the buffoon, went wherever danger was greatest, and by an almost
unmatched display of bravery, tact, and firmness, won the redoubled
admiration of his suffering followers and held them together. Murmurs
arose among the creoles, but the Americans showed no signs of faltering.
For more than a week the party floundered through the freezing water,
picked its way from one outcropping bit of earth to another, and seldom
found opportunity to eat or sleep. Rifles and powder-horns had to be
borne by the hour above the soldiers' heads to keep them dry.

Finally, on the 23d of February, a supreme effort carried the troops
across the Horseshoe Plain, breast-deep in water, and out upon high
ground two miles from Vincennes. By this time many of the men were so
weakened that they could drag themselves along only with assistance. But
buffalo meat and corn were confiscated from the canoes of some passing
squaws, and soon the troops were refreshed and in good spirits. The
battle with the enemy ahead seemed as nothing when compared with the
struggle with the elements which they had successfully waged. No exploit
of the kind in American history surpasses this, unless it be Benedict
Arnold's winter march through the wilderness of Maine in 1775 to attack
Quebec.

Two or three creole hunters were now taken captive, and from them Clark
learned that no one in Vincennes knew of his approach. They reported,
however, that, although the habitants were tired of the "Hair-Buyer's"
presence and would gladly return to American allegiance, some two
hundred Indians had just arrived at the fort. The Willing had not been
heard from. But an immediate attack seemed the proper course; and the
young colonel planned and carried it out with the curious mixture of
bravery and braggadocio of which he was a past master.

First he drew up a lordly letter, addressed to the inhabitants of the
town, and dispatched it by one of his creole prisoners. "Gentlemen," it
ran, "being now within two miles of your village with my army...and not
being willing to surprise you, I take this step to request such of you
as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you,
to remain still in your houses. And those, if any there be, that are
friends to the King, will instantly repair to the fort and join the
Hair-Buyer General and fight like men." Having thus given due warning,
he led his "army" forward, marching and counter-marching his meager
forces among the trees an