in these volumes is printed the story of how these men speculated and dreamed of what they could do with these level lands of sunshine and rain; and here, too, is the story of their failure. Their immediate purposes were not accomplished in the Illinois country by these men, but their efforts prepared the way in the wilderness and their successors have come to enjoy the fruits of their labor. THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY, 1763-1765 The French colony in the Illinois country had been originally established to form a connecting link between the colonies in Louisiana on the south and Canada on the north. La Salle himself had recognized the strategic value of such an establishment from both a commercial and a military viewpoint. Even before any settlements had been made on the lower Mississippi, in 1680, he and his associates had attempted the formation of a colony on the Illinois River, near the present site of Peoria.1 This was a failure. The end of the century, however, saw the beginning of a more successful and permanent colony, when Catholic missionaries from Quebec established missions at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, near the home of the Illinois Indians. French hunters and fur traders soon followed, and during the first two decades of the eighteenth century a considerable number of families emigrated from Canada. The permanency of the settlement was thus assured. In the early period of the history of the settlement it was looked upon as a part of the French province of Quebec. In 1717, however, the Illinois country, as it had come to be called, was annexed to the province of Louisiana. The Illinois country now entered upon a period of prosperity, many new enterprises being undertaken, notably the opening of lead mines. Shortly after its annexation to Louisiana, Pierre Boisbriant was commissioned to govern the country, 1 Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 312. 2 Archives nationales, Archives du ministère des colonies, A22:40. and among his instructions was an order to erect a fort as protection against possible encroachments from the English and Spanish. About 1720 Fort de Chartres was completed and became thereafter the seat of government during the French régime.1 In 1721 Louisiana was divided into nine districts, one of which was known as the Illinois district,2 extending east and west of the Mississippi River between the lines, approximately, of the Arkansas River on the south and the fortieth parallel on the north. This division left the French settlement at Ouiatanon to the Quebec government while Post Vincennes on the lower Wabash fell in the Louisiana jurisdiction. In 1731 Louisiana, which had hitherto been in the hands of the Company of the Indies, became a royal province. The Illinois "district" remained in this status until the close of the Seven Years War, when that portion of the district east of the Mississippi River was ceded to England as a part of Canada. With the exception of Detroit the Illinois country contained the most considerable French population in the Old Northwest. At the end of the French period the population was centered in a number of villages scattered along the Mississippi River from near the mouth of the Kaskaskia River northward seventy-five miles to Cahokia. The village of Kaskaskia, at the extreme south, was the largest town of the group, with eighty houses, five hundred whites, and about an equal number of Negroes. Some seventeen miles north was Prairie du Rocher with a population of one 1 After 1748 the French government spent a large sum of money on the rebuilding of the fort and it was regarded as the most imposing edifice of its kind in the West. For description see post, v. 2, consult index. 2 Regulations for the Government of the District. Archives nationales, Archives du ministère des colonies, B43: 103. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 5:43; Pownall, Administration of the Colonies, 192. 3 Ibid. |