The Winning of the West, Volume Two by Theodore Roosevelt
T >>
Theodore Roosevelt >> The Winning of the West, Volume Two
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 | 27 |
28 |
29
On the Rebels first arrival at St. Vincennes they took down the English
Flag left there by Lieut. Gen. Abbott, wrapped a large stone in it, and
threw it into the Ouabash, saying to the Indians, thus we mean to treat
your Father--
Having called the Indians together they laid a War Belt colored red, & a
belt colored green before them, telling them that if they delighted in
mischief and had no compassion on their wives & children they might take
up the red one, if on the contrary they were wise & preferred peace, the
green one--
The old Tobacco a chief of the [Piankeshaws] spoke as follows--My
brothers--you speak in a manner not to be understood, I never yet saw,
nor have I heard from my ancestors that it was customary to place good &
bad things in the same dish--You talk to us as if you meant us well, yet
you speak of War & peace in the same minute, thus I treat the speeches
of such men--on which with a violent kick he spurned their belts from
him.
The son of Lagesse, a young Chief of the Pontconattamis of St Joseph
spoke next to them.
My Brothers--'Tis because I have listened to the voice of our old men, &
because I have regard to our women & children that I have not before now
struck my Tomahawk into some of your heads--attend to what I say, I will
only go to see in what condition our wives & children are (meaning I
will first place them in security) & then you may depend on seeing me
again--
The Rebel speaker then said--
You are young men & your youth excuses your ignorances, you would not
else talk as you do--Our design is to march thro' your country, & if we
find any fires in our way, we shall just tread them out as we walk along
& if we meet with any obstacle or barrier we shall remove it with all
ease, but the bystanders must take care lest the splinters should scar
their faces.
We shall then proceed to Detroit where your father is whom we consider
as a Hog put to fatten in a penn, we shall enclose him in his penn, till
he be fat, & then we will throw him into the river--We shall draw a
reinforcement from the Falls on the Ohio & from thence & the Ilinois
send six hundred men to Chicagou--
To this the Indians replied--You that are so brave, what need have you
to be reinforced, go to Detroit, you that can put out our fires & so
easyly remove our barriers.--This we say to you, take care that in
attempting to extinguish our fires you do not burn yourselves, & that in
breaking down our barriers you do not run splinters into your hands. You
may also expect that we shall not suffer a single Frenchman to accompany
you to Detroit.
End of the Conference.
* * * * *
APPENDIX C--TO CHAPTER IV.
(From Canadian Archives.)
(_Haldimand MSS._, Series B, Vol. 122, p. 351.)
(Copy.)
UPPER ST. DUSKI, June 9, 1779.
Dear Sir,
After much running about, some presents to Chiefs, we had collected at
the Mingo Town near 200 Savages chiefly Shawanese--When lo! a runner
arrived with accounts of the Shawanese towns being attacked by a body
from Kentuck, they burnt five houses, killed one Indian & wounded the
Chief badly--lost their own Commander _Heron_ or _Herington_--they
carried off 30 Horses, were pursued by fifty Shawanese, the Shawanese
were beat back with loss of five & six wounded--News flew that all the
Towns were to be attack'd & our little body seperated in an instant past
reassembling--confusion still prevails--much counselling--no
resolves--many are removing--more for peace.
The Delawares make it dangerous travelling. By this opportunity Davison
& Cook return sick--Girty is flying about--McCarty stays with me with
some Ottawas--these unsteady Rogues put me out of all patience,--I will
go with him in a few days, if nothing material occurs--See the Enemy
that I may not be laugh'd at then return.--The Rebels mean I believe to
destroy the Villages & corn now up--the method they bring their little
armies into the field as follows: Every Family on the Borders receive
orders to send according to their strength (one or two men) to the place
of Rendezvous at a time appointed (on pain of fine or imprisonment) with
fifteen or twenty days Provisions, they immediately receive their
ammunition & proceed quickly to action--I am credibly inform'd by
various means, that they can raise in that manner three or four thousand
in a few days for such excursions--I was obliged to Kill four more
Cattle for the Indians at the Mingo Town--they are always Cooking or
Counselling.
I have nothing more to inform you off if anything material occurs, which
I really expect in a day or two, I will inform you by Express.
I am &c
HENRY BIRD.
To CAPT. LERNOULT.
(Copy.)
June 12th, UPPER ST. DUSKI.
Sir,
Couriers after Couriers arrive with accounts of the Rebels advancing to
destroy the Savage Villages now all their corn is planted--
* * * * *
APPENDIX D--TO CHAPTER IV.
(_State Department MSS._; No. 48, Vol. "Memorials &c Inhabitants of
Illinois, Kaskaskias and Kentucky.")
The Petition and Prayr. of the people of that Part of Contry [sic] now
Claim'd. by the State of Virginia in the Countys of Kaintuckey and
Ilinois Humbly Sheweth--That we the leige Subjects of the United States
Labour under many Greivences on acount of not being formd into a
Seperate State or the Mind and Will of Congress more fully known
respecting us--And we Humbly beg leave to Present to the Honorable
Continental Congress our Humble Petition seting forth the Grievences and
oppressions we labour under and Pray Congress may Consider Such our
greivences and grant us redress.
We your Petitioners being situate in a wide Extencive Uncultivated
Contry and Exposd. on every side to incursions of the Savage Indians
humbly Conceive Ourselves approssed by several acts of the general
assembly of Virginia for granting large Grants for waist and
unapropriated lands on the Western Waters without Reservation for
Cultivating and Settling the same whereby Setling the Contry is
Discouraged and the inhabitants are greatly Exposd. to the Saviges by
whome our wives and Childring are daly Cruily murdered Notwithstanding
our most Humble Petitions Canot Obtain Redress--By an other act we are
Taxd. which in our Present Situation we Conceive to be oppresive and
unjust being Taxd. with money and grain whilst Enrold and in actual Pay
residing in Garrisons. We are Situate from Six Hundred to one Thousand
Miles from our Present Seite of Goverment, Whereby Criminals are
Suffered to Escape with impunity, Great numbers who ware Ocationaly
absent are Deprived of an Opertunity of their Just Rights and
Emprovements and here we are Obliged to Prosecute all Apeals, and
whillst we remain uncertain whether the unbounded Claim of This
Extencive Contry Ought of right to belong to the United States or the
State of Virginia, They have by another late act required of us to Sware
alegince to the State of Virginia in Particular Notwithstanding we have
aredy taken the Oath of alegance to the united States. These are
Greivences too Heavy to be born, and we do Humbly Pray that the
Continental Congress will Take Proper Methods to form us into a Seperate
State or grant us Such Rules and regulations as they in their Wisdoms
shall think most Proper, During the Continuance of the Present War and
your Petitioners shall ever Pray
May 15th, 1780.
[Signed] ROBERT TYLER
RICHARD CONNOR
THOMAS HUGHES
ARCHIBALD MCDONALD
ABRAHAM VAN METER
(and others to the number of 640).
* * * * *
APPENDIX E--TO CHAPTER VII.
(_Haldimand MSS._ Series B, Vol. 123, p. 302.)
Sir,
My Letter of the 22nd & 23rd of July informed you of the reports brought
us of the Enemy's motions at that time which was delivered by the Chiefs
of the standing Stone Village & confirmed by Belts & Strings of Wampum
in so earnest a manner that could not but gain Credit with us. We had
upon this occasion the greatest Body of Indians collected to an
advantageous peice of ground near the Picawee Village that have been
assembled in this Quarter since the commencement of the War & perhaps
may never be in higher spirits to engage the Enemy, when the return of
Scouts from the Ohio informed us that the account we had received was
false; this disappointment notwithstanding all our endeavours to keep
them together occasioned them to disperse in disgust with each other,
the inhabitants of this Country who were the most immediately interested
in keeping in a Body ware the first that broke off & though we advanced
towards the Ohio with upwards of three hundred Hurons & Lake Indians few
of the Delawares, Shawanese or Mingoes followed us. On our arrival at
the Ohio we remain'd still in uncertainty with respect to the Enemys
motions, & it was thought best from hence to send Scouts to the Falls &
that the main Body should advance into the Enemy's Country and endeavour
to lead out a party from some of their Forts by which we might be able
to gain some certain Intelligence accordingly we crossed the Ohio and
arrived the 18th Inst. at one of the Enemys settlements--call'd Bryans
Station, but the Indians discovering their numbers prevented their
coming out and the Lake Indians finding this rush'd up to the Fort and
set several out Houses on fire but at too great a distance to touch the
Fort the Wind blowing the Contrary way. The firing continued this day
during which time a Party of about twenty of the Enemy approached a part
that happened not to be Guarded & about one half of them reached it the
rest being drove back by a few Indians who ware near the place, the next
morning finding it to no purpose to keep up a fire longer upon the Fort
as we were getting men killed, & had already several men wounded which
ware to be carried, the Indians determined to retreat & the 20th reached
the Blue Licks where we encamp'd near an advantageous Hill and expecting
the enemy would pursue determined here to wait for them keeping spies at
the Lick who in the morning of the 21st discovered them & at half past 7
o'clock we engaged them & in a short time totally defeated them, we ware
not much superior to them in Numbers they being about two hundred picked
men from the settlement of Kentucky. Commanded by the Colonels Todd,
Trigg, Boon & Todd, with the Majors Harlin, and McGary most of whom fell
in the action, from the best inquiry I could make upon the spot there
was upwards of one hundred & forty killed & taken with near an hundred
rifles several being thrown into a deep River that ware not recovered.
It was said by the Prisoners that a Colonel Logan was expected to join
them with one hundred men more we waited upon the ground to-day for him,
but seeing there was not much probability of his coming we set off &
crossed the ohio the second day after the action. Captain Caldwell & I
arrived at this place last night with a design of sending some
assistance to those who are bring on the wounded people who are fourteen
in number, we had Ten Indians kill'd with Mr. La Bute of the Indian
Department who by sparing the life of one of the Enemy & endeavouring to
take him Prisoner loss'd his own, to our disappointment we find no
Provisions brought forward to this place or likely hood of any for some
time, and we have entirely subsisted since we left this on what we got
in the Woods, and took from the Enemy. The Prisoners all agree in their
account that there is no talk of an Expedition from that Quarter, nor
indeed are they able without assistance from the Colonies, & that the
Militia of the Country have been employed during the summer in Building
the Fort at the Falls, & what they call a Row Galley which has made one
trip up the River to the Mouth of the big Miamis & occasioned that alarm
that created us so much trouble, she carries one six pounder, six four
pounders & two two pounders & Row's eighty oars, she had at the big Bone
Lick one hundred men but being chiefly draughts from the Militia many of
them left her on different parts of the River. One of the Prisoners
mentions the arrival of Boats lately from Fort Pitt & that Letters has
pass'd between the Commanding officer of that place & Mr. Clark
intimating that preparation is making there for another Expedition into
the Indian Country, we have since our arrival heard something of this
matter and that the particulars has been forwarded to you, a Detachment
of Rangers with a large party of Delawares, & Shawanese are gone that
way who will be able to discover the truth of this matter.
I am this day favoured with yours of the 6th Augt. containing the report
of Isaac Gians concerning the Cruelties of the Indians. It is true they
have made sacrifices to their revenge after the massacre of their women
& children some being known to them to be perpetraters of it, but it was
done in my absence or before I could reach any of the places to
interfere. And I can assure you Sir that there is not a white person
here wanting in their duty to represent to the Indians in the strongest
terms the highest abhorence of such conduct as well as the bad
consequences that may attend it to both them & us being contrary to the
rule of carrying on war by Civilized nations, however it is not
improbable that Gians may have exaggerated matters greatly being
notoriously known for a disaffected person and concerned in sending
Prisoners away with Intelligence to the Enemy at the time Captain Bird
came out as we ware then informed. I flatter myself that I may by this
time have an answer to the Letter I had the honor of writing to the
Commandr. in Chief on leaving Detroit. Mr. Elliot is to be the Bearer of
this who will be able to give you any farther information necessary
respecting matters here.
I am with respect Sir your most obedient & Very Humble Servant
A. MCKEE.
SHAWANESE COUNTRY,
August 28th, 1782.
Major DE PEYSTER.
* * * * *
APPENDIX F--TO CHAPTER VII.
(_Haldimand MSS._, Series B, Vol. 123, p. 297.)
Extract of a letter from Captain Caldwell, dated at Wakitamiki, August
26, 1782.
"When I last had the pleasure of writing you, I expected to have struck
at Wheeling as I was on my march for that place, but was overtaken by a
Messenger from the Shawnese, who informed me that the Enemy was on their
march for their Country, which obliged me to turn their way, and to my
great mortification found the alarm false & that it was owing to a
Gondals coming up to the mouth of Licking Creek, and landing some men
upon the South side of the Ohio which when the Indians saw supposed it
must be Clark. It would have been a lucky circumstance if they had come
on, as I had eleven hundred Indians on the ground, and three hundred
within a days march of me. When the Report was contradicted They mostly
left us, many of them had left their Towns no way equipped for War, as
they expected as well as myself to fight in a few days, notwithstanding
I was determined to pay the Enemy a visit with as many Indians as would
follow me: accordingly I crossed the Ohio with three hundred Indians &
Rangers, and Marched for Bryants Station on Kentuck, and surrounded the
Fort the 15th in the morning, & tried to draw 'em out by sending up a
small party to try to take a Prisoner and shew themselves, but the
Indians were in too great a hurry and the whole shewed too soon--I then
saw it was in vain to wait any longer and so drew nigh the Fort, burnt 3
Houses which are part of the Fort but the wind being contrary prevented
it having the desired effect. Killed upwards of 300 Hogs, 150 Head of
Cattle, and a number of Sheep, took a number of Horses, pull'd up and
destroy'd their Potatoes, cut down a great deal of their Corn, burn't
their Hemp and did other considerable damage--by the Indians exposing
themselves too much we had 5 Killed & 2 Wounded.
We retreated the 16th and came as far as Biddle's former Station, when
nigh 100 Indians left me, as they went after their things they left at
the Forks of Licking, and I took the Road by the blue Licks as it was
nigher and the ground more advantageous in case the Enemy should pursue
us--got to the Licks on the 17th and encamped.
On the 18th in the morning, one of my party that was watching the Road
came in and told me the Enemy was within a mile of us, upon which I drew
up to fight them--at 1/2 past seven they advanced in three Divisions in
good order, they had spied some of us and it was the very place they
expected to overtake us.--We had but fired one Gun till they gave us a
Volley and stood to it very well for some time,'till we rushed in upon
them, when they broke immediately.--We pursued for about two miles, and
as the enemy was mostly on horseback, it was in vain to follow further.
We killed and took one hundred and Forty six. Amongst the killed is Col.
Todd the Commandr Col. Boon, Lt. Col. Trigg, Major Harlin who commanded
their Infantry, Major Magara and a number more of their officers. Our
loss is Monsr. La Bute killed, he died like a warrior fighting Arm to
Arm, six Indians killed and ten wounded--The Indians behaved extremely
well, and no people could behave better than both Officers & men in
general--The Indians I had with me were the Wyandots and Lake
Indians--The Wyandots furnished me with what provisions I wanted, and
behaved extremely well."
* * * * *
APPENDIX G--TO CHAPTER X.
It has been so habitual among American writers to praise all the deeds,
good, bad, and indifferent, of our Revolutionary ancestors, and to
belittle and make light of what we have recently done, that most men
seem not to know that the Union and Confederate troops in the Civil War
fought far more stubbornly and skilfully than did their forefathers at
the time of the Revolution. It is impossible to estimate too highly the
devoted patriotism and statesmanship of the founders of our national
life; and however high we rank Washington, I am confident that we err,
if any thing, in not ranking him high enough, for on the whole the world
has never seen a man deserving to be placed above him; but we certainly
have overestimated the actual fighting qualities of the Revolutionary
troops, and have never laid enough stress on the folly and jealousy with
which the States behaved during the contest. In 1776 the Americans were
still in the gristle; and the feats of arms they then performed do not
bear comparison with what they did in the prime of their lusty youth,
eighty or ninety years later. The Continentals who had been long drilled
by Washington and Greene were most excellent troops; but they never had
a chance to show at their best, because they were always mixed in with a
mass of poor soldiers, either militia or just-enlisted regulars.
The resolute determination of the Americans to win, their trust in the
justice of their cause, their refusal to be cast down by defeat, the
success with which they overran and conquered the west at the very time
they were struggling for life or death in the east, the heroic grandeur
of their great leader--for all this they deserve full credit. But the
militia who formed the bulk of the Revolutionary armies did not
generally fight well. Sometimes, as at Bunker's Hill and King's
Mountain, they did excellently, and they did better, as a rule, than
similar European bodies--than the Spanish and Portuguese peasants in
1807-12, for instance. At that time it was believed that the American
militia could not fight at all; this was a mistake, and the British paid
dearly for making it; but the opposite belief, that militia could be
generally depended upon, led to quite as bad blunders, and the
politicians of the Jeffersonian school who encouraged the idea made us
in our turn pay dearly for our folly in after years, as at Bladensburg
and along the Niagara frontier in 1812. The Revolutionary war proved
that hastily gathered militia, justly angered and strung to high
purpose, could sometimes whip regulars, a feat then deemed impossible;
but it lacked very much of proving that they would usually do this.
Moreover, even the stalwart fighters who followed Clark and Sevier, and
who did most important and valorous service, cannot point to any one
such desperate deed of fierce courage as that of the doomed Texans under
Bowie and Davy Crockett in the Alamo.
A very slight comparison of the losses suffered in the battles of the
Revolution with those suffered in the battles of the Civil War is
sufficient to show the superiority of the soldiers who fought in the
latter (and a comparison of the tactics and other features of the
conflicts will make the fact even clearer). No Revolutionary regiment or
brigade suffered such a loss as befell the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg,
where it lost 215 out of 263 men, 82 per cent.; the 9th Illinois at
Shiloh, where it lost 366 out of 578 men, 63 per cent.; the 1st Maine at
Petersburg, which lost 632 out of 950 men, 67 per cent.; or Caldwell's
brigade of New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania troops, which, in
Hancock's attack at Fredericksburg, lost 949 out of 1,947 men, 48 per
cent.; or, turning to the Southern soldiers, such a loss as that of the
1st Texas at Antietam, when 186 out of 226 men fell, 82 per cent.; or of
the 26th North Carolina, which, at Gettysburg, lost 588 out of 820 men,
72 per cent.; or the 8th Tennessee, at Murfreesboro, which lost 306 out
of 444 men, or 68 per cent.; or Garnett's brigade of Virginians, which,
in Pickett's charge, lost 941 men out of 1,427, or 65 per cent.
There were over a hundred regiments, and not a few brigades, in the
Union and Confederate armies, each of which in some one action suffered
losses averaging as heavy as the above. The Revolutionary armies cannot
show such a roll of honor as this. Still, it is hardly fair to judge
them by this comparison, for the Civil War saw the most bloody and
desperate fighting that has occurred of late years. None of the European
contests since the close of the Napoleonic struggles can be compared to
it. Thus the Light Brigade at Balaclava lost only 37 per cent., or 247
men out of 673, while the Guards at Inkermann lost but 45 per cent., or
594 out of 1,331; and the heaviest German losses in the Franco-Prussian
war were but 49 and 46 per cent., occurring respectively to the Third
Westphalian Regiment at Mars-le-Tours, and the Garde-Schutzen battalion
at Metz.
These figures are taken from "Regimental Losses in the American Civil
War," by Col. Wm. F. Fox, Albany, 1881; the loss in each instance
includes few or no prisoners, save in the cases of Garnett's brigade and
of the Third Westphalian Regiment.
* * * * *
APPENDIX H--TO CHAPTER XII.
(From the _Robertson MSS._, Vol. I., Letter of Don Miro.)
NEW ORLEANS, the 20th April, 1783.
Sir
I received yours of 29th January last, & am highly pleased in seeing the
good intentions of the People of that District, & knowing the falsehood
of the report we have heard they are willing to attack their Province.
You ought to make the same account of the news you had that the Indians
have been excited in their Province against you, since I wrote quite the
contrary at different times to Alexander McGillevray to induce him to
make peace, & lastly he answered me that he gave his word to the
Governor of North Carolina that the Creeks would not trouble again those
settlements: notwithstanding after the letter received from you, and
other from Brigadier general Daniel Smith Esqr I will writte to him
engaging him to be not more troublesome to you.
I have not any connection with Cheroquis & Marcuten, but as they go now
& then to Illinois I will give advice to that Commander to induce them
to be quiet: in respect to the former in the month of May of last year
they asked the permission of settling them selves on the west side of
the Mississippi River which is granted & they act accordingly, you
plainly see you are quite free from their incursions.
I will give the Passeport you ask for your son-in-law, & I will be
highly pleased with his coming down to setle in this Province & much
more if you, & your family should come along with him, since I can
assure you that you will find here your welfare, without being either
molested on religious matters or paying any duty & under the
circumstances of finding allwais market for your crops which makes every
one of the planters settled at Natchez or elsewhere to improve every
day, much more so than if they were to purchase the Lands, as they are
granted gratis.
I wish to be usefull to you being with regard sir
Your most obt. hl. servant ESTEVAN MIRO.
(Dupte.) Colonel JAMES ROBERTSON, Esqr.
The duplicity of the Spaniards is well illustrated by the fact that the
Gardoqui MSS. give clear proof that they were assisting the Creeks with
arms and ammunition at the very time Miro was writing these letters. See
the Gardoqui MSS., _passim_, especially Miro's letter of June 28, 1786.
APPENDIX I-TO CHAPTER XIII.
Account of Robert Morris with Miss Betsey Hart, Philadelphia, 1780-81.
From the Clay MSS.
DR. MISS HARTE IN ACCOUNT CURRENT WITH ROBERT MORRIS CR. [Oldest
daughter of Col. Thomas Hart. She married Dr. Richard Pendell.]
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 | 27 |
28 |
29