e candidates for the presidency. The war in Illinois,
though of brief duration, and not marked by any stirring events,
came suddenly upon us after a long series of peaceful years upon
the northwestern border. The savages, weary of fruitless conflicts,
or quelled by the superior numbers of a gigantic and growing foe,
seemed to have submitted to their fate, and the pioneer had ceased
to number the war-whoop among the inquietudes of the border life.
The plains of Illinois and Missouri were rapidly becoming peopled
by civilized men. A race less hardy than the backwoodsmen were
tempted by the calm to migrate to those delightful solitudes, that
bloomed with more than Arcadian fascinations of fruitfulness and
beauty. The smoke of the settler's cabin began to ascend from the
margin of every stream in that wide region, and the cattle strayed
through rich pastures, of which the buffalo, the elk, and the deer,
had long enjoyed a monopoly--an unchartered monopoly--wondering, no
doubt, at their good luck in having their lives cast in such
pleasant places.

It was the writer's lot to ramble over that beautiful country while
these interesting scenes were presented; while the wilderness still
glowed in its pristine luxuriance: while the prairie-grass and the
wild flowers still covered the plain, and the deer continued to
frequent his ancient haunts, and while the habitations of the new
settlers were so widely and so thinly scattered, that the nearest
neighbors could scarcely have exchanged the courtesy of an annual
visit without the aid of the seven-leagued boots of ancient story.
But though in solitude, they lived without fear. There were none to
molest nor make them afraid. If they had few friends, they had no
enemies. If the Indian halted at the settler's door, it was to
solicit hospitality, not to offer violence. But more frequently he
stalked silently by, timid of giving offence to the white man, whom
he doubtless regarded as an intruder upon his own ancient heritage,
but whose possession he had been taught to respect, because he had
ever found it guarded by a strong and swift arm, that had never
failed to repay aggression with ten-fold vengeance. Suddenly,
however, a change came over this cheering scene. The misconduct of
a few white men disturbed the harmony