Lieutenant Rogers had orders to conduct them to Williamsburg, Virginia, from the Falls, where they were ironed and confined in jail until September 25th following, when they were ordered to Hanover Court-House, where they were released on parole, to remain within certain limits. Thus ended General George Rogers Clark's campaign against the English in the Northwest, achieving victories. as brilliant as any recorded in American history, whose far-reaching and beneficent results were commensurate with the most astute diplomacy the Nation has evolved. Following the capture of Vincennes by General Clark, with Virginia and volunteer troops from Illinois, in 1779, and the treaty of peace with Great Britain having been made in 1783, with the United States, Virginia ceded the conquered territory of the Northwest to the United States in 1784. In 1787 the Northwestern Territory, embracing the regions between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes of the north, was organized. Congress, in 1788, appointed Arthur Sinclair Governor of this Territory, with his capital at Marietta, Ohio, and he appointed Winthrop Sargent, in 1790, to come to Vincennes to lay out a county and to establish a court. The county was named Knox, in honor of General Henry Knox, then Secretary of War; and for a like reason, in 1788, while Major Hamtranck was stationed here, at the suggestion of General Harmar, Fort Patrick Henry was changed, in name, to that of Fort Knox. May 7, 1800, the Territory of Indiana was organized, including in its boundaries Michigan and Illinois (its population then being 4,875), under the name of Knox county, and its capital established at Vincennes. was In 1800 General William Henry Harrison appointed Governor of the Territory, but he did not enter upon his duties until January, 1801. A Territorial Government was then formed, but the legislative branch did not organize until the 29th of July, 1805, when it met in the house on the south corner of Broadway and Second streets; a little later, in 1809, in the first court house erected on the northwest corner of Buntin and Third streets. There is another contention as to the house and place of meeting of the Territorial Legislature, and that is that it met in the upper rooms of the two-story frame building on the southwest side of Main street, about the center of the block, between Second and Third streets, access to it being by an outside stairway. I think these discrepancies may be reconciled by supposing that the legislative body did meet at the respective buildings named. The first meetings occurred on Broadway; subsequently they were held in the first court house, and finally in the building on Main street, just preceding the removal of the seat of government to Corydon. The latter building is said to have been removed to Upper Third street, this side of the park, and near the southwest corner of Third and Hickman streets. What makes the latter statement plausible is the fact that a house stands at the point indicated, the southwestern side, showing, by the pieced weatherboarding, that an outside stairway once gave entrance to the upper rooms. The house is in a fair state of preservation and is owned by Mr. Thomas Murphy, who inherited it from an aunt. The house, he says, was moved from Main street in 1858 to the present site. It is said by renters *W. H. Smith Hist. Ind., p. 200. who occupy it now that the upper part of the building contained originally but one room, about twenty feet square, but is now divided into smaller rooms. Mr. Murphy showed the writer an iron lock, taken off the cellar door, of huge proportions, weighing several pounds, 8x12 inches in width and length, with a key about ten inches in length and weighing one-half pound. They are thought to be of English manufacture, the tumbler and key being of an intricate nature, and well fitted to baffle lock-pickers and burglars. The lock was probably used to secure valuables and gives color to the claim that the house was once the meeting place of the Legislature, or was the office of the receiver of public moneys. It is in a fair working condition, despite the ravages of the rust of time, and works and looks as if it could endure use another century. Governor Harrison retained his office a year after he fought the battle of Tippecanoe, when he resigned, having been appointed to command the Army of the Northwest, on the 24th day of September, 1812. General Thomas Posey succeeded him and was installed May 25, 1813. On June 30, 1805, Michigan Territory was set off from Indiana Territory, and March 1, 1809, Illinois was detached from it, leaving Indiana Territory with its present boundaries. Vincennes ceased to be the capital March 11, 1813, it then being moved to Corydon, where, on June 10th, the first meeting of the convention to form a State Constitution met. Corydon continued to be the capital until the Territory assumed statehood, in 1816, when it was moved to its present site, the city of Indianapolis. T Chapter III. FORTS-TOWN AND COUNTY. HE first authentic mention of the erection of a fort at the trading Indian village, Che-pe-ko-ke, the site of the city of Vincennes, is found in a letter* written by Morgan de Vincennes, March 7, 1733, and was in answer to his superior officer, asking what progress he had made in establishing a post at this place, he having been ordered here. through an edict from the French Government, which was dated Paris, France, January 1, 1731. Many efforts had been previously made to get a post established here by the commandant. of the "Illinois country" and interested trading companies, but had failed up to this time. It would take some time for the order to reach this country, and the likelihood is that it did not reach Vincennes before the latter part of the year 1731, or the beginning of 1732. This view of the case may be inferred, as the records show that he only drew one-half pay in 1731 for services at this post, and full pay in 1732. In his answer to his superior he stated that he had built a fort and two houses, but needed a barracks, thirty more soldiers and an officer. This statement, made in March, 1733, indicates the erection of the fort the previous year, and that the year 1732 is, no doubt, when the first fort was built. Having been called to Louisiana in 1736, with Ind. Hist. Pub. for 1902, p. 29. |