River L’Abbe Mission

Also located at the Cahokia Mounds Historic Site, the River L’Abbe Mission holds its own important history due to the European influence of this institution. Once located near the base of Monks Mound, French missionaries established a chapel in 1735 in order to "serve" the Native people in the area.

The River L’Abbe Mission was once located on the west end of the south terrace of Monks Mound. Long after Cahokia had been abandoned by the original mound builders, French missionaries constructed a chapel in 1735 for an Illiniwek group. The chapel remained in use until at least 1752.

The French began the earliest prolonged contact with Native American peoples living in the area around 1699. In the early 1730s, British interference and tension with other Native tribes sparked conflict between early French colonists established at the French Cahokia settlement (see map below) and Native Cahokians, resulting in the Cahokia Revolt of 1733. Following this deadly conflict, French priests helped relocate Native settlements and establish new planting fields. The French constructed a chapel on Monks Mound to serve this new settlement of Native people. Details of the chapel are sparse but may have been similar to the depiction seen below. Here, on the first terrace of the mound, a Native community persisted for about 17 years; at this point, they were again forced to relocate to Fort de Chartres, a French garrison, after attacks by other tribes in 1752.

Evidence for French occupation at Monks Mound came from excavations begun in 1964. Remains of a cemetery and a chapel, along with remnants of Native homes and storage pits, were found on the southwest terrace. Along with the historic Native burials, researchers found French trade goods from the mid-1700s such as glass and pipestone beads, a brass bell, a French wooden box with a key, and assorted hardware like nails. Evidence for a trading post from 1776 to 1784 was also found, located near the site of the chapel.

In 1997, additional evidence of the French was found by archeologists of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville during the construction of a walkway on the mound. A large waste-filled pit contained glass beads, animal bones, scrap metal, and French ceramic shards. 

Interpretation of the archeological remains has been augmented by historic documents and letters from local priests of the mission to the Seminary of Quebec. From 1735 to 1752, there were two to three priests residing at the mission. In the late 1700s, some French inhabitants referred to Cahokia Creek and Monks Mound as “River L’Abbe” and “Abbe Hill.” According to an 1882 History of Madison County, the name Abbe Hill came from the early American settlers of the 1780s-90s due to the mill and chapel built by the French priests.

“The archaeological and historical data presented in this study indicate that Monks Mound was the site of a French colonial mission and Cahokia Illini settlement . . . established in 1735.” (John A. Walthall and Elizabeth D. Benchley, 1987).

Written by Reed Richardson, Edited by Jessica Guldner

Iseminger, William R. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City, Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2010.

“River L’Abbe Mission”, museumlink Illinois, <http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/arch_mission.html >, accessed 17 April 2022.

Walthall, John A. Elizabeth D, Benchley, “The River L’Abbe Mission: A French Colonial Church for the Cahokia Illini on Monks Mounds (with Elizabeth Benchley).”Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, <https://www.academia.edu/8105630/The_River_L_Abbe_Mission_A_French_Colonial_Church_for_the_Cahokia_Illini_on_Monks_Mound_with_Elizabeth_Benchley_>, accessed 23 April 2022.

Yu, Chuyun, Monk’s Mound – A great Ancient Earthwork of America, 1993.