HECKEWELDER CONCILIATES THE DELAWARES.

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determined upon by the long knives (the Virginians or American people.) Yet as no one would reach out his hand to me, I inquired into the cause: when Captain White Eyes, boldly stepping forward, replied: "That by what had been told them by McKee and his party, they no longer had a single friend among the American people: if, therefore, this be so, they must consider every white man who came to them from that side as an enemy, who came but to deceive them, and to put them off their guard, in order to give an enemy an opportunity to take them by surprise.' I replied that the imputation was unfounded, and that were I not their friend, they would have never seen me here. Then,' continued White Eyes, will you tell us the truth with regard to what I ask?' On my having assured him of this, he asked me: 'Are the American armies all cut to pieces by the English troops? Is General Washington killed? Is there no more a Congress; and have the English hung some of them, and taken the rest to England to hang them there? Is the whole country beyond the mountains in the possession of the English; and are the few thousand Americans, who have escaped them, now embodying themselves on this side of the mountains for the purpose of killing all the Indians in this country, even our women and children? Now do not deceive us, but speak the truth; is all this true that I have been saying to you?'

"I declared before the whole assembly, that not one word of what he had just now told me was true; and held out to him, as I had done before, the friendly speeches sent for them by me; which he however refused to accept, probably from prudential considerations. I thought by the countenances of most of the bystanders, that the moment bade fair for their listening at least to the contents of these

speeches, and accidentally catching the drummer's eye, I called to him to beat the drum for the assembly to meet, for the purpose of hearing what their American brethren had to say to them. There was a general smile of approbation; and White Eyes, thinking the favorable moment had arrived, asked the assembly, 'Shall we, my friends and relations, listen once more to those who call us their brethren?' The question was answered almost by acclamation: the drum was beat, and the whole body repaired to the council house. The speeches, all of which were of the most pacific nature, were read and interpreted to them: when Captain White Eyes rose, and in a long address, took particular notice of the good disposition of the American people towards the Indians; observing that they had never as yet called on them to fight the English, knowing that wars were destructive to nations; and that they (the Americans) had, from the beginning of the war to the present time, always advised the Indians to remain quiet, and not to take up the hatchet against either side. A newspaper containing the capitulation of General Burgoyne's army, being found enclosed in the packet, White Eyes again rose, and holding the paper unfolded with both his hands, so that all could have a view of it, said, 'See, my friends and relatives, this document contains great events; not the song of a bird, but the truth.' Then stepping up to me, he gave me his hand; saying, 'you are welcome with us, brother.' Every one present immediately followed his example."

But for the expedition of Heckewelder, and the foregoing interview, the spring of 1778 would have inevitably recruited the Indian allies of Great Britain with the Delawares of Ohio. It is interesting, also, to mark the reverberation of the victory at Saratoga (its date was October 17, 1777,)

in the western wilderness. The surrender of Burgoyne, which, in the old world, led to the recognition of American Independence by France, and the presentiment in England that the colonies were lost, was not without its salutary influence upon the savage denizens of the Ohio and the other tributaries of the mighty Mississippi.

The affair at Saratoga was of some use to the Indian agent at Pittsburgh. The Spanish Governor of Louisiana, addressed a letter written in his own language, to Colonel Morgan, which was dated August 9th, 1777, but only received "by due course," on the 24th of February, 1778. Unluckily, the agent knew no Spanish, and on forwarding it to Congress, not a member of that honorable body could read it, nor (as the Colonel reluctantly confessed in his reply) could any person be found capable and worthy of trust to translate it. As it was, Col. Morgan replied to Don Bernardo de Galvez in sturdy English, detailing with much patriotic unction, what White Eyes had justly denominated the "great event" of Burgoyne's surrender.

13

CHAPTER XIX.

THE CONQUEST OF ILLINOIS BY GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. INDIAN SIEGES OF FORT LAURENS.

DURING the years 1777-8 the conviction had been forced upon Congress, that Detroit must be taken, or the English governor of that post checked in some manner, or a heavy blow would fall upon the colonial cause from the depths of the Western wilderness, which, in connection with the pressure of the seaboard might be fatal to the United States. Early in the spring of 1778, preparations for an invasion of the enemy's territory were commenced. Col. Morgan was instructed to make an estimate of the quantity of provisions necessary for the support of three thousand men for three months. "The stock to be laid in amounted to 610,000 lbs. of flour, 732,000 lbs. beef, requiring 3,812 horses for the transport of the flour, and 2,440 head of cattle, which were to be driven on foot and slaughtered as needed. It also required 136 horses to transport the single article of salt. The food for the horses and cattle was to be chiefly furnished by the native growth of grass, vines, &c., found in abundance at that day during the summer months on the rich lands of the West. The whole expense of this expedition was estimated at $609,538. The cattle cost at that time £10, or $33.33 a head: the horses cost £25, or $83.25 each. Flour was fifty shillings a hundred, or sixpence a pound, equal to sixteen dollars a barrel. The price of a common woodman's axe was thirty shillings, or five dollars, and the

price of a pack saddle was the same.

Salt was six pounds

a bushel or twenty dollars. These were specie prices, not estimated in a depreciated currency."

A similar division of the army of invasion was proposed, as was made by Dunmore in 1774. Fifteen hundred men were to march through Green Briar, down the Big Kenawha to Fort Randolph, at the junction with the Ohio, and the same force was to assemble at Fort Pitt and descend the Ohio to that post. In fact, the former detachment was never levied, and Gen. McIntosh, who was appointed to the command of the expedition, had never a greater force than fifteen hundred men, if so many. In the spring of 1778, he crossed the mountains with a body of five hundred troops. Soon after, he built a fort which bore his name, on the alluvian plain near the mouth of Big Beaver, intended to cover any excursion into the Indian country. It was a regular stockade, with four bastions, each mounted with a six-pounder.

The summer wore away, and on the 17th of September, a council with the Delawares was held at Pittsburg, and their consent to march through their territory obtained. Of this conference, Col. Morgan, who was absent at Philadelphia when it was held, says in a letter written soon afterwards: "There never was a conference with the Indians so improperly or so villainously conducted as the late one at Pittsburg." The assurances given to the Delawares were so wantonly neglected, that Col. Morgan had great difficulty in preventing a total alienation of the tribe. To conciliate their chiefs, they were encouraged to visit Congress in the spring of 1779.

In October, 1778, General McIntosh assembled one thousand men at the newly erected fort at the mouth of Beaver, and marched into the enemy's country. The design upon

1) Hildreth's Pioneer History.