1811 A.D.
23000
1100
The great Indian chief Tecumseh forms a confederation to drive all whites out of the Mississippi Valley. General William Henry Harrison defeats the Indians at Tippecanoe Creek on the Wabash River. Tecumseh escapes capture and continues to make warfare on settlements. Residents of Illinoistown live in perpetual fear for their lives.
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The Federal government begins constructing the National Road. It will run from Baltimore, Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri. It reached Vandalia, Illinois, but was never finished. Work stops due to a lack of funds and a dispute whether it should cross the Mississippi at Alton or at Illinoistown. Earthquake occurs in the New Madrid Fault which forces the Mississippi River to find new channels. Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee is formed by the upheaval. Its magnitude would probably have been near the 8.2 range on the Richter scale. Great landslides fell from the bluffs and alluvial soil in the Bottom was raised in some areas and lowered in others -sometimes by as much as a foot. |
A second quake of lesser strength hits again in 1812. When their chimneys fell down, settlers thought that the Indians were on the roof of their cabins. Church membership increased because people thought the end of the world was at hand. Milder quakes continued to occur periodically.
