land concerns to loose sheets, which, in process of time, have come into possession of persons that have fraudulently destroyed them, or, unacquainted with their consequence, innocently lost or trifled them away; for by the French usage they are considered as family inheritances, and often descend to women and children. In one instance, and during the government of Mr. St. Ange here, a royal notary ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a certificate produced And I am very sorry further to observe that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which continued from the year 1777 to 1787, and where should have been the vouchers for important land transactions, the records have been so falsified, and there is such gross fraud in forgery as to invalidate all evidence and information which I might otherwise have acquired from his papers." to me. Winthrop Sargent informs us that there were about one hundred and fifty French families at Vincennes in 1790. The heads of these families had all been at some time vested with certain titles to a portion of the soil, and while the Secretary was busily engaged endeavoring to straighten out these claims, he received a petition signed by eighty Americans, praying for the confirmation of the grants of lands ceded by the court which had been organized by Colonel John Todd, under the authority of Virginia, to which reference has already been made. This case was met in the action of Congress on the third of March, 1791, empowering the Governor of the territory, in cases where land had been actually improved and cultivated under a supposed grant for the same, to confirm to the persons who made such improvements, the lands supposed to have been granted, not, however, exceeding the quantity of four hundred acres to any one person. In the summer of 1790, a session of the general court was held at Vincennes, acting Governor Sargent* presiding, when the following laws were adopted: I. An act to prohibit the giving or selling intoxicating *Mr. Sargent acted in the capacity of Governor at the request of St. Clair, who, during the time, was busily engaged with military affairs. liquors to Indians residing in, or coming into, the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and for preventing foreigners from trading with Indians therein. II. An act prohibiting the sale of spirituous or other intoxicating liquors to soldiers in the service of the United States, being within ten miles of any military post within the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio; and to prevent the selling or pawning of arms, ammunition, clothing, and accoutrements. III. An act for suppressing and prohibiting every species of gaming for money or other property, and for making void contracts and payments made in consequence thereof, and for restraining the disorderly practice of discharging arms at certain hours and places. We give here the sentiments of the principal inhabitants of Vincennes, which were addressed to Mr. Sargent while at that place, in 1799, in the following language: "The citizens of the town of Vincennes approach you, sir, to express as well their personal respect for your honor as the full approbation of the measures you have been pleased to pursue in regard to their government and the adjustment of their claims, as inhabitants of the territory over which you at present preside. While we deem it a singular blessing to behold the principles of free government unfolding among us, we cherish the pleasing reflection that our posterity will also have cause to rejoice at the political change now originating. A free and efficient government, wisely administered, and fostered under the protecting wings of an august union of States, cannot fail to render the citizens of this wide extended territory securely happy in the possession of every public blessing. "We cannot take leave, sir, without offering to your notice a tribute of gratitude and esteem, which every citizen of Vincennes conceives he owes to the merits of an officer [Major Hamtramck] who has long commanded at this post. The unsettled situation of things, for a series of years previous to this gentleman's arrival, tended in many instances to derange, and in others to suspend, the operations of those municipal customs by which the citizens of this town were used to be governed. They were in the habit of submitting the superintendence of their civil regulations to the officer who happened to command the troops posted among them. Hence, in the course of the late war, and from the frequent change of masters, they labored under heavy and various grievances. But the judicious and humane attention paid by Major Hamtramck, during his whole command, to the rights and feelings of every individual craving his interposition, demands, and will always receive our warmest acknowledgments. We beg you, sir, to assure the supreme authority of the United States of our fidelity and attachment; and that our greatest ambition is to deserve its fostering care, by acting the part of good citizens. "By order, and on behalf, of the citizens of Vincennes. ANTOINE GAMELIN, Magistrate. FRANCIS VIGO, Major Commandant of Militia, To this complimentary testimonial Winthrop Sargent made a brief but appropriate reply. CHAPTER VII. HARMER, SCOTT AND WILKINSON'S EXPEDITIONS. WHEN Governor St. Clair arrived at Fort Washingtou from Kaskaskia, he determined, after a long conversation with General Harmer, to send a powerful force to chastise the savages about the head waters of the Wabash. He had been empowered by the President to call on Virginia for one thousand troops, and on Pennsylvania for five hundred. This power he at once exercised. Three hundred of the Virginia militia were ordered to muster at Fort Steuben, and, with the garrison of that fort, to march to Vincennes, and join Major Hamtramck, who had orders to call for aid from the militia of Vincennes, march up the Wabash and attack any of the Indian villages to which, in his judgment, his force might be equal. The remaining twelve hundred of the militia were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Washington, and to join the regular troops at that post under the command of General Harmer.* At this time the United States regular troops in the West were estimated by Gen. Harmer at four hundred effective men. These, with the militia, gave him a force of one thousand four hundred and fifty men. With this army Gen. Harmer marched from Fort Washington on the thirtieth of September. The troops continued the march until the seventeenth of October, when they reached the Maumee. The work of punishing the Indians was then begun, but, in one sense, ended disastrously. The savages received a severe scourging, but the militia behaved so badly as to be of little or no service. A detachment of three hundred and forty militia and sixty regulars, under the command of Colonel Hardin, were sorely defeated on the Maumee, on the twenty second of October. On the twenty-third, the army took up the line of march for Fort Washington, and reached that place on the fourth of November, having lost in the expedition one hundred and eighty-three killed, and thirtyone wounded. The Indians lost about equally with the Americans. During the progress of this expedition Major Hamtramck marched up the Wabash from Vincennes as far as the mouth of the Vermillion river, destroyed several deserted villages, and returned, without finding an enemy to oppose him. Although the savages were severely punished by these expeditions, yet they refused to sue for peace, and continued their hostilities. The inhabitants of the frontier settlements of Virginia took alarm, and the delegates of Ohio, Monongahela, Harrison, Randolph, Greenbrier, Kanawha and Montgomery counties, sent a joint memorial to the Governor of Virginia, saying that "the defenseless condition of these counties, forming a line of nearly four hundred miles along the Ohio river, * Dillon's History of Indiana Territory, p. 241. |