ANNALS OF THE WEST:

EMBRACING A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF

PRINCIPAL EVENTS

WHICH HAVE OCCURRED IN THE

WESTERN STATES AND TERRITORIES,

FROM THE

DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

TO THЕ

YEAR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX.

COMPILED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES,

AND PUBLISHED BY

JAMES R. ALBACH.

PITTSBURGH:

W. S. HAVEN, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,

CORNER OF MARKET AND SECOND STREETS.

1856.

777

36

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by

JAMES R. ALBACH,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

PREFACE.

THE popularity and apparent demand, throughout our country, for a volume such as the compiler now presents to the public, was a principal, though not the strongest inducement for preparing a third edition at this time-and from the point now selected for its publication.

The projector of these ANNALS has been most anxious to correct errors, unavoidable in former editions, and to embrace in the present his entire original plan. To secure greater facilities for that accurate knowledge of the early Western Settlements by the English, so necessary in the compilation of a reliable work on the subject, Pittsburgh was selected as the most eligible place of publication. The first edition was issued at Cincinnati, where he was assisted by the lamented JAMES H. PERKINS, a gentlemen highly competent for the task. That volume was, however, necessarily incomplete, embracing only the central portion of the West.

A desire to include in its pages a more full account of events connected with the early history of Illinois, Missouri and other communities, induced him, at a later period, to prepare a second edition, which was issued a few years ago in St. Louis, and included a thorough revision of the former issue, with considerable additions-in which he had the valuable assistance of Rev. J. M. PECK, a gentleman whose long residence in the Far West, and familiarity with the history of those portions less elaborately treated of in the first edition, rendered him admirably qualified for the undertaking.

Although the author claims credit for but little more originality than that displayed in the plan of the work now 447087

presented, he has devoted much time and more labor than most of his readers, unacquainted by experience with such tasks, will give him credit for, in its compilation-to which he brings the knowledge acquired by the observation of thirty-five years in the extensive Mississippi Valley, and by visits to nearly every memorable spot connected with its early history.

Although not arranged in strict accordance with the plan originally projected, it is believed this new and greatly extended edition, for general accuracy, and especially for fullness of detail, may be fairly commended to the reader, as worthy of attention, as a work for perusal and future reference.

While it is not pretended, in view of the necessary imperfection of all human works, that the volume is wholly free from errors and imperfections, the author has endeavored to procure all the facts detailed or in any way alluded to in its pages, from the most reliable sources and the best authorities; it will be found to contain a faithful narrative of the prominent events in Western History, deserving of the perusal, not only of the millions who occupy its fertile acres, but of every American-and especially of the

YOUNG MEN OF OUR COUNTRY,

TO WHOM

THIS VOLUME

15

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

PITTSBURGH, October, 1856.