![]() ![]() Michigamies, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, and Peorias. They had long been, and were still, a powerful people, the five tribes composing Yet from that hour this particular confederation of Algonquin tribes has been known in both French andĮnglish records as the Illinois. To distinguish themselves from their rapacious enemies, the Iroquois, whom they were accustomed to designate asīeasts. Literally interpreted, this simply meant that they were men, the term being used To Marquette these first Indians with whom he met, near the mouth of the Des Moines River, spoke of themselves Upon the east, barely holding their own in the unequal struggle, their day of exile already near at hand. Yet, there they were in that year of earliest white discovery, 1673, squeezed in How they originally came here we may never know with certainty, nor what other people they dispossessed in order The English discovered hunting and fishing along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the Carolinas."Īnd they were men of this same lineage who first greeted the Jesuit Marquette upon the banks of this far-off Mississippi. Those were Algonquins whom Cartier found on the banks of the St. The United States between the thirty-fifth and sixtieth parallels of latitude, and the sixtieth and one hundredĪnd fifth meridians of longitude. "They were of a great family of savages," comments Parkman, "at one time occupying nearly all of When the first white explorer came, drifting along those inviting water-ways from the north and east, he discovered ![]() Was no cessation in the struggle it had been centuries long, and would continue while savagery held mastership. They accomplished it through force of arms, and were, each in turn, compelled to yield it up unto a stronger. Write with calm certainty that whatever may have been the names of the tribes and peoples holding this fair hunting-ground, They came, whither they passed away - in those lost centuries, is today beyond conjecture. What races may have dominated these plains and valleys - whence Like flies beneath the war-club and the tomahawk. It was everywhere war, cruel, devastating, cowardly, - war in which men, women, and children perished Want and suffering were constant visitants in these black wigwams - improvidenceĮver stalking a grim skeleton through months of cruel Winter, - while death and torture haunted each mile of theĭim trails. It was indeed a scene of nature, untouchedĪs yet by the artificial restraints of civilization, wild, lonely, savagely beautiful, but in no sense was it anywhere Party of bedecked warriors passed swiftly in search of their enemies. The unbroken prairies were browsed over by countless herds of buffalo, while in theĭark coverts of the woods bears lurked in search of prey, and the timid deer skulked, affrighted by the slightestįrom village to village ran snake-like trails, along which the solitary hunter stole like a shadow, or some fierce Nothing disturbed the dead monotony of hill and dale, plain and woodland, exceptingĪ few scattered and dirty villages with their savage inmates. Yet, fair as was the prospect from the summit of any hilltop, it was the roughīeauty of untamed wilderness. A magnificent river swept majestically along its western boundary, while one scarcely ![]() ![]() Outwardly, it was as the Garden of Eden, a vast park designed by the one Great Architect,Īnd beautified by His genius. Sun, beautified by countless wild flowers, with scattered groves dotting their wide expanse, and everywhere diversified Here the green and brown prairies smiled cheerfully back to the Mountain-masses frowningly denied easy access. No dark and brooding forest shrouded the landscape, as was the case farther eastward no forbidding Nature had done her part, and had been most prodigal with Would be difficult to imagine a more magnificent domain. WHEN the first white man, floating down the bosom of the majestic Mississippi, finally landed and placed adventurousįoot upon the soil of Illinois, this was entirely the country of the Indian. Historic Illinois - OLD INDIAN VILLAGES AND BATTLEFIELDS, presented by Genealogy Trails ![]()
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