Vincennes

By Richard Day and William Hopper

As Indiana's oldest town, Vincennes has a richly textured and multifaceted history. Established in 1732 as a military and fur-trading post, it grew to become the cultural, political, and educational center of the Indiana Territory in the early 1800s. Illustrated with over two hundred picture postcards and rare photographs, Vincennes offers a unique view of life in this historic community on the banks of the Wabash River. This unprecedented collection creates a retrospective of Vincennes's history from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Vincennes serves as a kind of time machine for its readers, enabling them to experience the sights and structures of yesteryear. The book's lively commentary combines the images with colorful anecdotes, making this book both entertaining and educational. From photographs documenting its landscape--picturesque views of downtown and shots of Fort Knox and the Clark Memorial--to evocative portraits of townspeople at work and play--at Beesley Grocery or the Pantheon Theatre--this fascinating collection will give older readers a chance to walk Vincennes's streets again, and younger readers a chance to appreciate their rich heritage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439631676

Richard Day

Richard J.F. Day is an autonomy-oriented theorist and practitioner, whose work focuses on creating non-statist, non-capitalist, post-colonial, sustainable alternatives to the dominant global order. He works and teaches at Queen's University, and is a founding member of the AKA Autonomous Social Centre, both in Kingston, Ontario.

Book preview

20,000.

One

Historical Vincennes

Staring out from the past are grizzled veterans of the 14th Indiana Regiment, one of thegreat units of the Civil War. Recruited from Vincennes and surrounding counties in April1861, they saw three years of hard fighting at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville,Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. In June 1864, they gathered for a last photographbefore headinghome.

Sugar Loaf Mound resembles an old-fashioned sugar loaf, which was a round-topped coneof hard sugar. Once considered man-made, the mound is a natural formation, used by NativeAmericans for burials around A.D. 900. Pioneer travelers on the Buffalo Trace, now Highway61, got their first prospect (view) of Vincennes from this site. This 1902 view of its west sidealso shows Prospect Hill coal mine (1890–1902) to the left.

Fort Sackville was built in 1777 by British Lt. Gov. Edward Abbott on the site of the FrenchFort Vincennes (1732–1764). He named it after Lord Sackville, the king’s minister in charge ofsuppressing the American Revolution. The fort had an 11-foot-high stockade, about 200 feetsquare. Later, two blockhouses were added at opposite corners, but not the four shown here.

In July 1778, Col. George Rogers Clark of Virginia captured British forts at Kaskaskia andCahokia on the Mississippi, and at Vincennes, but in December, Lt. Gov. Henry Hamiltonrecaptured Vincennes. Then, after marching 180 miles across Illinois and wading throughthe freezing floodwaters of the Wabash River, Clark and his army of 170 French andAmerican frontiersmen surprised Hamilton and forced him to surrender Fort Sackville onFebruary 25, 1779.

Fort Sackville was abandoned in 1782. Thesite became an area of stores and warehouses,with no indication of its historical significance,until November 18, 1905, when a limestonemarker was placed on First Street, betweenBarnett and Church, by the Daughters ofthe American Revolution. In 1930, it wasremoved to make room for the Clark Memorialand re-erected in 1936 just northeast of theMemorial steps.

In November 1900, Maurice Thompsonpublished his romantic historical novel,Alice of Old Vincennes. It tells the story ofAlice, a spunky French orphan girl whohelps Colonel Clark capture Fort Sackville.The book was a bestseller and inspired ahit Broadway play, starring Virginia Harned(and a young Cecil B. DeMille), whichtoured the nation, playing in VincennesFebruary 26, 1902. The local Alices team isnamed for her as well.

On May 19, 1916, the Pageant of Old Vincennes was performed on the banks of the Wabashin celebration of Indiana statehood’s centennial. A replica of Fort Sackville was constructed atColumbia Park (later Kimmell Park) and a cast of 300 local performers sang, danced, and actedout local history, including the surrender of Fort Sackville, shown