Operations against Indians

255

of the country, and the success which had attended its financial measures, he adverted to the offensive operations against the Indians, which government had been compelled to adopt for the protection of the Western frontier. Some of these operations, he observed, had been successful, others were still depending. A brief statement will be sufficient for the successful operations alluded to. To reconcile some of the people of the West to the appointment of General St. Clair as commander-in-chief in that quarter, a local board of war had been formed for the Western country, empowered to act in conjunction with the commanding officer of the United States, in calling out the militia, sending out expeditions against the Indians, and apportioning scouts through the exposed parts of the district of Kentucky.

Under this arrangement two expeditions had been organized in Kentucky against the villages on the Wabash. The first, in May, was led by General Charles Scott, having General Wilkinson as second in command. The second, a volunteer enterprise, in August, was led by Wilkinson alone. Very little good was effected, or glory gained by either of these expeditions. Indian villages and wigwams were burned, and fields laid waste; some few warriors were killed

and prisoners taken, and an immense expense incurred.

Of the events of a third enterprise, led by General St. Clair himself, no tidings had been received at the time of Washington's opening speech; but we will anticipate the official despatches, and proceed to show how it fared with that veteran soldier, and how far he profited by the impressive warning which he had received from the President at parting.

The troops for his expedition assembled early in September, in the vicinity of Fort Washington (now Cincinnati). There were about two thousand regulars, and one thousand militia. The regulars included a corps of artillery and several squadrons of horse. An arduous task was before them. Roads were to be opened through a wilderness; bridges constructed for the conveyance of artillery and stores, and forts to be built so as to keep up a line of communication between the Wabash and the Ohio, the base of operations. The troops commenced their march directly north, on the 6th or 7th of September, cutting their way through the woods, and slowly constructing the line of forts. The little army, on the 24th of October, according to the diary of an officer, was respectable in numbers-" upon paper "but, adds he, "the absence of the

Operations against Indians

257

first regiment, and desertions from the militia, had very much reduced us. With the residue there was too generally wanting the essential stamina of soldiers. Picked up and recruited from the offscourings of large towns and cities, enervated by idleness, debauchery, and every species of vice, it was impossible they could have been made competent to the arduous duties of Indian warfare. An extraordinary aversion to service was also conspicuous amongst them, and demonstrated by repeated desertions; in many instances to the very foe we were to combat. The late period at which they had been brought into the field, left no leisure nor opportunity to discipline them. They were, moreover, badly clothed, badly paid, and badly fed. . . . The military stores and arms were sent on in infamous order. Notwithstanding pointed orders against firing, and a penalty of one hundred lashes, game was so plenty and presented such a strong temptation, that the militia and the levies were constantly offending, to the great injury of the service. and the destruction of all order in the army." *

After placing garrisons in the forts, the general continued his march. It was a forced one

*Diary of Colonel Winthrop Sargent, AdjutantGeneral of the U. S. army during the campaign of

1791.

VOL. VII.-17

with him, for he was so afflicted with the gout that he could not walk, and had to be helped on and off of his horse; but his only chance to keep his little army together was to move on. A number of the Virginia troops had already, on the 27th of October, insisted on their discharges; there was danger that the whole battalion would follow their example, and the time of the other battalions was nearly up. The plan of the general was to push so far into the enemy's country, that such detachments as might be entitled to their discharges, would be afraid to return.

The army had proceeded six days after leaving Fort Jefferson, and were drawing near a part of the country where they were likely to meet with Indians, when, on the 30th of October, sixty of the militia deserted in a body; intending to supply themselves by plundering the convoys of provisions which were coming forward in the rear. The first United States regiment, under Major Hamtranck, was detached to march back beyond Fort Jefferson, apprehend these deserters, if possible, and, at all events, prevent the provisions that might be on the way, from being rifled. The force thus detached, consisted of three hundred of the best disciplined men in the service, with experienced officers.