The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
After the present volume was in press Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, of
Harvard, most kindly called my attention to the Knox Papers, in the
archives of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, of
Boston. These papers are of great interest. They are preserved in a
number of big volumes. I was able to make only a most cursory
examination of them; but Mr. Villard with great kindness went carefully
through them, and sent me copies of those which I deemed important.
There are a number of papers referring to matters connected with the
campaigns against the western Indians. The most interesting and valuable
is a long letter from Col. Darke giving a very vivid picture of St.
Clair's defeat, and of the rout which followed. While it can hardly be
said to cast any new light on the defeat, it describes it in a very
striking manner, and brings out well the gallantry of the officers and
the inferior quality of the rank and file; and it gives a very
unpleasant picture of St. Clair and Hamtranck.
Besides the Darke letter there are several other manuscripts containing
information of value. In Volume XXIII., page 169, there is a letter from
Knox to General Harmar, dated New York, September 3, 1790. After much
preliminary apology, Knox states that it "has been reported, and under
circumstances which appear to have gained pretty extensive credit on the
frontiers, that you are too apt to indulge yourself to excess in a
convivial glass"; and he then points out the inevitable ruin that such
indulgence will bring to the General.
A letter from St. Clair to Knox, dated Lexington, September 4, 1791,
runs in part: "Desertion and sickness have thinned our ranks. Still, if
I can only get them into action before the time of the levies expires, I
think my force sufficient, though that opinion is founded on the
calculation of the probable number that is opposed to us, having no
manner of information as to the force collected to oppose us." On the
15th he writes from Ft. Washington about the coming expiration of
enlistments and says: "I am very sensible how hazardous it is to
approach, under such circumstances, and my only expectation is that the
men will find themselves so far engaged that it will be obviously better
to go forward than to return, at the same time it precludes the
establishment of another post of communication however necessary, but
that indeed is precluded also from our decreasing numbers, and the very
little dependence that is to be placed upon the militia."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account