Black Hawk War Claims

[Marge Smith]

I'm transcribing from microfilm the claims of the settlers against the U.S. Government for property lost in the war. I'm puzzled by one statement made by men at the Apple River Fort on the horses taken on June 7th from the Fort.

"Hostile Sack & Fox Indians they being in the neighbourhood & that they were pursued on the morning of the 8th June by Four Men Thomas J. Clark, Milton Flack, Washington Clack and Hezekiah Milligan who says that they followed by the tracks & trails of the Indians & a number of horse tracks & that the Colts tracks were distinctly seen and at Colo. Mitchells farm on Plum River the fire of the Indians was yet alive & burning and on their return they saw an Indian dog all going to confirm the belief that it was the hostile Indians that stolen the horses about 12 or 13 in number..."

What was important about the Indian dog?

I gave a rough draft of some of this to Susan Gordy some time ago. If anyone is interested in these claims, let me know

[Robert Braun]

I, for one, would be facinated to read your findings regarding these claims.

Thank you for your generous offer!

Am working on your question re the dog...

Bob.

[Marge Smith]

This microfilm is listed in Whitney's bibliography under the National Archives.
I'll start off with the Apple River Fort. Everyone knows that they lost all their horses, cows, ox, hogs on June 8th and June 24th. These are the beginning of the clothes that are listed.

David Milligan (single man probably a miner)
8 cotton shirts
1 Irish Linnen shirt
1 pair drawers
1 Caznt (cassinett?) vest
1 silk vest
1 cloth coat
1 flock cloth coat
1 pair pantaloons
1 silk handerkerchief
1 blanket cappa or cappo

Captain Clack Stone (his wife returned to Tennesse, couldn't take him or the frontier. His home may have been at Georgetown about 1 mile away.)
3 pair pantaloons
1 coat
3 handkerchiefs
2 Irish Linnen Shirts
feather bed and tick

William Lawhorn (he was living near the Apple River Furnace northwest of the gap ridge, I'm guessing it might have been that level field between the Fort and the cemetery. The following were taken from his house.)
2 coats
3 shirts
6 dresses
Apron & Bonnet
ribons lace caps &c
1 pr saddle bags
1 ged tick
3 counterpanes
50 lb bacon
50 lb salt.

John Murdock (married living maybe in a house near the fort)
5 cotton shirts
1 pr cassinett Pantaloons
4 womens dresses
4 sides leather
1 blind bridle
2 rasps
1 blanket cappo

More later

[Rusty Ayers]

These are all very interesting. Thanks for posting them!

[Marge Smith]

Claim of Phebe Hawley, widow of Aaron Hawley. She has since gone to Springfield, IL.

Deposition of Chester Sage. "about the tenth of April 1832 Aaron Hawley was living near the Peckitonica River about five miles from W. S. Hamiltons and that he went to the south part of State of Illinois to buy cattle to stock his farm and did buy and drive them in company with Chester Sage as far holmwards (sic) as Fort Clark, Illinois their hearing of Genl Stillmans defeat with Sacks & Fox Indians left his cattle in care of Chester Sage and about the 18th of May started to go to his family that he herd (sic) had forted, and was then rideing (sic) the Horse ... (claims horse is worth $80.00) and that he knows the horse well it being the same that he sold to him in the month of December 1832 for Eighty Dollars ..."

Deposition of Alexr. Higginbotham "he met with Aaron Hawley at Dixons Ferry on Rock River and he Aaron Hawley came in company with Saveory?, Wm. Hale, John Fowler, Aulla? Floyd and Alexander Higginboth on their way to the lead mines near Kelloggs Grove when they ware attacked by a part of Sac & Fox Indians and Savory, Wm. Hale, John Fowler ware killed near the place of attact and that he last saw Aaron Hawley about one hundread yards ahead of a number of Indians with their horses under the ships(?) at full speed and he believes that the Indians killed said Hawley and killed his horse or took him."

Claim of Mrs. Phebe Hawley
20 bushels wheat thrashed & clean $20.00
150 lb flour $6.00
15 bushels corn $15.00
50 lb salt $1.00
prs blankets & other bed clothing $15.00
150 lb bacon $12.00
1 log chain, 1 broke oven, 1 scythe, 1 ax $10.00
50 fowles $12.50
6 acres wheat sown $48.00
1 acre rye sown $8.00
1-1/2 acres oats $12.00
10 acres corn $80.00
1 acre potatoes $15.00
1/2 acre garden $12.00

Deposition of Alfred M. Connel: "...she and her children left her house and with such of her affects as she had the means of removing ware taken to a stockade a place called Fort Defiance that he this deponent was with and assisted her in removing her affects when she left her house that so soon as the said Indians had been so much subdued as to relieve the inhabitance from their just apprehension of danger, he this deponent returned to the house of Mrs. Hawley for the purpose of removing the remaining articles of property. That when he returned he found the house had been pillaged and (the above) articles were missing...he believes much of the depredations were commited by the Militia troops that ware under the command of General Posy which ware encamped about two and a half miles from Mrs. Hawleys house and farm and they most of them remained thare and neer thare about three or four weaks and he this deponent says he several times saw ten or fifteen horses in the above alluded to wheat, rye and oats field and went to their camp and said in the presence of Major Gatewood that some person or persons had been robbing the house of Mrs. Hawly and had put horses into the field above alluded to and he this deponent says he did search and find wheat in several buckets also found chickens and fresh pork in their camps ...

[Robert Braun]

Here's my take on some of the items mentioned in these claims...

1. The "blanket cappo" is a literal spelling of "blanket capote"-- a wrap-around coat with sleeves and sometimes a hood worn in cool weather and made from trade blankets or similar material;

2. "Cassinette" is a cloth with a cotton warp and a wool weft, but lighter weight and finer in texture, or "hand" than jean. Cassinette was also made with a silk warp and a fine wool weft;

3. "Flock" is wool shards or scraps pounded into cloth to make it thicker. It is a cheap means of improving wool cloth, but it won't hold up well to moisture or wear. Thirty years later durning the American Civil War, unscrupulous uniform makers treid to pass off similar material as quality wool fabric, but was instead discovered to be "shoddy." Flocking was sometimes used to stuff mattresses;

4. A "counterpane" was a beadspread, possibly a quilt or similar spread;

5. "Saveory" was most likely Felix St. Vrain (again, a literal writing of the French pronounciation of his last name). St. Vrain was the U. S. Indian Agent murdered by Winnebago near Kellogg's Grove, IL. Alexander Higgenbotham was a member of St. Vrain's party who himself escaped death by some adroit horsemanship. Higginbotham went on to fight at Bloody Pond, June 16, 1832.

These claims are VERY illuminating! Thank you for sharing your findings!!

Cordially, Bob.

[Susan Gordy]

I too want to thank betsymaid for her research and diligence. The claims in part were used to assist in furnishing the fort along with the archealogical report done by Floyd Mansberger.

The claims truly illuminate to a degree what life was like here in 1832. Without census records and limited inventories, these claims are one of the few primary documents that allude to the surroundings and activities in Northwestern Illinois in 1832. After studying all of the claims, one can get a general feel of what life was like in the area.

[Susan Gordy]

Oops, forget to respond to Bob's response! Counterpanes are generally woven overshot coverlets, similar to the one gracing the bed at Apple River Fort.

[Marge Smith]

Susan -
Thank you for the kudos, but I can't take credit for helping with the fort furnishing plan. I didn't give you these claims until after you had ordered the furniture. So Floyd Mansberger gets all the credit.

[Marge Smith]

There is an 1830 Census Transcription for the whole lead mine area at

www.rootsweb.com/~iljodavi/census/census.htm

This is just two years prior to the Black Hawk War.

A list of all the Jo Daviess County estate files up to ca. 1915 are at

www.rootsweb.com/~iljodavi/wills/estates.htm

A surprising number are pre-1840.

The Black Hawk War Claims document is just one of the many federal documents at the National Archives. The problem with research in the Mineral District is the over-abundance of documents dealing with the federal ownership and management of the lead mines. Unfortunately, these documents are scattered in the Ordnance Department, Land, Territorial Records, Military, Congressional Records and in local repositories. It takes time to analysis and synthesize these records together with the State and local records.

The national interest in the first mining boom brought many travelers who wrote about their observations. These can be compared to the primary records. An example of this is in foodways. The miners at Mineral Point are reported as living on pork, bread and treacle. The claims at Apple River Fort include pickled pork, flour, and bee hives.

There were no gardens at the smelting establishment; i.e., the fort. But the Hanover and Georgetown areas each had one garden and together had planted over 5 acres of potatoes. Margaret S. Carter also discusses the food situation in her book "New Diggings on the Fever, 1824-1864".

[Robert Braun]

Hmmm... if your looking to quote Featherstonaugh in his post-1832 tome Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor I think his observations at Mineral Point included coffee, bread, salt butter, rice, and treacle. So... to use the criteria you stated above for foodways, there was no pork in Mineral Point! Now, would you consider that an accurate assessment?

On what basis have you concluded that the Apple River Fort site was a smelting establishment?

And how have you been able to determine with such finality that there were no gardens anywhere in the area of Apple River Fort?

[Marge Smith]

Let's first discuss the Apple River Furnace.

1. William Lawhorn in his deposition said he lived in the immediate vicinity of said Fort

2. In 1834 he sold his property described as being near the Apple River Furnace and northwest of the Gap Ridge.

3. John Flack said in Wakefield that Apple River Fort had once been an extensive smelting establishment.

4. I have the Smelting License plat map for the Apple River Furnace that was ca. 360 acres in 1832 and expanded before the war to over 700 acres.

[Robert Braun]

You said...

"There were no gardens at the smelting establishment; i.e., the fort."

You are attempting to cover in excess of 360 acres (any four or five of which very well might have contained a smelting operation), but claiming the fort site was the "smelting establishment." The fort was constructed around a single log dwelling and most likely a barn... according to the archaeological report. Said report provided no evidence consistant with a smelting operation. Evidence of a single large firepit, and lead spalling and pieces consistant with hand-moulding of musket balls, with very few exceptions, does not constitute a furnace operation.

How do you reconcile the inconsistancies in Flack's letter:

If, as Flack claims (and you quote) that "Apple River Fort had once been an extensive smelting establishment" then why did the people of the fort dispatch a "waggon" to Galena "for the purpose of bringing a supply of lead and meat"? Why did the wagon have to go all the way to Galena if there was "an extensive smelting establishment" right at Apple River Fort?

I'm sorry, but your sources do not prove your assertion that the Apple River Fort site was a smelting operation.

[Robert Braun]

You have stated that there were "no gardens at the smelting operation , i. e. the fort," yet concede that there WERE gardens in Hanover and Georgetown, and according to your assertion planted about 5 acres of potatoes. Five acres. That's quite a bit of potatoes.

What was the distance of the establishments of Hanover and Georgetown from Apple River Fort?

And if the blockhouse at ARF was constructed from the foundation of a barn, wouldn't this strongly suggests a farming establishment either on or directly adjacent to the fort site, and not a smelter?

[Robert Braun]

As Chris Gordy provided in another thread, perhaps the question of the location of a smelter is suggested by a reading of History of Jo Daviess County (1878). First, the auther describes the fort itself...

"One corner of the fort was formed by the log house in which one of the settlers had lived. In the opposite corner, was built a "block house," of two stories, with the upper story projecting over the other about two feet, so that the Indians could not come up near to the building for the purpose of setting it on fire, without being exposed to the guns of the settlers, from above...

Later on in the text, there was this mention...

The people made use of lead, at the furnace of which Mr. Tracy had charge to make a cannon...

I think its pretty clear from 'bestymaid's" findings that the area surrounding the 1832 fort was indeed home to some rich deposits of galena. Perhaps the mention of this "Mr. Tracy" is a clue to the smelter location. Guessing here, but maybe it was located on his particular claim? Or near it?