The Indian Wars of Will County
By Sandy Vasko
It’s at this season that the old myths about the origin of Thanksgiving pop up. And they always include Native Americans. Will County has plenty of reminders that this was once home to the red man.
There are the many names such as the “Wauponsee Glacial Trial” named after a local Pottawattamie chief, the Indian Boundary Line and the Kankakee River. All remind of us of the former occupants of the land. Our story today goes back to that time:
James Ritchey and his wife Eva were some of the earliest settlers of Will County. They chose the partially wooded area in what is now Homer Township. Other white settlers were in the Twelve Mile Grove area (Wilton Center), the Five Mile Grove area (present day Manhattan), Runyonville (now Lockport) and a few others scattered around the prairie.
In May of 1832, the Fox/Sac warrior Black Hawk had “gone on the warpath.” His grievances were many, which included the burning of his village, Sauganash. He was advised that if he wiped out every white man in the area, the white man would be gone forever, never daring to come back. His advice was wrong.
In the name of Black Hawk, Pottawatomie warriors had killed 14 people on Indian Creek in Bureau County. They took two girls, Rachel and Sylvia Hall, as prisoners. The friendly Pottawattamie in the area, such as Shabbona and Wauponsie, were powerless to stop Black Hawk, but they did their best to warn their white neighbors. We pick up the story from that point, directly from James Ritchey’s own diary.
“On the 17th of May 1832 Waupanoosa, (Wauponsee) a Pottawatomie passed through Mr. Ritchey’s with a message to Mr. Lanten at Twelve Mile Grove (Wilton Center) from his friend west of Chicago informing him of the Indian outbreak among the Black Hawk tribe. This Indian had been on friendly terms with Mr. Ritchey and his family for some time, having received many favors from them. “On this day, just before noon he stopped at the front of Mr. Ritchey’s house and shouted to inform them of his coming. Shortly he entered the house and gave Mrs. Ritchey the message to read. Scarcely had she begun reading the message when he snatched it from her hand saying, ‘Me big hurry, me see Jim,’ and hurrying to where Mr. Ritchey was, he gave him the message with the words, ‘White man got to go fort, Injuns kill papoose.
“Mr. Ritchey being reluctant about accepting this report as true without further corroboration, had John McMannony mount his horse and go to Hadley (near New Lenox) to see if he could learn anything from Wm. Blackstone.
“In about an hour John returned stating that Blackstone was already loading his goods in his wagon and preparing to move. This convinced Mr. Ritchey and he immediately set to loading his provisions into the wagon, sending John into the field to inform Jacob Helmes who immediately started for the fort promising to inform Goodenow’s and Mr. Mahon’s of Gooding’s Grove and the Helme’s family farther on.
“In less than an hour Mr. Ritchey’s goods were loaded into a wagon to which were yoked six oxen. McConnell, McBride and Mr. Ritchey rode the three horses. The rest of the family (Mrs. Ritchey, Mary being seven and a half, Riley being four and a half, George at two years, John McMannony and his sister Betsey), six in number, rode in the covered wagon.”
“The company hurried on until about three miles this side of Lane’s Island, where they found the Glover brothers stuck in a slough. Here they stopped long enough to hitch on six yoke of oxen and pull them out. The party was gradually swelled by the Cranold brothers and others until they reached the Sag. It had now become too dark to think of venturing across this mirey place, so an encampment was finally agreed upon. They took all possible precaution against a probable attack that night. After passing a restless night, and not having been molested by any Indians, the party crossed the ‘Sag’ with much difficulty.
“After crossing the Sag, Mr. Ritchie and James McConnell, taking an ax and gun, proceeded on ahead to where the Morgan place in Blue Island is. Here they stopped and built a large fire when the teams came up. Here they turned the oxen out to graze and prepared breakfast, which was the first meal partaken of by any of the party since starting on the previous day. After breakfasting with bread and such edibles as could be prepared, the oxen were again yoked to the wagons, and the fugitives were on their way to the fort which they reached shortly before sundown that night.
“As our party reached the fort (two days to reach the fort) a company of settlers, twelve in number, were starting out to look after persons recently massacred at the Davis’ farm. The massacred persons were the families of Hall, Davis and Penagrew. These three families of fourteen persons had all been slaughtered but two daughters of Hall; these were made captives and held in captivity for eleven months. The company of citizens found the bodies of the unfortunate victims of Indian cruelty and buried their mangled corpses. Sometime later the governor of the State, through the Munebago (Winnebago) Indians, secured the release of the Hall girls.
“After unloading their wagons, they were required to remove them a distance of forty rods from the fort lest the Indians should take advantage of them to fortify themselves that they could make a more formidable attack upon the forted company.”
We leave our brave settlers at Fort Dearborn. Next time, we will see what conditions they found at Fort Dearborn and how they managed to get through it all.
Sandy Vasko is Director of the Will County Historical Museum & Research Center and President of the Will County Historical Society.