The January 14, 2010, meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library in Edwardsville, Illinois.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
Reports:
In the absence of our
Treasurer LaVerne Bloemker, Secretary, Barbara Hitch presented
the financial reports for the months of November and December
2009.
November
December
Dues for 2010 are
now being accepted. We would very much appreciate receiving your
renewal checks by ASAP. Present members will receive one more
Newsletter in February.
Do you have a family
member that is interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy?
A membership in the Madison County Genealogical Society would
be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will be sent to the recipient
of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Barbara Hitch, at [email protected],
about a gift membership.
Librarian, Elsie Wasser, reported that we had
received a new book: Celebrating 150 Years: 1860-2010, History
of Salem United Church of Christ in Alhambra, Illinois.
Elsie also reported that she had a conversation with Ms. Amy Pulliam
of Glen Carbon concerning her thesis. Ms. Pulliam's subject is
Cholera Epidemics in St. Louis and Edwardsville. Part of the thesis
relates how the citizens of Edwardsville learned to protect themselves
from cholera by the things that were done in St. Louis. We will
receive a copy of the thesis when it is in its final form.
On January 14, 2010, due to rescheduled prior
commitments, our speaker, Bill Wilson, was unable to attend our
meeting. However, his co-author and literary collaborator, and
President of the Bond County Genealogical Society, Kevin Kaegy,
presented the program on Hill's Fort - The Tales Continue.
Mr. Kaegy talked about the connection of the area, especially
Edwardsville, to the War of 1812. The Illinois Territorial Governor,
Ninian Edwards, was based at Fort Russell, just north of Edwardsville,
near present day Illinois Route 159. Governor Edwards was calling
for an increased military presence in the Territory. At this time,
there were 5,000 - 7,000 white settlers in the Illinois Territory,
along with as many as 100,000 Native Americans. Most of the Indians
had moved from Southern Illinois to the north central portion
of the territory.
During the War of 1812, there was no standing army in the Illinois
Territory but groups of volunteer soldiers. Almost every landowner
in what is now Madison, Bond, and St. Clair Counties all served
terms in the regiments. As a show of strength, they would march
from fort to fort and the Indians would not attack. In that time
period, Indians would very rarely attack an armed fort. Hill's
Fort in Bond County was one of the unique instances where that
happened.
In September of 1814, 26 members of the Illinois Rangers had gathered
at Hill's Fort because signs of Indians had been seen in the area.
It was decided to ride out of the fort and drive off any roving
bands of Indians.
When the Rangers were about a half-mile west of the fort, they
walked into an ambush of about 80 Pottawatomie Indians hiding
over the ridge. Gunshots rang out and four of the Rangers fell
dead (they were buried on that ridge and have had burial markers
placed there). Several others were injured. One man shot off his
horse was Tom Higgins.
It was a cool damp September morning and the black powder smoke
hung in a heavy cloud over the hillside. Under cover of the cloud
of smoke, Tom got to some trees and got his horse, with the intention
of riding back to the fort to safety. As he was mounting his horse,
one of his wounded comrades, called out to him and asked Tom not
to leave him behind. Tom told him to get on the horse and they
both could ride. His fellow Ranger, William Burgess, said he could
not because his leg was broken from the wound he had received.
While Tom was trying to help his friend get on the horse, the
horse spooked and ran away. So Tom and William are stranded on
the hillside under a cloud of smoke.
Tom told his friend to crawl towards the fort while he led the
Indians off in a different direction. Having been shot once, Tom
ran out of the cover of the brush and smoke towards the fort.
About half way there, he saw two Indians running from the fort
towards him. They had been watching the fort. Another Indian was
coming from the side - he now had three Indians closing in on
him. Tom realizes that he is going to have to take a volley of
fire and hopefully he can kill one of the Indians. Tom stopped
and the Indians fired. By turning his body, Tom was able to reduce
the effect of the Indians' shots. He took three bullets to the
thigh but nothing vital was hit. He kept running toward the fort,
stumbling and falling occasionally. The Indians stopped to reload.
Tom then received another bullet wound.
As the Indians closed in, they realized that Tom has not fired
his rifle, and they assumed it must not be loaded. The largest
of the Indians rushed Tom and, at point blank range, Tom fired
and killed him. The other two Indians, now knowing Tom's rifle
was unloaded, charged him with knives, spears, and tomahawks,
stabbing and cutting Tom. They threw a tomahawk at him, cutting
off his ear. One of the Indians stabbed Tom with his spear and
Tom fell to the ground. When the Indian tried to pull the spear
out for another attack, he lifted Tom to his feet, whereupon Tom
clubbed the Indian with the butt of his rifle, killing him. Now
it is down to Tom and one Indian.
The remaining Indian decided he could not let an injured man get
away, so they engaged in hand-to-hand combat with knives. The
fighting continued until both men were out of breath. They were
crawling around looking for the Indians' guns.
In the meantime, in the fort about a quarter mile away is a lady
by the name of Lydia Pursley. She is telling the Rangers that
they cannot let the Indians kill a man as brave as Tom Higgins.
They must go rescue him. The men tell her they cannot risk going
out because there are too many Indians. While this argument is
going on, the cloud of smoke has cleared and the Indians are running
to the aid of their comrade engaged in combat with Tom.
Lydia Pursley grabbed a gun from one of the men, threw open the
gate, and ran out to help Tom. The men, not to be outdone by a
woman, took off after Lydia. They got to Tom before the Indians;
he had finally passed out. They threw him over a horse and brought
him back to the fort. When they closed the gate, the Indians retired
from the field of battle. This was the last Indian battle of the
War of 1812 in the Illinois Territory.
Tom Higgins recovered from his wounds. He married and moved near
present day Vandalia, north of where the prison is now located.
He became the doorkeeper for the Illinois House of Representatives.
He moved to Galena when the lead mines opened, about 1826-27.
Tom was pretty much a hell-raiser. He got into a dispute with
another man in Galena and they fought a duel. Tom chose rocks.
The two men stood 20 feet apart and threw rocks at each other.
The other guy fled for his life because Tom was an expert rock
thrower. You will find tales of Tom Higgins in the Clinton County
history books, the Fayette County history books, and the Jo Davies
County history books - usually lawsuits following wherever he
went.
Tom was always referred to as "Old Tom Higgins." He
was 36 years old when he died. Tom has a burial marker in front
of the warden's home at the prison at Vandalia on Illinois Route
51.
William Burgess also survived the Battle of Hill's Fort.
Mr. Kaegy also spent some time discussing the formation of the
Illinois War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. He mentioned the
website: http://illinoiswarof1812bicentennial.org/
and requested people visit the website and see what they could
do to help.
This presentation was very well received by the audience.