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Did
You Know...?
The farthest point west
for a naval battle to be fought during the American Revolutionary War
was fought on the Wabash River near Palestine. Two days after
Clark took Fort Sackville in Vincennes Indiana on February 24, 1779, he
heard that British supply boats and men were coming down the Wabash
River to reinforce Fort Sackville. Clark asked for 50 volunteers
to intercept them. Twice as many men volunteered. Clark
ordered swivel guns placed on flat boats and put Captain Bowman in
charge. When an island near Bellgrade was reached, the boats were
hidden under the branches of willow trees. Scouts in canoes were
sent out to locate the enemy. The British were sighted the next
morning near Point Coupee on the Indiana side and north of a high hill
some two miles southeast of the present village of Palestine on the
Illinois side of the Wabash. On March 2, 1779, the British fleet,
containing seven long flat bottomed boats, started through the narrow
channel that swerves in a southeast direction around this hill.
Bowman and his men were ready for them. Shots from the swivel guns
were fired across the bows of the British boats. Clark ordered the
British to pull over to the shore and surrender. The surprise
attack was successful and the British surrendered. Seven gunboats,
the English officers and men, a judge from Detroit, arms, ammunition,
clothing and liquor were captured, about $25,000 worth. From
History of Crawford County Illinois, 1980, Volume 2, published by
Crawford County Historical Society.
More
information about Palestine's history can be found in books and
newspaper articles here at the library. |
