the Falls: where the craft of the river trade would be compelled to stop, in order to prepare for the passage of the Rapids, and which, without fortification, would be much exposed to the hostilities of the Indians. At the former place, Clark had the mortification to hear, that the company of Captain Dillard was the only one of Major Smith's men, who had arrived in Kentucky. He immediately wrote to Colonel Bowman, informing him of his intention to fix a post at the Falls; and that having an object in view of the greatest importance to the country, he desired Bowman to meet him at that place, with all the men recruited by Smith, and as many others, as could be spared from the interior stations. The detachment proceeded to the Falls, where he selected and fortified Corn Island, opposite to Louisville. On the arrival of Colonel Bowman's party, the forces of the country were found too weak, to justify taking many from Kentucky; Clark, therefore, engaged but one company, and part of another, from this quarter, expecting them to be replaced by the troops of Major Smith. Here Clark disclosed to the, troops his real destination to Kaskaskia; and honorably to the gallant feelings of the times, the plan was ardently concurred in by all the detachment, except the company of Captain Dillard. The boats were, therefore, ordered to be well secured, and sentries were placed where it was supposed, the men might wade across the river to the Kentucky shore. This was the day before Clark intended to start; but a little before light, the greater part of Captain Dillard's company, with a Lieutenant whose name is generously spared by Colonel Clark, passed the sentinels unperceived, and got to the opposite bank. The disappointment was cruel, its consequences alarming; Clark immediately mounted a party on the horses of the Harrodsburg gentlemen, and sent after the deserters, with orders to kill all who resisted; the pursuers overtook the fugitives about twenty miles in advance; these soon scattered through the woods, and excepting seven or eight, who were brought back, suffered most severely every species of distress. The people of Harrodstown felt the baseness of the Lieutenant's conduct so keenly, and resented it with such indignation, that they would not for

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some time, let him or his companions, into the fort. On the return of this detachment from the pursuit, a day of rejoicing was spent between the troops about to descend the river, and those who were to return on a service, little inferior in danger and privation, the defence of the interior stations. The next day,* when the sun was in a total eclipse, the boats passed the Falls. This circumstance divided the men in their prognostications, but not quite with the terror and alarm we read of in ancient armies. All the baggage beyond what was necessary to equip the party in the barest Indian manner, was left behind, as the commander had determined, in order to mask his operations, to march to Kaskaskia by land, from the nearest point on the Ohio. Colonel Clark for some time meditated a blow against St. Vincents, but on reviewing his little body, consisting after a rigid selection of but four companies, under Captains Jo. Montgomery, L. Helm, Joseph Bowman, and William Harrod; he determined to prosecute the original object of his expedition. The facility of retreat to the Spanish possessions, as well as the more dispersed state of the French settlements in the Illinois, as it was called, seem to have had great weight in this selection. To this was added, a hope, that he might attach the French to the American interest, whose influence over the Indians throughout these extensive territories, was strengthened by time, and maintained by a tact and versatility, which have been undiminished for two centuries. To this day our interpreters, our spies, and some of the subordinate agents, are Frenchmen. Spaniards have always been much despised, and are so at this day on the Mexican frontier; the English are not much regarded, our own countrymen are dreaded, but the French are beloved. On the passage down the river, Colonel Clark most fortunately received a letter from Colonel John Campbell of Fort Pitt, informing him of the French alliance, a circumstance, as subsequent events shewed, of the utmost moment to the American arms. At the mouth of Tennessee, the party landed on an island, which is called †Baritaria, in the *This must, by the catalogue of eclipses, have happened on the 24th of June, 1778, when there was a solar eclipse. See Ferguson's Tables.

Possibly a mistake from the obscurity of the manuscript.

memoir of Clark; a few hours after his arrival, a person of the name of John Duff, and a party of hunters, were stopped by the guard. These persons, though originally from the American settlements, had recently come from Kaskaskia, and communicated the most important intelligence: from them it was lcarned, that M. Rocheblave commanded at Kaskaskia; that the militia were kept in good order; spies were stationed on the Mississippi; and all Indians and hunters ordered to keep a sharp look out for the rebel Virginians. The fort, which commanded the town was kept in good order as a place of retreat; but without a regular garrison, and the military defence was attended to, as a matter of parade, rather than from any expectation of its necessity to guard against an attack. If this should be anticipated, the force of the place, they said, was capable of giving the Americans a warm reception; the inhabitants were led by the British to entertain the most horrid apprehensions of our countrymen, as more barbarous, and more to be dreaded, than the Indians themselves. But if we could surprise the place, these hunters thought, there would be no doubt of our capturing it; they offered their services to effect this result, and solicited to be employed, This offer was readily accepted, and the whole meeting proved a most essential service, in the absence of all intelligence from the enemy's country, since the return of the spies employed by Clark in the previous year. One portion of their information particularly pleased him, and which he determined to employ to promote his purposes; it was the dread and horror in which our countrymen were held by the inhabitants. In consequence of this sentiment, he thought the more violent the shock might be, which his arrival should produce, the stronger would be their sensibility to his lenity, so little to be expected from the barbarians they were represented. In fact, Colonel Clark determined to enlist this national apprehension in his service, and employ it as an auxiliary to his diminutive forces.

Every thing being ready for the march the boats dropped down a short distance above Fort Massac, (contracted from Massacre) where they were concealed; and the party marched

with their commander at their head, sharing in every respect the condition of his men, in a north-west direction, through the present State of Illinois, for the ancient French village of Kaskaskia. This march was attended by little that was unusual in these times of privation, beyond the ordinary sufferings of such expeditions through the forests. Game and water were, however, scarce; but on the third day, John Saunders, the principal guide, got so bewildered, that he had forgotten all the features of the country. This excited immediate suspicion, and a general cry arose among the men, to put the traitor to death; he solicited permission of his Colonel to go into a prairie, which was full in view, to try and recover himself. His application was granted; but some men were sent with him to prevent his escape, and he was sternly told, that if he did not conduct the detachment into the hunters' road, which lead into Kaskaskia, from the east, and which he had frequently described and traveled, leading through a country not easily forgotten by a woodsman, he should surely be hung. After an hour or two spent in examining the neighborhood, the poor fellow discovered a spot which he perfectly recollected, and his innocence was established. On the evening of the 4th of July, 1778, the expedition reached within a few miles of the town, where it lay until dark, when the march was continued; a house was then taken possession of, about three quarters of a mile above the town, which lay on the opposite, or westerly side of the Kaskaskia river. Here it was learned, that the militia had a few days before been under arms; but no cause of real alarm having been discovered, at that time, every thing was quiet; that there was a "great number of men in the town; the Indians had, however, mostly gone." A sufficient quantity of boats for transportation of the troops was soon procured; two divisions of the party crossed the river, with orders to repair to different parts of the town; while Colonel Clark, with the third division, took possession of the fort (afterwards called Fort Clark) on this side of the river, in point blank shot of the town. Should this detachment meet with no resistance, upon a signal given, the other two parties were directed, to possess with a shout,

certain quarters of the town; and to send persons who could speak French, through the streets to give the inhabitants notice, "that every man of the enemy, who should appear in them, would be shot down." These dispositions had the most complete success; the fort was taken; Clark entered it by *"a postern gate left open on the river side of the fortification," which was "shewn by a hunting soldier, who had been taken prisoner the evening before." The town, of about two hundred and fifty houses was surrounded, every avenue guarded to prevent communication of intelligence, and "in about two hours the inhabitants were disarmed," without one drop of bloodshed. During the night, our men were ordered to patrol the town with the utmost tumult and whooping, after the Indian fashion, while the inhabitants preserved the most profound silence. The artifice, however painful and alarming to their feelings, was, at least, one of the most innocent stratagems of war. M. Rocheblave, or Rocheblawe, as Mr. Jefferson has it, the British governor was taken in his chamber; but very few of his public papers could be secured, as they were secreted or destroyed, it was supposed by his wife. This lady is represented as presuming a good deal on the gallantry of our countrymen, by imposing upon their delicacy towards herself, for the purpose of screening the public property and papers, from the hands of the Americans. But better, ten thousand times better were it so, than, that the ancient fame of the sons of Virginia, should have been tarnished by-insult to a female. Although it was suspected that many important papers might be concealed, in the trunks of the Governor's lady, they were, however honorably respected, and not examined. During the night several persons were sent for, to obtain intelligence, but little information could be procured, beyond what had been already received, except that a considerable body of Indians lay at this time in the neighborhood of Cahokia, about sixty miles higher up the Mississippi; and that M. Cerre, (the father of the present Madame Auguste

Judge David Todd, of Missouri, obligingly communicated this circumstance, from the papers of the late General Levi Todd, who acted as aid to Colonel Clark. Our country. men were called Bostoni by the French, at this time.

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