Charleston is a city in and the county seat of Coles County, Illinois,
United States. The population was 21,838, as of the 2010 census. The
city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with
its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are principal cities of the
Charlestonâ€"Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area.Native Americans
lived in the Charleston area for thousands of years before the first
European settlers arrived. With the great tallgrass prairie to the
west, beech-maple forests to the east, and the Embarras River and
Wabash Rivers between, the Charleston area provided semi-nomadic
Indians access to a variety of resources. Indians may have
deliberately set the "wildfires" which maintained the local mosaic of
prairie and oakâ€"hickory forest. Streams with names like 'Indian
Creek' and 'Kickapoo Creek' mark the sites of former Indian
settlements. One village is said to have been located south of Fox
Ridge State Park near a deposit of flint.[citation needed]Native
Americans lived in the Charleston area for thousands of years before
the first European settlers arrived. With the great tallgrass prairie
to the west, beech-maple forests to the east, and the Embarras River
and Wabash Rivers between, the Charleston area provided semi-nomadic
Indians access to a variety of resources. Indians may have
deliberately set the "wildfires" which maintained the local mosaic of
prairie and oakâ€"hickory forest. Streams with names like 'Indian
Creek' and 'Kickapoo Creek' mark the sites of former Indian
settlements. One village is said to have been located south of Fox
Ridge State Park near a deposit of flint.[citation needed]The early
history of settlement in the area was marked by uneasy co-existence
between Indians and European settlers. Some settlers lived peacefully
with the natives, but conflict arose in the 1810s and 1820s. After
Indians allegedly harassed surveying crews, an escalating series of
poorly documented skirmishes occurred between Indians, settlers, and
the Illinois Rangers. Two pitched battles (complete with cannon on one
side) occurred just south of Charleston along "the hills of the
Embarrass," near the entrance to Lake Charleston park. These conflicts
did not slow American settlement, and Indian history in Coles County
effectively ended when all natives were expelled by law from Illinois
after the 1832 Black Hawk War. With the grudging exception of Indian
wives, the last natives were driven out by the 1840s.First settled by
Benjamin Parker in 1826, Charleston was named for Charles Morton, its
first postmaster. The city was established in 1831, but not
incorporated until 1865. When Abraham Lincoln's father moved to a farm
on Goosenest Prairie south of Charleston in 1831, Lincoln helped him
move, then left to start his own homestead at New Salem in Sangamon
County. Lincoln was a frequent visitor to the Charleston area, though
he likely spent more time at the Coles County courthouse than at the
home of his father and stepmother. One of the famous Lincolnâ€"Douglas
debates was held in Charleston on September 18, 1858, and is now the
site of the Coles County fairgrounds and a small museum. Lincoln's
last visit was in 1859, when the future President visited his
stepmother and his father's grave.
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