I have chosen this story to write because I know a few people in this
community that are related to Sylvia and Rachel Hall. Two of my schoolmates are
related to them.
William Hall and his wife, Mary Jane Rebecca, were
staying with several other people in William Davis' house, on the north bank of
Indian creek, in La Salle county, Illinois, about twelve miles north of Ottawa,
when the captivity of his two daughters took place. He had four daughters and
three sons. The girls that were captured by the Indians were Rachel and Sylvia.
It was on the afternoon of May 20, 1832, that the Indians came to harm
them. Most pf the Hall family were killed by the Indians, but Rachel and Sylvia
were hurried away as quickly as possible. The Indians led them until they came
to the rest of their group, then placed the girls on a pony apiece. The Indians
and the captured sisters traveled until quite late at night. They rested awhile,
and then started traveling again, until two o'clock in the afternoon of the next
day. At that time they rested again and had roasted acorns and scalded beans to
eat. Of course, Sylvia and Rachel ate very little of this.
On the
seventh day the Indians traveled much faster, because they thought the white men
were after them. For supper that evening sliced meat, boiled coffee and corn
soup were served. Different evenings the Indians had a dance after they had
eaten their supper.
The next morning the Indians placed the scalps of
the girls' murdered father, mother and friends upon a pole. The girls thought
they, too, would soon be murdered, but they moved away from this place unharmed.
The girls felt very happy that the Indians were sparing them.
After
three more days of traveling, Sylvia and Rachel were quite exhausted, but they
knew they must obey the Indians. The Indians supplied the girls with Indian
dresses and tried to make them wear moccasins. The leader of that group was
White Crow. He felt sorry for them and told them he would soon take them home.
The tenth day they traveled through wet land and underbrush. The next
day the girls thought it was getting more like home.
After stopping to
eat, they moved on until they came to the fort of Blue Mounds. The two sisters
were then taken to their two uncles, Edward and Reason Hall.
This was
about the first of June. The Indians wanted to give the girls a Sac squaw for a
servant during their lives, but they did not accept that.
Rachel and
Sylvia were bidden a final farewell by the Indians at Gratiat's Grove. Their
brother, J. W. Hall, met them there. The girls had imagined that he had been
murdered, also. They stayed there a few weeks and then went with their brother
and uncle to Galena. There they met many old friends, who treated them quite
nicely. They then went to live with their uncle, Robert Scott, about forty miles
from where the girls were captured.
The sisters felt very thankful to
the friends that had taken part in helping them escape.
Extracted 08 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from Stories of Pioneer Days in La Salle County, Illinois, by Grammar Grade Pupils, published in 1932, page 102.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
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Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
