resist the encroachments of their English destroyers. Such was the nature of King Philip's war, who, with his Algonquin braves. spread terror and desolation throughout New England. Panicstricken at his audacity and success, the Puritans imagined they saw dire portents of calamities in the air and sky, and shadowy troops of careering horsemen imprinted on the face of the sun and moon. This compactly formed confederacy of tribes was overthrown; but it cost the Colonists, with their superior numbers, discipline and weapons, a bloody contest to accomplish it. Such, too, was the character of the culminating struggle of the red race, some 90 years later, for the dominion of the western wilderness. Never before had the Indians exhibited such feats of courage, such skill in diplomacy and such strategy in war; and never before, nor afterwards, were their efforts attended with such terrible consequences. With an Algonquin chief and Algonquin warriors as the controlling spirits, a confederacy of continental proportions was the result, embracing in its alliance the tribes of every name and lineage, from the northern lakes to the gulf on the south. Pontiac, having breathed into them his implacable hate of the English intruders, ordered the conflict to commence, and all the British colonies trembled before the desolating fury of the onset. Of the tribes of Algonquin lineage which formerly dwelt in Illinois, those bearing the name of the State were the most numerous. Judging from the graves which were thickly planted over the prairies, they must at an early date have been a prominent theater of aboriginal activities. Long before the intrusion of the white man, the stately warrior marshaled his swarthy clans to defend the hunting grounds which embosomed the homes and graves of his ancestors. Here, around the lodge fire, the young braves listened to the exploits of their aged chiefs and marched forth to perform the deeds which were to crown them with a chieftain's honors. On the grass-cushioned lap of the prairie, when the moon with mellow radiance flooded the valleys and silvered the streams, the red swain went forth to woo his intended mate and win her love. Where the game abounded which furnished him with food and clothing he built the wigwam in which his faithful partner dispensed the hospitalities of his frugal board. Nature disclosed to his untutored mind the simple duties of life. opening flower revealed the time for planting corn, the falling leaf when to provide for the frosts of winter, and from the lower animals he learned industry, prudence and affection. His own wondrous organization directed his thoughts to the Great Spirit, and in the spacious temple, lighted by the sun and curtained with clouds, where the tempest offers its loud anthem of praise, he worshipped the God of Nature.

The

The Illinois Confederacy were composed of five tribes: the Tamaroas, Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, and Peorias. Albert Gallatin, who has prepared the most elaborate work on the structure of the Indian languages, gives the definition of Illinois as real or superior men, and derives it from the Delaware word Leno, Leni or Illini, as it is variously written by different authors. The termination of the word as it is now, and applied to the State and its principal river, is of French origin. The Illinois, Miamis and Delawares are of the same stock, and, according to tradition, emigrated from the far west, the first stopping in their eastern round

of migration in the vicinity of Lake Michigan, the second in the territory of Indiana, and the third that of Pennsylvania.

As early as 1670 the Jesuit, Father Marquette, mentions frequent visits made by individuals of this confederacy to the missionary station of St. Esprit, near the western extremity of Lake Superior. At that time they lived west of the Mississippi in eight villages, whither the Iroquois had driven them from the shores of Lake Michigan, which received its name from one of the tribes. Shortly afterwards they commenced returning eastward, and finally settled mostly on the Illinois. Joliet and Marquette, in 1673, descending the Mississippi below the mouth of the Wisconsin, on their famous voyage of discovery, met with a band of them on the west bank of the river. The principal chief treated them with great hospitality, gave them a calumet as a pass down the river, and bid them a friendly farewell. The same explorers, in their return voyage up the Illinois, discovered and stopped at the principal town of the confederacy, situated on the banks of the river 7 miles below the present town of Ottawa. It was then called Kaskaskia, and according to Marquette, contained 74 lodges, each of which domiciled several families. Marquette returned to the village in the spring of 1675, and established the Mission of the Immaculate Conception, the oldest in Illinois, and subsequently transferred to the new town of Kaskaskia further southward.

When, in 1679, La Salle visited the town it had greatly increased, numbering, according to Hennepin, 460 lodges, and at the annual assembling of the different tribes from 6,000 to 8,000 souls. The lodges extended along the banks of the river a mile or more, according to the number of its fluctuating population, which extensively cultivated the adjacent meadows and raised crops of pumpkins, beans, and Indian corn. At this time the confederacy possessed the country from the present town of Ottawa and the lower rapids of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio, and, according to the missionary Father Rasles, besides the principal town occupied some 10 or 12 other villages. In the irruption of the Iroquois, the following year, the principal town was burned and the several tribes pursued down the river to the Mississippi, where the Tamaroas were attacked and 700 of their women and children made prisoners. These were burned and butchered till the savage victors were sated with carnage, when the survivors were lead into captivity. With the withdrawal of the enemy the tribes returned, rebuilt their town, and in 1682 furnished 1,200 of the 3,800 warriors embraced in LaSalle's colony at Fort Saint Louis on the Illinois. After this they were forced further southward by northern nations, and Peoria, Cahokia and Kaskaskia became the centres of the tribes indicated by their names. Tamaroas were associated with the Kaskaskias, and the Michigamies were located near Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. While here they were the centre of Jesuit missionary operations, and great efforts were made to convert them to Christianity, but with only partial success.

The

In 1729 they were summoned by M. Perrier, Governor-General of Louisiana, to assist in the reduction of the Natchez, who were disturbing the peace of the province. On the breaking out of the Chickasaw war they were again called to the assistance of their allies, the French, and under one of Illinois' most gallant generals,

the Chevalier D'Artagnette, they successively stormed and carried two of the enemy's strongholds, and would have taken a third but for the fall of their heroic leader.

In common with other western tribes they became involved in the conspiracy of Pontiac, but from frequent defeats by surrounding tribes, and long contact with civilization, they had lost to a great extent the warlike energy, for which, according to tradition, they were anciently distinguished. When, therefore, the great chief visited them in the autumn of 1764, their zeal did not meet his expectations, and he told them if they hesitated, he would "consume their tribes as fire doth the dry grass on the prairies." Finally, when Pontiac lost his life by the hand of an Illinois, the nations which had followed him as a leader descended from the north and the east to avenge his death, and almost annihilated the tribes of this lineage. Tradition states that a band of fugitives, to escape the general slaughter, took refuge on the high rock which had been the site of Fort St. Louis. There they were besieged by a superior force of the Pottawatamies, whom the great strength of this natural fortress enabled them easily to keep at bay. Hunger and thirst, more formidable enemies, however, soon accomplished what the foe was unable to effect. Their small quantity of provisions quickly failed, and their supply water was stopped by the enemy severing the cords attached to the vessels by which they elevated it from the river below. Thus environed by relentless foes, they took a last lingering look at their beautiful hunting grounds, spread out like a panorama on the gently rolling river, and, with true Indian fortitude, laid down and expired without a sigh or a tear. From their tragic fate the lofty citadel on which they perished received the unpoetical name of "Starved Rock," and years afterwards their bones were seen whitening on its summit. The Tamaroas, although not entirely exterminated, lost their identity as a tribe in a battle with the Shawnees, near the eastern limits of Randolph county. At the commencement of the present century the contracting circle of hostile tribes had forced the remnants of this once powerful confederacy into a small compass around Kaskaskia. When the country was first visited by Europeans they numbered 12,000 souls; now they were reduced to two tribes, the Kaskaskias and Peorias, and could only muster 150 warriors. Their chief at this time was a half-breed of consid erable talent, named Du Quoin, who wore a medal presented to him by Washington, whom he visited at Philadelphia. In the early part of the present century the two tribes under his guidance emigrated to the Southwest, and in 1850 they were in the Indian Territory, and numbered 84 persons.

The Sacs and Foxes, who have figured extensively in the history of Illinois, dwelt in the northwest part of the State. The word "Sau-Kee," now written "Sac," is derived from the compound word " A-sau-we-kee," of the Chippewa language, signifying yellow earth, and "Mus-qua-kee," the original name of the Foxes, means red earth. Though still retaining separate tribal names, when living in Illinois they had, by long residence together and intermarriage, become substantially one people. Both tribes origi nally lived on the St. Lawrence, in the neighborhood of Quebec and Montreal. The Foxes first removed to the West and estab lished themselves on the river which bears their name, empty

ing into the head of Green Bay. Here they suffered a signal defeat from the combined forces of the French and their Indian allies, which caused them afterwards to unite with the Sacs, to prevent extermination.

The Sacs became involved in a long and bloody war with the Iroquois, who drove them from their habitation on the St. Lawrence toward the West. Retiring before these formidable enemies, they next encountered the Wyandots, by whom they were driven farther and farther along the shores of the great lakes till at length they found a temporary resting place on Green Bay, in the neighhood of their relatives, the Foxes. For mutual protection against the surrounding nations a union was here instituted between the two tribes, which has remained unbroken to the present time. The time of their migration from the St. Lawrence to the region of the upper lakes cannot be definitely ascertained. Green Bay was visited in 1669 by Father Allouez, a Jesuit, who established a missionary station there, and in the winter of 1672 extended his labors to the Foxes, who at first treated him with the greatest contempt. Some of the tribe had recently been on a trading expedition to Montreal, where they had been foully dealt with by the French, and they now took occasion to show their resentment by deriding the utterances of the missionary. By the exercise of great patience, however, he at length obtained a hearing, and succeeded so well in impressing their minds with his religious instruction that when he exhibited a crucifix they threw tobacco on it as an offering. He soon afterwards taught the whole village to make the sign of the cross, and painting it on their shields, in one of their war expeditions, they obtained a great victory over their enemies. Thus, while they knew but little of its significance as a religious emblem, in war they regarded it as a talisman of more than ordinary power. From Green Bay they moved southward, and shortly after the French pioneers visited the country they took possession of the fertile plains of Northwestern Illinois, driving out the Sauteaux, a branch of the Chippewas. In their southern migration, according to their traditions, a severe battle occurred between them and the Mascoutins, opposite the mouth of the Iowa, in which the latter were defeated, and only a few of them left to carry the news of their disaster to friends at home. Subsequently they formed alliances with the Potawatamies and other nations, forced the different tribes of the Illinois confederacy southward, and after years of strife almost exterminated them. In conjunction with the Menomonees, Winnebagoes, and other tribes living in the region of the lakes, they made an attempt, in 1779, to destroy the village of St. Louis, but were prevented by the timely arrival of George Rogers Clark with 500 men from Kaskaskia. Finally, in the Black Hawk war, waged by them against the troops of Illinois and the United States, they attracted the attention of the entire nation, and won a historical reputation.

Much labor has been expended to ascertain whether the celebrated Chief, Pontiac, was of Sac or Ottawa lineage. If a similiarity in the traits of character, which distinguished him and the Sac tribe, could decide the question, the latter might, doubtless, claim the honor of his relationship. It is unnecessary to speak of the courage and fighting qualities of Pontiac. That of the Sacs and their relatives, the Foxes, is thus given by Drake, in

his "Life of Black Hawk :" "The Sacs and Foxes fought their way from the waters of the St. Lawrence to Green Bay, and after reaching that place not only sustained themselves against the hostile tribes, but were among the most active and courageous in the subjugation, or rather extermination, of the numerous and powerful Illinois confederacy. They had many wars, offensive and defensive, with the Sioux, the Pawnees, the Osages and other tribes, some of which are ranked among the most fierce and ferocious warriors of the whole continent, and it does not appear that in these conflicts, running through a long period of years, they were found wanting in this the greatest of all savage virtues. In the late war with Great Britain, a party of the Sacs and Foxes fought under the British standard as a matter of choice, and in the recent contest between a fragment of these tribes and the United States, although defeated and literally cut to pieces by an overwhelming force, it is very questionable whether their reputation as braves would suffer by a comparison with that of their victors. It is believed that a careful review of their history, from the period when they first established themselves on the waters of the Mississippi down to the present time, will lead the inquirer to the conclusion that the Sacs and Foxes are a truly courageous people, shrewd, politic, and enterprising, with not more of ferocity and treachery of character than is common among the tribes by whom they were surrounded.”

These tribes, at the time of the Black Hawk war, were divided into 20 families, 12 of which were Sacs and 8 Foxes. As marks of distinction, each family had its particular totemic symbol, represented by some animal. There also existed a peculiar custom among them of marking each male child at birth with black and white paint, each mother being careful to apply the two colors alternately, so that each family and the entire nation might be divided into two nearly equal classes, the whites and the blacks. The object of these distinctive marks, which were retained during life, was to keep alive a spirit of emulation in the tribes. In their games, hunts, and public ceremonies, the blacks were the competitors of the whites, and in war each party was ambitious to take more scalps than the other.

Lieutenat Pike, in his travels to the source of the Mississippi, in 1805, visited these tribes and found them residing in four principal villages. The first was at the head of the rapids of the river DesMoines, the second farther up on the east shore of the same stream, the third on the Iowa, and the fourth on Rock river near its entrance into the Mississippi. The latter greatly exceeded the others in political importance, and was among the largest and most populous Indian villages on the continent. The country around it, diversified with groves and prairies, was one of the most beautiful regions in the valley of the Mississippi, and gave additional interest to this time-honored residence of the nation. According to Lieutenant Pike, the Sacs numbered 2,850 souls, of whom 1400 were children, 750 women, and 700 warriors. The total number of Foxes were 1750, of whom 850 were children, 500 women, and 400 warriors. In 1825, the Secretary of War estimated the entire number of Sacs and Foxes at 4,600, showing in the intervening period of 20 years a considerable increase of population. After the Black Hawk war, these tribes retired to their lands in