The French complained with reason of the lawless and violent character of many of the American newcomers, and also of the fact that already speculators were trying by fraud and foul means to purchase large tracts of land, not for settlement, but to hold until it should rise in value. On the other hand, the Americans complained no less bitterly of the French as a fickle, treacherous, undisciplined race, in close alliance with the Indians, and needing to be ruled with a rod of iron.39 It is impossible to reconcile the accounts the two parties gave of one another’s deeds; doubtless neither side was guiltless of grave wrongdoing. So great was Clark’s reputation for probity and leadership that both sides wrote him urgently, requesting that he would come to them and relieve their distress.40 One of the most fruitful sources of broils and quarrels was the liquor trade with the Indians. The rougher among the new-comers embarked eagerly in this harmful and disreputable business, and the low-class French followed their example. The commandant, Monsieur J. M. P. Legrace, and the creole court forbade this trade; a decision which was just and righteous, but excited much indignation, as the other inhabitants believed that the members of the court themselves followed it in secret.41
In 1786 the ravages of the Indians grew so serious, and the losses of the Americans near Vincennes became so great, that they abandoned their outlying farms, and came into the town.42 Vincennes then consisted of upward of three hundred houses. The Americans numbered some sixty families, and had built an American quarter, with a strong blockhouse. They only ventured out to till their cornfields in bodies of armed men, while the French worked their lands singly and unarmed.
The Indians came freely into the French quarter of the town, and even sold to the inhabitants plunder taken from the Americans; and when complaint of this was made to the creole magistrates, they paid no heed. One of the men who suffered at the hands of the savages was a wandering schoolmaster, named John Filson,43 the first historian of Kentucky, and the man who took down, and put into his own quaint and absurdly stilted English, Boone’s so-called “autobiography.” Filson, having drifted West, had traveled up and down the Ohio and Wabash by canoe and boat. He was much struck with the abundance of game of all kinds which he saw on the northwestern side of the Ohio, and especially by the herds of buffaloes which lay on the sand-bars; his party lived on the flesh of bears, deer, wild turkeys, coons, and water-turtles. In 1785 the Indians whom he met seemed friendly; but on June 2, 1786, while on the Wabash, his canoe was attacked by the savages, and two of his men were slain. He himself escaped with difficulty, and reached Vincennes after an exhausting journey, but having kept possession of his “two small trunks.” 44
Two or three weeks after this misadventure of the unlucky historian, a party of twenty-five Americans, under a captain named Daniel Sullivan,45 were attacked while working in their cornfields at Vincennes.46 They rallied and drove back the Indians, but two of their number were wounded. One of the wounded fell for a moment into the hands of the Indians and was scalped; and though he afterward recovered, his companions at the time expected him to die. They marched back to Vincennes in furious anger, and finding an Indian in the house of a Frenchman, they seized and dragged him to their block-house, where the wife of the scalped man, whose name was Donelly, shot and scalped him.
This greatly exasperated the French, who kept a guard over the other Indians who were in town, and next day sent them to the woods. Then their head men, magistrates, and officers of the militia, summoned the Americans before a council, and ordered all who had not regular passports from the local court to leave at once, “bag and baggage.” This created the utmost consternation among the Americans, whom the French outnumbered five to one, while the savages certainly would have destroyed them had they tried to go back to Kentucky. Their leaders again wrote urgent appeals for help to Clark, asking that a general guard might be sent them if only to take them out of the country. Filson had already gone overland to Louisville and told the authorities of the straits of their brethren at Vincennes, and immediately an expedition was sent to their relief under Captains Hardin and Patton.
Meanwhile, on July 15th, a large band of several hundred Indians, bearing red and white flags, came down the river in forty-seven canoes to attack the Americans at Vincennes, sending word to the French that if they remained neutral they would not be molested. The French sent envoys to dissuade them from their purpose, but the war chiefs and sachems answered that the red people were at last united in opposition to “the men wearing hats,” and gave a belt of black wampum to the wavering Piankeshaws, warning them that all Indians who refused to join against the whites would thenceforth be treated as foes. However, their deeds by no means corresponded with their threats. Next day they assailed the American block-house or stockaded fort, but found they could make no impression and drew off. They burned a few outlying cabins and slaughtered many head of cattle, belonging both to the Americans and the French; and then, seeing the French under arms, held further parley with them, and retreated, to the relief of all the inhabitants.
At the same time the Kentuckians, under Hardin and Patton, stumbled by accident on a party of Indians, some of whom were friendly Piankeshaws and some hostile Miamis. They attacked them without making any discrimination between friend and foe, killed six, wounded seven, and drove off the remainder. But they themselves lost one man killed and four wounded, including Hardin, and fell back to Louisville without doing anything more.47
These troubles on the Wabash merely hardened the determination of the Kentuckians no longer to wait until the Federal Government acted. With the approval of Governor Patrick Henry, they took the initiative themselves. Early in August the field officers of the district of Kentucky met at Harrodsburg, Benjamin Logan presiding, and resolved on an expedition, to be commanded by Clark, against the hostile Indians on the Wabash. Half of the militia of the district were to go; the men were to assemble, on foot or on horseback, as they pleased, at Clarksville, on September 10th.48 Besides pack-horses, salt, flour, powder, and lead were impressed,49 not always in strict compliance with law, for some of the officers impressed quantities of spirituous liquors also.50 The troops themselves, however, came in slowly.51 Late in September, when twelve hundred men had been gathered, Clark moved forward. But he was no longer the man he had been. He failed to get any hold on his army. His followers, on their side, displayed all that unruly fickleness which made the militia of the Revolutionary period a weapon which might at times be put to good use in the absence of any other, but which was really trusted only by men whose military judgment was as fatuous as Jefferson’s.
After reaching Vincennes the troops became mutinous, and at last flatly refused longer to obey orders, and marched home as a disorderly mob, to the disgrace of themselves and their leader. Nevertheless, the expedition had really accomplished something, for it overawed the Wabash and Illinois Indians, and effectively put a stop to any active expressions of disloyalty or disaffection on the part of the French. Clark sent officers to the Illinois towns, and established a garrison of one hundred and fifty men at Vincennes,52 besides seizing the goods of a Spanish merchant in retaliation for wrongs committed on American merchants by the Spaniards.
This failure was in small part offset by a successful expedition led by Logan at the same time against the Shawnee towns.53 On October 5th, he attacked them with seven hundred and ninety men. There was little or no resistance, most of the warriors having gone to oppose Clark. Logan took ten scalps and thirty-two prisoners, burned two hundred cabins and quantities of corn, and returned in triumph after a fortnight’s absence. One deed of infamy sullied his success. Among his colonels was the scoundrel McGarry, who, in cold blood, murdered the old Shawnee chief, Molunthee, several hours after he had been captured; the shame of the barbarous deed being aggravated by the fact that the old chief had always been friendly to the Americans.54 Other murders would probably have followed, had it not been for the prompt and honorable action of Colonels Robert Patterson and Robert Trotter, who ordered their men to
shoot down any one who molested another prisoner. McGarry then threatened them, and they in return demanded that he be court-martialled for murder.55 Logan, to his discredit, refused the court-martial, for fear of creating further trouble. The bane of the frontier military organization was the helplessness of the elected commanders, their dependence on their followers, and the inability of the decent men to punish the atrocious misdeeds of their associates.
These expeditions were followed by others on a smaller scale, but of like character. They did enough damage to provoke, but not to overawe, the Indians. With the spring of 1787 the ravages began on an enlarged scale, with all their dreadful accompaniments of rapine, murder, and torture. All along the Ohio frontier, from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, the settlers were harried; and in some places they abandoned their clearings and hamlets, so that the frontier shrank back.56 Logan, Kenton, and many other leaders headed counter expeditions, and now and then broke up a war party or destroyed an Indian town;57 but nothing decisive was accomplished, and Virginia paralyzed the efforts of the Kentuckians and waked them to anger by forbidding them to follow the Indian parties beyond the frontier.58
The most important stroke given to the hostile Indians in 1787 was dealt by the Cumberland people. During the preceding three or four years, some scores of the settlers on the Cumberland had been slain by small predatory parties of Indians, mostly Cherokees and Creeks. No large war band attacked the settlements; but no hunter, surveyor, or traveler, no woodchopper or farmer, no woman alone in the cabin with her children, could ever feel safe from attack. Now and then a savage was killed in such an attack, or in a skirmish with some body of scouts; but nothing effectual could be thus accomplished.
The most dangerous marauders were some Creek and Cherokee warriors who had built a town on the Coldwater, a tributary of the Tennessee near the Muscle Shoals, within easy striking distance of the Cumberland settlements. This town was a favorite resort of French traders from the Illinois and Wabash, who came up the Tennessee in bateaux. They provided the Indians with guns and ammunition, and in return often received goods plundered from the Americans; and they at least indirectly and in some cases directly encouraged the savages in their warfare against the settlers.59
Early in June, Robertson gathered one hundred and thirty men and marched against the Coldwater town, with two Chickasaws as guides. Another small party started at the same time by water, but fell into an ambush, and then came back. Robertson and his force followed the trail of a marauding party which had just visited the settlements. They marched through the woods toward the Tennessee until they heard the voice of the great river as it roared over the shoals. For a day they lurked in the cane on the north side, waiting until they were certain no spies were watching them. In the night some of the men swam over and stole a big canoe, with which they returned. At daylight the troops crossed, a few in this canoe, the others swimming with their horses. After landing, they marched seven miles and fell on the town, which was in a ravine, with cornfields round about. Taken by surprise, the warriors, with no effective resistance, fled to their canoes. The white riflemen thronged after them. Most of the warriors escaped, but over twenty were slain; as were also four or five French traders, while half a dozen Frenchmen and one Indian squaw were captured. All the cabins were destroyed, the live stock was slain, and much plunder taken. The prisoners were well treated and released; but on the way home another party of French traders were encountered, and their goods were taken from them. The two Chickasaws were given their full share of all the plunder.
59 Robertson MSS., Robertson to some Frenchman of note in Illinois, June, 1787. This is apparently a copy, probably by Robertson’s wife, of the original letter. In Robertson’s own original letters, the spelling and handwriting are as rough as they are vigorous.
This blow gave a breathing spell to the Cumberland settlements. Robertson at once wrote to the French in the Illinois country, and also to some Delawares, who had recently come to the neighborhood, and were preserving a dubious neutrality. He explained the necessity of their expedition, and remarked that if any innocent people, whether Frenchmen or Indians, had suffered in the attack, they had to blame themselves; they were in evil company, and the assailants could not tell the good from the bad. If any Americans had been there, they would have suffered just the same. In conclusion he warned the French that if their traders continued to furnish the hostile Indians with powder and lead, they would “render themselves very insecure”; and to the Indians he wrote that, in the event of a war, “you will compell ous to retaliate, which will be a grate pridgedes to your nation.” 59 He did not spell well; but his meaning was plain, and his hand was known to be heavy.
1 State Department MSS., No. 56, p. 333, Letter of G. Clark, Nov. 10, 1785; p. 337, Letter of G. Clark to R. Butler, etc.; No. 16, p. 293; No. 32, p. 39. (114)
2 American State Papers, Public Lands, I, p. 40, vi.
3 Clay MSS. Jesse Benton to Thos. Hart, April 3, 1786.
4 State Department MSS., No. 56. Address of Corn Tassel and Hanging Maw, Sept. 5, 1786.
5 Do., Letters of H. Knox, No. 150, Vol. I, p. 445.
6 State Dept. MSS., No. 56, March 7, 1786, p. 345, also p. 395.
7 Do., No. 150, Vol. !, Major Finley’s Statement, Dec. 6, 1785.
8 Do., Letters of H. Knox, No. 150, Vol. I, pp. 107, 112, 115, 123, 149, 243, 269, etc.
9 State Department MSS., No. 30, p. 265; No. 56, p. 327; No. 163, pp. 416, 418, 422, 426.
10 Do., Indian Affairs. Letter of P. Muhlenberg, July 5, 1784.
11 Do., Report of H. Knox, April, 1787.
12 Do., 150, Vol. II, p. 548.
13 Draper MSS. Benj. Harrison to G. R. Clark, August 19, 1784.
14 State Dept. MSS., No. 56, pp. 279 and 333; No. 60, p. 297, etc.
15 Denny’s Journal, p. 259.
16 State Dept. MSS., No. 56, p. 255.
17 Do., No. 150, Vol. 11, p. 296.
18 Draper MSS. Clark, Croghan, and Others to Delawares, August 28, 1785.
19 State Dept. MSS., No. 48, p. 277.
20 Do., Muhlenberg’s Letter.
21 Do., No. 73, pp. 7, 343. Gazette of the State of Georgia, Aug. 5, 1784. May 25, June 1, Nov. 2, Nov. 30, 1786.
22 Do., No. 20, pp. 321 and 459; No. 18, p. 140; No. 12, Vol. II, June 30, 1786.
23 Do., No. 60, p. 277, Sept. 13, 1786.
24 Do., No. 50, p. 279. Clark to R. H. Lee.
25 Haldimand Papers, 1784, 5, 6.
26 Do., John Hay to Haldimand, Aug. 13, 1784; James McNeil, Aug. 1, 1785.
27 Do. Letter of A McKee, Dec. 24, 1786; McKee to Sir John Johnson, Feb. 25, 1786; Major Ancrum, May 8, 1786.
28 Draper MSS. Alex. Fowler to Edward Hand, Pittsburgh, July 22, 1780.
29 Draper MSS., Clark MSS. Darrell to Fleming, April 14, 1783.
30 De Haas, pp. 283-292. De Haas gathered the facts of these and numerous similar incidents from the pioneers themselves in their old age; doubtless they are often inaccurate in detail, but on the whole De Haas has more judgment and may be better trusted than the other compilers. In the Draper MSS, are volumes of such traditional stories, gathered with no discrimination whatever.
31 Hay and Nicolay.
32 De Haas.
33 Draper MSS. Whitley’s MSS. Narrative, apparently dictated some time after the events described. It differs somewhat from the printed account in Collins.
34 Draper MSS. Clark Papers, passim for 1786. Wm. Finney to G. R. Clark, March 24 and 26, 1786. Also Wm. Croghan to G. R. Clark, Nov. 3, and Nov. 16, 1785.
35 State Department MSS. Papers Continental Congress. Sam McDowell to Governor of Virginia, April 18, 1786. John May to Do., April 19, 1786. Clark MSS. Bradford’s Notes on Kentucky. John Clark to Jonathan Clark, April 21, 1786.
36 Draper MSS. Jon. Clark Papers. John Clark to Jonathan Clark, March 29, 1786. Also, G. R. Clark to J. Clark, April 20, 1788.
37 State Department MSS., No. 56, p. 282. G. R. Clark to R. H. Lee.
38 State D
epartment MSS., No. 30, p. 453, Dec. 8, 1784. Also p. 443, Nov. 10, 1784. Draper MSS. J. Edgar to G. R. Clark, Oct. 23, 1786.
39 State Department MSS., No. 56. J. Edgar to G. R. Clark, Nov. 7, 1785. Draper MSS. Petition of Americans of Vincennes to Congress, June 1, 1786.
40 Draper MSS. Petition to G. R. Clark from Inhabitants of Vincennes, March 16 1786.
41 Do., John Filson; MS. Journey of Two Voyages, etc.
42 Do., Moses Henry to G. R. Clark, June 7, 1786.
43 Do., John Small to G. R. Clark, June 23, 1786.
44 Do., Filson’s Journal.
45 Do., Daniel Sullivan to G. R. Clark, June 23, 1786. Small’s letter says June 21st.
46 State Dept. MSS. Papers Continental Congress, No. 150, Vol. II, Letter of J. M. P. Legrace. “Au Général George Rogé Clarck—a la Chûte” (at the Fails—Louisville), July 22, 1786.
47 Letter of Legrace and Filson’s Journal. The two contradict one another as to which side was to blame. Legrace blames the Americans heavily for wronging both the French and the Indians; and condemns in the strongest terms, and probably with justice, many of their number, and especially Sullivan. He speaks, however, in high terms of Henry and Small; and both of these, in their letters referred to above, paint the conduct of the French and Indians in very dark colors, throwing the blame on them. Legrace is certainly disingenuous in suppressing all mention of the wrongs done to the Americans. For Filson’s career and death in the woods, see the excellent Life of Filson, by Durrett, in the Filson Club publications.
The Winning of the West Page 75