[
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Chapter 8:
The king of
Spain baffled by the backwoodsmen of
Virginia.
1778-1779.
while congress unwillingly gave up the hope of dis-
lodging
England from the continent of
North America, the negotiations between the elder and the younger branch of the house of
Bourbon changed the attitude of the belligerent powers.
‘I observe with pain,’ so reported
Count Montmorin in October, and so he was obliged continually
to report, ‘that this government singularly fears the prosperity and progress of the
Americans;
1 and this fear, which was in part the cause of its excessive illhumor at our engagements with them,
2 may often turn the scale to the side of the
English.
Spain will be much inclined to stipulate for such a form of independence as may leave divisions between
England and her colonies.’
3
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The cabinet of
Versailles rushed into the war to
cripple
England.
Spain prompted inquiry into the political consequences of American independence.
Letters came from the
United States filled with reports of their ineradicable attachment to
England, which would be sure to show itself in future
European wars; the calm reasonings of
Turgot, that, from habit and consanguinity, their commerce would return to their mother country could not be forgotten; doubts gradually rose up in the mind of
Vergennes of their firmness and fidelity.
4 Florida Blanca, who persistently proposed to bridle the dreaded ambition of the
United States, by a balance of power in which
England should hold the post of danger, wished her to retain possession of
Canada and
Nova Scotia; for it would prove a perennial source of quarrels between the
British and the
Americans.
‘On our side,’ wrote
Vergennes simultaneously, ‘there will be no difficulty in guaranteeing to
England Canada and all other American possessions which may remain to her at the peace.’
5 Spain desired that
England after the peace might hold
Rhode Island, New York, and other places along the sea; but
Vergennes inflexibly answered: ‘To this the king cannot consent without violating the engagement contracted with the thirteen provinces, which he has recognised as free and independent states;
6 for them only we ask independence, without comprehending other English possessions.
We are very far from desiring that the nascent republic
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should remain the exclusive mistress of all
that immense continent.’
7
In the same spirit the
French minister at
Philadelphia zealously urged members of congress to renounce every ambition for an increase of territory.
A spirit of moderation manifested itself, especially in the delegation from New York.
Gouverneur Morris was inclined to relinquish to
Spain the navigation of the
Mississippi,
8 and while he desired the acquisition of
Canada and
Nova Scotia asserted the necessity of a law for setting a limit to the
American dominion.
‘Our empire,’ said
Jay, the president of congress, ‘is already too great to be well governed, and its constitution is inconsistent with the passion for conquest.’
9 Not suspecting the persistent hostility of
Spain, as he smoked his pipe at the house of
Gerard, he loudly commended the triple alliance of
France, the
United States, and
Spain.
From the study of their forms of government,
Vergennes in like manner represented to
Spain that ‘there was no ground for seeing in this new people a race of conquerors;’ and he undervalued American patriotism and firmness.
10 To quiet the Spanish court,
he further wrote in November: ‘Examine with reflection, collectively and in detail, the constitutions which the
United States have given themselves.
Their republic, unless they amend its defects, which from the diversity and even antagonism of their interests appears to me very difficult, will never be
[
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anything more than a feeble body, capable of little
activity.’
11
But the fears of
Florida Blanca could not be allayed.
He hoped security only from further negotiations; and the
United States, he was persuaded, could never conclude a peace with
Great Britain except under the auspices of
France and
Spain, and must submit to any terms which these two powers might enjoin.
But first he would know what advantages
France designed to exact for herself in the final treaty of peace.
For a time
Montmorin kept him at bay by vague promises.
12 ‘In a case like this,’ said
Florida Blanca, ‘probability will not suffice; it is necessary to be able to speak with certainty.’
And, without demanding the like confidence from
Spain,
Vergennes in October enumerated as the only conditions which
France would require:
13 the treaty of
Utrecht wholly continued or wholly abrogated; freedom to restore the harbor of
Dunquerque; the coast of
Newfoundland from
Cape Bonavista to
Cape St. John, with the exclusive fishery from
Cape Bonavista to Point Riche.
The question of a right to fortify the commercial establishment of Chandernagor fell with the surrender of that post;
14 the insinuation of a desire to recover
Canada,
Vergennes always repelled as a calumny.
As the horizon began to clear and
Florida Blanca became sure of his power over
France, he could not conceal his joy; and, having suffered from the irony of the
Spanish ambassador at
Paris, he now exclaimed:
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185]
‘I submit cheerfully to the satires of
Aranda to gain for myself a reputation that shall never die.’
From this time he was in earnest in wishing
Spain to take part in the war. But his demands in comparison with the moderation of
France were so extravagant, that he was ashamed himself to give them utterance; and in November he requested
Vergennes to suggest to him the advantages which
France would bind itself to secure to
Spain before listening to propositions for peace.
15 A confidential declaration that accompanied his letter marked his disposition to qualify the independence of the
United States.
16 To raise the price to be offered, the king of
Spain simultaneously wrote to his nephew, Louis the Sixteenth, of his desire to avoid any part in the war; and his minister announced to the
French embassy, that
Spain could not be induced to engage in it, except for great objects.
‘You know, sir, his projects,’ wrote
Montmorin to
Vergennes; ‘the only way to bring him to a decision is to appear to adopt them.’
17 The option was embarrassing.
‘Six months ago,’ reasoned
Vergennes, ‘
England was unprepared, and might have consented to purchase peace on conditions prescribed by the Bourbons.
Now she has fortified herself on every side, and God only knows what can be attained.’
Yet, rather than remain in a state of isolation,
Vergennes on the day before
Christmas, 1778, offered the king of
Spain carte blanche to frame a treaty which the ambassador of
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France at
Madrid should have full power to sign.
18 But Florida Blanca reasoned, that
France would be more strongly bound by articles of her own proposing, and therefore answered: ‘The Catholic king will not be behind the king, his nephew, in confidence.
Count Vergennes may draft the convention as seems good to him, and it will certainly be signed here as soon as it shall arrive.
The heart of the king, my master, knows how to reciprocate good treatment.’
To
Montmorin he verbally explained his demands in both hemispheres.
As to
Europe, he said: ‘Without
Gibraltar I will never consent to a peace.’
19 ‘How are you to gain the place?’
asked
Montmorin; and he replied: ‘By siege it is impossible;
Gibraltar must be taken in
Ireland or in
England.’
Montmorin rejoined: ‘The
English must be reduced very low before they can cede
Gibraltar, unless the Spaniards first get possession of it.’
‘If our operations succeed,’ answered
Florida Blanca, ‘
England will be compelled to subscribe to the law that we shall dictate.’
At the same time he declared frankly, that
Spain would furnish no troops for the invasion of
Great Britain;
France must undertake it alone; even the junction of the fleets of
Brest and
Cadiz to protect the landing must be of short duration.
Vergennes might have hesitated to inaugurate the hard conditions required; but reflection was lost in joy at the prospect of the co-operation of
Spain, even though that power opposed the independence of the new allies of
France, and demanded French
[
187]
aid to dislodge them from the
valley of the Missis-
sippi.
20
And yet disinterested zeal for freedom had not died out in the world.
Early in February, 1779,
Lafayette, after a short winter passage from
Boston to
Brest, rejoined his family and friends.
His departure for
America in the preceding year, against the command of his king, was atoned for by a week's exile to
Paris, and confinement to the house of his father-in-law.
The king then received him at
Versailles with a gentle reprimand; the queen addressed him with eager curiosity: ‘Tell us good news of our dear republicans, of our beloved
Americans.’
21 His fame, his popularity, the social influence of his rank, were all employed in behalf of the
United States.
Accustomed to see great interests sustained by small means, he grudged the prodigality which expended on a single festival at court as much as would have equipped the
American army.
‘To clothe it,’ said
Maurepas, ‘he would be glad to strip
Versailles.’
He found a ministry neglecting the main question of American independence, making immense preparations for trifling ends, and half unconscious of being at war. Public opinion in
France had veered about, and everybody clamored for peace, which was to be hastened by the active alliance with
Spain.
All the while the
Spanish government, in its intercourse with
England, sedulously continued its offers of mediation.
Lest their ambassador at
London should betray the secret, he was kept in the dark,
[
188]
and misled;
Grantham, the
British ambassador at
Madrid, hoodwinked by the stupendous dissimulation of
Florida Blanca, wrote home in January, 1779: ‘I really believe this court is sincere in wishing to bring about a pacification;’
22 and, at the end of March, the king of
England still confided in the neutrality of the court of Spain.
23 In
London there was a rumor of peace through Spanish mediation; Lord Weymouth, the ablest statesman in the cabinet, steadily repelled that mediation, unless
France would cease to support the insurgent colonies.
Acting independently and from the consideration of her own interests alone,
Spain evaded the question of American independence, and proposed her mediation to
England on the basis of a truce of twenty-five or thirty years, to be granted by the king of
England with the concurrence of
Spain and
France.
24 This offer, made without consultation with
Vergennes, called forth his most earnest expostulations; for, had it been accepted by the
British ministry, he must have set himself at variance with
Spain, or been false to his engagements with the
United States.
But Lord Weymouth was superior to intrigue and chicane; and with equal resolution and frankness he put aside the modified proposal ‘as an absolute, if not a distinct, concession of all the rights of the
British crown in the thirteen colonies, under the additional disadvantage of making it to the
French, rather than to the
Americans themselves.’
25 If independence
[
189]
was to be conceded to the new states, Lord Wey-
mouth held that it must be conceded ‘directly to congress, that it might be made the basis of all the advantages to
Great Britain which so desirable an object might seem to be worth.’
26 Uncontrolled by entangling connections,
England reserved to itself complete freedom in establishing its relations with
America, whether as dependencies or as states.
This policy was so founded in wisdom, that it continued to be the rule of
Great Britain for a little more than eighty years.
Meantime
Vergennes, on the twelfth of February,
forwarded the draft of a convention which yielded to
Spain all that she required, except that its fourth article maintained the independence of the
United States. ‘In respect to this,’ he wrote, ‘our engagements are precise, and it is not possible for us to retract them.
Spain must share them, if she makes common cause with us.’
27 Yet the article was persistently cavilled at, as in itself useless, and misplaced in a treaty of
France with
Spain; and it was remarked with ill-humor how precisely the treaty stipulated, ‘that arms should not be laid down’ till American independence should be obtained, while it offered only a vague promise ‘of every effort’ to procure the objects in which
Spain was interested.
‘Efface the difference,’ answered
Montmorin, ‘and employ the same expressions for both stipulations.’
The Spanish minister caught at the unwary offer, and in this way it was agreed that peace should not
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190]
be made without the restoration of
Gibraltar.
Fired
by the prospect which now opened before him, the king of
Spain pictured to himself
28 the armies of
France breaking in upon the
English at their firesides; and
Florida Blanca said to
Montmorin: ‘The news of the rupture must become known to the world by a landing in
England.
With union, secrecy, and firmness, we shall be able to put our enemies under our feet; but no decisive blow can be struck at the
English except in
England itself.’
29
All this time the
Spanish minister avoided fixing the epoch for joint active measures.
Towards the
end of March,
Vergennes wrote impatiently: ‘How can he ask us to bind ourselves to everything that flatters the ambition of
Spain, whilst he may make the secret reserve never to take part in the war, but in so far as the dangers are remote and the advantages certain?
in one word, to reap without having sown?
The difficulty can be excused only by attributing it to that spirit of a pettifogger which formed the essence of his first profession, and which we have encountered only too often.
I cry out less at his repugnance to guarantee American independence.
Nothing is gratuitous on the part of
Spain; we know from herself that she wants suitable concessions from the
Americans; to this we assuredly make no opposition.’
30
Discussing in detail with
Montmorin the article relating to the
Americans,
Florida Blanca said: ‘The king, my master, will never acknowledge their independence,
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191]
until the
English themselves shall be forced
to recognise it by the peace.
He fears the example which he should otherwise give to his own possessions.’
‘As well acknowledge their independence as accord them assistance,’ began
Montmorin; but the minister cut him short, saying: ‘Nothing will come of your insisting on this article.’
31
Now that no more was to be gained,
Florida Blanca himself made a draft of a convention, and suddenly presented it to
Montmorin.
A few verbal corrections were agreed upon, and on the evening of the twelfth
of April the treaty was signed.
By its terms
France bound herself to undertake the invasion of
Great Britain or
Ireland; if she could drive the
British from
Newfoundland, its fisheries were to be shared only with
Spain.
For trifling benefits to be acquired for herself, she promised to use every effort to recover for Spain Minorca,
Pensacola, and
Mobile, the bay of
Honduras, and the coast of Campeachy; and the two courts bound themselves not to grant peace, nor truce, nor suspension of hostilities, until
Gibraltar should be restored.
From the
United States Spain was left free to exact, as the price of her friendship, a renunciation of every part of the basin of the
Saint Lawrence and the lakes, of the navigation of the
Mississippi, and of all the land between that river and
the Alleghanies.
This convention of
France with
Spain modified the treaty between
France and the
United States.
The latter were not bound to continue the war till
Gibraltar should be taken; still less, till
Spain should have carried out her views hostile to their interests.
They
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gained the right to make peace whenever Great
Britain would recognise their independence.
The
Mississippi river is the guardian and the pledge of the union of the states of
America.
Had they been confined to the eastern slope of
the Alleghanies, there would have been no geographical unity between them, and the thread of connection between lands that merely fringed the
Atlantic must soon have been sundered.
The father of rivers gathers his waters from all the clouds that break between
the Alleghanies and the furthest ranges of the
Rocky mountains.
The ridges of the eastern chain bow their heads at the north and at the south; so that long before science became the companion of man, nature herself pointed out to the barbarous races how short portages join his tributary rivers to those of the
Atlantic coast.
At the other side, his mightiest arm interlocks with the arms of the
Oregon and the
Colorado, and by the conformation of the earth itself marshals highways to the
Pacific.
From his remotest springs he refuses to suffer his waters to be divided; but, as he bears them all to the bosom of the ocean, the myriads of flags that wave above his head are all the ensigns of one people.
States larger than kingdoms flourish where he passes; and, beneath his step, cities start into being, more marvellous in their reality than the fabled creations of enchantment.
His magnificent valley, lying in the best part of the temperate zone, salubrious and wonderfully fertile, is the chosen muster-ground of the most various elements of human culture brought together by men, summoned from all the civilized nations of the earth, and joined in the bonds of common citizenship by the strong, invisible
[
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attraction of republican freedom.
Now that
science has come to be the household friend of trade and commerce and travel, and that nature has lent to wealth and intellect the use of her constant forces, the hills, once walls of division, are scaled or pierced or levelled; and the two oceans, between which the republic has unassailably intrenched itself against the outward world, are bound together across the continent by friendly links of iron.
From the grandeur of destiny foretold by the possession of that river and the lands drained by its waters, the Bourbons of
Spain, hoping to act in concert with
Great Britain as well as
France, would have excluded the
United States totally and forever.
While the absolute monarch of the
Spanish dominions and his minister thought to exclude the republic from the
valley of the Mississippi, a new power emerged from its forests to bring their puny policy to nought.
An enterprise is now to be recorded, which, for the valor of the actors, their fidelity to one another, the seeming feebleness of their means, and the great result of their hardihood, remains forever memorable in the history of the world.
On the sixth of June, 1776, the emigrants to the
region west of the Louisa river, at a
general meeting in Harrodston, elected
George Rogers Clark and another as their representatives to the assembly of Virginia, with a request that their settlements might be constituted a county.
Before they could cross the mountains, the legislature of Virginia had declared independence, established a government, and adjourned.
In a later session, they were not admitted to seats in the house; but on the sixth of December the westernmost
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194]
part of the state was incorporated as a county
and named
Kentucky.
As on his return he descended the
Ohio,
Clark brooded over the conquest of the land to the north of the river.
In the summer of 1777, he sent two young hunters to reconnoitre
the
French villages in
Illinois and on the
Wabash; but neither to them nor to any one else did he disclose his purpose.
During all that summer an apprehension prevailed at
Detroit of danger to the settlements in the
Illinois,
32 but only from the
Spanish side of the
Mississippi.
On the first of October, 1777,
Clark took leave of the woodsmen of
Kentucky, who saw him depart for the east with fear lest, entering the army, he would never return.
On the tenth of December he unbosomed to
Patrick Henry his purpose of acquiring the territory north-west of the
Ohio.
The surrender of
Burgoyne had given confidence; yet
Patrick Henry hesitated; for, as success depended on secrecy, the legislature could not be consulted; but a few trusty men-George
Wythe,
George Mason, and
Thomas Jefferson —were taken to counsel, and the expedition was resolved upon.
On the second of January, 1778,
Clark received his instructions and twelve hundred pounds in paper money.
On the next day
Wythe,
Mason, and
Jefferson pledged their influence to secure a grant of three hundred acres of land to every man who should engage in the expedition.
On the fourth
Clark left
Williamsburg, clothed with all the authority he could wish.
At Redstone-old-fort, he prepared boats, light artillery, and ammunition.
For men he relied solely on volunteer backwoodsmen of
south-western Pennsylvania,
[
195]
and from what we now call
East Tennessee,
and
Kentucky.
On the twenty-fourth of June, the day of an eclipse of the sun, his boats passed over the falls of the
Ohio.
After leaving a small garrison in an island near them, his party consisted of four companies only; but the men were freeholders, each of whom had self-respect, and confidence in every one of his companions.
Their captains were
John Montgomery,
Leonard Helm,
Joseph Bowman, and
William Harrod.
An attack on
Vincennes was the first object of
Clark, but he learned that its garrison outnumbered his forces.
In the north-west,
Detroit was the central point of British authority.
There
Hamilton, the
lieutenant-governor, summoned several nations of Indians to council; and from that post he sent abroad along the
American frontier parties of savages, whose reckless cruelty won his applause as the best proofs of their attachment to British interests.
33 Sure of their aid, he schemed attempts against the ‘rebel forts on the
Ohio,’ relying on the red men of the prairies, and the white men of
Vincennes.
The reports sent to
Germain made him believe that the inhabitants of that settlement, though ‘a poor people who thought themselves cast off from his Majesty's protection, were firm in their allegiance to defend Fort Sackville against all enemies,’ and that hundreds in
Pittsburgh remained at heart attached to the crown.
34
On the invasion of
Canada in 1775,
Carleton, to
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strengthen the posts of
Detroit and
Niagara, had
withdrawn the small British garrison from
Kaskaskia, and the government was left in the hands of Rocheblave, a Frenchman, who had neither troops nor money.
‘I wish,’ he wrote in February, 1778, ‘the nation might come to know one of its best possessions, and consent to give it some encouragement;’ and he entreated
Germain that a lieutenant-governor might be sent with a company of soldiers to reside in
Illinois.
35
On the passage down the
Ohio,
Clark was overtaken by news of the alliance with
France.
Having learned from a band of hunters the defenceless condition of
Kaskaskia, he and his party, landing three leagues below the mouth of the
Tennessee, struck across the country on foot, approached
Kaskaskia on the fourth of July, in the darkness of evening surprised the town, and without bloodshed seized Rocheblave, the commandant.
The inhabitants gladly bound themselves to fealty to the
United States.
A detachment under
Bowman was despatched to Kahokia, and received its submission.
The people, of French origin and few in number, were averse to the dominion of the
English; and this disaffection was confirmed by the
American alliance with the land of their ancestors.
In a long conference, Giboult, a Catholic priest, dissuaded
Clark from moving against
Vincennes.
His own offer of mediation being accepted, he, with a small party, repaired to the post; and its people, having listened to his explanation of the state of affairs, went into the church and took the oath of
[
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allegiance to the
United States.
The transition from
the condition of subjects of a king to that of integral members of a free state made them new men. Planning the acquisition of the whole north-west, they sent to the Indians on the
Wabash five belts: a white one for the
French; a red one for the Spaniards; a blue one for
America; and for the
Indian tribes a green one as an offer of peace, and one of the color of blood if they preferred war, with this message: ‘The king of
France is come to life.
We desire to pass through your country to
Detroit.
We desire you to leave a very wide path for us, for we are many in number and love to have room enough for our march; for, in swinging our arms as we walk, we might chance to hurt some of your young people with our swords.’
36
To dispossess the
Americans of the
Illinois country and
Vincennes,
Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton on the seventh of October left
Detroit, accompanied by three hundred and fifty warriors, picked by their chiefs out of thirteen different nations.
Arrived at
Vincennes on the seventeenth of December, he took possession of the fort without opposition; and the inhabitants of the town returned to their subjection to the
British king.
After this exploit he contented himself for the winter with sending out parties; but he announced to the
Spanish governor his purpose early in the spring to recover
Illinois; and, confident of receiving re-enforcements, he threatened, that, if the
Spanish officers should afford an asylum to rebels in arms against their lawful sovereign,
[
198]
he would invade their territory and seize the fugi-
tives.
37
Hamilton was methodical in his use of
Indians.
He gave standing rewards for scalps, but offered none for prisoners.
His continuous volunteer parties, composed of Indians and whites, spared neither men, nor women, nor children.
38 In the coming year he promised that as early as possible all the different nations, from the Chickasaws and Cherokees to the Hurons and Five Nations, should join in the expeditions against
Virginia; while the lake
Indians from
Mackinaw, in conjunction with the white men, agreed to destroy the few rebels in
Illinois.
39 Meantime, that he might be prepared for his summer's bloody work, he sent out detachments to watch
Kaskaskia and the falls of the
Ohio, and to intercept any boats that might venture up that river with supplies for the rebels.
40 He never doubted his ability to sweep away the forts on the
Kentucky and
Kanawha, ascend the
Ohio to
Pittsburgh, and reduce all
Virginia west of the mountains.
Over
Clark and his party in
Illinois danger hovered from every quarter.
He had not received a single line from the governor of
Virginia for near twelve months; his force was too small to stand a siege; his position too remote for assistance.
By his orders,
Bowman of
Kentucky joined him, after evacuating the fort at Kahokia, and preparations were made for the defence of
Kaskaskia.
Just then Francis Vigo, by birth an Italian of
Piedmont, a trader of
St. Louis,
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199]
arrived from
Vincennes, and gave information that
Hamilton had weakened himself by sending out hordes of
Indians; that he had not more than eighty soldiers in garrison, nor more than three pieces of cannon and some swivels mounted; but that he intended to collect in spring a sufficient number of men to clear the west of the
Americans before the fall.
With a courage as desperate as his situation,
Clark instantly resolved to attack
Hamilton before he could call in his
Indians.
On the fourth of February, he de-
spatched a small galley, mounting two four-pounders and four swivels, and carrying a company of men and military stores under
Captain John Rogers, with orders to ascend the
Wabash, take a station a few miles below
Vincennes, suffer nothing to pass, and await further instructions.
Of the young men of
Illinois, thirty volunteered to be the companions of
Clark; the rest he embodied to garrison
Kaskaskia and guard the different towns.
On the seventh of
February, he began his march across the country with one hundred and thirty men. The inclemency of the season and high water threatened them with ruin.
In eleven days they came within three
leagues of
Vincennes, on the edge of ‘the drowned lands’ of the
Wabash river.
To cross these required
five days more, during which they had to make two leagues, often up to the breast in water.
Had not the weather been mild, they must have perished; but the courage and confidence of
Clark and his troop never flagged.
All this time
Hamilton was planning murderous expeditions.
He wrote: ‘Next year there will be the greatest number of savages on the frontier that
[
200]
has ever been known, as the Six Nations have sent
Chap. VIII.} 1779. Feb. 23. |
belts around to encourage their allies, who have made a general alliance.’
41 On the twenty-third, a British gang returning with two prisoners reported to him, that they had seen the remains of fifteen fires; and at five o'clock in the afternoon he sent out one of his captains with twenty men in pursuit of a party that was supposed to have come from
Pittsburgh.
Two hours after their departure,
Clark and his companions got on dry land, and making no delay, with drum beating and a white flag flying, they entered
Vincennes at the lower end of the village.
The town surrendered immediately, and assisted in the siege of the fort, which was immediately invested.
One captain, who lived in the village, with two
Ottawa chiefs and the king of the Hurons, escaped to the wood, where they were afterwards joined by the chief of the Miamis and three of his people.
The moon was new; and in the darkness
Clark threw up an intrenchment within rifle shot of the fort.
Under this protection, the riflemen silenced two pieces of cannon.
The firing was continued for about fourteen hours, during which
Clark purposely allowed
La Motte and twenty men to enter the place.
The riflemen aimed so well that, on the forenoon of the twenty-
fourth,
Hamilton asked for a parley.
At first
Clark demanded his surrender at discretion.
The garrison declared, ‘they would sooner perish to the last man;’
42 and offered to capitulate on the condition that they might march out with the honors of war, and return to
Detroit.
‘To that,’ answered
Clark,
[
201]
‘I can by no means agree.
I will not again leave it
in your power to spirit up the
Indian nations to scalp men, women, and children.’
About twelve o'clock the firing was renewed on both sides; and, before the twenty-fourth came to an end,
Hamilton and his garrison, hopeless of succor and destitute of provisions, surrendered as prisoners of war.
43
A very large supply of goods for the
British force was on its way from
Detroit.
Sixty men, despatched by
Clark in boats well mounted with swivels, surprised the convoy forty leagues up the river, and made a prize of the whole, taking forty prisoners. The joy of the party was completed by the return of their messenger from
Virginia, bringing from the house of assembly its thanks voted on the twentythird of November, 1778, ‘to
Colonel Clark and the brave officers and men under his command, for their extraordinary resolution and perseverance, and for the important services which they have thereby rendered their country.’
44
Since the time of that vote, they had undertaken a far more hazardous enterprise, and had obtained permanent ‘possession of all the important posts and settlements on the
Illinois and
Wabash, rescued the inhabitants from British dominion, and established civil government’ in its republican form.
45
The conspiracy of the Indians embraced those of the south.
Early in the year 1779, Cherokees and warriors from every hostile tribe south of the
Ohio, to the number of a thousand, assembled at
Chickamauga.
[
202]
To restrain their ravages, which had ex-
tended from
Georgia to
Pennsylvania, the governments of
North Carolina and
Virginia appointed
Evan Shelby to command about a thousand men, called into service chiefly from the settlers beyond the mountains.
To these were added a regiment of twelve-months men, that had been enlisted for the re-enforcement of
Clark in
Illinois.
Their supplies and means of transportation were due to the unwearied and unselfish exertions of
Isaac Shelby.
In the middle of April,
embarking in pirogues and canoes at the mouth of
Big Creek, they descended the river so rapidly as to surprise the savages, who fled to the hills and forests.
They were pursued, and forty of their warriors fell.
Their towns were burned; their fields laid waste; and their cattle driven away.
Thus the plans of the
British for a combined attack, to be made by the northern and southern Indians upon the whole western frontier of the states from
Georgia to New York, were defeated.
For the rest of the year the western settlements enjoyed peace, and the continuous flow of emigration through the mountains to
Kentucky and the country on the
Holston so strengthened them, that they were never again in danger of being broken up by any alliance of the savages with the
British.
The prowess of the people west of
the Alleghanies, where negro slavery had not yet been introduced and every man was in the full possession of a wild but self-restrained liberty, fitted them for self-defence.
The men on the
Holston exulted in all the freshness and gladsome hopefulness of political youth and enterprise; and, in this year,
Robertson with a band of hunters took possession of
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the surpassingly fertile country on the
Cumberland river.
Clark could not pursue his career of victories, for the regiment designed for his support had been diverted, and thus the
British gained time to re-enforce and fortify
Detroit.
46 But
Jefferson, then governor of
Virginia, gave instructions to occupy a station on the
Mississippi, between the mouth of the
Ohio and the parallel of 36° 30′; and in the spring of 1780,
Clark, choosing a strong and commanding situation five miles below the mouth of the
Ohio, established
Fort Jefferson as the watch on the father of rivers.
Could the will of Charles the Third of
Spain defeat the forethought of
Jefferson?
Could the intrigues of
Florida Blanca stop the onward wave of the backwoodsmen?
