JOHN SHAW was known among the Indians as Es-sap-pan, the Raccoon, a name bestowed upon him by the tribes in recognition
of his cunning and sagacity. Many a time on the wild Illinois-Missouri border he outwitted the keenest senses in
the world, those of the Indian tribes. He gained the respect and admiration of the greatest tribal chiefs, Black
Hawk and Ke-o-kuck, and the prophets and "medicine men" of the Sauks and Foxes, of whose lives he gives
intimate and personal glimpses in his narrative of "The Indian Chiefs and Pioneers of the Northwest,"
dictated for the Wisconsin State Historical Society in September, 1855, and published in Volume 10 of the "Wisconsin
Historical Collections."
Shaw, as we have seen, never had a day's schooling; that is, schooling associated with a school room. But he was
not unschooled. If education is fitting one for the job of living, he, like Boone and others of the wilderness,
was highly educated. To suppose that these men of the frontier, who saw little or nothing of the inside of a school
room, were ignorant and uneducated is to suppose an untruth. They were educated to the highest degree in the arts
of making the most of their environment, of meeting the exigencies of life and the dangers to which they were constantly
exposed. These men were the sharpest-witted in American history
Of Shaw it might be said, as John M. Peck said of Boone: "In all that related to Indian sagacity, border life,
or the tactics of the skillful hunter, he excelled. The successful training of a hunter, or woodsman, is a kind
of education of mental discipline, differing from that of the school room, but not less effective in giving vigor
to the mind, quickness of apprehension, and habits of close observation. Indolence and imbecility never produced
a Simon Kenton, a Tecumseh, or a Daniel Boone (or, it may be added, a John Shaw). To gain the skill of an accomplished
hunter requires talents, patience, perseverance, sagacity and habits of thinking. Among other qualifications, knowledge
of human nature, especially of Indian character, is indispensable to the pioneer of a wilderness. Add to these
self-possession, self-control and promptness in execution. Persons who are unaccustomed to a frontier residence
know not how much, in the preservation of life, and in obtaining subsistence, depends on such characteristics."
Black Hawk was an especial admirer of John Shaw and more than once the great chief was entertained in Shaw's home
and partook of his hospitality. Black Hawk, 20 years after the thrilling adventures related by Shaw, recalled having
seen Es-sap-pan many times on the Missouri border in the days of 1812-14. He recalled, among other occasions, having
seen him at the time he escaped in a canoe at the mouth of the Cuivre river (which adventure has been related in
a preceding chapter), although Shaw did not then know that Black Hawk himself was among the surprise party. Black
Hawk in September, 1832, then a captive of the American forces, told John Shaw a story of his movements precipitating
the Black Hawk war, so astounding and so at variance with his dictated account of that affair given in the following
year, as to make it from an historical standpoint one of the most important of the Shaw narratives.
Shaw, as has been related, importuned by the settlers at the outset of the War of 1812 to act as spy and scout
on the border, consented to act in that capacity on the frontier of St. Charles county. It should be understood
that St. Charles county then included all of that vast territory of the present state of Missouri between the Missouri
and Mississippi rivers, north. Lincoln, Pike, Ralls and other Missouri counties across the river and westward from
present Pike county, Illinois, were then embraced in St. Charles county, the capital of which, St. Charles, became
in 1821 the first capital of the new state of Missouri, following the meeting of the first General Assembly in
St. Louis in 1820.
Shaw thus continues his narrative of the closing days of the war when he, though acclaimed throughout the border
for his great services to the settlers, found himself financially embarrassed, his great work, attended by the
utmost danger, wholly unrequited in any substantial way:
"The death of General Howard, after a two days' illness, at St. Louis in September, 1814," says Shaw,
"was a serious loss to me. The certificate he had given me in 1813 I had carried with me during my spying
service in rains and storms, until it got frequently wet, and finally wore out; and I had relied on General Howard
to make the proper application for me to obtain adequate compensation from the government; but amid his multiplied
public duties, he had neglected to make the necessary representation, so far as I know, to the War Department.
Thus was I left at the close of the war without my certificate and General Howard in his grave."
Shaw here tells of the enlistment of the "Unknown Regiment," a regiment embodied in 1815 to protect the
frontier, and which was organized, marched and disbanded without ever being reported to the military authorities
and is therefore unknown to military records. In this narrative also appears the origin of the title of "Colonel"
worn by John Shaw and that of "Major" bestowed upon Levi Roberts.
"Early in the spring of 1815, while the Indians were still hostile, the young men of Cape Girardeau. St. Genevieve,
and parts of St. Charles and St. Louis counties, to the number of 750, formed a regiment, with a view of offering
its services to the government to protect Upper Louisiana. Meeting at Cape Girardeau I was chosen Colonel, and
Levi Roberts Major of the new regiment. The Rangers had been disbanded, perhaps the previous fall. Two hundred
and fifty of the regiment embodied at Portage des Sioux (a short distance above the mouth of the Missouri river),
about April, 1815, and taking the command, I marched them up the Mississippi to Rock Island; finding no enemy there,
we went across towards the Illinois river, crossing Spoon river; and on the Illinois, we met an express from Governor
Clark from St. Louis, with the news of peace, stating that all hostilities would cease, and a treaty held at Portage
des Sioux in June, to which the Indians were invited.
"Returning home, and the war now ended, no report was made of the organization of the regiment, or of our
scout, and now we disbanded. I was present at the treaty of Portage des Sioux, which was concluded on the 18th
of July. Governor Clark, Governor Edwards of Illinois and Colonel Aug. Chouteau of St. Louis were the commissioners,
and Colonel Rene Paul, Chouteau's son-in-law, was appointed French and English interpreter.
"My pecuniary condition was at this time exceedingly unpleasant. I was now about $30,000 in debt for supplies
furnished the Rangers and not a cent had they received for their services during the war, owing, I believe, to
the culpable withholding of the pay on the part of paymasters, who probably used it for purposes of speculation,
rather than the inability or inattention of government to pay it. The rangers getting no pay, of course I got none.
In some instances the paymasters bought up the Rangers' claims at a reduced price, and paid for them in goods.
The balance due the Rangers was finally paid towards the close of 1815; but as they lived in various parts of the
country, and many of them irresponsible, I eventually lost $13, 684.93, all in consequence of the Rangers not getting
their pay while in service, for had they been paid then, I should promptly have received mine. After collecting
all I could from every quarter, I was still over $8,000 in debt, which I ultimately paid to the late farthing,
by boating and other operations during the ensuing four years. My creditors, knowing the object for which I had
purchased supplies of them, and knowing also how I had suffered heavy pecuniary loss by the Rangers failing to
get their pay promptly, never charged me any interest. I mention this to their credit.
"The Indians at the treaty of Portage des Sioux had promised to be peaceful, but there were individual exceptions.
Relying upon the treaty, and the good faith of the Indians, the enterprising whites pushed out up the river, while,
as the sequel proved, not a few of the Indians were yet hostile in their feelings. Several whites were attacked
by these malcontents in 1815. Among them was John Y. Sawyer, a Vermonter, afterwards a circuit judge of Illinois,
who was one of a party in a boat ascending the Mississippi, and had landed on the west bank of the river, about
20 miles below the present city of Dubuque, at a place known as Buttes des Morts, where they were attacked and
several killed. Sawyer, a very corpulent man, succeeded in secreting himself in a sink-hole back of the river hill,
where he remained three days without food and then escaped."
John York Sawyer became Pike county's first circuit judge, holding his first term of court in the old log court
house at Atlas in May, 1825, and his last term there in October, 1826, which was the last court term in the old
log building. He weighed 386 pounds, the most official dignity that ever occupied the Pike bench at one time.
Continuing his account of the massacre of the Sawyer party, Shaw says: "John S. Miller, another of the party,
who was a blacksmith, managed, together with his wife, in some way to reach an island, yet known as Miller's Island,
where they remained nearly a month before they were taken off. Miller afterwards settled at Galena, where he died
about 1843."
John S. Miller was the subject of a petition in 1824 from citizens on and near Fever River (now Galena), addressed
to the Pike County Commissioners, Ebenezer Smith, James Nixon and William Metz, who, at the September (1824) term
of the commissioners' court at Atlas, recommended him to Governor Edward Coles as a fit and proper person for the
Governor to commission a justice of the peace of pike county, the site of present Galena being then in the county
of Pike. Miller's name appears frequently in old Pike county records, he having at various times applied to the
courts at Coles' Grove and Atlas for licenses, recommendations to the Governor, appointments, and so forth. He
was a resident of Fever River settlement, site of present Galena, and is mentioned in early Pike county history
as "perhaps the first settler there."
Shaw next relates the story of Dr. Samuel C. Muir, an early surgeon at Fort Edwards and a man with a most interesting
family history. Says Shaw:
"About this time, Dr. Muir of the United States Army, whom I had seen at Fort Johnston (site of present Warsaw)
in 1814, was at Prairie du Chien, when his life was threatened, and he was saved by a young Sauk squaw, who he
married, and by whom he raised a family. Dr. Muir often related to me the incidents of his wife's heroism in saving
him, but the particulars I have forgotten. Like most persons connected with the army, he was too fond of liquor,
otherwise he might have risen to distinction and usefulness."
From an early settler at Galena, Lyman C. Draper of the Wisconsin Historical Society, to whom Shaw related the
story of Dr. Muir, learned some additional facts relative to the physician and his Indian wife. Dr. Muir was a
Scotchman, a good physician, educated at Edinburgh, and was engaged at Prairie du Chien in trading with the Winnebagos.
A plan was concocted in the winter to kill him, when a young squaw apprised him of his danger, secreted him in
a cave, and supplied him with food until the alarm passed. In gratitude to his deliverer, he took her with him
as his wife, settled at Galena and raised several children.
Dr. Muir again appears in early Pike county history as a surgeon at old Fort Edwards, where Warsaw now stands,
this region being embraced in original Pike county. Dr. Muir was attached to the garrison stationed at the fort
to keep an eye on the Indians. He was at this time the father of five children by his Indian wife, namely Louisa,
James, Mary, Sophia and Samuel. Other troopers at Fort Edwards also had Indian wives as it was not uncommon in
those days for soldiers, as well as traders, to marry Indian girls.
When the war department ordered all offices and men in the army to abandon and release any Indian females resorting
around a military post, Dr. Muir complied with the order by resigning his commission. When associates urged him
to remain in the service, he is said to have held up his smallest child and replied, "God forbid that a son
of Caledonia should ever desert a child or disown his own clan!"
Dr. Muir then moved his family and household goods to a point near the junction of the Des Moines river with the
Mississippi. There he built a cabin, the beginning of Keokuk, Iowa, so named in honor of the great Sac Indian chief
Keokuck, who made his headquarters in that vicinity for many years and whose statue rises high above the bluffs
towering over Lake Cooper. Soon after Dr. Muir built his cabin, the American Fur Company established a log trading
post there.
Dr. Muir, after founding the settlement that later became Keokuk, engaged in the Indian trade there and is also
reputed to have traveled up and down the river administering to the ailing. He is said to have died at Keokuk of
the Cholera in 1832, but his grave was unmarked and there is no record of his having been buried at Keokuk. The
wild life of the Indian mother pulsed in the veins of the children and, after Dr. Muir's death, it is said the
entire family joined the Indians.
Shaw now begins the story of the early lead mines at Galena, which in early days were in the county of Pike, he
being the first to engage in the lead transport trade on Fever river, boating out the first cargo of lead from
that region in 1816.