Second in a three part series. DeVilliers hated the Foxes. And he was anxious to be rid of this perpetual scourge on the peaceful intentions of the French traders and Catholic missionaries of New France. Lieutenant Nicolas Antoine Coulon de Villiers, the Commandant at the French post on the St. Joseph River near present day Niles, Michigan had just received […]

Part one of a three part series. Way up near the headwaters of the Sangamon River, just a couple of miles south and east of Arrowsmith along Mclean County Road 1000 North stands a small reddish granite monument. It’s easy to miss if you’re not looking for it, and it stands silently in a bucolic setting among the windmills and […]