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HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
was afterwards governed by officers appointed directly by the crown. (See French Governors.) As early as September, 1699, an attempt was made by an expedition fitted out by the English Government, under command of Captains Barr and Clements, to take possession of the country about the mouth of the Mississippi on the ground of prior discovery; but they found the French under Bienville already in possession at Biloxi, and they sailed away without making any further effort to carry the scheme into effect. Meanwhile, in the early part of the next century, the English were successful in attaching to their interests the Iroquois, who were the deadly foes of the French, and held possession of "Western
New York and the region around the headwaters of the Ohio River, extending their incursions against the Indian allies of the French as far west as Illinois. The real struggle for territory between the English and French began with the formation of the Ohio Land Company in 1748-49, and the grant to it by the English Government of half a million acres of land along the Ohio River, with the exclusive right of trading with the Indian tribes in that region. Out of this grew the establishment, in the next two years, of trading posts and forts on the Miami and Maumee in Western Ohio, followed by the protracted French and Indian War, which was prosecuted with varied fortunes until the final defeat of the French at Quebec, on the thirteenth of September; 1759, which broke their power on the American continent. Among those who took part in this struggle, was a contingent from the French garrison of Fort Chart res. Neyon de Villiers, commandant of the fort, was one of these, being the only survivor of seven brothers who participated in the defense of Canada. Still hopeful of saving Louisiana and Illinois, he departed with a few followers for New Orleans, but the treaty of Paris, Feb. 10, 1763, destroyed all hope, for by its terms Canada, and all other territory east of the Mississippi as far south as the northern boundary of Florida, was surrendered to Great Britain, while the remainder, including the vast territory between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, was given up to Spain.
Thus, the "Illinois Country" fell into the hands of the British, although the actual transfer of Fort Chartres and the country dependent upon it did not take place until Oct. 10, 1765, when its veteran commanda
