chapter i., notes.

[1490] Declaration of Rights, Oct. 14, 1774 (_Jour. of Old Cong._, i. 22). In similar terms it was complained of in the Articles of Association, Oct. 20, 1774 (_Ibid._ 23), and again, without naming the act, in the Declaration of Independence, as follows: "For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies" (_Ibid._ 395).

[1491] "The Quebec act was one of the multiplied causes of our opposition, and finally of the Revolution." (Madison's report, January 17, 1782; Thomson Papers, _N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll._, 1878, p. 134: _Secret Journals of Cong._, iii. 155, 192.)

[1492] Butler's _Kentucky_, pp. 26, 27. Just before this, in May, 1775, the few settlers of the Kentucky towns had met and organized for defence, and had called their country Transylvania. For Boone's defence of his fort in Aug., 1778, with references, see Dawson's _Battles of the U. S._, i. 445.—ED.

[1493] Butler, p. 35; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 171.

[1494] Butler, p. 40; Dillon's _Indiana_, 115-118.

[1495] [Dawson gives (_Battles of the U. S._, i. 221) an account, with references, of the attack on Fort Logan in May, 1777, and (_Ibid._ i. 269) of the assault on Fort Henry (the modern Wheeling, named after Patrick Henry), Sept. 1, 1777. Cf. the account of Elizabeth Zane in Mrs. Eliot's _Women of the Rev._, ii. 275. There is a view of Fort Henry in Newton's _History of the Pan-Handle, West Virginia_ (1879), p. 102.—ED.]

[1496] In Clark's account of Nov., 1779 (_Campaign in Illinois_, Cincin., 1869, p. 21), he says: "I set out for Williamsburg in Aug. 1777 in order to settle my accounts." In his later and fuller account (Dillon's _Indiana_, 1843, p. 132; 1859, p. 119) he says: "When I left Kentucky October 1, 1777."

[1497] See Clark's _Campaign_, 95, 96; Butler's _Kentucky_, 394; Monette, i. 415; Brown's _Illinois_, 239; _Hist. Mag._, iii. 362.

[1498] Washington had trouble from the same cause in raising troops at Pittsburg for the Eastern service (_Writings_, v. 244).

[1499] Governor Henry, in a letter to Virginia delegates in Congress, gives the number as "170 or 180" (Butler's _Kentucky_, 2d ed., p. 533); Capt. Bowman, in letter of July 30, 1778, to Col. John Hite, gives the number as "170 or 180" (Almon's _Remembrancer_, 1779, p. 82).

[1500] _Amer. Pioneer_, ii. 345.

[1501] George Rogers Clark's own narratives furnish the most authentic information concerning his Illinois campaigns, three of which are accessible in print, as follow in the order of their dates: (1) Letter to the governor of Virginia, dated Kaskaskia, April 29, 1779, concerning his capture of Vincennes (in Jefferson's _Writings_, i. 222-226). (2) Letter to George Mason, dated Louisville, Falls of Ohio, November 19, 1779, which covers the period from setting out on his second visit to Virginia, in the autumn of 1777, to the end of his Vincennes campaign. It is printed from the original MS. in the _Collections_ of the Hist. Soc. of Kentucky, with an introduction by Henry Pirtle; a biographical sketch of Clark; and the journal of Capt. (later Major) Joseph Bowman in the expedition against Vincennes. It is one of the _Ohio Valley Series_, Cincinnati, 1869, and is here quoted as _Clark's Campaign_. (3) "Memoirs composed by himself at the united desire of Presidents Jefferson and Madison", printed (with omissions and interpolations) in Dillon's _Indiana_ (1843, pp. 127-184; and 2d ed., 1859, pp. 114-170). The second edition is here quoted. H. W. Beckwith used extracts from the same in his _Historic Notes on the Northwest_, pp. 245-259. It is the most extended of the three narratives. The original, with a large mass of other MSS. of, and relating to, Geo. Rogers Clark, is in the possession of Dr. Lyman C. Draper, of Madison, Wis. The date when it was written is not given; but it must have been written more than twelve years after the events occurred which it describes. Jefferson, writing March 7, 1791, to Col. James Innes, concerning Col. Clark, said: "We are made to hope he is engaged in writing the accounts of his expeditions north of the Ohio. They will be valuable morsels of history, and will justify to the world those who have told them how great he was" (_Writings_, iii. 218). Mann Butler's account of Clark's exploits (_Hist. of Kentucky_, pp. 35-88) is highly seasoned with popular traditions, and with incidents which are not consistent with Clark's own statements; and yet Butler has been more frequently quoted than the narratives of Clark. (4) The Canadian Archives, at Ottawa, has a journal of Clark, dated Vincennes, Feb. 24, 1779, the day of the surrender, which has never been printed nor quoted. (See report of Douglas Brymner, archivist, for 1882, p. 27, where an abstract of the report is given.) This is Clark's original report on his Vincennes campaign to the governor of Virginia. Three days after the surrender, a messenger arrived at Vincennes with despatches from the governor. On the 14th of March this messenger (whom Clark calls William _Myres_; Bowman, _Mires_; the Canadian Calendar, _Moires_; and Jefferson, _Morris_) was sent back to Williamsburg with letters to the governor. Near the Falls of the Ohio he was killed by the Indians, and the report of Clark, with nine other letters captured upon him, appear in the _Haldimand Collection_ in the Canadian Archives. Clark, writing to Jefferson April 29th, mentions that he had heard of the killing of his messenger, "news very disagreeable to me, as I fear many of my letters will fall into the hands of the enemy at Detroit, although some of them, as I learn, were found in the woods, torn to pieces" (Jefferson's _Writings_, i. 222; see also Dillon, p. 159). Copies of these captured documents I have received from Ottawa. Clark's report is very interesting, and gives details of his interviews with Gov. Hamilton, while negotiating the surrender, which are omitted in his later narratives, and show that he treated Hamilton as if he believed he was responsible for the Indian barbarities inflicted upon the frontier settlers. (5) The _report of Gov. Hamilton_ to Gen. Haldimand, July 6, 1781, which is an extended and detailed narrative of his expedition from Detroit to Vincennes in the autumn and early winter of 1778, of his capture by Clark, and of his long imprisonment in Virginia. He gives many facts and incidents which have not before appeared. He earnestly defends himself against the charges of cruelty made by Clark and the Virginia Assembly; and while admitting that, under instructions of his government, he sent out parties of Indians against the white settlements, he claims that he always gave the savages special instructions to be merciful, and that they obeyed him! This document, which has not been used by any writer, or been accessible until recently, is important, and is about the only statement we have giving the British view of the Vincennes campaign. With sixty other early manuscripts relating to the Northwest, it was kindly furnished to me by Mr. B. F. Stevens, of London, who copied it from the family papers of Lord George Germain. It now appears that it is also in the _Haldimand Collection_ in the British Museum and in the Canadian Archives. It has lately been printed in the _Michigan Pioneer Collections_, ix. 489-516.

[1502] Butler (p. 52) says "two divisions crossed the river, while Clark with the third division took possession of the fort on this [the east] side of the river, in point-blank shot of the town." It is now the popular belief of the residents in the vicinity, and it has been the positive statement of all writers on the subject, that the fort in which Col. Clark captured Rocheblave was on the high bluff opposite the town, where there is still abundant evidence that a fort once existed, and now is known by the name of "Fort Gage." The spot is daily pointed out to visitors as perhaps the most noted locality in the Western country. During the past year a historical painting (40×20 feet), illustrating Col. Clark's capture of Kaskaskia, has been placed on the walls of the State House at Springfield, Ill. In the centre of the picture is the site of the old fort on the bluff, and near it stands the Jesuit church. In the foreground is Col. Clark addressing a council of Indians. There are three historical infelicities in this picture. The council of Indians which is here represented, was not held at Kaskaskia, but at Cahokia, sixty miles distant. The Jesuit church, and the actual fort which Clark captured, were on the other, the western, side of the river. Only a few points in justification of this statement can be mentioned:—

(1.) The fort on the bluff opposite the town "was burnt down in October, 1766", says Pittman (p. 43), who visited Kaskaskia about that time, or soon after, and whose book was published in London in 1770. He gives a description and detailed drawing of the town, the river, and site of the old fort. "It [the old fort] _was_", he says, "an oblongular quadrangle, 290 by 251 feet; it _was_ built of very thick squared timber", etc.,—using in every instance the past tense. "An officer and 20 soldiers are quartered in the village." The evidence that the old fort was ever rebuilt is wanting.

(2.) No incident appears in the contemporary narratives that Clark occupied, or even visited, the site of the old fort; and there are many allusions to his occupying quarters in the town. On one occasion, expecting an attack from the enemy, he resolved to burn the houses around the fort. "I was necessitated", he says, "to set fire to some of the houses _in town_, to clear them out of the way." The people came to him in distress, fearing he would burn up their town. He took an occasion for doing this when there was snow on the roofs, and only such houses were burned as were set on fire (_Campaign_, p. 59). The site of the old fort was 500 yards from the river, and the river was 150 yards wide. A fire there would not have endangered the town; and Pittman's plan shows no houses on the eastern bank, around the old fort.

(3.) Setting out for Vincennes on the 5th of February, 1779, Clark says: "We crossed the Kaskaskia River with 170 men" (Dillon, p. 139). Major Bowman, in his journal of the same date, wrote: "About three o'clock we crossed the Kaskaskia with our baggage, and marched about a league from town" (p. 100). Crossing the Kaskaskia would have been unnecessary if they had been quartered on the site of the old fort.

(4.) Clark had heard from the hunters who joined him on the way, and had been in the town eight days before, that the fort was kept in good order, and that the garrison was on the alert. He was too good a soldier, on such information, to divide his scanty force of less than two hundred men into three divisions, and with one of them attack an isolated fort on the opposite side of the river, where he could have no support from his other divisions. Bowman, in a letter to Col. Hite, said: "This town was sufficiently fortified to have resisted a thousand men." That Clark passed the site of the old fort without approaching or even mentioning it, and threw his men across the river a mile north of the town, is evidence that the site of the old fort was then unoccupied.

(5.) M. Rocheblave, writing from Kaskaskia, "Fort Gage, Feb. 8, 1778", to Gen. Carleton at Montreal, shows conclusively where the fort was situated in which he was taken prisoner by Clark five months later. The MS. is in the Canadian Archives (Brymner's _Report of 1882_, p. 12). Rocheblave reports that "the roof of the mansion of the fort is of shingles and very leaky, notwithstanding my efforts to patch it; and unless a new roof be provided very soon, the building, which was constructed twenty-five years ago and cost the _Jesuits_ 40,000 piastres, will be ruined." By a decree of the king, the Jesuits were suppressed in France and its colonies in 1763, and their property was confiscated to the crown. The Jesuits had a valuable estate at Kaskaskia which was taken possession of by the French commandant, and the priests were expelled. Father Watrin, Jesuit, in his _Memoir of the Missions of Louisiana_, 1764 or 1765 (_Mag. of West. Hist._ i. 265), says "When the Jesuits of the Illinois, recalled by the decree against them, passed this post [Point Coupée, on the Mississippi], Father Irenæus [a Capuchin] received and treated them as though they had been brothers." Such of the property as was needed for public use was retained, and the remainder was sold. "The Jesuits' plantation", says Pittman (p. 43), "consisted of 240 _arpens_ [200 acres] of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery, which was sold by the French commandant, after the country was ceded to the English, for the [French] crown, in consequence of the suppression of the order." This sale must have taken place before the English occupation, in 1765. Pittman mentions the church and the "Jesuits' house" as "the principal buildings, which are built of stone, and, considering this part of the world, make a very good appearance." The Jesuits' house was doubtless the one mentioned by Rocheblave, the fort being adjacent to it. On his plan of Kaskaskia Pittman locates the church in the centre of the town, and the Jesuits' property at the southeast corner, near the river. Pittman returned to Pensacola from Illinois in the spring of 1767, "with the plan of a fort", which, Haldimand reports to Gage, will "cost a good deal of money" (_Haldimand Coll._, p. 25). In 1772 Fort Chartres was abandoned in consequence of being undermined during an inundation of the Mississippi. Gen. Gage gave the order March 16, 1772, and directed that the troops be stationed at Kaskaskia. After the capture of the fort in 1778, the name was changed to "Fort Clark" (Bowman, p. 110; _Canad. Arch._, 1882, p. 36). I have found no instance where the old fort on the bluff, burned in 1766, and now known as "Fort Gage", had that name during the period when it existed as a fort.

(6.) Lieut. Ross's _Map of the Mississippi from the Balise to Fort Chartres, made late in 1765, improved from the French surveys_, and published in London in 1775, places "Ft. Caskaskias" at the southeast corner of the town, on the west bank of the river,—the spot indicated in Rocheblave's letter. It shows no fort on the eastern bank.

(7.) Major De Peyster, writing June 27, 1779, from Michilimacinac to Gen. Haldimand, reports concerning affairs at Kaskaskia, and fixes without question the location of the fort. He says: "The Kaskaskias no ways fortified; the fort being still a sorry pinchetted [picketted?] enclosure round the Jesuits' college." (_Mich. Pion. Coll._ ix. 388.)

It is remarkable that Gov. Reynolds, who resided at Kaskaskia in 1800, should not have known the location of "Fort Gage"; or, rather, that the local remembrances of the real spot should have faded out in twenty-one years. He says (in _My Own Times_, p. 31, ed. 1879): "The English government [in 1772] abandoned Fort Chartres and established its authority at Fort Gage, on the bluff east of Kaskaskia." Again, he says (_Pioneer History_, p. 81, ed. 1887): "The British garrison occupied Fort Gage, which stood on the Kaskaskia river bluffs opposite the village." This, in his mind, was the location of the fort which Clark captured. He says (_Ibid._ p. 94): "Two parties crossed the river; the other party remained with Col. Clark to attack the fort."

Capt. Bowman, in letter to Col. Hite of July 30, 1778 (Almon's _Remembrancer_, 1779, p. 82), describes the march and capture as follows: "Marched for Kaskaskia with four days' provisions, and in six days arrived at the place in the night of the 4th instant, having marched two days without any sustenance, in which hungry condition we unanimously determined to take the town, or die in the attempt. About midnight we marched into the town without being discovered. Our object was the fort, which we soon got possession of; the commanding officer (Philip Rocheblave) we made prisoner, and he is now on his way to Williamsburg under a strong guard, _with all his instructions_ from time to time, from the several governors at Detroit, Quebec, etc., to set the Indians upon us, with great rewards for our scalps, for which he has a salary of £200 per year." This statement shows that the fort was in the town, and controverts the assertion of Butler (p. 53) that the public papers in the fort were not captured, out of delicacy to the wife of the commander, she "presuming a good deal on the gallantry of our countrymen by imposing upon their delicacy towards herself." ... "Better, ten thousand times better", Butler adds, "were it so, than that the ancient fame of the sons of Virginia should have been tarnished by insult to a female!"

[1503] _Campaign_, p. 31.

[1504] For the details of the conquest of Kaskaskia, see Clark's narrative of 1779 in _Campaign_ (1869), pp. 24-36; and of his narrative of 1791 (?) in J. B. Dillon's _Indiana_ (1843), pp. 127-150; (2d edition, 1859), pp. 114-136. See also Butler's _Kentucky_, p. 49, Withers's _Border Warfare_, p. 185; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 192; Beckwith's _Historic Notes_, p. 245; Davidson's _Illinois_, p. 173; Brown's _Illinois_, p. 230; Monette, i. 414.

[1505] The letter which Gov. Henry addressed to the Virginia delegates in Congress, Nov. 14, 1778, on receiving intelligence of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia, is in Butler's _Kentucky_, 2d. ed., p. 532; and is reprinted from the MS. in the new and excellent life of _Patrick Henry_ (Boston, 1887), by Professor Moses Coit Tyler (p. 230).—ED.

[1506] Of M. Rocheblave very little is known. His full name, Philippe François de Rastel, Chevalier de Rocheblave, with his nativity, appears in the parish records of Kaskaskia for April 11, 1763, in the third publication of the banns of his marriage to Michel Marie Dufresne (E. G. Mason's _Kaskaskia_, p. 17). He is mentioned in 1756 (_N. Y. Col. Doc._, x. 435) as a cadet at Fort Duquesne; in July, 1757, on the Potomac (_Ibid._ 581); and in July, 1759, at Niagara (_Ibid._ 992). Many of his letters [in French] are in the Canadian Archives. Several of them which I have, show him to have been a man of sensibility and refinement. He said he was a British subject because he had been abandoned by France at the peace. One of them is a long and interesting letter dated at "Fort Gage, July 4, 1778", which was probably sent off by boat a few hours before he was captured by Col. Clark. He was a prisoner in Virginia until the autumn of 1780, when he broke his parole and went to New York (Jefferson's _Writings_, i. 258). His family were left at Kaskaskia; and Gov. Henry of Virginia, in his instructions to Col. John Todd, Dec. 12, 1778, says: "Mr. Rocheblave's wife and family must not suffer for want of that property of which they were bereft by our troops. It is to be restored to them, if possible. If this cannot be done, the public must support them." (_Calendar of Va. Papers_, i. 314). His wife, signing her name "Marie Michel de Rocheblave", wrote from Kaskaskia, March 27, 1780, to Gen. Haldimand, appealing to his humanity for pecuniary help, as the rebels had taken everything from her but her debts. (MS. letter furnished to me by Mr. B. F. Stevens.)

[1507] The only garrison left in the fort when Gov. Hamilton and his troops appeared was Capt. Helm and his one soldier, whose name was Moses Henry. The latter placed a loaded cannon at the open gate, and Capt. Helm, standing by with a lighted match, commanded the British troops to halt. Hamilton demanded the surrender of the garrison. Helm refused, and asked for terms. Hamilton replied that they should have the honors of war, and the terms were accepted. The comical aspect of the garrison, consisting of one officer and one soldier, marching out of the fort between lines of disgusted Indians on one side and British soldiers on the other, is happily illustrated in Gay's _Hist. of U. S._, iii. 612. See note in Clark's _Campaign_, p. 52; Butler's _Hist. of Kentucky_, p. 80; Monette, i. 425; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 207. Gov. Hamilton describes the surrender without mentioning this humorous incident, thus: "The officer who commanded in the fort, Capt. Helm, being deserted by the [resident French] officers and men, who to the number of seventy had formed his garrison, and were in pay of the Congress, surrendered his wretched fort on the very day of our arrival, being the 17th day of December, 1778." (Report of July 6, 1781.)

[1508] Gov. Reynolds (_Pioneer History_, p. 101, ed. 1887) says Col. Vigo was sent to Vincennes by Clark as a spy; that he was captured by the Indians and taken to Hamilton, who suspected the character of his mission; and that he was released on the ground of his being a Spanish subject, and having influential friends among the French residents. Hamilton in his report makes no mention of Vigo by name, but says that men were stationed at the mouth of the Wabash to intercept boats on the Ohio; and that they at different times brought in prisoners and prevented intelligence being carried from Vincennes to the Illinois, "till the desertion of a corporal and six men from La Mothe's company, in the latter end of January, who gave the first intelligence to Col. Clark of our arrival." In Reynolds's _Pion. Hist._ p. 423, is a biographical sketch of Col. Vigo, by H. W. Beckwith, and a portrait. See also Law's _History of Vincennes_, pp. 28-30. Vigo helped Clark by cashing his drafts, and the story of a consequent suit for recovery of the money, which did not end till 1876 in the U. S. Supreme Court, is told by C. C. Baldwin in the _Mag. of West. Hist._, Jan., 1885, p. 230.—ED.

[1509] Clark, in his letter to George Mason, scarcely alludes to the sufferings endured on this march. He says: "If I was sensible that you would let no person see this relation, I would give you a detail of our sufferings for four days in crossing these waters, and the manner it was done, as I am sure you would credit it; but it is too incredible for any person to believe except those that are as well acquainted with me as you are, or had experienced something similar to it. I hope you will excuse me until I have the pleasure of seeing you personally" (_Campaign_, p. 66). In his later narrative he spoke on the subject more freely (Dillon, 139-146), and his account is confirmed by Bowman's journal.

[1510] She arrived on the 27th, three days after the surrender, "to the great mortification of all on board that they had not the honor to assist us", says Bowman. Clark, in his captured report, writing on the same day, says: "The Willing arrived at 3 o'clock. She was detained by the strong current on the Wabash and Ohio; two Lieutenants and 48 men, with two iron four-pounders and five swivels on board."

[1511] An allusion to Gov. Hamilton's practice of paying the Indians for scalps, and not for prisoners. The proclamation is in Dillon, p. 146; Bowman's _Journal_, p. 104. [See _ante_, p. 683.—ED.]

[1512] Bowman gives (p. 105-108) the correspondence with Hamilton, the articles of capitulation, etc., some of which are omitted in Clark's narratives. Hamilton in his _Report_ describes Clark's demand on him to surrender thus: "About eight o'clock a flag of truce from the rebels appeared, carried by Nicolas Cardinal, a captain of the militia of St. Vincennes, who delivered me a letter from Col. Clark requiring me to surrender at discretion; adding, with an oath, that if I destroyed any stores or papers, I should be treated as a murtherer." Hamilton asserts that Clark was supplied with gunpowder by the inhabitants of Vincennes, "his own, to the last ounce, being damaged [by water] on the march;" and that "Clark has since told me he knew to a man those of my little garrison who would do their duty, and those who would shrink from it. There is no doubt he was well informed."

[1513] Hamilton in his _Report_ enlarges on the barbarity of this transaction. The indignation and resentment felt by Clark and his men towards Hamilton, and the occasion for it, appear in a conversation concerning the terms of surrender, which Clark gives in his captured despatch: "_Hamilton._ 'Col. Clark, why will you force me to dishonor myself when you cannot acquire more honor by it?' _Clark._ 'Could I look on you as a gentleman, I would do the utmost in my power; but on you, who have imbrued your hands in the blood of our women and children—honor, my country, everything, calls aloud for vengeance.' _Hamilton._ 'I know, sir, my character has been stained, but not deservedly; for I have always endeavored to instill humanity, as much as in my power, in the Indians, whom the orders of my superiors obliged me to employ.' _Clark._ 'Sir, speak no more on this subject; my blood glows within my veins to think on the cruelties your Indian parties have committed; therefore, repair to your fort, and prepare for battle'—on which I turned off."

The following incidents illustrate the sort of humanity which Hamilton, and other British commandants at Detroit, instilled in the Indian mind: At a council, on July 3, 1778, Gov. Hamilton presented an axe to the chief, saying: "It is the king's command that I put this axe into your hands to act against his majesty's enemies. I pray the Lord of life to give you success, as also your warriors, wherever you go with your father's axe." The item "60 gross scalping-knives" are among the official "estimates of merchandise wanted for Indian presents at Detroit from Aug. 21, 1782, to Aug. 20, 1783", signed by A. S. De Peyster, Lieut.-Gov. (Farmer's _Hist. of Detroit_, p. 247). The same writer (p. 246) states that he has seen the original entry of sale, on June 6, 1783, of "16 gross red-handled scalping-knives, £80;" and on July 22d, of 24 dozen more to the same parties.

[1514] Among Hamilton's reasons, in the articles of capitulation, for surrender were: "The honorable terms allowed, and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy." For this compliment to Clark he apologized in his _Report_ as follows: "If it be considered that we were to leave our wounded men at the mercy of a man who had shown such instances of ferocity, as Col. Clark had lately done, a compliment bespeaking his generosity and humanity may possibly find excuse with some, as I know it has censure from others."

[1515] Hamilton states that Capt. Helm was the officer in command of the expedition,—a fact which Clark omitted to mention.

[1516] Hamilton says: "The day before Capt. Helm, who commanded the party sent to take the convoy, arrived at Ouattanon, Mr. Dejean heard that we had fallen into the hands of the rebels; but he had not sufficient presence of mind to destroy the papers which, with everything else, was seized by the rebels. Besides the provision, clothing, and stores belonging to the king, all the private baggage of the officers fell into the possession of Col. Clark."

[1517] Dillon, p. 158.

[1518] On March 7th, "Capt. Williams and Lieut. Rogers, with twenty-five men, set off for the Falls of Ohio to conduct the following prisoners, viz.: Lieut.-Gov. Hamilton, Major Hays [Hay], Capt. La Mothe [La Mothe], Mons. Dejean, grand judge of Detroit, Lieut. Shiflin [Scheifflin], Doct. M'Beth [McBeath], Francis M'Ville [Maisonville], Mr. Bell Fenilb [Bellefeuille], with eighteen privates" (Bowman, p. 109). Hamilton does not give a list of his fellow-prisoners, but the above names, as he gives them elsewhere in his _Report_, are inserted in brackets. He says: "On the 8th of March we were put into a heavy oak boat, being 27 in number, with our provision of flour and pork at common ration, and 14 gallons of spirits for us and our guard, which consisted of 23 persons, including two officers. We had before us 360 miles of water carriage and 840 to march to our place of destination, Williamsburg, Va." (_Mich. Pion. Col._, p. 506). "On the 16th, most of the prisoners took the oath of neutrality, and got permission to set out for Detroit" (_Ibid._ 110). Gov. Hamilton and his associates were sent to Williamsburg, and by sentence of the executive council were placed in close imprisonment in irons, for their treatment of captives and for permitting and instigating the Indians to practise every species of cruelty and barbarism upon American citizens, without distinction of age, sex, or condition (see _Journals of Congress_, ii. 340; Jefferson's _Writings_, i. 226-237, 258, 267; Sparks's _Washington_, vi. 315, 407; _Corresp. of the Rev._, ii. 323; Hamilton's narrative from the _Royal Gazette_, July 15, 1780, in _Mag. Amer. Hist._, i. 186; Monette, i. 431; Farmer's _Hist. of Detroit_, p. 252). In October, 1780, Hamilton was sent to New York on parole, in order to procure the release of some American officers (_Sparks MSS._, no. lxvi.).

For details of the Vincennes expedition, see Clark's _Campaign_ (1869), p. 62-87; Dillon's _Indiana_ (1843), pp. 151-184; 2d edition, pp. 137-167; Butler's _Kentucky_, p. 79; Beckwith's _Hist. Notes_, pp. 250-259; Davidson's _Illinois_, p. 193; Brown's _Illinois_, p. 241; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 208; Withers's _Border Warfare_, p. 188; Monette, i. 427; Hall's _Sketches of the West_, ii., 117; Marshall's _Washington_, iii. 562; _Mag. of West. Hist._, by Mary Cone, ii. 133; _Hist. Mag._, i. 168, by John Reynolds; Judge Law's address (1839), in _Va. Hist. Reg._, vi. 61; Ninian W. Edwards's _Hist. of Illinois_ (1778-1833). There is a map of the campaign in Blanchard's _North-West_.

[1519] The enactment is in _Hening's Virginia Statutes_, ix. 552, and in _Legal Adviser_ (Chicago, 1886), vii. 284. Cf. "Virginia's Conquest—the Northwest Territory", by J. C. Wells, in the _Mag. of Amer. Hist._, Nov., 1886.

[1520] Clark's _Campaign_, p. 84. "I am glad to hear of Col. Todd's appointment", he wrote to Jefferson (i. 225).

[1521] His proclamation of June 15, 1779, is in Dillon, p. 168; Davidson's _Illinois_, p. 202.

[1522] See lists of the officials in Edward G. Mason's _Col. John Todd's Record-Book_ (no. 12 _Fergus's Historical Series_, 1882), p. 54. Mr. Mason's paper is an interesting account of Col. Todd's administration, and of the state of the Illinois county at that time. Col. Todd was killed in battle with the Indians at Blue Licks, Ky., Aug. 18, 1782. See Col. Logan's account of the battle, _Col. Va. State Papers_, iii. 280, 300; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 270.

[1523] Butler's _Kentucky_, p. 108; Withers's _Border Warfare_, p. 197.

[1524] An autograph letter of Jefferson to Washington, Feb. 10, 1780, urging reinforcements for Clark, is in the _Sparks MSS._, xlix. vol. iii. Various intercepted letters of Clark, including one of Sept. 23, 1779, to Jefferson, about fortifying the mouth of the Ohio, are among the Carleton Papers, in the London Institution, and are copied in the _Sparks MSS._, xiii. On May 26, 1780, St. Louis had been attacked by the English with Indian allies (_Mag. Western Hist._, Feb., 1785, p. 271, by Oscar W. Collet). It was through Vigo that Clark established intimate relations with the Spanish lieutenant-governor De Leyba, and Clark is said to have offered assistance in the defence of that Spanish post.—ED.

[1525] Withers's _Border Warfare_, p. 213; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 235; Butler's _Kentucky_, p. 110.

[1526] [See _ante_, p. 681.—ED.]

[1527] _Writings_, i. 259. The letter abridged is in Sparks's _Corresp. of the Am. Rev._, iii. 98.

[1528] _Writings_, i. 280; Sparks's _Corresp._, etc., iii. 175.

[1529] Gen. Washington instructed Col. Brodhead to see that no Continental officer outranked Col. Clark. "I do not think", he wrote, "that the charge of the enterprise could have been committed to better hands. I have not the pleasure of knowing the gentleman personally; but independently of the proofs he has given of his activity and address, the unbounded confidence which, I am told, the Western people repose in him is a matter of vast importance.... In general, give every countenance and assistance to this enterprise. I shall expect a punctual compliance with this order. Col. Clark will probably be the bearer of this himself" (_Writings_, vii. 343-345).

[1530] Sparks's _Corresp._, etc., iii. 244.

[1531] [See _ante_, pp. 495, 546.—ED.]

[1532] _Writings_, i. 288. See Steuben's report to Washington, Sparks's _Corresp._, etc., iii. 204. At the time of Arnold's descent on Virginia, a scheme was devised by Jefferson and Baron Steuben to capture the arch-traitor alive, and hang him. The scheme is set forth in a letter of Jefferson, with no address (_Writings_, i. 289), dated Richmond, Jan. 21, 1781; and it immediately follows the one describing Col. Clark's ambuscade. The purpose of the letter is to enlist the services of the person addressed in this hazardous enterprise. The writer says he has "peculiar confidence in the men from the western side of the mountains, whose courage and fidelity would be above all doubt. Your perfect knowledge of those men personally, and my confidence in your discretion, induces me to ask you to pick from among them proper characters, in such numbers as you think best, and engage them to undertake to seize and bring off this greatest of all traitors. Whether this may be best effected by their going in as friends and awaiting their opportunity, or otherwise, is left to themselves. The smaller the number the better, so that they be sufficient to manage him." He offers them a reward of five thousand guineas for bringing him off alive, and says "their names will be recorded with glory in history with those of Vanwert, Paulding, and Williams." The editor states in a note that the person addressed "was probably Gen. [John Peter Gabriel] Mühlenberg." Gen. Mühlenberg was a Pennsylvanian, and never resided west of the mountains. The person was doubtless George Rogers Clark, who was then in Virginia, and was too deeply interested in his Detroit expedition to engage in the scheme.

[1533] Sparks's _Corresp._, etc., iii. 323.

[1534] _Ibid._ iii. 455. "I think", Gen. Irvine adds, "there is too much reason to fear that Gen. Clark's and Col. Gibson's expeditions falling through will greatly encourage the savages to fall on the country with double fury, or perhaps the British from Detroit to visit this post [Fort Pitt], which, instead of being in a tolerable state of defence, is, in fact, nothing but a heap of ruins." The relations of Detroit to the war in the Northwest, as the centre of British intrigues among the Indians, and of British instigation of the savages to make forays on the region of the Ohio, is well set forth in Charles I. Walker's _Northwest during the Revolution_, the annual address before the Wisconsin Hist. Soc. in 1871 (Madison, 1871; also in _Pioneer Soc. of Michigan Coll._, iii., Lansing, 1881). A plan of the Detroit River at this time is given in Parkman's _Pontiac_, vol. i. Col. Arent Schuyler De Peyster, who commanded at Detroit, 1776-1785, gives something of his experiences in his _Miscellanies by an Officer_ (Dumfries, 1813). The latest history of Detroit is Silas Farmer's _Detroit and Michigan_ (Detroit, 1884), where, in ch. 39, the revolutionary story is told. He has retold it in the _Mag. of Western Hist._, Jan., 1886.

Brymner's _Report on the Canadian Archives_, 1882, p. 11, calendars the correspondence and papers relating to Detroit, 1772-1784, being in large part the correspondence of Gov. Hamilton and Carleton, including letters from Vincennes and intercepted letters of G. R. Clark. Much of the military correspondence with the commandants at Detroit and Quebec, during this period, are in the series "America and West Indies" of the Public Record Office, vols. cxxi., etc., which are calendared in Brymner's _Report_, 1883, p. 50, etc., as well as in the series "Canada and Quebec", vols. lv., etc. (_Ibid._ p. 73, etc.). There is also among the Haldimand Papers (_Calendar_, p. 204) a description of the route from Detroit to the Illinois and Mississippi country, 1774.—ED.

[1535] Virginia, later, made amends for this wrong. See Butler's _Kentucky_, 2d edition, p. 537.

[1536] See his report to Gov. Harrison, in Butler's _Kentucky_, 2d edition, p. 536; Almon's _Remembrancer_ (1783), part 2, p. 93.

[1537] See Dillon, p. 179; Perkins's _Annals_, p. 278. In Jefferson's _Writings_, iii. 217, 218, and _Cal. Va. State Papers_, iv. 189, 202, will be found some sad incidents which throw light on the habits and subsequent record of Col. Clark. In 1793 he imprudently accepted from Genet, the French minister, a position in the service of France, with the rank of major-general and commander-in-chief of the French revolutionary legions on the Mississippi River. The purpose of this revolutionary scheme, which had many supporters in Kentucky and the West, was "to open the trade of the said river and give freedom to the inhabitants", by capturing and holding the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi. The troops were to receive pay as French soldiers, and donations of land in the conquered districts. Before the scheme could be put into execution, a counter-revolution occurred in France, Genet was recalled, and Clark's commission was cancelled. See Collins's _Kentucky_, i. 277; ii. 140; McMaster, _Hist. of U. S._, ii. 142; Washington's Message against Genet and his scheme is in _Writings_, xii. 96. For Clark's reputation and the achievements up to 1781, see Marshall's _Washington_, iii. 562; Rives's _Madison_, i. 193; Withers's _Border Warfare_, p. 190; _Harper's Mag._ (by R. F. Colman), xxii. 784; xxxiii. 52; xxviii. 302; _Potter's Am. Monthly_ (by W. W. Henry), v. 908; vi. 308; vii. 140; _Ibid._ (by S. Evans), vi. 191, 451; _Western Jour._ (St. Louis, 1850), iii. 168, 216; John Reynolds in _Hist. Mag._, June, 1857; Collins's _Kentucky_. He was styled by John Randolph "the Hannibal of the West", and by Gov. John Reynolds "the Washington of the West." He was never married. He died February 13, 1818, and was buried at Locust Grove, near Louisville, Ky.

The only portrait of him extant was painted by John W. Jarvis, an English artist, who began business in New York in 1801, and painted the heads of many distinguished Americans. He made a trip West and South, during which he made many portraits. The picture of Clark represents him about sixty years of age. The best engraving of it is in the _National Portrait Gallery_, iv., with a biography. It is the frontispiece of Butler's _Kentucky_, 1834, of Dillon's _Indiana_, 1859, and in the Cincinnati edition of _Clark's Campaign_; and woodcuts are in Lossing's _Field-Book_, ii. 287; _Mag. of Western Hist._, ii. 133; _Harper's Mag._, xxviii. 302, etc. It has been many times reproduced, with a modification of details. There have been many rumors as to the existence of a portrait taken earlier in life. Every alleged portrait of an earlier date which I could hear of, I have looked up, and find that they are all copies or modifications of the Jarvis picture.

[1538] In 1772, the whole community of Moravian missionaries and their Indian converts at Friedenshütten, in Pennsylvania, where they had dwelt for seven years, removed to the valley of the Muskingum, on the cordial invitation of the Delawares. For many years, when living in the vicinity of the English settlements, they had suffered much from persecution; but now that they had their home among savages, it seemed to them that their trials were ended.

[1539] The Sandusky of that period was on the head-waters of the Sandusky River, about seventy-five miles east of south from the modern Sandusky City on Lake Erie. Its location was near what is now known as Upper Sandusky, in Wyandot County, Ohio. The region was a fertile plain, and the home of the Wyandots.

[1540] See "The Identity and History of the Shawanese Indians", by C. C. Royce, in the _Mag. of Western Hist._, ii. 38.

[1541] The fact that the Moravians had accompanied the Wyandots to the country of Sandusky was used as evidence against them.

[1542] It is to the credit of the British officers at Detroit that they befriended the Moravians, and assigned them a tract of land in Michigan.

[1543] See C. F. Post's first visit to the Western Indians by T. J. Chapman, in _Mag. of Western Hist._, iii. 123. For the general subject of the Moravian missions in Ohio, see Loskiel, _Memoirs of the United Brethren, Part II._; Heckewelder, _Narrative_, pp. 213-328; Holmes, _Missions of the United Brethren_, p. 110; Schweinitz, _Life of Zeisberger_, pp. 368-590; Rondthaler, _Life of Heckewelder_, p. 66; Gnadenhütten, by W. D. Howells, in _Atlantic Monthly_, xxiii. 95; Withers, p. 230; Doddridge, p. 248; Monette, ii. 129; _Amer. Pioneer_, ii. 425; Perkins, _Annals_, p. 258. Cf. also the _Diary of David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary among the Indians of Ohio_ (1781-1798); _translated from the original German manuscript and edited by E. F. Bliss_, 2 vols. (Cincinnati, 1885).

[1544] Col. Crawford was a friend of Washington, and had been one of his surveyors. "It is with the greatest sorrow", wrote Washington, "that I have learned the melancholy tidings of Col. Crawford's death. He was known to me as an officer of much prudence, brave, experienced, and active. The manner of his death was shocking to me, and I have this day communicated to Congress such papers as I have regarding it." Cf. C. W. Butterfield's _Washington-Crawford letters, 1767-1781_ (Cincinnati, 1877,—Thomson's _Bibliog. of Ohio_, no. 147).

[1545] See _Narratives of the perils and sufferings of Dr. Knight and John Slover, among the Indians, during the Revolutionary war; with short memoirs of Col. Crawford and John Slover, and a letter from H. Brackinridge, on the rights of the Indians, etc._ (Cincinnati, 1867), pp. 12-31; (for earlier editions see Thomson's _Bibliog. of Ohio_, nos. 682-685;) Perkins's _Annals_, p. 262; Doddridge, p. 264; Withers, p. 242; "Crawford's Campaign", by N. N. Hill, Jr., in the _Mag. of West. Hist._, ii. 19; McClung's _Sketches_, p. 128. Schweinitz's _Zeisberger_, p. 564; _Amer. Pioneer_, ii. 177; _Hist. Mag._, xxi. 207; Isaac Smucker's "Ohio Pioneer History" in Ohio Sec. of State's _Annual Report_, 1879, pp. 7-28. Cf. also C. W. Butterfield's _Hist. Acc. of the Exped. against Sandusky_ (Cincinnati, 1873,—Thomson's _Bibliog. of Ohio_, no. 146); and, on the general military transactions of this period in the West, the same editor's _Washington-Irvine correspondence. The official letters which passed between Washington and William Irvine and between Irvine and others concerning military affairs in the West from 1781 to 1783. Arranged and annotated. With an introduction containing an outline of events occurring previously in the trans-Alleghany country_ (Madison, Wis., 1882). Cf. _Penna. Mag. of Hist._, vi. 371. Sparks made copies of many of these Irvine papers in 1847 (_Sparks MSS._, no. liv.).—ED.

[1546] For a summary of these discussions, see Perkins, _Annals_ (Peck's ed., 1850), pp. 242-250. Judge Hall, _Sketches of the West_, i. 171, gives the date "May 6, 1778"; Wilson Primm, _Historical Address_, 1847 (reprinted in _Western Journal_, 1849, ii. 71), gives "May, 1779", as the date, and says 1779 is an era in the history of St. Louis, and is designated as "L'Année du coup." Nicollet, _Early St. Louis_, gives "May, 6, 1780", and Martin, _Louisiana_, "the fall of 1780." Stoddard, _Sketches of Louisiana_, without naming the month and day, gives the year and the main facts correctly; but errs in stating that "the expedition was not sanctioned by the English court, and the private property of the commandant was seized to pay the expenses of it." As to the casualties, Stoddard (p. 80) says, "60 killed and 30 prisoners;" Nicollet (p. 85), "60 killed and 13 prisoners;" Primm, "20 killed;" and Billon, _Annals of St. Louis_, 1886 (p. 196), "seven persons were killed", and he furnishes a list of their names. Sinclair, in report to Haldimand, July 8, 1780, says: "At Pencour [St. Louis], 68 were killed, and 18 blacks and white people taken prisoners; 43 scalps were brought in. The rebels lost an officer and three men killed at the Cahokias, and five prisoners" (_Mich. Pion. Col._, ix. 559). Martin (ii. 53) says "Clark released about 50 prisoners that had been made."

[1547] Brymner's _Calendar of the Canadian Archives_, including (1) the _Haldimand collection_; (2) the publication of some of the Haldimand papers in _Michigan Pioneer Collec._, ix.; and (3) the _Calendar of Virginia State Papers_, Richmond, v. i., vi.

[1548] In March, 1766, Ulloa, from Havana, landed at New Orleans, and in the name of Spain took possession of Louisiana; but found himself obliged to administer the government under the old French officers, and in 1768 the French set up for a while a republic independent of Spain. Cf. Gayarré's _Louisiana_, and Lieutenant John Thomas's account of Louisiana in 1768 in _Hist. Mag._, v. 65.

Congress maintained an agent, Oliver Pollock, at New Orleans during the war, who, with the aid of the Spanish authorities, sent powder and supplies at intervals up the river, to be landed on the Ohio (George Sumner's _Boston Oration_, 1859, p. 14). The correspondence of Pollock and Congress is in the archives of the State Department at Washington, and copies are in the _Sparks MSS._, no. xli. An account of an expedition under Col. David Rogers in 1778, to bring up stores to Fort Pitt, is in _Hist Mag._, iii. 267.

Various letters about and from New Orleans during the war are in the _Sparks MSS._ (no. xxiii.), copied from the Grantham correspondence. Intercepted letters between the Spanish governor at New Orleans and Patrick Henry (1778-1779), found among the Carleton papers, are in the _Sparks MSS._, no. xiii.—ED.

[1549] Gayarré, _History of Louisiana, Spanish Domination_, p. 121.

[1550] Brymner, 1885, p. 276.

[1551] "In compliance with my Lord George Germain's requisition in the circular letter sent from Detroit on 22d January, I sent a war party of Indians to the country of the Sioux to put that nation in motion under their own chief, Wabasha, a man of uncommon abilities.... They are directed to proceed with all despatch to the Natchez, and to act afterwards as circumstances may require. I shall send other bands of Indians from thence on the same service as soon as I can with safety disclose the object of their mission. I am at a loss to judge in point of time, and can only hazard an opinion that the Brigadier [Campbell] and his army will be at the place of their destination some time in May" (_Michigan Pioneer Coll._, ix. 544).

The same day, Sinclair wrote to Capt. Brehm, Haldimand's aide-de-camp: "I will use my utmost endeavors to send away as many as I can of the Indians to attack the Spanish settlements as low down [the Mississippi] as they possibly can, in order to procure the assistance of the others at home. I am so perfectly convinced of the general's [Haldimand's] geographical knowledge that I do not know where to look for the cause of a doubt about giving some aid to General Campbell from this quarter.... I am at a loss to know whether this preparation may not be too early, on account of want of secrecy in the people I have employed, and from their getting too near [New] Orleans before the arrival of the brigadier. I have confidence in and hopes of their leader, as Wabasha is allowed to be a very extraordinary Indian, and well attached to his majesty's interest" (_Ibid._ pp. 541-543).

February 17, he writes again to Haldimand, that the Minomines, Puants, Sacs, and Rhenards were to assemble at the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers under a Mr. Hesse, a trader; and later to rendezvous at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, Prairie du Chien. "The reduction of Pencour [_pain court_ (short bread), the common nickname of St. Louis] by surprise, from the easy admission of the Indians of that place, will be less difficult than holding it afterwards.... The Sioux shall go with all dispatch as low down as the Natchez, and as many intermediate attacks as possible shall be made" (_Ibid._ pp. 546, 547).

May 29, he again writes that seven hundred and fifty men, including traders, servants, and Indians, proceeded down the Mississippi on the second day of May, with the Indians engaged at the westward, for an attack on the Spanish and Illinois country. He mentions Prairie du Chien as the place of assembling. "Capt. Hesse will remain at Pencour; Wabasha will attack Misère [wretchedness, the popular nickname for Ste. Geneviève] and the rebels at Kacasia [Kaskaskia]. Two vessels leave this place on the 2d of June to attend Machigwawish, who returns by the Illinois River with prisoners. All the traders who will secure the posts on the Spanish side of the Mississippi during the next winter have my promise for the exclusive trade of the Missouri during that time, and that their canoes will be forwarded" (_Ibid._ 548, 549).

[1552] Brymner, _Report_, 1882, p. 34. He writes to Sinclair, March 12: "Your movements down the [Mississippi] shall be seconded from this place by my sending a part of the garrison with some small ordnance. Their route shall be to the Ohio, which they shall cross, and attack some of the forts which surround the Indian hunting-ground of Kentucky. I have had the Wabash Indians here by invitation; they have promised to keep Clark at the Falls" (_Michigan Pioneer Coll._, p. 580). His allusions are to Capt. Byrd's expedition. May 18, he again writes to Sinclair: "Capt. Byrd left this place (Detroit) with a detachment of about 150 whites and 1000 Indians. He must be by this time nigh the Ohio" (_Ibid._ P. 582).

[1553] Among his prisoners were Col. Dickson, in command of the British settlements on the Mississippi; 556 regulars, and many sailors.

[1554] Gayarré, _Louisiana, Span. Dom._, pp. 121-147. Galvez discovered, by intercepted letters from Natchez, the scheme of the English to attack the Spanish settlements as early as it was known by Sinclair (p. 122), and he was earnest to strike the first blow. Clark also heard of it very early. Sinclair, writing to Haldimand, says: "No doubt can remain, from the concurrent testimony of the prisoners, that the enemy received intelligence of the meditated attack on the Illinois about the time I received a copy of my Lord George Germain's circular letter" (_Mich. Pion. Coll._, ix. 559). In the same letter he gives some details of the raids on St. Louis and Cahokia, which do not appear elsewhere: "Twenty of the volunteer Canadians from this place and a very few of the traders and servants made their attack on Pencour and the Cahokias. The Winnipigoes and Sioux would have stormed the Spanish lines, if the Sacs and Outagamies, under their treacherous leader Mons. Calvé, had not fallen back so early. A Mons. Ducharme and others who traded in the country of the Sacs kept pace with Mons. Calvé in his perfidy. The attack, unsuccessful as it was, from misconduct, and unsupported, I believe, by any other against New Orleans, with the advances made by the enemy on the Mississippi, will still have its good consequences. The Winnepigoes had a chief and three men killed and four wounded. The traders who would not assist in extending their commerce cannot complain to its being confined to necessary bounds." Writing later to De Peyster (_Ibid._ 586), he says: "The attack upon the Illinois miscarried from the treachery of Calvé and Ducharme, traders, and from the information received by the enemy so early as March last." For statements that the expedition against St. Louis was organized and led by Jean Marie Ducharme, see _Wis. Hist. Coll._, iii. 232; vii. 176. It is evident that the objective point of the attack, in Sinclair's mind, was the Illinois country, rather than the Spanish settlements. Haldimand, writing to De Peyster, Feb. 12, 1779, said: "Sinclair should strike at the Illinois" (Brymner, 1882, p. 33). Sinclair, writing to Brehm, Feb. 17, 1780, concerning the attack on St. Louis, said: "Afterwards they can act against the rebels on this side [of the Mississippi], which I have pointed out to them" (_Mich. Pion. Coll._, ix. 543).

[1555] Sinclair seems not to have heard of the capture of Natchez by the Spaniards, which occurred Sept. 21, 1779, until July 30, 1780, when he wrote to De Peyster: "The report of the Natchez seems too well founded" (_Ibid._ 587).

[1556] _Ibid._ 547, 548.

[1557] Stoddard and Martin state that Clark was present; Nicollet denies the statement, on the ground that Clark was then at Kaskaskia, and "that gallant officer could not have had time to aid in that affair." Hall and Billon make no mention of Clark; and Primm and Peck (in Perkins) say that Clark tendered aid to Leyba in 1779, but not in 1780. It was a part of Clark's policy to be always on friendly terms with the Spanish commandant at St. Louis (_Campaign_, p. 35), and to give aid whenever he needed it. In so doing, as they were fighting a common enemy, he served his own interests. Mr. O. W. Collet, in _Mag. of Western Hist._, i. 271, has discussed the friendly relations between Clark and Leyba before the attack on St. Louis, but is unmindful of the significance given to it in the text. See also Scharff's _Hist. of St. Louis_, p. 217.

[1558] The expedition of Captain Byrd from Detroit.

[1559] Sinclair reported to Haldimand, July 8th, "Two hundred Illinois cavalry arrived at Chicago five days after the vessels left" (_Mich. Pion. Coll._, ix. 558).

[1560] Dr. Lyman C. Draper (_Wisconsin Hist. Coll._, ix. 291) says: "There was a party of Spanish allies sent out with Montgomery's expedition from Cahokia in the latter part of May, 1780, in the direction of Rock River." See also his note (_Ibid._ vii. 176). He thinks that the Spaniards and some of the Americans probably returned by way of Prairie du Chien, and that they were the party mentioned by Long in his _Voyages_, 1791.

[1561] _Michigan Pioneer Col._, ix. 541. Capt. Byrd, writing to De Peyster, May 21, 1780, reports that a Delaware Indian has come in from the Falls with this information: "Col. Clark says he will wait for us, instead of going to the Mississippi; his numbers do not exceed 200; his provisions and ammunition short" (_Ibid._ 584). Clark was on his way to St. Louis before this date, and was back to Kentucky in season to block Byrd's plans.

[1562] Perkins's _Annals_, p. 245.

[1563] It is noticeable that in these decisive campaigns efficient aid was furnished in the West by Spain, and in the East by France; and that both these powers, in the negotiations for a treaty of peace with Great Britain, threw their influence against the interests of the United States.

[1564] See Gayarré, _Louisiana, Span. Dom._, p. 134; Pitkin's _United States_, ii. 88, App. 512; _Secret Jour. of Cong._, ii. 326.

[1565] Sparks's _Dipl. Corresp._, viii. 156. The Spanish claims and the Western boundary question are very fully discussed in this eighth volume.

[1566] Mr. Jay (Sparks's _Dipl. Corres._, viii. 76-78) gives the main facts concerning the Spanish expedition to St. Joseph, which he translated from the _Madrid Gazette_ of March 12, 1782. Mr. E. G. Mason (_Mag. of Amer. Hist._, xv. 457) has treated the subject more fully in a paper entitled "March of the Spaniards across Illinois in 1781." See also Reynolds's _Illinois_, ed. 1887, p. 126; Dillon's _Indiana_, ed. 1843, p. 190; Perkins's _Annals_, ed. 1851, p. 251.

Dr. Franklin, writing from Passy, April 12, 1782, to Secretary Livingston, said: "I see by the newspapers that the Spaniards, having taken a little post called St. Joseph, pretend to have made a conquest of the Illinois country. In what light does this proceeding appear to Congress? While they decline our offered friendship, are they to be suffered to encroach on our bounds, and shut us up within the Appalachian Mountains? I begin to fear they have some such project" (_Works_, Sparks, ix. 206).

[1567] The diplomacy of the war and the final negotiations for peace, form the subjects of the opening chapters of the succeeding volume of the present _History_.—ED.

[1568] Some of the copies bear other dates.

* * * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

—Obvious errors were corrected.