of "pulling a man's leg" is no new
one. The foot and leg found are on exhibition at Stiritz's.
INDIAN PAINTINGS CARVED OUT OF BLUFFS
Source: Alton
Evening Telegraph, July 23, 1902
The discovery was made
Tuesday night by an Alton man who is much interested in the
Indian pictures. The find was on the bluff at Hull's Hollow,
above Hop Hollow, that two of the most distinct antique Indian
paintings on the face of the bluff there have been chiseled and
carved out of the bluffs, and have been carried away by an Alton
collector or curios who has added them to his own private
collection, it is supposed. The pictures quarried and carved out
of the bluffs represent an owl and an animal which is supposed
to be either a dog or a wolf, the meaning of the savage artist
being not very plain. The owl was on the face of the cliff, and
to get it out the vandals chiseled behind the picture and after
making a deep cut, split the piece of stone bearing the painting
out of the bluff. The picture of the dog or wolf has been
quarried from a stone which had been lying on the ground for
ages, where it fell long after the painting was put upon it by
the Indian artist. Both stones were carried away. The pictures
were taken out of the stone sometime within a few days, as the
scraps of luncheon eaten by the workmen were still lying around
and were fresh. Fresh tracks led up to the ledge high on the
bluffs where the paintings were made, and every indication was
that the act of vandalism had been perpetrated within a few days
before its discovery. The perpetrator of this act may claim that
it was done to preserve the paintings, but whether it was done
with permission or not the taking of the two best examples of
Indian art is certainly inexcusable. Many people have traveled
to see these paintings, and all have agreed that the two which
were carved from the bluffs were the best and most distinct of
all of the Red Man's paintings. Others remaining are indistinct
from weathering and fading processes, and could not have been
removed, which probably accounts for the fact that only two
paintings were taken.
COPPER AXES AND WEDGES, PAINT
ROCK AND OTHER INDIAN HANDIWORK
Source: Alton Evening
Telegraph, January 13, 1903
Henry Hendricks, the well-known
East Alton farmer, was in the city today with a small box filled
with curious specimens of the handiwork of Indians, or more
intelligent race preceding even the Indians in the occupancy of
this country. Mr. Hendricks made the find, which is one of the
most interesting made in years in this locality, while grading
on his farm - the old Dan Gillham farm - below East Alton, and
they were about six feet below the surface of the earth. There
are two copper axes and a copper wedge, all showing skill in
manufacture and all showing evidences also of having been used a
great deal. There was a large piece of red paint rock, and it is
wonderfully full of vitality yet, although it must have lain
where found ages upon ages. With its power to color, the piece
found is large enough to paint a fairly large town pretty red.
Among the articles is a curiously shaped and wonderfully
fashioned something, its surface being smooth as glass. A hole
is bored clear through it at the thickest part, but what its
uses were could not be imagined by those who saw the curios. Mr.
Hendricks will have the find investigated further by experts and
it is possible that many other articles may be found in the same
locality - articles that may serve to throw some light on the
problem of nationality or race of the peoples who once populated
these valleys and disappeared in some mysterious manner, leaving
neither history nor tradition behind them.
FORMER
ALTON MAN SHOT BY INDIAN
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph,
July 20, 1903
The first definite confirmation of the
newspaper reports received concerning the shooting of Felix I.
Crowe, near Lawton, Oklahoma Territory, was received today by
Mr. Albert Howard of Union Street [in Alton]. His wife gave
particulars of the shooting, corroborating the newspaper
reports. The report that Mr. Crowe had refused to permit the
Indian who shot him to ride is an error. While on the way to
Fort Sill with hay, the Indian, who was intoxicated, asked for a
ride, which Mr. Crowe granted. When darkness overtook them, Mr.
Crowe unhitched his team for the night. This enraged the Indian,
as he wanted to go on to Mt. Scott that evening. However, he
said nothing. Later, when Mr. Crowe had mounted his wagon to get
feed for his horses, the Indian fired two shots at him. One, the
first shot, entered the head above the right eye, and ranging
down, passed through the jaw at the articulation, to lodge in
the neck. The other bullet entered behind the ear and passed out
through the skull. The first bullet was taken out of the neck.
The wounded man returned to consciousness the next afternoon.
The Indian escaped and had not been captured up to the last news
from there. A letter received this morning by Mrs. G. F. Crowe
in this city [Alton] from the daughter of the injured man,
states that he is in a very serious condition, that, if he
should get well, he will be blind in one eye.
NOTES:
Felix I. Crowe formerly lived at Summerfield (Godfrey) in 1893,
and was a former Alton store owner on Belle Street. He did not
die from this shooting, but died in 1934 in Oklahoma, and is
buried in the Alton Oakwood Cemetery. His daughter, Julia Faye
Crowe Malcom, died in 1971 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is
buried there.
INDIAN TOMAHAWK FOUND
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, October 20, 1904
John Shaw
of this city [Alton], recently found an Indian tomahawk while
walking along the bluffs between Lockhaven and Elsah. The
tomahawk is made of iron, with a hole neatly driven through the
head for a handle. The edge of the tomahawk on one side is
corroded with a smooth black rust, and is supposed to have been
lost by its owner while the blood of the victim was still upon
it. The tomahawk was made in France and sold to the Indians by
French traders. Tomahawks usually were made of flint, to which
handles were attached by binding with some tough, strong skin.
This old tomahawk, if it could talk, might unfold many tales of
horror, and when one handles it, it is with a shudder of horror
as he contemplates the use it was put to.
CRAZY
MOON'S WAR BONNET AND OTHER ARTIFACTS IN ALTON –
BROUGHT
FROM WYOMING BY W. A. HOPPE
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph,
November 17, 1911
Joe E. Noll's cigar store in east Second
Street [Broadway] has been converted into a sort of Indian
reservation and exhibition emporium, and many people are calling
to look at and admire and wonder about the collection of Indian
articles displayed there. The exhibit belongs to W. A. Hoppe,
formerly of this city, who is back from Wyoming on a visit, and
is valued at $75 actual cash paid therefore. It is not for sale,
however, at any price, but anyone who cares to do so is welcome
to call and examine.
That there are dudes among the
'Noble Red Men' is attested by the belt and vest of one on
exhibition. The vest is of heavy black broadcloth, and is
embellished with elaborately worked beaded flowers on the front,
as well as the back. Two stars made of varied-colored beads
adorn the back of the vest also. Beads of many colors have been
stitched into the belt, and make it very attractive looking. The
vest cost $25.
The war bonnet of Crazy Moon, a noted
Arapahoe Indian chief, was purchased by Mr. Hoppe last Labor Day
celebration at Lander's, Wyoming, and cost him $35. The feathers
in the bonnet, and the long piece of cloth hanging from the
headpiece, were taken from wild turkeys and make the bonnet look
rather fierce.
There are famous Indian Medicine Stones
and Medicine bags among the exhibits, and many strings of beads,
moccasins, pipes and other articles, each of which has an
interest of its own. Mr. Hoppe also has placed nuggets of silver
and gold in the exhibit, and samples of wheat and oats grown in
Wyoming indicate that agriculture there must be a paying
calling. Many thousands of little beads were used in adorning
the various articles exhibited, and the wonder is where do the
Indians get all their beads?
ROXANA - SKELETONS OF
INTELLIGENT RACE FOUND
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, May
11, 1918
A burial place of the original old settlers,
antedating the American Indians in Madison County, was today
affording interesting study to students of ethnology and
archeology. Workmen excavating on a small hill just inside of
the Roxana Oil Refinery at Roxana yesterday unearthed the bones
of fifteen skeletons. On previous occasions other skeletons were
uncovered in that vicinity and the discovery of the additional
skeletons yesterday helps to demonstrate that at some time there
must have been many people buried in that neighborhood. Many of
the skeletons were found almost whole, in an upright posture in
the soil. The skeletons appeared to be both male and female, and
of old and young persons. The skulls were well preserved, and
the teeth were in good condition. On each of the skulls on the
right side there appeared to be a small dent, which might have
been made by a savage's war club. The skeletons are not of
Indians, for the large jaw bone of the Indian and the large
joint bones, which characterize the Indian skeleton are lacking.
Ethnologists have frequently declared that at one time a highly
developed race lived in America before the Indians, and that
they were slain by the Indians.
The finding of the
skeletons gives rise to the belief that there must have been a
massacre of an entire tribe of highly civilized prehistoric men
at that place by the Indians, and that they were all buried
together in a heap, which is now the site of the Roxana Oil
Refinery [former Shell Oil, now Phillips 66, at Hwy. 111 and
Madison Street]. This supposition is strengthened by the fact
that in the memory of the old settlers at Roxana, no cemetery
was ever located in that vicinity. Frank Smith, whose
grandfather secured the Smith land, which was sold to the Roxana
Oil Refinery, says that his grandfather secured the land from
the government on a homestead claim, and that in his remembrance
there was no cemetery there at that time. The fact that the
bones are not those of Indians would prove apparently that the
skeletons belonged to some prehistoric race, which evidently
were later killed off by the Indians.
On numerous
occasions specimens of the finest pottery made of pulverized
mussel shell, and cemented with a substance, the nature of which
chemists of today cannot duplicate, have been found in that
neighborhood, and this lost art of mussel shell pottery is
believed to belong to that prehistoric race. H. H. Clark,
cashier of the First State and Savings Bank at Wood River, who
is interested in ethnology and archeology, went to Roxana this
morning and secured a number of the skull and thigh bones found
at the refinery. He also took along several well-preserved
specimens of teeth found in the jaw bones, beside several
specimens of the mussel shell pottery, which was found nearby.
The find was made just inside of the Roxana gate, where six of
the fifty houses to be erected for workmen at Roxana are being
put for the foremen of the plant. At that place there is a small
hill which rises up inside of the gate, and it was in the side
of the hill that the skeletons were found. The discovery has
attracted a great deal of interest, and many from Alton and Wood
River went down to Roxana today in automobiles on learning of
the finding of the skeletons. Many of the bones were taken away
as relics and will be carefully preserved.
NOTES:
I
have no further information on this archeological find, or what
happened to the remains of these people. Although the newspaper
had the opinion that these weren’t the remains of Native
Americans, they probably were, as records show that the area was
dotted with small mounds which held Native American remains. Too
bad this discovery was thoroughly examined by archeologists and
the remains preserved in a local museum. In early days, the
remains of Native people ended up in a St. Louis or Springfield,
Illinois museum.
NATURAL FOUNTAIN AT ROCK SPRING NO LONGER RUNS
Carved in
Solid Rock by Indians
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, July
3, 1912
One of the prettiest features of Rock Spring park,
the little spring that gave the park its name, has been done
away with. The natural fountain which bubbled forth from a cleft
in the rock no longer pours water into the two little basins
that are said to have been carved in the solid rock by the
Indians. There were two little bowls into which the water ran,
and it was possible to scoop up a cup full of water at a time. A
few years ago the stream of water broke through in another place
and poured forth in two channels thereafter. The park
commissioners have had a hole cut in the rock farther up stream,
about six feet, and in this have inserted a sewer pipe, well
cemented in. The sewer tile drains all the water that formerly
bubbled out of the old time spring, the work being completed
last night. Now, while the beautiful little spring has been
wiped out of existence, the water that once came forth into the
two little stone basins pours out of the mouth of the tile pipe,
and anyone wanted a bucket of water can get it by holding a
bucket under the end of the pipe. There will be many who will
regret that the old time spring has been changed, wiped out of
existence. It was a pretty feature of the park, and one that was
very attractive.
STONE BASINS AT ROCK SPRING PARK
CARVED BY INDIANS
Water No Longer Fit to Drink
Source:
Alton Evening Telegraph, July 5, 1917
That people don't
believe in signs is evident, since they paid no heed to the sign
placed over rock spring - the spring from whence Rock Spring
Park gets its name. It has been about two years since the park
commissioners first placed the sign over the spring, announcing
the water unfit for drinking. People who had been drinking water
from the spring for many years gave no attention to the verdict
from the Illinois State University, pronouncing the water unfit
for drinking, and they kept on drinking it. Boys defaced the
sign many times. They erased the "un" from the word "unfit," so
that the sign read: "this water is fit for drinking." Numerous
new signs were put up by the park superintendent, but each time
it was changed to read differently from the original lettering.
The park superintendent took away all the cups many times, but
others would carry cups there and leave them. Empty soda bottles
were used for drinking out of, and old tin cans were gathered up
left at the spring where the water continued to flow in its
usual quantity from the tile that had been placed in the
hillside some years ago by the park workmen to carry the water
out to the public instead of allowing it to run out through the
little stone basins that were supposed to have been cut out by
the Indians many years ago. The park commissioners have at last
given up trying to stop the public from drinking the water by
persuading, and they have blocked the water from the tile by
completely closing it up with concrete. The tile itself is
covered up with a mound of concrete, and the flow of water has
ceased. The water again runs out by way of the little stone
basins in the creek. If the public insists on using the water,
they will find it a little more inconvenient now to get at, but
they can still get it by dripping it out of the basins.
WANDA - 100 INDIAN SKELETONS FOUND
Source: Alton Evening
Telegraph, May 18, 1916
One hundred Indian skeletons have
been unearthed and there may be as many more in an Indian mound
that was dug into on the Hugh Poag farm near Wanda yesterday.
Hugh Poag, the owner of the land, was digging away some of the
dirt of the mound to do some grading, when he came on to the
skull of a human being. He dug further and found the entire
remains of this and many other skeletons. Today Mr. Poag gave
the alarm and there are over fifty persons who have been digging
in the mound all day and up to noon today. They have taken out
over a hundred Indian skulls and a great pile of bones that are
the remainder of the remains of the Indians buried in the mound.
John R. Sutter of Edwardsville, a local Edwardsville
archeologist, visited the mound this morning and stated that the
bones were the bones of Indians without a doubt. He believes
that this is a burial ground of a large number of Indians,
killed in battle or by some disease, and he states that the way
the bodies seem to have been thrown into the mound in any form
and just covered over indicates the burials were very hurried.
The scene where the Indian remains were found is on the old
Charles Sebastian farm, and Mr. Sebastian now residing in
Edwardsville, has many Indian specimens that he found in the
mounds of the land when he owned the land. St. Louis
archeologists visited the scene today and the find all in all
has caused much ado in the ranks of the archeologists of the
district.
INDIAN ART PAINTED ON ROCK GOES TO ST.
LOUIS
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, May 27, 1921
A
business transaction was closed in Alton this week through
William Waters of Godfrey, for the Missouri Historical Society,
through which the 4 paintings that were carved from the rocks in
the Levis Bluff, at Physical Culture farm site, by George
Dickson in 1905, passed into the possession of this society. The
four paintings which Mr. Dickson took from the bluff were an
owl, a sun circle, a squirrel and a piece showing two birds or
some kind of animals in a contest. Back in 1905 the paintings
were still in a fair state of preservation, and the late
Professor William McAdams got photographs of them for
illustration in his book, “Records of Ancient Races.” The papers
that went with the paintings were none other than proof of their
authenticity, this being an affidavit signed by George Dickson
and William Turk, the affidavit being attested by Edward G.
Merriwether. Although there was some criticism at the time the
paintings were taken from the face of the bluff, it is perhaps
well that they were, for after a hundred or two years of being
on the face of the bluff, and after having perhaps, been
repainted by the Indians from time to time, they were fast
disappearing because of erosion caused by the large amount of
salt peter in the stone at that point. There are still three
paintings remaining on the bluff, the largest one of all being a
great animal, perhaps a lion, and another an animal about as
large as a dog. The outlines of the mountain lion are still to
be seen faintly. The specimens of Indian painting which pass
from Illinois into Missouri, will be housed in a fire proof
building, will be protected from the elements and proper
drawings of what they were have been made to give one a good
idea of what Indian art was in the days when the Red Man roamed
the hills of Alton, with none but himself to dispute his
holdings and with no tax collector or war taxes to worry him. It
is believed by many students of these paintings that the Piasa
Bird was painted with the same pigment paint these other
paintings were made of, and whatever it was, was that much
better than the paint the white man of today makes that it
lasted better than perhaps two hundred years, despite the most
adverse conditions.
From the Records of Ancient Races by
William McAdams, 1887 [Referred to above]:
"Some three or
four miles above the city [Alton], high up beneath the
overhanging cliff, which forms a sort of cave shelter, on the
smooth face of a thick ledge of rock, is a series of painting,
twelve in number. They are painted or rather stained in the
rock, with a reddish-brown pigment that seems to defy the tooth
of time. These pictographs are situated on the cliff more than a
hundred feet above the river. A protruding ledge, which is
easily reached from a hollow in the bluff, leads to the
cavernous place in the rock; and while one is safe from rain or
storms, he has a splendid view, not only of the Mississippi,
which flows a mile in width in majesty below, but of the
cultivated bottom lands on the opposite shore and beyond, the
turbid waters of the Missouri - one of the most magnificent
scenes of this romantic locality.
Half the figures of the
group are circles of various kinds, probably each having a
different meaning. On the left are two large birds, apparently
having a combat, in which the larger bird seems about to be
victorious. To the right of the birds is a large circle
enclosing a globe, and before which is the representation of the
human form, with bowed head and inclined body, as if in the act
of offering to the great circle something triangular in shape,
not very unlike a basket with a handle, which is held in the
hand. Among all the ancient pictographs we have seen, this is
the only one where the human form is depicted as if in
adoration, perhaps to the sun. Counting from the left, the
eighth figure in the group seems to be intended to represent
some carnivorous animal with a long tail, which is turned over
its back. The next figure in the series is a large bird with
extended wings, which seem to come from the base of the neck.
This curious winged creature seems to be having a combat with a
circle or planet with two horns. This is an interesting figure,
because it is repeated in other groups, as we shall show; and is
quite evidently intended to represent a contest of flying
animals over the possession or destruction of a circle or
planet. At some little distance then follows in the series the
representation of an owl; the whole ending with a smaller red
circle.
On the top of the bluff above these pictographs
are a number of ancient mounds, not very large ones. Upon
excavating in them we found them to contain human remains, in a
tolerable state of preservation. The material, of which the
mound was composed, being loess, together with the dry and
elevated position, was favorable to resist decay. In burial, the
bodies had been laid prone on the ground, with limbs extended.
Some ornaments from sea shells, with a few rude bone and stone
implements, were all of this nature to be found. Nothing was to
be seen that might indicate any connection with the pictographs
on the face of the rock below."
THE LITTLE RED-HAIRED
GIRL
Source: Alton Evening Telegraph, July 3, 1900
Mrs.
Henry M. Needles of Granite City, President of the Women's
Federated Clubs of this congressional district, made a most
interesting talk of the early history of this and St. Clair
county, and told of a massacre in which only a little red-haired
girl was saved, because the Indians would not kill a person with
red hair. The child, taken away by the Indians, lived with them
for three years when French hunters took her away from the
Indians to Quebec, and she was later returned to Virginia to her
relatives, six years after her capture by the Indians.
INDIANS RESIDING NEAR EDWARDSVILLE
As Told by George T.
Allen, M. D.
From the Alton Telegraph, December 31, 1874
I
remember distinctly, that when we arrived at Edwardsville, one
half of the people there then were Indians - principally
Delawares, there assembled to receive their annuities. An Indian
agent then resided here, and, there being an abundance of game
in all the country around, these Indians, during several
consecutive years, passed the winter here. Their wigwams covered
much of the space from the old Court House in the middle of the
town to the creek. These Indians desired to be very friendly and
thought they must enter every house and shake hands with every
white man, woman and child. To us, this was a dreaded ordeal;
for, besides our many prejudices and their condition of the next
thing to nakedness, the most cleanly of our Indian neighbors
were plainly and palpably very lousy. These Indians were expert
hunters and ever ready to trade a fat, full-grown turkey or a
saddle of venison, for a loaf of wheat bread.