In the spring of 1832, the invasion of Illinois by the "British Band" of Sauk Indians led by Black Sparrow Hawk sent a wave of panic across the settlements of northwestern Illinois and the Michigan Territory. Some communities simply “went up” and the settlers fled to the protection of forts or population centers. Other communities decided to stick it out in the face of danger and erected forts to protect themselves. In the lead district of Illinois, two such settlements come to mind- Apple River and Plum River. Until recent research proved otherwise it was long believed that Apple River Fort was the only Illinois fortification to resist an Indian attack. This article explains the second, or rather the first chronological attack by hostile Indians on a fortification in Illinois during the summer of 1832.
The Plum River Settlement.
The Plum River settlement was established in late 1827 when a group of about 15 persons discovered deposits of copper ore near the mouth of the Plum River at the Mississippi. By the spring of 1828, an organized settlement in the valley of the Plum River was established, partly owing to the ore, and also to the fertile lands near the river mouth. That same year Ossian Ross blazed the Lewistown-Galena trail from Havana to Galena. It passed through the settlement and provided access to the Rock River settlements and other points south, as well as to Galena, 25 miles north. By the outbreak of the Black Hawk War in the spring of 1832, the settlement had grown to approximately 25 persons. Another settlement, Hanover, had also sprung up several miles to the north. The people of Plum River continued their day-to-day activities until the beginning of April, when an express from Fort Armstrong rode into the settlement with news of the Sauk invasion. The express rider then galloped full-tilt northward to Galena. His warning was also heard in Hanover, and that settlement was abandoned until the end of the war. At Plum River, however, the settlers were divided on the subject of whether or not to abandon everything. A decision was reached that the women and children would go to Galena for safety. After they were gone, the men set to building a blockhouse to protect the settlement. They partially disassembled the homes of Mr. Aaron Pierce and Mr. Vance Davidson to construct the blockhouse. Aaron Pierce, Vance Davidson, Robert Upton, William Blundell, Leonard Goss and a man known only as “Hays” remained to defend the settlement. The few others left for Galena.
ATTACK!
The rest of April and most of May passed without incident. This lack of activity quickly eroded the defender’s caution, almost to the point of their destruction. In the mid-afternoon on May 21st, 1832, Vance Davidson was away from the blockhouse trying to capture a horse that had run off. William Blundell was away to Galena after news of goings on. Robert Upton was away hunting. Hays and Goss were in the settlement tending to livestock. Only Aaron Pierce remained at the blockhouse, where he engaged in shaving instead of standing to his duty as sentinel. He heard a dog barking outside and looked out of the blockhouse and observed several Indians creeping amidst the canebrake along the river’s edge south of the settlement. The Indians were quite possibly the band that was responsible for the murder of William Durley the day before on the Galena-Dixon road. He immediately sounded the alarm. Goss and Hays ran for the blockhouse. Goss ran inside while Hays, losing his footing, slipped and fell to the ground. This likely saved him, as the Indians fired at him and all three balls lodged in the wall where he would have been standing had he not fallen down. Taking advantage of the Indians having to reload, Hays sprang into the blockhouse and bolted the door. For a short time a withering exchange of gunfire ensued between the defenders and the Indians. The Indians apparently saw the futility of their actions and so turned on the settlement, cutting down crops and killing all livestock they could find. Only one horse survived by running off and wading into the Mississippi. After apparently satisfying their hunger for destruction, the Indians drew off.
The men in the blockhouse waited until nightfall and under cover of darkness fled to Galena using a small boat. Here they reported the attack to Colonel Strode. Davidson and Upton returned that night and found the devastation and the empty blockhouse. Fearing the worst, they too fled to Galena, where they found their companions. The settlement was abandoned from then until the close of the War. In 1833, the blockhouse was torn down to rebuild the homes of Pierce and Davidson.
Plum River Today.
The settlement at Plum River continued to prosper, and by 1850 was re-named "Savanna." Today, the town of Savanna is still a flourishing community. On the north end of town, just below the bridge for US Route 52/IL Route 64, there is a plaque marking the site of the original settlement. The blockhouse stood on the rise that is now the abutment of the bridge previously mentioned. IL Route 84 and US Route 20, which when combined form the "Great River Road," are the only remains of the Lewistown-Galena Trail. While they are modern roads, they follow almost the identical route shown on Robert Chandler’s 1829 map of the United States Lead Mines.
Sources:
BOWEN, ALICE, The Story of Savanna, Savanna: Alice Bowen, 1928.
Illinois Atlas and Gazetteer, Yarmouth: DeLorme Publishers Inc., 2003.
The Galenian, May 23rd, 1832.
WHITNEY, ELLEN M., The Black Hawk War 1831-1832, Volume II, Part I: Letters and Papers, Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1973.
Map of the United States Lead Mines of the Upper Mississippi River, drawn and published by R.W. Chandler of Galena, 1829.
