USA > Indiana > Indiana, a redemption from slavery > Part 12
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Under this statute, Colonel John Todd was appointed county lieutenant of Illinois, by Governor Patrick Henry, on December 12, 1778. He was instructed to use every effort to win the friendship of the French ; to conciliate the Indians as far as possible and punish all violations of their property, especially of their lands ; and to give every possible assistance to General Clark in his pro- posed operations against Detroit.8 Todd arrived at Kaskaskia early in May, 1779, and at once assumed the reins of civil government, leaving Clark, to his great satisfaction, free to attend to his military affairs. In accordance with the Virginian statute, he called an elec- tion of civil officers. This was the first election ever held in Indiana, and as the officers chosen then appear
1 9 Hening's Statutes, p. 552.
2 10 Hening, p. 303.
3 Virginia Calendar, vol. i. p. 312
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to have retained their positions until General Harmar established a military government in 1787, their names are worthy of record : "The Court of St. Vincennes : 1, P. Legras ; 2, Francois Bosseron ; 3, Perrot ; 4, Car- · dinal (refused to serve) ; 5, Guery La Tulippe ; 6, P. Gamelin ; 7, Edeline ; 8, Dejenest ; 9, Barron; Legrand, Clerke ; - Sheriff. Militia Officers of St. Vincennes : P. Legras, L. Col. ; F. Bosseron, Major ; Latulippe, 1 Capt. ; Edeline, 2; W. Brouilet, 3; P. Gamelin, 4 - rank [of last two] not settled. Goden, 2 Lieut. ; Go- den, 3 Lieut. Joseph Rougas, 2 -; Richerville, 3 - ; Richerville 4 -. " The blank ranks of the last three were probably lieutenancies.1
Todd appears to have left the Illinois country in the following winter. He was elected a delegate to the legislature of Virginia from Kentucky in the spring of 1780, and in November of the same year was appointed colonel (commandant) of Fayette, one of the three counties into which Kentucky was divided in that year. He was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, August 18, 1782. The statutory organization of Illinois expired by its own limitation in the year 1781, but the civil officers, who had been elected and commissioned, con- tinued to exercise the functions of their offices as before. Their authority was not questioned by the people, and probably would not have been by the United States had they restricted themselves to their proper original pow- ers ; but they assumed power to make grants of land, and having used it freely for the benefit of others, they generously divided all that remained of the old Indian
1 Todd's Record, from which these details are taken, is in pos- session of the Chicago Hist. Soc. An interesting account of the Record, by E. G. Mason, is in No. 12 of the Fergus Hist. Series.
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grant, of twenty four leagues square, among themselves, each judge, in turn, absenting himself for a day while his associates voted him his portion.1 The United States of course repudiated this action ; and yet the French judges had arrived at the conclusion that they possessed this power, in a very natural way. Todd, whom they labelled " Colonel et Grand Juge civil pour Les Etats Unis," had been sent to govern them. He had commis- sioned Le Gras Lieutenant-Colonel of the militia of Vincennes, and consequently Le Gras was commandant of the post. The commandants had always made con- cessions of land ; hence Le Gras had the same power, and Le Gras had given the court permission to make grants. Such was the source of their authority, as they explained it to Secretary Sargent.2
The situation of the French settlers of Indiana dur- ing the Virginia occupation, and the years intervening before the arrival of General Harmar, was very unfor- tunate. All commerce with Detroit was cut off at once by the capture of Vincennes. The trade down the Mis- sissippi was greatly impeded by the Chickasaws, Chero- kees, and other southern Indians, whose friendly rela- tions with the British developed into active hostilities against the Americans on account of the erection of Fort Jefferson, on the east side of the Mississippi, five miles below the mouth of the Ohio, in territory claimed by them. The fort was besieged by the Indians for five days, but they were driven off by Captain George and his garrison of thirty men with great carnage. It was abandoned in 1781, because it was found to be of .
110 protection to the frontier.8 In consequence of these
1 Law's Vincennes, pp. 110-116.
3 Collins's Kentucky, vol. ii. p. 19.
2 Įbid. pp. 111, 112.
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impediments to trade, provisions advanced four to five hundred per cent. at Vincennes, and Clark charged that " Lagrass, Boison, Lanitot and others," merchants of the place, took advantage of the situation to advance their fortunes at expense of the public welfare. The settlements on the Mississippi also suffered at this time, but not so much as Vincennes. In the winter of 1780- 1781 the garrison at Vincennes was withdrawn, and con- solidated with other troops at Fort Jefferson, its place being supplied by the militia. At the same time a number of inhabitants abandoned the post, on account of the high price of provisions. From this time the re- spect of the Indians for American arms, which had been created by General Clark, began to diminish, and in a short time many of them became hostile.1
There were almost continual hostilities with those of the tribes which had not come under Clark's personal influence, but these had little effect on the French settle- ments. Colonel Bowman and Captain Logan, with a party of frontiersmen, destroyed the Indian towns on the Little Miami in 1779. Colonel Byrd, of the British service, led a successful Indian raid on the settlements in the Ohio valley in 1780. General Clark retaliated by destroying the Indian towns on the Big and Little Miami rivers in the fall of the same year. At the same time a Frenchman named La Balme, in the em- ploy of Virginia, marched from Kaskaskia with thirty men against Detroit. He received a reinforcement from the citizens of Vincennes, and proceeded up the Wabash, expecting the French of Detroit to join their countrymen and throw off the British control. Ke- kionga was secured, and the British traders there plun- 1 Va. Cal., vol. iii. p. 501 ; also vol. i. p. 338.
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dered, but when the bold band reached the river Aboite they were attacked by a party of Miami Indians and disastrously routed. La Balme and a number of his men were killed. In 1781 Clark prepared for an ex- pedition against Detroit from the Falls of the Ohio, but the project was frustrated by the destruction of a part of his forces under Colonel Archibald Lochry. These were surprised by a party of Indians under Joseph Brant, at the mouth of Loughery Creek.1 More than a third of the party were killed, and the remainder car- ried captive.2 In this year also Captain Eugenio Pourré led a Spanish force from St. Louis across Illinois and northwestern Indiana, and captured Fort St. Josephs from the British, war having been declared between Spain and England two years earlier. Spain afterwards claimed a large portion of the Northwest, as against the United States, on the ground of this conquest, but our commissioners declined to concede it.8
The year 1782 was the most terrible ever known on the Western frontier. It opened with the villainous massacre of the Moravian Indians on the Muskingum, which was followed two weeks later by the fight at Es- till's Station. In May, Colonel Crawford started on his expedition to the Sandusky, with 480 men, resolved " not to spare the lives of any Indians that might fall into their hands, whether friends or foes," which re- sulted in the overwhelming defeat of the party, with a loss of one hundred men, and the death of the unfortu-
1 The dividing line between Dearborn and Ohio counties, Indiana. It was named for Colonel Lochry, but is commonly misspelled.
2 Ind. Hist. Soc. Pamph. No. 4.
3 A full account, by E. G. Mason, is in Mag. Am. Hist., vol. xv. p. 457.
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nate commander at the stake after blood-curdling torture. In August came Girty's attack on Bryant's Station, and the battle at Lower Blue Licks, where the Indians were again victorious. During the summer Clark was mak- ing every effort to organize an expedition against De- troit, but by a combination of adverse circumstances he was obliged to abandon this attempt, and in November he marched against the Indian towns on the Miami at the head of 1,050 men. They succeeded in destroying all the Indian villages and stores of supplies from the Ohio to the head of the Miami ; very few Indians were killed, as they fled before the troops could come up with them. During the winter of 1782 Great Britain and the United States made their provisional treaty of peace and agreed on a cessation of hostilities, in con- sequence of which there was a season of quiet on the frontier during the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. Dur- ing this period attempts were made to secure treaties with the tribes northwest of the Ohio, and a portion of them accepted the peace and friendship proffered by the government, at Fort Stanwix, Fort McIntosh, and Fort Finney. The great majority, however, were determined to hold to their lands north of the Ohio, and, realizing that the Americans were equally determined to enter there, their ablest chiefs united them in that great north- western confederacy which stopped the march of emi- gration for the next ten years. All the tribes were joined in this movement, and all fought bravely but vainly for their homes. In the lull between the storms Clark was dismissed from the service of Virginia. Governor Harrison, of Virginia, on July 2, 1783, an- nounced to him that the distressed condition of the state as to finances made this step necessary, and also
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returned the thanks of himself and the council " for the very great and singular services you have rendered your country in wresting so great and valuable a terri- tory out of the hands of the British enemy repelling the attacks of their savage allies, and carrying on a successful war in the heart of their country." 1 If George Rogers Clark had been furnished with supplies from 1778 to 1781, -if Virginia had sustained his credit, - he would have made Vincennes a stepping- stone to Detroit, Detroit to Niagara, and Niagara to Montreal and Quebec. He felt this neglect keenly. He saw a great opportunity slowly and certainly slip- ping from his grasp. It is said that when he received, on the banks of the Wabash, the sword presented him by Virginia in testimony of his services, he thrust it in the ground, snapped it off, and flung away the hilt, ex- claiming bitterly : " I asked Virginia for bread, and she sent me a sword." 2
In August, 1785, the non-treaty Indians held a grand council at Quiatanon, and determined to put a stop to the advance of the white settlers north of the Ohio. An envoy was sent to Vincennes who notified the inhab- itants that they must leave ; that war was to be made on the Americans ; and that the French who remained at Vincennes would be treated as Americans. During the winter several isolated settlers were killed, and in the spring a party of Indians attacked some traders at the mouth of the Embarrass River. A party from the town went out and attacked them, the fight resulting in the death of several on each side. The homes of American farmers who had located in the neighborhood of Vincennes were broken up ; some settlers were killed ; 1 Dillon, p. 179. 2 Denny's Journal, p. 218.
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some went to Kentucky ; some took refuge at the post.1 As the spring advanced, the advices from the frontier became more alarming. In May, Clark wrote to Gover- nor Henry that the Wabash Indians, encouraged by British traders from Detroit, had begun war. Letter after letter brought confirmation of the statement. In June it was reported that "the whole of the Americans settled at Post Vincennes, on the Wabash, are massa- cred." In July numerous depredations were reported, and it was represented as the general desire in Ken- tucky that Clark should be commissioned to lead a force to the Wabash. It was stated that the Americans at Vincennes had been attacked by Indians; that the French had not only refused them assistance, but also refused to allow them to use the cannon left them for the defense of the post ; that Colonel Le Gras, after the Indians were repulsed, had ordered the Americans to leave Vincennes ; that the Americans had called on Kentucky for assistance, and a party had gone to their succor.2 The Executive Board of Virginia had con- vened in May, and on the 15th of that month it was determined that Governor Henry should direct the field officers of the Kentucky militia to assemble and take the necessary measures for the protection of the settlements. The field officers assembled, resolved to invade the In- dian country, and appointed Clark commander of the forces.
In September, Clark marched from the Falls of the Ohio with 1,000 men, taking the road to Vincennes. At Silver Creek he sent back Captain Benjamin Logan to raise four or five hundred men and attack the Shawnee
1 Dillon, p. 184.
2 Va. Cal., vol. iv. pp. 122, 149, 155-157.
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towns on the Miami. Clark's troops were not in good humor, and their dissatisfaction kept growing worse. The provisions sent by boats to Vincennes were delayed by low water, and half of them were spoiled. The men began to desert. Clark was drinking hard all the time. His party was reinforced by the inhabitants of Vincennes and marched on to the Vermillion River, but found that the Indians had deserted their town there. At this point a rumor was put in circulation that Clark had sent a flag to the Indians, offering them peace or war. It was not true, but the men knew that Clark was con- stantly intoxicated, and their confidence in him was so shaken that mutiny pervaded the entire force. Prayers, tears, and curses availed nothing. Three hundred of the men left in a body and returned home, whereupon the expedition was given up. Logan succeeded better. He penetrated the country to the head-waters of Mad River, burned eight towns, destroyed a large amount of corn, took about eighty prisoners, killed twenty, and lost but ten men.
As Clark's expedition returned down the Wabash, a council of the field officers was held at Vincennes on October 8th, and it was determined that for the safety of Kentucky they would establish a garrison at Vin- cennes, supplies for whose support should be raised " by impressment or otherwise, under the direction of a com- missary to be appointed for that purpose, pursuant to the authority.vested in the field officers of the district by the Executive of Virginia." They appointed John Craig, Jr., commissary, but he did not act, and John Rice Jones was given the position. Colonel John Holder was put in command of the garrison, which was to con- sist of 250 infantry, and a company of artillery under
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Captain Valentine Thomas Dalton. Clark took control of the entire proceeding. He sent word to the Indians to meet him at Clarksville (Falls of the Ohio) on No- vember 20, 1786, and hold a council; and afterwards, as they refused to come to that point, he told them to meet him at Vincennes on April 30, 1787. For the support of the garrison, the goods of certain Spanish merchants, lately established at Vincennes, were ap- propriated.
These acts were certainly of an extraordinary nature, so much so that the Executive Board of Virginia dis- avowed giving any authority for them, and ordered the prosecution of those responsible for them, and yet it is not clear how far they were legal and how far illegal. The right to make an expedition into the Indian country should reasonably have carried the right to establish a garrison there, if considered necessary by the officers of the expedition. It is doubtful if any serious objection would have been made to it had not the seizure of the Spanish goods been considered as straining our already delicate relations with Spain. John Jay was at this time negotiating a treaty with M. Gardoqui, the representa- tive of that power, and they had come to a disagreement as to the navigation of the Mississippi. Jay's instruc- tions required that free navigation of the river should be guaranteed to citizens of the United States ; Gardoqui refused to concede the right of navigation, even if an agreement were made not to exercise it during the term of the treaty. On August 3, 1786, Jay suggested to Congress an amendment of his powers, permitting a temporary relinquishment of the use of the right of navi- gation, but making no concession as to the right itself. This the New England and Middle States favored, and
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the South opposed. Congress struggled with the ques- tion all through August and September, - seven states favoring, five opposing, and Delaware absent, - and finally resolved that the relinquishment might be made, the majority refusing even to instruct Jay that only seven states had consented, and that he had no constitu- tional power to make the relinquishment without the agreement of nine states, under the Articles of Confed- eration. All of this was done in secret session, the last move being the defeat, on September 28th, of Mr. Pinck- ney's motion to remove the injunction of secrecy and permit the delegates to communicate the details of the matter to the respective state authorities. It is not pos- sible that Clark or any of his command could have had knowledge of it previous to the expedition, or previous to their action of October 8th.1
Clark and his associates did know that the Spanish authorities would not permit Americans to pass down the river with their merchandise, and they were indig- nant at this interference with what they considered their rights. They also believed, or at least professed to be- lieve, that Spanish emissaries were seeking to stir up the Indians against the Americans, and there was evidence that this was true.2 A letter preserved in the Virginia archives, written from North Carolina, in November, 1786, gives the following statement of the motives of the Kentucky officers, as coming from two men who had just arrived from Kentucky and brought the news of the
1 McMasters's statement, that the meeting of officers at Vin- cennes "indulged in harangues against Spain, Congress, and Mr. Jay" (Hist. Am. People, vol. i. p. 379), has no foundation in evidence or in reasonable surmise.
2 Va. Cal., vol. iv. p. 297.
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departure of the expedition : "Clarke is much exasper- ated against some Spaniards and others, settlers at Opost, [i. e., au Poste Vincennes]. He charges them with fur- nishing the Indians with military stores, and declares his intention of using them with a heavy hand as well as retaliating on the Spaniards for some of the Seizures and Confiscations of the property of our Citizens at the Natches. They add that Clark is constantly drunk." 1 The seizure at Natchez, which was the chief cause of their warmth, was that of the goods of Thomas Amis, who was on his way down the river with a load of hard- ware and flour, when, on June 6th, he was stopped by Lieutenant-Colonel Grandpri, the Spanish commandant at Fort Natchez, and deprived of his property. He was released on August 29th, and made his way to Kentucky, whence he returned to his home in North Carolina. The property taken at Vincennes was seized by Captain Dal- ton and turned over to the commissary, John Rice Jones, who gave receipts for it to the merchants from whom it was taken. So much of it as was needed for the troops was retaincd, and the remainder was sold at auction. At about the same time, Major Busseron was sent to the Illinois settlements to notify the inhabitants of the Span- ish seizures at Natchez, and recommend them to "be prepared to retaliate any outrage the Spaniards might commit on their property, but by no means to commence hostilities."
Clark's enemies did not neglect to represent all these proceedings in their most unfavorable light. One of the most remarkable communications on the subject is a private letter, which came into the hands of the Virginia authorities, but was not sent by them to the 1 Va. Cal., vol. iv. p. 189.
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national authorities. It is in these words: "Clarke is playing Hell. He is raising a regiment of his own and has 140 men stationed at Opost, already now under the command of Dalton. Seized on a Spanish Boat with 20,000 Dollars, or rather seized three stores at Opost worth this sum, and the Boat which brought them up. J. R. Jones, Comissary General, gets a large share of the plunder, and has his family at Opost. Platt comes in for snacks. He brought the baggage and a thousand pounds of small furs to the Falls the day I left it. Plun- der all. - means to go to Congress to get the Regi- ment put upon the establishment. He is the 3d Captain. The Furs, he tells his associates, are necessary to bear his expences ; but he don't return. I laid a plan to get the whole seized and secured for the owners, and Bullett and Anderson will execute it. Clarke is eternally drunk, and yet full of design. I told him he would be hanged. He laughed and said he could take refuge among the Indians. A stroke is meditated against St. Louis and the Natchez." 1
On its face, much of what is here stated as fact ap- pears to be really only the opinion of the writer, and in the light of future developments this letter must fairly be considered as largely untrue. Although there was strong party feeling in Kentucky over the question of its relation to Virginia, and although Clark had many bitter personal enemies, no material disapprobation of his doings was manifested until in December, and then principally in connection with the movements of Thomas Green, who was either resident or had been detained at Natchez. His family was there at the time, and he had come to Kentucky apparently for the purpose of solving
1 Va. Cal., vol. iv. p. 202.
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the Mississippi question by raising an armed force and taking possession of the country. He was in communi- cation with Clark and other Kentuckians, and they de- cided to make an attempt to secure the authorization of a movement on Natchez by the State of Georgia, which claimed the territory in question. On December 4th they prepared a circular letter on the subject, which was soon afterwards distributed through Tennessee (then called the State of Franklin), and on the same day they made up a subscription to pay the expenses of a messen- ger to the Governor of Georgia, in case the Georgia authorities should decline to pay him. This paper had twelve signers, who, together, promised the sum of £38 10s., of which £20 was subscribed by Clark and Green. The circular letter speaks of the release of the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty-five years as having been made by "the late commercial treaty with Spain," in terms that indicate it to be a rumor of very recent date ; and this is the first manifestation that Mr. Jay's proposal had come to the knowledge of the Western people, even in this incorrect and magnified form. The letter to the Governor of Georgia is dated December 23d, and is simply a proposal to raise troops and take possession of Natchez, if the Governor of Georgia in his "infinite goodness will countenance" the action and "give us the lands to settle it agreeable to the law of your state."
In all this there was no serious offense. As to the proposal to the Governor of Georgia, - of which, by the way, Clark denied knowledge, saying that he understood Green to contemplate only a settlement within the boun- daries of Georgia, - it cannot be questioned that any state, under the Articles of Confederation, had the right
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to expel intruders from its borders; and, indeed, this same State of Georgia long afterwards exercised a very similar power, in defiance of the United States authori- ties, in its settlement of the Cherokee troubles. As to the proceedings on the Wabash, it should be remembered that Vincennes was in the heart of the Indian country, and was threatened by the savages there ; that the au- thorities of Virginia were too distant to be consulted on all matters of detail; and that the expedition to quell the hostile Indians had failed. Establishing a garrison there was a less stretch of authority than Clark had often before made, and his former actions had been ap- proved. If a garrison were established it must have supplies, and in the absence of other resources impress- ment was a right of war. Our relations with Spain were what made both actions objectionable. On the case pre- sented to the Virginia Board, which was prepared by a half dozen citizens of Kentucky, who had managed to get possession of Green's letters and also the private papers of Clark, the Board disavowed any authorization of Clark's proceedings and ordered the prosecution of the offenders, but it recommended that the treaties arranged for by Clark be made by commissioners.
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