ch is here looked upon as next to nothing."(44)

Of the same tenor as McCarty's testimony to Illinois conditions is that of
Winston. A remonstrance of the civil authorities against the extravagance
of the military officers was treated as insolent and impertinent. The
military power refused the civil department the use of the military
prison, even when pay was offered, and made strenuous efforts to establish
military rule. Col. Montgomery and Capt. Brashears had departed for New
Orleans without settling the account for the peltry which Todd had
committed to the joint care of Montgomery and Winston. Montgomery was
openly accused of having taken a large amount of public property away with
him. Capt. Dodge was a notorious disturber of the peace, and Capt.
Bentley, a more recent arrival, was equally undesirable. In the closing
paragraph of a long letter is the significant statement: "It Being so long
a time since we had any news from you, we conclude therefrom that the
Government has given us up to do for Ourselves the Best we can, untill
such time as it pleases Some other State or Power to take us under their
Protection--a few lines from you would give Some of us great satisfaction,
yett the Generality of the People are of Opinion that this Country will be
given up to France...."(45)

At the close of October, the troops, with the exception of a very few,
were collected at Fort Jefferson. There the garrison was sick and
starving,(46) clothes were much needed, desertion was rife, and the
abandonment of the post seemed imminent.(47) Among the few troops that
were not called to Fort Jefferson were those of Capt. Rogers, at
Kaskaskia. This company "had to impress supplies, giving certificates for
the value--thus would kill cattle when they wanted them, hogs, & take flour
from the horse-mills--& thus lived very comfortably."(48)

Mutual recrimination was common among the officers. Todd, in a letter to
Gov. Jefferson, in which he inclosed letters from the Illinois officers,
said: "Winston is commandant at Kaskaskia; McCarty, a captain in the
Illinois regiment, who has long since rendered himself disagreeable by
endeavoring to enforce military law upon the civil department at Kohos.

"The peltry, mentioned by Winston as purloined or embezzled by Montgomery,
was committed to their joint care by me in Novr, 1779; and from the
circumstance of Montgomery's taking up with an infamous girl, leaving his
wife, & flying down the river, I