R. E. BANTA, Crawfordsville, Indiana, 1951
"My Lord - This very day an express is arrived... from the Ilinois with the following account, which my duty requires I should communicate as quickly as possible.... A party of the Rebels, reported to amount to three hundred men, marched across the country from near the mouth of the Ouabash to Kaskaskias and surprised the place... seized Mr. de Rocheblave and put him in irons.
"They exact an Oath of Allegiance to the Congress from the inhabitants, who, by what I can learn, are too fickle and ready for change....
"The Rebels have sent a Detachment with an officer to
Cahokia to receive the submission of the inhabitants, and the
person who brought the account has no doubt but those of St.
Vincennes are by this time summoned, as a French Priest named Gibault had his horse ready saddled to proceed there from Cahokia, with design to act as an agent for the Rebels."
Although not entirely accurate, the substance of the account was true. DePeyster sent a similar report from Michilimackinac on August 15.63 A month later Louis Chevalier, a trader at St. Joseph, wrote to DePeyster and to Hamilton,64 and other information came later to Hamilton as he moved on Vincennes. Obviously the forests kept no secrets of this type, for messengers passed along the rivers to Michilimackinac and Detroit and from these points to Quebec and to England.
Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark had identified himself from the beginning with the infant settlements of Kentucky which Hamilton's Indians had begun to attack. Clark went back to Virginia, where he secured public authorization of the governor and council to raise an army to defend Kentucky and secret instructions to attack the centers of British influence north of the Ohio River. He raised a small army of one hundred fifty men in the Redstone district of southwestern Pennsylvania and passed down the Ohio to the Falls, where he built a fort and stationed about twenty families who came with him. A company of recruits from the Holston and another from the Kentucky settlements joined him, but some of the former deserted when he revealed that his secret instructions would take him far beyond Kentucky. With one hundred and seventy-five men he "shot the Falls" on June 26, 1778, and started for the Illinois Country. After a march across southern Illinois he surprised and took Kaskaskia on July 4.
Captain Joseph Bowman with thirty men received the submission
of Cahokia; Dr. Jean Laffont and Father Pierre Gibault,
without military support, persuaded the residents of Vincennes to
swear allegiance to Virginia on July 20. Clark then turned his
attention to the Indians and soon made so many friends among
them that he threatened English control of tribes far from the
French villages.65 These achievements were the source of the
news which interrupted Hamilton's activity at Detroit, surprised
the western officials of England, and led to Hamilton's expedition
to Vincennes.
General Frederick Haldimand had not long been established as governor of Quebec when Hamilton's letter reached him. The exact wording of his reply is interesting, because writers have repeatedly asserted that Hamilton left Detroit for Vincennes without orders. Haldimand wrote, August 26:
"In the present circumstances of the affairs you relate, it becomes highly necessary to employ every means which offers, if not to retrieve the injury done, at least to stop its further progress, in which, it is not, so much the expense itself, as the care to prevent its being in vain and thrown away, which ought to be attended to. The expediency of supporting the Ouabash Indians is very evident, & I cannot therefore but approve of such steps as you shall find necessary to take for this purpose: And I must observe that, from the great expense to which Government has been put for the Indians in general, it might be expected that some of them might easily be induced to undertake expeditiously to clear all the Illinois of these Invaders, and if the effort of the parties, which you send out and have proposed to send out to the Ohio, were properly directed, the retreat of the Rebels and especially the communication & intercourse which they want to establish by that river with the French & Spaniards might be so disturbed, if not entirely cut off, as to render that object of their expedition & attempts upon this occasion entirely fruitless...."66
The very next day he wrote again, as though he had written too hurriedly the day before: "I must... desire that you will immediately and by the safest and most expeditious conveyance acquaint me with your Idea of the practability of recovering the possession of the Illinois and of the means which from a consideration of what I have above suggested, you should advise to be employed for that purpose with the probability of success." The advice of DePeyster was also asked by Haldimand in a similar letter.67
A month later Haldimand wrote two letters to Germain. The
first of these, dated, October 24, described Hamilton's current
expedition to the headwaters of the Maumee River for the purpose
of dislodging the Rebels from the Illinois and characterized it as
necessary if the trade of that country was not to be lost. The
second letter, written the following day defended Hamilton from
the charges made against him by the grand jury of Montreal because of his judicial action against civilians and explained why the Lieutenant-Governor was forced to be somewhat irregular. Neither letter indicated any dissatisfaction with Hamilton's procedure.68
In the light of these facts it can hardly be said that the Lieutenant-Governor went on his expedition without the approval of the Governor. So far as is known Hamilton had not described his plans, but Haldimand had approved such steps as Hamilton should find necessary; on the next day, however, apparently on second thought, he asked Hamilton what the specific plans were.
When Hamilton received Haldimand's letter of August 26, he assured the Governor "that every means in my power shall be used to second your intentions with regard to the Indians of the Ouabash & the Invaders at the Illinois, & Post Vincennes." He stated that "no time was to be lost in supporting & encouraging" the warriors and that for this reason he should set off in about twelve days. He wrote to Michilimackinac and St. Joseph to ask that the Indians about these posts should co-operate by making an attack down the Illinois River. He sent Céloron to deliver belts to the Wabash tribesmen and to destroy the effectiveness of the cannon at Vincennes.69
DePeyster at Michilimackinac showed a similar reaction to the presence of the rebels in the Illinois. "If they are not routed by some means... the whole Mississippi Trade is knocked up." He wanted immediate orders and told Haldimand that his fort could be maintained only by the good understanding of the Indians.70
Late in September an advance force left Detroit for Wolf
Rapids on the Maumee and the portage at the Miamis. They took
ten oxen and ten horses, three pairs of wheels and thirty-three
thousand pounds of provisions. In Detroit more provisions and
supplies were prepared and packed, militia companies were
organized, and boats were mended. Hamilton reported to Haldimand
that he expected to depart the first of October in order to
occupy a fort until reinforcements, light cannon, and an engineer
could be sent to him; but rains delayed his departure. On October
2 he assembled the Savages and sang the war song.71 Just before
General built, in October, Fort McIntosh at the mouth of Beaver Creek in western Pennsylvania, and in the following month Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas River in present-day Ohio.77 Hamilton entered a memorandum in his "Journal" to send some ammunition to the Shawnee in order that they might oppose the rebels who followed McIntosh.
On the night of October 21, the English expedition camped near the place where the present Indiana-Ohio boundary crosses the Maumee River. It spent the night of October 23 "en bas des prairies," or at the foot of the prairies, not far from the site of Fort Wayne. The distance to the Miami village was passed over the next morning in time to fire salutes and to fight a mock battle with blank powder. A council was held that afternoon.
The junction of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers was occupied by the huts of French traders and two Indian villages. On the eastern bank of the St. Joseph was the village of Kekionga, the home of Pacane, the head chief of the Miami. On the west bank was the village presided over by Petit Gris, another Miami chief. Some traders were to be found in both villages but the main concentration was at Kekionga.78
Hamilton and his men had taken seventeen days, from October 7 to 24, to make a journey which was usually made by water in ten days or on horseback in four. This was good time if the size of the boats and the amount of provisions are taken into consideration. Lieutenant Henry DuVernet, who was a member of t he force that accompanied Hamilton, drew a map while the journey was being made. On it he wrote a brief description of the Maumee River and of the villages at the site of Fort Wayne.
Upon the completion of the journey described by DuVernet
and before proceeding down the Wabash, Hamilton found it
necessary to win the friendship of the Miami Indians who lived at
the headwaters of the Maumee and to send some of the men and
equipment to the portage to prepare the way for the transfer of
the boats and provisions. A celebration for the success thus far
achieved was held on October 25, when an ox was served to the
soldiers, a second to the Miami, and a third to the other Indians
who were present. Hamilton visited the chiefs of the Miami in
their village. Six batteaus with twenty thousand pounds of pro-
tion. The man who in January was in danger of being captured, in February became the captor and Hamilton the captive.
Finally, toward the end of January, Clark received reliable and detailed information from Francis Vigo, who was captured by another band of Hamilton's Indians, taken to Vincennes, and then released. After returning to St. Louis, Vigo visited Clark and told him that Hamilton was in Vincennes, that his Indians were dispersed, and that he was attempting to secure the help of the Southern Indians for an attack in the spring upon the Virginians in the Illinois villages.
Clark immediately decided that he must attack Hamilton before he was ready to take the offensive. By attacking early, Clark would catch Hamilton with his Indians scattered and with his garrison reduced by the absence of the Detroit militia and the officers of the Indian Department. If there should be delay, reinforcements might arrive from Detroit, and the Lake Indians might be joined by the Southern tribes, which would give Hamilton a large body of Indian warriors and chiefs and might enable him to carry the war to Clark.
Clark prepared the "Willing," an armed row-galley, and stocked her with supplies. She set out, February 5, to go down the Mississippi and up the Ohio and Wabash rivers to Vincennes. Forty men were on board. The next day with 172 men, about half of whom were French volunteers, Clark left Kaskaskia to proceed overland some 180 miles to the same destination. The prairies were wet and the men were soon fatigued. Without tents they camped on the soggy ground; in the valleys of the Little Wabash, the Embarrass, and the Wabash rivers they literally waded through floods. Game became scarce and for two days the army was without food. The crossing of the Wabash and the lowlands south of Vincennes nearly brought death from cold and exhaustion to many. Clark's determination was never so much in evidence as when his men reached Vincennes on February 22. A more heroic march is not to be found in the Revolution.106
As Clark and his men were approaching Vincennes, their
fires were discovered by Captain Maisonville and reported to Hamilton,
although it was not known at that time who had built
them. Captain La Mothe with two other officers and twenty men
were sent to reconnoiter. The fort was made ready for defensive operations. Ammunition was delivered to the two blockhouses, scaffolding was set up in the two angles of the fort that were not protected by the blockhouses, and the militia was called to arms. Before these measures were complete and before Captain La Mothe returned to the fort, Clark attacked.
The roll call was just over, when Hamilton was surprised by the firing of small arms. He attributed this commotion to some drunken frolic of the inhabitants, but when he went upon the parade he heard the balls sing. He still could not conceive that the disturbance was anything other than some drunken people amusing themselves. The men had been ordered to stand by their arms, but now they were sent to the blockhouses and the platforms with orders not to fire until they could be certain of making their shooting effective and thus be very saving of their ammunition. "It was now near dark and the fire increasing we were not at a loss to conclude our opponents were those whose fires had been discovered...."107
The surgeon managed to get in after the battle began and brought word that the attack was being made by Colonel Clark, who had just arrived from the Illinois with five hundred men. Captain La Mothe, unable to get back to Fort Sackville, spent the night hidden in a barn. Early the next morning he and his men made a dash for the fort and successfully scaled the stockades.
The church and the houses of the village were so close to the fort that they afforded protection to the attackers. Hamilton made some use of his small cannons in the blockhouses to force Clark's men farther from the fort. He thought of burning the town but decided against it.
At eleven o'clock in the morning of February 23 he was
summoned to surrender by Clark, who threatened to treat him as
a murderer if he destroyed any supplies or burned any papers.
Hamilton refused "to be prevailed on by threats to act in a manner
unbecoming the character of British Subjects." The firing was
resumed. Before sending his reply to Clark, Hamilton assembled
his officers and read them both messages. They supported Hamilton's
proposed reply. He then assembled his men telling them it
was the determination of the officers, as well as his own to defend
the King's colors to the last extremity. All the English declared they would stand to the death for the honor of their country. The French, however, hung their heads and said it was hard they should be required to fight against their own friends and relations who had joined the Americans. The disloyalty of the French greatly weakened Hamilton's determination. He then and there decided to accept honorable terms of surrender if he could get them.
On this same day Clark and his men committed two brutal deeds, which were described to Hamilton and by him recorded in his "Journal." Francis Maisonville, who had acted as a guide to the force that went out to look for Clark's army, did not return to the fort but remained in the village and was betrayed to the Virginians. He was asked by Clark if he had been out with Indians on raids, and when he gave an affirmative answer the Colonel ordered one of his men to scalp him. A small part of his scalp was actually taken, when one of his brothers who had come with Clark from the Illinois interceded for him. Clark in his "Memoir" placed the responsibility for this deed on two of his men.
The second deed grew out of the return of a party of Indians which had been on a scout towards the Falls of the Ohio. As the Indians approached the village they fired their guns as was their custom, not knowing that the fort was besieged. While they were unprepared they were attacked, one being killed, two wounded, and five captured, according to Hamilton. Clark said that six were captured, two scalped, and the rest wounded so seriously that only one lived. The captured Indians were brought before the fort and tomahawked in sight of the defenders in a brutal exhibition. Hamilton believed that Clark personally killed one of the Indians with a tomahawk, because he was still bloody when he came to negotiate shortly after this event. Hamilton described him as "still reeking from the human sacrifice in which he acted as chief priest...."108
In the negotiation which followed, Clark threatened that
if Hamilton did not surrender "not a single man should be
spared." The Virginian had accurate information on the number
of men upon whom the Britisher could depend - about thirty-
five. Hamilton refused to capitulate but finally said he would surrender on honorable terms. At a later meeting terms were arranged after an initial disagreement.109
The fort was given over to the Virginians on the morning of February 24, at ten o'clock. The traditional accounts of the number of men surrendered hardly represent the situation accurately. James A. James stated that Clark's forces was not one-fourth of the combined force of the enemy and their allies. He described the fort as having four blockhouses; Hamilton wrote that there were but two. When the surrender occurred, the garrison was said to contain seventy-nine men. Clark's men numbered one hundred seventy. James further stated, "Clark was surprised to find that this fort... mounting twelve guns and well stored with ammunition, with a garrison of trained soldiers, had been given up so readily." Clark wrote, however, "on Viewing the Inside of the Fort and stores I was at first astonish[ed] at [it] being given up in the Manner it was but on weighing every circumstance I found that it was prudent...."110 Hamilton's order to be saving of the ammunition has already been noted; certainly he would not have given such an order if his supply were large. The fort was not completed and the regulars on whom he could depend numbered thirty-three. Almost all the remainder were Detroit volunteers who did not want to fight. Seven of the garrison had been wounded, and six of these were regulars. His Indians gave him no support at this time. Hamilton surrendered a dependable garrison of approximately thirty-three men and a few officers to Clark, who commanded one hundred seventy and who had the support of the inhabitants of Vincennes and the friendship of the Indians of the lower Wabash. The surprising thing is not so much the surrender as the predicament in which Hamilton had been caught. Why had he remained at Vincennes after permitting the Detroit militia, many of the officers of the Indian Department, and many of his loyal Indians to return home?
In the afternoon of February 24 Clark asked Hamilton
what persons among the prisoners had been employed with the
Indian raiding parties. Hamilton said the men would speak for
themselves. After they identified themselves, Clark ordered them