audiobook French and Indians of Illinois River (Shawnee Classics) by Nehemiah Matson in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is an early history of the illinois valley; ...By Bruce RenwickThis is an early history of the illinois valley; as such its comments on native peoples and the early French explorers may be suspect. But the comments on the terrain; the rivers and the wildlife are what interest me. I feel these are very accurate since the author was an early land surveyor.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent historical writingBy SanguadipatataThis is an excellent historical work for those interested in the early exploring andcontacts with the Indian tribe. This book lives up to my expectations and I highly recommend it.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Tall tales from the early 19th century; not historyBy mark walczynskiIf you like to read books written in the beautiful nineteenth century style; then you might like this book. If you want an accurate source for early Illinois history; you will want nothing to do with this book. Matson weaves together accounts that were allegedly drawn from old traders; Indians; and others who lived in the Illinois Valley during the early nineteenth century. Unfortunately; few of the stories mentioned in this book stand up to any serious historical scrutiny. Most of the book is fiction. A few historical errors include the following:1) The Odawa war chief Pontiac; never lived in a village located on the Kankakee River as alleged by Matson.2) Pontiac was not killed at Joliet; Illinois by an Illinois chief named Kineboo. He was killed in Cahokia by a Peoria Indian in April 1769.3) Pontiac did not hunt buffalo in the prairies of northern Bureau County; Illinois as alleged by Matson. The well-documented and well attested to historical record makes that event an impossibility.4) There was no great Indian war in the Illinois Country; or anywhere else; that focused on the destruction of the Illinois Indians after the death of Pontiac. The alleged war simply never occurred.5) Matson’s Kineboo; an Illinois chief who allegedly ordered Pontiac and his group to leave the Kankakee village; never existed.6) There never was an Illinois village; a site Matson calls La Vantum; located downstream from Starved Rock. Archaeology plainly demonstrates that a large Illinois village; 1683-1691; was located two miles upstream from Starved Rock. The village had been abandoned by the Illinois seventy-eight years before the death of Pontiac.7) There was no horrific battle at La Vantum where; by Matson’s own account; approximately 17;600 Indians were killed fighting before an alleged siege that occurred at Starved Rock. The number; 17;600 alone is a complete absurdity.8) The Illinois Indians were not slaughtered en masse at Starved Rock as Matson alleges. The alleged event comes from an old Indian legend that has its roots in the 1722 siege of the Peoria Indians by the Mesquakie tribe at Starved Rock.9) Matson’s Father Buche; Felix La Pance; and Robert Maillet are all fictional characters. None of them saw any remnants of the destruction of the Illinois tribe at Matson's La Vantum.10) There was never a priest named Father Nicollet who preached to the Illinois Indians in today’s Illinois in 1640; although there was a French explorer; not a cleric; who met with the northern tribes in the Upper Lakes in 1634.