Great difficulty was experienced in securing supplies for the soldiers. At times, both troops and people suffered from lack of clothing. The Spanish refused to allow the Americans to navigate the Mississippi, Virginia money entirely lost its credit, hard money was scarce, and peltry was difficult for the military commissaries to obtain. Col. Todd, in desperation, refused to allow the commander at Kaskaskia to pay the people peltry for provisions as had been promised, and calling the inhabitants in council, he told them that if they would not sell on the credit of the state they would be subject to military discipline.[32] The [pg 022] fall of 1779 saw the garrison at Vincennes without salt, and starving; while at Kaskaskia the money was worthless, troops were without clothes and deserting daily.[33] This great lack of supplies resulted in the impressment of supplies, in disagreement among the officers, and was a prominent factor in a resolution to withdraw the troops from their several situations and concentrate them at a single point on the Ohio River. The discontent of the French was extreme, and it was increased by the departure of Col. Todd for Virginia. The officers who were left in command ruled with a rod of iron and took cattle, flour, wood, and other necessaries, without payment.[34] Capt. [pg 023] Dodge, of Kaskaskia, refused to honor a draft presented, apparently, by the government of Virginia, and when sued in the civil court, he declared that he had nothing but his body and that could not be levied upon; besides, he was an officer and as such was not amenable to civil law.[35]
In the very midst of starvation, the French, unaccustomed to English ways, were wishing to increase the expense of government. An unsigned official letter says, in speaking of affairs in Illinois: “I find that justices of the peace, appointed among them, expect to be paid, this not being the practice under our laws, there is no provision for it. Would it not be expedient to restrain these appointments to a very small number, and for these (if it be necessary) to require small contributions either from the litigants or the people at large, as you find would be most agreeable. In time, I suppose even this might be discontinued. The Clerks & Sheriffs perhaps may be paid, as with us, only converting Tobacco fees into their worth in peltry. As to the rules of decision & modes of proceding, I suppose ours can be only gradually introduced. It would be well to get their militia disciplined by calling them regularly together according to our usage; however, all this can only be recommended to your Discretion.”[36] Some eight years later the exaction of exorbitant fees was one of the chief reasons which caused the reform of the French court at Vincennes.[37]
The plan for concentrating most of the Illinois troops at a single point was carried out in the spring of 1780. The chief objects sought were to procure supplies and to prevent the advance of the Spaniards. At first, it was thought advisable to locate the new fort on the north side of the Ohio near the Mississippi, and Col. Todd made some grants of land to such persons as were willing to settle in the vicinity and assist in raising provisions, but the fact that Virginia currency, although refused in Illinois, was accepted in Kentucky caused the fort to be built south of the Ohio, and it is probable that Todd's grants of land at the site first proposed lapsed.[38] As the troops had a great need for settlers to raise crops, Capt. Dodge suggested to the governor of Virginia that immigrants to Illinois should receive aid from Virginia. This would aid the troops and would stop emigration to the Spanish possessions west of the Mississippi.[39]
As the French could neither support the soldiers nor do without them, commissions in blank were sent to Maj. Bosseron, district commandant at Vincennes, with power to raise a company there, and to assure the company that pay would be allowed by the government. It was feared that the settlers at Vincennes would consider themselves abandoned upon the withdrawal of troops. It was proposed to leave enough troops among the French to satisfy them, but scarcely had the new fort been established when the people of Cahokia sent a special messenger to Clark at Fort Jefferson, the new fort, asking that troops be sent [pg 025] to protect them. The Indians so surround the place, say the petitioners, that the fields can not be cultivated. If troops are sent the people can not feed them, but if they are not sent the people can not long feed themselves.[40] French creditors of the government were unpaid and some of them must have been in sore need.[41]
The act establishing the County of Illinois would terminate by limitation at the end of the May session of 1780, unless renewed. At that session, the act was renewed “for one year after the passing of this act, and from thence to the end of the next session of assembly.”[42]
The condition of the people in the county during the latter half of 1780 was one of misery. Contemporary accounts have a melancholy interest. An attack by Indians upon Fort Jefferson being imminent, the few troops in the outlying districts were ordered to come to the aid of the garrison. The order reached Cahokia when its few defenders were sick and starving. Corn, without grease or salt, was their only food. Deaths were of frequent occurrence. The people of the village had petitioned Col. Montgomery to ease their burden by quartering some of the troops in other villages, but he refused the request of other officers for a council and threatened to abandon the country entirely. In such a condition of affairs, Capt. McCarty proceeded to obey the orders from Fort Jefferson. The only boats at the disposal of the garrison were unseaworthy, so five small boats were pressed for use. On the [pg 026] way, several of the famished soldiers became so sick that they had to be left along the route. Even military discipline was bad in the country. Capt. McCarty, upon being arrested for having quarreled with Dodge, because the latter would not buy food for the starving troops, was left for months without trial because Col. Montgomery had left the country and a military court could not be convened.[43] In October, McCarty wrote: “In short, we are become the hated beasts of a whole people by pressing horses, boats, &c., &c., &c., killing cattle, &c., &c., for which no valuable consideration is given; even many not a certificate, which is here looked upon as next to nothing.”[44]
Of the same tenor as McCarty's testimony to Illinois conditions is that of Winston. A remonstrance of the civil authorities against the extravagance of the military officers was treated as insolent and impertinent. The military power refused the civil department the use of the military prison, even when pay was offered, and made strenuous efforts to establish military rule. Col. Montgomery and Capt. Brashears had departed for New Orleans without settling the account for the peltry which Todd had committed to the joint care of Montgomery and Winston. Montgomery was openly accused of having taken a large amount of public property away with him. Capt. Dodge was a notorious disturber of the peace, and Capt. Bentley, a more recent arrival, was equally undesirable. In the closing paragraph of a long letter is the significant statement: “It Being so long a time since we [pg 027] had any news from you, we conclude therefrom that the Government has given us up to do for Ourselves the Best we can, untill such time as it pleases Some other State or Power to take us under their Protection—a few lines from you would give Some of us great satisfaction, yett the Generality of the People are of Opinion that this Country will be given up to France....”[45]
At the close of October, the troops, with the exception of a very few, were collected at Fort Jefferson. There the garrison was sick and starving,[46] clothes were much needed, desertion was rife, and the abandonment of the post seemed imminent.[47] Among the few troops that were not called to Fort Jefferson were those of Capt. Rogers, at Kaskaskia. This company “had to impress supplies, giving certificates for the value—thus would kill cattle when they wanted them, hogs, & take flour from the horse-mills—& thus lived very comfortably.”[48]
Mutual recrimination was common among the officers. Todd, in a letter to Gov. Jefferson, in which he inclosed letters from the Illinois officers, said: “Winston is commandant at Kaskaskia; McCarty, a captain in the Illinois regiment, who has long since rendered himself disagreeable by endeavoring to enforce military law upon the civil department at Kohos.
“The peltry, mentioned by Winston as purloined or embezzled by Montgomery, was committed to their joint care by me in Novr, 1779; and from the circumstance of Montgomery's taking up with an infamous girl, leaving his wife, & flying down the river, I am inclined to believe the worst that can be said of him. Being so far out of the road of business, I can not do the State that justice I wish by sending down his case immediately to the Spanish commandants on the Mississippi.”[49] From January 28, 1779, to October 18, 1780, Montgomery drew drafts upon Virginia to the amount of thirty-nine thousand three hundred twenty dollars.[50] Winston and McCarty accused Capt. Rogers, who succeeded Col. Montgomery in command at Kaskaskia, of shooting down the stock of the inhabitants without warrant. In a dignified defence, Capt. Rogers declared that he took only so much food as was absolutely required to save his starving sick, and that Mr. Bentley, who endeavored to secure supplies from the people, offering his personal credit, was persistently opposed by Winston and McCarty. “I can not conclude without informing you that 'tis my positive opinion the people of the Illinois & Post Vincennes have been in an absolute state of rebellion for these several months past, & ought to have no further indulgence shown them; and such is the nature of those people, the more they are indulged, the more turbulant they grow. I look upon it that Winston and McCarty have been principal instruments to bring them to the pitch they are now at.”[51] Capt. Dodge, against whom complaints had become general, and Capt. McCarty, [pg 029] whose quarrel has been narrated, were ordered to appear before a court of inquiry at Fort Jefferson.[52] Clark was very angry at Montgomery's conduct. He sent a message to New Orleans ordering him to return for trial; he warned all persons against trusting the offender on the credit of the State, and he requested the governor of Virginia to arrest the fugitive if he should come to Richmond.[53] How low public morals had sunk is shown by the fact that Montgomery had the effrontery to return to Fort Jefferson, where he arrived on May 1, 1781, and resumed his command. In February, 1783, he made his defense and asked for his pay.[54] In April, 1781, Todd wrote: “I still receive complaints from the Illinois. That Department suffers, I fear, through the avarice and prodigality of our officers; they all vent complaints against each other. I believe our French friends have the justest grounds of dissatisfaction.”[55]