with a party of horse, reached Post Vincennes in four days, where the whole safely arrived in a short time after.

"Instead of three hundred men from Kentucky, there appeared about thirty volunteers, commanded by Capt. McGary. The loss of the expedition was too obvious to hesitate about it. Colonel [John] Bowman had turned his attention against the Shawanee towns, and got repulsed, and his men discouraged.

"The business, from the first, had been so conducted as to make no disadvantageous impression on the enemy in case of a disappointment—as they could never know whether we really had a design on Detroit, or only a finesse to amuse them, which latter would appear probable. Arranging things to the best advantage was now my principal study. The troops were divided between Post Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and the Falls of Ohio. Colonel Montgomery was appointed to the command of the Illinois; Major Bowman to superintend the recruiting business; a number of officers were appointed to that service; and myself to take up my quarters at the falls, as the most convenient spot to have an eye over the whole."

Thus closes the detail of Colonel Clark's memorable expedition against the towns of Kaskaskia and Vincennes.

During the course of the years 1779 and 1780, a considerable number of emigrants from the interior of Virginia, and from other States, were added to the white population on the borders of the river Ohio.* Among the circumstances which combined to swell this tide of emigration, the most important were, the achievements of Colonel Clark in the west-the temporary triumph of the British arms in some of the southern Statesand the munificent spirit in which the government of Virginia invited families to take possession of the rich unoccupied lands claimed by that State, in the regions west of the Allegheny mountains.

The great dangers to which the first English settlers in those regions were exposed, seemed to be rapidly passing away. Many of the French inhabitants of Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Cahokia, had taken the oath of allegiance to the State

*Three hundred large "family boats" arrived at the Falls of the Ohio, in the spring of 1780.-BUTLER'S KENTUCKY, p. 99.

of Virginia, and, notwithstanding the warfare that was carried on between the hostile Indian tribes and the white settlers on the borders of the Ohio, some of the chief men of a few western tribes had expressed sentiments of friendship for the government of the United States.

In the spring of the year 1779, Colonel John Todd, who bore the commission of County Lieutenant for the county of Illinois, visited the old settlements at Vincennes and Kaskaskia, for the purpose of organizing, among the inhabitants of those places, forms of temporary government, according to the provisions of the act of the General Assembly of Virginia, of October, 1778. On the 15th of June, 1779, the following proclamation, concerning the settlement and titles of lands on the borders of the rivers Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and Wabash, was published by Colonel Todd:

"ILLINOIS [COUNTY] TO WIT"Whereas, from the fertility and beautiful situation of the lands bordering upon the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and Wabash rivers, the taking up of the usual quantity of land heretofore allowed for a settlement by the government of Virginia, would injure both the strength and commerce of this country: I do, therefore, issue this proclamation, strictly enjoining all persons whatsoever from making any new settlements upon the flat lands of the said rivers, or within one league of said lands, unless in manner and form of settlements as heretofore made by the French inhabitants, until further orders herein given. And, in order that all the claims to lands in said county may be fully known, and some method provided for perpetuating, by record, the just claims, every inhabitant is required, as soon as conveniently may be, to lay before the person, in each district, appointed for that purpose, a memorandum of his or her land, with copies of all their vouchers; and where vouchers have never been given, or are lost, such depositions or certificates as will tend to support their claims:-the memorandum to mention the quantity of land, to whom originally granted, and when, -deducing the title through the various occupants to the present possessor. The number of adventurers who will shortly overrun this country, renders the above method necessary, as well to ascertain the vacant lands, as to guard against trespasses which will probably be committed on lands not on record. Given under my hand and seal, at Kaskaskia, the 15th of June, in the third year of the commonwealth, 1779. JOHN TODD, JR."

For the preservation of peace, and the administration of justice, a court of civil and criminal jurisdiction was organized, at Vincennes, in the month of June, 1779. The court was composed of several magistrates. Colonel J. M. P. Legras, who had received the appointment of "commandant at Post Vincennes," acted as president of this new court; and, in some instances, exercised a controlling influence over its proceedings. Adopting, in some measure, the usages and customs of the early commandants of French posts in the west, the magistrates of the court of Post Vincennes began to grant tracts of land to the French and American inhabitants of the town, and to different officers, civil and military, of the country. It seems, indeed, that the court assumed the power of granting lands to every applicant; and, before the year 1783, about twenty-six thousand acres of land were granted to individual applicants. From the year 1783 to the time when, in 1787, the practice was prohibited by General Harmar, the quantity of land granted to individuals, by the court of Vincennes, amounted to twenty-two thousand acres. These lands were granted in tracts "varying in quantities from four hundred acres to the size of a house-lot." But, besides the granting of these small tracts, the court of Post Vincennes attempted to dispose of a large district of country. The commandant, and the magistrates over whom he presided, after having, for some time, exercised the power of giving away the lands in that quarter, finally adopted the opinion that they were invested with authority to dispose of the whole of that large region which had, it seems, in 1742, been granted, by the Piankeshaw Indians, to the French inhabitants of Post Vincennes, for their use. "Accordingly, an arrangement was made, by which the whole country, to which the Indian title was supposed to be extinguished, was divided between the members of the court, and orders to that effect entered on their journal-each member absenting himself from the court on the day that the order was to be made in his favor, so that it might appear to be the act of his fellows only."†

In the month of July, 1779, two Piankeshaw chiefs, who were called Tabac, (or Tobacco's son,) and Grand Cornet,

*Letter, written in 1790, from Winthrop Sargent to George Washington. Letter from Gov. Harrison to James Madison, Jan. 19, 1802.

granted and conveyed, by deed, to George Rogers Clark, a tract of land two and a half leagues square, lying on the right bank of the Ohio, opposite the falls of that river. Virginia never confirmed this grant, or purchase, because the constitution of that State, which was formed in May, 1776, declared that no purchase of lands should be made of the Indian natives but on behalf of the public, by the authority of the General Assembly.

NOTWITHSTANDING the various prudential measures which were carried into effect by the American Congress, for the purpose of subduing the hostility that existed between the principal northwestern Indian tribes and the white settlers on the borders of the river Ohio, the irregular and merciless border warfare which was carried on by these parties against each other, was not brought to a close until the confederated forces of the tribes hostile to the United States were overpowered and defeated, in 1794, by the army under the command of General Anthony Wayne.

In tracing the progress of the conflict between civilization and barbarism, in the country northwest of the river Ohio, from 1779 to 1787, I find that the white population and the Indian tribes of this region were, during that period, kept in a state of agitation by a succession of events, the most memorable of which are here briefly related:

I. In June, 1779,* Colonel John Bowman led a force of three hundred men from Kentucky against an Indian town on the Little Miami river. In this expedition, Benjamin Logan, John Holder, James Harrod, and John Bulger were captains.

*Jefferson's Correspondence, i, 163.

The expedition "arrived within a short distance of the town, near night, and halted. It was then determined to make the attack by daybreak. For this purpose, Captain Logan was detached to encircle the town on one side, while Bowman was to surround it on the other, and to give the signal of assault. Logan immediately executed his part of the plan, and waited for his superior officers. Day began to break, and still there was no appearance of the detachment in front. Logan, in the mean time, ordered his men to conceal themselves in the grass and the weeds. The men, in shifting about for hiding-places, alarmed one of the enemy's dogs, whose barking soon brought out an Indian to discover the cause of the alarm. At this moment, one of Logan's men discharged his gun; the Indian, aware that it proceeded from an enemy, gave an instantaneous and loud whoop, and ran immediately to his cabin. The alarm was now spread; but still the time was not too late for an energetic attack. Logan could see the women and children escaping to the woods by a ridge between his party and the other detachment."* The Indians made a vigorous defense; and the party under Colonel Bowman was forced to retreat to Kentucky, with a loss of eight or nine men killed. The loss of the Indians has not been recorded.

II. In the spring of 1780, an expedition, commanded by Captain Byrd, set out from Detroit to attack the settlements in Kentucky. This expedition, having some small pieces of artillery, proceeded in boats as far as it could ascend the Maumee river. It moved thence, by land, to the Big Miami, down that river to the Ohio, and up the Ohio to the mouth of Licking river. From this point, with a force amounting to about six hundred men, principally Indians, Captain Byrd moved up the Licking as far as the junction of the south fork of that stream. Being then in the vicinity of Martin's and Ruddle's stations, he appeared before those places about the 22d of June. The settlers, being surprised by an overwhelming force, "surrendered at discretion." The Indians plundered the stations, and took possession of the prisoners, some of whom were massacred, while others were carried into captivity. Immediately after the reduction of these two incon

* Butler's History of Kentucky, 108.