Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-12-29

and Ottawas united, and
in an determination Of
their enemies. The Illinois had
never fully recovered from the blow
which had been given them centu-
ry before, by the 1roquois. Their
spirit and courage seemed broken
They suffered disaster after disaster,
until the sole remnant of once pow
erful nation found sufficient space on
the half acre of ground which crowns
the summit of Starved Rock. This
was SO situated that ten men could
repel an invasion by ten thousand,
even with the means of warfare then
at their command. No attempt was
made to take them by storm, but the
rock was beseiged on every side. AT
last, on a dark and stormy night, led
by their few remaining chiefs, they
stole down the narrow declivity,
and were met by solid wall of their
enemy. The horrid scene that en-
sued can better be imagined than
described. No quarter was asked or
given. For time the howlings of
the tempest were drowned by the
yells of the combatants aud the
shrieks of the victims. Desperation
lends strength to even enfeebled
arms, but no efforts of valor could
resist the overwhelming numbers,
actuated by the direst hate. The
braves fell one by one, fighting like
very fiends, and terribly did they
revenge themselves upon their ene-
mics. The few women and children
whom famine had left but enfcebled
skeletons fell easy victims to the war
clubs of the terrible savages, who
deemed it as much duty and almost
rs great glory to slaughter the
emaciated women and helpless chill
dren as to strike down the men who
were able to make resistance with
arms in their hands. They were
bent upon the utter determination of
their hated enemies, and most sue
cessfully did they bend their savage
energies to the bloody task. Soon
the victims matched the sloping
ground south and west Of the i'm
prcgnable rock, their bodies lying
stark upon the sand which lad been
thrown ur~ Wy the bfalffe Winds.
The walls Of the feeble and strong
had ceased to fret the night winds,
whose mournful sighs through the
neighboring pines sounded like a
sad requiem. Here was enacted the
fitting finale to that work of death
which had been commenced, scarcely
n mile away, a century before by the
still more savage and terrible Iro-
quois. But all were not killed.
There were eleven survivors, who
escaped in canoes, and after n long
and exciting race reached st. Louis,
where they told their appalling tale
to the commandment Of the fort, from
whom they received assurances of
protection, and were supplied with
food. This had barely been done
when their enemies arrived and
fiercely demanded their victims, that
no drop of blood Of their hated ene-
mics might longer circulatein human
veins. This was refused when they
retired, with impotent threats of
future vengeance, which they never
had the means Of executing. The
eleven survivors, the last remnant OF
the great Illinois nation, soon after
crossed the river and mingled with
other tribes, and that Is the last that
has been heard of them; it is not now
known that n drop Of their blood Is
in human veins.
This great victory secured for the
all the lands formerly
owned by their enemies. Chicago
was even a favorite resort of the
tribe. Here they held their councils,
and here they concluded the last
treaty with the government in 1888,
by which they disposed OF all their
lands in the United States,
except some specific reservations.
In 1885, and for the last time, the
whole tribe assembled at Chicago to
receive their annuity from the gov
ernment, and to make their final
start for the Missouri river. Chicago
had then begun to present the ap--
pearance of city, and these savages,
who had been in the habit of visiting
it when the grass grew waist high
where the Sherman and fremont
Houses stand, must have been i'm
pressed with the signs that a might
ier race had come, and that they
must fade away before it.
II