Struggle For Empire: Early Origins to 1815

1790 A.D.
click to see the outline

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23000

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St. Clair County is organized (named by Arthur St. Clair, first territorial governor, after himself). St. Clair was a member of the Continental Congress, an associate of George Washington, fought in the Revolution and is remembered for giving up Fort Ticonderoga to the British without firing a shot. At the time, it was the largest county in the world (its boundaries once stretched to the Canadian border) before it was later reduced in size.

William Biggs, a Dutchman who once was a member of George Rogers Clark's troops, becomes the first sheriff of the county. He earlier had been taken prisoner by an Indian war party. They forced him to live with them on the Wabash River for many months before he was ransomed.

6-ilmap.tif (34768 bytes)

 

Click here for more on the History of St. Clair County

An African Negro named Moreau is duly hanged at Cahokia for practicing witchcraft. Another (named Emmanuel) is shot for the same offense.