The training and discipline of his little army now received his attention, and in order to conceal his weakness in numbers he allowed no parade except of the guards. About Christmas, 1778, he heard from his spies that Governor Hamilton was preparing to send an army into the Illinois country; and later, that Hamilton with eight hundred men had descended the Wabash and recaptured Vincennes.[1507] Early in January Hamilton sent a scouting party to Kaskaskia to waylay and capture Clark, and it came near succeeding while Clark was returning from a visit to Cahokia. This party was supposed to be an advanced guard of Hamilton's army, and every preparation was made to defend the town. On the 29th of January, 1779, Colonel François Vigo,[1508] a Spanish merchant of St. Louis, arrived from Vincennes, and reported that Hamilton had sent away his Indians and most of his troops, leaving only eighty in the garrison; and that he was intending to collect them in the spring, and with five hundred Southern Indians make a campaign against Kaskaskia.
Clark now conceived the project of capturing Vincennes with his small force before Hamilton could reassemble his troops, and its execution forms one of the most daring and brilliant expeditions in American warfare. On the 4th of February he sent off a large boat called "The Willing", mounting two four-pounders and six swivels, under command of Lieutenant John Rogers, who had forty-six men and orders to sail for the Wabash, and, ten leagues below Vincennes, await further orders. On the next day Clark crossed the Kaskaskia River with one hundred and seventy men, marched three miles, and encamped. On the 7th he began his painful march across the Illinois prairies, a distance as a bird flies of one hundred and forty miles, but as he marched, of more than two hundred. The winter was breaking up, the rivers were swollen, the prairies were covered with water and ice, and the mud was such as can only be found in that rich alluvial country. On the 13th they reached the banks of the Little Wabash. Before them lay a stretch of water three miles wide and from three to four feet deep. They made a canoe, and on the 15th ferried the ammunition across and took the men over the channel, marching them the remaining distance through the water. On the 16th their provisions ran short. Major Bowman's journal says: "17th, marched early; crossed several runs very deep; came to the Embarrass River; tried to cross; found it impossible; travelled till 8 o'clock in mud and water, but could find no place to encamp on. 18th, came in sight of the swollen banks of the Wabash; made rafts for four men to cross and go up to the town and steal boats; but they spend day and night in the water to no purpose, for there is not one foot of dry land to be found. 19th, Colonel Clark sent two men in the canoe down the river to meet the bateau 'The Willing,' with orders to come on day and night, that being our last hope, and we starving; no provisions of any sort now two days." On the 20th they found some canoes and killed a deer. On the 21st the little army plunged into the water and waded for more than a league,—Clark says "breast high", Bowman says "sometimes to the neck", the boats picking up such as were likely to drown. On the 22d, says Bowman, "Clark encourages his men, which gave them great spirits; marched on in the waters; those that were weak and famished went in the canoes; no provisions yet; Lord help us." On the 23d they crossed the Wabash, wading four miles through water breast-high. "We plunged into it with courage, Colonel Clark being first, taking care to have the boats take those that were weak and numbed with the cold." Having crossed, they captured an Indian canoe with some buffalo meat, tallow and corn, which were made into a broth and fed to the famishing men, who soon recovered their strength.[1509] No tidings had come from "The Willing", for she had not yet arrived.[1510]
The town was but a few miles distant, and was unaware of his approach. Clark resolved not to delay the attack until the boat had arrived with his artillery and ammunition, but to capture the fort immediately with the men and means he had. Before moving on the town he wrote a proclamation, addressed to the inhabitants, worded in his peculiar style, and advising all "friends of the king to instantly repair to the fort, join their hair-buying[1511] general, and fight like men. True friends of liberty may depend on being well treated; but they must keep out of the streets, for every one I find in arms on my arrival I shall treat as an enemy." The same evening he marched, took possession of the town, and threw up earthworks in front of the fort. The firing began immediately, and was kept up all night. His men lay in rifle-pits within thirty yards of the walls, the cannon of the fort being so mounted that they could not be trained upon them. Whenever port-holes of the fort were opened to fire, the besiegers poured in a volley of musket-balls, and severely wounded seven of the garrison. Two pieces of cannon were silenced in fifteen minutes. In the morning, Clark summoned Hamilton to surrender, stating that if he were obliged to storm the fort, Hamilton would receive the treatment due to a murderer. "Beware", he added, "of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession; for, by heavens, if you do, there will be no mercy shown you."[1512] While these negotiations were pending, Clark's men took the first full meal they had had for eight days. The summons to surrender was refused, and the firing went on.
CLARK'S SUMMONS.
From a manuscript kindly furnished by Lyman C. Draper, Esq., of Madison, Wis., who owns a large number of Clark's papers. Cf. R. G. Thwaites on Draper, in the Mag. Western Hist., Jan., 1887. The above letter was addressed thus:—
Later in the day, Governor Hamilton asked for a truce of three days, and for a conference as to terms. Clark replied that he would consider no other terms than surrender at discretion; but that he, with Captain Helm, would meet "Mr. Hamilton at the church." At this time a party of Indians came in whom Hamilton had sent to the Ohio for scalps. Clark's men tomahawked them in front of the fort, and threw their bodies into the river.[1513] Clark's terms of capitulation were accepted; and at ten o'clock the next day (the 25th) the fort and its stores were delivered up, and the garrison of seventy-nine officers and men surrendered as prisoners of war.[1514] The only casualty to Clark's soldiers was one man slightly wounded.
Hearing that a convoy with provisions, clothing, and ammunition was on its way to Vincennes from Detroit, Clark sent fifty-three men in boats up the Wabash to intercept it.[1515] They met the convoy one hundred and twenty miles up the river, and captured it, with forty prisoners and despatches for Hamilton.[1516] The value of the goods captured was £10,000, and Clark's men, who had been suffering for clothing and supplies, were bountifully provided for. Clothing to the value of £800 was laid aside for the troops which Clark expected would soon join him in an expedition, which he was planning, for the capture of Detroit.[1517] This project had been on his mind ever since he came into the Illinois country, and all his energies were now directed to its execution. Not being able with his few troops to guard so many prisoners, he sent Governor Hamilton, his principal officers, and a few other persons who had made themselves especially obnoxious by being out with Indian parties, as prisoners of war to Virginia, and paroled the remainder.[1518]