COUNTY OF ILLINOIS ESTABLISHED.

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ceipt at Williamsburg of official reports of the reduction of the British forts within this territory, inasmuch as it had been effected by Virginia enterprise and valor, was regarded by the general assembly of the commonwealth as a ground for the enforcement of such claims. The house of delegates accordingly proceeded to extend civil jurisdiction over that country, in October, 1778, by enacting a law establishing the county of Illinois, containing the following provisions: "The citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the western side of the Ohio shall be included in a distinct county which shall be called Illinois County; and the governor of this commonwealth, with the advice of the council, may appoint a county-lieutenant or commandant-in-chief of that county during pleasure, who shall take the oath of fidelity to this commonwealth and the oath of office according to the form of their own religion. And all civil offices to which the inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary for the preservation of the peace and the administration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their respective districts, to be convened for that purpose by the county-lieutenant or commandant, or his deputy, and shall be commissioned by said county-lieutenant.”

In pursuance of the above provisions, Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, and who thus became ex-officio the first governor of Illinois, appointed Col. John Todd of Kentucky County, the commandant of the county of Illinois. Together with h's commission the governor sent Col. Todd a letter of instructions containing statesman-like suggestions regarding the course to be pursued by his appointee. Among other things, he said: "The present crisis rendered favorable by the good disposition of the French and Indians may be improved to great purposes; but if, unhappily, it should be lost, a return of the same attachments to us may never happen. Considering, therefore, that early prejudices are so hard to wear out, you will take care to cultivate the affections of the French and Indians." As the head of the civil department, Col. Todd was to have the command of the militia, "who are not to be under command of the military until ordered out by the civil authority and to act in conjunction with them." The governor

advised that on all occasions he should impress upon the people the value of liberty and the difference between the state of free citizenship to which the inhabitants of the Illinois were destined and that of slavery; and that a free and equal representation and improved jurisprudence was to be guaranteed them.

Col. Todd, who was thus authorized to inaugurate the genesis of republican institutions and civil government in Illinois, was a Pennsylvanian by birth, a lawyer by profession, and a patriotic military leader in the county of his residence. His appointment was dated Dec. 12, 1778, but he did not arrive at Kaskaskia and enter upon the discharge of his duties until May of the following year. On May 14, the militia was organized, commissions being issued to Richard Winston as deputy commandant of Kaskaskia, and to Nicholas Janis and Joseph Duplassy as captains of companies. On May 17, François Trottier was commissioned as deputy commandant of Cahokia, and Jean Bte. Barbeau to hold the same position at Prairie du Rocher.

Having discharged these preliminary duties, Col. Todd proceeded to carry out another important instruction of Gov. Henry by ordering an election of civil officers, including the members of courts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, which should have both civil and criminal jurisdiction. The election held under this order was the first exercise of the elective franchise in Illinois. The officers chosen, with one exception, were either by birth or descent, French.* The lack of persons qualified to fill the few offices vacant, a want which in modern days is never long felt, rendered it unavoidable that in some cases the same incumbent should fill at the same time both a civil and a military position. Richard Winston-who held the office of sheriff by election, in addition to filling other posts, appointive in their characteris the only name on the list of elective officeholders not of French origin.

Thus were started the wheels of government by whose revo

* Members of the court elected at Kaskaskia: Gabriel Cerré, Joseph Duplassy, Jacques Lesource, Nicholas Janis, Jean Bte. Barbeau, Nicholas LeChanie, Charles Charleville, Antoine D. de Louvieres, Girradot; - Carbonneaux, clerk; Richard Winston, sheriff. At Cahokia, Touranjeau (Michael Godin), François

Trottier, Charles Gratiot, Antoine Gioradin, Jean Bte. Saucier, Jean Beaulieu, P. Marthin; François Saucier, clerk; J. B. LeCroix, sheriff.—“Col. John Todd's Record-Book."

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lutions a practical knowledge of the forms necessary to the establishment of a free republic was substituted for those of monarchy. Experience proved, however, that the privileges of citizenship had been extended to those who appreciated neither its value nor its responsibilities.

The next questions which occupied the attention of Col. Todd related to the public lands and the regulation of trade. To prevent the taking up of large tracts by speculators he issued a proclamation enjoining all persons from making any new settlements of lands, and requiring the exhibition to dulyappointed commissioners of the evidences of title by those already in possession. Licenses to erect factories and stores and traffic in general merchandise were granted under careful restrictions. Perceiving the rapid depreciation in the value of continental currency, the commandant evolved a plan for the creation and floating of a new circulating medium somewhat in the nature of land-script, but the scheme eventually came to naught. He next visited Vincennes, where similar proceedings were instituted. Returning to Kaskaskia, July 27, he found that the lately-elected judges had met and adjourned their court to a distant date. It was an easy method to get rid of a system of jurisprudence which was at once new and distasteful to the inhabitants. This adjournment the commandant refused to sanction, and issued his order convening the courts, reprimanding the judges for their neglect of duty and impressing upon them the importance of regular sessions.

Early in August, obedient to the instructions of Gov. Henry, Col. Todd forwarded a communication to the Spanish commandants at Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis, proposing the establishment of commercial relations between the governments of Spain and Virginia, and offering military assistance in case it should be needed.* *

The old record-book of Col. Todd, now in possession of the Chicago Historical Society, which is the principal authority for the above-cited facts, contains one page which affords a singular commentary upon the cruelty, ignorance, and superstition of this early period. This is the minute of the capital condemnation of a negro slave named Manuel for some crime * E. G. Mason's "Illinois in the Eighteenth Century."

not specified, but which, from other evidence, is supposed to have been what was then, as now, called voudouism, or negro witchcraft. The order of the commandant to the sheriff who was required to execute the sentence was that he "be chained to a post at the water side and there be burnt alive and his ashes scattered." On the original entry heavy lines have been drawn through this portion of the record, which fact, let us hope, indicates that the barbarous order was revoked. Gov. Reynolds in his "Pioneer History," second edition, page 175, says that a negro of this name was shot at Cahokia for this offense.

Commandant Todd having been appointed colonel of a Virginia regiment, left the county of Illinois the latter part of 1779, and there is no accessible evidence showing that he ever again returned. Henceforward he was actively engaged in military operations, fulfilling his duties as commandant of Illinois County as well as distance and other calls upon him would permit. Through Col. Clark and others he endeavored to keep himself advised of the situation, and frequently corresponded with the governor of Virginia in regard to the affairs of the county.

After the departure of the commandant, Col. John Montgomery was assigned, Aug. 5, 1779, to the command of the military department of the Illinois, with headquarters at Kaskaskia. The officers in command of detachments under him were "at Fort Clark, Capt. John Williams, to be joined by Capt. Worthington's company; at Kaskaskia, Capt. Shelby, to be joined by Capts. Taylor and Kellar's companies; at Cahokia, Capt. Richard McCarty in command, to be joined by Capt. Quirk's company." Maj. Joseph Bowman was assigned to the recruiting service and Capt. L. Helm made Indian agent at Kaskaskia, while Capt. Linetot was ordered to duty along the Illinois River.*

Since the capture of Vincennes, the loss of which was severely felt by the British, an attack upon the Illinois villages had been constantly threatened and feared. As an offset to a proposed expedition of Col. Clark against Detroit, Maj. de Peyster, British commander at Mackinac, in July, directed Capt. Charles Langlade to arouse the Indians on Lake Michigan and join Lieut. Thomas Bennett, who was in command of one hundred "Virginia State Papers," I, 324.

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regulars at Chicago, for the purpose of making an attack upon the Illinois towns. He succeeded in raising a force of two hundred savages, but upon learning that Clark had abandoned his proposed expedition he returned to his post.

In March, 1780, Col. Clark, who was kept well advised of these movements, writes to Col. Todd that he much fears that the efforts of the British to regain the favor of the Indians and retake Illinois will succeed, And what is very singular, he further states that he is "not clear but the Spaniards would favorably suffer these [Illinois] settlements to fall into British hands for the sake of having an opportunity to retake them."*

1

It will be remembered that that portion of the Illinois district lying west of the Mississippi which formerly belonged to France now belonged to Spain, and that St. Louis was its chef-lieu or capital. The Spanish government was at this time the ally of the United States and the avowed foe of Great Britain, having declared war against that power on May 8, 1779. It would seem to have been the interest of the Spaniards, as friendly neighbors of the colonies on their eastern border, to act in unison with them and against the assaults of the common foe. Gov. Henry, as has been pointed out, had been particular to enjoin such a policy upon the commandant of Illinois. But, as will be seen hereafter, the suspicion of the watchful and sagacious Clark was fully justified by the event.

In June, 1779, one month after the Spanish declaration of war, Gen. Fred. Haldimand, then governor of Canada, acting under instructions of the home government, of which Lord Germaine was the head, prepared to organize an attack upon the Spanish posts along the Mississippi. A military force was to be despatched from Pensacola under Gen. John Campbell, then in command of the British garrison there, and all the northwestern governors were instructed by secret circular letters to cooperate with the movement. At this time the Spanish governor at New Orleans, Col. Don Bernardo de Galvez, a youthful officer-scarcely twenty-five-whose sagacity was equal to his valor, having learned through intercepted letters the intentions of the British, determined boldly to anticipate the contemplated assault by becoming himself the attacking party. "Virginia State Papers," I, 338.