ILLINOIS. 



359 



springs, lime, gypsum, good marbles, freestones, and grindstones are known to exist, although 

 little attention has yet been paid to these sources of wealth. 



6. Government. The legislature is called the General Assembly, and consists of a Senate 

 and House of Representatives. The senators are chosen for 3 years, and the representatives 

 yearly ; one third of the senators are renewed annually. The Governor is chosen for 3 years, 

 and may be once re-elected. Elections are popular, and suffrage is universal. The State 

 sends 7 representatives to Congress. 



7. Religion- The Baptists have 200 ministers ; the Methodists, 220 ; the Presbyterians, 

 70, and the Roman Catholics, 6. There also are Friends, Episcopalians, Lutherans, &c. 



8. Education. Indiana College., at Bloomington, founded in 1827, has 6 instructers, and 

 120 students. South Hanover College., at South Hanover, has the same number, and Wabash 

 College, at Crawfordsville, nearly as many. Askbury University, at Greencastle, and Vincennes 

 University, are respectable schools. Popular education is provided for by the constitution of 

 this State, but it has not yet received much attention. 



9. History. The French from Canada explored this country, and settled Vincennes in the 

 early part of the last century. The settlers were soldiers of Louis the Fourteenth. For - 

 more than an age, they lived in a state of seclusion, almost separated from the rest of ihe 

 world, and partially assimilated with the savages. By the treaty of 1763 between France and 

 England, this region came into the possession of the English, although the change was merely 

 nominal, and no additional settlements were made in the country. In the revolutionary war, 

 the French at Vincennes manifested so favorable a disposition toward the American cause, that 

 the government made them a grant of land in the neighborhood of the town, at the end of the 

 war. In 1800, Indiana was placed under a territorial government, and about this time new 

 settlements were formed. The Indians committed various hostilities from time to time upon 

 the frontiers, and in 1811, at the instigation of the British, who furnished them with arms and 

 ammunition, one of their leaders, called the Shawnee prophet, collected a numerous body, 

 and made such devastations that the United States government despatched an armed force 

 against them. In November 1811, the troops marched into the Indian country, and encamped 

 near the Prophet's town, at Tippecanoe, where the savages had collected an army of 600 

 warriors. General Harrison, the American commander, proposed a negotiation ; the Indians 

 accepted it with every protestation of friendship, and agreed to hold a council the next day. 

 The Prophet, at night, consulted his " grand medicine," and declared to his followers, that 

 " the enemy was now in their power, fast asleep, and should never wake." Before the dawn 

 of day, the Indians burst into the American camp with horrid shouts, and a fierce engagement 

 succeeded, amid the confusion of darkness and the yells of the war whoop. The militia fled, 

 but were soon rallied. The troops formed a solid column, and charged the savages at the 

 point of the bayonet. They were soon driven from the field and routed, but nearly 200 Amer- 

 icans fell in the battle. The Prophet's town was then set on fire. This severe blow put an 

 end to the incursions of the savages for a time ; but during the war of 1812, ihey joined the 

 British, and were troublesome to the frontier towns of this, and the neighboring States. Indi- 

 ana was admitted into the Union in 1816. 



' ' CHAPTER XXXII. ILLINOIS. 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



1. Boundaries and Extent. This State is bounded N. by Wisconsm ; E. by Lake Mich- 

 igan and Indiana ; S. by Kentucky, and W. by Missouri and Iowa. It extends from 37° to 

 42° 30' N. latitude, and from 87° 17' to 91° 15' W. longitude. It is 380 miles in length, and 

 160 in mean breadth, and contains 59,000 square miles. 



2. Rivers. The Mississippi forms the boundary of this State on the west. The Illinois 

 rises near Lake Michigan, and flows west and south to the Mississippi. It is above 400 miles 

 in length, and is navigable by boats nearly to its source. About 200 miles above its mouth, 

 the river widens so as to form a lake 20 miles long and 2 in width, called Peoria Lake. This 

 is a beautiful sheet of water surrounded by prairies ; it is very deep, and the current of the 

 river through it is not perceptible. One of the head streams of the Illinois rises wiihin 10 

 miles of Lake Michigan. Here is a morass, which at certain seasons discharges its waters 

 into the Illinois In one direction, nnd into lh,e Chicngo \\liirh falls into the Like, cn the other 



