nd opposite Louisville were finally allotted them. Some of
the Piankeshaw Indians ceded Clark a tract of land for his own use, but
the Virginia Legislature very properly disallowed the grant.]

Disposal of the Prisoners.

Clark was forced to parole most of his prisoners, but twenty-seven,
including Hamilton himself, were sent to Virginia. The backwoodsmen
regarded Hamilton with revengeful hatred, and he was not well treated
while among them, [Footnote: In Hamilton's "brief account" he says that
their lives were often threatened by the borderers, but that "our guard
behaved very well, protected us, and hunted for us." At the Falls he
found "a number of settlers who lived in log-houses, in eternal
apprehension from the Indians," and he adds: "The people at the forts
are in a wretched state, obliged to enclose the cattle every night
within the fort, and carry their rifles to the field when they go to
plough or cut wood." He speaks of Boon's kindness in his short printed
narrative in the _Royal Gazette_.] save only by Boon--for the
kind-hearted, fearless old pioneer never felt any thing but pity for a
fallen enemy. All the borderers, including Clark, [Footnote: Clark, in
his letter to Mason, alludes to Hamilton's "known barbarity"; but in his
memoir he speaks very well of Hamilton, and attributes the murderous
forays to his subordinates, one of whom, Major Hay, he particularly
specifies.] believed that the British commander himself gave rewards to
the Indians for the American scalps they brought in; and because of his
alleged behavior in this regard he was kept in close confinement by the
Virginia government until, through the intercession of Washington, he
was at last released and exchanged. Exactly how much he was to blame it
is difficult to say. Certainly the blame rests even more with the crown,
and the ruling class in Britain, than with Hamilton, who merely carried
out the orders of his superiors; and though he undoubtedly heartily
approved of these orders, and executed them with eager zest, yet it
seems that he did what he could--which was very little--to prevent
unnecessary atrocities.

The crime consisted in employing the savages at all in a war waged
against men, women, and children alike. Undoubtedly the British at
Detroit followed the example of the French [Footnote: See Parkman's
"Montcalm and Wolfe," II., 421, for examples of French payments, some of
a peculiarly flagrant sort. A certain kind of American