EXPLOITS OF CAPT. WILLING.

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plaining and captious, officer. The few settlers of British birth gave him more trouble than the French. Their leaning toward the American cause was a source of much annoyance. The number of regular troops comprising his garrison had been reduced until, after the withdrawal of the last detachment, he was forced to depend for the safety of his position entirely upon the loyalty of the militia. His repeated demands for funds to meet repairs and current expenses had not been honored. He had kept on good terms with the Indians, but was fearful of forays from the Spaniards, and of an attack from oneWilling, whose depredations on the Mississippi gave him much

concern.

James Willing of Philadelphia, a young man of good connections but of extravagant tastes and dissolute habits, having exhausted his means, applied for and obtained a commission in the American army, and was ordered West to watch the British, to conciliate settlers, and enlist recruits. His good address and persuasive eloquence enabled him in a short time to raise a force of over a hundred men. At Manchac, below Natchez, he managed to make himself master of a British armed vessel with which he proceeded to New Orleans. He here sold his vessel and with the proceeds entered upon a career of debauchery and crime which made him notorious. Having squandered the means thus obtained, he organized a fresh force of kindred spirits and returned to Manchac, where, taking possession of the post, he plundered the people indiscriminately. Thence he proceeded up the river, freebooting and alarming the settlers. As may be well supposed, his name became a terror to both loyalists and patriots, who finally organized a force and drove him and his band out of the country.* Such, at least, is the story told of and the character given to Capt. Willing by those who claim. to have suffered at his hands; on the other hand, Girardin, in his "History of Virginia,"† refers to his expedition as laudable, and claims that the charges of cruelty and excesses brought against him were not justified by the facts.

Rocheblave was a good correspondent, and kept the authorities at Quebec well advised of what was going on in his district. He pointed out the necessity of the presence of regular troops * Memoirs of Capt. Phelps, 1802.

+ Vol. IV, p. 357.

and complained of his want of means, of his "constant worries," and requested to be relieved by "some Englishman.”

It is evident that with the opening guns of the Revolution so many demands were being made upon the Canadian governor's time and resources from what were considered more important localities that but little attention was given to Illinois affairs; and, as will be shown in the next chapter, taking advantage of this neglect, the Americans, through a brilliant strategic movement, were enabled to deal one of the most effective and important blows of the war.

Authorities: Dillon's "Historical Notes"; New-York Colonial Documents; Parkman's "Pontiac "; Capt. Pittman's "Settlements on the Mississippi, 1771"; "Magazine of Western History," and Articles therein by O. W. Collet; Billon's "Annals of St. Louis"; "Illinois in the Eighteenth Century," by Edw. G. Mason; "Canadian Archives"; Haswell's "Memoirs of Capt. Phelps"; W. F. Poole in Winsor's "America," Vol. VI; Beck's "Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri."

PERIOD III-UNDER VIRGINIA, 1778-1784.

CHAPTER IX.

Illinois in the Revolution-Its Reduction by Virginia under Col. Clark-Capture of Vincennes-Indian Treaties. HE issue of the French-and-Indian War gave to Great Britain a prestige greater than that country had ever enjoyed. Her victories on both land and sea had been unprecedented, and the addition of Canada and that portion of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi River to her colonial domain, already imperial in the grandeur of its extent, formed a fitting climax to a long line of splendid achievements. But the settlement of America had come to have a broader significance than the mere establishment of new marts of trade or the opening of new channels of commerce. The discontented emigrants from the overcrowded British Isles found in the newly-acquired territory opportunities for advancement which had been denied them at home, and the rapid accumulation of population soon brought about an aggregation of interests, social and political, distinctive and peculiar to the colonies. The home government soon perceived this fact, and the problem how best to adjust the relations between the mother country and the growing colonies became of such vital importance and absorbing interest as to overshadow all other questions.

The settlers of North America were men of rugged independence and firm believers in the right of free-deliberation and free-speech; and the arbitrary policy of the home ministry awakened the most determined opposition. The assertion of the right of taxation without representation, the enforcement of the navigation act, the adoption of the stamp-tax act by the British parliament, were firmly and defiantly resisted. Accumulated oppressions compelled, as a necessary defensive measure, the formation of the thirteen colonies into the American Union, and the creation of the Continental Congress. Following this came the vote to raise troops, provide means of defense,

the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and the War of the Revolution.

The French settlers composing the great body of the inhabitants in Illinois, at the outbreak of the war, as before stated, were inclined to sympathize with the British. They were required, however, as a precautionary step, to renew their oath of allegiance to King George,* which they willingly consented to do. At the same time envoys were sent among them to incite acts of hostilities toward their neighbors-the Revolutionistson the frontiers; and especially to encourage and aid the aborigines in making depredatory incursions against settlements friendly to the American cause. The striking difference between the respective policies of the British and American authorities in regard to the Indians was well illustrated in the rewards offered to secure their coöperation-those of the British being for scalps, seldom for prisoners; while Congress offered rewards for prisoners, but never for scalps. The early years of the war, however, did not materially affect the villages of Illinois. Their remoteness from the scenes of active operations insured for them comparative tranquility.

In the second year of the Revolution the attention of Virginia was drawn to the country of the Illinois, which was claimed to be within the limits of that commonwealth by virtue of ancient charters. The attacks of the Indians had become so frequent and been so successful as to cause serious alarm; but such had been the demands of the Confederation upon her for men and means that she had not been able to extend to her hardy backwoods settlers the aid which they so much needed. The British commandants at Vincennes and Kaskaskia, while unable to furnish men to aid the savage marauders whose midnight depredations had struck terror to the scattered settlements in Kentucky, could and did aid them with supplies and munitions of war.

It was reserved for the far-seeing eye of Col. George Rogers Clark, then in the vigor of early manhood, to discover the situation of affairs, and for his sagacity and valor to apply the remedy. Born in Albemarle County, Virginia, Nov. 19, 1752, and already a leading spirit in the councils of his native State, * Dillon's "Historical Notes," 124.

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"he had made himself familiar with the relations and conditions, the needs and resources of the West. With that intuitive genius which stamps him as the most brilliant commander of all those who obtained distinction in border warfare," he was quick to perceive the policy required, which was: to transfer the line of defense and the battle-field from the settlements in Kentucky County to the territory which formed the enemy's base of supplies; to arouse sentiments of friendship among, or at least conciliate the opposition of, the French inhabitants of the Northwest; to neutralize the hostility of the savages if possible by demonstrating to them the justice of the American cause; and to accomplish what in every war is considered one of the greatest strategic successes-to turn the enemy's guns against himself.

To confirm his views, he sent, in 1777, to Kaskaskia two trusted spies, one of whom was James Moore, afterward a distinguished pioneer settler. From their report he learned that while the commandant lost no opportunity to incite Indian hostilities, the French inhabitants were not disposed to incur any great risks for the British crown, notwithstanding the fact that they had been made to believe appalling reports of the ferocity of "the big-knives," as the Americans were called. He was also made aware of the fact that while the militia was maintained in good order, rather from a fondness of display than from any desire to engage in active war or because they expected an attack, the fort was generally kept merely "as an asylum."

In December, 1777, Col. Clark submitted to Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, a plan for the reduction of the posts in Illinois, which, after some discussion, was approved; and on Jan. 2, he received authority to recruit, for three months' service, seven companies of fifty men each, which he was to command. Six thousand dollars were given him to defray expenses. Proceeding to Pittsburg, on Feb. 4, he succeeded, after extraordinary exertions, in raising three companies, who rendezvoused at Corn Island, a point nearly opposite the present city of Louisville.* Here Lieut. Hutchings, with a portion of one company,

Several families who had accompanied Col. Clark's party were left on the island after his departure, and, removing to the mainland, laid out the town of Louisville in 1780.