The condition of the people in the county during the latter half of 1780 was one of misery. Contemporary accounts have a melancholy interest. An attack by Indians upon Fort Jefferson being imminent, the few troops in the outlying districts were ordered to come to the aid of the garrison. The order reached Cahokia when its few defenders were sick and starving. Corn, without grease or salt, was their only food. Deaths were of frequent occurrence. The people of the village had petitioned Col. Montgomery to ease their burden by quartering some of the troops in other villages, but he refused the request of other officers for a council and threatened to abandon the country entirely. In such a condition of affairs, Capt. McCarty proceeded to obey the orders from Fort Jefferson. The only boats at the disposal of the garrison were unseaworthy, so five small boats were pressed for use. On the way, several of the famished soldiers became so sick that they had to be left along the route. Even military discipline was bad in the country. Capt. McCarty, upon being arrested for having quarreled with Dodge, because the latter would not buy food for the starving troops, was left for months without trial because Col. Montgomery had left the country and a military court could not be convened.(43) In October, McCarty wrote: “In short, we are become the hated beasts of a whole people by pressing horses, boats, &c., &c., &c., killing cattle, &c., &c., for which no valuable consideration is given; even many not a certificate, which is here looked upon as next to nothing.”(44) Of the same tenor as McCarty’s testimony to Illinois conditions is that of Winston. A remonstrance of the civil authorities against the extravagance of the military officers was treated as insolent and impertinent. The military power refused the civil department the use of the military prison, even when pay was offered, and made strenuous efforts to establish military rule. Col. Montgomery and Capt. Brashears had departed for New Orleans without settling the account for the peltry which Todd had committed to the joint care of Montgomery and Winston. Montgomery was openly accused of having taken a large amount of public property away with him. Capt. Dodge was a notorious disturber of the peace, and Capt. Bentley, a more recent arrival, was equally undesirable. In the closing paragraph of a long letter is the significant statement: “It Being so long a time since we had any news from you, we conclude therefrom that the Government has given us up to do for Ourselves the Best we can, untill such time as it pleases Some other State or Power to take us under their Protection—a few lines from you would give Some of us great satisfaction, yett the Generality of the People are of Opinion that this Country will be given up to France....”(45)