In the autumn of 1780, a party of seventeen men from Cahokia went on an expedition against St. Josephs. The party was commanded by “a half Indian,” and seems to have included but one American. The attack was so timed as to come when the Indians in the vicinity of St. Josephs were out hunting. The place was taken without difficulty, the traders of the place were captured and plundered, and the party, laden with booty, set out on the route to Chicago. A pursuing party was quickly organized and at the _Rivière du Chemin_, a small stream in Indiana, emptying into the southeastern part of Lake Michigan, the returning victors were summoned to surrender, on December 5, 1780. Upon their refusal, four were killed, two wounded, seven made prisoners, while three escaped.(69) The one American, Brady, was among the prisoners. He told the British that the party was sent by the creoles to plunder St. Josephs, and that there was not a Virginian in all the Illinois country, including Vincennes.(70) In the very midst of winter, on January 2, 1781, an expedition commanded by Eugenio Pierre, a Spanish captain of militia, set out from St. Louis against St. Josephs. According to a Spanish account, the party consisted of sixty-five militia men and sixty Indians, while an American account declares it to have contained thirty Spaniards, twenty men from Cahokia, and two hundred Indians. The purpose of the expedition was to retaliate upon the British for the attack on St. Louis and for the defeat of La Balme. On the march, severe difficulties incident to the season were encountered. The post was easily taken, the Indians were conciliated by a liberal proportion of the booty, the Spanish flag was raised and the Illinois country with St. Josephs and its dependencies was claimed for the crown of Spain. The British flag was given to Commandant Cruzat, of St. Louis. These proceedings made some prominent Americans fear that Spain would advance claims to the region at the close of the Revolution.(71) In the summer of 1781, a party of seven men was sent out by the commandant at Michilimackinac with a letter to the inhabitants of Cahokia and Kaskaskia asking them to furnish troops to be paid by the king of England, and to assume the defensive against the Spaniards. The men reached St. Louis before visiting Cahokia or Kaskaskia, and were arrested by the Spanish commandant, who sent a copy of the letter to Major Williams, knowing no officer in Illinois superior to him. This created jealousy at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, each of several officers claiming superiority. Charles Gratiot, a man of some ability, who had removed from Cahokia to St. Louis because unable to endure the lawlessness at the former place, wrote that he did not know what course the Illinois people might have taken if Cruzat had not intercepted the British agents. Illinois was a country without a head where everyone expected to do as he pleased.(72)