CHAPTER XXIII.
VARIOUS ILLINOIS MURDERS, INCLUDING THOSE OF SAMPLE, PAYNE AND THE ST.
VRAIN PARTY.
Before recording the actions of this little regiment, or parts of it,
all of them important, time must be taken to consider intermediate
incidents of greatest importance and sadness. The first demonstration by
the Indians after crossing the Mississippi was blood-curdling to the
last degree, and proof positive that the wily old Sac was for war, and
had not come for the purpose of “making corn” at all.
In the autumn of 1831 a young Methodist preacher named James Sample took
up a claim near Black Hawk’s village, built a cabin and was engaged in
subduing the land in the spring of 1832, when Black Hawk’s approach in
April was proclaimed. Sample, with others, fled to the island garrison
for refuge. Remaining there some weeks without any overt demonstration
coming to notice, all danger was considered past, and Sample and his
young wife of a few months determined to dispose of their effects and
return to their friends south of the Illinois River. Proceeding for a
time along the old Sauk trail, always used by Black Hawk in journeying
to Maiden to receive his annuities from the British government, it was
their intention to remain the first night with Henry Thomas, who lived
about one mile north of it on Kellogg’s trail, where the same passed
West Bureau timber. But the cabin was found vacant and all the doors and
windows barricaded against intrusion, which compelled the travelers to
journey on. They must have camped for the night in the timber, swam the
creek and then set out for Smith’s cabin, some six miles distant, only
to find it as empty as the first, as was also Elijah Epperson’s, a mile
to the south. The travelers, weary and faint from hunger, were forced to
continue until sixty miles had been covered.[141]
At this time, while picking their way over the prairies, they were
astounded to hear whoops from a band of Indians to their rear, who,
having discovered their presence at the Epperson cabin, were then giving
them chase. Jaded though the horses were, the faithful beasts took heart
and were soon rapidly distancing their pursuers, and but for the
frightful condition of the ground would have carried the Samples to
safety, but while attempting the passage of a muddy spot the horse of
Mrs. Sample mired in the inextricable mud and could not move. Try as he
would, the faithful animal was fast mired. By the time Sample had
abandoned further efforts to release the horse, the Indians were upon
them, intent upon murder. Resolved to sell life dearly as possible, he
fired his pistol and one Indian dropped dead. Others of the band quickly
pounced upon the hapless pair, bound them hand and foot, and carried
them back to camp, to be disposed of in a manner most revolting and
fiendish.
Everything Sample owned he offered them to spare the life of his wife
and return her safely to the people at Fort Armstrong, but blood was
demanded, and nothing but the blood of both would avenge the death of
their comrade, so swiftly both were tied to trees, to watch the fiendish
brutes gather faggots to place around them. When these were knee high
the torch was applied, and the helpless victims, writhing in the agonies
of a lingering death, were reduced to ashes.
These murders were committed in the western part of the state, and,
isolated as they were, one might conclude that none others would follow,
but as Black Hawk advanced up Rock River the infection to take the lives
of white people spread in all directions.
About May 1st, in response to Black Hawk’s request to make common cause
with him against the whites, the Pottowatomies held a council at the
mouth of Rock Creek to consider the question and decide on their course
during the conflict which was inevitable. That they anticipated one
cannot be denied, and that many wished to join Black Hawk is equally
certain, corroborated as the fact was by Shabbona himself, who was
present and whose influence dominated the sentiment of the council to a
large degree. Billy Caldwell, Robinson and George E. Walker were also
present to contribute their influence for the peace party. That
sentiment, after a long deliberation, prevailed, with an open and
unanimous declaration that any Pottowatomie who joined Black Hawk’s
forces would be proclaimed a traitor; but notwithstanding the friendly
resolutions of the council, Black Hawk prevailed upon a few of them to
join him and to carry on the predatory warfare and assist in the murders
of Indian Creek, Adam Payne and others through the Illinois, Fox and
DuPage river districts.[142]
When Shabbona, Pype-gee and Pypes made their famous ride, the
panic-stricken settlers along these rivers generally flocked to the
stockades, barricading their homes as best they could. During the raids
which followed the store of George B. Hollenback was looted, the Indians
drinking of the liquor until too stupid to carry their program of crime
further. But for this fact murders without number might have been
committed. As it was, the time consumed in sobering up allowed leisure
for all who wished to reach the nearest stockade.
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[Illustration: SHA-BO-NA.]
[Illustration: WAU-BAN-SE.]
[Illustration: CHIEF ALEXANDER ROBINSON.]
[Illustration: SHERIFF GEORGE E. WALKER.]
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[Illustration: CAPT. JOSEPH NAPER.]
[Illustration: REV. STEPHEN R. BEGGS.]
[Illustration: FORT DEARBORN.]
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In what is now Will County, Plainfield was the designated refuge, and to
the little fortification, which was built of logs and fence rails,
around the log cabin of Rev. S.R. Beggs, the name of Fort Beggs was
given. It was not much of a fortification, but it served the purposes of
protection to the people, who placed themselves under orders of Chester
Smith as captain until Captain Naper called with his little company,
after the Indian Creek murders, and escorted the entire garrison to
Chicago for better protection. They went none too soon, for the entire
country along the Illinois, Fox, DuPage and Auxplaines (Desplaines) was
very soon overrun with murderous bands of Indians, invariably led by
prominent Sacs. As their actions became more and more annoying and then
distressing, men from Chicago and vicinity, under Capt. James Walker,
constituted themselves a band of rangers, doing yeoman service, ranging
through to Ottawa as an independent company, until placed under Major
Buckmaster when he later came to take charge of the DuPage River
district, and under whom the Indians were soon dispersed.
The murder at this time of Rev. Adam Payne, a Dunkard preacher, was as
pitiful as it was atrocious. He was a man found at all times sacrificing
his personal comforts and his substance to alleviate the distresses and
discomforts of his fellowman, and particularly the Indian. His
ministrations to their needs had been rewarded by professions of
religion from numbers, and among the Pottowatomies he was venerated to
the last degree. His family had been stopping at Hollenback’s Grove,
where he expected to find them at or near the home of Mr. Cummings, his
stepson.[143]
On reaching Plainfield he found that they had gone to Ottawa for safety,
where, in fact, they were in safety at that moment. He wished to reach
them instead of marching to Chicago, as the garrison at Fort Beggs was
preparing to do. He was importuned to go along, but by reason of his
abiding faith in the Indians’ appreciation of his works and his trust in
the protection of God, he determined to set out for Ottawa. The fact
that he had traveled from Ohio to Illinois, thence by way of Hickory
Creek to Plainfield without the least interruption from the Indians, was
reason enough to convince him that he would not be disturbed if he
continued. Accordingly he started the very morning the garrison set out
for Chicago under Captain Naper. He was mounted on a fine bay mare,
carried a large spyglass in his saddlebags, and with the aid of the two
he was confident he could, if threatened, elude any ordinary foe.
About the middle of the afternoon, as he was skirting Holderman’s Grove,
unconscious of danger, he was awakened from a reverie by shots fired
from a foe concealed in a clump of underbrush. One ball entered his
shoulder and another inflicted a wound, which soon proved mortal, in the
body of his beautiful mare. Realizing that no time was to be lost in
garrulous appeals for sympathy and that the only possible chance for
escape lay in the old-fashioned way of flight, he pricked his mare
forward and for five miles maintained a safe distance ahead of his three
pursuers on ponies. But the effect of the mare’s wound was now apparent.
She staggered and fell dead under her rider. The three pursuers quickly
came upon him and leveled their guns, while he simply raised his hands
to Heaven and appealed for mercy. The appeal was heeded by two of them,
but, so we are told by one of the party, who subsequently removed west,
the third pulled his trigger and fired and Mr. Payne dropped dead. If
two of these fiends had been so humane in lowering their weapons it is
remarkable that they should all have joined in severing the head from
the body, as they did. A long black beard flowed from the victim’s chin,
and by this one of the party seized the head, threw it over his shoulder
and together the three returned to camp. At this very moment Mr. Payne’s
brother Aaron was in the volunteer ranks, and it may not be amiss to
relate an incident which occurred at the battle of the Bad Axe. He, too,
was a Dunkard preacher, but, being a sensible man, the murder of his
brother called every honest human passion into play, one being the
desire to revenge his brother’s death, though this he subsequently
denied.
In pursuing the retreating Indians, he, with others, came upon a squaw
and a boy crouched behind a tree, but, under the belief that the pair
were harmless, no attention was paid to them. As the last of the rangers
passed the boy raised his gun and shot Payne from his horse, two balls
entering his back near the spine. The enraged rangers wheeled and
riddled both squaw and boy with bullets, an act which might be deplored
in a discussion of casuistic questions, but not to be considered in a
case so infamous as this. These bullets Mr. Payne carried during a very
long life.
General Scott, attracted to this simple man as he was lying in the
hospital at Prairie du Chien, had this to say of him:
“While inspecting the hospital at Fort Crawford, I was struck with a
remarkably fine head of a tall volunteer lying on his side, and
seeking relief in a book. To my question, ‘What have you there, my
friend?’ the wounded man pointed to the title page of ‘Young’s Night
Thoughts.’ I sat down on the edge of the bunk, already interested in
the reader, to learn more of his history. The wounded volunteer said
his brother, Rev. Adam Payne, fell an early victim to Black Hawk’s
band, and he (not in the spirit of revenge, but to protect the
frontier settlements) volunteered as a private soldier. While riding
into the battlefield of Bad Axe he passed a small Indian boy, whom he
might have killed, but thought him a harmless child. ‘After passing,
the boy fired, lodging two balls near my spine, when I fell from my
horse.’ The noble volunteer, although suffering great pain from his
wound, said he preferred his condition to the remorse he should have
felt if he had killed the boy, believing him to be harmless.”
Public feeling, by these murders, had been worked to such a pitch that a
rumor, no matter how impossible or ridiculous, was sufficient to throw a
community into a panic, consequently over in Fulton County occurred the
silly “Westerfield scare,” which threw the population of the entire
county into the improvised fortifications. At such times one Indian
might have captured the county without the slightest resistance.
While Dodge was covering Michigan territory (Wisconsin), independent
regiments and companies from the south were organized and sent rapidly
forward to protect the country between Plainfield and Chicago and Ottawa
and the Mississippi, the most important being the Vermilion County
regiment organized by Colonel Moore on the 23d of May, the staff
officers of which, as near as can be ascertained from the defective
records and correspondence, were: Colonel, Isaac R. Moore;
Lieutenant-Colonel, Daniel W. Beckwith. It was composed of the seven
companies of Captains John B. Thomas, Alexander Bailey, of which Gurdon
S. Hubbard was Second Lieutenant, Eliakem Ashton, James Palmer, I.M.
Gillispie, James Gregory and Corbin R. Hutt; also of Morgan L. Payne,
subsequently transferred to Buckmaster’s battalion. Of this Vermilion
organization Governor Reynolds learned May 28th. The regiment ranged
constantly until June 23d, when, finding its territory purged of the
enemy and peace thoroughly conserved by Major Buckmaster’s battalion, it
was mustered out.
At this period of atrocious murders, the killing of Felix St. Vrain, the
Fort Armstrong agent for the Sacs and Foxes, was particularly thrilling
as well as pathetic. This man, appointed about a year previous to
supersede Agent Forsythe, had always been found the stanch friend of the
Indian, and such had been the appreciation of his labors that “The
Little Bear” had adopted him as his brother.
Aaron Hawley, John Fowler, Thomas Kenney, William Hale, Aquilla Floyd
and Alexander Higginbotham, who had been to Sangamon County to buy
cattle, had heard of the Indian troubles, and, abandoning their project,
were hurrying home to assist in the protection of their homes. On the
22d of May they left Dixon’s Ferry for Galena and traveled as far as
Buffalo Grove, where they found the body of Durley, who, as will be
remembered, was the murdered member of the Frederick Stahl party. The
party immediately returned to Dixon’s, reported the murder and remained
there over night. As General Atkinson, who had just returned there on
the 23d, had dispatches for Fort Armstrong, he detailed Felix St. Vrain,
the most competent officer for the service, to travel to Galena with the
party and from that point carry the dispatches down the Mississippi to
the fort.[144]
At Buffalo Grove the returning party found and buried the body of Durley
about a rod from the spot where he fell. The party then resumed its
march, traveling toward Fort Hamilton for a distance of ten miles. Here
it halted and camped for the night.
At daylight the little band started out again on its march and proceeded
about three miles and then stopped again to cook breakfast. After the
meal had been finished and the men were about a mile further on their
journey, they fell in with a band of thirty Sacs under the command of
“The Little Bear.” St. Vrain regarded this as peculiarly propitious and
at once assured his companions that no trouble need be feared from his
friend, who had many times been an inmate of his house and partaken of
his hospitality. Though he approached the Indian with outstretched hand,
the overture of peace was spurned, and death to everyone sworn. In vain
St. Vrain pleaded for his companions and urged his relations as agent
and adopted brother. The Indians attempted in the most methodical and
cold-blooded manner imaginable to murder every man present.
Seeing the hopelessness of further parley or an attempt to fight such
odds, each man dashed for freedom, trusting to the superior speed of the
horses to distance the ponies of the Indians, and the motion of the
flight to dodge bullets. But first Fowler was shot down, a few yards
distant, then St. Vrain, a little further out, and Hale about three
quarters of a mile from the scene of the parley.
Exulting in the glory of their deeds of blood, the Indians, after
scalping the three, cut off the head and hands and feet of St. Vrain and
took out his heart, which was cut up and passed in pieces to the braves
to eat,[145] that they might take pride in the statement that they had
eaten of the heart of one of the bravest of Americans. After these
ghoulish acts, the pursuit of the survivors was resumed, and in it Mr.
Hawley was killed, though his body was never recovered and nothing ever
definitely heard thereafter concerning it. However, as Black Hawk
himself was subsequently found in possession of his coat, it can be
easily conjectured that Hawley’s horse mired in the mud, and then, while
helpless, the rider was shot down, his body spirited away and his
clothing used by his murderers.
The three other fugitives directed their course toward Galena, pursuing
it successfully for three or four miles, when they met part of the same
band of Indians, who gave them another chase of five or six miles, after
which the pursued evaded them altogether. The men then crossed Brush
Creek, and, sighting another band, immediately back-tracked six or eight
miles to Plum River, where they camped in a thicket until night.
Traveling all that night and the succeeding night, resting the
intervening day, the three survivors reached Galena the morning of the
third day.
Aaron Hawley’s horse being the fastest, was the first to get away, and
it was always supposed that he was cut off by another party of the same
band of Indians and killed, as stated. When last seen by the other three
he was making his course toward the Pecatonica.
On the 8th of June the bodies of St. Vrain, Fowler and Hale were
recovered[146] and buried four miles south of Kellogg’s Grove, “old
place.” A bill for the relief of the widow and heirs of St. Vrain was
passed by Congress January 6th, 1834. His tragic death was deplored the
country over by reason of his unusual acquaintance and his great
reputation for good deeds all his life long.
Felix de Hault de Lassus de St. Vrain[147] (such was his full name) in
personal appearance was tall and slightly built, with black eyes and
black curling hair, worn rather long. He was born in St. Louis,
Missouri, March 23d, 1799. His grandfather, Pierre Charles de Hault de
Lassus et de Luziére, Knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of
St. Michael, was born in Bouchain in Hainault (now Department of the
North), where his ancestors had lived from time immemorial, holding
offices of the highest importance and trust. This grandfather was
compelled to leave France during the “Reign of Terror,” for the Spanish
possessions on the Mississippi, where the oldest son subsequently became
Governor de Lassus of Upper Louisiana. Mr. Felix St. Vrain’s father,
Jacques, was an officer in the French navy. After the transfer of
Louisiana to the United States members of the family, with the exception
of the Governor, were appointed to offices of trust under our
Government. St. Vrain married Mademoiselle Marie Pauline Grégoire,
daughter of Charles Cyril Grégoire, also of France.
The Indians had always recognized him to be a man of unusual bravery and
devotedly attached to their welfare; in fact, he was opposed to the use
of the military that spring in sending Black Hawk back to the west side
of the Mississippi, and early in April he went to St. Louis to dissuade
the authorities from interfering, but the many and constantly increasing
depredations of Black Hawk’s band were perverting the well-disposed
Indians to similar acts, and it was decreed that the murderers of the
Menominees must be taught a substantial lesson in behavior. Accordingly
St. Vrain boarded the boat with General Atkinson and returned to Fort
Armstrong. Upon this boat he was detected with the soldiers by the
Indian spies, who immediately reported the fact to Black Hawk. Without
investigating their charge of treason, all of St. Vrain’s life of
devotion to the Indians was blotted out. In the manner of all his
miserable judgments in the past, Black Hawk now swore revenge on the
agent and selected “The Little Bear” as his deputy to execute the
decree.
Gen. George W. Jones, brother-in-law of St. Vrain, identified the body
and took back to camp with him the dress coat and pouch which he wore on
that day. These articles are to this day in the possession of the
Grégoire family.
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Footnote 141:
Matson’s Memories of Shau-be-na.
Footnote 142:
Correspondence of Hon. George M. Hollenback.
Footnote 143:
Correspondence of Hon. George M. Hollenback.
Footnote 144:
Smith’s Wisconsin, 418. Hist. Jo Daviess County, 286.
Footnote 145:
Account of George W. Jones, his brother-in-law.
Footnote 146:
Galenian, June 13, 1832.
Footnote 147:
Correspondence of St. Vrain’s granddaughter, Julie de St. Vrain
Schwankovsky, of Detroit.
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