FORT DE CHARTRES & THE PHANTOM FUNERAL
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FORT DE CHARTRES
& THE PHANTOM FUNERAL
Southern Illinois
One of the Greatest Legends of Southern Illinois is the Tale of the
Phantom Funeral Procession that Walks on July 4!
BETWEEN THE HOURS OF ELEVEN &
MIDNIGHT ON JULY 4, 2003, LEGEND HAS IT THAT THREE LUCKY PEOPLE ON A DUSTY
ROAD IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS WILL BE PRESENT WHEN THE DEAD DECIDE TO WALK ONCE
MORE!
Along an old road near the sleepy southern Illinois town of
Prairie du Rocher, the heartlands most famous phantom funeral procession is
supposed to walk again this summer. The legend of the phantom funeral began in
July 1889 when two women witnessed a mourning entourage of more than 40
wagons, 13 groups of soldiers and a casket rolling along the road outside of
the village. Despite the size of the group, the procession made no sound. It
disappeared in the direction of the small cemetery located outside of town and
never returned to the ruins of the old fort from where it had come. Although
they did not yet realize it, the women (and one other witness) had glimpsed
what has become known as one of the most famous, enduring mysteries of the
Mississippi River region.
Fort de Chartres has a rich, violent and bloody history in
Illinois. The first settlers in the southern portion of the state were the
French. They established trading posts and settlements in places like
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, near the Mississippi River, and not far from the
present-day town of Prairie du Rocher, was the site of Illinois earliest
military post, Fort de Chartres.
There were several different forts that stood at this site,
but the first was built around 1720. The area was beginning to be settled by
this time and the French were laying claim to as much land as possible. The
fort became an outfitting location for further colonization. It would also
play several roles in regional history, including a part in a tragic event of
1736. In that year, the commander of the fort, Pierre dArtaugette, received
orders to attack the Chickasaw Indians. He led 30 regular soldiers, 100
volunteers and a number of Indian allies downriver from Fort de Chartres. At
the mouth of the Ohio River, the expedition was met by Chevalier Vincennes
from the French post on the Wabash. He came with an additional 20 soldiers and
a small contingent of Indians. The combined forces then marched into Chickasaw
territory, only to face disaster.
Vincennes, dArtaugette and a priest named Senat were all
captured by the Chickasaw and held for ransom. When none came, all of the
captives were slowly roasted at the stake.
In 1751, an Irish soldier of fortune
named Richard MacCarty became commander of the French fort. The original
fort had fallen into ruin by this time and it was his responsibility to
construct a new one using slave labor and local limestone. The new fort
took three years to build and cost over $1 million, an enormous expense at
that time. When completed, the fort could house over 400 soldiers and it
enclosed an area of more than four acres. It also boasted a powder
magazine, a storehouse, a prison with four dungeons, barracks, and
quarters for officers. During the construction of the fort, the men
stationed here would become involved in a series of incidents that would
become the French and Indian War.
An illustration of Fort de Chartres
as constructed by Richard McCarty, using slave labor.
In 1753, a group of French explorers in Pennsylvania were
attacked by a company of Virginia militia under the command of George
Washington. In the fighting, the commander was killed, touching off what
historians believe led to the war. Neyon de Villiers, the second in command at
Fort de Chartres asked for and received permission from MacCarty to lead an
expedition against the British in retaliation for the deaths of the French
explorers. He took more than 100 hand-picked men, and several hundred Indians,
and started the long journey toward Pennsylvania. The troops were joined by
other French forces at Fort Duquesne and they marched on Washington at Great
Meadow in Pennsylvania. The American troops surrendered the battle but
eventually, with the British, would win the war.
France was defeated and ceded the Illinois territory to
Britain in 1763. The Indians, led by Chief Pontiac, were hostile to the new
British rulers however and two years would pass before the English could take
possession of Fort De Chartres.
The original powder magazine at the
fort after falling into ruin.
Under British command, the fort would
decline and fall into ruin. Many of the French farmers and merchants
migrated west across the Mississippi during the British years, abandoning
the area. To make matters worse, a river flood in 1772 damaged the fort
and left seven feet of water standing inside of the walls. Finally, the
river channel shifted and the west wall of the structure collapsed. After
this, the military garrison was transferred to Kaskaskia and Fort de
Chartres was never occupied again.
As time wore on, the ruins fell apart and birds began
nesting in the crumbling stone. The site was largely forgotten until the
middle 1900s, when historic restoration efforts began. Today, the original
foundations have been exposed and a few of the old buildings have been
restored. Living history groups frequent the place and visitors are invited to
this isolated place to learn about the earliest settlements in Illinois.
But time never completely forgot about Fort de Chartres.
The events of the past never died here completely and it is said that at least
one of them replays itself over and over again in the form of a phantom
funeral procession that has become one of the most famous haunts in southern
Illinois. According to the legend, three people along the road from Fort de
Chartres to a small cemetery in Prairie du Rocher will be able to witness the
funeral procession between the hours of eleven and midnight, but only when
July 4 falls on a Friday.
The modern version of this intriguing story begins in July
1889. A woman named Mrs. Chris and her neighbor were sitting on the front
porch of the Chris house near Prairie du Rocher one night. It was near
midnight and the two women had escaped the heat of the house by going out into
the cooler air of the porch.
They talked quietly for a short time and then one of the
women noticed a large group of people coming toward them on the road. She
caught the attention of her friend and they both puzzled over why such a
procession of people and wagons would be on the road from the old fort at such
an hour. As they spoke, the wagons rolled into view, looking strange and eerie
in the pale light of the moon. Behind the wagons came carriages and men and
women walking along the dusty road. There was no clue as to their purpose on
this night until a low wagon holding a casket came into view. It was
apparently a funeral procession, Mrs. Chris thought, by why so late at night?
The two women continued to watch and they counted nearly
forty wagons, followed by horsemen and mourners on foot. Then, they noticed
something very peculiar about the grim parade. Even though the wagon wheels
seemed to pound the earth and the feet of the men and women stirred up clouds
of dust, none of them made any sound at all! The entire procession was
impossibly silent!
The only sounds came from the rustling of the trees in the
breeze and the incessant barking of the Chris family dog, which also sensed
that something was not quite right with the spectral and silent procession.
The barking of the dog awakened the neighbor womans husband, who also looked
out and witnessed the strange entourage on the road. He verified the womens
account early the next morning and other than those three people, no one else
saw the phantom funeral march.
Eventually, the procession passed by and faded away into
the darkness. The two women waited the entire night for the funeral to return,
but they saw nothing more. What was it that they had seen, and whose funeral
was being conducted? The answers would come some years later and they would
learn that the procession had apparently also been seen in the past. In fact,
it was a replaying of an actual event that occurred many years before.
During the French occupation of Fort de Chartres, a
prominent local man had gotten into a violent disagreement with one of the
officers of the garrison. The two men exchanged heated words and the local
merchant was accidentally killed. Unsure of how to handle the affair, the
forts commander sent a delegation to the government offices in Kaskaskia.
They advised keeping the incident very quiet and ordered the local man be
buried at midnight in the small cemetery that is now outside of Prairie du
Rocher.
There is also another story to explain the phantom funeral
procession. In this version, a quarrel took place between two young officers,
one British and one French, at the fort in 1765. They fought for the
affections of a local girl and dueled one morning with swords. The British
officer was killed and the Frenchman fled downriver to escape the authorities.
The British officer was allegedly buried in secret to prevent hostilities
between the two European factions in the region.
While the truth behind the story has been lost, it is
believed that Mrs. Chris and her neighbors were witnesses to an inexplicable
event that was replayed more than a century after it first occurred. Since
1889, accounts have been sketchy as to when, or even if, the phantom
procession has been seen. It is known that July 4 fell on a Friday as recently
as 1986, but there is nothing to say if the procession walked or not.
In 1997, July 4 once again fell on the designated day and
while no one actually saw the procession (thanks to a lot of foolishness and
people driving back and forth along the four mile stretch of road between the
fort and the cemetery all evening), there was one odd event that took place. A
staff member at the fort reported to me later that summer that on the stroke
of midnight, all of the coyotes in the area began to howl in unison. It only
lasted for a minute or two, but I couldnt help but think what a strange
coincidence it was. Or was it? Perhaps they sensed something in the air that
no animals of the two-legged variety could discern?
Coincidence or not, youll have the chance to search for
the phantom funeral on your own in the future. July 4 will fall on a Friday in
the years 2003, 2014 and 2025. If you are feeling brave, take along two
friends and stake out the old road that leads to Fort de Chartres. You might
just be in the right place at the right time when the dead decide to walk once
more!
© Copyright 2003 by Troy Taylor for “Military Ghosts”. All
Rights Reserved.
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