Illinois in the War of 1812

On the eve of the War of 1812, the Illinois Territory was a new land of bright promise. The new territory ran from the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers north to the U.S. border with Canada, embracing the current states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and a part of Michigan. By 1812 pioneer farmers had gathered in the wooded fringes around prime agricultural land, looking out over the prairies with longing and trepidation. Six years later, a populous Illinois was confident enough to seek and receive admission as a state in the Union. What had intervened was the War of 1812, which ultimately broke the power and morale of the Indian tribes and deprived them of the support of their ally, Great Britain. Until and even after the war was concluded by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, there were massacres by both sides, laying the groundwork for later betrayal of friendly and hostile tribes alike and for ultimate expulsion of the Indians from the new state of Illinois. In this engrossing new history, published upon the war's bicentennial, Gillum Ferguson underlines the crucial importance of the War of 1812 in the development of Illinois as a state. The history of Illinois in the War of 1812 has never before been told with so much attention to the personalities who fought it, the events that defined it, and its lasting consequences.

For many years Gillum Ferguson served as a state and federal prosecutor in Illinois. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Illinois History, The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, The Illinois Bar Journal, and other journals.