ans of Vincennes to Congress, June I, 1786.] It
is impossible to reconcile the accounts the two parties gave of one
another's deeds; doubtless neither side was guiltless of grave
wrongdoing. So great was Clark's reputation for probity and leadership
that both sides wrote him urgently, requesting that he would come to
them and relieve their distress. [Footnote: Draper MSS. Petition to G. R.
Clark from Inhabitants of Vincennes, March 16, 1786.] One of the most
fruitful sources of broils and quarrels was the liquor trade with the
Indians. The rougher among the new-comers embarked eagerly in this
harmful and disreputable business, and the low-class French followed
their example. The commandant, Monsieur J. M. P. Legrace, and the Creole
court forbade this trade; a decision which was just and righteous, but
excited much indignation, as the other inhabitants believed that the
members of the court themselves followed it in secret. [Footnote: Do.,
John Filson; MS. Journey of Two Voyages, etc.]

In 1786 the ravages of the Indians grew so serious, and the losses of
the Americans near Vincennes became so great, that they abandoned their
outlying farms, and came into the town. [Footnote: Do., Moses Henry to G.
R. Clark, June 7, 1786.] Vincennes then consisted of upwards of three
hundred houses. The Americans numbered some sixty families, and had
built an American quarter, with a strong blockhouse. They only ventured
out to till their cornfields in bodies of armed men, while the French
worked their lands singly and unarmed.

Indians Attack Americans.

The Indians came freely into the French quarter of the town, and even
sold to the inhabitants plunder taken from the Americans; and when
complaint of this was made to the Creole magistrates, they paid no heed.
One of the men who suffered at the hands of the savages was a wandering
schoolmaster, named John Filson, [Footnote: _Do_., John Small to G. R.
Clark, June 23, 1786.] the first historian of Kentucky, and the man who
took down, and put into his own quaint and absurdly stilted English,
Boone's so-called "autobiography." Filson, having drifted west, had
travelled up and down the Ohio and Wabash by canoe and boat. He was much
struck with the abundance of game of all kinds which he saw on the
northwestern side of the Ohio, and especially by the herds of buffaloes
which lay on the sand-bars; his party lived on the flesh of bears, deer,
wild turkeys, coons, and water-turtles. In 178