CLARK'S CONQUEST OF THE ILLINOIS, 1778.
Kentucky had been settled, chiefly through Boon's instrumentality, in
the year that saw the first fighting of the Revolution, and it had been
held ever since, Boon still playing the greatest part in the defence.
Clark's more far-seeing and ambitious soul now prompted him to try and
use it as a base from which to conquer the vast region northwest of the
Ohio.
The Country beyond the Ohio.
The country beyond the Ohio was not, like Kentucky, a tenantless and
debatable hunting-ground. It was the seat of powerful and warlike Indian
confederacies, and of clusters of ancient French hamlets which had been
founded generations before the Kentucky pioneers were born; and it also
contained posts that were garrisoned and held by the soldiers of the
British king. Virginia, and other colonies as well, made, it is true,
vague claims to some of this territory. [Footnote: Some of the numerous
land speculation companies, which were so prominent about this time,
both before and after the Revolution, made claims to vast tracts of
territory in this region, having bought them for various trinkets from
the Indian chiefs. Such were the "Illinois Land Company" and "Wabash
Land Company," that, in 1773 and 1775, made purchases from the
Kaskaskias and Piankeshaws. The companies were composed of British,
American, and Canadian merchants and traders, of London, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Quebec, etc. Lord Dunmore was in the Wabash Company. The
agents of the companies, in after years, made repeated but unsuccessful
efforts to get Congress to confirm their grants. Although these various
companies made much noise at the time, they introduced no new settlers
into the land, and, in fact, did nothing of lasting effect; so that it
is mere waste of time to allude to most of them. See, however, the
"History of Indiana," by John B. Dillon (Indianapolis, 1859), pp.
102-109, etc.] But their titles were as unreal and shadowy as those
acquired by the Spanish and Portuguese kings when the Pope, with empty
munificence, divided between them the Eastern and the Western
hemispheres. For a century the French had held adverse possession; for a
decade and a half the British, not the colonial authorities, had acted
as their unchallenged heirs; to the Americans the country was as much a
foreign land as was Canada. It could only be acquired by force, and
Clark's teeming brain and bold heart had long been busy in planning its
conquest. He knew that the French villages, the only settlements in the
land, were the seats of the British power, the head-quarters whence
their commanders stirred up, armed, and guided the hostile Indians. If
these settled French districts were conquered, and the British posts
that guarded them captured, the whole territory would thereby be won for
the Federal Republic, and added to the heritage of its citizens; while
the problem of checking and subduing the northwestern Indians would be
greatly simplified, because the source of much of both their power and
hostility would be cut off at the springs. The friendship of the French
was invaluable, for they had more influence than any other people with
the Indians.
Clark Sends Spies to the Illinois.
In 1777 Clark sent two young hunters as spies to the Illinois country
and to the neighborhood of Vincennes, though neither to them nor to any
one else did he breathe a hint of the plan that was in his mind. They
brought back word that, though some of the adventurous young men often
joined either the British or the Indian war parties, yet that the bulk
of the French population took but little interest in the struggle, were
lukewarm in their allegiance to the British flag, and were somewhat awed
by what they had heard of the backwoodsmen. [Footnote: The correctness
of this account is amply confirmed by the Haldimand MSS., letters of
Hamilton, _passim_; also Rocheblave to Carleton, July 4, 1778; and to
Hamilton, April 12, 1778.] Clark judged from this report that it would
not be difficult to keep the French neutral if a bold policy, strong as
well as conciliatory, was pursued towards them; and that but a small
force would be needed to enable a resolute and capable leader to conquer
at least the southern part of the country. It was impossible to raise
such a body among the scantily garrisoned forted villages of Kentucky.
The pioneers, though warlike and fond of fighting, were primarily
settlers; their soldiering came in as a purely secondary occupation.
They were not a band of mere adventurers, living by the sword and bent
on nothing but conquest. They were a group of hard-working,
hard-fighting freemen, who had come in with their wives and children to
possess the land. They were obliged to use all their wit and courage to
defend what they had already won without wasting their strength by
grasping at that which lay beyond. The very conditions that enabled so
small a number to make a permanent settlement forbade their trying
unduly to extend its bounds.
He Goes to Virginia to Raise Troops.
Clark knew he could get from among his fellow-settlers some men
peculiarly suited for his purpose, but he also realized that he would
have to bring the body of his force from Virginia. Accordingly he
decided to lay the case before Patrick Henry, then Governor of the State
of which Kentucky was only a frontier county.
On October 1, 1777, he started from Harrodsburg, [Footnote: In the
earlier MSS, it is called sometimes Harrodstown and sometimes
Harrodsburg; but from this time on the latter name is in general use.]
to go over the Wilderness road. The brief entries of his diary for this
trip are very interesting and sometimes very amusing. Before starting he
made a rather shrewd and thoroughly characteristic speculation in
horseflesh, buying a horse for £12, and then "swapping" it with Isaac
Shelby and getting £10 to boot. He evidently knew how to make a good
bargain, and had the true backwoods passion for barter. He was detained
a couple of days by that commonest of frontier mischances, his horses
straying; a natural incident when the animals were simply turned loose
on the range and looked up when required. [Footnote: This, like so many
other incidents in the every-day history of the old pioneers, is among
the ordinary experiences of the present sojourner in the far west.] He
travelled in company with a large party of men, women, and children who,
disheartened by the Indian ravages, were going back to the settlements.
They marched from fifteen to twenty miles a day, driving beeves along
for food. In addition the scouts at different times killed three buffalo
[Footnote: One at Rockcastle River, two at Cumberland Ford.] and a few
deer, so that they were not stinted for fresh meat.
When they got out of the wilderness he parted from his companions and
rode off alone. He now stayed at the settler's house that was nearest
when night overtook him. At a large house, such as that of the
Campbell's, near Abingdon, he was of course welcomed to the best, and
treated with a generous hospitality, for which it would have been an
insult to offer money in return. At the small cabins he paid his way;
usually a shilling and threepence or a shilling and sixpence for
breakfast, bed, and feed for the horse; but sometimes four or five
shillings. He fell in with a Captain Campbell, with whom he journeyed a
week, finding him "an agreeable companion." They had to wait over one
stormy day, at a little tavern, and probably whiled away the time by as
much of a carouse as circumstances allowed; at any rate, Clark's share
of the bill when he left was £1 4_s_. [Footnote: The items of expense
jotted down in the diary are curious. For a night's lodging and board
they range from 1s. 3d. to 13s. In Williamsburg, the capital, they were
for a fortnight £9 18s.] Finally, a month after leaving Harrodsburg,
having travelled six hundred and twenty miles, he reached his father's
house. [Footnote Seventy miles beyond Charlottesville; he gives an
itinerary of his journey, making it six hundred and twenty miles in all,
by the route he travelled. On the way he had his horse shod and bought a
pair of shoes for himself; apparently he kept the rest of his backwoods
apparel. He sold his gun for £15 and swapped horses again--this time
giving £7 l0_s_. to boot.]
After staying only a day at his old home, he set out for Williamsburg,
where he was detained a fortnight before the State auditors would settle
the accounts of the Kentucky militia, which he had brought with him. The
two things which he deemed especially worthy of mention during this time
were his purchase of a ticket in the State lottery, for three pounds,
and his going to church on Sunday--the first chance he had had to do so
during the year. [Footnote: When his accounts were settled he
immediately bought "a piece of cloth for a jacket; price, £4 15_s_;
buttons, etc., 3_s_."] He was overjoyed at the news of Burgoyne's
surrender; and with a light heart he returned to his father's house, to
get a glimpse of his people before again plunging into the wilds.
Clark and Patrick Henry.
After a week's rest he went back to the capital, laid his plans before
Patrick Henry, and urged their adoption with fiery enthusiasm.
[Footnote: Clark has left a full MS. memoir of the events of 1777, 1778,
and 1779. It was used extensively by Mann Butler, the first historian
who gave the campaign its proper prominence, and is printed almost
complete by Dillon, on pp. 115-167 of his "Indiana." It was written at
the desire of Presidents Jefferson and Madison; and therefore some
thirty or forty years after the events of which it speaks. Valuable
though it is, as the narrative of the chief actor, it would be still
more valuable had it been written earlier; it undoubtedly contains some
rather serious errors.] Henry's ardent soul quickly caught flame; but
the peril of sending an expedition to such a wild and distant country
was so great, and Virginia's resources were so exhausted, that he could
do little beyond lending Clark the weight of his name and influence. The
matter could not be laid before the Assembly, nor made public in any
way; for the hazard would be increased tenfold if the strictest secrecy
were not preserved. Finally Henry authorized Clark to raise seven
companies, each of fifty men, who were to act as militia and to be paid
as such. [Footnote: Henry's private letter of instructions, January 2,
1778.] He also advanced him the sum of twelve hundred pounds (presumably
in depreciated paper), and gave him an order on the authorities at
Pittsburg for boats, supplies, and ammunition; while three of the most
prominent Virginia gentlemen [Footnote: Thomas Jefferson, George Mason,
and George Wythe.] agreed in writing to do their best to induce the
Virginia Legislature to grant to each of the adventurers three hundred
acres of the conquered land, if they were successful. He was likewise
given the commission of colonel, with instructions to raise his men
solely from the frontier counties west of the Blue Ridge, [Footnote: 3
Butler, p. 48; but Henry's public instructions authorized Clark to raise
his men in any county.] so as not to weaken the people of the seacoast
region in their struggle against the British.
Clark alone Organizes the Expedition.
Thus the whole burden of making ready the expedition was laid on Clark's
shoulders. The hampered Virginian authorities were able to give him
little beyond their good-will. He is rightfully entitled to the whole
glory; the plan and the execution were both his. It was an individual
rather than a state or national enterprise.
Governor Henry's open letter of instructions merely ordered Clark to go
to the relief of Kentucky. He carried with him also the secret letter
which bade him attack the Illinois regions; for he had decided to assail
this first, because, if defeated, he would then be able to take refuge
in the Spanish dominions beyond the Mississippi. He met with the utmost
difficulty in raising men. Some were to be sent to him from the Holston
overland, to meet him in Kentucky; but a combination of accidents
resulted in his getting only a dozen or so from this source. [Footnote:
Four companies were to be raised on the Holston; but only one actually
went to Kentucky; and most of its members deserted when they found out
about the true nature of the expedition.] Around Pittsburg the jealousy
between the Virginians and Pennsylvanians hampered him greatly.
Moreover, many people were strongly opposed to sending any men to
Kentucky at all, deeming the drain on their strength more serious than
the value of the new land warranted; for they were too short-sighted
rightly to estimate what the frontiersmen had really done. When he had
finally raised his troops he was bothered by requests from the different
forts to aid detachments of the local militia in expeditions against
bands of marauding Indians.
He Starts Down the Ohio.
But Clark never for a moment wavered nor lost sight of his main object.
He worked steadily on, heedless of difficulty and disappointment, and
late in the spring at last got together four small companies of
frontiersmen from the clearings and the scattered hunters' camps. In
May, 1778, he left the Redstone settlements, taking not only his
troops--one hundred and fifty in all [Footnote: Clark's letter to George
Mason, Nov. 19, 1779. Given in "Clark's Campaign in the Illinois"
(Cincinnati, 1869), for the first time; one of Robert Clarke's excellent
Ohio Valley Historical Series.]--but also a considerable number of
private adventurers and settlers with their families. He touched at
Pittsburg and Wheeling to get his stores. Then the flotilla of clumsy
flatboats, manned by tall riflemen, rowed and drifted cautiously down
the Ohio between the melancholy and unbroken reaches of Indian-haunted
forest. The presence of the families shows that even this expedition had
the usual peculiar western character of being undertaken half for
conquest, half for settlement.
He landed at the mouth of the Kentucky, but rightly concluded that as a
starting-point against the British posts it would be better to choose a
place farther west, so he drifted on down the stream, and on the 27th of
May [Footnote: This is the date given in the deposition, in the case of
Floyd's heirs, in 1815; see MSS. in Col. Durrett's library at
Louisville. Clark's dates, given from memory, are often a day or two
out. His "Memoir" is of course less accurate than the letter to Mason.]
reached the Falls of the Ohio, where the river broke into great rapids
or riffles of swift water. This spot he chose, both because from it he
could threaten and hold in check the different Indian tribes, and
because he deemed it wise to have some fort to protect in the future the
craft that might engage in the river trade, when they stopped to prepare
for the passage of the rapids. Most of the families that had come with
him had gone off to the interior of Kentucky, but several were left, and
these settled on an island near the falls, where they raised a crop of
corn; and in the autumn they moved to the mainland. On the site thus
chosen by the clear-eyed frontier leader there afterwards grew up a
great city, named in honor of the French king, who was then our ally.
Clark may fairly be called its founder. [Footnote: It was named
Louisville in 1780, but was long known only as the Falls. Many other men
had previously recognized the advantages of the place; hunters and
surveyors had gone there, but Clark led thither the first permanent
settlers. Conolly had laid out at the Falls a grant of two thousand
acres, of which he afterwards surrendered half. His grant, covering much
of the present site of the city, was on July 1, 1780, declared to be
forfeited by a jury consisting of Daniel Boon and eleven other good men
and true, empanelled by the sheriff of the county. See Durrett MSS. in
"Papers Relating to Louisville, Ky."]
Clark at the Falls.
Here Clark received news of the alliance with France, which he hoped
would render easier his task of winning over the habitants of the
Illinois. He was also joined by a few daring Kentuckians, including
Kenton, and by the only Holston company that had yet arrived. He now
disclosed to his men the real object of his expedition. The Kentuckians,
and those who had come down the river with him, hailed the adventure
with eager enthusiasm, pledged him their hearty support, and followed
him with staunch and unflinching loyalty. But the Holston recruits, who
had not come under the spell of his personal influence, murmured against
him. They had not reckoned on an expedition so long and so dangerous,
and in the night most of them left the camp and fled into the woods. The
Kentuckians, who had horses, pursued the deserters, with orders to kill
any who resisted; but all save six or eight escaped. Yet they suffered
greatly for their crime, and endured every degree of hardship and
fatigue, for the Kentuckians spurned them from the gates of the wooden
forts, and would not for a long time suffer them to enter, hounding them
back to the homes they had dishonored. They came from among a bold and
adventurous people, and their action was due rather to wayward and
sullen disregard of authority than to cowardice.
When the pursuing horsemen came back a day of mirth and rejoicing was
spent between the troops who were to stay behind to guard Kentucky and
those who were to go onward to conquer Illinois. On the 24th of June
Clark's boats put out from shore, and shot the falls at the very moment
that there was a great eclipse of the sun, at which the frontiersmen
wondered greatly, but for the most part held it to be a good omen.
Clark had weeded out all those whom he deemed unable to stand fatigue
and hardship; his four little companies were of picked men, each with a
good captain. [Footnote: The names of the four captains were John
Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard Helm, and William Harrod. Each
company nominally consisted of fifty men, but none of them was of full
strength.] His equipment was as light as that of an Indian war party,
for he knew better than to take a pound of baggage that could possibly
be spared.
He Meets a Party of Hunters.
He intended to land some three leagues below the entrance of the
Tennessee River, [Footnote: At the old Fort Massac, then deserted. The
name is taken from that of an old French commander; it is not a
corruption of Fort Massacre, as has been asserted.] thence to march on
foot against the Illinois towns; for he feared discovery if he should
attempt to ascend the Mississippi, the usual highway by which the fur
traders went up to the quaint French hamlets that lay between the
Kaskaskia and the Illinois rivers. Accordingly he double-manned his oars
and rowed night and day until he reached a small island off the mouth of
the Tennessee, where he halted to make his final preparations, and was
there joined by a little party of American hunters, [Footnote In his
"Memoir" he says "from the States"; in his letter to Mason he calls them
"Englishmen," probably to show that they were not French, as they had
just come from Kaskaskia. He almost always spoke of the English proper
as British.] who had recently been in the French settlements. The
meeting was most fortunate. The hunters entered eagerly into Clark's
plans, joining him for the campaign, and they gave him some very
valuable information. They told him that the royal commandant was a
Frenchman, Rocheblave, whose head-quarters were at the town of
Kaskaskia; that the fort was in good repair, the militia were well
drilled and in constant readiness to repel attack, while spies were
continually watching the Mississippi, and the Indians and the coureurs
des bois were warned to be on the look-out for any American force, if
the party were discovered in time the hunters believed that the French
would undoubtedly gather together instantly to repel them, having been
taught to hate and dread the backwoodsmen as more brutal and terrible
than any Indians; and in such an event the strength of the works and the
superiority of the French in numbers would render the attack very
hazardous. But they thought that a surprise would enable Clark to do as
he wished, and they undertook to guide him by the quickest and shortest
route to the towns.
The March to Kaskaskia.
Clark was rather pleased than otherwise to learn of the horror with
which the French regarded the backwoodsmen. He thought it would render
them more apt to be panic-struck when surprised, and also more likely to
feel a strong revulsion of gratitude when they found that the Americans
meant them well and not ill. Taking their new allies for guides, the
little body of less than two hundred men started north across the
wilderness, scouts being scattered out well ahead of them, both to kill
game for their subsistence and to see that their march was not
discovered by any straggling Frenchman or Indian. The first fifty miles
led through tangled and pathless forest, the toil of travelling being
very great. After that the work was less difficult as they got out among
the prairies, but on these great level meadows they had to take extra
precautions to avoid being seen. Once the chief guide got bewildered and
lost himself; he could no longer tell the route, nor whither it was best
to march. [Footnote: Even experienced woodsmen or plainsmen sometimes
thus become lost or "turned round," if in a country of few landmarks,
where they have rarely been before.] The whole party was at once cast
into the utmost confusion; but Clark soon made the guide understand that
he was himself in greater jeopardy than any one else, and would forfeit
his life if he did not guide them straight. Not knowing the man, Clark
thought he might be treacherous; and, as he wrote an old friend, he was
never in his life in such a rage as when he found his troops wandering
at random in a country where, at any moment, they might blunder on
several times their number of hostile Indians; while, if they were
discovered by any one at all, the whole expedition was sure to miscarry.
However, the guide proved to be faithful; after a couple of hours he
found his bearings once more, and guided the party straight to their
destination.
The Surprise of Kaskaskia.
On the evening of the fourth of July [Footnote: So says Clark; and the
Haldimand MSS. contains a letter of Rocheblave of July 4th. For these
campaigns of 1778 I follow where possible Clark's letter to Mason as
being nearly contemporary; his "Memoir," as given by Dillon, comes next
in authority; while Butler, who was very accurate and painstaking, also
got hold of original information from men who had taken part in the
expedition, or from their descendants, besides making full use of the
"Memoir."] they reached the river Kaskaskia, within three miles of the
town, which lay on the farther bank. They kept in the woods until after
it grew dusk, and then marched silently to a little farm on the hither
side of the river, a mile from the town. The family were taken
prisoners, and from them Clark learned that some days before the
townspeople had been alarmed at the rumor of a possible attack; but that
their suspicions had been lulled, and they were then off their guard.
There were a great many men in the town, but almost all French, the
Indians having for the most part left. The account proved correct.
Rocheblave, the creole commandant, was sincerely attached to the British
interest. He had been much alarmed early in the year by the reports
brought to him by Indians that the Americans were in Kentucky and
elsewhere beyond the Alleghanies. He had written repeatedly to Detroit,
asking that regulars could be sent him, and that he might himself be
replaced by a commandant of English birth; for though the French were
well-disposed towards the crown, they had been frightened by the reports
of the ferocity of the backwoodsmen, and the Indians were fickle. In his
letters he mentioned that the French were much more loyal than the men
of English parentage. Hamilton found it impossible to send him
reinforcements however, and he was forced to do the best he could
without them; but he succeeded well in his endeavors to organize troops,
as he found the creole militia very willing to serve, and the Indians
extremely anxious to attack the Americans. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS.
Carleton to Hamilton, May 16, 1777; Rocheblave to Carleton, February 8,
1778; Rocheblave to Hamilton, April 12, 1778; Rocheblave to Carleton,
July 4, 1778.] He had under his orders two or three times as many men
as Clark, and he would certainly have made a good fight if he had not
been surprised. It was only Clark's audacity and the noiseless speed of
his movements that gave him a chance of success with the odds so heavily
against him.
Getting boats the American leader ferried his men across the stream
under cover of the darkness and in profound silence; the work occupying
about two hours. He then approached Kaskaskia under cover of the night,
dividing his force into two divisions, one being spread out to surround
the town so that none might escape, while he himself led the other up to
the walls of the fort.
Inside the fort the lights were lit, and through the windows came the
sounds of violins. The officers of the post had given a ball, and the
mirth-loving creoles, young men and girls, were dancing and revelling
within, while the sentinels had left their posts. One of his captives
showed Clark a postern-gate by the river-side, and through this he
entered the fort, having placed his men round about at the entrance.
Advancing to the great hall where the revel was held, he leaned silently
with folded arms against the door-post, looking at the dancers. An
Indian, lying on the floor of the entry, gazed intently on the
stranger's face as the light from the torches within flickered across
it, and suddenly sprang to his feet uttering the unearthly war-whoop.
Instantly the dancing ceased; the women screamed, while the men ran
towards the door. But Clark, standing unmoved and with unchanged face,
grimly bade them continue their dancing, but to remember that they now
danced under Virginia and not Great Britain. [Footnote: Memoir of Major
E. Denny, by Wm. H. Denny, p. 217. In "Record of the Court of Upland and
Military Journal of Major E. Denny," Philadelphia, 1860 (Historical
Society of Penn.). The story was told to Major Denny by Clark himself,
some time in '87 or '88; in process of repetition it evidently became
twisted, and, as related by Denny, there are some very manifest
inaccuracies, but there seems no reason to reject it entirely.] At the
same time his men burst into the fort, and seized the French officers,
including the commandant, Rocheblave. [Footnote: It is worth noting that
these Illinois French, and most of the Indians with whom the French fur
traders came in contact, called the Americans "Bostonnais." (In fact the
fur traders have taught this name to the northern tribes right across to
the Pacific. While hunting in the Selkirk Mountains last fall, the
Kootenai Indian who was with me always described me as a "Boston man.")
Similarly the Indians round the upper Ohio and thence southward often
called the backwoodsmen "Virginians." In each case the French and
Indians adopted the name of their leading and most inveterate enemies as
the title by which to call all of them.]
Immediately Clark had every street secured, and sent runners through the
town ordering the people to keep close to their houses on pain of death;
and by daylight he had them all disarmed. The backwoodsmen patrolled the
town in little squads; while the French in silent terror cowered within
their low-roofed houses. Clark was quite willing that they should fear
the worst; and their panic was very great. The unlooked-for and
mysterious approach and sudden onslaught of the backwoodsmen, their wild
and uncouth appearance, and the ominous silence of their commander, all
combined to fill the French with fearful forebodings for their future
fate. [Footnote: In his "Memoir" Clark dwells at length on the artifices
by which he heightened the terror of the French; and Butler enlarges
still further upon them. I follow the letter to Mason, which is much
safer authority, the writer having then no thought of trying to increase
the dramatic effect of the situation--which in Butler, and indeed in the
"Memoir" also, is strained till it comes dangerously near bathos.]
Clark's Diplomacy.
Next morning a deputation of the chief men waited upon Clark; and
thinking themselves in the hands of mere brutal barbarians, all they
dared to do was to beg for their lives, which they did, says Clark,
"with the greatest servancy [saying] they were willing to be slaves to
save their families," though the bolder spirits could not refrain from
cursing their fortune that they had not been warned in time to defend
themselves. Now came Clark's chance for his winning stroke. He knew it
was hopeless to expect his little band permanently to hold down a much
more numerous hostile population, that was closely allied to many
surrounding tribes of warlike Indians; he wished above all things to
convert the inhabitants into ardent adherents of the American
Government.
So he explained at length that, though the Americans came as conquerors,
who by the laws of war could treat the defeated as they wished, yet it
was ever their principle to free, not to enslave, the people with whom
they came in contact. If the French chose to become loyal citizens, and
to take the oath of fidelity to the Republic, they should be welcomed to
all the privileges of Americans; those who did not so choose should be
allowed to depart from the land in peace with their families.
The Creoles Espouse the American Cause.
The mercurial creoles who listened to his speech passed rapidly from the
depth of despair to the height of joy. Instead of bewailing their fate
they now could not congratulate themselves enough on their good-fortune.
The crowning touch to their happiness was given by Clark when he told
the priest, Pierre Gibault, in answer to a question as to whether the
Catholic Church could be opened, that an American commander had nothing
to do with any church save to defend it from insult, and that by the
laws of the Republic his religion had as great privileges as any other.
With that they all returned in noisy joy to their families, while the
priest, a man of ability and influence, became thenceforth a devoted and
effective champion of the American cause. The only person whom Clark
treated harshly was M. Rocheblave, the commandant, who, when asked to
dinner, responded in very insulting terms. Thereupon Clark promptly sent
him as a prisoner to Virginia (where he broke his parole and escaped),
and sold his slaves for five hundred pounds, which was distributed among
the troops as prize-money.
A small detachment of the Americans, accompanied by a volunteer company
of French militia, at once marched rapidly on Cahokia. The account of
what had happened in Kaskaskia, the news of the alliance between France
and America, and the enthusiastic advocacy of Clark's new friends, soon
converted Cahokia; and all of its inhabitants, like those of Kaskaskia,
took the oath of allegiance to America. Almost at the same time the
priest Gibault volunteered to go, with a few of his compatriots, to
Vincennes, and there endeavor to get the people to join the Americans,
as being their natural friends and allies. He started on his mission at
once, and on the first of August returned to Clark with the news that he
had been completely successful, that the entire population, after having
gathered in the church to hear him, had taken the oath of allegiance,
and that the American flag floated over their fort. [Footnote: Judge
John Law's "Address on the Colonial History of Vincennes," P 25.] No
garrison could be spared to go to Vincennes; so one of the captains
[Footnote: Leonard Helm. Vol. II.] was sent thither alone to take
command.
The priest Gibault had given convincing proof of his loyalty. He
remarked to Clark rather dryly that he had, properly speaking, nothing
to do with the temporal affairs of his flock, but that now and then he
was able to give them such hints in a spiritual way as would tend to
increase their devotion to their new friends.
Clark's Difficulties.
Clark now found himself in a position of the utmost difficulty. With a
handful of unruly backwoodsmen, imperfectly disciplined and kept under
control only by his own personal influence, he had to protect and govern
a region as large as any European kingdom. Moreover, he had to keep
content and loyal a population of alien race, creed, and language, while
he held his own against the British and against numerous tribes of
Indians, deeply imbittered against all Americans and as blood-thirsty
and treacherous as they were warlike. It may be doubted if there was
another man in the west who possessed the daring and resolution, the
tact, energy, and executive ability necessary for the solution of so
knotty a series of problems.
He was hundreds of miles from the nearest post containing any American
troops; he was still farther from the seat of government. He had no hope
whatever of getting reinforcements or even advice and instruction for
many months, probably not for a year; and he was thrown entirely on his
own resources and obliged to act in every respect purely on his own
responsibility.
Governor Patrick Henry, although leaving every thing in the last resort
to Clark's discretion, had evidently been very doubtful whether a
permanent occupation of the territory was feasible, [Footnote: In his
secret letter of instructions he orders Clark to be especially careful
to secure the artillery and military stores at Kaskia, laying such
stress upon this as to show that he regarded the place itself as of
comparatively little value. In fact, all Henry's order contemplated was
an attack on "the British post at Kaskasky." However, he adds, that if
the French are willing to become American citizens, they shall be fully
protected against their foes. The letter earnestly commands Clark to
treat not only the inhabitants, but also all British prisoners, with the
utmost humanity.] though both he, and especially Jefferson, recognized
the important bearing that its acquisition would have upon the
settlement of the northwestern boundary, when the time came to treat for
peace. Probably Clark himself had not at first appreciated all the
possibilities that lay within his conquest, but he was fully alive to
them now and saw that, provided he could hold on to it, he had added a
vast and fertile territory to the domain of the Union. To the task of
keeping it he now bent all his energies.
Clark Prepares for Defence.
The time of service of his troops had expired, and they were anxious to
go home. By presents and promises he managed to enlist one hundred of
them for eight months longer. Then, to color his staying with so few
men, he made a feint of returning to the Falls, alleging as a reason his
entire confidence in the loyalty of his French friends and his trust in
their capacity to defend themselves. He hoped that this would bring out
a remonstrance from the inhabitants, who, by becoming American citizens,
had definitely committed themselves against the British. The result was
such as he expected. On the rumor of his departure, the inhabitants in
great alarm urged him to stay, saying that otherwise the British would
surely retake the post. He made a show of reluctantly yielding to their
request, and consented to stay with two companies; and then finding that
many of the more adventurous young creoles were anxious to take service,
he enlisted enough of them to fill up all four companies to their
original strength. His whole leisure was spent in drilling the men,
Americans and French alike, and in a short time he turned them into as
orderly and well disciplined a body as could be found in any garrison of
regulars.
He also established very friendly relations with the Spanish captains of
the scattered creole villages across the Mississippi, for the Spaniards
were very hostile to the British, and had not yet begun to realize that
they had even more to dread from the Americans. Clark has recorded his
frank surprise at finding the Spanish commandant, who lived at St.
Louis, a very pleasant and easy companion, instead of haughty and
reserved, as he had supposed all Spaniards were.
Dealings with the Indians.
The most difficult, and among the most important, of his tasks, was
dealing with the swarm of fickle and treacherous savage tribes that
surrounded him. They had hitherto been hostile to the Americans; but
being great friends of the Spaniards and French they were much confused
by the change in the sentiments of the latter, and by the sudden turn
affairs had taken.
Some volunteers--Americans, French, and friendly Indians--were sent to
the aid of the American captain at Vincennes, and the latter, by threats
and promises, and a mixture of diplomatic speech-making with a show of
force, contrived, for the time being, to pacify the immediately
neighboring tribes.
Clark took upon himself the greater task of dealing with a huge horde of
savages, representing every tribe between the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi, who had come to the Illinois, some from a distance of five
hundred miles, to learn accurately all that had happened, and to hear
for themselves what the Long Knives had to say. They gathered to meet
him at Cahokia, chiefs and warriors of every grade; among them were
Ottawas and Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, and Foxes, and others
belonging to tribes whose very names have perished. The straggling
streets of the dismayed little town were thronged with many hundreds of
dark-browed, sullen-looking savages, grotesque in look and terrible in
possibility. They strutted to and fro in their dirty finery, or lounged
round the houses, inquisitive, importunate, and insolent, hardly
concealing a lust for bloodshed and plunder that the slightest mishap
was certain to render ungovernable.
Fortunately Clark knew exactly how to treat them. He thoroughly
understood their natures, and was always on his guard, while seemingly
perfectly confident; and he combined conciliation with firmness and
decision, and above all with prompt rapidity of action.
For the first two or three days no conclusion was reached, though there
was plenty of speech-making. But on the night of the third a party of
turbulent warriors [Footnote: "A party of Puans and others."--Clark's
letter to Mason.] endeavored to force their way into the house where he
was lodging, and to carry him off. Clark, who, as he records, had been
"under some apprehensions among such a number of Devils," was
anticipating treachery. His guards were at hand, and promptly seized the
savages; while the townspeople took the alarm and were under arms in a
couple of minutes, thus convincing the Indians that their friendship for
the Americans was not feigned.
Clark and the Savages.
Clark instantly ordered the French militia to put the captives, both
chiefs and warriors, in irons. He had treated the Indians well, and had
not angered them by the harshness and brutality that so often made them
side against the English or Americans and in favor of the French; but he
knew that any signs of timidity would be fatal. His boldness and
decision were crowned with complete success. The crestfallen prisoners
humbly protested that they were only trying to find out if the French
were really friendly to Clark, and begged that they might be released.
He answered with haughty indifference, and refused to release them, even
when the chiefs of the other tribes came up to intercede. Indians and
whites alike were in the utmost confusion, every man distrusting what
the moment might bring forth. Clark continued seemingly wholly unmoved,
and did not even shift his lodgings to the fort, remaining in a house in
the town, but he took good care to secretly fill a large room adjoining
his own with armed men, while the guards were kept ready for instant
action. To make his show of indifference complete, he "assembled a
Number of Gentlemen and Ladies and danced nearly the whole Night." The
perplexed savages, on the other hand, spent the hours of darkness in a
series of councils among themselves.
Next morning he summoned all the tribes to a grand council, releasing
the captive chiefs, that he might speak to them in the presence of their
friends and allies. The preliminary ceremonies were carefully executed
in accordance with the rigid Indian etiquette. Then Clark stood up in
the midst of the rings of squatted warriors, while his riflemen
clustered behind him in their tasselled hunting-shirts, travel-torn and
weather-beaten. He produced the bloody war-belt of wampum, and handed it
to the chiefs whom he had taken captive, telling the assembled tribes
that he scorned alike their treachery and their hostility; that he would
be thoroughly justified in putting them to death, but that instead he
would have them escorted safely from the town, and after three days
would begin war upon them. He warned them that if they did not wish
their own women and children massacred, they must stop killing those of
the Americans. Pointing to the war-belt, he challenged them, on behalf
of his people, to see which would make it the most bloody; and he
finished by telling them that while they stayed in his camp they should
be given food and strong drink, [Footnote: "Provisions and Rum." Letter
to Mason. This is much the best authority for these proceedings. The
"Memoir," written by an old man who had squandered his energies and sunk
into deserved obscurity, is tedious and magniloquent, and sometimes
inaccurate. Moreover, Dillon has not always chosen the extracts
judiciously. Clark's decidedly prolix speeches to the Indians are given
with intolerable repetition. They were well suited to the savages,
drawing the causes of the quarrel between the British and Americans in
phrases that could be understood by the Indian mind; but their inflated
hyperbole is not now interesting. They describe the Americans as
lighting a great council-fire, sharpening tomahawks, striking the
war-post, declining to give "two bucks for a blanket," as the British
wanted them to, etc.; with incessant allusions to the Great Spirit being
angry, the roads being made smooth, refusing to listen to the bad birds
who flew through the woods, and the like. Occasional passages are fine;
but it all belongs to the study of Indians and Indian oratory, rather
than to the history of the Americans.] and that now he had ended his
talk to them, and he wished them to speedily depart.
Not only the prisoners, but all the other chiefs in turn forthwith rose,
and in language of dignified submission protested their regret at having
been led astray by the British, and their determination thenceforth to
be friendly with the Americans.
In response Clark again told them that he came not as a counsellor but
as a warrior, not begging for a truce but carrying in his right hand
peace and in his left hand war; save only that to a few of their worst
men he intended to grant no terms whatever. To those who were friendly
he, too, would be a friend, but if they chose war, he would call from
the Thirteen Council Fires [Footnote: In his speeches, as in those of
his successors in treaty-making, the United States were sometimes spoken
of as the Thirteen Fires, and sometimes as the Great Fire.] warriors so
numerous that they would darken the land, and from that time on the red
people would hear no sound but that of the birds that lived on blood. He
went on to tell them, that there had been a mist before their eyes, but
that he would clear away the cloud and would show them the right of the
quarrel between the Long Knives and the King who dwelt across the great
sea; and then he told them about the revolt in terms which would almost
have applied to a rising of Hurons or Wyandots against the Iroquois. At
the end of his speech he offered them the two belts of peace and war.
The Indians Make Peace.
They eagerly took the peace belt, but he declined to smoke the calumet,
and told them he would not enter into the solemn ceremonies of the peace
treaty with them until the following day. He likewise declined to
release all his prisoners, and insisted that two of them should be put
to death. They even yielded to this, and surrendered to him two young
men, who advanced and sat down before him on the floor, covering their
heads with their blankets, to receive the tomahawk. [Footnote: I have
followed the contemporary letter to Mason rather than the more elaborate
and slightly different account of the "Memoir." The account written by
Clark in his old age, like Shelby's similar autobiography, is, in many
respects, not very trustworthy. It cannot be accepted for a moment where
it conflicts with any contemporary accounts.] Then he granted them full
peace and forgave the young men their doom, and the next day, after the
peace council, there was a feast, and the friendship of the Indians was
won. Clark ever after had great influence over them; they admired his
personal prowess, his oratory, his address as a treaty-maker, and the
skill with which he led his troops. Long afterwards, when the United
States authorities were endeavoring to make treaties with the red men,
it was noticed that the latter would never speak to any other white
general or commissioner while Clark was present.
After this treaty there was peace in the Illinois country; the Indians
remained for some time friendly, and the French were kept well
satisfied.