USA > Texas > Border fights & fighters; stories of the pioneers between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi and in the Texan republic > Part 15
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III. " The Hair-Buyer General "
There lived at Detroit at this time a certain British officer named William Hamilton, who occupied the im- portant position of Lieutenant-Governor of the province. History has written severe indictments against this man. There are still in existence letters in which his employ- ment of Indians to carry on " civilized " warfare is proved beyond doubt. He is accused of having offered rewards for American scalps and of having paid them, and the facts are indisputable. Early in 1778, he wrote to Carle- ton, governor of Quebec, that a party of Indians had just come into Detroit with seventy-three prisoners and one hundred and twenty-nine scalps! On the 16th of Sep- tember in the same year, he wrote to Haldimand, who had superseded Carleton, that another party had arrived bringing twenty-nine prisoners and eighty-nine scalps. Among these scalps were many that had been wrenched from the heads of women and children!
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This subornation of savagery is the most dastardly ac- tion by which a brave soldier can ruin his reputation. To employ ruthless Indians to prey upon women and chil- dren and defenceless non-combatants is the act of a vil- lain and a coward. There is this to be said in explana- tion, though not in justification, of Hamilton's action, that he acted under orders of his government, upon which the odium primarily rests; but orders or not, no man should ever commit such a crime. Rather should he surrender his commission. No, Hamilton's course is in- defensible. The blood of innocent women and children is upon him.
When Hamilton heard, as he did presently, of Clark at Kaskaskia, and that he had raised the American flag at Vincennes, he determined to march down the Wabash from Detroit, retake Vincennes and then proceed west- ward and capture Clark. With a motley force of Indians together with thirty British regulars, and fifty Canadian volunteers from Detroit, he appeared before Fort Sack- ville, Vincennes, on December 17th, 1778. The French militia of the garrison at once fled to their homes and left the defence of the fort to the redoubtable Helm and one valiant soldier named Moses Henry.
Helm, of course, could make no defence of the dilapi- dated stockade, but he had partaken in large measure of the spirit of Clark He resolved to bluff. Clark was the greatest bluffer in the history of the northwest. He was always willing to make good so far as he could, but gen- erally he had so little force that he accomplished his ends by his assurance. Helm was like him. He charged the one serviceable cannon he possessed to the muzzle, ran it out at the gate of the post, placed his solitary soldier by it with a blazing match, and swore to Hamilton, who had
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demanded his surrender, that no man should enter the fort until he knew what terms would be granted him.
Inspired by his dauntless bearing, and ignorant of the force with which he might have to contend, and with the added argument of a loaded cannon trained upon his troops, Hamilton agreed that the garrison should march out with the honors of war, if they would surrender. Withdrawing the match, Helm and Moses marched out solemnly between the disgusted British and Indians, and Hamilton got the fort. He retained Helm as prisoner, but the genial qualities of the jovial American won the affections of his captors, and his imprisonment was a light one.
A more vigorous commander than Hamilton would have immediately pushed on to Kaskaskia and completed the conquest of the country by capturing Clark, but Hamilton, satisfied with his expedition so far, and de- terred by the wretched weather, the lateness of the season, the difficulties of the way, concluded to wait until the spring-time.
He did detach a party of Indians and rangers to attempt to abduct the American commander, if they could find him, but beyond alarming the inhabitants of Kaskaskia they effected nothing. Clark was soon apprised by his scouts of the capture of Vincennes. This was a serious blow to the project he had formed. How to meet it was a question. He was not yet informed of Hamilton's fur- ther intentions, nor was he in possession of accurate in- formation as to the force of the garrison which the British held at the post.
To him, in his uncertainty, in the latter part of Jan -- uary, 1779, came one Francis Vigo. Vigo was a Sardin- ian, born at Mondovi, before the middle of the seven-
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teenth century. He had been an officer in the Spanish army, and in that capacity had come to America. He had resigned his command and entered upon the business of a trader, hunter, etc., with head-quarters at St. Louis, where he had amassed a large fortune. He was a man of liberal and enlightened views, and had extended a hearty hospitality to Clark when he arrived in that country. He had done more than that. He had accepted the depre- ciated Virginia currency at par, and by giving it his coun- tenance, had made it pass current among the natives. He had cashed Clark's drafts for large sums, and in fact it is difficult to see how the expedition could have succeeded without him.
He had gone on a trading expedition to Vincennes, where he had been captured and brought before Hamil- ton. Hamilton had no authority to hold a Spanish sub- ject, and he had released him on parole, requiring him to report daily at the fort. The inhabitants of Vincennes, with whom Vigo was a great favorite, protested so vig- orously against his detention, going to the length of re- fusing to supply the fort with provisions unless he were immediately released, that at last their efforts prevailed to secure his freedom. He had refused to be enlarged on condition of his doing nothing to prejudice British in- terests during the war, and Hamilton was forced to let him go on his promising to do nothing to hinder the cause of British arms on his way to St. Louis.
Vigo strictly kept his agreement. He passed the mouth of the Kaskaskia without stopping, and repaired to his home in St. Louis. Having now kept his prom- ise to the letter, he took horse and made his way with all speed to Kaskaskia, where he arrived on the 29th of Jan- uary, 1779. There he acquainted Clark with the state of
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affairs in Vincennes. Hamilton had dismissed all his Indian allies for the winter, and held the fort with eighty white troops. It was his purpose, however, so Vigo in- formed Clark, to assemble them all in the spring-time, and with heavy re-enforcements from Detroit, march to the Illinois country. In that case there would be little hope of a successful resistance.
What was to be done? It was mid-winter. Could the Americans march to capture Vincennes then? To wait for spring and the British to come was to give up all. Clark at once determined upon an immediate attack. He " flung his gauntlet in the face of Fate and assumed the offensive." He would not wait for pleasant weather to bring Hamilton and his horde upon him, he would carry the war into Indiana at once. I do not suppose he had ever heard of Scipio Africanus, but his methods were those advocated by the famous Roman.
Fort Sackville had been thoroughly repaired and put into a complete state of defence by Hamilton. It was provided with artillery and manned by a garrison suf- ficient to hold it against any force which Clark could pos- sibly assemble. Nevertheless the American determined upon its capture. The day that he received the news from Vigo was the real crucial moment of the expedi- tion, and it is not too much to say that the history of the northwest territory turned upon his decision.
To anticipate the course of events a little, France and Spain in the negotiations for peace at the close of the war were only too anxious to limit the western boundary of the United States to the Alleghenies, a desire which Eng- land naturally shared. Spain bent all the resources of a diplomacy by no means insignificant to bring about this result. The one argument by which Franklin and his
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fellow-counsellors were able to insist that the western boundary should be the Mississippi and not the Alleghe- nies, was the fact that the country had been conquered by Clark, retained by him, and was now actually in the power of the United States. That conquest would not have been complete, however, and the retention impos- sible, if Hamilton had been left in possession of Vin- cennes. Therefore it was not only for his own safety, not only to hold Kaskaskia, but in order that he might establish a valid claim to the whole great territory that Clark determined upon action.
IV. The Terrible March
He made his preparations with the same promptitude as he made his decision. A large bateaux which he called the Willing was hastily improvised, loaded with provisions and supplies, and provided with two pieces of artillery and four swivels. Captain Rogers, a kinsman of the gen- eral, was placed in command with forty men and ordered to make all haste via the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Wabash, to an appointed rendezvous near Vincennes.
Clark, with the balance of his officers and men and two companies of French Creoles, who volunteered to accom- pany him, commanded respectively by Captains McCarty and Charleville, made ready to march overland. Clark's original force had been reduced to one hundred men. By pleadings and promises he had induced that number to remain with him after their three months' term of en- listment had expired. These he took with him. The Cre- ole additions raised the total force to one hundred and seventy, with a few pack-horses to carry the scanty sup- plies they could procure.
They set forth on the 4th of February, 1779, so rapid
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had been their preparations, upon one of the most mem- orable marches ever undertaken under the American flag. One hundred and forty miles as the crow flies, and some two hundred over the usual trail lay between him and his destination. The only undertaking in our history that can be compared to it is Arnold's march up the Kennebec to attack Quebec. The weather was cold, damp and rainy. The season had been a very wet one, and the prairies were turned into lakes and quagmires. They marched as rapidly as possible over the desolate, damp, wind-swept plains. Every river and creek they passed ' was in full flood and presented serious obstacles, until, on the 15th of February, they came to the two forks of the little Wabash. Ordinarily there is a distance of three miles between the two channels. Now the whole coun- try lay under water, icy cold at that, for five miles to the opposite hills. There were no roads, no boats. The provisions they had carried were nearly exhausted. The game had been driven away by the floods, and they were without food or fire.
Plunging into the icy water Clark led his men, carry- ing their rifles and powder-horns above their heads, over the bottoms until they reached the channel of the river. They had built a rude canoe and a small raft on the bank, and now standing up to their waists in water-in some places it was up to their necks-they removed the bag- gage from the pack-horses, ferried it across one channel, built a rude scaffold of drift-wood and logs upon which they stowed it; swam the horses over the second channel, loaded them again, drove them through the flood until they reached the other fork of the river, where they re- peated the process, and at last got on emergent though water-soaked ground. The passage took two days, dur-
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ing which they had no opportunity to rest. No one had a dry thread upon him. Orders were given to fire no guns except in case of dire necessity, for fear of giving alarm to the enemy they hoped to surprise. Provisions were lower than ever.
The next day they marched along through the water, resting for the night upon a damp hill, and on the 17th they reached a river, well called the Embarrass, which flows into the Wabash a short distance below Vincennes. Here they found a more serious condition prevailing. Both rivers had overflowed, and as far as they could see was a waste of water. They sent out parties to look for the Willing, to find fords, to secure boats, anything. No success attended their efforts.
Meanwhile they set to work to make canoes. They were literally starving, having had no provisions of any sort for two days! That day they captured a canoe with some Frenchmen in it, who had been sent out of the fort to scout. These they detained as prisoners. The Frenchmen added to their discouragement by informing them that the whole country around Vincennes was over- flowed, and it would be impossible for the Americans to reach the fort. Clark, however, pushed on down the bank of the Embarrass until he reached the Wabash.
At this juncture one of the men shot a deer, which was divided among the one hundred and seventy and fur- nished them with the first food they had had for over two days! It was a scanty allotment for so many starved, half-drowned men, but it put new heart into them, and they determined to press on. Indeed, that determination was never out of Clark's mind.
In the canoes they had made as best they could they crossed the Wabash on the 21st.
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ยท At this juncture the spirit of some of the Creoles gave out, and they wanted to return. The desire to retreat was communicated even to the Kentuckians, and the whole enterprise trembled in the balance. Clark, how- ever, was equal to the occasion. The story goes that in one of the companies there was a big six-foot two-inch sergeant, from Virginia. A little drummer-boy, whose antics and frolics had greatly amused the men, was mounted on the shoulders of the tall sergeant. By Clark's command, the drummer beat the charge, while the sergeant marched into the water.
"Forward! " thundered the commander, plunging into the icy flood. The men laughed, hesitated, and followed to the last man. That night they rested on a hill, lying in their soaked clothes without provisions or fire.
For two more days they struggled on through the waters until on the 23rd they were fortunate enough to capture a canoe with some Indian squaws in it, in which they found a quarter of buffalo and some other pro- visions. Broth was soon made and given to the most exhausted of the little band. Some of the hardier men refused their portions and generously gave them to their weaker brethren.
At this time they had drawn near enough to Vin- cennes to hear Fort Sackville's morning and evening guns. They were so near, in fact, that they expected to attack that night.
When they began the final march in water varying in depth from breast to neck, Clark took another method for putting heart into any recalcitrants. He detached Captain Bowman, his best officer, with twenty men, and told them to bring up the rear and to shoot the first man who faltered. No one did so. They struggled on
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throughout the morning in the most desperate of straits. The water was covered with a thin coating of ice, which they broke as they plunged in. They had managed to get together a number of canoes by this time, and into these they put the weaker men. They suffered horribly. Clark himself, in spite of his resolute will and magnificent strength, almost gave way. Finally about one o'clock they reached an elevation about two miles from the town. It was covered with trees, and from their shelter, them- selves unseen, they could examine at their leisure the goal of their endeavors.
The terrific march of these iron men was over. For the last ten days they had been struggling through water and ice. They had enjoyed neither fire nor rest. Three or four scanty meals had served them during that awful pe- riod. They dried themselves as best they could in the cold sunshine, revelling in anticipations of the meal which they hoped they could get if they ever succeeded in capturing the place. Clark now hesitated; should he fall on the town at once, or should he first attempt to se- cure the neutrality of the people, which he believed he could do without difficulty? He wisely decided for the latter plan. By one of his French prisoners he despatched the following crafty letter :
" To the Inhabitants of Post St. Vincents :
" Gentlemen :- Being now within two miles of your village with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request such of you as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses. And those, if any there be, that are friends to the King, will instantly repair to the fort and join the Hair-Buyer General* and fight like men. And if any * Alluding to the fact that Gov. Hamilton had offered rewards for the scalps of Americans.
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such, as do not go to the fort shall be discovered after- wards, they may depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, those that are true friends to liberty, may depend on being well treated. And I once more request them to keep out of the streets; for every one I find in arms on my arrival, I shall treat as an enemy.
" G. R. CLARK."
Hamilton and his officers had carried things with a high hand, and the inhabitants were rejoiced at the ap- proach of the Americans. Nobody appears to have be- trayed them to the British commander, who was yet in total ignorance of their proximity. He had sent out Cap- tain La Mothe to scout, and the party, surrounded by the floods, had not come back. Clark waited until nightfall, divided his army into three companies, in order to sur- round the post, and then marched forward to the attack.
V. The Capture of Vincennes
Fort Sackville was an irregular enclosure, the sides varying in length from sixty to two hundred feet, and en- closing some three acres of ground. The stockade was stoutly built of logs about eleven feet high. The garri- son was ample, and there were several pieces of artillery and swivels mounted on the walls. It was strong enough to have bidden defiance to one hundred and seventy starved and half-drowned troops without artillery of any kind, but it did not.
It is to Clark's credit that he refused to allow the Piankeshaw Indians, who were there in large numbers, and who volunteered their services, to take part in the at- tack. Marching silently through the town Clark sur- rounded the fort, which stood on the bank of the river, the men taking cover behind houses and trees. He
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quickly threw up a slight breastwork in front of the gate of the stockade, and announced his presence by opening a smart rifle fire.
It is related that Captain Helm and Colonel Hamilton sat in the latter's head-quarters playing cards while a bowl of apple toddy was brewing before the fire. Having learned from the French inhabitants which were Hamil- ton's head-quarters, some of the Kentuckians, in sport, opened fire upon the chimney, surmising that that bowl of apple toddy would be brewing beneath it. As the rifles cracked, some of the plaster fell into the apple toddy as they had intended.
" That's Clark," said Helm, " but d-n him, he needn't have spoiled my toddy !"
The garrison were even yet so unsuspecting that they imagined that the firing was caused by some drunken Ind- ians, and it was not until a sergeant was struck in the breast by a bullet and seriously wounded that they awa- kened to the situation. There was a beating of drums and a hurrying to arms, and through the night a smart fire was kept up between the contending parties, the British blazing away fruitlessly in every direction, the Americans, who were scantily provided with powder, husbanding their fire and endeavoring to make every shot tell. Noth- ing had yet been seen of the Willing, and the supply of powder on the American side was perilously low. Fortu- nately they procured enough from one of the friendly in- habitants to keep up the engagement. From the same friendly source they also got a good breakfast. which was as useful almost as the powder.
Learning from the inhabitants that Captain La Mothe's party was still at large, and being desirous of capturing the British force intact, Clark withdrew some of his men dur-
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ing the night, and left the way open for La Mothe to enter the fort, which he did, the Americans by their command- er's orders withholding their fire. Clark was sure that he had them all then. When the morning came the sur- prised Hamilton found himself completely surrounded by the besiegers, of whose numbers he was entirely ignorant, although the fact that they were there at all was evidence of their quality. The firing was kept up with such effect by the rifles of the Kentuckians that it became impossible for the British to serve the guns. As soon as a port-hole was opened a stream of bullets was poured into it. The condition of the British was serious, so they thought at any rate.
Early in the morning Clark sent the following peremp- tory letter to Hamilton :
" Sir .- In order to save yourself from the impending storm that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender yourself, with all your garrison, stores, etc., etc., etc. For if I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers, or letters, that are in your possession; for, by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you.
" G. R. CLARK."
To this he received the following reply :
" Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Colonel Clark that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into an action unworthy of British subjects."
Nevertheless by this time the British were badly scared, and after another interchange of shots Hamilton asked first for a truce of three days and then for a parley. Finally a meeting was appointed. Hamilton, attended by Major Hay, his second, and Captain Helm, his pris-
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oner, met Clark. The American general was furious. He refused to listen to any proposed arrangements. It was surrender at discretion, or nothing at all. It was many long years after that day that a certain little man from Illinois made the world ring with the phrase " Un- conditional Surrender," yet that was the purport and nearly the wording of Clark's terms.
He vowed he would put to death any Indian partisans in Hamilton's command, and when asked whom he meant, replied that Major Hay had been one of those who had led war-parties against the settlements. When Helm at- tempted to interfere and say a word in favor of the Brit- ish, Clark sternly silenced him, telling him as a prisoner . he had no right to discuss the matter. Hamilton prompt- ly offered to release Helm, and Clark with equal prompt- ness refused to accept him then. Hamilton begged hard for other conditions, but the inflexible American, regard- ing him also as a murderer as well as a coward, would grant no terms. Therefore Hamilton returned to the fort, having been given an hour to make up his mind.
A party of Indians friendly to the English, who had been on a scalp hunt, came back during the morning with the ghastly trophies of their prowess hanging at their belts; one scalp was that of a woman. Ignorant of the presence of the Americans, they ran right into their arms, and two were killed, two were wounded, and six captured. While the conference between Clark and Hamilton was going on, the six captured Indians were taken out before the fort, where the garrison could see them, summarily tomahawked, and their bodies cast into the river. Clark was not actually present when the savage and bloody rep- aration was taken, but it was by his orders, and he was re- sponsible. Hamilton was unable to resist the clamor of
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the garrison after this sight and, upon Clark's final agree- ment to treat them as prisoners of war, he surrendered the fort at discretion.
The next morning the British marched out and deliv- ered their arms to the Americans, who marched in and hoisted the stars and stripes for the second time in In- diana. The Americans fired a salute of thirteen guns from the British cannon. During the progress of the sa- lute twenty cartridges for the six-pound guns blew up and wounded some of the Kentuckians. Among them was the brave Captain Bowman, who died several months after, it is believed, from injuries received in this disaster.
Save one wounded soldier these were the only casual- ties on the American side in the expedition. The loss in killed and wounded on the part of the British was also small. The Willing came up soon after, and Captain Bowman was sent forward with a party of soldiers to intercept a convoy of provisions and supplies from De- troit, which he did in a handsome manner, capturing everybody in the escort.
The campaign was ended. The English plans to re- possess Indiana and Illinois failed in every direction ; in- deed, save for one abortive attempt, nothing further was done to dislodge the Americans. On the other hand, Clark could never assemble sufficient force to enable him to take Detroit, which was the sole position held by the British at the end of the war; with that exception the country remained in his possession.
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