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broadly hints that Wilkinson was responsible for Sweezy's treachery, being eager for the defeat of the army, in order that "some more experienced officer, (i. e., he, Wilkinson)" may have "an opportunity of signalizing himself."

Perhaps this is libelous, but, if it be true, Wilkinson had reason to be proud of his success, for the wreck of St. Clair's army was pitifully complete.1 Mad, disorderly panic followed the first gallant resistance of the regulars. No attempt was made either to check the enemy or to cover the retreat of the flying army, each man striving only to escape with his life. The road was soon strewn with loaded muskets, coats, hats and boots, everything which impeded the speed of the fugitives having been cast aside. So great was their haste that, in the sunlight of that short November day, the remains of St. Clair's recently formidable army covered the twenty-nine miles to Fort Jefferson, a march which, in the advance, had occupied ten days.3

St. Clair himself, although prostrated by a severe attack of gout, had, at the opening of the battle, directed his attendants to carry him into the field of action, and there had given his orders with a coolness which proved his courage, if not his military wisdom. When it had become evident, however, that he could not stay the panic, he had

1 "It was long supposed that the leader of the tribes on that terrible day was Little Turtle, a noted chief of the Miamis. But it is now known that they were led to the fight by Thayendanegea, whom the English called Joseph Brant. Many have supposed him to have been a half-breed; some have thought, the son of Sir William Johnson. There can be little doubt, however, that he was a Mohawk, and that his mother bore him on the banks of the Ohio River." McMaster, II, p. 46.

2 Schouler, I, p. 195.
3 McMaster, II, p. 46.

Kentucky-11

made his escape, upon a pack horse which he could neither mount nor dismount without assistance.1

This disaster, which was even more overwhelming than that of Harmar,2 proved conclusively the necessity for more care in the selection of commanding officers for Indian expeditions, a lesson which the Federal Government at last learned, as will appear from the history of the final campaign against the Wabash country some eighteen months later.

1 Marshall, 1824 Ed., I, p. 383. Of his army, seventy officers and seven hundred soldiers were killed or wounded. In a letter from St. Clair to Major Brown, commander of the militia of Kentucky, written a few days later, he laments the death of the "gallant commander Lieutenant-Colonel Oldham," but attributes the defeat to the desertion and bad conduct of the Kentucky militia, whom Oldham had led. Text of letter in "Kentucky Gazette" for December 10, 1791.

2 St. Clair himself was exculpated by a committee of the House of Representatives, appointed to inquire into the causes of failure of the expedition. Marshall's "Washington," 1850 Ed., II, p. 223.

CHAPTER VI

ONE PHASE OF THE GENET MISSION

THE fate of the Harmar and the St. Clair expeditions, which had cast a gloom over the last days of conflict for independent statehood, and over the deliberations of the first Constitutional Convention of Kentucky, served also to chill the enthusiasm with which the Kentucky people might otherwise have regarded the approach of the first day of June, 1792, the date fixed for the entrance of Kentucky into the Union. The places left vacant in many a household served as a perpetual reminder that the new Federal Government had, as yet, done nothing to convince the frontiersmen of its superiority over the old Confederacy which it had superseded.

This date being passed, however, and the first elections having been held, the new state officials assembled in Lexington; and, as soon as the preliminary work of organization was completed, and the two Houses ready for business, a joint committee was sent to inform Isaac Shelby, the Governor, that they were ready to receive such communications as he might choose to make.

At noon the next day (June 6, 1792) the Governor, following the custom then observed by the Federal Government, presented himself before the General Assembly of both Houses and delivered his message in person.1 He then presented a copy of the message to the Speaker

1 Text of Message, "Kentucky Gazette," June 23, 1792.

of each House, and retired, leaving the Legislature to begin the work of making laws for the new Commonwealth.

Of interest, as showing the value of money in those remote days, is an act for compensating the members of the late Constitutional Convention, which provided that the President should receive the sum of twenty dollars; each member and the sergeant-at-arms, twelve dollars; the clerk, fifty dollars; and the doorkeeper, twelve dollars, “in full for all demands."1 The real meaning of these figures appears when we catch a glimpse of the extraordinary prices which then prevailed on the Kentucky frontier. Beef sold at two cents a pound; buffalo meat at one and one-half; and venison at one and a quarter. Butter was eight cents a pound, and turkeys fifteen cents apiece. Articles of manufacture were of course relatively high, but most of these were luxuries, enjoyed only by the well-todo.

While the Legislature was organizing the new State government,2 alarming stories of Indian depredations were constantly arriving from the frontier. The marauding bands were small, it is true, but so sudden and so secret were their movements that they wrought great destruction with comparatively little loss to their own forces, and so skillfully were their tracks concealed that it was wellnigh impossible to overtake them. Pursuing parties often

1 Equally astonishing are the salaries of public officials fixed by the Legislature at its session of November, 1793. The Governor's salary was to be $1,000; that of the Judges of the Court of Appeals, $6663; that of the Judges of Oyer and Terminer, $100; while the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, the Auditor, and the Attorney-General were each to receive the princely sum of $333}. Collins, I, p. 23, and II, p. 182.

2 The "Kentucky Gazette" for June 30, 1792, gives a list of 34 Acts passed during the first session.

found themselves attacked when they least suspected the presence of the enemy, and frequent and heavy losses resulted from these surprises.1

In May, 1792, General Wilkinson, who had taken service in the regular army and was commanding at Fort Washington, despatched Colonel John Hardin and Major Truman upon the dangerous mission of carrying a flag of truce to the hostile tribes of the Northwest. His intention was to persuade the savages to attend a peace conference at the mouth of the Miami River, but it sadly miscarried. Hardin and Truman, messengers of peace though they were, were treacherously murdered by unofficial representatives of the tribes to whom they had been sent.2

Faith in the possible effectiveness of peaceful negotiations was thus weakened, even in minds which still cherished the sentiment, then so common in the unexposed, eastern sections of the nation, that the Indian was by nature noble, and inclined to respond to generous treatment.3 Out of respect for this sentiment, Washington had appointed, during the month of April, 1793, certain commissioners to reopen the question of peace with the hostile tribes, and, much to the disappointment of Kentucky, had forbidden all hostilities against them pending the negotiations. It was now evident, however, that such a plan of procedure was the vainest of delusions, and the commis

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1 For example, the defeat of Major John Adair on November 6, 1792, at the camp near Fort St. Clair. Marshall, II, p. 41.

2 These murders, Colonel Marshall ventures to hint, ("Kentucky,” II, p. 42), were, perhaps, committed with the connivance of General Wilkinson and the Spanish plotters, who had never completely abandoned their secret intrigues with the servants of his most Catholic Majesty.

3 Butler, p. 221, comments upon this sentiment, and Smith, pp. 314-317, more elaborately.

4 Burnet's "Notes on the Northwestern Territory," p. 157.

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