THE CAMPAIGNS OF
THE REVOLUTION IN THE
OHIO VALLEY.
THEIR EFFECT ON THE GROWTH OF THE UNITED
STATES.
JULIETTE SESSIONS.
[In 1903 the Ohio Society, Sons of the
Revolution offered a prize
of $100 for the best essay which might
be submitted upon the subject
heading this article. Miss Sessions, a
member of the teaching corps of
The Columbus High School entered the
contest and was awarded the
prize. The essay is herewith made public
for the first time through the
courtesy of the awarding
committee.-EDITOR.]
The American Revolution was,
unquestionably, in its chief
movements a struggle for independence,
but, on the other hand,
it was a war of conquest. While the
colonists, truer to the Eng-
lish ideals than George III. and his
friends, were fighting for
the principles of English liberty, some
of their number were at
the same time taking from England a
territory more than equal
to their own and subduing the land and
its savage inhabitants.
This conquered territory, extending from
the heigths of the Alle-
ghanies to the Mississippi, has as its
center the Ohio Valley, and
the events that took place there during
the war make most of the
story of this first conquest of the
United States.
At the close of the French and Indian
War, while the out-
come of Pontiac's conspiracy was still
uncertain, a royal proc-
lamation was issued which defined the
policy of the English
government with regard to the lands just
acquired from France.
After arranging for governments for
Quebec and for West and
East Florida, the proclamation declares
it "to be our royal will
and pleasure . . . that no governor or commander-in-chief
of our colonies, or plantations in
America, do presume for the
present to grant warrants of survey or
pass patents for any lands
beyond the heads or sources of any of
the rivers that fall into
the Atlantic Ocean from the West or
Northwest; or upon any
(39)
40 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
lands whatever which have not been ceded
or purchased by
us," etc.1
The first object of this proclamation
was, undoubtedly, to
pacify the Indians by assurances that
their hunting grounds were
not to be invaded by settlers. Another
object probably was to
maintain the Mississippi Valley a
wilderness for hunters and
traders, where business would languish
as advancing colonists
cleared the land and exterminated game.
From several sources
it would appear, also, that the
proclamation reveals the intention
of the English government to annul the
"from sea to sea"
clauses of the colonial charters, and
keep the settlements along
the seaboard. So thinks a writer in the
"Annual Register for
1763.2 The same restrictive policy is
revealed in the refusal, in
1765, to grant permission to plant a
colony in the Illinois coun-
try, Dr. Franklin finding four
objections made to the plan:
(1) The distance would render such a
colony of little use to
England; (2) The distance would
render it difficult to defend
and govern the colony; (3) Such a colony
might, in time, be-
come troublesome and prejudicial to the
British government;
(4) There were no people to spare in
either England or
the other colonies, to settle a new
colony.
When also, in 1772, the Lords
Commissioners for Trade
and Plantations made a report upon the
petition of the so-called
Walpole Company for a grant of land
south of the Ohio, on
which to establish a new government,
they found that to grant
the petition would be to abandon
established principles. The
"confining of the western extent of
settlements to such a distance
from the sea coast as that those
settlements should lie within
reach of the trade and commerce of this
kingdom . . . and also
of the exercise of that authority and
jurisdiction which was con-
ceived to be necessary for the
preservation of the colonies in due
subordination to and dependence upon the
Mother country" were
declared to be the two capital objects
of the proclamation of
1763.3 The refusal of the Lords of Trade
was made, too, right
1Annual Register 1763.
2Hinsdale,
p. 124.
3 Poole,
p. 687 in Chap. IX, Vol. VI, Narrative and Critical History
of America.
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 41
in the face of the Treaty of Fort
Stanwix of 1768, by which Sir
William Johnson had secured from the
Iroquois a cession to the
British crown of the very lands that the
petitioners asked for
and which the crown would be perfectly
free to grant out if the
proclamation were only to protect the
Indians.
Washington, however, and other Americans
looked upon it
as only a temporary expedient which
would lapse when the
Indians were ready to give up their
lands.4
But whatever the motives of the British
government, the
prohibition came as a real and immediate
grievance to the colo-
nists along the frontier. They had
already, as Burke says,
"topped the Alleghany
Mountains," from which they beheld "be-
fore them an immense plain, one vast
level meadow; a square of
five hundred miles." Just as the
men of the seaports refused to
use the stamps of 1765, and on principle
evaded the provisions
of the Townsend Acts, so the
frontiersmen went forward into
the new land, spying it out, building
hunters' lodges and occu-
pying in defiance of the proclamation.
While they did not grow
into "the hordes of English
Tartars," which Burke pictures, they
became a sturdy power and rose in
instant sympathy with their
brothers of the coast lands.
Their frontier settlements were all
south of the Ohio, the
strength of the Iroquois and Algonquins
of the lakes making an
effectual barrier to the hunting grounds
of the north. Into the
western parts of Virginia the most
considerable advance was
made by Virginians and Pennsylvanians
and groups of cabins
were dotted all the way from Fort Pitt
to the Kanawha before
the Revolution began. In 1769 the first
settlements were made
about the head waters of the Tennessee
in the Watauga Valley
and Daniel Boone explored East Kentucky
the same year.
The restrictive quality of England's
land policy culminated
in the Quebec Act in 1774, which made
the territory north of
the Ohio part of the Province of Quebec,
thus disposing of
any charter rights the colonies might
later assert. The further
statements of the act that the Catholic
faith and the old French
law should be established and that the
latter was the only kind
of government proper for a colony,
placed the Quebec Act among
4Butterfield's Washington-Crawford
Letters 3, quoted by Hinsdale.
42 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
the chief grievances of the Colonies and
it is mentioned in the
Declaration of Rights, of October, 1774,
in the Articles of As-
sociation and again, though in veiled
terms, in the Declaration
of Independence. As late as 1782 Madison
in a report says.
5"The Quebec Act was one of the
multiplied causes of our oppo-
sition and finally of Revolution."
But what the colonists com-
plained of was not so much the
destruction of their charter
rights to the territory as the extension
of arbitrary govern-
ment and religion. The charters were
brought forth in the
peace negotiations of 1782 and 1783 to
support the American
claims, but our right to receive the
land west of the mountains
was plainly a right of conquest.
Before going into the events of the war
it will be well to
review the situation at its opening.
Fort Pitt, at the head of
the Ohio Valley, was in the hands of the
Americans; Detroit
and other lake posts, in the hands of
the British. In the northern
side of the Ohio Valley there were
practically no English set-
tlements. On the Mississippi, at
Kaskaskia and Cohokia, and at
Vincennes on the Wabash were French
communities now under
English control. In Eastern Ohio a few
Moravian Mission-
aries lived with Christian Indians in
the Tuscarawas Valley.
With a few such exceptions the control
of the red-man was un-
disturbed from Fort Pitt to the
Mississippi. Delawares, Shaw-
nees, Miamis and the Wabash tribes
bordered on the Ohio, while
Wyandots and others lived north of them
along the Erie water-
shed. Indian territories were always
vaguely bounded and over-
lapping, but the country directly south
of the Ohio was not
claimed by any one tribe. It was a rich
hunting ground, a great
buffalo pasture, and was used in common
by tribes to the north
and south. The southern side of the
valley of the Tennessee
river was the home of the Cherokee
tribes, who during the
Revolution and long after made
precarious the life of the pioneers
of Tennessee and Kentucky. On the west
side of the Missis-
sippi, a little above the mouth of the
Ohio, stood the Spanish-
French town of St. Louis, and further
south on the east side
was Natchez, in control of the English.
5 Poole, p. 715.
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 43
In all the years of the war the Indians,
with the exception
of tribes temporarily subdued, were on
the side of the British.
The reasons are many and plain to see.
In the first place, the
tribes of the Mississippi Valley had
been for generations the
allies of the French and with the French
had passed under
English influence. Second, the
Proclamation of 1763 had con-
vinced them that the English intentions
were friendly to them.
Third, the English and the French of
Canada came into the
Indian country only as hunters and
traders, while the Amer-
icans all the way from the Green
Mountains to King's Moun-
tain were pushing into their hunting
grounds to settle and despoil.
And last, and perhaps most potent of
all, the English adopted
the plan of enlisting these savage
warriors in their behalf and
sending forth the scalping knife and
tomahawk against the
frontier settlements. 6The American used
savage allies some-
times, also, but knew the horrors of
savage warfare too well to
employ them extensively.7
The undertakings of the British in the
Ohio Valley were
to send expeditions of Indians and white
rangers from Detroit
southward with these purposes in view;
to secure and hold the
Illinois country, to attack and drive
settlers out of the Kentucky
country and to cut off communication by
the Ohio between
Fort Pitt and New Orleans. On the
southern side of the val-
ley the Indians were incited against the
whites of Tennessee
and Kentucky in the hope of destroying
settlements and also to
prevent any aid going from the
mountaineers to the men of the
coast.
The work of the Americans in the valley
was threefold.
First, some few operations, conducted by
militia or continental
forces, from Fort Pitt; second, a steady
battling against the
Indian allies of England by the
backwoodsmen of Kentucky,
Tennessee and Western Virginia; third,
the campaigns of George
Rogers Clark, who was backed by Virginia
and the backwoods-
men, which secured the Illinois country,
kept the Ohio under
American control and seriously
threatened Detroit.
6 Roosevelt I, p. 276-280. Hinsdale, p.
149.
7 Winsor,
p. 87.
44
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
As there was no extended or continuously
pursued plan of
war in the Ohio Valley, the only way to
relate the facts will
be to take them year by year, indicating
the important move-
ments as they come in order. One of the
most famous Indian
wars in our annals, Lord Dunmore's war,
began while the
Quebec Act was still under discussion
and ended in the Battle
of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the
Great Kanawha, after
the Continental Congress was in session
in the fall of 1774.
This cannot properly be called a part of
the Revolution, but has
such important bearings on later events
that it must be reviewed.
It was conducted by a royal governor of
Virginia and yet was
in defence of Virginians who had gone
beyond the sources of
eastward flowing rivers into the land
forbidden them by the
Proclamation of 1763. This advance of
the whites into the
land south of the Ohio was viewed with
hostile eyes by the
Northwest Indians, the Shawnees and
Mingoes in particular.
Trouble had been brewing for a long time
and Virginia had
found it wise to keep a considerable
force upon the frontier.
Finally, the unwarranted murder of the
people of Logan, a Mingo
Chief, heretofore friendly to the
whites, fired him and soon the
natives of Southeastern Ohio were on the
war path under the
lead of Cornstalk, one of the bravest
and best of his kind. Lord
Dunmore himself took to the field,
having one Andrew Lewis
as second in command.
Dunmore at once took the offensive,
going down the Ohio
to Hockhocking and thence across country
to the vicinity of the
Indian town of Chillicothe. His
instructions to Lewis were to
join him there, but Cornstalk ferried
about a thousand war-
riors across the Ohio and engaged the
force of Lewis on the
south shore at the mouth of the Great
Kanawha. There fol-
lowed "the most closely contested
of any battle ever fought with
the northwest Indians" and one of
the most decisive victories for
the whites. The spirit of the Indians
was completely broken
and Cornstalk and his fellow chiefs went
to Dunmore's camp
and made a treaty which restored all
prisoners and gave up all
claims to land south of the Ohio.
In this war figured many who were to be
the leaders in the
campaigns we are to study. Clark and
Simon Kenton were
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 45
with Dunmore; Boone was in charge of
some of the forts, and
with Lewis, whose force was chiefly of
backwoodsmen, some
of whom had come all the way from the
Watauga settlements,
were the Shelbys, father and son, and
Sevier and Robertson.
Before going to their homes the officers
met and passed reso-
lutions in which they professed their
devotion to the king and
the British empire, but extended their
sympathy to the people
of Boston and to the Continental
Congress. They gave assur-
ance that, although for three months in
the wilderness they had
no news of how the struggle for American
liberty was progress-
ing, they were not indifferent to the
cause and called attention
to the endurance and fighting ability of
their troops.8
Into the much disputed question of
Dunmore's motives and
intentions we may not enter here, but
the outcome of the war,
by securing quiet and occasional
alliances of the Northwest In-
dians for the next two years, made safe
the navigation of the
Ohio and opened the way to the
settlement of Kentucky and
thus to the establishment of an Ohio
River garrison of "Long
Knives," as the Indians called the
Virginians, and leads us to
believe that but for Dunmore's war, the
treaty of 1783 might
have left the colonies with the
Alleghanies as their western
boundary.9
In the spring of 1775 the systematic
movement forward
into the valleys of the Kentucky rivers
began. The most pre-
tentious undertaking was that of Colonel
Richard Henderson of
Virginia, who, early in March in the
Watauga Valley made a
treaty with the Cherokees in the
presence of full twelve hundred
of their tribe by which he acquired
their title to land between
the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers.10
Henderson's plan was to establish a
feudal or proprietary
state of Transylvania but the plan did
not take with the pioneers
and was declared against by the
governments of Virginia and
North Carolina and his state never
materialized. But settlers
went into the land and protected now by
treaties with both
northern and southern Indians Kentucky
had a rapid growth.
8Roosevelt
I, p. 240.
9 Roosevelt I, p. 239.
10 Winsor, p. 83.
46 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Under warrant from Henderson, Boone
blazed a trail from the
Holston and Watauga valleys through the
Cumberland Gap to
the valley of the Kentucky -
"Boone's Trace" or "the Wilder-
ness Road," which became the great
highway from Virginia and
Carolina into the Ohio country.
In June, 1775, the Continental Congress,
among its other
preparation for the war already begun,
arranged three Indian
departments: the northern, embodying the
Six Nations and other
northern tribes; the southern, including
the Cherokees and others
in the south; and the middle which
centered at Pittsburg. Com-
missioners were appointed to treat with
the tribes and counter-
act the influence of the royalists. The
same year Colonel Henry
Hamilton was put in charge of the
British post at Detroit. He
was under orders from the London war
office to enlist the
savages and personally was strongly in
favor of the plan. In
the south John Stuart, who had long
served as agent among the
Southern tribes, received fresh
instructions. Thus at the open-
ing of the war both sides saw the
importance of Indian alliances.
Hamilton began actively sending out war
belts and calling
councils, but through memories of the
battle of the Great Kanawha
and the influence of Zeisberger, the
Moravian missionary, in the
Ohio country, the northwest tribes
maintained neutrality through
the year 1776. Stuart was more
successful and early in June
the whole Cherokee nation was on the
warpath. With this war
as it affected the southern and seaboard
colonies, we have noth-
ing to do, except to note that the
Cherokees were generally de-
feated, but the Watauga and Holston
settlements, the southeast
border land of the Ohio Valley, were
attacked and their gallant
defense under the lead of Robertson and
Sevier marks one more
step by which the whole Ohio Valley
became American terri-
tory. These settlements were at the head
of the Wilderness
Road, and had they been annihilated
Kentucky would have been
open to attack and probably have been
abandoned. The Chero-
kees made little trouble for several
years after this and by that
time the southern side of the Ohio
country was strong enough
to take care of itself.
The year 1777 was a dark one for the
Americans of the
frontier. Hamilton, by means of war
talks and council fires,
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 47
gifts of arms, firewater and trinkets,
had established his influence
among the northwest Indians. He won the
title of "hair-buyer"
among the backwoodsmen and there is
certain evidence that
scalps were paid for at Detroit.1l
Tories of the border flocked
to that post and MeKee, Eliot and Girty,
fleeing thither from
Pittsburgh, became leaders of bands of
white rangers and Indians
which Hamilton was organizing. The most
notable attack of
the year was made in September at
Wheeling, then called Fort
Henry. About three hundred Indians with
some Detroit Rangers,
flying the British colors, attacked the
stockade. Many of the
men were lured out by stratagem and
slain, but those left, with
the help of the women, repelled the
attack. This fight is famed
for the exploit of Major Samuel
McCulloch, who rode his old
grey horse down a three hundred foot
precipice, the only way to
evade the savages and reach his friends
in Fort Henry. A hill
above Wheeling is still known as
McCulloch's Leap.
Fortunately for Kentucky, Hamilton seems
not to have real-
ized the importance of the settlements
there and most of the
efforts of the year were directed
against the region of Fort
Pitt. Small bands of Indians, however,
crossed the Ohio and
fell again and again on the Kentucky
forts. The backwoodsmen,
though they and their families were in
constant peril, held
tenaciously to their ground, once during
the year encouraged
by the men of the Holston settlements
who marched north to
help their neighbors. But the dangers
about Pittsburg com-
pelled Hand, in command there, to call
in some of his outposts
and that, with the news of Washington's
loss of Philadelphia, left
the trans-Alleghany pioneers very much
alone in their struggle.
Early in 1778 the Kentuckians were
weakened by the loss
of Daniel Boone, who was captured with a
party who had gone
to the Blue Licks to make salt for the
garrisons. He was taken
by the Indians to Detroit where he was
well treated by Hamilton,
who offered to ransom him. But the
Indians liked him, refused
to give him up, and took him back to
Chillicothe and adopted
him into their tribe. Here he remained
some months, but in
June war parties of British and Indians
began to gather, and
finding his own village of Boonsborough
was to be the object
11 Roosevelt II, p. 3.
48 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
of attack Boone managed to escape, and
taking a bee line through
the forests, reached home in four days,
having traveled one
hundred and sixty miles and had one meal
on the way. So
fearful were the settlers of traitors
even among their best, that
Boone was at once tried by court martial
for the capture at the
Blue Licks, 12but was
acquitted, made a major and became the
leader of the defense. Boonsborough was
strengthened and then
impatient waiting, in August, Boone led
a foray across the Ohio,
but learning a great force of Miamis was
on its way south made
a race with them for Boonsborough and
got there in time to
call in the people and successfully
defend the fort. This makes
the last serious troubles the people of
that part of Kentucky
had, but the doings of the border in the
years following, the
dangers and the darings, in which Daniel
Boone and Simon
Kenton were chief actors, would fill
many a chapter and have
made them the center of gathering
traditions which in an earlier
age would have grown into a national
epic like the Cid, or the
Story of King Arthur and knights of the
Round Table.
Mention has been made of George Rogers
Clark in Lord
Dunmore's war. He was a Virginian who
explored in the Ken-
tucky country in 1775, and in 1776 had
finally cast his lot with
the backwoodsmen. By that time
Henderson's claims as a pro-
prietary ruler were fading and at the
suggestion of Clark the
settlers gathered at Harrodstown in June
and chose two dele-
gates, one of whom was Clark, to go to
Williamsburg, the cap-
ital of Virginia. They carried a
petition asking that Kentucky
be organized as a county of that state
and promising that its
people would do their part in the
struggle in which all Ameri-
cans were engaged. The journey was
accomplished after much
suffering and danger and the petition
presented. Clark's re-
quest for five hundred pounds of
gun-powder, of which the set-
tlements were in great need, was refused
at first, but granted
when Clark announced that Kentucky would
have to assume her
independence if she had to bear her
burdens alone. The powder
wast taken safely down the Ohio to
Kentucky and the next ses-
sion of the Virginia legislature
organized the county of Ken-
tucky.
12 Roosevelt II, p. 21.
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 49
But the work of Clark had only begun.
While aiding in
repelling Indian attacks of 1777 he
conceived the desirability
of a forward movement by the colonists
and with that idea in
mind sent two young men as spies
northward to find out the
strength of the British posts in the
French towns of the Illinois
country and to ascertain the temper of
the French inhabitants.
His emissaries reported small garrisons
and but little interest
in the struggles on the part of the
French, who were much
impressed by the stories of the prowess
of the backwoodsmen.13
Knowing that the Kentuckians could not
furnish a sufficient
force to leave their homes for this
offensive movement, Clark
went to Virginia, in the fall of 1777,
journeying over the Wil-
derness Road, the shortest and safest
way. The news of Bur-
goyne's surrender had reached
Williamsburg and Clark went
with patriotic enthusiasm to lay his
plans before Governor Pat-
rick Henry. The governor was responsive enough, but Vir-
ginia was exhausted. The matter could not be publicly dis-
cussed and volunteer contributions
secured and all that Henry
could do was to authorize Clark to raise
seven companies of
fifty men each, to act and be paid as
militia. Some money was
advanced and he was given on order for
boats and supplies at
Pittsburg. Three Virginians, Jefferson,
Mason and Wythe, gave
him their written promise to try to
persuade the Virginia Leg-
islature to give each of his men three
hundred acres of the
conquered land, should they be
succcessful. The open instruc-
tions of the governor ordered Clark to
the relief of Kentucky,
a secret letter bade him attack the
Illinois region. So, it will
be seen, success or failure of the
expedition rested solely on
Clark as an individual.
Great difficulty was experienced in
enlisting men, but by
May, 1778, he had secured four companies
in Western Virginia
and started down the Monongahela to
Pittsburg with a hun-
dred and fifty men, and some other
adventurers and settlers with
13 Roosevelt II, p. 33. For the events
of this campaign and the others,
I follow largely Winsor and Roosevelt,
both of whom, but particularly the
latter, give exact references to original
sources, the Haldimand MSS, State
Department MSS., and so forth, which it
has been impossible for me to
verify.
Vol. XIV-4.
50 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
their families. At Pittsburg and
Wheeling he got his supplies
and then the rude flat boats started on
their long and dangerous
journey down the Ohio. A landing was
made at the Falls of
the Ohio on May 27th. Most of
the families moved off into
the interior of Kentucky, but a few
settled near the falls and
made the nucleus of that city which was
later given the name
of the King of France, whose alliance
with the colonies Clark
first heard of at that time and place.
Here some Kentuckians,
Kenton among them, joined him, and a
company from the Hol-
ston. When Clark announced his plan
there were some mur-
murings and most of the Holston men
deserted. He then weeded
out all weakly men and on June 24th
his boats shots the rapids
bearing less than two hundred men, all
told, none of the four
companies being up to its full strength
of fifty.
Of the well known story of this
campaign, which reads
like a mediaeval romance, only the most
salient facts can be given
in this paper. Fearing interference on
the Mississippi, Clark
left his boats a little below the mouth
of the Tennessee, and the
expedition marched overland to
Kaskaskia, guided by a party
of American hunters who had just come
from the French set-
tlements. Clark got valuable information
from the hunters, and
convinced that he could take Kaskaskia
only by a surprise at-
tack, he led his army forward with all
the stealth of Indians.
The final advance upon the town was made
after dark. The
fort was found gaily lighted, a post
ball being in progress
and everybody was off guard. Clark was
himself inside the
fort quietly watching the dance before
the alarm was given by
an Indian who saw the strange face in
the flickering torch light.
In the confusion that followed with what
grim humor Clark
bade them go on with the dance, but to
remember that it was
now under the flag of Virginia, not of
England!
The town was easily secured and the
French passed a night
of abject terror, for the appearance of
the backwoodsmen was
quite in keeping with the tales they had
heard of their strength
and brutality. When morning came the
chief inhabitants came
humbly asking the dear boon of life.
Then Clark showed him-
self a master diplomatist as well as a
keen warrior. He told
them he came not to enslave, but to set
them free; told of the al-
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 51
liance between the French government and
his nation and when
questioned by the priest, Gibault, as to
whether the Catholic
church could be opened, made his master
stroke by saying that
under the laws of his Republic one
religion had as much pro-
tection as another. The mercurial
spirits of the French rose and
all went home to rejoice after taking
the oath of allegiance, while
Gibault became from that time on a
useful champion of the
American cause.
The news of what had happened at
Kaskaskia brought the
immediate submission of Cahokia, to
which town Clark sent a
small force of his men with some French
volunteers. Gibault
on his own motion went to Vincennes and
secured its adherence
by his own arts of persuasion. Thus with
practically no fighting
Illinois passed into American control.
But the real difficulties of Clark's
undertaking now began.
He was in the midst of a great savage
country with only a
handful of men and no near base of
supplies and reinforce-
ment. The French of the villages were
his friends and he found
sympathy in the Spanish posts across the
Mississippi, but the
attitude of the Indians was still
unsettled and a force might be
sent against him from Detroit at any
time. Moreover, the time
of enlistment of his men expired and
only about one hundred
re-enlisted, though a few young
Frenchmen filled up the com-
panies. Crowds of Indians, representing
all the tribes of the
Northwest, began to gather at Cahokia to
hear what had hap-
pened. There went on days of
"talk," of negotiation, of con-
ciliation and cajolery, during which
Clark had to keep every
sense alive to guard against sudden
stealth and cunning. But
he understood Indian character perfectly
and finally in speeches
of real Indian imagery convinced the
gathered hordes of his
power and that of the people he
represented, as well as of their
good intentions toward the redmen. A
solemn peace treaty
was entered into with full Indian
ceremonies and the safety
of the American garrison then secured.
Clark was ever after
a great figure in the Indian minds and
it was reported that in
later wars they would treat with no
other American officer if
Clark was present.14
14Roosevelt I, p. 57.
52
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Hamilton at Detroit was planning an
expedition against Fort
Pitt when news of Clark's expedition
reached him, and he im-
mediately gave up that enterprise to go
to the Illinois country.
The Indians near at hand were rallied
and the posts on Lake
Michigan notified to stir up their
savages. An expedition was
promptly prepared at Detroit and in
October (1778) started
down the river for Vincennes. From Lake
Erie they rowed
up the Maumee, then had a nine-mile
carry to the Wabash, the
water of which led directly to
Vincennes. Hamilton went in
person and had in his commands only one
hundred and seventy-
seven whites, but gathering Indians as
he went secured a force
of about five hundred. It was a hard
journey and Hamilton
gained opinions as to the difficulties
of the Illinois country
which did Clark good service the
following winter. The Amer-
ican force was so small that Clark had
not dared divide it, and
Captain Helm, whom he put in command at
Vincennes had only
a handful of men. Scouts sent out by
Helm were captured, so
news of Hamilton's approach did not
reach him and the town
passed easily into English hands on
December 17th.
The British commander now felt perfectly
secure, for spies
had told him that Clark had but one
hundred and ten men, and,
besides, the route from Kaskaskia was
one of the great difficulty
in winter. If he had moved on at once it
would seem that he
might easily have crushed Clark, whose
base of supplies at
Fort Pitt was really cut off, while his
own was comparatively
accessible. But he dreaded a winter
campaign and settled down
to wait for spring.
When Clark learned through Francis Vigo,
an Italian trader,
that Hamilton had only eighty men in his
garrison and that he
planned to gather a great force to
overrun the country in the
spring, the terrors of winter weather
and swampy wilderness
faded away from before the Americans and
preparations were
at once begun for retaking Vincennes. An
armed row-boat was
sent down to the Ohio to watch the mouth
of the Wabash. The
French came gladly to his aid and young
men volunteered until
he was able to march out of Kaskaskia on
February 7th (1779)
with a force of one hundred and seventy.
The march of two
hundred and forty miles was accomplished
against ordinarily
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 53
insuperable obstacles. Cold and hunger
were expected difficulties,
but to this march was added the
necessity of moving forward
over plains flooded with ice-cold water,
often to a man's waist,
and sometimes deeper. Canoes or dug-outs
were built to carry
the weaker men and scanty baggage and
occasionally the whole
force was ferried where the water was
over head in depth. It
took all of Clark's ingenuity to keep
his men alive, to keep up
their spirits and prevent desertions.
But he succeeded, and sur-
prising Hamilton completely, secured
Vincennes after a very
little fighting, and the whole garrison
of seventy-nine men, in-
cluding Hamilton, as prisoners of war. A
valuable load of sup-
plies and goods of all sorts on its way
from Detroit, was cap-
tured just above Vincennes and
distributed among the soldiers,
who were gladdened at the same time by
messengers from the
Virginia government bringing thanks and
promises of pay.
The Americans were now in complete
control of the Illinois
country and all the Indians of the
region were neutral through
the rest of the war. Then French and
Spanish across the river
were Clark's enthusiastic friends. Virginia shortly organized
the new territory as a county with John
Todd as County Lieu-
tenant. The great trouble now for both
Clark and Todd was
to secure funds with which to take care
of their charge. Pollock,
an American trader at New Orleans, and
Francis Vigo stepped
in here and honored Clark's drafts again
and again.15 The Ohio
River was now perfectly safe, and before
the summer of 1779
was over the Spanish from New Orleans
took Natchez and
supply boats could pass from Fort Pitt
to New Orleans and
back. Toward the end of the year Clark himself
took up his
post at the Falls of the Ohio where he
might serve as a shield
to both Kentucky and the Illinois
country and from which point
he hoped to be able to move against
Detroit. Clark's great ser-
vices to his country end here, but
probably no single man ever
did so much on his own personal
responsibility to enlarge the
territory of the United States as he had
done.
The same season of Clark's campaign in
Illinois, 1778, the
Congress and Washington had decided to
strengthen the forces
at Fort Pitt, and General McIntosh was
sent to take charge.
15Hinsdale, p. 155. Winsor, p. 131.
54
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
With an enlarged army of Continentals
and militia, he was to
move across country against Detroit. The
start was made, but
McIntosh moved with such caution and
built forts with such
care that winter set in when he had
advanced only to the Upper
Muskingum valley. He left a small force
to hold that post,
retired to Pittsburg, and sent his
militia home.
The year 1779 saw some trouble for the
Kentucky settle-
ments, but Clark's work disorganized
their foes and two great
streams of emigrants poured into the
territory, one by the
Wilderness Road and one down the Ohio.
It was this year that
James Robertson, of Watauga fame, went
to the Kentucky River
by the Wilderness Road, and then struck
across to the great
bend in the Cumberland, where he made
ready for a large party
of his friends under Donelson, the
father of the future Mrs.
Andrew Jackson. Donelson's party, his
daughter among them,
came by water all the way down the
Tennessee to the Ohio, and
thence up the Cumberlanl. It was a
perilous undertaking, but
was really no part of the war except
that each advancing colony
made more secure the claims that America
could make to trans-
Alleghany territory.
In May of 1779 Indian forays stirred up
the Kentuckians,
and a party of about one hundred under
John Bowman, a county
lieutenant--for Kentucky was now divided
into several coun-
ties - went against Chillicothe. The
town was burned by the
Indians, who rallied and drove off the
whites. It was a humil-
iating defeat, but it had a disastrous
effect upon an army just
starting from Detroit, under Captain
Henry Bird. His entire
force of Indians fled from him,
panic-stricken, when they heard
of the attack on Chillicothe, and
Kentucky was spared an attack.
In 1780, DePeyster, a New York tory,
took command at
Detroit, and a determined and systematic
attack on the Amer-
ican positions was begun. Efforts were
made to send bands
against Vincennes and against Clark at
the Falls, but the Indians
of the region were now hard to rouse
against the Americans, and
made most uncertain allies. In May, a
force of six or seven
hundred Indians and a few Canadians
started for the Ohio,
aimed against the villages of Kentucky,
where DePeyster cor-
rectly thought was the strongest hold of
the Americans on the
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 55
Ohio Valley. Bird was in command again,
and this time suc-
ceeded in passing down the Miami,
crossing the Ohio and taking
two small stockades near the Licking
River. Satisfied with this,
he began his retreat to Detroit, but his
Indians became unruly
and stole and plundered, and he could
not even get his little
cannon back to Detroit.
Stirred up by this small British
adventure, Clark, disguised
as an Indian to prevent attack by
strolling savages, hurried
through the forest to the panic-stricken
Kentucky settlements.
Many recent arrivals were all ready to
flee the country, but
Clark sent a force to drive them back
from the Wilderness Road,
and, appointing the mouth of the Licking
as a rendezvous, pre-
pared for a counter foray. About nine
hundred men responded
to his call. They went up the Ohio some
distance, crossed it,
and marched against old Chillicothe.
That town had been de-
serted, but a Piqua town, containing
Girty and several hundred
Indians, was attacked. Clark's party was
successful, drove out
the Indians and destroyed their
property, and seized the stores
of some British traders. There was no
more trouble in 1780.
In the winter of 1780-1781, Clark went
to Virginia to se-
cure forces and supplies for an attack
on Detroit. Jefferson,
their governor, did all in his power,
and both men appealed to
Washington. The commander-in-chief had
more work than he
could take care of as it was, and could
only instruct Colonel
Brodhead, at Fort Pitt, to do what he
could to help Clark. The
latter was empowered to raise troops,
but went up and down the
Ohio from Fort Pitt to the Falls and to
Illinois, without getting
a sufficient response. One small party
of Pennsylvanians, com-
ing down the Ohio to join him, was
attacked by a force of In-
dians under the famous Joseph Brant, and
all killed or captured.
The news of Clark's intended attack on
Detroit caused the col-
lection of war bands to oppose him. One
under McKee and
Brant attained considerable size, but
fell to pieces when they
heard Clark had abandoned his plan, and
only some small forays
took place.
The surrender of Cornwallis, in October,
1781, did not
bring quiet to the frontier. The winter
following witnessed the
wanton massacre of the Moravian Indians,
by a party from Fort
56 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Pitt. The Moravians had been neutral all
through the war, but
between two fires, and suspected by
their brother Indians and the
Americans. It is a dark page in our
annals, but cannot detain us
here. The following spring a force of
Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia militia was sent against Sandusky,
was worsted, and re-
treated with considerable loss. Some of
the men had shared in
the Moravian massacre, and captives were
put to death by the
Indians with peculiar torture; the chief
sufferer, Colonel Craw-
ford was, however, innocent of that
crime.
The summer of 1782 was almost a
repetition of that of 1781.
Caldwell and McKee started from Detroit
with some rangers,
and speedily gathered over a thousand Indians,
the largest force
west of the Alleghanies during the
Revolution. They planned
an attack on Wheeling, but turned aside
because of a rumor that
Clark was intending to attack the
Shawnee towns.16 Finding
it was a false alarm many of the Indians
deserted, but three or
four hundred were retained, and with
them the Ohio was crossed
and an attack made on the forts in
Fayette County, between the
Ohio and Kentucky Rivers, then the
feeblest and most exposed
part of Kentucky. Several stations were
destroyed, and the
party began a leisurely retreat to the
Blue Licks, where they
were overtaken by a hastily-gathered
force of backwoodsmen.
Boone was with them, and advised that an
attack be postponed
until other troops known to be on the
way could come up. But
rasher councils prevailed, and an attack
made, which ended in a
wild rout of the whites. "He that
could remount a horse was
well off; he that could not had no time
for delay."17 This battle
of the Blue Licks was the bloodiest
Kentucky had known.
Clark was once more roused, and
gathering forces at the
mouth of the Licking, as before, started
up the Miami Valley
in November, 1782, with one thousand and fifty mounted rifle-
men. The Indians fell back before this
force - towns and sup-
plies were destroyed. McKee tried to
come to the aid of his
Indian friends, but his forces were
scattered; Clark's dream
might also have been realized, for McKee
wrote that the severity
16 Roosevelt II, p. 188.
17 Levi Todd's Letter, Roosevelt II, p.
203.
Campaign's of the Revolution,
Etc. 57
of the blow left the road open to
Detroit.l8 But the war went
no further. By the opening of 1783 the
news of peace reached
the frontier, and the campaigns of the
Revolution were over.
Just what had been accomplished by the
war in the West
can be briefly summarized: (1) The
advance of settlers to the
south side of the upper Ohio, and into
the Watauga Valley, gave
the colonists a footing west of the
mountains. (2) These set-
tlements made necessary the battle of
the Great Kanawha, in
1774, and the defeat of the Shawnees
there opened the Ohio
River as a route to the Kentucky
valleys. (3) The treaty of
Henderson and Boone, in 1775, and the
settlements made by
them established a hold on the Kentucky
country. (4) The
success of the Watauga men over the
Cherokees, in 1776, made
their own position permanent and placed
a barrier between Ken-
tucky and the South. (5) In 1778 Clark's
conquest was in
itself the greatest advance made and
besides cleared the northern
horizon so that, (6) the growth of
Kentucky increased, and in
1779, especially, a new frontier was
established by Robertson
and his company in the Cumberland
Valley.
It is well said that the last contest
for the Western country
was the diplomatic battle fought by John
Jay, at Paris. Though
France and Spain had been our allies
during the war there was
nothing that either of them desired less
than a free republic,
extending from the Atlantic to the
Mississippi. In the negotia-
tions that took place it was fortunate
that the American Com-
missioners had a liberal English
ministry to treat with, rather
than that of Lord North. It was a help
to their claims that a
shadow of a right to the Western lands
had come down from
the old charters, but the weight of
argument rested upon the
actual conquest and occupation of the
country asked for. As
Livingston wrote to Franklin, in
January, 1782, "This extension
to the Mississippi is founded on
justice, and our claims are at
least such as the events of the war give
us a right to insist
upon," while the settlements in the
West "render a relinquish-
ment of the claim highly impolitic and
unjust."19 Even France
18Roosevelt II, p. 209.
19Winsor, p. 209.
58
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and Spain recognized the right that lies
in possession, and one
line was proposed by them, which would
have given to the
Republic the territory that had actually
been settled by her peo-
ple.20 What the United States
really got was only what had
been conquered, for, though the treaty
of 1783 gave the Great
Lakes and Florida as the northern and
southern boundaries, it
took a good many years and at least one
treaty more to obtain
actual possession of it all. So the
first result of the campaigns
in the Ohio Valley was unquestionably
the acquisition of that
valley by the United States.
Further, this acquisition made sure the
future growth of the
territory. Count d'Aranda, the Spanish
commissioner at Paris,
"predicted the enormous expansion
of the Federal Republic at
the expense of Florida, Louisiana and
Mexico, unless effectually
curbed in its youth."21 His prediction has been more than ful-
filled. The possession of half the
Mississippi Valley made essen-
tial the control of its mouth, hence the
Louisiana purchase. The
holding of the interior gave a need for
the gulf coast, and we
acquired Florida.
These campaigns were carried on chiefly
by men who were
coming into the land to possess it, and
each advancing victory
drew after it a fresh wave of
immigration; colonization and con-
quest, mutually cause and effect. But
the stress of danger
brought forth united action of the
frontiersmen, and developed
a feeling of common interest which drew
them together under
some form of civil regulations; whereas,
in less stirring times
they might have remained much longer
free bands of hunters
and woodsmen, and the civilization and
growth of the interior
been much delayed.
The acquisition of the western lands
appeared at first as an
enormous advantage to certain States
holding the ancient char-
ters, but when their titles were
quit-claimed to the United States
a national domain was created, interest
in which and care of
which did a great deal to hold the
States together in the perilous
days of the Confederation and to lead to
the stronger union of
the Constitution.
20 Hinsdale, p. 176. Map opposite p.
180.
21 Roosevelt II, p. 376.
Campaigns of the Revolution,
Etc. 59
Furthermore, at the close of the war, a
vast immigration
into the new lands began. Some came to
redeem soldiers' boun-
ties, some from ruined homes along the
coast sought to renew
their fortunes in the rich soil of these
river valleys. New sources
of wealth were opened up and the
opportunities of the great
West drew to our shores throngs of
Europeans to multiply our
population and add to our wealth and
power.
Finally, it may not be going too far to
say that this Ohio
Valley conquest developed a race of
pioneers who have formed
the forward moving element all through
our history. Pioneers
are men who keep ahead of civilization
as long as there is a
wilderness to conquer, and then turn to
subdue the evils that
grow out of civilization itself. Daniel
Boone died west of the
Mississippi, still pursuing the
wilderness; Andrew Jackson was
a product of East Tennessee in
Revolutionary times, while his
wife, the daughter of Donelson, went to
the Cumberland Valley
with her father in 1779; the younger
brother of Clark shares
with Lewis the credit for the
exploration of the Oregon country,
and Sam Houston, a product of the
Tennessee frontier, was the
founder of the United States power in
Texas. As the first back-
woodsmen went forward and took the land
in the face of British
and Indians, so it has been their sons
or the inheritors of their
spirit who have led the advance of the
United States all the way
to the Pacific. And Lincoln, "the
first American," was essen-
tially a backwoods product, whose
pioneer instinct turned back
to destroy the weeds of human slavery
and in the tangles of
State and party enmity to prepare the
way, to make straight the
paths, for a new and greater nation than
the world had yet
known.
Principal authorities for the facts
related in the foregoing Article:
Hinsdale - The Old Northwest. Winsor - The Westward
Movement.
Roosevelt - The
Winning of the West. Poole -The West, in Narrative
and Critical History of America, Vol.
VI, Chap. IX. Jay -The Treaty
of 1783 in Narrative and Critical
History. English - Conquest of the
Country Northwest of the Ohio River. Fiske
- American Revolution.
Fiske--Critical Period of American History.