The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-30
H00SIER TRIANGLE
NARROW hit OF TERRITORY OF
GREAT HISTORIC IMPORTANCE.
within It's Limits Freedom for the
Northwest Was Won and an impe-
tus Given to Science and Learning.


There lies In the State OF Indiana an
area of a few square miles which is, per-
haps, deserving Of as much historical honor
as any space OF its size in America.
1t is bounded on the west by the beautiful
Wabash, on the south by la belle riviere and
on the north and east by line OF low hills
called the Knobs" At present ii Is rich
and peaceful country side, remarkable for
its well-tilled farms, its fine cattle and
horses. its superior yield of wheat and corn
and its beautiful towns and villages, where
churches and schools abound.
One hundred and twenty-one years ago
there was a stockade inclosing dilapidated
blockhouse on the Wabash, where the city
Of Vincennes now spreads its tree-shaded
and prettily ornamented squares Of archi-
lecture and landscape gardening. 1t was
French post, around which huddled nearly
a hundred cabins. one Of them Catholic
church, and 1t had been settlement for
a long while, probably since about 1710, al
though there is not much evidence reaching
farther back than 1727.
When the New England skirmishers at
Lexington fired their pattering voiley Vim
cennes was sleepy creole village of about
five hundred inhabitants. 1t controlled the,
Wabash valley with all the trading facili-
Spain had firm hold upon large part of
the South, while France and England were
sparring for position in the Northwest. The
English had a force at Detroit, but the
French missionaries. traders and coureurs
de bois had the confidence and patronage
OF the Indians.
CLARK'S HISTORIC MOVE.
In IT'S Col. George Rogers Clark led
small band of volunteers to Kaskaskia a
fort and village not far from ST. Louis,
which he easily captured. This success gave
him confidence in a plan already much
thought of to take Vincennes. At Kaskas-
kia he found Catholic priest, Father Gil
bault, who willingly undertook to do this
piece Of work for him, not by military force,
but at the point of his tongue. Clark, with
his fine native power Of judging men, took
the priests measure, and, when satisfied.
sent him on the important errand, not with
out the precaution. however, Of dispatching
with him trusted spy to see that there
should be no treachery.
Father Gibault was faithful and honest
man. as well as a true and influential priest.
Arriving at Vincennes he found the COM
mander absent at Detroit and no garrison
In the fort. The inhabitants were ali Catho-
hes. and they gave him welcome, for, in
tact, Nlncennes was within his priestly jur-
little church, St. Francis Xavier. and ex-
planned to his audience the political and
military situation, telling them that the
Americans had captured Kaskaskia, which
would be a base for wider conquest Fur
thermore. he informed them of a treaty be-
tween France and the American govern
tually Joined In war against England: and
ne advised them to take the oath Of ale
glance TO America.
There was no hesitation on the part of
those mercurial creoles They had never
been warm friends of the English. who were
persistent In efforts to take their fur trade
II that Frenchmen ever let pass an oppor-
tunity TO join In a revolution? 1t was a
Wabash in the midst of a wilderness II nra ae
t1cally unlimited. Their nearest neighbors
lived six hundred miles northwestward at
and handful at Oniatenoa; while south,
ward. thousand miles distant, was New
orleans. and eastward, far over the plains
and mountains, lay the fringe of colonies
along the Atlantic coast. So they shouted:
''Vive PAmerique!' and took the oath.
KEY TO THE COUNTRY.
Now when Father Gibault went back 70
Kaskaskia. he handed to Colonel Clark the
key to Vincennes, so to speak. There was
nothing to do but take possession and Can't.
Leonard Helm was sent to act as COM
mander of the post. Helm took no force
with him: there was no force to take. but
he was expected to organize the creoles and
strengthep the fort. What he did do was
almost nothing: for the merry Frenchmen
on the Wabash had no strong taste for mill
tary discipline, or for cutting logs to build
a blockhouse. They mad always wandered
at VIII IN the woods and on the prairies, as
wild and free as the Indians. why should
| they now coop themselves up in a stockade
| and be drilled by an officer? They wouId
90 nothing of the sort. Pas du tout, mes
| m in oil
| mountain when the mountain would NOT
| come to him. He brewed toddies and drank
VITO the sturdy traders and swanking
coureurS de Dols, meantime gaining some in
huence. over the Indians round about 1t
was jolly sort of life for a man past mid
/ Ole, age. who had seen rough times and was
| inclined to be ease-seeking and ioviaI. b n
IL lasted not long Down upon him swooped
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, of Detroit
the game spirit in Helm flashed UP bril-
hantly., Single-handed, or nearly So he
am and GG With it b to ns ge OF
commander into accepting him as a prisoner
of war with full honors!
A MOMENTOUS SIEGE.
Hamilton Immediately demanded an oath
| OF allegiance from the French inhabitants
who complied as promptly as they had with
Father Gibault's like request. Not less
facile and agreeable was Captain Helm. He
breved toddies and played cards with his
|
of American patriots, was making a march
scarcely paralleled in all history. He set out
from Kaskaskia with a mere handful of
men, in the dead Of winter, to cross the
wilderness of Illinois. They tramped over
! Icy plains, they waded freezing streams
they faced terrible rain and sleet, they
| marched with their clothes frozen stiff upon
| them, they swan, they used RATS, they half
starved; but in the end they captured Ham
| lton, N1ncenneS and the whole of the great
! Northwest by a single move.
| PROBABLY the little siege of Vincennes
| lasting but a few hours, the fight a mere
| skirmish, the attacking party losing not a
| man, was the briefest and slightest military
| engagement that ever won the territory OF
an empire Who says that we Americans
! have not always waged conquest? Clarks
J miniature campaign in February, 1779 gave
US the lands. tenements and Entertainments
l or all the tribes east of the Mississippi and
| north OF the Ohio. The little post at Vim
| cennes, once securely clutched by US was
never let go again. At present, instead of
! being the headquarters of the Piankeshaws
| It Is very near the center OF population, not
| of the Indians, but of Americans mum boring
| 100000.
INTELLECTUAL LIFE.
Later our triangle in Hoosierland took to
| itself another notable distinction. Not far
from Vincennes. just little way down the
Wabash. is the drowsy old village of New
Harmony, where the Rappites had their
community in the early part OF the present