Memorial to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, circa 16 December 1843–12 February 1844
Source Note
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , JS, , and , Memorial, , Hancock Co., IL, to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, , 21 Dec. 1843; handwriting of ; signatures of memorialists; dockets in handwriting of and unidentified scribe; seventeen pages; Record Group 46, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC.
the Constitution and suffering the just penalty of his crimes was actually elected Governor and placed in the executive chair Thus the Inhabitants of the were greatly encouraged to renew with redoubled fury their unlawful attacks upon our defenceless Settlements Men women and children were driven in every direction before their merciless persecutors robbed of their possessions their property their provisions and their all cast forth upon the bleak snowy prairies houseless and unprotected many sunk down and expired under their accumulated sufferings while others after enduring hunger and the severities of the Season, suffering all but death arrived in to which place they were driven from all the surrounding Counties only to witness a still more heart rending scene In vain had we appealed to the Constituted Authorities of for protection and redress of our former grievances In vain we now stretched out our hands and appealed as the Citizens of this great republic to the Sympathies, to the Justice and magnanimity of those in power In vain we implored again and again at the feet of our former persecutor, aid, and protection against the ravages and murders now inflicted upon our defenceless and unoffending citizens. The cry of American Citizens already twice driven and deprived of liberty could not penetrate their adamantine hearts The instead of sending us aid issued a proclamation for our extermination and— banishment ordered out the forces of the placed them under the command of who to execute these exterminating orders marched several thousand troops into our Settlements in where unrestrained by fear of Law or Justice and urged on by the highest authority of the they laid waste our fields of corn shot down our cattle and hogs for sport burned our dwellings inhumanly butchered some 18 or 20 defenceless citizens, dragged from their hiding places little children and placing the muzzles of their guns to their heads shot them with the most horrid oaths and imprecations: An aged hero and patriot [p. [4]]