On the afternoon of July 4th they arrived within three miles of Kaskaskia, the river of that name lying between them and the town. There they remained concealed until dark, when they marched to a farm-house on the east bank of the river, about a mile north of the town, captured boats, crossed the river, and found that the people of the town, who a few days before had been under arms expecting an attack, were not aware of their approach. "I immediately", writes Clark, "divided my little army into two divisions: ordered one to surround the town; with the other I broke into the fort,[1502] secured the governor, Mr. Rocheblave, [and] in fifteen minutes had every street secured; sent runners through the town, ordering the people on pain of death to keep close to their houses, which they observed; and before daylight had the whole town disarmed."[1503]
A SECTION OF LIEUT. ROSS'S MAP OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
Clark had been informed by the hunters who accompanied him that the French residents of Kaskaskia regarded the Kentuckians, whom they called Big-Knives, as more savage than Indians; and resolving to make use of this impression, he gave them a shock which would enable them later to appreciate his lenity. The troops, therefore, kept up during the night the most hideous noises; and the residents, believing they had indeed fallen into the hands of savages, gave themselves up as lost. In the morning Clark had for them another surprise. M. Gibault, the priest, with some aged citizens, came to him and begged that the people might once more assemble in their church, hold a service, and take leave of each other, which request was readily granted. When the service was over a deputation came and said the people would submit to the fate of war and the loss of their property, but asked that they might not be separated from their wives and children. "Do you mistake us for savages?" said Clark. "My countrymen disdain to make war upon women and children. It was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our wives and children that we have taken up arms and appear in this stronghold of British and Indian barbarity. Now please inform your fellow-citizens that they are at liberty to conduct themselves as usual without the least apprehension." They were told of the treaty of alliance with France, and that if he could have surety of their attachment to the American cause they could enjoy all the privileges of its government, and their property would be secure to them. The people were transported with joy, and took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia. They also raised a company of volunteers, who accompanied Major Bowman to Cahokia, a French settlement sixty miles north of Kaskaskia. That town readily gave its adhesion to the American cause. Clark also put himself in friendly relations with the Spanish commandant at St. Louis.[1504]
Clark next turned his attention to the British post of Vincennes. M. Gibault, the friendly priest, in view of what had taken place at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, thought that it was unnecessary to send troops to Vincennes. The post was in his spiritual jurisdiction, and he offered to undertake the mission himself, with several persons accompanying him. The result was the same as at Cahokia. The few British soldiers at the post could make no resistance to the popular sentiment, and withdrew to Detroit. Clark, having no troops to spare, allowed the residents, after taking the oath, to garrison and to be responsible for the safety of the fort, which he put in charge of one of his own officers, Captain Leonard Helm, who retained one of his own privates. M. Gibault returned to Kaskaskia about the 1st of August; and Clark, in less than one month after his arrival, was in possession of every British post in the Illinois country, without a battle or the loss of a life.[1505]
A problem now demanded solution which was of so difficult a nature that it would challenge the sagacity and resources of a veteran commander, and Clark was not a veteran. He was twenty-five years of age, and his only military experience had been as a ranger in Kentucky, and as a captain in the short and bloodless campaign of Lord Dunmore. How was he to hold this immense territory with less than two hundred three-months militiamen, whose term of enlistment had already expired, and with no hope of receiving recruits from Kentucky or Virginia? The British commander could send down a force which would outnumber his ten to one. The savage tribes which had ravaged Kentucky could by concerted action overwhelm his scanty force. The Virginia currency which he brought to pay for supplies he found would buy nothing in the Illinois country. It was fortunate for the nation and the Western States that George Rogers Clark was equal to the emergency, and that he had the self-reliance and sagacity to solve the problem successfully.
By his personal entreaties and promises to pay his men, about one hundred of them reënlisted. The others he sent home, with despatches, and with M. Rocheblave, the late commander at Kaskaskia, as a prisoner, to Governor Henry at Williamsburg.[1506] His four companies he soon filled up with resident French recruits, and pretended that he could get all the American soldiers he wanted at the Falls of the Ohio.
He next undertook the pacification and control of the Indian tribes. His sudden appearance in the Illinois country and rapid capture of the Western posts was the occasion of astonishment to the Western tribes; and their chiefs from a range of five hundred miles flocked to Cahokia to see the strange warrior of the "Big Knives." Clark met them there in council with a stern and haughty dignity. Soft speeches to Indians before they were under control he regarded as bad policy. He showed no fear in their presence, and no anxiety for their friendship. He laid before them a war-belt and a peace-belt, and told them to take their choice. If they did not want to have their own women and children killed, they must stop killing the women and children of the Americans. One chief after another rose and made submissive speeches. He refused to smoke the peace-pipe with any until he had heard from every tribe represented, and treaties were concluded. All the tribes gave in their allegiance to the American cause, and he had no further trouble with the Illinois Indians. The councils at Cahokia lasted five weeks, and their influence extended to all the nations around the great lakes. Captain Helm, under Clark's instructions, made similar treaties with the Wabash Indians.