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Thy Wondrous Story, Illinois
IL ,
USA
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Illinois State
Historical Marker
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The fertile prairies in Illinois attracted the attention of Father Jacques Marquette and French trader Louis Jolliet as they explored the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673. France claimed this region until 1763 when she surrendered it to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. During the American Revolution George Rogers Clark and his small army scored a bloodless victory when they captured Kaskaskia for the Commonwealth of Virginia; Illinois then became a county of Virginia. This area was ceded to the United States in 1784, and became, in turn, a part of the Northwest, Indiana, and Illinois Territories. On December 3, 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state. Many of the early settlers came from Kentucky, Tennessee, and the southeastern coastal states to live in the southern quarter of Illinois. Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River was the territorial capital as well as the first state capital. As the better land in Southern Illinois became scarce, the line of settlement advanced northward. Vandalia became the second in 1820. This highway passes through an area rich in the early history of Illinois. It crosses the Ohio River where the ferry service began about 1802, skirts old Shawneetown which was a major gateway for immigrants to Illinois and passes near Equality where the United States Salines produced salt for the Midwest in the nineteenth century. In 1937 a devastating flood covered most of Gallatin County and Highway 13 was under about ten feet of water.
Last updated: 2/14/2015 15:17:00 |
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Related Themes: C.S.A., Confederate States of America, Confederacy, Union, American Revolution, the Revolutionary War.
See more historic sites related to Illinois in the Revolution.
View other Illinois Civil War Historical Markers
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