Pennsylvania was requested to furnish for the expedition the following numbers of men:

The United States regular troops in the west were estimated, by General Harmar, at four hundred effective men. The militia were designed to act in concert with these troops; and the manner of employing the whole force was arranged thus: Three hundred of the militia of Virginia were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Steuben, and, with the garrison of that fort, to march to Vincennes, and join Major Hamtramck, who had orders to call for aid from the militia of Vincennes, and to move up the Wabash, and attack any of the Indian villages on that river to which his force might be equal. The remaining twelve hundred of the militia were ordered to assemble at Fort Washington, and to join the regular troops at that post under the command of General Harmar.

On the 19th of September, Governor St. Clair, in obedience to the instructions of the President of the United States, sent the following letter to the British commandant at Detroit:

"MARIETTA, 19th September, 1790. "Sir:-As it is not improbable that an account of the military preparations going forward in this quarter of the country may reach you, and give you some uneasiness, while the object to which they are to be directed is not perfectly known to you, I am commanded by the President of the United States to give you the fullest assurances of the pacific disposition entertained toward Great Britain and all her possessions; and to inform

manner.

you explicitly that the expedition about to be undertaken is not intended against the post you have the honor to command, nor any other place at present in the possession of the troops of his Britannic majesty; but is on foot with the sole design of humbling and chastising some of the savage tribes, whose depredations are become intolerable, and whose cruelties have of late become an outrage, not on the people of America only, but on humanity; which I now do in the most unequivocal After this candid explanation, sir, there is every reason to expect, both from your own personal character, and from the regard you have for that of your nation, that those tribes will meet with neither countenance nor assistance from any under your command, and that you will do what in your power lies, to restrain the trading people, from whose instigations there is too good reason to believe, much of the injuries committed by the savages has proceeded. I have forwarded this letter by a private gentleman, in preference to that of an officer, by whom you might have expected a communication of this kind, that every suspicion of the purity of the views of the United States might be obviated."

The Virginia militia (from the counties of Madison, Mercer, Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford, and Mason, in the district of Kentucky), began to assemble at the mouth of Licking river, about the middle of September. They were not well equipped for the expedition. Their arms were generally very bad, and unfit for service; and the men were almost destitute of campkettles and axes. Soon after the arrival of the militia, however, General Harmar, in the midst of many difficulties, began to organize them. Colonel Trotter aspired to the command, although Colonel Hardin was the elder officer; and some of the militia openly declared that unless they were placed under the command of Colonel Trotter, they would return to their homes. In the course of two or three days, they were formed into three battalions, under Majors Hall, McMullen, and Ray, with Lieutenant-colonel Trotter at their head. The Pennsylvania militia arrived at Fort Washington about the 24th of September. They were very badly equipped; and among them were many substitutes-old, infirm men, and young boys. They were formed into one battalion, under Lieutenant-colonel