JOHN SHAW, shortly after his memorable interview with Black Hawk following the close of the Black Hawk war, recounted
in the preceding chapter, was present during another harrowing scene on the then unpeopled bank of the Mississippi
where Keokuk now is, wherein another great Indian chief, Ke-o-kuck, played the leading role. Shaw thus describes
Ke-o-kuck's first meeting with Black Hawk's vanquished people, which occurred in the fall of 1832:
"At the time of which I am now speaking, 1832, there was no settlement at what is now called Ke-o-kuck, except
Stillwell's cabins. Not long after Black Hawk's descent of the river as a prisoner, the remnant of his band arrived
at that point, generally in canoes; warriors, women and children, numbering perhaps 200 altogether, disembarked
and sat down along the beach. Ke-o-kuck, at the head of a few followers, now made his appearance— his first meeting
with them since their departure on their adventurous and disastrous hegira. He appeared to be some thirty years
of age; and as he approached and beheld his surviving countrymen and associates, some wounded, and all haggard,
and in a most pitiable condition, now returning, and looking to him as the most influential chief of the Sauk and
Fox nations, for friendship and protection, he was deeply moved at the sight. He walked along their line, forward
and backward, for some minutes, the working of the muscles of his face, and even his brawny limbs, evincing the
strong agitation of his mind at beholding such a scene. He burst into a flood of tears as he cried:
"‘My mothers, my sisters, my brothers! I forewarned you of what I believed was inevitable — that should you
persist in marching off in a body, your attitude would be regarded as a hostile one, and you would be destroyed.
The destruction of that portion of our nation, of which you are the remnant, has been nearly effected. Your leader
is gone — he is in the keeping of the whites — we know not what will be his fate. But you must submit to your condition;
and must now fully identify yourselves with us, the peaceful portion of the nation, and we will, to the utmost
of our ability, alleviate your sufferings and supply your wants. You know me well, and know that I never had a
desire to go to war, either with the white or the red man, and always endeavored to inculcate by my own example,
that peace was our true policy. Now, my advise to you, young men, the remnant of a noble band, is to pursue the
game in the forest, and not seek the destruction of your fellowmen, while your women cultivate the soil at some
place chosen for the purpose, and there live in peace and harmony with all.'"
Thus spoke noble and high-souled Ke-o-kuck to the remnant of Black Hawk's band at the close of the Black Hawk war.
The reader may wonder at the lofty and eloquent style of the Indian chief's address, as reported by Shaw, but it
should be remembered that eloquence is not confined to the highly educated, and that the Indians were remarkably
fond of bold metaphor and rhetorical figure, as is abundantly proved by speeches and legends of such chiefs as
Logan and Cornstalk and Tecumseh's brother "The Prophet," and, as we shall soon see, by Black Hawk's
farewell to the commandant of old Fortress Monroe.
"All were deeply affected," says Shaw, continuing his account of the scene following Ke-o-kuck's address
to his stricken people, "and wept like children and seemed like so many returning prodigals. I was present
at this scene, and had my feelings as deeply stirred within me as the rest. Gathering up what little they had,
they now followed Ke-o-kuck a few miles up the Des Moines, where he and his people resided.
"Ke-o-kuck was a noble man, and a good friend of the whites. His father's name was also Ke-o-kuck, and was
the head peace chief of the Sauk and Foxes at their old town, about two miles above the mouth of Rock river, between
the Rock and the Mississippi, while a small portion were lodged on the opposite or southern bank of Rock river.
There must have been 5,000 acres in their fields, and they had every appearance of long occupancy and cultivation,
and the soil was exceedingly good. There, doubtless, young Ke-o-kuck was born. His father must have been living
at least as late as 1820; I know not when he passed away — but sometime between 1820 and 1832 (probably, says Draper,
prior to 1824, as the name Ke-o-kuck, or the Watchful Fox — doubtless the son — appears appended to the treaty
of that year, as well as subsequent treaties in 1825-30-32-36)."
Black Hawk and his comrades, as the record shows were freed from confinement at Fortress Monroe, June 4, 1833.
Before leaving the fort, Black Hawk made the following farewell speech to the commander, as quoted by Chapman in
"History of Pike County, 1880":
"Brother, I have come on my own part, and in behalf of my companions, to bid you farewell. Our great father
has at length been pleased to permit us to return to our hunting grounds. We have buried the tomahawk, and the
sound of the rifle hereafter will only bring death to the deer and the buffalo. Brothers, you have treated the
red man very kindly. Your squaws have made them presents, and you have given them plenty to eat and drink. The
memory of your friendship will remain till the Great Spirit says it is time for Black Hawk to sing his death song.
Brother, your houses are as numerous as the leaves on the trees, and your young warriors like the sands upon the
shore of the big lake that rolls before us. The red man has but few houses and few warriors, but the red man has
a heart which throbs as warmly as the heart of his white brother. The Great Spirit has given us our hunting grounds,
and the skin of the deer which we kill there is his favorite, for the color is white and this is the emblem of
peace. This hunting dress and these feathers of the eagle are white. Accept them, my brother. I have given one
like this to the White Otter. Accept it as a memorial of Black Hawk. When he is far away this will serve to remind
you of him. May the Great Spirit bless you and your children. Farewell."
After Black Hawk's release, he and his companions were conducted, in charge of Major Garland, through some of the
principal cities, that they might witness the power of the United States and learn their own inability to cope
with them in war. Great multitudes flocked to see Black Hawk wherever he appeared, rendering his progress through
the country more of a triumphal procession than a transport of prisoners by an officer. At Rock Island the prisoners
were given their liberty amid great and impressive ceremony. In 1838 Black Hawk built him a dwelling near Des Moines,
Iowa, and furnished it after the manner of the whites; there he engaged in agricultural pursuits and hunting and
fishing. There, with his wife, to whom he was greatly attached, he passed the remaining days of his life.
The light failed again for John Shaw late in 1855 when, as he said, "the candle finally went out, leaving
the room dark." He lived to a great old age, spending his remaining days in the state of Wisconsin, which
he had settled when it was a Territory. There, at St. Marie, on the beautiful banks of the Fox, in the settlement
of his last founding, the grand old Pike county pioneer died on August 31, 1871, in his 89th year. Lyman C. Draper,
LL. D., of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, said of him: "Colonel Shaw passed away in 1871. He possessed
a fine memory of historical events. His life was one of much activity and romantic interest. The Indians conferred
on him the name of Es-sap-pan, or the Raccoon, perhaps expressive of his cunning and sagacity."
The records disclose that members of the Shaw family, other than John, had a part in early Pike county history.
Two of John Shaw's brothers, Nathaniel and Comfort, are identified by the records as being here in 1821, the year
in which Pike county was erected. At the first term of the Pike circuit court, convening at Coles' Grove on October
1, 1821, Nathaniel and Comfort Shaw served as grand jurors on the first Pike county grand jury that returned the
first indictment in Pike county, that charging the two Indians, Pemesan and Shonwennekek, with murder. John Shaw,
in the trial of the Indians at the same term of court, was sworn in by Justice John Reynolds as one of two official
court interpreters. Nathaniel Shaw was an early Pike county treasurer, serving in that capacity in 1825. James
Shaw, another brother, was an early civil engineer in what is now Calhoun county; in 1834 he surveyed the town
site of Hamburg, founded by his brother John Shaw's father's name was Comfort, and his grandfather's name was Daniel.
His eldest brother was also named Daniel and a younger brother was named Comfort Shaw, long a resident of Pike.
The Shaws acquired vast tracts of land in original Pike county, much of it within the county's present bounds.
Daniel A. Shaw (who married Phebe Ann Hammond in Pike county, September 22, 1836, Thomas Proctor, early Pike county
justice of the peace, officiating) was still living in Pike county in 1881. He owned much land in the vicinity
of Shaw school house on the Pittsfield-Barry road, this school district being named for the early Shaws. John Shaw
also had land in that vicinity, which he acquired at tax sales at the door of the state house in Vandalia in 1827-28.
Southworth Shaw, Jr., a noted Boston merchant, also had holdings there. Comfort Shaw, brother of John, and his
wife Mary resided in the neighborhood of present Shaw school house. He acquired directly from the government the
NE and the W1/2 of the NW of Section 5 in Derry township. Daniel A. Shaw acquired directly from the government
the N1/2 of the SW of Section 3 in Derry, May 9, 1836. This corresponds with the old Pursley neighborhood, Jacob
Pursley acquiring by government patent the S1/2 of the same quarter section on September 21, 1836.
At the door of the old court house in Pittsfield (the second Pittsfield justice seat), Sheriff James M. Seeley,
on April 20, 1840, sold for the unpaid taxes of 1839 fifteen quarter sections of land in Pike county to Southworth
Shaw, Jr., a total of 2,400 acres at prices ranging from $1.62 for an average quarter section to $5.82 for an extra
good quarter. This sale was pursuant to a precept issued out of the circuit court dated April 15, 1840 in furtherance
of a tax judgment in favor of the state of Illinois handed down at the April (1840) term of court. Deeds to the
fifteen quarter sections were executed to Southworth Shaw, Jr., by Sheriff Ephraim Cannon on February 27, 1844,
being acknowledged before Henry T. Mudd, then clerk of the County Commissioners' Court.
In 1841, pursuant to a similar court action, Southworth Shaw, Jr. acquired six additional quarter sections in Pike
at a sheriff's sale for the taxes of 1840. Held by Sheriff Alfred Grubb (the Little Bay Horse of Pike county) at
the door of the court house on April 21, 1841. The deeds to the above 21 quarter sections (3,360 acres) are recorded
in Volume 31, Pages 143-63, Deed Records of Pike County.)
One of the largest real estate transfers of early days is recorded in Volume 7, Pages 211-214, Deed Records of
Pike County, wherein, on July 30, 1834, "Southworth Shaw, Jr., of Boston, County of Suffolk, and Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, Merchant," sold to Benjamin Shurtleff, Boston, Physician, 46 tracts or quarter sections
of land (7,360 acres) in original Pike county for $4,500 (a trifle over 61 cents an acre), each tract containing
160 acres and all lying in "the tract appropriated by Acts of Congress for Military Bounties." These
lands lay in Pike, Fulton, Adams and Hancock counties, all within original Pike county. They included the north
half of Section 14, one-half mile north of Newburg school house, in Newburg township.
John Shaw has left interesting accounts of numerous tribal chiefs other than those mentioned, whom he knew intimately
and with whom he was often associated, both in war and in peace, among them Red Bird, Chick-hong- sic or the Little
Steer; Wi-na-ga, or the Sun; Yellow Thunder, the Winnebago chief; One-Eyed De-kau-ry, believed by Shaw to be a
Sauk, but identified also with the Winnebagos; Black Thunder, chief and counsellor of the Sauk and Foxes; and the
great Sioux chief, La Feuille, or Wa-ba-shaw, the Leaf.
Gone is the wild frontier of Shaw's absorbing narrative; Black Hawk and his braves, as the poet sings, "lie
in prairie sod," and the gallant Rangers who fought them "ride with Taylor's ghost." In 1838 the
Great Spirit whispered to Black Hawk that it was time for him to sing his death song. In a sitting posture, on
a seat constructed for the purpose in the middle of a six-foot grave, situated upon a beautiful eminence, with
his right hand resting upon a cane that was given him by Henry Clay, Black Hawk sleeps with his fathers, while
a great statue of the famous chief looks down upon the beautiful valley of the Rock river, his once happy hunting-ground
and the home of his people.
Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," followed Black Hawk in 1850, after having won additional laurels in the
Black Hawk and Seminole Indian wars and in the war with Mexico, and after serving as the twelfth President of the
United States, elected in 1844. His body lies at Louisville, Kentucky, not far from the old home of his daughter
Knoxie, who eloped with Jefferson Davis from Prairie du Chien when her father was commandant of early Fort Crawford
there.
John Shaw in addition to his accounts of numerous famous Indians of his time has also bequeathed valuable commentaries
on some of the early Boones with whom he became closely associated on the frontier, among them Boone Hayes, son
of Susanna, daughter of Daniel Boone and son-in-law of the house of Scholl, a family famous in early Pike county
history; James Callaway, a son of Jemima, daughter of Daniel Boone and lieutenant and captain of the Rangers for
whom Shaw did much dangerous scouting and for whom Callaway county in Missouri was named; Daniel Morgan and Nathan
Boone, sons of Daniel, with whom Shaw campaigned in the Indian war of 1812-14; and others of the noted Kentucky
family who are now about to appear upon the scene of this history.
For we are now at the beginning of the most romantic chapter in Pike county history, when numerous of the Boones,
some of them the so-called "lost Boones," borne westward by the tide of emigration, settled down here
between the two great rivers in the land that now is Pike-Boones by blood and Boones by marriage-along with others,
unrelated or but distantly so, who were with the Boones on "the dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky,
with Daniel Boone upon the bloody Wilderness Road, with him in his historic fort at Boonesborough, and with him
at the Blue Licks when his son Israel fell in battle with the Indians.
Where Arthur E. Sneeden now lives (1936), on the Milton road, was the heart a century ago of what was known as
Boone Settlement, and there to this day resides one whose ancestry traces back in a direct line to the first Boone
ancestor in America; and where the town of Perry now is, more than a century ago, was platted the town of Booneville
by a grandson of the Boones, who owned the land on which Perry stands; and adjacent to modern New Canton, a century
ago, was platted another vanished Pike county town site by the kin of the Boones and the Boone Scholls.
For a hundred years and more, a daughter of the Boones has slept in a nameless and unmarked grave near Milton,
in a neglected corner of an old cemetery; beside her, in a grave equally abandoned, a patriot of the Revolution,
"one of Marion's Men," to whom the daughter of Boone was married on the banks of Green in "the dark
and bloody ground"; and hundreds of Boone descendants still live in Pike and neighboring counties in Illinois
and Missouri, who either do not know of their Boone lineage or know of it only as a sort of dim tradition related
by some early forebear, while still others, proud of their Boone ancestry, are unable to trace their kinship with
the noted pioneer family.
Ensuing chapters, therefore, telling the story of those colorful Boones-the Boone Allens, Boone Garrisons, Boone
Thorntons, Boone Jacksons, Boone Shibleys, Boone Scholls and Boone Elledges-will be in the nature of a contribution
not only to Pike county history but to Boone genealogy as well, since the clues to some of the Boone lines, broken
in the east by the westward surge of emigration in the early nineteenth century, have for a hundred years and more,
remained hidden here in Pike county, Illinois, undiscovered until the telling of this story.