effrontery to return to Fort Jefferson, where he arrived on May 1, 1781, and resumed his command. In February, 1783, he made his defense and asked for his pay.(54) In April, 1781, Todd wrote: “I still receive complaints from the Illinois. That Department suffers, I fear, through the avarice and prodigality of our officers; they all vent complaints against each other. I believe our French friends have the justest grounds of dissatisfaction.”(55) On June 2, 1781, Capt. McCarty was killed in a fight between the Illinois troops and some Indians on the one side and a party of Ouia Indians, who favored the British, on the other. The engagement took place near the Wabash. McCarty’s papers were sent to the British, who laconically reported: “They give no information other than that himself and all the Inhabitants of the Illenoise were heartily tired of the Virginians.”(56) There is slight reason to doubt the truth of the statement. It is enforced by the fact that in 1781, a letter written in French to the governor of Virginia and said to be signed in the name of the inhabitants of Vincennes and to give the views of the people of Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Vermilion, Ouia, etc., declared that the French had decided to receive no troops except those sent by the king of France to aid in defeating the enemies of the country. The Indians who are friendly to the French, said the writer, would regard the coming of Virginia troops as a hostile act. A copy of the memoir sent by the French settlers to the French minister Luzerne was inclosed.(57) On June 8, 1781, the garrison of Fort Jefferson, being without food, without credit, and for more than two years without pay, evacuated the place and withdrew to the Falls of Ohio, only to find themselves without credit in even the adjoining counties of Virginia. The troops were billeted in small parties.(58) Once again there comes a despairing plea from the feeble garrison at Vincennes, in the County of Illinois. The commander wrote: “Sir, I must inform you once more that I can not keep garrison any longer, without some speedy relief from you. My men have been 15 days upon half-allowance; there is plenty of provisions here but no credit—I can not press, being the weakest party—Some of the Gentlemen would help us, but their credit is as bad as ours, therefore, if you have not provisions send us Whisky which will answer as good an end.”(59)