USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 21
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* The ball room incident, preventing Clark as the central figure in the picture, is discredited by some historians-at least portions of it. Reuben Gald Thwaites, in his Essays in Western History, refers to it as "a picturespue hero tale." Colonel Roose- velt, in his Winning of the West, introduces it in the pages forming the body of a volume of his work, making the following comment in a foot-note: "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. The story was told to Major Denny by Clark himself, some time '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.'"
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of the Indians grew less shrill, and Clark's men overjoyed at the manner in which the enemy had been entrapped, rent the air with shouts of victory.
Instantly every street was guarded, and runners dispatched in all direc- tions to notify the people of the town to keep within their homes on the penalty of death; and before the dawn of morning all of the inhabitants had been disarmed. Squads of soldiers patroled the streets all night long, and a deathly silence such as had never been experienced pervaded the ter- rorized village, the inhabitants of which huddled in their adobe houses mute with fear. The appearance of the backwoodsmen was so sudden and myste- rious that it dumbfounded the villagers. The stern and grim visage of the commander and his stubborn silence struck terror to their very hearts. The ferocious mien and unkempt condition of his followers and their mad onslaught led the dazed inhabitants to believe they had to deal with demons and the thought filled their souls with terrible anxiety for their future fate. Within two hours after their arrival in Kaskaskia. Clark and his men had taken complete possession of the town. The surprise to the officers and natives at beholding the invaders was not greater than the victory was over- whelming. And not a gun was fired nor a drop of blood shed .* A num- ber of the leading citizens had been arrested and put in irons, and other bloodless means of increasing the terror of the French inhabitants had been resorted to by the resourceful and strategic Virginia Colonel. The half-crazed villagers feared that on the morrow they would be put to death, or torn from their families and homes and taken as slaves to the Ken- tucky country by the murderous backwoodsmen with tales of whose bru- tality they had been so often regaled. The British had painted the "Long Knives," as these frontier fighters were called, as fiends incarnate, and the simple folks regarded them as nothing less than murderers and assassins of women and children. Clark, diplomat that he was, saw a splendid op- portunity not only to indulge his passion for the dramatic, but to win over the natives to his cause, and he readily took advantage of it. After his stern demeanor and stolid indifference to the pitiful pleas of the terrified natives had brought them cringing at his feet, he changed his attitude completely-surprised his supplicants greatly, and won their loyalty, confidence and esteem by the unexpected performance of acts that savored of justice, humanity and generosity. A deputation of six aged citizens, among whom was the beloved Father Gibault. the
* It is marvelous that a military post, well provided with soldiers, cannon and provisions, in an old town of several hundred families, should have been captured without the firing of a gun, by less than two hundred tired and hungry backwoods- men, without cannon, army supplies, transportation, or even food. This little band had been three days on the river, rowing, by turns, day and night, and for the next six days marching across a wild and unknown country, without roads, much of it brush or swamp, and in the range of savage foes, making ten days of continuous strain and labor, and the last two without food .- [William Hayden English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, p. 170.]
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parish priest, called on the haughty Colonel, and feeling themselves as captives in the clutches of barbarians, pleaded to be spared, de- claring, says Clark, "with the greatest servility they were willing to be slaves to save their families." Clark received the callers with a feigned military dignity so pronounced that it was painful. Noticing that it had the desired effect, he bade Father Gibault speak for the delegation. The priest, with a grave look on his face, said that the inhabitants ex- pected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again, and they begged to be permitted to assemble in their church and there to take leave of each other. Clark, relaxing into a more natural pose, mildly told the priest that he had aught to say against his religion ; that it was a matter which Americans left every man to settle with his God; that the people might assemble in their church, if they would, but they must not venture out of town. The little church was inadequate to accommodate those who assembled, as nearly every man, woman and child in the village turned out, leaving empty homes, which Clark had forbidden the soldiers to enter. At the close of the meet- ing Father Gibault again sought Clark, and, speaking for his parishioners, said that "their present situation was the fate of war; that they could submit to the loss of their property; but they solicited that they might not be separated from their wives and children; and that some clothes and pro- visions might be allowed for their support." Clark, feigning astonishment at such a request, abruptly, but not ineloquently, exclaimed, "Do you mis- take us for savages? I am almost certain you do, from your language! Do you think that Americans intend to strip women and children, or take the bread out of their mouths? My countrymen," said he, waxing in elo- quence and increasing in stature, "disdain to make war upon helpless in- nocence. It was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our own wives and children that we have taken arms and penetrated into this re- mote stronghold of British and Indian barbarity, and not for the despicable prospect of plunder. That now the king of France had united his powerful arms with those of America, the war would not, in all probability, continue long; but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia were at liberty to take which side they pleased, without the least danger to either their property or families. Nor would their religion be any source of disagreement, as all religions were regarded with equal respect in the eye of the American law, and any insult offered it will be immediately punished. And now, to prove my sin- cerity, you will please inform your fellow citizens that they are quite at liberty to conduct themselves as usual without the least apprehension. I am now convinced, from what I have learned since my arrival among you. that you have been misinformed and prejudiced against us by British offi- cers ; and your friends who are in confinement shall immediately be re- leased."
Here was an opportune time for Clark to make a diplomatic move and play a winning card. He knew full well it were hopeless to think of his "little army" permanently holding down a hostile population that was nu-
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merically superior by many hundreds to his own forces, allied as it was with neighboring tribes of warring Indians. He first took Father Gibault into his confidence, and then discoursed to the natives of the joys of a free and untrammeled democracy and of the untold blessings and privileges that would be theirs if they would renounce allegiance to the king of Eng- land and become citizens of the new republic. The Creoles were captivated by Clark's eloquence, and listened to his speech in open-mouthed astonish- ment. He completely won their hearts and lifted the gloom that had rested on their minds. What he had left undone Father Gibault finished, and the now grateful and happy members of his flock cheerfully took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. The beautiful Creole girls, who doted on garments of variegated colors, tore up their gowns to make flags, and the "stars and stripes" were afloat everywhere. Arms were restored to the citizens, and a volunteer company of French militia was hastily formed and joined a detachment under Captain Bowman, when that officer, a day later, marched against and took peaceable possession of Cahokia. The inhabitants of this settlement, which lay about sixty miles north of Kaskaskia, through the entreaties of Father Gibault and other new found friends of Clark, who accompanied Bowman, offered no resistance, made no effort to defend the fort, and subsequently subscribed an oath of fidelity to the American cause.
In the estimation of the people, within a few days. Clark had won an enviable place. At times theatrical, he was always courageous, brave, gen- erous and far-seeing, combining the cunning of the fox with the courage of the lion. His graceful figure, "prudent* swagger, calculating rashness, graceful lies, blustering finesse, and his high spirits and dashing spieglerie won the Frenchmen's hearts." In all the Illinois country there was only one man whom Clark, with all his bluster, treated harshly-and that was M. Rochblave, whom he unceremoniously yanked out of bed the night Kas- kaskia was surprised. M. Rochblave, however, who was the French com- mandant of the British fort, behaved badly after he was captured, and probably deserved harsh treatment. Clark invited him to dinner, and he responded to the invitation in an insulting manner, whereupon his captor promptly put him in irons and sent him a prisoner by Captain Montgomery to Virginia, sold his slaves for five hundred pounds and divided the money as prizes among the troops.
The Indians feared Clark intensely, and no man knew how to handle the redskins better than he did. He knew their savage natures, and in dealing with the more hostile ones always assumed an attitude of haughti- ness and defiance, securing by adroitness, diplomacy and intimidation what he had neither force nor strength to take. He made them believe that he only waited an excuse to fall upon and crush them out of existence, and they trembled at the mention of his very name. After having them com- pletely cowed, he would enfold the great sachems to his bosom in affection-
* Lymn Lew Sprague, Outing Magazine.
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ate embrace. By this method he won their esteem and confidence. They looked on him with adoration, and considered him of heroic mould, so superior to any of their white brothers that years afterward in conference with commissioners, the wily chiefs would address themselves.to no one but Clark, were he present.
While at Kaskaskia Clark had to deal with hordes of Indians, hailing from wigwams scattered from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, who came from as far away as five hundred miles to learn what had actually taken place in the Illinois country, and to hear personally what the "Long Knives" had to say. Having hitherto been hostile to the Americans, but friendly to the Spanish and French, they were much confused by the change in the sentiments of the latter, and the sudden turn affairs had taken put them in a quandary. Clark engaged them in conference.t For several days no conclusion was reached, though speech-making was much indulged. On the night following the third day of the conference a party of war- riors made an attempt to forcibly enter the house where Clark was lodging for the purpose of kidnapping him. Clark, who had been, so he says, "un- der some apprehensions among such a number of devils," was anticipating treachery. His guards promptly seized the savages, and the natives, aroused by the alarm, hastily armed themselves, evincing their sincerity in espousing the American cause. The captives, by Clark's orders, were put in irons. While he had treated the Indians well and had not incurred their displeasure by brutality or harshness, which often embittered them against the English and Americans, and made them side with the French, he knew to display timidity would be ruinous, and he simply exercised the boldness and decision for which he was noted, and carried his point. The cringing prisoners protested that they were simply trying to find out the friendship of the French for Clark, and begged mercifully for their release. The chiefs from other tribes came to intercede in their behalf, but Clark, with his characteristic haughtiness and indifference, absolutely refused to release the captives. Indians and whites had become greatly confused by the in- cident, mistrusting what the outcome might be. Clark was apparently not agitated by the attempt to carry him away, for he did not even transfer his lodgings to the fort, but he took the precaution to secretly place a body of armed men in the room adjoining his own, while the guards were kept in readiness for immediate action. To more effectively carry out his ap- pearance of indifference, he "assembled a number of gentlemen and ladies and danced nearly the whole night"; while the time was put in by the savages in holding continuous councils among themselves. "Next' morn-
+ This notable gathering, however, was held at Cahokia, where Clark did nearly all his treating with savages while in the Illinois country, and among the many tribes having representation were chiefs and warriors from the Shawnees, Weas, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawattomies, Sacs and Foxes, and other confederations whose names and deeds are buried in oblivion.
1 Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, pp. 197-198.
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ing he invited all the tribes to assemble in grand council, liberating the captive chiefs that they might hear what he had to say to them in the pres- ence of their friends and allies. The preliminary proceedings were marked by rigid rules of Indian etiquette. Clark, standing in the center of a circle formed by the squatted warriors-his riflemen, with tasseled and tattered uniforms stationed on the outside edge-produced the bloody war belt of wampum and handed it to the chiefs who had been taken captive, telling the assembled tribes that he scorned alike their treachery and their hos-' tility ; 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 want 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, and that now he had ended his talk to them, and he wished them to rapidly depart."
As Clark concluded his remarks, not only the prisoners, but all the other chiefs rose, and in a submissive and dignified manner, expressed a deep regret at having listened to the blandishments of the British, who had led them into error by falsehood, expressing a determination thenceforth to be loyal to Americans and the American cause. Clark further told them that he was there as a warrior, not as a counsellor; that he was not begging for truce, but that he carried in his right hand peace and in his left hand war; that for their worst men he had no terms whatever. To those who were disposed to be friendly he would be a friend; but if they chose war, he would call from the thirteen? council fires 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. He3 went on to tell them that there had been a mist before their eyes, but 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 have applied almost to an uprising of Hurons or Wyandots against the Iroquois. At the end of his speech he offered them the two belts of peace and war.
"The" peace belt was eagerly accepted by the savages, but the Colonel rejected the pipe of Calumet, announcing that he would not enter into the solemn peace treaty with them until the following day. He likewise de- clined 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 the young
2 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 .- [Roosevelt.]
3 Theodore Roosevelt.
4 Roosevelt.
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men, who advanced and sat down before him on the floor, covering their heads with their blankets to receive the tomahawk. Then he granted them full peace and forgave the young men their doom. After this treaty there was peace in the Illinois country; the Indians remained for some time friendly, and the French were kept well satisfied."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CAPTURE OF VINCENNES FROM THE BRITISH.
COLONEL CLARK CASTS A LONGING LOOK AT VINCENNES FROM KASKASKIA- FATHER GIBAULT VISITS THE OLD POST TO CONVERT ITS INHABITANTS TO AMERICANISM-CAPT. HELM TAKES CHARGE OF FORT SACKVILLE-CLARK WINS THE "GRAND DOOR OF THE WABASH"-TROUBLE WITH THE TROOPS- CLARK MAKES FRIENDS WITH SPANIARDS-HIS SPEECH TO THE INDIANS- VIRGINIA ESTABLISHES ILLINOIS COUNTY-HAMILTON'S MARCH FROM DETROIT TO VINCENNES-HELM'S ALARMING LETTER TO CLARK-HAMILTON TAKES FORT SACKVILLE FROM HELM-CLARK'S IGNORANCE OF HAMILTON'S PRESENCE AT VINCENNES-VIGO GIVES CLARK VALUABLE INFORMATION- CLARK DECIDES TO MOVE AGAINST HAMILTON-THE DREADFUL MARCH FROM KASKASKIA TO VINCENNES-CLARK'S MESSAGE TO TIIE INHABITANTS OF VINCENNES-FIRING ON THE FORT-TIIE BATTLE BETWEEN THE CON- TENDING FORCES-CLARK DEMANDS HAMILTON TO SURRENDER-THE FIGHT RESUMED-HAMILTON SURRENDERS-ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION-CAPTURE OF BRITISH BOAT ON THE WABASII-HAMILTON TAKEN IN IRONS WITH OTHER BRITISH PRISONERS TO WILLIAMSBURG-HIS BLOOD-STAINED RECORD.
Disappointed, no doubt, at the tameness of some incidents which fol- lowed, but nevertheless gratified at the success attained at the inauguration of his Illinois campaign on the western side of the Wabash-which not only resulted in the capture of the important towns of Kaskaskia and Ca- hokia, but in securing as well all the white settlements of lesser significance in the Illinois country-Clark now turned his gaze in the direction of the eastern side of that classic stream, his eye resting on Old Vincennes, a post, he records, that "never had been out of his mind" from the instant he conceived of an expedition against the British posts in the Northwest Territory. The glory, however, that came with the initial move in a conquest that was to end so brilliantly and be productive of such overshadowing results, did not engross the mind of the gallant Vir- ginian as much as the duties it brought with it.
Straining every nerve, and exercising all the strategic and diplomatic energies that an active brain or courageous heart could devise or suggest,
Vol. 1-12
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to keep his unruly backwoodsmen half disciplined, to extend his protecting arm out over a territory as vast as an empire, and peopled with subjects of an alien race, speaking a foreign tongue, and to fortify himself against the contemplated advances of large numbers of well-drilled and well-fed British soldiers, who were inciting hordes of blood-thirsty Indians to deeds of treachery and violence, were some of the perplexing problems that pre- sented themselves for Clark's solution immediately after he had taken Kaskaskia.
At the time of its capture, Kaskaskia's population consisted of two hun- dred and fifty families, and its fortifications had the strength to resist the force of a thousand men. Today it doesn't contain enough people to entitle it to a postoffice. Cahokia is another town that has almost completely disappeared, with scarcely a physical trace of its former existence. Cahokia formerly stood on the east side of the Missis- sippi, a few miles below where St. Louis now stands. When Captain Bow- man marched against the place there were more than a hundred families living there; and when he took Prairie du Rocher it had a population of about one hundred and thirty souls. All three of these places, which had their birth about the same time as Vincennes, were at one time consequen- tial towns. Prairie du Rocher was within five miles of the celebrated Fort Chartres, and St. Phillippe, a thriving hamlet, was also in the cluster of French settlements (in the shadow of the ancient fortification), which Clark, through Bowman, seized and converted to Americanism. After Clark and Bowman had captured Kaskaskia and Cahokia, respectively, the forts at these places were given the names of their captors.
At the close of their first meeting a strong attachment was formed be- tween Colonel Clark and Father Gibault, and only a few days intervened until the assurances previously had by the gallant Virginian of the holy man's sympathy for the American cause were made doubly sure by con- vincing proofs of his loyalty. That the generous-hearted and brave soldier saw in the lowly man of the cloth a worthy exponent of the doctrines of liberty and a powerful ally is best told in his own words: "I had some reason to suspect that Mr. Gibault, the priest, was inclined to the American interest previous to our arrival in the country. He had great influence over the people at this period, and Post Vincennes was under his jurisdiction. I made no doubt of his integrity to us. I sent for him, and had a long conference with him on the subject of Post Vincennes. In answer to all my queries, he informed me that he did not think it worth my while to cause any military preparations to be made at the Falls of the Ohio for the attack of Post Vincennes, although the place was strong and a great number of Indians in its neighborhood, who, to his knowledge, were gen- erally at war; that Governor Abbott had a few weeks before left the place on some business to Detroit; that he expected that when the inhabitants were fully acquainted with what had passed at the Illinois, and the present happiness of their friends, and made fully acquainted with the nature of
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the war, that their sentiments would greatly change; that he knew that his appearance there would have great weight, even among the savages; that if it was agreeable to me he would take this business on himself, and had no doubt of his being able to bring that place over to the American .
interest without my being at the trouble of marching against it; that his business being altogether spiritual, he wished that another person might be charged with the temporal part of the embassy; but that he would privately direct the whole; and he named Doctor La Font as his associate.
"This was perfectly agreeable to what I had been secretly aiming at for some days. The plan was immediately settled, and the two doctors, with there intended retinue, among whom I had a spy, set out preparing for their journey, and set out on the 14th of July, with an address to the inhabitants of Post Vincennes, authorizing them to garrison their own town themselves, which would convince them of the great confidence we put in them, etc. All this had its desired effect. Mr. Gibault and his party arrived safe, and after spending a day or two in explaining matters to the people, they universally exceeded to the proposal (except a few emissaries left by Mr. Abbott, who immediately left the country) and went in a body to the church, where the oath of allegiance was administered to them in the most solemn manner. An officer was elected, the fort immediately garrisoned, and the American flag displayed to the astonish- ment of the Indians, and everything settled far beyond our most sanguine hopes. The people here immediately began to put on a new face, and to talk in a different style, and to act as perfect freemen. With a garrison of their own, with the United States at their elbow, their language to the Indians was immediately altered. They began as citizens of the United States, and informed the Indians that their old father, the King of France, was come to life again, and was mad at them for fighting for the English ; that they would advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they could, otherwise they might expect the land to be very bloody, etc. The Indians began to think seriously : throughout the country this was now the kind of language they generally got from their ancient friends of the Wabash and Illinois. Through the means of their correspondence spreading among the natives our batteries began now to play in a proper channel. Mr. Gibault and party, accompanied by several gentlemen of Post Vin- cennes, returned to Kaskaskia about the first of August with the joyful news. During his absence on this business, which caused great anxiety in me, (for without the possession of this post all our views would have been blasted) I was exceedingly engaged in regulating things in the Illi- nois. The reduction of these posts was the period of the enlistment of our troops. I was at a great loss at this time to determine how to act, and how far I might venture to strain my authority. My instructions were silent on many inmportant points, as it was impossible to foresee the events that would take place. To abandon the country, and all the prospects that opened to our view in the Indian department at this time,
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