On his arrival at Vincennes in 1801, the population of that town was about seven hundred and fourteen persons. The surrounding country contained about eight hundred and nineteen more, while fifty-five fur-traders were scattered along the Wabash, who carried on a traffic more or less illicit with the Indians. A large part of the inhabitants of Vincennes belonged to that class of French-Canadians, who produced the La Plantes, the Barrens, and the Brouillettes of that time, some of them renowned Indian interpreters and river guides, who figured prominently in the scenes and contests that followed. The remaining part of the population consisted of settlers from the states, the more conspicuous being the Virginians, who were afterwards denominated as the "aristocrats," but who in reality contributed more to the growth and prosperity of the frontier posts than any other element. From this class of Virginians, some of them men of learning and attainment, Harrison selected his retainers and henchmen. Chief among them was Benjamin Parke, one of the commanders at Tippecanoe, and the founder of the State law library in after years; and also Waller Taylor and Thomas Randolph, two of his aides in the Wabash campaign and of his immediate military family. These men, together with Harrison, comprised the "inner circle," who administered the affairs of Knox County and Vincennes, and at that time Knox County held the lead and control in public transactions throughout the Territory. That they favored the suspension of the sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory, is now established history. But they also organized the courts and the representative assemblies of that day; enacted and enforced the public laws, and set about to establish institutions of learning. Harrison in particular was a friend of the schools. Besides that, these men and their followers organized the militia, gave the woodsmen a training in the manual of arms, and exercised a wide-awake and eternal vigilance for the safety of the frontier. The military instinct of the early Virginian was one of the great factors that determined the conquest and established the permanent peace of the new land.