THE WAR OF 1812
Upon the declaration of war by Congress in June 1812 the Pottawatomies and most of the other tribes of Indians in the Territory of Illinois strongly sympathized with the British.
The savages had been hostile and restless for some time previous, and blockhouses and family forts had been erected at a number of points, especially in the settlements most exposed to the incursions of the savages.
Governor Edwards, becoming apprehensive of a outbreak, constructed Fort Russell, a few miles from Edwardsville. Taking the field in person he made this his headquarters, and collected a force of 250 mounted volunteers who were later reinforced by two companies of rangers, under Col. William Russell, numbering about 100 men.
An independent company of twenty-one spies, of which John Reynolds (afterwards Governor) was a member, was also formed and led by Capt. Samuel Judy. The Governor organized his little army into two regiments under Colonels Rector and Stephenson, Colonel Russell serving as second to the commander in chief, other members of his staff being Secretary Nathaniel Pope and Robert K. McLaughlin.
On October 18 1812 Governor Edwards, with his men set out for Peoria, where it was expected that their force would meet that of General Hopkins, who had been sent from Kentucky with a force of 2,000 men. En route, two Kickapoo villages were burned and a number of Indians unnecessarily slain by Edward's party. Hopkins had orders to disperse the Indians on the Illinois and Wabash Rivers and destroy their villages.
He determined, however on reaching the headwaters of the Vermilion to proceed no farther. Governor Edwards reached the head of Peoria Lake, but failing to meet Hopkins, returned to Fort Russell. About the same time Capt. Thomas E. Craig led a party, in two boats, up the Illinois River to Peoria. His boats as he alleged, having been fired upon in the night by Indians who were harbored and protected by the French citizens of Peoria, he burned the greater part of the village and capturing the population, carried them down the river, putting them on shore, in the early part of the winter just below Alton.
Other desultory expeditions marked the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. The Indians meanwhile gaining courage remote settlements were continually harassed by marauding bands. Later in 1814, an expedition led by Major (afterwards President) Zachary Taylor, ascended the Mississippi as far as Rock Island where he found a large force of Indians supported by British regulars with artillery. Finding himself unable to cope with so formidable a foe Major Taylor retreated down the river.
On the site of the present town of Warsaw he threw up fortifications which he named Fort Edwards, from which point he was subsequently compelled to retreat. The same year the British with their Indian allies, descended from Mackinac captured Prairie Du Chien and burned Forts Madison and Johnston after which they retired to Cap Au Gris.
The treaty of Ghent, signed December 24, 1814 closed the war although no formal treaties were made with the tribes until the year following.