USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 28
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*Judge Law, Colonial History of Vincennes, ed. 1858, p. 132.
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exclaiming, with bitterness and sorrow: "I asked Virginia for bread and she sends me a sword."
Representatives of the non-treaty Indians from all the tribes on the Wabash assembled at Quiatenon in August, 1785, and held a great coun- cil of war. Emboldened by the defiant stand his brethren had determined on, a Shawnee murdered in cold blood one of the French inhabitants of Vincennes. Friends of the dead man avenged the crime by killing the murderer, slaying four or five of his companions, and in wounding three or four others. During the winter the murderous forays of the red skins became less frequent, but with the coming of spring they increased in number and atrociousness.
The red men, who opposed the coming of the white settlers, and were bent on stopping the eastern tide of emigration westward at the Ohio river, had already served notice on the settlers to leave the country, informing the French inhabitants, to whom they had been friendly disposed, that war was to be declared against all Americans and if the French persisted in remaining they would be treated as Americans. Only a few months be- fore the Indians had brutally attacked a trading party in boats on the Wabash, near the mouth of the Embarrass, killed the occupants of several lonely cabins in the sparsely settled districts, and singled out two or three American farmers as the objects of their wrath, burning their huts and scalping the inmates. Many of the settlers who had come to this locality from the east and south fled for their lives, leaving behind them the charred ruins of their homes, and came to the fort for protection, or con- tinued in their flight across the borders into the settlements of Kentucky.
As the weather grew milder the hostilities increased and became more barbarous .* "In May Clark wrote to Governor Henry (from the Falls) that the Wabash Indians, encouraged by British traders from Detroit, had begun war. Letter after letter brought confirmation of the state- ment. In June it was reported that 'the whole of the Americans settled at Post Vincennes on the Wabash, are massacred.'" Settlers from Ken- tucky had been the victims largely of the Indian outrages, which the in- timidated French seemed powerless to prevent, and at once there came a universally expressed desire on the part of the Kentuckians that Clark should be clothed with authority to lead an expedition to the Wabash and squelch the offending red skins, who once fawned at his feet. The refusal of the French to accord the Americans protection was no doubt due to fear for their own safety, rather than from indifference. They are never- theless charged not only with not attempting to aid the Americans, but in absolutely refusing to allow them to protect themselves, by denying the use of the cannon left for the protection of the fort. It is further charged that after the Americans had succeeded in repulsing the Indians in an attack against the post Colonel Le Gras had ordered them to leave Vincennes and
*J. P. Dunn, Indiana, American Commonwealth Series, p. 163.
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and quit the country ; that the Americans had called for assistance on Ken- tucky and that a party had gone to their succor.t
Through the intervention of Kentucky, Virginia sent a military ex- pedition into the Wabash country to deal with the Indians, whose future move against the Kentucky settlements was anticipated. Clark was ap- pointed commander of the forces that were to be used, and in September with a force of one thousand men marched over the old buffalo trace from Louisville to Vincennes, arriving here in October. The Kentucky forces, which had been reinforced by quite a number of the inhabitants of the Old Post, were ordered to proceed up the Wabash towards Quiatenon, which was a cluster of Indian villages. The savages had learned of the com- ing of the enemy and ambushed themselves along Pine creek. On arriv- ing within a short distance of the Vermilion river, the army found the villages deserted. Tired, hungry, and depressed in spirits by disappoint- ment at finding no signs of the enemy, the feelings of officers and men partook of supreme disgust when a thoughtless fellow announced that Clark had sent to the Indians a flag of truce, with the offer of peace or war. The report had a demoralizing effect on the men, and, when coupled with the sad and sorrowful transformation their commander had undergone- when they saw the fire that beamed in his eye had died out, the fine lines of his face had faded, when they heard the rasping notes of a voice once clear and musical-they gave way to a spirit of rankest insubordination ; nor tears nor entreaties of the once brave, bold, fearless and handsome com- mander, who had thrilled the country with the brilliancy and grandeur of his military achievements, could subject them to discipline. About three hun- dred of the troops, who had been given their first intimation of Clark's intemperance, deserted the camp and marched homeward in a body. The expedition was then abandoned, and the remainder of troops, with Clark, returned to Vincennes.
Colonel Benjamin Logan had in the meantime marched with his troops against the Shawnee villages. His detachment consisted of four or five hundred mounted riflemen, who crossed the Ohio near Maysville and penetrated the Indian country as far as the head waters of Mad river. They burned eight large towns, and destroyed the corn in many fields by applying fire brands. About seventy or eighty savages were taken prisoners, and twenty warriors were slain, among the number the great sachem of the nation, whose death was deeply regretted by Logan, and who had given his men explicit orders to spare the life of the great chief. The Kentuckians sustained a loss of about ten men.
The field officers who had been sent out from Kentucky by the execu- tive council of Virginia, were in session at Vincennes when Clark and the remnant of his brigade returned down the Wabash. They had determined that the establishment of a garrison at the Old Post would "be of essential
+J. P. Dunn, Indiana, American Commonwealth Series, p. 163.
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service to the district of Kentucky, and that supplies might be had in the district more than sufficient for their support, by impressment or other- wise, under the direction of a commissary to be appointed for that pur- pose." Clark, before leaving the Falls, had invited the chiefs of all tribes along the Wabash to meet him in council at Clarksville for the purpose of effecting a treaty. The Indians did not object to the meeting, but they did to the place of holding it, and gave expression to their disapproval through a communication addressed to Clark by a chieftain named "The Goose and Fusil," who referred to Clark as "my elder brother" and wrote to him thus wise: "Thou oughtest to know the place we have been ac- customed to speak at. It is at Post Vincennes. There our chiefs are laid. There our ancestor's bed is, and that of our father, the French- and not at Clarksville, where you required us to meet you. We do not know such a place: but at Post Vincennes where we always went when necessary to hold councils. My Eldest Brother, thou informest me I must meet you at the place I have mentioned; yet thou seest, my brother, that the season is far advanced; and that I would not have time to invite my allies to come to your council, which we pray to hold at Post Vincennes."
Clark's reply to the foregoing communication was in his characteristic style, and portrays the quickness of decision and determination of the man, who promptly declared: "I propose the last of April for the grand council to be held at this place, Post Vincennes, where I expect all those who are inclined to open the roads will appear, and we can soon discover what the Deity means."
The same board which recommended the establishment of a garrison at Vincennes as being "of essential service to the district of Kentucky," appointed John Craig, Jr., a commissary of purchases. He, however, for some cause not stated, did not qualify, and his place was filled by the brilliant John Rice Jones. It was further decreed by the board that one field officer and two hundred and fifty men-which did not include a com- pany of artillery to be commanded by Captain Valentine Thomas Dalton- be recruited for the Old Post garrison; that Colonel John Holder take command of troops; and that the "supreme direction" of the officers and men be vested in General Clark, who began at once the enlistment of re- cruits, appointment of officers and the impressment of provisions for supply- ing the garrison.
While considerable indignation was manifest, at this particular time, on the part of some of the citizens of Vincennes on account of Spain's atti- tude towards the western country relative to the navigation of the Mississ- ippi, which feeling was intensified by the seizure and confiscation of the property of a Vincennes merchant at Natchez, the attitude of the com- munity was not quite so revolutionary as has been represented. This, too, at a period when General Clark was actively engaged in encouraging treaties with the Wabash Indians.
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The order, however, issued by the field officers made it possible for some of the "impressees" to take retaliatory steps against Spanish mer- chants for alleged wrongs perpetrated on the Mississippi against Ameri- can traders by Spanish authorities, and they no doubt sought to give ex- pression to their indignation by making the impressments on Spanish mer- chants heavier than on any other class. In a deposition of one Daniel Neeves, sworn to before Christopher Greenup, December 20, 1786, the treatment to which Spanish merchants were subjected, is minutely told. The deposition reads :
"The deposition of Daniel Neeves, being first sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that he, this deponent, was enlisted by Captain Thomas Mason as a soldier in the Wabash regiment; that he was summoned as one of a guard by a Captain Valentine T. Dalton, and was by him marched to a store; and he, the said Dalton by an interpreter demanded of a Spanish merchant to admit him, the said Dalton, into his cellar. The Spaniard asked what he wanted. The said Dalton said he was sent by the commanding officer to search his cellar. It being at a late hour of the night, the Spaniard lighted a candle and opened his doors, and went and opened his cellar door. The said Dalton with several others entered the cellar; after some time he came out and placed this deponent as a guard over the cellar, and took the rest of the guard to another store. That the succeeding day the said Dalton came with a number of others and plundered the cellar of a large quantity of peltry, wine, taffy, honey, tea, coffee, sugar, cordial, French brandy, and sundry other articles, together with a quantity of dry goods, the particular articles this deponent does not at present recollect; that part of the goods was made use of to clothe the troops, the remainder with the other articles was set up at public auction and sold; that the sale was conducted by a certain John Rice Jones, who marched in the militia com- manded by General Clark as a commissary general. And further this deponent saith that he obtained a furlough, dated the 24th day of November, 1786, signed Valentine Thomas Dalton, Captain Commandant Wabash Regiment, of which the following is a copy : 'Daniel Neeves a soldier in the Wabash Regiment, has liberty to go on a fur- lough for two months from the date hereof; at the expiration he is to return to his duty, otherwise looked upon as a deserter. November 24, 1786. Valentine Thomas Dalton, Captain Commandant Wabash Regiment. To all who it may concern. And further this deponent saith not.' "
In the seizure of property the soldiers were simply acting in accordance with the instructions from the board comprised of field officers of the Wabash expedition-a necessary procedure to secure provisions for the sustenance of the garrison. In the instance above referred to, however, Dalton may have been a little harsh as well as indiscreet. But it is not likely that his conduct on this occasion, and the action of other officers and privates on other occasions, with reference to the treatment of Spanish merchants, were influenced or condoned by Clark. As stated at the outset, there was a very strong sentiment among some of the inhabitants of Vin- cennes against Spain, which was largely shared by Clark, but the feeling did not manifest itself at any time in such a general or demonstrative manner as Mr. Thomas Green, a settler at Louisville, Ky., represented in a letter written to the governor of Georgia in December, 1786. Mr. Green, who deplores the condition to which the western country generally has been sub-
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jected by Spanish prohibition of the navigation of the Mississippi, says, among other things, that "the troops stationed at Post Vincennes by orders of General George Rogers Clark have seized upon what Spanish property there was at that place, also at Illinois in retaliation for their many offenses. General Clark, who has fought so gloriously for his country, and whose name strikes all the western savages with terror, together with many other gentlemen of merit, engages to raise troops sufficient, and go with me to the Natchez to take possession, and settle the lands agreeable to the lines of that state, at their own risk and expense; provided you in your infinite goodness will countenance them and give us the lands to settle it agreeable to the laws of your state. Hundreds are now waiting to join us with their families, seeking asylum for liberty and religion. Not hearing that the lines are settled between you and the Spaniards, we therefore wish for your direction concerning them and the advice of your superior wisdom. At the same time assuring you that we have contracted for a very large quantity of goods, we hope sufficient to supply all the Indians living within the limits of Georgia. Trusting that we shall be able to make them inde- pendent of the Spaniards, wean their affections and procure their esteem for us and the United States, as we expect to take the goods down with us. We earnestly pray that you would give us full liberty to trade with all those tribes, and also give your agents for Indian affairs all the neces- sary instructions for the prosperity of our scheme. The season for the Indian trade will be so far advanced that I await with very great impa- tience. General Clark, together with a number of other gentlemen, will be ready to proceed down the river with me on the shortest notice, there- fore hope and earnestly pray that you will despatch the express back with all possible speed with your answer, and all the encouragement due to so great an undertaking. As to the further particulars I refer you to the bearer, Mr. William Wells, a gentleman of merit who will be able to inform you more minutely than I possibly can of the sentiments of the people of this western country."
General Clark, after the contents of Green's letter was made public, claimed that the only tacit understanding he and the writer had had was in relation to establishing a settlement within the borders of Georgia-the other propositions never having been discussed. Be that as it may, the culpability of Clark's actions. if really they were culpable, is lessened when one considers that he was acting under the direction of a board which had received its authority from the executive of Virginia. The said board decided that it was necessary to raise troops here for the purpose of pre- senting a more formidable front to the warring Wabash Indians; that the establishment of a garrison here would "be of essential service to the dis- trict of Kentucky," and that supplies for the support of the garrison should be raised by impressment. Clark, therefore, as "supreme director of the corps," was simply exercising an authority which he believed the board had a right to confer, when he subsequently recruited, garrisoned
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soldiers and procured supplies for the garrison by impressment. The execu- tive council of Virginia, however, repudiated the action of the board wlience these orders came, and demanded the prosecution of persons respon- sible for alleged outrages against Spanish merchants at Vincennes, which had no doubt been greatly magnified. Had it not been that the seizure of goods from Spanish merchants occurred at a time when negotiations were pending for a treaty on the Mississippi question between Mr. Jay and Mr. Gardoqui, on the part of the United States and Spain, and the rela- tions between these two countries were not strained to the highest tension, the enormity of the offense would have not been nearly so apparent. Mr. Green's extravagant statements regarding affairs at the Old Post, and Mr. Neeves' affidavit of an isolated case gave a false coloring to the picture. The true situation is presented in a report of a committee, which called on General Clark for an account of his conduct in the premises. Thomas Todd acted as clerk of the committee, which was appointed and convened at Danville for the purpose of eliciting such information it could relative to the establishment of troops and seizure of Spanish property at Vincennes. The report states that the committee find "by enquiry from General Clark, and sundry papers submitted by him for their inspection, that a board of field officers composed from the corps employed on the late Wabash expedition, did in council held at Post Vincennes, the 8th of October, 1786, unanimously agree that a garrison at that place would be of essential ser- vice to the district of Kentucky, and that supplies might be had in the district more than sufficient for their support, hy impressment or other- wise. under the direction of a commissary to be appointed for this pur- pose, pursuant to the authority vested in the field officers of the district by the executive of Virginia. The same board appointed Mr. John Craig, Jr., a commissary of purchases ; and resolved that one field officer and two hundred and fifty men, exclusive of the company of artillery to be com- manded by Captain Valentine Thomas Dalton, be recruited to garrison Post Vincennes. That Colonel John Holder be appointed to command the troops in this service. In consequence of these measures it appears to your committee that a body of men have been enlisted and are recruiting for one year; that General Clark hath taken the supreme direction of the corps, but by what authority it does not appear; and that the corps hath been further officered by appointments made by General Clark, who acknowledges that the seizure of the Spanish property was made by his order for the sole purpose of clothing and subsisting the troops; and that the goods seized were appropriated in this way; that John Rice Jones, who acts as commissary to the garrison, had passed receipts for the articles taken. The General alleges that the troops were raised for the security of the district ; that he considers them subject to the direction of this committee, who may discharge them if they think proper, but con- ceives this measure may prevent the proposed treaty, and involve this country in a bloody war. He denies any intention of depredating on the
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Spanish possessions or property at the Illinois; and declares that he never saw the intercepted letter from Thomas Green; that he understood Green's object was to establish a settlement at or near Gaso river, under authority of the state of Georgia; that his view was by encouraging the settlement to obtain a small grant of land, and that he had no idea of molesting the Spaniards, or of attending Green in person. He informed the committee that the garrison now at Post Vincennes is about one hundred strong; and that the merchants at the Illinois had determined to support it for which purpose they had sent for the commissary, Jones, to receive pro- visions. That Major Bosseron was sent to Illinois to advise the settlers there of certain seizures made at Natchez of American property by the Spanish commandant, and to recommend to them to conciliate the minds of the Indians, and be prepared to retaliate any outrages the Spaniards might commit on their property; but by no means to commence hostilities."
The so-called outrages, in view of the facts contained in the foregoing report, which clearly define General Clark's position, it would seem, were not so terrible after all. * And, according to an opinion of the supreme judges and attorney general of Kentucky, relative to their perpetration, there was nothing illegal in them either. The court referred to say, in passing upon the military laws of Virginia, under which the troops were raised and seizure of goods made: "We are of opinion that the executive council have delegated all their power under the said law and article of con- federation, so far as they relate to invasions, insurrections and impress- ments, to the field officers of that district, and that the officers, in conse- quence thereof have a right to impress, if necessary, all supplies for the use of the militia that may be called into service by their order or orders under said order of council."
Colonel Logan, acting under the same authority with which the field officers clothed Clark, impressed supplies for his troops after he had been detached by Clark, and his acts in this respect seemed eminently proper- at least there was naught said against him. Clark in his latter days seemed to have acquired a number of secret enemies, for reasons not assigned. Singular as it may seem, the attorney general and two supreme judges of Kentucky, who pronounced Clark's action relative to the impressment of supplies in the Wabash and Illinois countries as legal and proper, after giving that decision were the first to accuse him of wrong-doing, and particularly the attorney general, who appears to have worked up the case against him. There was a noticable change of sentiment, however, in the minds of the people of the east before the flowers of spring blossomed in regarding the Spanish question, and in April 1787, when documentary evi- dence of the seizure of Merchant Amis' goods and the Green-Clark episode was presented to congress, Mr. Jay's accompanying letter declared that he was convinced that "the United States have a good right to navigate the
*Dunn, Indiana, Commonwealth Series, p. 171.
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Mississippi river from its source to and through its mouth," and that, unless the states could agree to relinquish the use for a time, as he had suggested, they should remonstrate against Spain's action, and in case of continued refusal "declare war against Spain." As to the action of the people of the west, he said: "If war is in expectation, then their ardor should not be discouraged nor their indignation diminished."*
Clark suffered greatly mentally and physically towards the close of his earthly career. He was the victim of false friends-an object of a nation's and man's ingratitude-and it is no wonder that he sought solace in the cup that inebriates. His reputation as a soldier and citizen could never be justly assailed, and no taint attached to his fair name, no selfish act detracted from the glorious fame he won in the heroic fights he made for the country he loved so well, save the great indiscretion which came with the unbearable miseries of his old age. How pitiful the concluding words of a letter addressed to Governor Randolph in October, 1787, when he was smarting under the doubtful treatment received at the hands of the Vir- ginia authorities: "Conscious of having done everything in the power of a person under my circumstances, not only for the defense of the country, but to save every expense possible. I can with pleasure View Countries flourishing that I have stained with the blood of its enemies, pitying them when I deign to think of them as citizens; otherways with the utmost con- tempt." With the exception of the very brief period he came forward to act as brigadier general for the erratic French minister Genet, who made a futile attempt to raise American troops and invade Spanish territory for possession, in defiance of the protest of the president of the United States, the remainder of Clark's life was spent in comparative retirement. Mr. Genet had simply gotten to the point where he had issued a proposition calling for troops, when his government recalled him. It is said Clark knew the scheme would fail at the time he accepted his commission, but he put on the epaulets to gratify his Kentucky friends and at the same time show his contempt for the Spaniards.
In the prosecution of his campaign in the Northwest Territory Clark had spent his little all, and neither Virginia nor the United States made an effort to reimburse him. Virginia, it is true, gave him some land, but the quantity was not greater than a large-sized homestead tract and afforded him nothing more than a home. Both Virginia and the federal govern- ment repudiated the debts incurred by the impressment of goods at Vin- cennes, and the merchants who were made victims thereby brought suits in the territorial courts against Clark to recover damages, and obtained judg- ments, by virtue of which what little property he had was sold, leaving him poor indeed. For years he suffered excruciating pain from an attack of chronic rheumatism, contracted on one of his dreadful marches, which eventually developed into paralysis. The last affliction seized him when he
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