George Rogers Clark and the War in the West

5 / The War Ends in the West

THE WAR ENDS IN THE WEST raids to continue during the cold months, and their frequency increased with the coming of spring. News of the defeat at Yorktown did not reach Detroit until April 3, 1782, and then the British commander A. S. De Peyster tried to minimize its significance to the tribes. At a council held in June the Indians decided to eliminate the American settlements before British aid was curtailed. By late summer of 1782 they were striking heavy blows against the Kentucky settlements. Sure that Indian attacks were imminent, Clark had sought vainly for help that would allow him to blunt the enemy's efforts by attacking first. But in February 1782, Governor Harrison responded to one of the urgent appeals by declaring that the treasury was empty and there was no money for an expedition. "The Executive therefore recommends to the citizens on our frontiers to use every means in their power for preserving a good understanding with the savage tribes, and to strike no blow unless compelled by necessity." Such advice was cold comfort for the Kentuckians who were enduring increasingly severe raids before the governor's letter arrived. Despite the obvious danger to their people, many Ken86 5 MILD WINTER IN 1781-1782 allowed some Indian A tucky leaders could not be persuaded to cooperate effectively to repel the enemy. By 1782 Kentucky'spopulation and resources might have been adequate for the task without extensiveaid from the Virginiagovernmentif the efforts had been fully supported and carefully coordinated . But such cooperation was not forthcoming.The populace had become increasingly heterogenous, and petty quarrels and personality conflicts prevented the close cooperation that the situation demanded. Clark did not have the authorityto force the militiato assist him, but he was readily available as a scapegoat when things went wrong. Prevented from carrying the war to the enemy, Clark endeavored to construct the forts and boats that might place a defensive shield above the Kentucky settlements. When the governorreported that "we have but 4 shillings in the treasury and no means of getting any more," Clark and Floyd somehow succeeded in getting a boat built at the Falls. With a keel of 73 feet, it carried 46 oars, several cannons, and a crew of over 100. The sides were musketproof , and hinged gunwales could be raised so high that the boat could venture close to shore without the danger of being fired into. The craft was available in early July, but Clark had difficulty in manning it. Some of the militiamen assigned to it refused to go on board, "alleging that Militia could not be made Salors of," and volunteers had to be recruited for the purpose. Clark stationed the vessel near the mouth of the Licking River where its presence deterred Indians from crossing to the Kentucky shore for fear they would be trapped there. Although unable to launch an expedition againstthem, Clark did what he could to convince the Indians that he was about to attackthem at some point. Alexander McKee boasted that he and others had assembled in the Shawnee country the greatest number of warriorsbrought together since the start of the war, but rumorsthat the chief of the Big Knives was preparing to take a large force to Detroit delayed their move. Imaginative Indian scouts reported 87 that Clark had a large army at the Falls, and other scouts magnified the group of militiamen who had refused to become sailors into the advance guard ofa large armythat was moving up the Ohio. Suspecting that they were the object of that army's movement, most of the Shawnees refused to cross the river. When William Caldwell and McKee crossed into Kentucky they had some 50 rangers and 300 Indians instead of the force triple that number that they had expected to lead. But the militia commanders in Kentucky had been negligent in providing for scouting, and the enemy was able to penetrate nearly one hundred miles into Kentucky without being discovered. They appeared at Bryan's Station , a few miles from Lexington, on August 15,three days after they had defeated a party of 18whites at Upper Blue Licks. The station's 44 fighting men beat off all attacks until the Indians retired two days later after burning outlying buildings. The enemy moved leisurely to the northeast, apparently in anticipation of pursuit. At Blue Licks, thirty-odd miles northeast of Lexington, they prepared...