be a general massacre." No violence, however, was attempted. During the several interviews, Black Hawk and his party did not positively refuse to leave Rock River, but the conclusion reached by General Gaines was that they would fight before they would give up their village.

On the 25th of June, Governor Reynolds and General Duncan reached Rock River with 1,600 mounted volunteers. On the following day General Gaines left Fort Armstrong with ten companies of United States infantry, two pieces of artillery, and Captain Pike's company of Rock River Rangers, and proceeded to the Indian village on Rock River for the purpose of driving the Indians off. General Duncan marched up from Andalusia, where there had been a block house erected by order of General Gaines. The Indian town was found evacuated, the Indians having crossed the river during the night. The armies of both generals marched to Fort Armstrong, glad, no doubt, to escape an effusion of blood. Governor Reynolds, in his Life and Times, speaks on this point thus: "Not a single good and intelligent man in the State desired a collision with an insignificant and infatuated band of Indians; but at the same time the peaceable citizens, residing on their own lands, must be protected from the assaults of a contemptible and ignorant. foe, as well as from an enemy of a different character."

The retreating Indians were peremptorily summoned to Fort Armstrong to make a treaty of peaceful surrender of their lands. They came somewhat reluctantly, and a treaty was agreed upon on the 10th of June, 1831. This treaty was signed by Major General Gaines and Governor Reynolds on the part of the United States, and by Black Hawk, Pashapaho and others, on the part of the Indians of the British Band. It stipulated a lasting peace, and that the British Band should immediately remove west of the Mississippi, and not return without the express permission of the government of the United States or of the State of Illinois.

On the 2d of July, Captain Pike's company of Rock River Rangers was mustered out of service, as all fears of the Indians had now vanished. But alas for the certitude of Indian treaties !—at least for treaties made with Indians so perfidious as were Black Hawk and his warriors. On the 30th of June, thirty chiefs of this band had come into the council at Fort Armstrong and agreed to remain west of the Mississippi, and yet the next year Black Hawk led a large force into Illinois, ascending Rock River in canoes and necessitating two vigorous campaigns before he could be driven from

the State.

After the Indians had been driven to the west side of the river, their condition was no doubt deplorable; many of them actually died of hunger; for they had left their cornfields before the time of harvest. Their famishing condition, and the indignities which some of them suffered at the hands. of the whites, when hunger had driven them to recross the river in the night, to plunder a few ears of corn from their deserted fields, no doubt exasperated the animosity of Black Hawk, and induced him to hasten to violate the treaty he had made.

At all events, early in the spring of 1832, he returned with his band and with his women and children in canoes, and ascended Rock River, for the purpose of regaining his lost territory. His warriors numbered about two hundred. Brigadier-General Atkinson, at this time in command of Fort Armstrong, sent a message after Black Hawk, to return and recross the Mississippi, but the sullen old chief deigned him no reply, and proceeded on up to Prophetstown. Another message was sent with no better success.

The preparation to meet this invasion of the State was more formidable than that of the year preceding. General Atkinson addressed a letter to Governor Reynolds, asking for assistance, as his force of regulars at the fort was insufficient to meet the emergency. In response to this request about two thousand volunteered and were organized into four regiments, a spy battalion, and an odd battalion. They were officered as follows: Colonel DeWitt commanded the first regiment; Fry, the second; Thomas, the third; and Thompson, the fourth. Thomas James was Major of the odd battalion; Samuel Whiteside, Brigadier General, and James D. Henry, Major of the spy battalion. Governor Reynolds issued orders to every county in the State to levy and organize in the whole at least five thousand volunteers, to be ready to march at a moment's warning. As the war progressed slowly, this precaution turned out well for the second campaign.

The army under General Whiteside marched to the mouth of Rock River, where General Atkinson received the volunteers into the United States service and assumed the command. It was soon ascertained that Black Hawk and his warriors were still up Rock River. The army, under order of General Atkinson, after receiving provisions, commenced its march up the river on the 9th of May in pursuit of the enemy.

It is not our purpose here to pursue the history of the Black Hawk war any further than it has relation, to Rock Island county. The details of the organization, disbandments and reorganization of the volunteers, the marches and counter-marches in pursuit of the enemy through an unknown wilderness, the perils and hardships endured in encounters with roving and lurking bands of Indians, the battles and the losses on both sides, would fill a volume. The principal engagements were at Stillman's Run, May 13, 1832; Pe Ratonica, June 24; Wisconsin Heights, July 21; and the battle of Bad Axe, which closed the war, August 2. The Indians fled before their pursuers, crossing over the Wisconsin River, which they descended to the Mississippi, and thence up to the scene of the last battle, where they encountered a gun-boat in front of them and a victorious army in their rear, and were cut to pieces and 'effectually conquered, August 2, 1832. Black Hawk fled, but was returned by Pottawatamnie chiefs to Prairie du Chien, where he was given up to the United States authorities. He was sent to Washington and was a prisoner some time at Fortress Monroe. He returned to the West, making a tour of the eastern cities, and died at the Sac and Fox Agency, Iowa, October 3, 1838.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.

Rock Island County prior to its organization was included in the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess County. Its judicial administration was performed by a few justices of the peace.

In 1833 the Legislature passed an act declaring that all the territory embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning in the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River, on the north line of township 15 north, and west of the fourth principal meridian; thence running eastwardly on said line to the fourth principal meridian; thence north to the middle of the channel of Rock River; thence up the middle of said channel to the Marias d'Ogee slough; thence along the middle of said slough to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River; thence down along the

middle of said channel to the place of beginning, should be erected into a county, to be known by the name of Rock Island.

In pursuance of the provisions of this act, due notice was given to the legal voters of said county, to meet at the house of John Barrell, in Farnhamsburg, on Monday, the 5th day of July, 1833, to elect three County Commissioners, one Sheriff and one Coroner, three Justices of the Peace, and three Constables. Accordingly they met, and organized by choosing Joseph Danforth, Joel Wells, Sr., and Wm. H. Simms, Judges, and Joseph Conway and W. Thompson, Clerks. Sixty-five votes were cast. George W. Harlan, John W. Spencer and Col. George Davenport were elected County Commissioners; Benjamin F. Pike, Sheriff; Levi Wells, Coroner; George W. Harlan, J. B. Patterson and Joel Wells, Jr., Justices of the Peace; George V. Miller, Huntington Wells and Edward Corbin, Constables.

On the 8th of July, 1833, the County Commissioners met at John Barrell's, and organized, by choosing Joseph Conway, Clerk. Joseph Wells, Sr., was appointed Treasurer and Assessor. As the county seat had not been fixed upon, the Court ordered that elections and courts be held at the house of John Barrell, in Farnhamsburg.

At the March term, 1834, Asaph Wells and Joel Wells, Jr., were appointed Supervisors of Roads.

A petition was sent to the Postmaster General, and made a matter of record, requesting that a post-office be established at the court house (Johr Barrell's), and that Joseph Conway be appointed postmaster. The petition was afterwards granted. The reason for this was, that the settlers were obliged to go to Fort Armstrong for their letters, and in addition to the high rates of postage-twenty-five cents on each letter-they had to pay their ferriage, which made letters rather an expensive luxury. Feeling the burden of this, the settlers petitioned and obtained their first post-office on the main land in 1834.

In June, 1834, the County was laid off into two election precincts, viz: the Upper and the Lower; the former to commence at the mouth of the Marias d'Ogee slough, and continue as low down as Henry McNeal's house, the election to be held at the house of Walter Phillips; the latter commencing at Henry McNeal's, and to continue down as low as the County line, the election to be held at Farnhamsburg, at the house owned by Davenport and Farnham. The Judges appointed in the first precinct were Asaph Wells, James Haskell and Thomas L. Galpin; in the second, Joel Wells, Sr., William Brashar and William Carr.

THE SEAT OF JUSTICE.

An act of the Legislature establishing a permanent seat of justice for Rock Island County, was passed in the winter of 1834-5. It appointed the following named persons Commissioners to locate the saine, viz: William Bennet, Peter Butler and John G. Sanborn. In June, 1835, they proceeded to select the town of Stephenson, which has remained the county seat ever since, although the names of both the old places have long since been absorbed in the corporation of Rock Island.

When Stephenson was selected as the county seat, it was a town only in prospect. It had not yet been laid out. The Commissioners made their report on the 8th of June, 1835, and it was "ordered that Charles R. Bennet be appointed to survey the town of Stephenson, in Rock Island County,

as soon as practicable." It was further "ordered that one-third of the town lots be offered for sale on the 11th day of July next, and that the same be published three times in the St. Louis Republican, the Alton Spectator, the Northwestern Gazette and the Galena Advertiser.”

The town of Stephenson was laid out and the plat recorded July 10, 1835, Charles R. Bennet, surveyor. The plat bears the certificate of Joseph Conway, County Commissioners' Clerk. It comprised twenty blocks besides the public square on which the County Court House now stands. The lots were laid out 80 feet front by 150 feet deep. The northwest fractional quarter of section 35, containing 61.95 acres, on which the town of Stephenson was laid out, was entered by the County Commissioners, Col. George Davenport, John W. Spencer and John Vanatta, for purposes of a county seat, May 11, 1836. The Land Office for this district was then at Galena.

On the 7th of September, 1835, it was "ordered that Joseph Conway be authorized to get two seals, one for the Circuit Court of Rock Island County, and one for the County Commissioners' Court of Rock Island County, the device to be a sheaf of wheat and a plough.'

By act of the County Commissioners, the courts were removed from Farnhamsburg to Stephenson in November, 1835.

The Court ordered a tax of one-half per cent. to be levied "on slaves or indentured negro or mulatto servants, pleasure carriages, distilleries, horses, mules, cattle, watches and their appendages, and on household furniture, clocks, wagons, carts, sheep and town lots.

The reference to slaves in the above reminds us that, in those days, some of the officers at the garrison of Fort Armstrong held slaves or "indentured negro servants." This custom, though not sanctioned by the constitution and laws of the state of Illinois, was admitted under the old territorial laws, enacted when Illinois was a part of the Territory of Indiana. Laws were then enacted permitting slaves to be introduced as "indentured servants," and under these laws many were admitted into the Territory. In 1810, there were 168 slaves in Illinois; in 1820, they had increased to 917; in 1830, they had decreased to 746. About this time Dred Scott was brought to Fort Armstrong, and was kept as a slave or indentured servant by Dr. Emmerson, surgeon of the garrison. When the fort was evacuated in 1836, he went with the troops to Fort Snelling, and there proceedings were instituted which resulted in the celebrated "Dred Scott Decision" of the Supreme Court of the United States. Scott died in Davenport in 1843.

In 1829 a number of slaves were held for a short time in Rock Island County, on a plantation just above Moline. A man whose name I have not been able to ascertain, came here from Louisiana with about seventy-five slaves. His purpose in bringing them here was to give them their freedom and settle them on land in this section; but they preferred to return to Louisiana, and did so, after remaining here about a year.

At the December term of the County Commissioners' Court, in 1834, the sheriff, Benjamin F. Pike, reported the tax collections of the County to be $53.72 cents. He paid into the treasury $49.50, and kept the balance for commission and expenses.

COUNTY BUILDINGS.

John Barrell's house in Farnhamsburg, where the first county business was transacted, and which was court house, post-office and hotel, was the

first that was built on the main land in this part of Illinois. It was built by Davenport and Farnham, in 1826.

FIRST JAIL.-The first jail in Stephenson was built in 1836. The contract for building it was given to John W. Spencer, October 20, 1835. It was finished and delivered over to the County, June 10, 1836. This jail was originally a hewed log building, two stories high and twenty-two feet square. The brick portion of the structure, afterwards added, was built by Daniel Doty, in 1839. He employed W. H. Sage and J. M. Bellows to lay the brick. It stood on lot No. 5, in block No. 15, in the old town, till it was sold to a German, who converted the brick part of it into a residence. It was in this building that the murderers of Col. Davenport were confined, and from which they were led forth to expiate their crimes upon the gallows on the morning of October 29, 1845. Birch and Baxter were also confined here; the former took a change of venue to Warren County, where he broke jail and escaped. Baxter escaped the gallows on the ground of having had no willful intention to take the life of his benefactor; for while he laid the plot for the robbery of Col. Davenport's house and planned with the robbers to be ready to enter it on that memorable Fourth of July, he did it thinking that the house would be left alone. But in that he was disappointed; all the family had gone to the celebration except Col. Davenport. When the robbers entered they unexpectedly found him in the house, and to make sure of escaping with their plunder, murdered him. Baxter was sentenced to the penitentiary for life, but was afterwards pardoned out and left the country.

THE COURT HOUSE.-The first step towards the erection of the present Court House was taken in April, 1836, when a contract was entered into with Jonah H. Case to furnish 200,000 bricks at eight dollars a thousand. In June the contract was let for the building to Samuel Smith for $10,500, to be completed December 1, 1837. The building is a square brick structure, two stories high with a central tower or cupola, and was a very creditable edifice for the county considering the time it was built. It stands on the square reserved for that purpose when the town was laid out, and which at no very distant day will, in all probability, be ornamented with a more elegant and costly temple of justice. If the walls of that old court house could relate the transactions and events which have transpired within them during the forty years they have been standing, it would be a history worth recording.

The new jail building, containing the Circuit Clerk's, Recorder's and County Clerk's offices, and the Sheriff's residence, was built in 1857. It is a substantial structure of brick and stone, and cost the county about $60,000.

FIRST FERRIES.

In looking over the records we find that licenses for ferries were granted as follows: To George Davenport and Joshua Vanruff, for a ferry across Rock River, March, 1834; at the same date to George Davenport for a ferry across the Slough, and to Rinnah Wells for a ferry also across Rock River.

Jonah H. Case, Antoine Le Claire and W. F. Brashar were granted a license to run a ferry across the Mississippi to the Iowa shore, in March, 1835.