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Being an 1830’s pioneer in western Illinois may sound like a fun adventure. It was anything but fun and an adventure that sometimes cost your life. Today we learn to be compassionate and empathetic toward different religions, political beliefs and lifestyles. Rarely does it cost your life.
Two hundred years ago, the Bureau County white population was less than a 100. The Pottawattamie tribes lived in the southern part and Winnebago tribes in the far north, about 1,500 total. In the timber of the Main Bureau River and Green River, the Indians had marked trees designating their borders. They seldom trespassed upon each other’s rights. They understood that no one owned the land, the air or the water. Indian cultures have a special kinship with the order of nature and understood it is a gift from the Great Spirits. This group was peaceable and quiet and living on friendly terms with the early settlers. As settlements grew, this delicate balance was upset and a clash of cultures was inevitable.
In the spring of 1830, William Daviess made a claim on Indian Creek, 12 miles north of Ottawa. It feeds into the Fox River. He was a large and confident man, built a cabin, dammed the creek and built a small mill. Some miles downstream was a Pottawatomie Indian village that relied on fish for their diet. Each day the Indians would ask Daviess to remove the dam and let the creek flow. After a while, Mr. Daviess and neighbor John Henderson went to the village, with presents of good will. They were hoping to trade a few trinkets for a peaceful relationship. But it was too late! They found the village deserted and were warned to seek refuge at Fort Ottawa. Trouble was pending! Daviess, Henderson and their neighbors were confident they had sufficient strength to repel an Indian attack.
On the afternoon of May 21, about 70 Pottawatomie and Sauk-Fox warriors broke camp at Knox Springs (Bureau County) and proceeded to the Indian Creek area. They used their knowledge of the area, dismounted their ponies about one mile from the cabin and mill and crawled along the creek bank to within yards of the cabin. Part of the Indians rushed the house killing the women and children with tomahawks and scalping knives. The men were outside working but the assault was so sudden they did not have time to defend themselves.
William Daviess swung his rifle like a club bending the barrel, but he too was killed. Blood and hair was latter found on the gun barrel. One man jumped into the mill pond but was shot while swimming across. Three young men escaped the massacre. They were working in the fields and hearing the attack, unhitched their oxen and fled with all haste to Fort Ottawa. Two days later a company of rangers from the Bureau settlement arrived to bury the 15 people killed and learned two young girls were taken captive. The Indians and captives traveled day and night to reach the camp of Black Hawk, 90 miles to the west (Rock Island). There they celebrated their great victory by dancing around a pole of scalps. The girls recognized one as the braided red hair of their mother.
The Indians wanted consideration and respect for their way of life. This stubborn pioneer considered them to be savages, beneath him in every way. Mr. Daviess didn’t care about their livelihood, nor the Indians about his. Not speaking the same language has many meanings. There was no parent to say “play nice,” no common belief of “love thy neighbor,” or a respected court to settle disputes.
The year 2020 feels like we are in political tribes or ethnic tribes or turf tribes. Fort Dearborn was a small trading post at this time. Today we call it Chicago and last weekend 15 people were shot and killed. Today we must still play nice, honor the Golden Rule, and respect the rule of law. And celebrate those that do!
But there were examples of humanity on the prairie and Bureau County saw compassion in a real way. It was one of the worst winters in the 1830s. About three-feet of snow had fallen and was drifting badly. Then it turned deadly cold. A small Winnebago hunting party from the Rock River area was encamped in the West Bureau timber but the weather preventing them from hunting.
Being near starvation, they were forced to eat their dogs. Still finding no game, they left their squaws and pappooses, waded through deep snow to the Main Bureau timber. They returned after three days with no game, frozen feet, to find starving families. John M. Gay heard a knock on his cabin door. The Indian families asked for refuge and food, or surely they would die. Mr. Gay and neighbor Ezekiel Thomas took the families in. The 16-foot-by-18-foot cabins had a small floor opening called a potato hole. John and Ezekiel divided their scanty supply of potatoes and corn and for five days the families survived. As soon as the weather moderated the hunting party returned to their main village. They said they would never again come to Bureau County to hunt.
The harsh winters came upon pioneers and Indians alike. It didn’t matter your race, religion or life style. Not unlike the 2020 COVID-19 virus. It hovers over us like a bird of prey, scouting out its most vulnerable victims. Christmas is a fitting time to believe in our basic survival and share our blessings with neighbors. There are many ways!
Lt. Col Dick Wells (retired) has a master’s degree in history and is a property owner on the Neponset Township, Great Sauk Trail. His great-great-great-grandparents came to Annawan Township in 1842. He has always been interested in pre-Civil War pioneer history and has been reading a number of first-person accounts. Dave Gugerty, Bureau County Historical Society curator, has also been a resource. And as part of the Sauk Trail Organization for Preservation, he has met with Tribal Historical Officers from the Winnebago, Miami, Ho-chunck, Kickapoo, Otoe and Sac-Fox Nations. All of these tribes traveled, traded and hunted on the Great Sauk Trail.