ul raids against the frontier, and brought their
scalps and prisoners in triumph to Detroit, [Footnote: Haldimand MSS. De
Peyster to Haldimand, Oct. 20, 1779.] where they drank such astonishing
quantities of rum as to incite the indignation of the British
commander-in-chief. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS. Haldimand's letter, July
23, 1779.] But instead of being able to undertake any formidable
expedition against the settlers, the Detroit authorities were during
this year much concerned for their own safety, taking every possible
means to provide for the defence, and keeping a sharp look-out for any
hostile movement of the Americans. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS., April 8,
1779.]

The incoming settlers were therefore left in comparative peace. They
built many small palisaded towns, some of which proved permanent, while
others vanished utterly when the fear of the Indians was removed and the
families were able to scatter out on their farms. At the Falls of the
Ohio a regular fort was built, armed with cannon and garrisoned by
Virginia troops, [Footnote: One hundred and fifty strong, under Col.
George Slaughter.] who were sent down the river expressly to reinforce
Clark. The Indians never dared assail this fort; but they ravaged up to
its walls, destroying the small stations on Bear Grass Creek and
scalping settlers and soldiers when they wandered far from the
protection of the stockade.

The Hard Winter.

The new-comers of 1779 were destined to begin with a grim experience,
for the ensuing winter [Footnote: Boon, in his Narrative, makes a
mistake in putting this hard winter a year later; all the other
authorities are unanimous against him.] was the most severe ever known
in the west, and was long recalled by the pioneers as the "hard winter."
Cold weather set in towards the end of November, the storms following
one another in unbroken succession, while the snow lay deep until the
spring. Most of the cattle, and very many of the horses, perished; and
deer and elk were likewise found dead in the woods, or so weak and
starved that they would hardly move out of the way, while the buffalo
often came up at nightfall to the yards, seeking to associate with the
starving herds of the settlers. [Footnote: McAfee MSS. Of the McAfees'
horses ten died, and only two survived, a brown mare and "a yellow horse
called Chickasaw." Exactly a hundred years later, in the hard winter of
1879-80, and the still worse winter of 1880-81, the settler