THE INAUGURAL MESSAGE

       At this election the seventh general assembly was also elected. The legislature met December 6, 1830, and organized. The new governor began his term under very favorable circumstances. Some writers have spoken disparagingly of Governor Reynolds’ inaugural message, but when carefully studied it appears a plain, sensible, patriotic state paper. It may lack the polish of former or later messages, but what Governor Reynolds had in his heart to say, he said in unmistakable language. He called attention to the rapid increase in population. He complimented the immigrants upon their enterprise and good judgment, and congratulated the people of the state P 182 upon the accession to its population of so desirable a class of citizens. he formally discussed the following subjects as being those upon which he hoped they might legislate.

       “In the whole circle of your legislation, there is no subject that has a greater claim upon your attention or calls louder for your aid than that of education.”

       “There cannot be an appropriation of money within the exercise of your legislative powers that will be more richly paid to the citizens than that for the improvement of the country.”

       Governor Reynolds had, while a member of the fifth general assembly, succeeded in getting a bill through providing for the building of a penitentiary. He was able to say the work had progressed quite satisfactorily and that twenty-five cells were nearing completion, and he hoped the legislature would take such action as would carry the enterprise to completion.

       The salines and their reservations had been virtually given to the state by the action of congress in passing the Enabling Act. The state had had charge of the salines since 1818 and very little income had been realized from them. He was very desirous that they should be so managed as to result in a source of income to the state.

       The charter incorporating the State Bank of Illinois was passed in 1821. The charter was to continue ten years. The capital was $500,000. There was one parent bank at Vandalia and four branch banks—one at Edwardsville, one at Brownsville, one at Shawneetown, one at Albion. The charter of this bank expired January 1, 1831. The end of the bank came therefore in Reynold’s term as governor. The state had lost about $100,000 in this banking business, and must in some way meet this indebtedness.

       Finally, a loan was obtained of a Mr. Wiggins, of Cincinnati, Ohio, of $100,000 and the affairs of the bank wound up. This was known as “the Wiggins loan” and was for many years a great torment to the legislators who authorized it.

       At the close of the session of 1831, the state borrowed $20,000 with which to pay the current expenses of the session, and to meet other expenses of the state.

DEEP SNOW OF 1830-1

       The winter of 1830-1 was long remembered as “the winter of the deep snow.” It is said that the winter was a mild one till Christmas. During the Christmas holidays a snow storm began and for nine weeks, almost every day, it snowed. The snow melted little or none and was found to be more than three feet on an average. It was, however, drifted very badly in some places. The old fashioned “stake and rider” fences were buried in many places with the drifted snow. The long country lanes were covered over so that no sign of the road was left. On top of this snow fell rain and sleet and formed such a crust that people and stock might walk on top of the snow. The birds and small game suffered very much for want of food, while larger wild game became very tame. P 183

THE BLACK HAWK WAR

       In 1804, November 3, at St. Louis, William Henry Harrison, at that time governor of the Indiana territory, on behalf of the United States, signed a treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians by which the said tribes ceded to the United States about fifteen million acres of land. A portion of the land lay in Illinois northwest of the Illinois river, while a large portion lay in southwestern Wisconsin. The United States government agreed to take the Sac and Fox tribes into its friendship and protection, and to pay annually $1,000 in goods to the two tribes. It was further agreed that these tribes should remain on the lands till the said lands were disposed of. It was mutually agreed that no private revenge should be taken for wrongs but that offenders should be turned over to the proper authorities. Citizens of the United States were not to make settlements on this ceded territory. No traders should live among the Indians except those authorized by the United States, etc.

       Black Hawk with whom we shall deal in this chapter, said the chiefs who signed the treaty were made drunk and that they were not authorized to cede this land. It should also be kept in mind that the territory ceded was also the home of two other large tribes, the Winnebagoes and the Pottowatomies.

       The British greatly influenced the Indians in the northwest, and the two were allies in the war from 1812-1815. At the close of this war, the Sacs and Foxes entered into another treaty with the United States. Black Hawk did not sign this treaty which, it was hoped, would secure peace.

       Upon the admission of Illinois in 1818 the settlers began to flock into the state and within the next ten years the settlers began to encroach upon the lands actually occupied by the Sac and Fox tribes. The Winnebago war occurred in the summer of 1827. Among the Indians who were held responsible for this was Black Hawk, a very prominent Indian of the Sac and Fox tribes. He and several more Indians were arrested and held in prison for several months. Some of the offenders were adjudged guilty, and executed, others were turned loose, among whom was Black Hawk. In 1830, a treaty was executed at Prairie du Chien in which the Sac and Fox Indians under the leadership of Keokuk ceded all the lands east of the Mississippi river to the United States. Black Hawk had nothing to do with this treaty.

       The seventh article of the treaty of 1804 provided that the Indians should remain around Rock river till the United States disposed of the land. In 1826 or thereabouts the government surveyed and sold quite a number of plots of land in and about the village of Saukenuk, and the whites began to come in, In the fall of 1830 the Indians went on their annual hunt and while absent during the winter, heard that the whites were occupying their village. This village contained about five hundred cabins of very good construction capable of sheltering six thousand people.

       In the early spring of 1831 when they returned to that locality, they found the whites in their village, In the meantime Keokuk was doing what he could to induce his people to remain on the west side of the Mississippi and to find homes there. And more than likely at P 184 the same time Black Hawk was doing his best to persuade them to return to their old village. At least this was what was done. Black Hawk, with a great number of women, children and three hundred warriors returned and occupied their village of Saukenuk. Of course this meant trouble, for the whites were also occupying the same village. Seeing that they could not drive off the Indians the whites agreed to occupy the village jointly and to share the tillable land, about 700 acres. The whites, however; took the best land and in this way showed their contempt for the Indians. All sorts of stories began now to reach the governor at Vandalia, and also the United States military commandant, General Gaines, at St. Louis, The Indian agent at Fort Armstrong also was aware of the coming conflict. An appeal was sent to Governor Reynolds stating that the whites had suffered many indignities from the Indians and had sustained losses of cattle, horses, and crops. Probably the facts are, the Indians were the greater sufferers. There is good evidence, says Brown’s history, that the Indians were made drunk and then cheated badly in trades; their women were abused and one young man beaten so that he died from the effects.

CALL TO ARMS

       Governor Reynolds acted with some haste probably and ordered out seven hundred mounted militiamen. He communicated this fact to General Gaines and suggested that he, Gaines, might by the exercise of some of his authority or diplomacy, induce Black Hawk to move west of the river. General Gaines thought the regulars, some eight hundred or nine hundred strong would be able to handle the difficulty, but the militiamen were already on their way to Beardstown, the place of rendezvous. General Gaines accompanied by six hundred regulars moved up the Mississippi and on the 7th of June a council was held between General Gaines and Governor Reynolds on the side of the whites, and Black Hawk, Keokuk, and twenty-six chiefs and headmen upon the part of the Indians. A treaty was agreed upon.

       The treaty contained six articles, and provided:

       1. That Black Hawk and his disgruntled people would submit to Keokuk and his friendly Indians and recross the river to the west side.

       2. That all lands west of the river claimed by the Sacs and Foxes were guaranteed to them.

       3. The Indians agreed not to hold communication with the British.

       4. The United States have right to build forts and roads in the Indians’ territory.

       5. The friendly chiefs agree to preserve order in their tribes.

       6. Permanent peace was declared. The Indians then peaceably withdrew to the west side of the river. The Indians were in such distressed condition that General Gaines and Governor Reynolds issued large quantities of food to them. The army was disbanded and returned home.

       Governor Reynolds himself assumed the active command of the militia. The account he gives of the organization and movement of his troops would make one think of the campaigns of a great general. Every man furnished his own horse and carried his own gun, if he had one, but hundreds appeared at Beardstown without guns. The government had sent guns to Beardstown but not enough, so P 185

 

Reynolds bought some brass-barreled muskets of a merchant in Beardstown. Joseph Duncan, congressman, was made brigadier general, and Samuel Whiteside major to have charge of the spy battalion. Most of the other officers were elected by the troops. The whole army was divided into two regiments and the spy battalion. Col. James D. Henry commanded one and Col. Daniel Leib the other regiment. The army broke camp near Rushville June 15, and in four days reached the Mississippi, eight miles below Saukenuk. Here General Gaines received the army into the United States service. On account of a delay the Indians who occupied the village departed up the Rock river. The regulars and militia followed at a safe distance.

       Black Hawk eventually crossed over on the west side of the Mississippi and the treaty above referred to was negotiated.

       The British Band, as Black Hawk and his followers were called, remained on the west side till the spring of 1832. In the early spring of this year, April 6, Black Hawk and his braves crossed to the east side of the Mississippi in spite of the remonstrances of General Atkinson, who was stationed at Fort Armstrong with a few regulars. He passed the old village of Saukenuk and proceeded up the Rock river as if to join the Winnebagoes, where he said he wished to raise a crop in conjunction with that tribe. General Atkinson notified Black Hawk that he was violating his treaty and ordered him to return but he did not heed the order.

       This movement on the part of Black Hawk created consternation among the whites all along the northern frontier from the Mississippi to Chicago and the people hastily left their homes and took refuge farther south where the population was numerous, and means of P 186 defense ample. Many fled to Fort Dearborn and remained there till the war closed.

       Governor Reynolds having been notified of Black Hawk’s movements and knowing that an indiscretion on the part of either the Indians or the whites would lead to serious consequences, decided to take precautionary measures and avert so unfortunate a result. He also received a request from General Atkinson for troops and on the sixteenth of April the governor issued a call for a large body of troops. They were to assemble at Beardstown on the twenty-second of April. As in the campaign of the previous year, Governor Reynolds took the field himself. As he passed through the country to Beardstown he held conferences and otherwise took the people into his confidence. At Jacksonville the governor had word from Dixon, in the heart of the Pottowatomie country, that war was inevitable. On arriving at Beardstown, the governor moved his army to a point north of Rushville. Samuel Whiteside was made brigadier general in command of four regiments, and two irregular battalions. At Beardstown he received more news of the hostile attitude of Black Hawk and his band.

       When the army was thoroughly organized the governor ordered a forward movement on the twenty-seventh of April. The next stop was to be the Yellow Banks, which were in Mercer county, on the Mississippi river. Most of the troops were on horseback but about two hundred men were marching as infantry. The roads were very bad and streams had to be forded. Reynolds says that most of the men, two thousand in number, were backwoodsmen and were used to such hardships. When the army reached the Mississippi the provisions had not yet arrived from St. Louis and after several days of anxiety three trusty men, Huitt, Tunnell, and Ames, of Greene county, were asked if they could reach Rock Island, fifty miles away, that day. They undertook the task and delivered to General Atkinson the message from the governor on the self-same day. From the Yellow Banks the troops marched to Fort Armstrong where they were received into the U. S. service. General Atkinson now assumed command and the whole body of five hundred regulars and two thousand militia marched up Rock river toward Dixon, where it was understood Black Hawk and his band were. Spies were sent abroad who reported presently the presence of Black Hawk above Dixon. Dixon was reached on the twelfth of May. Here other information came to the effect that Black Hawk’s band was broken up and the men were hunting food. Here also the governor found Major Stillman and Major Bailey, who had been ordered to guard the frontier. These two majors and their battalions were anxious to reconnoiter the frontier and if possible locate the hostile band. Governor Reynolds therefore gave them orders to proceed to “Old Man’s creek,” where, it was reported, there were hostile Indians.

       On the thirteenth of May, Major Stillman marched out of Dixon with two hundred and seventy-five men and with all necessary equipment for a contest with the hostile Indians. He went some twenty-five miles to the northeast. Here, on the evening of the fourteenth, he crossed a small stream and began preparations for the night ‘s camp. Presently three unarmed Indians came into camp bearing a flag of truce. And in a few moments five more, armed, appeared upon a hill some distance away. Many of the soldiers hurriedly remounted their P 187 horses and gave chase. The Indians gave them a roundabout chase and finally led them in what appeared to be an ambush of fifty or seventy-five of Black Hawk’s warriors. As soon as the soldiers saw their predicament, they started on a retreat and passing through the camp transmitted to those there the contagion of flight. All was now confusion, one of their number having already been killed (James Doty). They floundered across the creek and in their retreat Captain Adams and some fifteen men concluded to make a stand a half mile from their camp. It was dark and the fight was a desperate hand to hand struggle. At least nine of Adams’ men were slain, including the captain. The retreat continued. The earliest ones to reach Dixon came about midnight, and they continued to arrive till morning. The dreadful news which these men brought from the scene of carnage filled the army with terror and gloom. The entire army, or at least two thousand five hundred men, proceeded to the scene of the defeat. They buried eleven of Major Stillman's men. It seems that when the Indians had followed the retreating army some distance, they returned and mutilated the bodies of Captain Adams’ men and later went to the camp, broke the spokes from the wagons, poured out a keg of whiskey, destroyed the provisions, and returned to their camp. The names of the twelve men who sacrificed their lives in this unfortunate expedition are David Kreeps, Zadock Mendinall, Isaac Perkins, James Milton, Tyrus M. Childs, Joseph B. Farris, Bird W. Ellis, John Walters, Joseph Draper, James Doty, Gideon Munson, and Captain Adams.

       The effect of this defeat and rout was depressing in the extreme. The volunteers immediately began to talk of returning to their homes. In fact Governor Reynolds says, in “My Own Times” that he wrote out the order the night of the defeat, for two thousand new troops and by next morning three trusted men were on their way to distribute this call throughout the state. The militiamen becoming impatient, Governor Reynolds and General Atkinson plead with the men to stay at least twelve or fifteen days until the new levies could reach the front. This they finally agreed to do. General Atkinson, now in command of the militia and regulars, moved up Rock river, and when somewhere in the vicinity of the present city of Oregon or probably higher up, they received word of a horrible massacre of fifteen whites near Ottawa. This, too, was depressing, and not finding Black Hawk, General Atkinson and the regulars returned to Dixon and General Whiteside and Col. Zachary Taylor went in further quest of the warriors. They came to an abandoned camp on Sycamore creek where they found several things taken from Major Stillman‘s camp, but not finding the Indians the soldiers again became persistent in their determination to return to their farms and business. General Whiteside not being himself much in sympathy with further pursuit of the Indians, ordered a vote among all commanding officers as to what they wished to do. The votes stood about half in favor of continuing the campaign and half against further service. When the governor became aware of the demoralized spirit in the army he ordered them to march to Ottawa where they were discharged.

       General Atkinson and Governor Reynolds were deeply concerned for the safety of the frontier and in addition to the two thousand men called into service the night of the Stillman defeat they yet needed more troops. After the muster-out of the men was completed the P 188 governor called for volunteers and a regiment was enlisted without any loss of time for thirty days. Col. Jacob Fry was given command.

       Ottawa and vicinity seemed to be a kind of storm center for Indian depredations and many very exciting stories are told of personal encounters on the frontier during the summer of 1832. The war had degenerated into bushwhacking, raping, and murder. One never knew when a savage was at his back. It was therefore the business of this thirty-day regiment under Col. Jacob Fry to guard the various localities till the arrival of the new troops called into service the night of the Stillman defeat.

       There were in Colonel Fry's regiment seven companies, one of which was commanded by Captain Snyder of St. Clair county. Captain Snyder’s company was sent over in the region of Burr Oak Grove (called Kellogg’s Grove), The Indians were committing depredations in that region. On the night of June 17 he was encamped near the above grove. His camp was attacked that night, and the next morning his force went in search of the attacking parties. They finally overtook the Indians and killed four of them. One of Captain Snyder’s men was mortally wounded, and while taking this wounded man to the camp the escort was set upon by seventy-five Indians and the wounded man was butchered by the savages while two more of Snyder‘s men were killed. A few regulars under Major Riley came to Captain Snyder’s relief and the Indians fled with a loss of four dead. The thirty days enlistment was up and Captain Snyder’s men were mustered out.

       The new levies began concentrating at Fort Wilburn near Peru, in June, and the task of organizing them was not an easy one. Three brigades were formed with Generals Alexander Posey, Milton K. Alexander, and James D. Henry in command. There were about one thousand men in each division. They were accepted by General Atkinson as United States troops. Governor Reynolds used good diplomacy in his appointments to the various positions in the army. In addition to the three brigades there were two or three independent organizations whose duty was to guard the frontier.

       Major Dement with one hundred and fifty men was sent to guard the region of Kellogg’s Grove while the main army moved up the Rock river. Major Dement and his men arrived at the Kellogg Grove on Saturday, June 21, and took up quarters in some old log houses which had been the home of Mr. O. W. Kellogg. Upon the opening of hostilities he had moved nearer Dixon’s ferry. They put their horses in a lot fenced in with a brush fence. Sunday night a Mr. Funk, of McLean county, stayed over night with the troops and reported Indians in the vicinity. On the morrow, twenty-five soldiers started in pursuit. They were drawn into the edge of the timber by straggling Indians when out rushed hundreds of naked savages with their faces blackened. The troops fled precipitately to the log huts with scarcely time enough to put their horses in the brush lot and get into the fort. Four dead were left on the field. All that day the Indians circled round, firing continuously into the fort. Dement lost only the four men but had several wounded. The Indians seeing they could do no harm to the men in the fort, began a slaughter of horses in the brush-fenced lot. Governor Reynolds says forty-seven horses were killed at the fort besides two or three on the battlefield.

       After the battle had raged an hour or so, messengers were sent to P 189 Dixon for reinforcements. As good fortune would have it these messengers met General Posey, who was on his way north to the Wisconsin line. General Posey hurried forward and reached the fort by night and the Indians seeing that reinforcements had arrived, slipped away.

       The Rev. Samuel Westbrook told the writer that he was with General Posey‘s troops and that there were sixty horses killed and that they were nearly all killed by one Indian who was hidden behind a tree. This Indian was finally killed and the slaughter of the horses ceased.

       The next morning after the arrival of General Posey a grave was dug with tomahawks and knives and the four dead soldiers whose bodies had been mangled beyond recognition, were buried in one grave. This ended the war in that section. Black Hawk was present and was probably the commanding spirit in the attack upon Captain Snyder as well as the one on Major Dement.

       After his defeat at Kellogg‘s Grove by Major Dement‘s forces, Black Hawk retreated with all his people to the hills of southern Wisconsin. General Atkinson followed with nearly four thousand men. Upon reaching Burnt Village the army halted. Here there seemed so much indecision and lack of plan in the campaign that the volunteers became much discouraged. Food became scarce and desertions were quite the order of the day.

       After some counseling, it was decided to disperse the army to obtain food. A strong detachment went to Fort Winnebago, at the Wisconsin portage, for supplies. General Atkinson returned down Rock river to Kosh-Ko-Nong, General Posey to Fort Hamilton. Governor Reynolds came to his home in Belleville.

       The detachment which went to Fort Winnebago under General Dodge and General Henry, was about ready to return with provisions when they received word that Black Hawk was on Rock river about thirty-five miles above the point where General Atkinson was in camp. After some conferences among the officers it was decided to attack Black Hawk instead of returning to General Atkinson as he had ordered. General Henry, therefore made all preparations for what he thought ought to be the end of the campaign. With a very well equipped army of probably a thousand men or less, he started in quest of Black Hawk. The wily chief knew he was in danger and immediately began a retreat, passing by the four lakes where Wisconsin’s beautiful capital is now situated. He was vigorously pushed by General Henry. On the bluffs of the Wisconsin river about twenty-five miles northwest of Madison, the Indians were overtaken.

       A desperate stand was made by Black Hawk, but at the end of the day’s fighting he crossed the river leaving one hundred and sixty-eight of his braves dead upon the field of battle, and twenty-five more were found dead between the Wisconsin and the Mississippi. General Henry lost but one man killed and eight wounded.

       General Henry was now without provisions, deserted by his Indian guides, and in the wilderness. While here he received word from General Atkinson to repair to the mounds some twenty miles south of west of Madison where the regular army would have provisions. The wounded were carried on stretchers to that point. After a slight rest the army now under General Atkinson crossed the Wisconsin at a deserted village called Helena, and started in pursuit of the enemy. Black Hawk’s band was in a truly deplorable condition. They were P 190 living on roots, bulbs, and game such as could be had, and are said to have killed their horses for flesh. Nor were the soldiers in very excellent condition. They had provisions, but they slept in open air, tramped through swamps, climbed precipitous bluffs, and scrambled through briars and dense underbrush. On August 2, 1832, the army reached the Mississippi bluffs about forty miles on a straight line above the mouth of the Wisconsin river. Here was to be enacted the final scene of this tragedy of greed and treachery.

       The Indians had reached the above point a day or so in advance of the army and were busily engaged in making preparations to cross. In fact they had already sent some of their people over to the west side and were embarking their women and children in canoes to go to Prairie du Chien for safety. A part of them were lost on the way and those who reached the village were in a starving condition. While all this was going on, a steamboat, the Warrior, coming up the river to bring supplies to General Atkinson’s army, reached the camp August 13. This vessel was prepared for battle and upon approaching the camp of Black Hawk, which was in the valley near the banks of the Mississippi, it was hailed with a white flag. The captain ordered the Indians to come along side in a canoe but they refused, and he then gave them fifteen minutes to get the women and children out of danger. He then fired a six-pounder into their midst and a battle of an hour  followed. The vessel returned to Prairie du Chien and remained over night. As a result of this attack by the boat, twenty-three of Black Hawk’s men lay dead in the valley.

       On the morning of the second of August the army appeared on the bluffs overlooking the valley and the Indian encampment. Black Hawk, to shield the operations which were going on for crossing the river, took  twenty warriors and engaged the army on the bluffs and then retreated up the river with the purpose of misleading General Atkinson. This worked to perfection for the regulars, the Wisconsin contingent, and some of the Illinois militia set off post haste after Black Hawk leaving only General Henry and Major Ewing. When the commanding general and the troops were gone, Henry and Ewing moved down the bluffs and across the valley and presently discovered the Indians near the river bank where they had been attacked by the steamboat the day before. General Henry and the Indians were soon engaged and as General Henry’s soldiers pushed forward with fixed bayonets the poor savages were shot down, bayoneted, or driven into the river. There were about three hundred braves, and in Henry's little band about three hundred soldiers. During all this time General Atkinson had been decoyed off up the river and returned only when General Henry had finished the work of annihilating the Indians. It is estimated that one hundred and fifty Indians lost their lives in trying to swim the river, one hundred and fifty were killed, a few got safely across to the west side, fifty women and children were captured, while Black Hawk and about twenty warriors escaped up the river.

THE END

       The war was now considered ended and the Illinois soldiers were marched to Dixon, where they were mustered out and thence returned to their homes. Gen. Winfield Scott had been ordered from Fortress P 191 Monroe on the 7th of August, 1832, to assist in the restoration of order and in the punishment of the insolent savages. He made the trip from the seaboard to Chicago in eighteen days—the distance being one thousand five hundred miles.

       The Asiatic cholera broke out in his army and he did not take any part in the “war.” Black Hawk finally was induced to come to Fort Armstrong (Rock Island) to sign a treaty, but the parties of the treaty were conveyed to St. Louis where the Sac and Fox Indians ceded everything east of the Mississer to the United States. Black Hawk was kept a prisoner in Fortress Monroe a while in the spring of 1833. Later he was given a brief visit to the principal cities in New England, after which he was returned to General Street, the Indian agent at Fort Armstrong. He was put under the wardship of Keoknk, which Black Hawk considered a great indignity. He died at the age of seventy-one years. Black Hawk was an Indian with more than ordinary power. He was a man whose thoughts occupied a very high plane, as did those of other Indian chiefs, but he was shrewd, quick to see an advantage, persistent, revengeful. History has been written by two or three different writers.

       The war closed with the battle of Bad Axe on the second of August, 1832. The soldiers returned to their homes and quiet was restored. The general government bore the expenses of the war which are said to have reached $2,000,000. There were killed about two hundred and fifty regulars, and about the same number of militia men and settlers; the Indians suffered a loss of probably three hundred.

       There has been some question as to whether this war might not have been averted. It was a good deal to ask Indians who had cleared seven hundred acres of land and had it in cultivation, to move off and go into a new country. The conduct of the whites in encroaching upon the lands, village, and burying ground in the vicinity of Saukenuk was wholly inexcusable. Moses says: “The real cause of the war existed in that almost universal detestation in which the Indians were held by the pioneers. Their presence could not be tolerated, and whether the lands occupied by them were needed by the whites or not, the cry was ‘The Indians must go!’

       The “war” made several reputations. For quite a number of years it was a passport to official position to be able to say, “I was a soldier in the Black Hawk war.” General Henry, who seems to have been providentially favored in the war never lived to reap political profit as a reward for his services. He was a native of Pennsylvania and came to Edwardsville in 1822. He secured an education under very difficult circumstances, working as a mechanic by day and attending night schools in the evening. In 1826 he removed to Springfield and was shortly elected sheriff of Sangamon county. It was as an officer that Governor Reynolds’ attention was called to him. After the war his health failing, he visited New Orleans for medical attention, and for the benefit the climate might do, but nothing availed and he died of consumption, March 4, 1834. It is said that before the war he was supposed to have had a sound constitution but that the hardships incident to two years of military life undermined his health and he died as above stated. His modesty is attested by the fact that he did not let the people of New Orleans know that he was the real hero in the Black Hawk war. P 192

       Among other men who made praiseworthy records was Governor Reynolds himself, who never tired in his devotion to his duty as the commander-in-chief of the militia. Thomas Ford and Joseph Duncan both became governors of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were soldiers in the Black Hawk war. Quite a number of men who became prominent state officers were officers or soldiers in the war.

SECOND HALF OF ADMINISTRATION

       During the second half of Governor Reynold‘s term as chief executive there was little of general public interest. The state, by the apportionment based on the census of 1830, was entitled to three congressmen. This apportionment was made in time for the selection at the regular election in August, 1832. The three men selected were Zadoc Casey, Charles Slade, and Joseph Duncan, The election for members of the general assembly occurred at the same time. The legislature met in December. The governor’s message dealt somewhat with national politics, since Jackson and the South Carolina nullifiers were in the public eye. Reynolds urged upon the attention of the general assembly the cause of education, the Illinois and Michigan canal, or a railroad instead, and the penitentiary system. The house of representatives early in this session brought charges against Theophilus W. Smith, one of the justices of the supreme court. He was formally impeached, and tried before the senate, but was acquitted. The legislature adjourned without accomplishing very much in the way of needed legislation.

       In the summer of 1834 there was another congressional election. And although Reynold's time as governor would not be out till December, 1834, yet he announced himself a candidate for congress and was elected. The lieutenant governor, Zadoc Casey, had resigned two years before to go to congress and now Reynolds resigned as governor and the burden and honor of the chief magistracy fell upon the shoulders of Gen. W. L. D. Ewing, who served as governor fifteen days and until the inauguration of Governor Duncan.

       Governor Ewing was a Kentuckian. He came to Illinois prior to 1820, and held a federal appointment in this state under President Monroe; served in the legislature, and as brigadier general of the “Spy Battalion” in the Black Hawk war. He was elected president pro tem of the senate in the ninth general assembly and thus became the constitutional successor of Governor Reynolds upon the latter’s resignation. Governor Ewing later served in congress as representative and as senator. He also held the office of auditor. He died in 1846.

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