Excerpt from Kaskaskia: A Tale of Border Warfare in Illinois Thus had matters stood as far back as 1775 when General Washington wrote to General Schuyler, Never take your eyes from the Indians. So matters stood in 1776 when our congress, wise in their knowledge of wood-craft, decided to send messengers of good will to the tribes. Among the men selected we find the namesof Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and Oliver Wol Cott. I cannot linger in this introduction to follow with you the red stream of this border warfare, but for its ro mantic Interest, if nothing more, I would urge you to make yourselves conversant with its history; and nowhere is the story more interesting than in that portion which had its enactment on the soil of our own Illinois. And in the form of a melodrama I present to you that which I name Kaskaskia. You recall that the capture of Kaskaskia, in southern Illinois, was made just two years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And that Clark's victory was the first step in the onward march that in the fullness of time was to place Illinois in the front rank of the states of our Union. The history of this march through the primeval forests by a dauntless band of American patriots is familiar to the majority. We know that within a year of the capture of Kaskaskia, Clark took Vincennes from the hair-buyer Hamilton and this victory added the Northwestern territory to the colonial possessions. And after the war was over it was the great North western territory, with its broad acres of fertile lands, that gave to our congress a source of income through which the war debts were paid and the new government saved from bankruptcy and possibly dissolution. You will also remember that Clark began this march across the country from Fort Massac, a spot sacred to every daughter of the American Revolution in Illinois. As all staged dramatic performances are introduced by appropriate music, we will listen to a prelude. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.