Felix St. Vrain | |
|---|---|
| Born | Felix August Antoine Saint-Vrain March 23, 1799 |
| Died | May 24, 1832 (aged 33) |
| Cause of death | gunshot wound in Indian attack |
| Resting place | Kellogg's Grove Cemetery,Kellogg's Grove,Stephenson County, Illinois |
| Occupation(s) | saw mill owner,sawyer, Indian agent |
| Employer | U.S. Government |
| Known for | Being a United States Indian Agent to the Sauk and Meskwaki Tribes, who was killed in theBlack Hawk War and was the brother of St. Louis fur trader,Ceran St. Vrain, who was the trading partner, of theBent Brothers of,Bent's Fort, nowLa Junta,Otero County, Colorado |
| Spouse | Marie Pauline Gregoire |
| Parent(s) | Jacques Marcellin Ceran de Hault de Lassus Saint-Vrain and Marie Félicité Dubreuil Saint-Vrain |
| Relatives | Ceran St. Vrain (brother), Savinien St. Vrain (brother), Marcellin St. Vrain (brother) Charles Emmanuel St. Vrain (brother), Domitille St Vrain (brother), Emma de Hault Vrain (sister) |
Felix St. Vrain, bornFelix August Antoine St. Vrain (March 23, 1799–May 24, 1832), was an American United StatesIndian agent who was killed by Native Americans during theBlack Hawk War. St. Vrain died along with three companions while on a mission to deliver dispatches fromDixon's Ferry toFort Armstrong, both in Illinois. The incident has become known as theSt. Vrain massacre.
He was the brother ofCeran St. Vrain, a St. Louis fur trader who was the partner of theBent Brothers. Together they establishedBent's Fort, the only privately held fort in the west. It is located at what is nowLa Junta,Otero County, Colorado.
Felix St. Vrain was born inSt. Louis, Missouri, a son of Jacques DeHault Delassus de Saint-Vrain, a French aristocrat, who had immigrated to escape the violence of the French Revolution. His mother was an ethnic French woman from St. Louis.[1]
St. Vrain married Marie Pauline Grégoire in 1822, and eight years later settled inKaskaskia, Illinois, a former French colonial city in the 18th century.[1] Operating asawmill in Kaskaskia, St. Vrain was 31 years old when he was appointed to replaceThomas Forsyth as a US Indian agent.[2]
St. Vrain started working for theUnited States government as anIndian Agent in 1830.[1] He was assigned to theSauk andMeskwaki nations aroundRock Island, Illinois duringWilliam Clark's tenure as superintendent of the St. Louis Indian Agency.[1] St. Vrain was appointed while Forsyth continued to criticizeWilliam Clark's administration.[2] St. Vrain had almost no experience dealing with Indians but, as a member of a politically important St. Louis-French family, he had connections to U.S. SenatorElias Kent Kane.[2] Kane was a close acquaintance of William Clark and recommended St. Vrain for the appointment.[2]
When theBlack Hawk War began, St. Vrain was stationed atFort Armstrong. The story circulated upon his death by Governor John Reynolds was that St. Vrain was keenly in tune with Indian culture and was treacherously murdered by a chief who had adopted him as a brother, even naming him Little Bear.[3] This story is almost certainly not true.[3]
While on a mission to deliver dispatches, fromDixon's Ferry, present-dayDixon, Illinois toGalena, under the command of GeneralHenry Atkinson, Felix St. Vrain was killed, along with three other members of his party, on May 24, 1832. This incident was later known by Americans as the "St. VrainMassacre". The St. Vrain party were most likely attacked by a band of pro-SaukHo-Chunk warriors, though sources disagree over the attackers' tribe.[4][5]
St. Vrain and the other victims were buried by a detachment of soldiers under ColonelHenry Dodge.[5] One account of the massacre, from Gen.George Wallace Jones (St. Vrain's brother-in-law and the man who identified his body), claimed the attackersscalped all of the dead men, and cut off the hands, head and feet of St. Vrain. They removed his heart, which they ate as part of their post-battle ritual to take on power of the enemy.[4] The four men were buried inKellogg's Grove.[6] In 1834 (either January 6[1] or March 24[7]) the U.S. Congress passed a bill to provided financial aid to St. Vrain's family.[1] They made a 640-acreland grant to his wife in the state of Missouri.[7]