USA > Indiana > A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850 > Part 5
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Early in the Revolutionary War the Tories of western New York had united with the British agents in raising the powerful Iroquois. The terrible devastation of the Wy- oming and Cherry Valleys followed. That western Indians engaged in these raids is shown by the fate of Frances Slocum, who was captured by the Miamis and brought to their home on the Mississinewa.1 The destruction of the Iroquois Confederacy by General Sullivan in 1779 drove the wreck of that nation, together with the Delaware refugees, back on the Miami tribes, with whom they later joined in war against the Americans.
Col. Henry Hamilton was the English commander at De- troit. On him falls the disgrace of arousing the western Indians against Virginia. He advised Lord George Ger-
1 Jacob Piatt Dunn, True Indian Stories, 213.
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maine, the English war minister, to furnish arms and am- munition as well as suitable leaders for the Indians, and directed them to make a diversion on the Virginia and Pennsylvania frontiers. The Indians were placed in com- mand of such partisan outlaws as Capt. Henry Bird, and Simon Girty, and then ordered to do no violence. They were directed to watch the Ohio river especially and de- stroy all Americans attempting to pass. Hamilton report- ed that the Indians in his district, Detroit, had brought in 107 prisoners and 110 scalps during the year 1778. These were paid for by the commander as if they had been so many beaver skins. The leading tribe engaged in these depredations was the Miami, whose home was on the soil of Indiana. They had no reason to join in the contest be- tween England and her colonies. There had been war along the border, but it had been led by his Majesty the King's officers, and the resentment of the Indians should have fallen as quickly on the British as the Americans. The ruin of the northwestern tribes may be traced back to this unnatural policy of the British in 1776.
§ 12 THE CAPTURE OF KASKASKIA
AMONG the American frontiersmen there was only one sentiment toward the Indians. That was retaliation. For awhile their vengeance fell on the Indians alone. Such men as Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel and Adam Poe hunted the Indians as they had hunted the wild animals. Meanwhile dangers, instead of lessening, multi- plied on the frontier. It is to the credit of George Rogers Clark that he not only recognized the English, at the west- ern posts, as the source of the devastation on the frontiers, but he laid plans to capture them.
Clark was one of the early settlers of Kentucky. When a county government was organized by the Kentuckians, he first represented it in the Virginia legislature. It was not primarily as a legislator that he visited the government of Virginia in the closing days of 1777. December 10 of that year he laid before Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia
1
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his plan for conquering the English posts. Virginia was using her means and men freely in supporting Washington in the struggle around New York, but Governor Henry could not fail to catch the spirit of Clark and sympathize with his hopes. After calling into consultation three of the leading men of the State, he gave Clark permission to enroll seven companies of militia and draw on the State for 12,000 pounds to defray expenses. Clark thus prepared not only to stop the inroads of the Indians, but at the same time to conquer for his State a western empire.
Colonel Clark was given two sets of instructions. One, intended for the public, and especially for the Virginia legislature, directed him to repair to Kentucky with his army to defend the new settlements against the savages. The other instructions directed him to organize his army with all secrecy and dispatch for an attack on Kaskaskia or Vincennes. With characteristic quickness Clark made his preparations and set out for Pittsburgh January 4, 1778. He authorized his old friends and neighbors, Leon- ard Helm and Joseph Bowman, each to raise a company and join him on February 1 at Redstone Old Fort. Wil- liam Smith was likewise sent to recruit a company on the Holston and join the other troops at the Falls of the Ohio. Nearer the frontier, Clark secured the services of Capt. William Harrod, who also raised a company, part of whom were from Pennsylvania. The Old Dominion furnished many gallant soldiers during the Revolution, but none were better than these modern Argonauts who set sail from Pittsburgh in May, 1778, to capture a fortress 1,000 miles away. Each man was a skillful hunter, an accurate marks- man with his flintlock rifle, and accustomed to long jour- neys and all kinds of privations. Nearly all were Vir- ginians, the leaders as well as most of the men being old acquaintances. Fear was unknown to them and yet, like brave men, they were cautious.
Clark broke up his rendezvous at Redstone May 12, 1778. At Pittsburgh and Wheeling he stopped on his way and took on supplies. Gen. Edward Hand, who command- ed at Pittsburgh, gave all assistance he could. At the
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Kanawha, Clark found the garrison in consternation over an Indian attack and was earnestly besought to join in the pursuit. He was not to be turned aside from his purpose, however, and continued on his way down the Ohio, followed and harassed every mile by the Indians, but never caught off his guard. At the mouth of the Kentucky he stopped and communicated with the settlements up that river, but decided to go on further and build the fortification for his base of supplies at the Falls. From this post he could more easily check Indian incursions from the north side of the Ohio. He reached the Falls about June 1. Besides the sol- diers, there was a number of families who had wished to come to Kentucky and had chosen this opportunity in order to avoid the murderous bands of Indians who then infested all the roads to that country. Some of these were doubt- less the families of soldiers enlisted under Clark. After looking over the situation carefully, Clark decided to for- tify Corn Island, just at the head of the Falls and nearest the Kentucky side. The land on the island he divided among the families, who soon had a crop of corn growing.
Clark now began in earnest to drill his little army for the desperate work ahead. Disappointed in the number of men from the Holston country who joined him here, he found it necessary to call for aid on the Kentucky govern- ment, by whom another company, under Capt. John Mont- gomery, was ordered to report to him. All told, Colonel Clark now found himself in command of about 200 men. Having drilled them nearly a month, he called them to- gether and informed them of his plans. The following night a large number of the Holston men swam to the Ken- tucky bank and left for home.
The remainder, about 175, started for Kaskaskia on the morning of June 24, a date made certain by the total eclipse of the sun that occurred that morning. Everything now depended on speed and secrecy. There was no doubt but that in a fight his men would give a good account of them- selves, but Clark was convinced that his only chance to capture Kaskaskia was by surprise. The Ohio river was then at good stage. The troops, doubling on the oars,
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rowed day and night. June 28 they landed on a small isl- and in the mouth of the Tennessee, where they quickly pre- pared for a dash across Illinois. It was thought to be im- possible to ascend the Mississippi without being discovered by some of the numerous traders or Indians passing up and down on that river.
Clark had scarcely landed at the mouth of the Tennes- see, when a boat appeared with a party of hunters in it eight days only from Kaskaskia. Some, or perhaps all of them, joined the Virginians, and one of them, John Saunders, became the guide. After making every preparation and taking only as much baggage as if they were going on a hunting trip, the little army dropped down to within three miles of the deserted Fort Massac, hid their boats in a creek, and took the trail for Old Kaskaskia. The distance was about 120 miles. On the level prairies they were in danger of losing their way and only the experienced guide saved them from wandering. They made remarkable time, however. They left the Falls June 24, reached the Ten- nessee on the twenty-eighth, went on and hid their boats the same day. On the morning of the twenty-ninth they set out on the march and on the evening of July 4 reached Kaskaskia. If Colonel Clark is correct in saying he left the Falls on the twenty-sixth, the march is even more re- markable. In the first case they had traversed at least 400 miles in ten days. Through the wilderness of Illinois they traveled twenty-five miles per day.
Colonel Clark had sent spies to the Illinois Country dur- ing the summer of 1777 and these had encouraged him to believe he could surprise the fort at Kaskaskia. The hunt- ers whom he had intercepted at the Tennessee also reported the garrison negligent in keeping lookouts. The French inhabitants were reported to be lukewarm in the British cause. There is good ground for the belief that Clark had confederates in the town who knew of his approach and had made preparations accordingly. At any rate, relying on this known friendly feeling among the French, Clark led his men to a farmhouse within a mile of the town but on the east side of the river, and finding boats ready to
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hand, crossed over, reaching the outskirts of the town soon after dark. The conduct of the American soldiers on this occasion would have been creditable to regulars. They remained in the immediate vicinity until near midnight without being observed or creating any alarm. At that time they quietly secured all the approaches to the village, entered the fort, now called Fort Gage, and seized the com- mander, Philip de Rocheblave, whom they found asleep in his room. This done, there was noise enough. The citi- zens were warned to keep off the streets and all were led to believe that an army of 1,000 men had possession. Thus without bloodshed, without the firing of a gun, even with- out a surrender, for Rocheblave and his men were spared that humiliation, this fortress, that had sufficient garrison and supplies to withstand a siege by a regiment of men, fell into the hands of less than 200 militia who had no other arms than their hunting rifles. Tradition has woven some beautiful stories around this feat of arms, but no authentic account gives any details. Most probably ene- mies of the English commandant joined Clark after dark and acted as guides.2
§ 13 PIERRE GIBAULT AND THE CAPTURE OF VINCENNES
As has always been the case in rural French villages, the priest was the principal man of the community. In their distress, now, the parishioners of Kaskaskia turned to Father Pierre Gibault, the priest. His request to call his people together once more before they were taken away as prisoners, for they expected to be driven away at last as the Acadians had been, was so readily granted by Colonel Clark that the priest at once became an admirer of the Virginian. When Clark, soon after, informed him that the French would not be molested in any manner, not even in the free exercise of their religion, the priest felt that it would be to his interest to aid the Virginians in all
2 Philippe de Rocheblave and Rocheblare Papers, Fergus Historical Series, No. 34. The weakness of the garrison is apparent. An ac- count of the capture is given in the Lawrenceburg Palladium, March 20, 1830.
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ways possible. He did this the more graciously since he had no sympathy either for the English personally or for their cause. Accordingly, when he learned that the Ameri- can commander was contemplating an attack on Vin- cennes, he volunteered to go and win the French over to the American cause. Clark had brought with him a copy of the recent Treaty of Alliance between France and the American Nation, which was now a great aid in dealing with the French at Kaskaskia and Vincennes.
As soon as Clark had secured all the other Illinois set- tlements he turned his attention to Vincennes. Gibault informed him that Abbott, the English commander, had lately gone to Detroit and that there was, at the time, no English garrison at the Old Post. Moreover, he said that he believed he could go to that place and by presenting the treaty between the two countries and explaining the courteous treatment received by the Kaskaskians, win them over to the American side. But Father Gibault, not wish- ing to seem to act in other than a spiritual capacity, asked that some one be allowed to accompany him to act as the political agent. However, he assured Clark that he would attend personally to all the details of the business. As a companion on this embassy with Father Gibault, Dr. Jean Laffont was chosen. Gibault has, heretofore, received all the credit for this achievement, but the letter to the inhab- itants, as well as the instructions, was given to Laffont. The report to Clark attributes all the work at Vincennes to Laffont, while Gibault, ten years later, in a letter to his bishop at Quebec, denied having taken any hand in winning the Vincennes people from the British allegiance. Doubtless all the French needed was an opportunity to desert their hereditary foes. A friend of Colonel Clark secretly ac- companied the delegation. Clark prepared an address to the French authorizing and directing them to organize their own militia and garrison the fort.
Thus prepared, this little party set out from Kaskaskia, July 14, to capture Vincennes, a post which Clark had feared to approach a fortnight earlier. The English along the whole northern border had been momentarily discon-
(5)
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certed by the capture of General Burgoyne at Saratoga. They were now expecting the Americans to attack Detroit from Pittsburgh. The reverse had thrown them on the defensive, for the time, and all but destroyed their prestige among the Indians. On this account Laffont and Father Gibault found no British troops at Vincennes and likewise none of their Indian allies. A few partisans had been left as spies by Abbott, but these withdrew as soon as they learned the purpose of Laffont and the attitude of the French inhabitants. Gibault found no difficulty in per- suading his parishioners. Two days after he arrived he called his little flock together in the village church, where in sacred solemnity he administered to them the oath of allegiance to the United States. The animating effects of freedom were seen immediately. A garrison under an of- ficer of popular choice was stationed in the fort. The American flag was displayed from the staff of the fort to the wondering Indians. By August 1 Laffont and Gibault were back at Kaskaskia with the good news. Communica- tions with Kentucky were now established and Clark felt reasonably secure in his conquests.
This series of remarkable successes might have thrown a less vigilant commander than Clark off his guard, but there was no time for nursing his vanity. He now con- trolled three considerable towns each requiring a garrison. Governor Henry, indeed, had so worded Clark's instruc- tions as to leave him at liberty to dismantle the forts and return with the captured cannon to the fort at the Falls of the Ohio, but this would have reduced the whole enter- prise from a magnificent conquest to an unexpectedly suc- cessful Indian foray. Such an idea was a stranger to Clark's ambition. To hold the conquests already achieved would require a full regiment, and the time of service of the small number of men then in Illinois would expire within a few days. Clark prevailed on most of them to re- enlist, and sent those who wished to return home to con- duct the prisoners to Virginia. The places of those who did not reenlist were quickly filled by French volunteers. Maj. Joseph Bowman, a cousin of Colonel Clark, was sent
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with a small garrison to take charge of Cahokia. Capt. John Williams was placed in immediate command of Fort Gage at Kaskaskia. The most dangerous command was assigned to Capt. Leonard Helm, the oldest and most ex- perienced of this little group of officers. Helm was a Vir- ginian, perhaps forty years old, who had spent most of his life as a scout among the Indians. He understood In- dian character and was well suited for the difficult com- mand at Vincennes.
A few Americans and creoles constituted his garrison. The French received their new commandant joyfully and the Piankeshaw chief, Tobacco, or the "Grand Door," as he was also called, in allusion to his tribe's position at the mouth of the Wabash, was soon in league with the Vir- ginians. Indian chiefs came from many of the neighbor- ing tribes and made peace with the Americans, but the In- dians of the Upper Wabash remained hostile. Their atti- tude was traced to the influence of the British agent, Pierre Joseph Celoron, who was at this time stationed at Ouia- tanon. Clark determined to capture this man or drive him away. For this purpose he sent Capt. John Bailey to join Helm in an expedition to the Wea Towns. When Celoron heard of this he fled, leaving his Indian allies to their fate. Helm surprised the stockade at Quiatanon while the In- dians were in council, and captured the larger part of them. After making a treaty of friendship with them he released his prisoners and returned to Vincennes.
Made bold by the impunity with which he had carried on his operations against the western settlers, and know- ing something must be performed to restore British su- premacy over the natives, Lieut. Henry Hamilton was pre- paring to make an attack on Fort Pitt, when, on August 8, 1778, Francis Maisonville arrived at Detroit with the astounding intelligence that 300 Virginians had surprised and captured the garrison at Kaskaskia. Hamilton at once notified Gen. Guy Carleton at Quebec of the disaster and asked permission to march against the Virginians at once. He was a man of great energy, and without wait- ing for orders from his superior at Quebec began collect-
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ing men and supplies for the expedition. Agents were sent with war belts to all the friendly tribes. One of them, carried by Celoron, we have already met at Ouiatanon.
By October 7 the British expedition against Vincennes was under way. It numbered about 200 British and French and 300 Indians. Crossing Lake Erie in a snowstorm that all but wrecked the boats, the troops ascended the Maumee. On the twenty-fourth they reached the portage at Fort Wayne. Progress was slow. They carried 97,000 pounds of baggage. The rivers were low and the ice had already formed on the Upper Wabash. The boats grounded and the baggage had to be carried for long distances over the shallows. The historian is tempted to say that the British armies would have been successful in the Revolution had it not been for their baggage trains. The fleet of fifteen large bateaux at last reached Quiatanon, where the com- mander delayed long enough to hold a formal council with the Indians. Small scouting parties were sent ahead to watch all the approaches to Vincennes and cut off all com- munication. These parties succeeded in capturing Cap- tain Helm's scouts.
Learning from them that the garrison at Vincennes was not strong enough to resist an attack, Major Hay was sent in advance to occupy the town. He decided not to attack the fort at once, and by the time the main British force arrived, Helm's garrison, if he ever had one, had melted away. Captain Helm reported that when the Brit- ish came in sight he had not so much as four men on whom he could rely. Presumably his garrison, realizing the use- lessness of an attempt at resistance, mingled with the in- habitants and later joined Clark when he came to the res- cue. There was no opposition. Captain Helm made the best bluff possible with his one small cannon and then sur- rendered at discretion. The surrender took place Decem- ber 17, 1778. The British had made the distance of over 500 miles in seventy-two days, an average of seven miles per day.
Again the Frenchmen of Vincennes were called to- gether and the oath of allegiance to Great Britain admin-
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THE CONQUEST BY VIRGINIA
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
istered. Hamilton destroyed all the liquor, and even the gaming tables, in town, and placed the people under mar- tial law. Having decided that it was impossible to cap- ture Kaskaskia on account of the season, he accordingly went into winter quarters. A small scouting party was sent to secure information concerning the Americans with instructions to capture Colonel Clark, if possible, by watch- ing the roads about Kaskaskia.
The fort at Vincennes was remodeled. A large stock- ade was built and the ground inside covered with gravel. Two blockhouses were built of strong timbers with open- ings above the stockade enclosure for the cannon. Having decided to go into winter quarters, the British general dis- missed his Indian allies and sent all his Detroit militia home, retaining only about 100 men. Many of the latter men were dispatched with Indian war parties to watch the Ohio river and destroy all Americans found; others were sent on a mission to the southern Indians to raise them against the Tennessee frontier. All were instructed to be in readiness for the grand council at the mouth of the Ten- nessee, and the campaign in the spring, when Hamilton hoped to lead 1,000 well-armed troops against the Illinois posts, then sweep eastward through Kentucky, and cap- ture Pittsburgh.
Among the French in the Illinois Country there was none more popular than the wealthy trader, Francis Vigo of St. Louis. Vigo was a Sardinian who had come to America in a Spanish regiment. He now undertook a trip to Vin- cennes, partly no doubt on business of his own and partly to gain information for Clark regarding the conditions at that place.
He left Kaskaskia December 18, ignorant of the fact that the British had retaken Vincennes, and a few days later was captured on the Embarrass river by one of Ham- ilton's scouting parties. After the Indians had relieved him of his horse, money and arms, and carried him to Vin- cennes, he was thrown into prison. For some unknown reason Hamilton allowed him to return home on promise of going directly to St. Louis. He reached Kaskaskia by
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THE CONQUEST BY VIRGINIA
way of St. Louis January 27, 1779, bringing the first satis- factory report Clark had received of conditions at Vin- cennes since the capture of Helm. A rumored attack on Kaskaskia had already caused Clark to concentrate his forces at that place. He now had one of three alterna- tives : he could abandon his conquests and return to the Falls; he could remain and risk being captured in the spring; or he could take desperate chances on capturing his enemy now in comfortable winter quarters. It is the imperishable glory of Clark that he chose the latter. He decided to risk everything in an immediate campaign against Hamilton.
Volunteers were called for and a company of French creoles enlisted for the expedition. No reinforcements had been sent him from Virginia, nor had he so much as heard from Governor Henry for almost a year. The fu- ture of the Northwest was, fortunately, in the hands of no common soldier. Genius does not ask for, nor wait on, authority. The weather was damp and murky, the flooded streams covered the level prairies. The travelers sank ankle-deep in the sodden leaves of the forest or the grass of the prairie; but fortunately the weather was not cold.
§ 14 THE LAST CAPTURE OF VINCENNES
COLONEL CLARK was at Prairie Du Rocher when the rumor reached him that the British were already in Illinois. Leaving the ballroom, where he was being entertained, at midnight and sending a horseman to Cahokia, sixty miles away, to summon Bowman and his troops, he left imme- diately for Kaskaskia, arriving there before daylight. Al- though Cahokia was seventy-five miles away, Bowman, with his soldiers, joined his commander the following even- ing. Fort Gage was put in readiness for a siege. As soon as Vigo arrived with information that the British had re- tired to winter quarters, Clark began to organize his ex- pedition. The French freely enlisted for the attack and means for equipment were found by the aid of Colonel Vigo.
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A large rowboat, capable of carrying fifty men and half a dozen small cannon, was equipped and placed under the command of John Rogers, a cousin of Colonel Clark. This boat was to drop down to the mouth of the Ohio and ascend that stream and the Wabash to within a few miles of Vincennes, where it should await the troops marching over- land.
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