Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/818

 INDIANA

740

INDIANA

it is estimated that north of the Ohio it contained about 1200 adults, SCO children and 900 negro slaves. Many retired to P>ench posts like St. Louis. That portion of this domain, now known as Indiana, re- mained British territory less than twenty years. By the treaty of 17.S3 it was ceded to the United States, after the English had been surprised and driven from Fort Vincennes by the heroic exploits of General George Rogers Clark. The post of Kaskaskia on the Mississippi was the first object of acquisition in Clark's assault upon the north-west territory.

It was at this old town that Clark first met Father Pierre Gibault, to whom (as Judge Law states in his history of Vincennes), next to Vigo and Clark himself, the United States is more indebted for the accession of this great domain than to any other man. He was a native of Montreal, where he was born in 1737. He had been ten years pastor at Ka.skaskia, much beloved and of great influence. Having been formerly at Vincennes, he was well known there. He hail little sympathy with his new masters, the English. Clark's humane and liberal treatment soon won the hearts of the Canadians and the influence of Father Gibault, their recognised leader. It resulted in an offer from the good priest to win over the allegiance of his com- patriots at Vincennes. This he uiulertook at once in face of the difficulties of wilderness travel and Indian dangers, and readily accomplished it after a two days' sojourn there. The American flag was hoisted over the fort, after all who remained had taken the oath of allegiance. Vincennes, so easily captured and at once garrisoned and officered by Clark, was soon afterwards (Dec, 1778) retaken by a large force of English under Colonel Hamilton, dubbed by Clark as the " hair buyer" general, because of his being accused of offering rewards to the Indians for American scalps, and of his efforts to harry the frontier by Indian raids. It was in the second and final capture of Vincennes from Hamilton that Clark and his pioneers proved their prowess and earned the gratitude of their coun- try against almost superhuman difficulties.

It was again at this juncture that the influence and services of Father Gibault, supplemented by those of the Sardinian merchant Francis Vigo, were so essential to Clark's heroic enterprise. Patrick Henry (then Governor of Virginia) refers to him as " the priest to whom this country owes many thanks for his zeal and services"; but probably the highest compliment paiil to Father Gibault's loyalty and services is contained in Colonel Hamilton's wrathful denunciation of his influence. Indian attacks continued to make the State an unsafe place of residence, but the campaign of General Vt'ilkinson in 1791 and later of General Wayne discomfited and disorganized the savages, and many tribes submitted. In ISOO Ohio was carved off from the north-west territory as a separate State, and the territory west and north-west was designated Indiana Territory. On 4 July, William Henry Ilarri- son became its first territorial governor, resident at Vincennes. In 1S05 Michigan, and in 1.S09 Illinois were carved off, thus confining the State to its present boundaries. But settlements continued to increase against Indian and natural obstacles and by 1810 the population, confined mainly to the southern end of the territory, amounted to 24,2.50. From the day that the British flag was hauled down at Vincennes until a decade after the Indians were scattered by the pio- neers of Kentucky and Indiana, fighting back to back at Tippecanoe, the history of the State was one of long and bloody effort upon the part of the settler to win the fertile soil for homestea<l and plough. Year by year the front line of civilization was jxished farther and farther up the State, its advance marked by block houses and log cabins punctured with port-holes.

The record of this period is one of fierce reprisal of white man against red man, and of rc<l man against white man, in which the savage played a steadily

losing game. That deep-rooted hatred against the Indian for his aid to the English in the war of the Revolution, nothing could quench in the breast of the pioneer. He was the peer of the Indian in wood- craft and stealth and his master with the rifle. Daily this weapon went with his plough afield as, furrow by furrow, the soil yielded to its new claimant, forever. The threatening attitude for Tecumseh, who was an Indian of unusual ability of organization, determined the governor to proceed against him. On 6 Nov., 1811, Harrison's army reached Prophetstown on the Wabash, about five miles below the mouth of tlie Tippecanoe. The next morning, before daylight, in violation of previous agreement, the Indians (Tecum- seh being absent), led on by his brother, "The Propli- et", attacked the Americans and a massacre was nar- rowly averted: but the frontiersmen fought bravely and stubbornly and turned the attack into a victory. Aside from minor skirmishes up to 181 r>, which marked the close of the war of 1812, the trouliles from Indians were spasmodic (caused liy wandering bands) for an- other decade. Yet the battle of Tippecanoe must stand as a decisive one in western history. In answer to a petition for admission to the Union, a bill ad- mitting the State was passed in April, 1816, and on 29 June following the State adopted a constitution. On 11 December the State was formally admitted. It was not without considerable effort on the part of the free-soilers of that day that a clause excluding slavery was adopted.

From this time forward emigration, mostly from the south-cast, was so rapi<l that by 1820 the popu- lation was 147,176, and by LsMO the sales of public lands for the previous decade reacheil 3,588,221 acres and the population was 343,031. It had more than doubled since 1820. Down the Mississippi and its tributaries (the Ohio antl Wabash) was to be found the sole outlet for the increasing produce of the Middle West, whose waters drained into the great valley. Districts which were not upon streams navigable by even the lightest draught steamboat were sorely re- tarded. Tlie small, flat boat was their main reliance. Roads suitable for heavy carriage were few up to the middle of the century. To meet this condition the building of canals (espoused by the constitution of 1816) was long advocated, in emulation of Ohio which took example after New York State. In 1826 Con- gress granted a strip two and a half miles wide on each side of the proposed canal. A very extensive and ambitious scale of main and lateral canals and turnpikes was advocated in consequence. The ex- pense and time attending shipment of merchandise from the east at this time were almost prohibitive. Yet 100,000 bushels of salt came to the State each year from central New York, because it was a neces- sity, regardless of price. \\'ork began on the Wa- bash and Erie Canal in 1832, on the White Water in 1836, on the Central in 1837. But bad financing and "bad times" nearly wrecked the whole scheme; yet the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed from Toledo to Evansville. It was a great factor in the development of the State, although it brought heavy loss upon the bondholders on the advent of the rail- road, which competition the canal at that time could not stand.

Before the canal was in operation wheat sold at 37 to 4.5 cents, and corn at 16 to 20 cents per busheL Salt brought .$10 per barrel, and sugar from 25 to 35 cents per pound. But the canal increased prices of farm products three or four fohl and reduced prices of household needs 60%, a tremendous stinuilus to agricultural development. By 1840 the population of the uiiper Waliasii Valley had increased from 12,000 to 270.000. The canal boat that haulerl loads of grain east came back loaded with immigrants. In 1846 it is estimated that over thirty families settled every day in the State. Manufacturing also developed