106
placed in canoes. Clark succeeded in
maintaining the enthusiasm of his
troop even under these circumstances.
He never allowed himself to be de-
pressed for a moment. This is |Bow-
man's account of the last day of the
march:
- February 23rd. Set off to cross the
plain called Horseshoe Plain, about four miles longf, all covered with water breast high. Here we expected some of our brave men must certainly perish, having froze in the night, and so long fasting. Having no other resource but wading this plain, or rather lake, of waters, we plunged into it with cour- age. Col. Clark being first, taking care to have the boats try to take those that were weak and numbed with the cold unto them. Never were men so ani- mated with the thought of avenging the wrongs done to their back settle- ments as this small army was. About one o*clock we came in sight of the town."
They now captured an Indian canoe containing half a quarter of buffalo, some corn, tallow and kettles. They made some broth, and somewhat re- freshed, pressed forward. They crossed a narrow lake in their canoes and came to a belt of timber within two miles of Vincennes. Here they halted, dried their ammunition and made ready for the attack. They learned that Hamil- ton had not yet ascertained their ap- proach, but that a couple^ of hundred Indians had. just come into the town and that Hamilton outnumbered Clark, therefore, at least four to one. Clark saw that it was necessary to detach from Hamilton the French inhabitants of the town, and he released a prisoner to take into them a letter stating that he was about to attack the town, but that those who were friends of the Americans and remained in their houses would not be molested. He told all friends of the "hair-buyer general," as he called Hamilton, to repair to the fort and fight like men. At dusk on the evening of the 23rd, he attacked and captured the town, and led his men on to the attack of the fort. The French remained neutral and the bulk of the Indians left the town. The French Creole inhabitants of this coun-
try showed throughout this entire his- tory that dress parade and not battle was their long suit.
Clark secured additional ammunition in the town and immediately laid seige to the fort. He threw up an intrench- ment within rifle shot of Hamilton's strongest battery, and at sunrise on the 24th of February the riflemen from the intrenchment fired through the port- holes of the fort and silenced Hamil- ton's guns. But one man in Clark's command was wounded, while six or eight of the battery were killed or wounded, the Americans thus showing themselves much superior in marks- manship and in the art of sheltering themselves from the enemy's fire. Early in the forenoon Clark summoned the fort to surrender, and while waiting for the return of his flag, his men ate breakfast, the first regular meal they had had for six days. Hamilton de- clined to surrender and proposed a three-davs' truce. Clark refused this and his men besought him to give the order for the storming: of the fort. Clark saw that this was unnecessary, that Hamilton would soon be forced to surrender.
At this time a party of Hamilton's Indians returned from, a successful scalping expedition against the frontier, the bloody scalps of their victims hang- ing from their belts, and not knowing of the occurrences of the previous night marched straight into the town. Some of Clark's men killed three and cap- tured six of these Indians, besides two French partisans who had been with them. At the intercession of a Creole Lieutenant in his own ranks, who was related to one of these Frenchmen, they were released, but the six Indians were tomahawked in sight of the fort and thrown into the river. The sight did not tend to encourage the garrison. In the afternoon Hamilton surrendered his command as prisoners of war.
Immediately after taking the fort, Clark sent Captain Helm and fifty men up the Wabash in boats to intercept a partv of forty French volunteers from Detroit, who were coming to re-enforce Hamilton and bring him supplies of all kinds to the value of ten thousand pounds sterling. This expedition was
