The young government now faced a problem difficult in the extreme with fine courage, fully conscious of its own dignity and its own latent power. Within six weeks of St. Clair's annihilation, the Secretary of War submitted a statement to Congress which summed up the situation briefly and clearly. The former treaties with the Indians, the efforts for peace, the sorry details of the campaign were all described. Peaceful and warlike efforts, alike, had failed. So much for the past. For the future, the plan was already formulated and ready for adoption by Congress. First, the war must be brought to an end; if peace could be secured without further resort to arms, well and good; "it is submitted," read the Secretary's communication, "that every reasonable expedient be again taken ... that the nature of the case, and a just regard to the national reputation, will admit." Those in best position to judge, however, were sure that the pride of victory was so strong among the confederated nations that "it would be altogether improper to expect any favorable result from such [peaceful] expedients," and Congress was warned accordingly that it was "by an ample conviction of superior force only, that the Indians can be brought to listen to the dictates of peace on reasonable terms." It was properly insisted that relinquishment of territory formerly ceded by the savages could not be arranged "consistently with a proper regard to national reputation." The plan included the organization of a new army, comprising three hundred cavalry, three hundred artillerymen, and five regiments of infantry of four thousand five hundred and sixty men. It was to be styled "The Legion of the United States," and was to be divided into four sub-legions of one thousand two hundred and eighty non-commissioned officers and privates each. The mistakes of the past dictated the necessity of having this force disciplined "according to the nature of the service;" its ultimate object was to establish a strong post on the present site of Fort Wayne, Indiana. To secure a comprehensive grasp of the interesting campaign now undertaken, it is necessary to keep in mind simultaneously three situations: this new army, the moving companies of peace commissioners, and that ragged pathway northward from Fort Washington with the little stockade forts which guarded it. These varying phases will be treated chronologically, at the risk of coherency, and the scattered threads gathered much in the tangled order in which they were spun amid many hopes and many fears.