A family of the Algonquian nation that comprised several clans—Peorias, Moingwenas, Kaskaskias, Tamnaroas, and Cahokias.
At a very early period they drove a Dakota tribe, whom they called the
Arkansas, to the country on the
southern Mississippi.
These were the Quapaws.
In 1640 they almost exterminated the Winnebagoes; and soon afterwards they waged war with the
Iroquois and
Sioux.
Their domain was between Lakes
Michigan and
Superior and the
Mississippi River.
Marquette found some of them (the Peorias and Moingwenas) near
Des Moines, west of the
Mississippi, in 1672; also the Peorias and Kaskaskias on the
Illinois River.
The
Tamaroas and
Cahokias were on the
Mississippi.
The
Jesuits found the chief
Illinois town consisting of 8,000 people, in nearly 400 large cabins, covered with water-proof mats, with, generally, four fires to a cabin.
In 1679 they were badly defeated by the
Iroquois, losing about 1,300, of whom 900 were prisoners: and they retaliated by assisting the
French, under
De la Barre and
De Nonville, against the Five Nations.
The
Illinois were converted to Christianity by
Father Marquette and other missionaries, and in 1700
Chicago, their great chief, visited
France, where he was much caressed.
His son, of the same name, maintained great influence in the tribe until his death, in 1754.
When
Detroit was besieged by the Foxes, in 1712, the
Illinois went to its relief, and in the war that followed they suffered severely.
Some of them were with the
French at
Fort Duquesne; but they refused to join
Pontiac in his
[
5]
conspiracy.
With the Miamis, they favored the
English in the war of the Revolution, and joined in the treaty at
Greenville in 1795.
By the provision of treaties they ceded their lands, and a greater portion of them went to a country west of the
Mississippi, within the present limits of
Kansas, where they remained until 1867, when they were removed to a reservation of 72,000 acres southwest of the Quapaws.
In 1872 the whole
Illinois nation had dwindled to forty souls.
This tribe, combined with the Weas and Piankeshaws, numbered only 160 in all.
