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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
admitted to the fort by a Pennsylvanian who happened to be within, and the commandant, Rocheblave, was surprised in bed, while sleeping with his wife by his side.
FORT JEFFERSON. I. A fort erected by Col. George Rogers Clark, under instructions from the Governor of Virginia, at the Iron Banks on the east bank of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio River. He promised lands to all adult, able-bodied white males who would emigrate thither and settle, either with or without their families. Many accepted the offer, and a considerable colony was established there. Toward the close of the Revolutionary War, Virginia being unable longer to sustain the garrison, the colony was scattered, many families going to Kaskaskia. II. A fort in the Miami valley, erected by Governor St. Clair and General Butler, in October, 1791. "Within thirty miles of the post St. Glair's army, which had been -badly weakened through desertions, was cut to pieces by the enemy, and the fortification was abandoned.
FORT MASSAC, an early French fortification, erected about 1711 on the Ohio River, 40 miles from its mouth, in what is now Massac County. It was the first fortification (except Fort St. Louis) in the "Illinois Country," antedating Fort Chartres by several years. The origin of the name is uncertain. The best authorities are of the opinion that it was so called in honor of the engineer who superintended its construction; by others it has been traced to the name of the French Minister of Marine; others assert that it is a corruption of the word "Massacre," a name given to the locality because of the massacre there of a large number of French soldiers by the Indians. The Virginians sometimes spoke of it as the "Cherokee fort." It was garrisoned by the French until after the evacuation of the country under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. It later became a sort of depot for American settlers, a few families constantly residing within and around the fortification. At a very early day a military road was laid out from the fort to Kaskaskia, the trees alongside being utilized as milestones, the number of miles being cut with irons and painted red. After the close of the Revolutionary War, the United States Government strengthened and garrisoned the fort by way of defense
