t the hostile Indians on
the Wabash. Half of the militia of the district were to go; the men were
to assemble, on foot or on horseback, as they pleased, at Clarksville on
September 10th. [Footnote: Draper MSS. Minutes of meetings of the
officers of the district of Kentucky, Aug. 2, 1786. State Dept. MSS.,
No. 150, vol. ii. Letter of P. Henry, May 16, 1786.] Besides
pack-horses, salt, flour, powder, and lead were impressed, [Footnote:
Draper MSS. J. Cox to George Rogers Clark, Aug. 8, 1786.] not always in
strict compliance with law, for some of the officers impressed
quantities of spirituous liquors also. [Footnote: State Dept. MSS.,
Madison papers. Letter of Caleb Wallace Nov. 20,1786.] The troops
themselves however came in slowly. [Footnote: State Dept. MSS., Papers
Continental Congress. No. 150, vol. ii. Letter of Major Wm. North, Sept.
15, 1786.] Late in September when twelve hundred men had been gathered,
Clark moved forward. But he was no longer the man he had been. He failed
to get any hold on his army. His followers, on their side, displayed all
that unruly fickleness which made the militia of the Revolutionary
period a weapon which might at times be put to good use in the absence
of any other, but which was really trusted only by men whose military
judgment was as fatuous as Jefferson's.

Clark's Failure.

After reaching Vincennes the troops became mutinous, and at last flatly
refused longer to obey orders, and marched home as a disorderly mob, to
the disgrace of themselves and their leader. Nevertheless the expedition
had really accomplished something, for it overawed the Wabash and
Illinois Indians, and effectively put a stop to any active expressions
of disloyalty or disaffection on the part of the French. Clark sent
officers to the Illinois towns, and established a garrison of one
hundred and fifty men at Vincennes, [Footnote: _Do_. Virginia State
Papers. G. R. Clark to Patrick Henry. Draper MSS., Proceedings of
Committee of Kentucky Convention, Dec. 19, 1786.] besides seizing the
goods of a Spanish merchant in retaliation for wrongs committed on
American merchants by the Spaniards.

Logan's Expedition.

This failure was in small part offset by a successful expedition led by
Logan at the same time against the Shawnee towns. [Footnote: State
Department MSS., Virginia State Papers, Logan to Patrick Henry, December
17, 1786.] On October 5th, he attacked them with seven hundred and
ninety men. Ther