Decker, Indiana
Decker is a town in Johnson Township, Knox County, United States. The population was 249 at the 2010 census, it was founded 1869 by Isaac Decker. Decker is near the White River, is well known for the watermelon and cantaloupe produced in the surrounding rural area; the school at Decker provided all grades until 1967, when the middle and high school grades were consolidated into South Knox High School. The school continued to provide grades K-5 until 1999, when those grades were consolidated; the school mascot was the'Aces,' which referred to wartime airplane pilots, on to the aces in playing cards. Decker is located at 38°31′6″N 87°31′26″W. According to the 2010 census, Decker has a total area of all land; as of the census of 2010, there were 249 people, 92 households, 68 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,383.3 inhabitants per square mile. There were 109 housing units at an average density of 605.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 97.6% White, 1.2% African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.4% from two or more races.
There were 92 households of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.0% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.2% had a male householder with no wife present, 26.1% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.16. The median age in the town was 39.3 years. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18. The gender makeup of the town was 52.2% male and 47.8% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 283 people, 107 households, 80 families residing in the town; the population density was 1,081.0 people per square mile. There were 120 housing units at an average density of 458.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 99.65 % 0.35 % from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.35% of the population. There were 107 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 24.3% were non-families.
23.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.05. In the town, the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $24,821, the median income for a family was $28,750. Males had a median income of $25,000 versus $15,714 for females; the per capita income for the town was $15,482. About 14.3% of families and 21.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.7% of those under the age of eighteen and 20.6% of those sixty five or over
Bruceville, Indiana
Bruceville is a town in Washington Township, Knox County, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census. Bruceville is located at 38°45′25″N 87°24′54″W. According to the 2010 census, Bruceville has a total area of all land; the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bruceville has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. Bruceville was named for the Bruce family. William Bruce settled here in 1805. Bruce led the local militia during Tecumseh's War in 1811; the streets of the town were laid out in 1829. Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in support of Henry Clay; as of the census of 2010, there were 478 people, 193 households, 125 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,405.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 218 housing units at an average density of 641.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 95.6% White, 0.2% African American, 0.4% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 1.5% from other races, 1.3% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.1% of the population. There were 193 households of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.1% had a male householder with no wife present, 35.2% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.16. The median age in the town was 35.4 years. 26.8% of residents were under the age of 18. The gender makeup of the town was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 469 people, 199 households, 141 families residing in the town; the population density was 1,597.2 people per square mile. There were 221 housing units at an average density of 752.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 98.51% White, 0.21% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.21% from other races, 0.85% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.43% of the population. There were 199 households out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.1% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.87. In the town, the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $24,028, the median income for a family was $33,036. Males had a median income of $27,292 versus $17,857 for females; the per capita income for the town was $13,829. About 12.6% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.3% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over
Gibson County, Indiana
Gibson County is a county in the southwestern part of the U. S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 33,503; the county seat is Princeton. Gibson County is included in Indiana -- Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. From 1790 to 1813, this area was part of Indiana; the first white settler of what became Gibson County was John Severns, a native of Wales who had come with his parents to North America several years before the Revolutionary War. He settled in Gibson County in 1789–90 on the south bank of the Patoka River at a place now known as Severns Bridge. Another early Gibson County settler was William Hargrove, who came from Kentucky by pack mule in 1803; the Rev. Joseph Milburn and his son Robert arrived in 1803, they settled between the Patoka and White Rivers. The Milburns were from the area of Kentucky. Rev. Milburn, a Baptist, established the first church. In 1805, Jacob Warrick arrived, along with Thomas Montgomery, they burned out the last Native American village in 1807, chasing the inhabitants into the Illinois Territory.
Captain Warrick was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Gibson and Warrick Counties were organized in 1813 out of Knox County. Gibson County was named for John Gibson, an officer in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. Gibson was Secretary of the Indiana Territory, serving as acting Governor on two occasions; the two counties of Gibson County and Warrick County, separated by Rector's Base Line, were formed March 9, 1813 and organized on April 1, 1813. Gibson County occupied everything from the Wabash River and from the White River's extension to the Paoli Base Line down the 2d Principal Meridian to the Rector's Base Line; the area south of this line became Warrick County, which covered the area from the 2d Principal Meridian west to the Wabash River and down the Wabash River and with meanders up the Ohio River back to the 2d Principal Meridian. Orange County, Spencer County, Pike County, Dubois County, Crawford County all came from the 2,000-square-mile area occupied by the original Gibson County, as well as small portions of Lawrence County, Perry County, Posey County, the current Warrick County, Vanderburgh County.
When the county was organized, Patoka was intended to be the county seat. However, Patoka's low-lying location along the Patoka River gave rise to a malaria epidemic. However, although Princeton contends it was the only county seat, some contend county records indicate Owensville was a temporary county seat since Princeton was not laid out until late 1814, at least a year after Gibson County's organization. Although Indiana was technically a "free state," those assisting runaway slaves were guilty of breaking the law and could be prosecuted and jailed. Despite the legal threats, the Abolitionist movement was strong in Gibson County where many were active in the Underground Railroad, some known as Abolitionists such as David Stormont and his wife who maintained a station at their home three miles northwest of Princeton, along with John Carithers who aided runaway slaves at his home east of Princeton, Sarah Merrick, was jailed in Gibson County for helping a runaway slave and her children from nearby Henderson, where slavery was legal, escape to free territory after she was unable or unwilling to pay her $500 bail.
One individual, a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Thomas B. McCormick, was so well known as an Abolitionist that he fled to Canada after the Kentucky governor requested his extradition. Joseph Hartin, politically identified as an Abolitionist. James Washington Cockrum from North Carolina, maintained a station at his home in Oakland City, first hiding runaways in a root cellar of their log cabin, his son William, who authored History of the Underground railroad as it was conducted by the Anti-slavery league. The family home in Oakland City, known as Cockrum Hall, is recognized as a prominent station on the Underground Railroad. Gibson County is the northern third of the Evansville, Indiana–Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. Nearly 90% of the county exists within the Ohio River Valley American Viticultural Area along with all of neighboring Posey and Warrick counties and a portion of Pike County. Despite being close to Evansville and experiencing a large growth of population in the central areas, Gibson County still remains a rural county with half of the ten townships having populations less than 2,000.
Less than 7 percent of the county's 500 square miles lies within incorporated settlements, or 10 percent if subdivisions are included. The western part of the county consists of spread-out flood-prone farms with spotty marshes along the Wabash and White Rivers. There are rolling hills around Owensville, large forest and marshland tracts lie near the Gibson Generating Station and the three river settlements of Crawleyville, East Mount Carmel, Skelton; the northern part is more given to hills and forest. The eastern part contains many hills and is dotted with strip pits and active coal mines; the southern part is more given to valley and marshland, drained by the Pigeon Creek which flows south through Evansville
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park
George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, located in Vincennes, Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash River at what is believed to be the site of Fort Sackville, is a United States National Historical Park. President Calvin Coolidge authorized a classical memorial and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the completed structure in 1936. On February 25, 1779, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, older brother of William Clark, led the capture of Fort Sackville and British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton as part of the celebrated Illinois Campaign, which lasted from 1778 to 1779; the heroic march of Clark's men from Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River in mid-winter and the subsequent victory over the British remains one of the most memorable feats of the American Revolution. In 1966, Indiana transferred the site to the National Park Service. Adjacent to the memorial is a visitor center which presents interpretive displays; the center is situated on South 2nd Street in Vincennes. The site is located in the Vincennes Historic District.
The memorial is placed at the believed site of Fort Sackville. The episode being commemorated marked the finest moment in General George Rogers Clark's life, he was sent by the state of Virginia to protect its interest in the Old Northwest. His 1778-1779 campaign included the founding of Louisville and the capture of British forts in the lower Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Forces under Clark's command had captured Fort Sackville months before, but when notified that British forces under Henry Hamilton had retaken the fort, Clark led a desperate march to retake the fort again for the American cause, succeeding on February 25, 1779; this led to the newly formed United States claiming control of what would become the states of Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. As Vincennes grew in the 1800s, it overran the site of its boundaries were lost. In 1905, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a stone marker on what they believed was the location of the fort. In 1929, local residents made a major effort to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Clark's campaign.
The state of Indiana chose to build a memorial to General Clark's triumph in the 1930s, with the assistance of the United States government. The memorial was designed by New York architect Frederic Charles Hirons and dedicated June 14, 1936, by President Franklin Roosevelt. Though the National Park Service in 1976 called the finished memorial the "last major Classical style memorial" constructed in the United States, the New York State Memorial to Theodore Roosevelt at the American Museum of Natural History by John Russell Pope was completed in 1936, Pope's Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D. C. was completed 1939-1943. The memorial building is a circular granite structure surrounded by sixteen granite fluted Greek Doric columns in a peripteral colonnade, capped with a saucer dome of glass panels and resting on a stylobate; the north and east corners have various maintenance rooms. Except for the maintenance rooms, these feature plastered walls and ceilings, marble wainscoting, terrazzo flooring.
Visitors enter the memorial by climbing thirty granite steps in the northwest corner. The basement is unfinished, with fluorescent lighting revealing a ceiling and walls of exposed concrete, a dirt floor. Other prominent features in the park include John Angel's granite statue of Francis Vigo, a 4-by-9-foot monument overlooking the Wabash River erected in 1934 that honors the Italian-American merchant who assisted General Clark; the adjacent grounds of the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier hold a 1934 bronze statue by Albin Polasek honoring Father Pierre Gibault, another figure in the Revolutionary War. Raoul Josset designed the Lincoln Memorial Bridge across the Wabash River to compliment the memorial aesthetically, it includes relief carvings designed by a monument by Nellie Walker on the Illinois side of the bridge and celebrates the migration of Abraham Lincoln. A concrete floodwall that protects the memorial and Vincennes from Wabash flooding is designed in a complimentary Classical style.
The grounds hold a memorial to the soldiers from Knox County who served in World War I, a marker denoting where Clark's headquarters stood during his siege of Fort Sackville, the original Daughters of the American Revolution memorial, which has moved several times due to construction of the main memorial. Muralist Ezra Winter executed a series of seven murals for the building; the park was authorized by the Act of July 23, 1966. This law contains three provisions; the first authorized the Secretary of the Interior to accept from the State of Indiana, the donation of the Clark Memorial and surrounding grounds for a national park. This was accomplished within one year of the law's enactment; the second provision permits the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with the owners of other historic properties in Vincennes which are associated with George Rogers Clark and the Northwest Territory. Such properties would become part of the park, the Secretary could assist in their preservation and interpretation.
The third provision requires the Secretary to administer, protect and maintain the park in accordance with the provisions of the act of August 25, 1916, which established the National Park Service. George Rogers Clark NHP was established to commemorate the accomplishments of George Rogers Clark and the expansion of the United States into the Northwest Territory.
Northwest Territory
The Northwest Territory in the United States was formed after the American Revolutionary War, was known formally as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. It was the initial post-colonial Territory of the United States and encompassed most of pre-war British colonial territory west of the Appalachian mountains north of the Ohio River, it included all the land west of Pennsylvania, northwest of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River below the Great Lakes. It spanned all or large parts of six eventual U. S. States, it was created as a Territory by the Northwest Ordinance July 13, 1787, reduced to Ohio, eastern Michigan and a sliver of southeastern Indiana with the formation of Indiana Territory July 4, 1800, ceased to exist March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio, the remainder attached to Indiana Territory. At its inception the Territory was a vast wilderness sparsely populated by nomadic Indians including the Delaware, Potawatomi and others.
At the territory's dissolution, there were dozens of towns and settlements, a few with thousands of settlers in Ohio chiefly along the Ohio and Miami Rivers and around the Great Lakes. The region was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris of 1783; the Congress of the Confederation enacted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to provide for the administration of the territories and set rules for admission of jurisdictions as states. On August 7, 1789, the new U. S. Congress affirmed the Ordinance with slight modifications under the Constitution; the Territory was governed by martial law under a governor and three judges, but as population increased, a legislature, the Territorial General Assembly, was formed. Administratively, the Territory was divided into a succession of counties totaling 13. Conflicts between settlers and Native American inhabitants of the Territory resulted in the Northwest Indian War culminating in General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's victory at Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.
The subsequent Treaty of Greenville 1795 opened the way for settlement of eastern Ohio. The Northwest Territory included all the then-owned land of the United States west of Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi River, northwest of the Ohio River, it incorporated most of the former Ohio Country except a portion in western Pennsylvania, Illinois Country. It covered all of the modern states of Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as the northeastern part of Minnesota. Lands west of the Mississippi River were the Louisiana Province of New France; the area included more than 260,000 square miles and comprised about 1/3 of the land area of the United States at the time of its creation. It was inhabited by about 45,000 Native Americans and 4,000 traders Canadien and British. Among the tribes inhabiting the region were the Shawnee, Miami, Wyandot and Potawatomi. Notably, the Miami capital along with British trading posts was at Kekionga at the site of present day Fort Wayne, Indiana. Neutralizing Kekionga became the focus of the Northwest Indian War, the driving events in the early evolution of the territory.
Integration of the Northwest Territory into a political unit, settlement, depended on three factors: relinquishment by the British, extinguishment of states' claims west of the Appalachians, usurpation or purchase of lands from the Indians. These objectives were accomplished correspondingly by the American Revolutionary War, provisions in the Articles of Confederation, various treaties preceding the Northwest Indian War including Treaty of Fort Stanwix and Treaty of Fort McIntosh; the treaty process would extend well beyond the War and existence of the Territory as a political entity. European exploration of the region began with French-Canadian voyageurs in the 17th century, followed by French missionaries and French fur traders. French-Canadian explorer Jean Nicolet was the first recorded European entrant into the region, landing in 1634 at the current site of Green Bay, Wisconsin; the French exercised control from separate posts in the region, which they claimed as New France. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the Indian Reserve in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, after being defeated in the French and Indian War.
From the 1750s to the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812, the British had a long-standing goal of creating an Indian barrier state, a large "neutral" Indian state that would cover most of the Old Northwest. It would be independent of the United States and under the tutelage of the British, who would use it to block American expansion and to build up their control of the fur trade headquartered in Montreal. A new colony, named Charlotina, was proposed for the southern Great Lakes region. However, facing armed opposition by Native Americans, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited white colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains; this action angered American colonists interested in expansion, as well as those who had settled in the area. In 1774, by the Quebec Act
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and Henry Knox held the position; when Washington was inaugurated as the first president under the Constitution, he appointed Knox to continue serving as Secretary of War. The Secretary of War was the head of the War Department. At first, he was responsible including naval affairs. In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy was created by statute, the scope of responsibility for this office was reduced to the affairs of the United States Army. From 1886 onward, the Secretary of War was in the line of succession to the presidency, after the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tem of the Senate and the Secretary of State.
In 1947, with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947, the Secretary of War was replaced by the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the Air Force, along with the Secretary of the Navy, have since 1949 been non-Cabinet subordinates under the Secretary of Defense. The Secretary of the Army's office is considered the direct successor to the Secretary of War's office although the Secretary of Defense took the Secretary of War's position in the Cabinet, the line of succession to the presidency; the office of Secretary at War was modelled upon Great Britain's Secretary at War, William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, at the time of the American Revolution. The office of Secretary at War was meant to replace both the Commander-in-Chief and the Board of War, like the President of the Board, the Secretary wore no special insignia; the Inspector General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, Adjutant General served on the Secretary's staff. However, the Army itself under Secretary Henry Knox only consisted of 700 men.
Parties No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican Confederate States Secretary of War Bell, William Gardner. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005: Portraits and Biographical Sketches. Washington, D. C.: United States Army Center of Military History. Grossman, Mark. Encyclopedia of the United States Cabinet 1789-2010. Armenia, New York: Greyhouse Publishing. King, Archibald. Command of the Army. Military Affairs. Charlottesville, Virginia: The Judge Advocate General's School, U. S. Army
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville and Terre Haute. Founded in 1732 by French fur traders, François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes for whom the Fort was named, Vincennes is the oldest continually-inhabited European settlement in Indiana and one of the oldest settlements west of the Appalachians. According to the 2010 census, its population was 18,423, a decrease of 1.5% from 18,701 in 2000. Vincennes is the principal city of the Vincennes, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises all of Knox County and had an estimated 2017 population of 38,440; the vicinity of Vincennes was inhabited for thousands of years by different cultures of indigenous peoples. During the Late Woodland period, some of these peoples used local loess hills as burial sites. In historic times, prominent local Indian groups who drove these people out were the Shawnee and the Miami tribe.
The first European settlers were French, when Vincennes was founded as part of the French colony of New France. On, it would be transferred to the colony of Louisiana. Several years France lost the French and Indian War, as result ceded territory east of the Mississippi River, including Vincennes, to the victorious British. Once the area was under British rule, it was associated with the Province of Quebec, until after the American Revolution, it became part of the Illinois Country of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. Next it became part of Knox County in the Northwest Territory, it was included in the Indiana Territory. Vincennes served as capital of the Indiana Territory from 1800 until 1813, when the government was moved to Corydon; the first trading post on the Wabash River was established by Sieur Juchereau, Lieutenant General of Montréal. With thirty-four Canadiens, he founded the company post on October 28, 1702 to trade for Buffalo hides with American Indians; the exact location of Juchereau's trading post is not known, but because the Buffalo Trace crosses the Wabash at Vincennes, many believe it was here.
The post was a success. When Juchereau died, the post was abandoned; the French-Canadian settlers left what they considered hostile territory for Mobile the capital of Louisiana. The oldest European town in Indiana, Vincennes was established in 1732 as a second French fur trading post in this area; the Compagnie des Indes commissioned a Canadian officer, François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, to build a post along the Wabash River to discourage local nations from trading with the British. De Vincennes founded the new trading post near the meeting points of the Wabash and White rivers, the overland Buffalo Trace. De Vincennes, who had lived with his father among the Miami tribe, persuaded the Piankeshaw to establish a village at his trading post, he encouraged Canadien settlers to move there, started his own family to increase the village population. Because the Wabash post was so remote, Vincennes had a hard time getting trade supplies from Louisiana for the native nations, who were being courted by British traders.
The boundary between the French colonies of Louisiana and Canada, although inexact in the first years of the settlement, was decreed in 1745 to run between Fort Ouiatenon and Vincennes. In 1736, during the French war with the Chickasaw nation, de Vincennes was captured and burned at the stake near the present-day town of Fulton, Mississippi, his settlement on the Wabash was renamed Poste Vincennes in his honor. Louisiana Governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville next appointed Louis Groston de Saint-Ange de Bellerive to command Poste Vincennes; as the French colonials pushed north from Louisiana and south from Canada, the British colonists to the east continued to push west. In addition, British traders lured away many of Indians; this competition escalated in the Ohio Country until 1754 and the eruption of the French and Indian War On February 10, 1763, when New France was ceded to the British Empire at the conclusion of the French and Indian War, Vincennes fell under the dominion of Great Britain.
British Lt. John Ramsey came to Vincennes in 1766, he took a census of the settlement, built up the fort, renamed it Fort Sackville. The population grew in the years that followed, resulting in a unique culture of interdependent Native Americans and British colonials and traders. Vincennes was far from centers of colonial power. In 1770 and 1772 General Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of Britain's North American forces, received warnings that the residents of Vincennes were not remaining loyal, were inciting native tribes along the river trade routes against the British; the British Colonial Secretary, the Earl of Hillsborough, ordered the residents to be removed from Vincennes. Gage delayed while the residents responded to the charges against them, claiming to be "peaceful settlers, cultivating the land which His Most Christian Majesty granted us." The issue was resolved by Hillsborough's successor, Lord Dartmouth, who insisted to Gage that the residents were not lawless vagabonds, but English subjects whose rights were protected by the King.
In 1778, residents at Poste Vincennes received word of the French alliance with the American Second Continental Congress from Father Pierre Gibault
Knox County
