USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 4
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whelming force, and to forestall Hamilton and surprise him in his stronghold as quickly as pos- sible was the coup that presented itself as the most hopeful step toward retaining the country. He regarded it as a desperate cause, but, as he wrote to Governor Henry, "who knows what for- tune will do for us?" The hardships of a march at this season, which put it out of the question with Hamilton did not daunt Clark and his hardy backwoodsmen.
Clark's Swift Action .- Swift on the heels of this determination preparations were made for the expedition. Clark's own men were with him
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
heartily and the French rallied enthusiastically to his support and on the fifth of February, just one week after the arrival of Vigo with his in- formation, one hundred and seventy men left Kaskaskia to march, as Clark describes it, "eighty leagues through a drowned country in the depths of winter," and without even tents to protect them from the winter weather. As an auxiliary to the campaign a Mississippi bateau, or large boat, was laden with army supplies, manned with forty-six men and sent by way of the Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash to a point be- low Vincennes, to connect with the land force when it should reach there.
A Heroic Venture .- This remarkable expe- dition of one hundred and seventy men equipped with small arms only, against a force at least five hundred strong, garrisoned and equipped with cannon-this and the culminating assault and brilliant victory that forever dethroned the British power in the northwest made a fitting climax to one of the most romantic chapters of American history. The document known as Bow- man's Journal, a daily diary kept by Captain Jo- seph Bowman, and Clark's Memoir have pre- served for us a circumstantial and graphic ac- count of the whole enterprise. The march of "eighty leagues"* occupied eighteen days. The bottomless mud of southern Illinois might, of itself, been well considered as impassable by Hamilton, but in addition at least thirteen of those days, as recorded by Bowman, were spent in struggling through water in the form of rain, of rivers to be forded, or of vast shallow lakes of "drowned" country where the men waded for miles, sometimes hip deep. In one or two in- stances the water is described as breast deep, and one night the ice formed to the thickness of half an inch, or more. To find spots dry enough for camping places was almost impossible ; as said, the troops had no tents to shelter them from the rain, and their clothing must have been saturated, virtually, during the whole expedition. Clark describes their experiences as "incredible hard- ships far surpassing anything that any of us had ever experienced"-which was certainly saying a great deal. That men could have stood such fatigue and exposure shows a hardihood that is
almost unbelievable in a more effeminate gen- eration.
Psychics of the Campaign .- Clark's sagacity in keeping his soldiers keyed up psychically, is very interesting. "My object now was," he says, "to keep the men in spirits. I suffered them to shoot game on all occasions and feast on it like Indian wardancers, each company by turns, inviting the others to their feasts . . myself and principal officers putting on the woodsmen, shouting now and then, and running as much through the mud and water as any of them. Thus insensibly, without a murmur, were those men led on . A little later, after fording and swimming five miles of water near the confluence of the "two Little Wabashes," he says: "By evening we found ourselves en- camped on a pretty height in high spirits, each party laughing at the other in consequence of something that had happened in the course of this ferrying business, as they called it. A little antic drummer afforded them great diversion by floating on his drum, etc. All this was greatly encouraging and they really began to think them- selves superior to other men, and that neither the rivers nor the seasons could stop their prog- ress. Their whole conversation now was con- cerning what they would do when they got about the enemy. They now began to view the main Wabash as a creek and made no doubt but such men as they were could find a way across it. They wound themselves up to such a pitch that they soon took St. Vincent, divided the spoil, and before bedtime were far advanced on their way to Detroit."
The Investment of Vincennes ; an Audacious "Bluff."-The final task of making their way through the submerged lands of the Wabash, the cumulative effect of the hardships made worse by famine, was almost too much for even these men of iron, but no leader of a well-condi- tioned, overpowering army toward his certain prey could have been more cavalier than Clark was toward the fortified enemy that, for aught he knew, outnumbered him three to one. He did not even have the support of the boat with its forty-six men, and the little armament of ar- tillery that had been sent around by river for the boat had failed to make connection. And now, with his less than two hundred, tired, half- starved riflemen, he boldly invested the post, and
* The distance actually covered by Clark is estimated by the late Henry Canthorne, a local authority of Vincennes, as having been from 160 to 170 miles.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
1608-Marquette nn l Allonez.
St. Croix River.
MISSIS
LAKE
13
St. Peter's Hiver.
HURON.
Dal AS
63
ver.
LAKE MICHIGAN.
17
Rock River
16
11
10
.42
what.
*39
Sciuto River.
Enver
White River.
Wabash
98
RIVER
Kentucky River.
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31
Ing Sately.
Green Rivor.
Historical and Chronological Map of Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio River .- From Dillon's History of Indiana.
1. Falls of St. Mary.
2. Head of Green Bay.
3. Michilimacinac.
4. Detroit-permanent settlement founded 1701.
5. Kaskaskia.
6. Vincennes.
7. Fort Harrison, built in 1811.
8. Chicago.
9. Quiatenon village, destroyed by Gen. Scott in 1791.
10. Ponce Passu, or Ponceau Pichou-110w called Wild Cat Creek.
11. Tippecanoe Battle Ground.
12. Eel River Indian village, destroyed by Wilkinson, 1791.
13. Mississinewa villages, destroyed in 1812. 14. Little Turtle's Town.
15. La Balme's party defeated, 1780.
16. Fort Wayne, built in October, 1794. 17. Defeat of Indians by Wayne, in 1794. 18. Fort Defiance, built by Wayne in 1794. 19. Mouth of St. Joseph of Lake Michigan -Fort built by La Salle in 1679.
20. Lake Peoria-Fort Crevecœur built by La Salle, 1680.
21. St. Louis, founded in 1763.
22. Pittsburgh-site of Fort Du Quesne, built in 1754.
23. Fort McIntosh, built in 1777 and 1778.
TABLE OF REFERENCE
24. Fort Harmar, built in 1785.
25. Massacre of Moravian Indians, 1782. 26. Battle of Kanawha, 1774.
27. Fort Washington, built in 1790.
28. Defeat of Col. Loughrey's party, 1781.
29. Pigeon Roost Massacre, in 1812.
30. Falls of the River Ohio.
31. Site of Frankfort, Kentucky.
32. Lexington, Kentucky.
33. Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky.
34. Fort Gore, erected by Dunmore, 1774.
35. Fort Laurens, built in 1778.
36. Fort Massac.
37. Old Shawnee Town.
38. Fort Hamilton, built in 1791.
39. Fort St. Clair, built in the winter of 1791-2.
40. Fort Jefferson, built in 1791.
41. Fort Greenville, built in 1793.
42. Fort Recovery, built in 1793.
43. Falls of St. Anthony.
44. River Thames.
45. River Raisin.
46. Fort Meigs, built in 1813.
47. Fort Stephenson, built in 1812.
48. C'apt. John Campbell attackel by Sac and Fox Indians.
49. Battle of Bad Axe, 1832.
50. Battle of Blue Licks, Kentucky, 17s_ 51. Site of Boonesborough, Kentucky-iott built in 1275.
52. Site of Danville, Kentucky established by Virginia Legislature, 1787.
53. Wheeling, Virgina, foun led in 1720
54. Massacre at Baker's Bottom, in 17 4
55. Principal village of Delawares, 1 W Itt River, 1810.
56. Mouth of Embarrass River.
57. Mission of St. Joseph, visited by think voix, in 1721.
58. Forks of River Wabash. 59. Site of Columbus, Capital of Obos (0). Site of Indianapolis, Capital of Inha. 61. Site of Springfield, Capital of 1|1 .
62. Site of Lans ne, Capit. 1 ost Michi 1
03. Site of Michigan. Carril af \\ ' s. 64. Site of St. Paul, Capital in Mitricses 65. Rockfort, or Fort St. Live. by La Salle. 06. Site of Fort ( harties
67. Presq'lsJe
68. Le Bruf.
69. \ chRIE ..
70, Brownsville, or Redstone | | let
71. Site of Cahski
72. Stockalle fort. PDF OF W.HU 1750.
73. Site of Ligas w.t
LAKE ERIT
43
Des Moines River.
Illinois River
-41
55
TURI
Kannkaskia River.
Citent halloween Bliver
28
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
by prisoner sent a missive to the French residents bidding them choose sides, those who sided with the king being further ordered to repair at once to the fort and join the "hair-buyer general"* ( Hamilton ), while those friendly to the Ameri- can cause were requested to keep out of the streets. Subsequently when the chief of the ad- jacent Piankeshaw village. Tobacco's Son, of- fered the assistance of himself and a hundred warriors, it was declined. Yet this was in the face of what Clark himself called a "truly criti- cal situation, with no possibility of retreating in case of defeat."
In a word, it was a magnificent example of what, in modern parlance, is called "bluff," the aim being to create an exaggerated idea of his force. To strengthen this, as he approached the town he took advantage of the topography of the country, revealing glimpses of his men at certain points and marching and countermarch- ing in such a manner as to create the illusion of a good-sized army. Time was purposely con- sumed this way until dark, when the tactics were changed, a circuit made, and the town directly approached from another side.
A Lively Surprise Party; "Fine Sport for the Sons of Liberty."-The almost humorous part of all this was that while the demonstration was going on and the town itself was agog with excitement, the garrison gave no sign, much to Clark's mystification. In truth, none of the French having conveyed the news to Hamilton, he and his soldiers, in blissful ignorance of it, were placidly entertaining themselves in various ways. Secure in what was virtually an island stronghold, moated by leagues of flooded low- lands, the idea of an attack like this was as re- mote from their minds as a visitation of arch- angels from the skies. An unwonted stir among the townsmen was noticed, but little attention paid to it, and even when the attack on the fort was actually begun they thought the shooting was by some of the drunken Indians. Clark says their first intimation as to the real situation was when one of their men was shot through a port- hole, while an apocryphal story, worth preserv- ing as such, is to the effect that Captain Helm, the
American officer, now captive, and some of the British officers were engaged in a friendly game of cards, while a whisky toddy was brewing on the hearth, when a rifle ball striking the chimney top knocked dirt into the drink. Helm instantly guessed at the meaning of the firing and affirmed that General Clark had come and was going to take the fort.
This first firing occurred after dark and con- tinned throughout the night of February 23. The excitement of the occasion keyed up the assailants to heroic performance and made the assault, as Captain Bowman expressed it, "fine sport for the sons of liberty." They had had time to dispose themselves about the fort as they saw fit, and, protected by houses, fences and embankments, where the artillery could not be trained on them, they ruthlessly picked off the artillerymen through the embrasures till few dared stand to their guns. The next morning Clark sent to Hamilton a demand to surrender, couched in the rather arrogant "language of a certain conqueror ; to which Hamilton retorted that he and his garrison were "not disposed to be awed into any action unworthy of British sub- jects." Meanwhile, the Americans had eaten breakfast, the first full meal they had enjoyed for six days, and now were in fine fettle for some more fighting, which was at once granted them. After another hot fusillade a flag of truce came from Hamilton with a letter propos- ing an armistice, which Clark refused, acceding to nothing short of the surrender of the garrison as "prisoners at discretion."
Some more fighting and then Hamilton, with one-sixth of his dependable men put out of the conflict, began to seriously consider that, among other things, he was six hundred miles from suc- cor and that honorable terms might be the part of prudence. The result of this was a confer- ence between the two commanders in which Clark, with characteristic high-handedness, had everything his own way.
A Beginning Point in Indiana History .- That day Hamilton signed the articles of capitula- tion and the next, February 25, 1779, at ten o'clock in the morning, Governor Hamilton and his men marched out of the fort between the lines of American troops, in formal token of surren- der. Colonel Clark and two of his captains with
* This name was applied to Hamilton because of the charge and belief that he offered rewards to the Indians for the sealps of Americans.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
their companions marched in, hoisted the Ameri- can flag and took formal possession, and with that act the soil of Indiana became a permanent American possession. In other words, that cli- max to a dramatic and heroic chapter may be considered as the starting point of Indiana his- tory, for from that planting of American stock to the development of the State is a succession of steps, one growing out of the other. Hence. considering all the preceding matter as prelim- inary, we take up the history proper at this point .*
The First American Occupancy ; the Passing of the French .- The hoisting of the American flag over Fort Sackvillet by George Rogers Clark was the beginning of the end of a phase of life on Indiana soil that is now only a dim and romantic memory. The fate of the poor French who had settled in the Wabash valley was, from the viewpoint of race extinction, some- thing of a tragedy. Good and loyal sons of their motherland, they had come to this far wilderness when it was a province of France with no thought of its ever being other. Then the unexpected fortunes of war left them stranded here, thou- sands of miles from their native home, an isolated handful, aliens, subject to the rule of the nation that they hated most-the rule of England. For sixteen years they were under the jurisdiction of their foreign masters, and then, with the bold and sudden advent of Clark and his little army of Americans, they rallied with true Gallic enthusi- asm to his support, as we have seen, and were an instrument of importance to his success. So far as their gain was concerned, however, it must be said that they only jumped from the frying-pan into the fire, the unhappiness of their situation, indeed, being the more accentuated because the incoming Americans dominated the community as the English had not, taking possession as they did in a more permanent way. The invaders came to stay, not only as sol- diers but as settlers.
* Up to the time of the organization of the Northwest Terri- tory the government was so chaotic and the incoming population so sparse and obscure that there is little record of it. The first American occupancy that comes within the purview of history centered about Vincennes and in Clark's grant, which was sur- veyed and settled as early as 1783, or soon thereafter. For some years this latter was the largest American center west of Ohio.
i The fort at Vincennes was called Fort Sackville when held by the English.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER
Sketch of George Rogers Clark .- "Born in Albemarle county, Virginia, November 19, 1752 : died near Louisville, Ky., February 13, 1818. He was a land surveyor, and commanded a company in Dunmore's war against the Indians in 1774. He went to Kentucky in 1775 and took command of the armed settlers there. He captured Kas- kaskia and other towns in 1778, which, with the surrounding region, were organized into Illinois county, under the jurisdiction of Virginia. Com- missioned a colonel, he successfully labored for the pacification of the Indian tribes. Learning that Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, had cap- tured Vincennes, Clark led an expedition against him ( February, 1779) and recaptured it (Feb- rnary 25). He also intercepted a convoy of goods worth ten thousand dollars. and afterward built Fort Jefferson on the west side of the Mis- sissippi. The Indians from north of the Ohio, with some British, raided Kentucky in June. 1780, when Clark led a force against the Shaw- noese on the Grand Miami, and defeated them with heavy loss at Pickaway. Ile served in Vir- ginia during its invasion by Arnold and Corn- wallis, and in 1782 he led one thousand mounted riflemen from the mouth of the Licking and in- vaded the Scioto valley, burning five villages and laying waste their plantations. The savages were so awed that no formidable war party ever after- ward appeared in Kentucky. Clark made an in- successful expedition against the Indians on the Wabash, with one thousand men. in 1786. His great service to his country in making the fron- tiers a safe dwelling place was overlooked by his countrymen, and he died in poverty and obscur- ity."-Lossing's "Cyclopedia of U. S. History."
The Documentary Sources of Clark's Cam- paign .- "Clark's Memoir" and the "Letter to Mason" are, perhaps, the chief documents for a history of the conquest of the Northwest, though "Bowman's Journal" is much drawn upon and various diaries and official letters are tributary. A full collection of these, edited by James Ahon James, of Northwestern University, constitute Volume VIII of the Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library. There are 100 muy of them to be considered here, but a few words concerning the three important papers above men-
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
tioned may be of interest. Clark's "Letter" and "Memoir" are both long and circumstantial first- hand accounts of his experiences in the western country. The former was written to George Mason, of Virginia, in the latter part of 1779, after the writer had returned to the falls of the Ohio. Its special value, as compared with the "Memoir," is that the events were then freshly in mind, whereas the last-named narrative was penned ten or twelve years afterward and is supposed to have been drawn largely from mem- ory. The first account, being privately addressed as a letter, was lost to the world and was not brought to light for years, even Clark being un- able to locate it when engaged with the "Memoir." Eventually it was unearthed and first published in 1869. The original is in possession of Judge James Pirtle, of Louisville (as stated by Mr. James in 1912).
The "Memoir," or most of it, seems to have been written in 1790, and was done at the solicita- tion of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who saw the importance of securing, before it was too late, a first-hand account of great events by the chief actor in them. At that time Clark was soured against his fellow countrymen and seems, from his correspondence, to have been a little loath to accept the task, but once in it his in- terest carried him through an interesting and valuable piece of autobiography. The original MS. is in the possession of the Wisconsin His- torical Society.
Bowman's Journal was a daily diary of the Vincennes campaign from its organization at Kaskaskia and continuing to the 20th of March, nearly one month after the reduction of Fort Sackville.
These documents are printed in full in W. H. English's "Conquest of the Northwest," the full- est study we have of the life of George Rogers Clark. The volume by James Alton Clark, above referred to, is the fullest collection of all papers relating to Clark.
Clark's Ill-Fortune .- While George Rogers Clark, by his heroic performances, won for him- self a conspicuous place on the pages of our western history, he fell short of his ardent de- sires. Adversities followed his successes, the ingratitude that is proverbial as to republics, was his meed, and in the end he died an impoverished
and embittered man. A part of his scheme of conquest was the capture of Detroit as well as of Kaskaskia and Vincennes, and his ambition even aimed at the stronghold in Canada. Indeed, had he received adequate support the map of the United States might have been other than what it is today. But the support was not forthcoming and no expedition ever reached Detroit. His position was a peculiar one. He was not in the employ and under the authority of the United States, as the Continental soldiers of the Revolu- tion were, but in the employ of Virginia, and that State financed his campaign. But Virginia's resources were badly taxed by affairs nearer home, and perhaps she was not to blame for fail- ing to provide men, money and supplies for the remote frontier. Then with the surrender of Cornwallis, in 1781, actual war with England ceased. There was still plenty of work to do among the Indians of the Northwest, and Clark was the logical one to do it, but Virginia, on the plea of economy, dismissed him from her serv- ice, and at a time when, as Mr. English affirms, "he was in dire distress for even the common decencies and necessaries of life." In 1783 he made a journey through the wilderness to Rich- mond, Va., "in a condition of poverty," to re- quest of the then governor, Benjamin Harrison, a small advance of money on account, as he was "exceedingly distressed for the want of neces- sary clothing, etc.," and added that the State, he believed, would be found considerably in his debt. Whether he received any relief then is not recorded by our authority, but twenty years after, when he was paralyzed and helpless, he was granted a pension of four hundred dollars a year, and twenty years after he was in his grave the State acknowledged her debt by award- ing thirty thousand dollars to his heirs .*
In 1786 the hostilities of . the Indians to the north again imperiled the Kentucky settlements. Ere this Virginia had ceded the northwest to the United States, but the nation was so slow to take the situation in hand that Kentucky herself raised a defensive army, put Clark in command and sent an expedition against the tribes of the Wabash. It was but the beginning of new mis- fortunes for Clark. Through insubordination of the men the invasion came to naught. Then
* English, pp. 784-5.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
the leader, after due conference with his officers, established a garrison at Vincennes, the inhab- itants having become hostile to the Americans. The garrison had to be provisioned, and to meet what he considered a military emergency, he for- cibly possessed himself of the goods of Vin- cennes merchants, chiefly one Laurent Bazadon, a Spaniard. The government refused to stand good for the debt imposed upon it and censured Clark for his act. Subsequently Bazadon brought suit against Clark personally for $20,000, and an interesting statement of that suit commanding the sheriff to attack sundry pieces of land in Clark's Grant may be found in the Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History for March, 1908. While it is stated on the document that this case was dismissed it is elsewhere said that he per- sonally suffered loss for debts which his coun- try should have paid. At any rate it is the opin- ion of history that both Virginia and the nation poorly requited him for the services that added to the country one of the most valuable sections of our vast domain. He felt this bitterly, and there exists a story to the effect that when Virginia sent him a sword as a testimony of appreciation of his services he broke it in anger.
Clark was never married and in his latter years, almost to the time of his death, he lived alone in his log house at Clarksville, beside the falls. Among his misfortunes were paralysis and a burn which necessitated the amputation of one leg. He died in 1818, at the home of his sister, Mrs. Lucy Croghan, near Louisville, Ky.
Clark's Grant .- When Clark was authorized by Virginia to raise soldiers for the Illinois cam- paign a letter to him written jointly by Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and George Wyeth in- timated that "we have no doubt that some fur- ther rewards in lands in the country will be given to the volunteers who shall engage in this service in addition to the usual pay, if they are so for- tunate as to succeed." They further intimated what they thought this land gift ought to be, as to amount, and added: "For this we think you may safely confide in the justice and generosity of the Virginia assembly."
This was not authoritative enough to be held out as an incentive to the soldiers and so prob- ably cut little or no figure in the results, but Vir- ginia did not forget the semi-promise. In 1781. nearly two years after the taking of Vincennes,
the general assembly adopted a resolution pro- viding "that a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres be allowed and granted to the officers and soldiers
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