Felix St. Vrain
Encyclopedia
Felix St. Vrain was a United States Indian agent
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....

 who was killed during the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....

. St. Vrain died along with three companions while on a mission to deliver dispatches from Dixon's Ferry, Illinois
Dixon, Illinois
Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 at the 2000 census. Named for its founder, John Dixon , it is the county seat of Lee County. Located on the Rock River, Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S...

 to Fort Armstrong
Fort Armstrong
Fort Armstrong , was one of a chain of western frontier defenses which the United States erected after the War of 1812. It was located at the foot of Rock Island, Illinois, in the Mississippi River between present-day Illinois and Iowa. It was five miles from the principal Sac and Fox village on...

. The incident has become known as the St. Vrain massacre
St. Vrain massacre
The St. Vrain massacre was an incident in the Black Hawk War. It occurred near present-day Pearl City, Illinois in Kellogg's Grove on May 24, 1832. The massacre was most likely committed by Ho-Chunk warriors who were unaffiliated with Black Hawk's band of warriors. It is also unlikely that the...

.

Early life

Felix St. Vrain was born in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, a son of Jacques DeHault Delassus de St. Vrain. He married Marie Pauline Gregoire in 1822, and eight years later settled in Kaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia, Illinois
Kaskaskia is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population. A major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, its peak population was about...

. A sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 operator in Kaskaskia, St. Vrain was 31 years old when he was appointed to replace Thomas Forsyth
Thomas Forsyth (Indian Agent)
Major Thomas Forsyth was a 19th-century American frontiersman and trader who served as a U.S. Indian agent to the Sauk and Fox during the 1820s and was replaced by Felix St. Vrain prior to the Black Hawk War...

 as an indian agent.

Indian agent

St. Vrain started working for the United States government as an Indian Agent
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...

 in 1830. He was assigned to the Sauk and Fox nations around Rock Island
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...

 during William Clark's tenure as superintendent of the St. Louis Indian Agency. St. Vrain's appointment came amidst Forsyth's ongoing criticism of William Clark. St. Vrain had almost no experience dealing with Indians but being a member of a politically important St. Louis-French family he had connections to U.S. Senator Elias Kent Kane. Kane was a close acquaintance of William Clark and recommended St. Vrain for the appointment.

When the Black Hawk War
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict fought in 1832 between the United States and Native Americans headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band" crossed the Mississippi River into the U.S....

 began, St. Vrain was stationed at Fort Armstrong
Fort Armstrong
Fort Armstrong , was one of a chain of western frontier defenses which the United States erected after the War of 1812. It was located at the foot of Rock Island, Illinois, in the Mississippi River between present-day Illinois and Iowa. It was five miles from the principal Sac and Fox village on...

. The story circulated upon his death by Governor John Reynolds was that St. Vrain was keenly in tune with Indian culture and was treacherously murdered by a chief who had adopted him as a brother Little Bear. This story is almost certainly not true.

Massacre

While on a mission to deliver dispatches from Dixon's Ferry
Dixon's Ferry
Dixon's Ferry was the former name for Dixon, Illinois, United States. It was located on the bank of the Rock River near present day Illinois Route 26, John Dixon operated a rope ferry service to transport mail from Peoria to Galena. He also established the first post office. The surrounding...

 (now Dixon
Dixon, Illinois
Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,733 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,941 at the 2000 census. Named for its founder, John Dixon , it is the county seat of Lee County. Located on the Rock River, Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S...

) to Galena
Galena, Illinois
Galena is the county seat of, and largest city in, Jo Daviess County, Illinois in the United States, with a population of 3,429 in 2010. The city is a popular tourist destination known for its history, historical architecture, and ski and golf resorts. Galena was the residence of Ulysses S...

, under the command of General Henry Atkinson, St. Vrain was killed along with three other members of his party on May 24, 1832. They were most likely attacked by a band of pro-Sauk Ho-Chunk
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....

 warriors, though sources disagree over the attacker's tribe.

St. Vrain and the other victims were buried by a detachment of soldiers under Colonel Henry Dodge
Henry Dodge
Henry Dodge was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son was Augustus C. Dodge with whom he served in the U.S. Senate, the first, and so far only, father-son pair to serve concurrently....

. One account of the massacre, from Gen. George W. Jones
George W. Jones
George Wallace Jones , a frontiersman, entrepreneur, attorney, and judge, was among the first two United States Senators to represent the state of Iowa after it was admitted to the Union in 1846...

 (St. Vrain's brother-in-law as well as the man who identified the body), claimed the attackers scalped
Scalped
Scalped is a critically acclaimed ongoing crime/western comic book series written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by R. M. Guéra, published monthly by Vertigo Comics...

 all of the dead men, and cut off the hands, head and feet of St. Vrain. They then removed his heart, which they ate. The victims' graves are located in Kellogg's Grove. In 1834 (either January 6 or March 24) the U.S. Congress passed a bill which provided relief for St. Vrain's family. The Congressional relief was in the form a 640 acre land grant
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...

 in the state of Missouri.

External links

  • "William Clark papers" (Keyword search, St. Vrain) Kansas Historical Society
    Kansas Historical Society
    The Kansas Historical Society is the official state historical society of Kansas.Headquartered in Topeka, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of History, Kansas State Archives and Library, Kansas State Capitol...

    accessed January 22, 2011.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK