Illinois First Inhabitants Mr. Weaver Local History

Native American Tribes of Illinois Illinois Natives belong to the Algonquin family. Tribes of the state were joined together in a confederacy called the Illini meaning real men. Tribes belonging to this confederacy were the Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Michigamies, Peoras, and Tamaroas. The Illini Confederacy and the Shawnee Indians were enemies.

The Shawnee Indians occupied what is considered the Ohio River Valley The Shawnee Indians occupied what is considered the Ohio River Valley. The Shawnee’s occupied the territory of Southern Illinois from the Ohio River to the Big Muddy River. The territory west of the Big Muddy River and too the Mississippi River was occupied by Kaskaskia Indians. Both tribes view what would become Franklin County as their hunting grounds and had several battles over who would control the rights to it.

Big Muddy River

Franklin County Kaskaskia Shawnee

Around 1802 the Kaskaskias had crossed the Big Muddy and were encroaching on Shawnee lands. A battle ensued on Townmount prairie near the crossroads of the Pershing road and Route 149. According to legend the battle may have started on or near Frankfort Hill. During the battle the Kaskaskias were slowly being pushed back west across the Big Muddy until the Shawnees had won the battle. The Kaskaskia tribe was led by their chief John Baptiste DuQuoin who was half French.

Site of the 1802 Native American Battle

The first Europeans in Southern Illinois The French were the first to occupy what would become Southern Illinois. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer. He was the first to refer to territory occupied by the Illini Confederacy as Illinois. The French made a settlement near the indian village Kaskaskia around 1700.

La Salle

The French believed that by building a network of forts that they would be able to defend the territory. These forts include Fort Kaskaskia, Fort Chartres, and Fort Massac. The French were exploring the Mississippi and Ohio Valley to establish a fur trade. There is no record of when the first Frenchman would have set foot in what would become Franklin County. According to legend the first French in this area were here in search of buffalo skins

Fort Massac

Fort Kaskaskia

Fort Chartres

France loses Control From 1754 until 1763 France and Great Britain were engaged in the French and Indian War. This was a war over who would control the Ohio River Valley. The French were defeated and in the 1763 Treaty of Paris France surrendered what is today Illinois to Great Britain. Great Britain would hold Claim to the Illinois Territory until the American Revolution.

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone and his men cut a trail across the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. This road will give settlers easier access to the Illinois territory.

During the American Revolution Colonel George Roger’s Clark and his army known as the Long Knives marched across Southern Illinois capturing Fort Massac and Fort Kaskaskia in 1778. Clark’s army then marched east capturing Fort Vincennes on the Indiana side of the Wabash River in in 1779. As a result of Clark and his army the at the end of the Revolutionary War the United States would control the Illinois territory as well as all lands east of the Mississippi River.

George Rogers Clark

George Rogers Clark Marker located in Herrin Illinois