Ebook A History of the City of Vincennes, Indiana

I propose to write a history of Vincennes, Indiana. This place is the oldest town within the limits of the State of Indiana. With the exception of Detroit, Michigan, which was settled by the French in 1670, and of Kaskaskia, Illinois, which was also settled by the French in 1673, it is the oldest town in that vast territorial expanse formerly known as "The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio," out of which the five great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been formed.

In the preparation of the history I will gather material from authentic and reliable sources. Of course some data which I will use have already found their way into print and are now part of the general history of the country. In addition thereto I will consult and be aided by many manuscript documents by learned and truthful men which have never as yet been published. I will also obtain valuable information from the writings of Bishop Brute, the first Catholic Bishop of Vincennes, from the files of the Western Sun newspaper embracing the years 1807 to 1845, the records of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, reaching from April, 1749, to the present, and will trust reliable and well authenticated traditions, and also matters within my own personal knowledge with a receptive and retentive memory covering a period of at least sixty-six years.

I will endeavor to make the recital both pleasing and interesting to the reader, and hope to contribute some historic matter concerning the place and its antecedents which have never yet been accessible to the general reader. And above all will endeavor to make the presentation of facts and incidents both truthful and reliable.