Massacre 1769: The Search for the Origin of the Legend of Starved Rock

by Mark Walczynski

This is a monograph examining the historical and archaeological support for the truth of the legend surrounding Starved Rock, a large formation overlooking the Illinois River, in LaSalle County, Illinois, which is now the site of a wonderful state park.

Genres: Nonfiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2013

About the author

Mark Walczynski is a retired faculty member at Illinois Valley Community College and the Park Historian for the Starved Rock Formation.

Reviews

[Suzette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fascinated by this book because I love Starved Rock State Park and early French and Native American history in the Midwest. It's very thorough but repetitive, however.The author states up front that there is no evidence supporting the legend of a 1769 massacre of a large number of Illinois Indians at the top of the Rock and the environs below in retaliation for the death of the war chief, Pontiac. He then quite thoroughly examines the development of the legend in historical accounts and compares the accounts with records kept by the French and British and with archaeological studies conducted at the Rock and elsewhere. I have visited Starved Rock State Park many times. I grew up hearing the exciting and gruesome legend of the outnumbered, surrounded, and starving Illinois Indians, who retreated to the top of the Rock, and then were allegedly decimated by the Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians - I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed that it wasn't true (the author speculates that the story was spun from events during an earlier Indian siege in 1722). The author does a great job explaining the origins of the legend and what actually occurred historically.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent text providing a documentary and archeological review of the massacre of the Illinois tribe in 1769. In fact, the massacre appears to never have happened and the site Starved Rock was not called that until nearly 80 years later. There was a siege in 1722 of the Meskaquie(Fox) by the Peoria (a sub-tribe of the Illinois). The Fox would relocate to Wisconsin with the Sauk who take them in.