DOWNFALL OF THE FREDONIAN REPUBLIC143

From Montelrey to the coast the country lies exceedingly level, abounding more or less with musquito bushes, black ebony, and many other shrubs. In most part of the route the palm tree abounds, but they are much larger from Saltillio east.—This tree seems to be of a character, partaking of the shrub and plant in point of consistence, and general appearance, growing from six to thirty feet high. The Maguey, is a plant, that grows in many parts spontaneously, and from which they derive a liquor, calledpulk, which is much used in large cities. They obtain this juice, by cutting off the plant, which is from six inches to eighteen in diameter;and at the same time they so excavate the stump, as that it will retain the juice, as it exudes upwards. This is afterwards laded out, and suffered to ferment for use. It is of this juice they make a kind of whiskey, calledvino meschal.

Between Montelrey and the Rio del Norte, we passed a few small villages, of which Cadarota was the most considerable, it being a great sugar region. At Quemargo, we struck the del Norte, which I last saw at El Passo, more than a thousand miles above. A great part of the river between these two points traverses [288] a savage country. Quemargo is something more than one hundred miles from the sea, and from which place to Matamoras it is thinly settled.

The village of Matamoras, formerly called Refugio, is forty miles from the harbour of Brassos Santiago;142and stands immediately on the bank of the river, and is said to contain ten thousand inhabitants; but, I should think, not more than eight thousand. There are some two hundred Americans and French in this place, most of whom are merchants and mechanics. They have erected several very good brick buildings, and the place begins to wear the aspect of enterprise. There is a company or two of Mexican troops stationed here, which make great ado about nothing. A portion of them are kept at the Brassos, to protect the Custom-House, and prevent smuggling. But Americans have seen too much territory, to be deterred from saving 3 1/2 per cent. either by stratagem or by bribery; both of which are easily practised with the unconscionable Spaniard. In fact the American party is so strong in that place, that theydo as they please. The consul (Daniel W. Smith) has great influence among them; as, whatever he says is law and gospel.

In regard to the harbour, it is both ample and safe, when once entered; but of dangerous entrance, owing to the channel being shallow, say six or eight feet water. It nevertheless commands considerable commerce during the year. There has been little exported from this port, except during the last two or three years. Since that, it has consisted mostly of passengers and their money: many of the European Spaniards embarked from this port, carrying with them large fortunes of silver and gold, on which the ship masters impose a tax of one per cent. They likewise export some hides, horns, mules, ebony, and some colouring woods. But these exports bear but a small proportion to the amount of specie taken out.

We were removed scarcely a hundred miles from the scene, where was witnessed, during the past winter, the downfall of the Fredonian republic. The crash, however appalling in our ears, at that distance, was hardly heard at Washington, and if some better historian than ourselves, do not take the matter in hand, we fear that this catastrophe will perish from history. Although we do not expect the fame, and do not gird ourselves for the task of the historianof 'the decline and fall of the Roman Empire,' yet it was no unimportant business of theoriginal fifteen, who upreared the pillars of this short lived empire.

The fine country of Texas beyond our western frontier, from its peculiar configuration, its vast prairies, its long range of sea coast, and its numerous rivers on the south, and its range of unexplored mountains on the north, and from its peculiar position between the settled countries of the United States on the one hand, and those of the Mexican Republic, beyond the Rio del Norte, on the other, will always be a resort for outlaws, and desperate speculators from our country. Those who wish to get away from their conscience, and those who have visions of aparadise in the wild, in short, the 'moving generation' of the country will press to that region to find range. Until the Rio del Norte be our boundary, or a Chinese wall rise between the two states, or a continued lineof military posts, interdicting transit, be kept up, it will be the refuge of negro-stealers, and the Elysium of rogues. During the past winter, it witnessed the rise and fall of a republic, which numbered fifteen citizens, and endured fifty days. They must allow us in this country, to have a wonderful faculty to over-stocking all kinds [290] of markets, with the articles which we furnish. Every profession has three aspirants for one that is needed. We furnish more orations, than all the other people on the globe, and we overdo, and parody every thing, that is great and noble.

We acknowledge, that the materials for this, our history, were no more than the common parlance of the people, the passing conversations of village news-mongers. We give as we have received. As we have understood it, a Mr. Edwards was the Romulus of this new republic.144He had somehow obtained, or imagined that he had obtained at Mexico the conditional grant of some millions of acres, between the Sabine, and the grant of Col. Austin.145We saw multitudes of emigrants repairing to this land of promise. Among others, there was a Mr. Chaplin, who, we believe, was a respectable man. He married a sister of Edwards, a beautiful woman, over the events of whose life is spread no smallcoloring of romance. Mr. Chaplin was appointed by Mr. Edwards, the proprietor, and was elected by the people, chiefly Americans,Alcaide, and commandant of Nacogdoches, the only place, that had any resemblance to a town in the country.146It seems that the Mexicans wanted to have a hand in the management of this business, and they appointed anotherAlcaide, and commandant. Hence arose a feud, and a collision of authorities between the old and the new 'residenters.' The warm blood of the emigrants was roused. Fifteen men, among them Col. Ligon, a man whom we had known elsewhere, in a respectable office and standing, took counsel from their free born minds, their stout hearts, and probably from the added influence of the cheering essence of the 'native.' They repaired, on a set time, not without due pomp, and as they say, under desperate apprehensions of enormous bodily harm, to a stone house, the only one, we believe, of any consequence in the village. Here they promulgated a declaration of independence, adopted national banners and insignia, swore the customary oaths, pledged their 'lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor,' earnestly invoked the aid of their fellow citizens in the [291] United States, formed their constitution, and appointedtheir officers; and the offices were so numerous, that, we believe, every citizen of the republic held at least one. The aid of another republic, a band of renegade Cherokees, was invoked with as much form, as Æneas used in soliciting the alliance of Evander. The chief of these Indians was introduced under the most imposing formalities. Among the names of the Cherokee plenipotentiaries we observe the name of the thrice-famousJohn Dunn Hunter.147

The Fredonians had expected aid from Col. Austin's settlement, about two hundred miles south west of them, on the Brassos and Colorado. Not a few of the people of this colony were disposed to give in their adhesion to the new republic. But the shrewd Col. Austin was aware, on which side of the bread the butter lay, and he remained staunch in his loyalty to his adopted country. He issued a thundering proclamation, not unlike Gen. Hull's on the invasion of Canada, inviting his people to range themselves under the standard of the Mexican government. The Cherokee chain parted its links, likea rope of sand. The 'fifteen' had inadvertently caused the death of one man, and otherwise shedsome blood by dint of fist. Some of their more provident men said with the famous Dutch refugee,

'Timens lædi,His posteriora dedi.'

In other words, made the best of their way east of the Sabine. The Mexicans embodied a small creole force, regained the 'stone house,' and over-took some of the Fredonians, wisely treating them with a lenity, which rather savoured of contempt.

Some of the first magistrates of the fallen republic, on regaining the eastern shore of the Sabine, betook themselves to school-keeping, like Dyonisius, exchanging the sceptre for a rod. The Spanishvachercracks his thong, as sonorously, and as carelessly, as before, and the surface of the vast prairies is at rest, like that of a lake, a few minutes after a projected stone has ruffled its sleeping waters. 'Sic transit gloria mundi.'

Moral qualities of theIndians.—In his present condition, the Mexican Indian is grave, melancholy, and taciturn, as long as he is not under the influence of intoxicating liquors. This gravity is particularly remarkable in the children of Indians, who, at the early age of four or five years, display infinitely greater intelligence and development of mind than the children of whites. They delight in throwing an air of mystery over their most trifling remarks. Not a passion manifests itself in their features. At all times sombre, there is something terrific in the change, when he passes all at once from a state of absolute repose to violent and ungovernable agitation. The energy of his character, to which every shade of softness is unknown, habitually degenerates into ferocity. This is especially the case with the inhabitants of Tlascala. In the midst of their degradation, the descendants of these republicans are still distinguished by a certain haughtiness with which they are inspired by the remembrance of their former greatness. The indigenous natives of Mexico, like all other nations who have long groaned under civil and religious despotism, are attached, with an extreme degree of obstinacy, to their habits, their manners, and their opinions.

Assimilation of their Religious Belief.—The introduction of Christianity among them has scarcely produced any other effect than merely substituting new ceremonies, the symbolsof a mild and humane religion,—for the ceremonies of a sanguinary worship. From the earliest periods, semibarbarous [293] nations have received new laws, and new divinities from the hands of their conquerors. The indigenous and vanquished gods give place to foreign deities. Indeed, in a mythology so complicated as that of the Mexicans, it was easy to discover an affinity between the divinities of Atzlan and those of the east. The Holy Spirit, for instance, was identified with the sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The missionaries not only tolerated, they even favored this mixture of ideas, by which the Christian worship became more speedily established. The English collector, Mr. Bullock, readily obtained leave from the clergy and authorities, in 1823, to disinter and take casts from the image of the sanguinary goddessTeoyamiqui.149During the time it was exposed, he adds, "the court of the University was crowded with people, most of whom expressed the most decided anger and contempt. Not so, however, all the Indians. I attentively marked their countenances; not a smile escaped them, or even a word—all was silence and attention. In reply to a joke of one of the students, an old Indian remarked, 'It is true we have three very good Spanish gods, but we might still have been allowed to keep a few of those of our ancestors.' I was informed that chaplets of flowers had been placed on the figure by natives, who had stolen thither unseen, in the evening, for that purpose; a proof that notwithstanding the extreme diligence of the Spanish clergy for 300 years, there still remains some taint of heathen superstition among the descendants of the original inhabitants." Yet it was, probably, a nobler impulse than superstition that wove the chaplet for the statue of Teoyamiqui; rather that mysteryof nature, by which she links the present to the past with veneration, and to the future with anxiety,—that awful reverence with which the rudest nations look back to their origin and ancestors, and which even now, among the most enlightened, still consecrates the relics of Montmorillon and Stonehenge.

Their talent for Painting and Sculpture.—The Mexicans have preserved a particular taste for painting and for the art of carving on stone and wood. It is truly astonishing to see what [294] they are capable of executing with a bad knife, upon the hardest wood and stone. They exercise themselves in painting the images, and carving the statues of saints; but from a religious principle, they have continued too servilely intimate for 300 years, the models which the Europeans brought with them at the period of the original conquest. In Mexico as well as in Hindoostan, the faithful are not allowed to make the smallest change in their idols; every thing connected with the rites of the Aztecs was subjugated to immutable laws. It is on this very account that the Christian images have preserved in some degree, that stiffness and hardness of feature which characterised the hieroglyphical pictures of the age of Montezuma. They display a great deal of aptitude for the exercise of the arts of imitation, and still greater for those of a purely mechanical nature.

Want of Imagination.—When an Indian has attained a certain degree of cultivation, he shows great facility of acquiring information, a spirit of accuracy and precision, and a particular tendency to subtilize, or to seize on the minutest differences in objects that are to be compared with each other. He reasons coldly and with method; but he does not evince that activity of imagination, that lively freshness of sentiment, that art of creating and of producing, which characterises the people of Europe, and many tribes of African negroes. The music and dancing of the indigenousnatives partake of that want of cheerfulness which is so peculiar to them. Their singing is of a melancholy description. More vivacity, however, is observed in their women than in their men; but they share the evils of that state of subjection to which the sex is condemned among most of those nations where civilization is still imperfect. In the dance women take no part; they are merely present for the sake of offering to the dancers the fermented drinks which they themselves had prepared.

Their taste for Flowers.—The Mexican Indians have likewise preserved the same taste for flowers that Cortez noticed in his time. We are astonished to discover this taste, which, doubtless, [295] indicates a taste for the beautiful, among a people in whom a sanguinary worship, and the frequency of human sacrifices, appear to have extinguished every feeling connected with sensibility of mind and the softer affections. In the great market of Mexico, the native does not even sell fish, or ananas, or vegetables, or fermented liquor, without his shop being decked out with flowers, which are renewed every succeeding day. The Indian shopkeeper appears seated behind a perfect entrenchment of verdure, and every thing around him wears an air of the most refined elegance.

Wild Indians.—The Indian hunters, such as theMecos, theApaches, and theLipans, whom the Spaniards comprehend under the denomination ofIndios bravos, and whose hordes, in their incursions, which are often made during night, infest the frontiers of New Biscay, Sonora, and New Mexico, evince more activity of mind, and more strength of character, than the agricultural Indians. Some tribes have even language, the mechanism of which appears to prove the existence of ancient civilization. They have great difficulty in learning our European idioms, while, at the same time, they express themselves in their own with an extreme degree of facility. These same Indian chiefs, whose gloomy taciturnity astonishes the observer, will hold a discourse of several hours, whenever any strong interest rouses them to break their habitual silence.

Prerogatives of theWHITES.—The greater or less quantity of European blood, and the skin being more or less clear, are at once decisive of the consideration which a man enjoys in society and of the opinion which he entertains of himself. A white who rides barefooted, fancies that he belongs to the nobility of the country. Colour even establishes a certain equality between those who, as every where happens where civilization is either a little advanced, or in a state of retrograde movement, take pleasure in refining on the prerogatives of race and origin.—When an individual of the lower orders enters into a dispute with one of the titled lords of the country, it is no unusual thing [296] to hear him exclaim to the nobleman, "It is possible that you really thought yourself whiter than I am?" Among the Metis and Mulattoes, there are many individuals who, by their colour, their physiognomy, and their intelligence, might be confounded with the Spaniards; but the law keeps them down in a state of degradation and contempt. Possessing an energetic and ardent character, these men of colour live in a state of constant irritation against the whites; and resentment too often hurries them into vengeance. It frequently occurs, too, that families who are suspected of being of mixed blood, claim, at the high court of justice, a declaration that they appertain to the whites. In this way, very dark colored Mulattoes have had the address to get themselveswhitened, according to the popular expression. When the judgment of the senses is too palpably in opposition to the solicitations of the applicant, he is forced to content himself with somewhat problematical terms; for, in that case, the sentence simply states, that "such and such individuals mayconsider themselves as white."

New-Mexico.—Many French writers, and, among others, the Abbe Raynal, have spoken in pompous terms of whatthey term theEmpire of New-Mexico;150and they boast of its extent and riches. Under this denomination they appear to comprehend all the countries between California and Louisiana. But the true signification of this term is confined to a narrow province which, it is true, is 175 leagues in length, but not more than thirty or forty in breadth.

Towns.—This stripe of country, which borders the Rio del Norte, is thinly peopled; the town ofSanta Fecontaining 4000 inhabitants;Albuquerque, 6000; andTaos, 9000, comprise almost one-half of the population. The other half consists of poor colonists, whose scattered hamlets are frequently ravaged by the powerful tribes of Indians who surround them, and overrun the province. It is true that the soil is amongst the finest and most fertile of Spanish America.

Productions.—Wheat, maize, and delicious fruits, especially [297] grapes, grow most abundantly. The environs ofPasso-del-Norte, produce the most generous wines. The mountains are covered with pine trees, maples, and oaks. Beasts of prey are met with in great numbers. There are also wild sheep, and particularly elks, or at least large deer, fully the size of a mule, with extremely long horns. According to the Dictionary ofAlcedo,151mines of tin have been discovered. There are several hot springs. Rivers with a saline taste, indicate the existence of rich beds of rock-salt.

Mountains.—The chain of mountains that border the eastern parts of New Mexico, seem to be of a moderate degree of elevation. There is a pass through them, called thePuerto de don Fernando, by which the Paducas have penetrated into New Mexico.152Beyond this chain extend immense natural meadows, on which buffaloes and wild horsespasture in innumerable herds. The Americans of the United States hunt these animals, and sometimes pursue them to the very gates of Santa Fe. The principal mountains coast Rio del Norte, following its western banks. Some peaks, orcerros, are to be distinguished. Further to the north, in the country ofNabaho, the map of Don Alzate has traced mountains with flat summits, denominated in Spanishmesas, that is,tables.

The Apache Indians.—TheApacheIndians originally inhabited the greater part of New Mexico, and are still a warlike and industrious nation. These implacable enemies of the Spaniards infest the whole eastern boundary of this country, from the black mountains to the confines of Cohahuila, keeping the inhabitants of several provinces in an incessant state of alarm.—There has never been any thing but short skirmishes with them, and although their number has been considerably diminished by wars and frequent famine, the Spaniards are obliged constantly to keep up an establishment of 2000 dragoons, for the purpose of escorting their caravans, protecting their villages, and repelling these attacks, which are perpetually renewed. At first the [298] Spaniards endeavoured to reduce to slavery those who, by the fate of war, fell into their hands; but seeing them indefatigably surmount every obstacle that opposed their return to their dear native mountains, their conquerors adopted the expedient of sending their prisoners to the island of Cuba, where, from the change of climate, they speedily perished. No sooner were the Apaches informed of this circumstance than they refused any longer either to give or receive quarter. From that moment none have ever been taken prisoners, except those who are surprised asleep, or disabled during the combat.

Manner of making war.—The arrows of the Apaches are three feet long, and are made of reed or cane, into which they sink a piece of hard-wood, with a point made of iron, bone,or stone. They shoot this weapon with such force, that at the distance of 300 paces they can pierce a man. When the arrow is attempted to be drawn out of the wound, the wood detaches itself, and the point remains in the body. Their second offensive weapon is a lance, fifteen feet long. When they charge the enemy they hold this lance with both hands above their head, and, at the same time, guide their horse by pressing him with their knees. Many of them are armed with firelocks, which, as well as the ammunition, have been taken in battle from the Spaniards, who never sell them any. The archers and fusileers combat on foot but the lancers are always on horseback. They make use of a buckler for defence. Nothing can equal the impetuosity and address of their horsemen. They are thunderbolts, whose stroke it is impossible to parry or escape.

We must cease to feel astonished at the invincible resistance which the Apaches oppose to the Spaniards, when we reflect on the fate to which they have subjected those other Indians who have allowed themselves to be converted.

The Intendency of Mexico.—The intendency ofMexico, the principal province of the Empire of Montezuma, formerly extended from one sea to the other; but the district ofPanuco, [299] having been separated from it, it no longer reaches the gulf of Mexico. The eastern part, situated on the plateau, contains several valleys of a round figure; in the centre of which there are lakes at present dried up, but waters appear formerly to have filled these basins. Dry and deprived of its wood, this plateau is at once subject to an habitual aridity, and to sudden inundations, occasioned by heavy rains and the melting of the snow. Generally speaking, the temperature is not so hot as it is in Spain; in fact, it enjoys a perpetual spring. The mountains with which it is surrounded still abound in cedars and other lofty trees, in gums, drugs, salts, metallic productions, marble and precious stones. The flat country is covered the whole year throughwith delicate and exquisite fruits, lint, hemp, cotton, tobacco, aniseed, sugar, and cochineal, with which they support an extensive commerce.

Natural Curiosities.—Besides the numerous volcanoes of which we have already spoken, some natural curiosities are met with. One of the most remarkable is thePonte-Dios, or the bridge of God, a rock, under which the water has hollowed itself a canal, situated about one hundred miles to the southeast of Mexico, near the village of Molcaxac, on the deep river Aquetoyac. Along this natural bridge, the traveller may continue his journey as if he were on a high road. Several cataracts present a romantic appearance. The great cavern of Dante, traversed by a river; the porphyritic organ-pipes of Actopan; and many other singular objects excite the astonishment of the traveller in this mountainous region, where he is obliged to cross foaming rivers upon bridges formed of the fruit of theCrescentia pinnata, tied together with ropes of Agava.

City of Mexico.—On the very ridge of the great Mexican plateau, a chain of porphyritic mountains encloses an oval valley, the general level of which is elevated 6700 feet above the surface of the ocean. Five lakes fill the middle of this valley. To the north of the united lakes of Xochimilco, and Chalco, on the eastern side of the lake Tezcuco, once stood the ancient [300] city ofMexico, to which the traveller arrived by causeways constructed on the shallow bottom of the lake. The new city, although placed on the same spot, is situated on firm ground, and at a considerable distance from the lakes, the waters of which have retired, and the town is still intersected by numerous canals, and the public edifices are erected on piles. The draining of the lakes is further continued, by means of a canal which has been opened for that purpose, through the mountains of Sincoq, in order to protect the town from inundations. In many places however, the ground is still soft, and some buildings, amongstothers the cathedral, have sunk six feet. The streets are wide and straight, but badly paved. The houses present a magnificent appearance, being built of porphyry and amygdaloid. Several palaces and private mansions have a majestic effect, and its churches glitter with metallic riches. The cathedral surpasses, in this respect, all the churches in the world; the ballustrade which surrounds the great altar being composed of massive silver. A lamp of the same metal, is of so vast a size that three men go into it when it has to be cleaned; and it is enriched with lions' heads, and other ornaments, of pure gold. The statues of the Virgin and the saints are either made of solid silver, or richly gilded, and ornamented with precious stones. Palaces, mansions of great families, beautiful fountains, and extensive squares, adorn the interior of this city. To the north, near the suburbs, is the principal public promenade, orAlameda. Round this walk flows a rivulet, forming a fine square, in the middle of which there is a basin with a fountain. Eight alleys of trees terminate here, in the figure of a star. But in consequence of an unfortunate proximity, immediately in front of alameda, the eye discovers theQuemadero, a place where Jews and other victims of the terrible Inquisition, were burned alive.

FINIS

1Timothy Flint (1780-1840) was a native of Reading, Massachusetts. Graduated from Harvard College (1800), he became a Congregational minister, and in 1815 went as a missionary to the Far West. Until 1822 his headquarters were at St. Charles, Missouri; in that year he descended the Mississippi in a flatboat and settled in Louisiana, conducting a seminary on Lake Pontchartrain. Ill health compelled him to return to the North (1825), and thereafter he gave his attention to literature. For three years he edited theWestern Reviewat Cincinnati; but later, removing to New York (1833), conducted theKnickerbocker Magazine. In addition to publishing a number of romances and biographies of Western life, he was the author of two well-known books on the West:Recollections of the Last Ten Years Passed in the Valley of the Mississippi(1826), andCondensed History and Geography of the Western States(1828).—Ed.

2Josiah Stoddard Johnston was born in Salisbury, Connecticut (1784), but when a small boy removed with his parents to Washington, Kentucky. He was graduated from Transylvania University (1805), and soon after began the practice of law in Alexandria, a frontier village of Louisiana. Gaining reputation as a lawyer, he served as district judge from 1812-21, was elected to the 17th congress, and in 1823 became a member of the federal senate, where he supported a protective tariff and the other measures advocated by Henry Clay. In 1833, Johnston was killed in the explosion of the steamboat "Lyon," on Red River.—Ed.

3James Riley (born in Connecticut, 1777, died at sea, 1840) was a sea captain, who experienced some romantic adventures. In 1815 he sailed from Hartford on the brig "Commerce," was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa, and for eighteen months held as a slave by the Arabs until ransomed by the British consul at Mogadove. In 1817, Anthony Bleecker published from Riley's journalsAn Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce, on the Western Coast of Africa, in the Month of August, 1815 ... with a Description of Tombuctoo. The book had a wide circulation both in England and America, but until other survivors of the vessel returned and confirmed the account, was popularly supposed to be fictitious. In 1821 Riley settled in Van Wert County, Ohio, founding the town of Willshire, and in 1823 was elected to the legislature. He resumed a seafaring life (1831), and an account of his later voyages and adventures was published by his son (Columbus, 1851).—Ed.

4This station, five miles northeast of Lexington, had been established in 1779 by four Bryan (later, Bryant) brothers from North Carolina, one of whom married a sister of Daniel Boone. It contained about forty cabins in 1782 when, August 16, it was attacked by a force of Canadians and Indians under the leadership of Simon Girty. Failing to draw the men out of the stockade, as had been planned, the Indians besieged the station until the following day, when they withdrew. For a full account, see Ranck, "Story of Bryant's Station," Filson ClubPublications, xii.—Ed.

5For a brief sketch of Colonel Benjamin Logan, see A. Michaux'sTravels, volume iii of our series, p. 40, note 34.—Ed.

6An account of the battle of the Blue Licks may be found in Cuming'sTour, in our volume iv, pp. 176, 177.—Ed.

7This expedition, to avenge the battle of the Blue Licks and the attack on Bryant's Station, rendezvoused at the mouth of the Licking. A force of a thousand mounted riflemen under George Rogers Clark marched thence against the Shawnee towns in the neighborhood of the present Chillicothe. These were completely destroyed, the expedition meeting with no resistance.—Ed.

8A footnote cannot do justice to the services of General George Rogers Clark in Western history. Born in Albemarle County, Virginia (1752), he became a surveyor on the upper Ohio. Serving in Dunmore's campaign in 1774, the following year he settled in Kentucky. Returning to Virginia to urge upon the legislature the conquest of the Illinois territory, he was made a lieutenant-colonel and authorized to raise troops for the undertaking. June 24, 1778, he set out from the Falls of the Ohio, upon his memorable campaign, capturing Kaskaskia July 4, and Vincennes the following February. See Thwaites,How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest, etc.(Chicago, 1903). The attack upon the Shawnee towns in 1782 was his last important work; an expedition up the Wabash against Detroit, was undertaken in 1786; but part of the troops mutinied, and Clark was forced to turn back before reaching his destination. He died at his sister's home, "Locust Grove," near Louisville, in February, 1818.—Ed.

9The war with the Sauk and Foxes was part of the general War of 1812-15. These Indians had in 1804 signed a treaty at St. Louis, by which they surrendered all their lands in Illinois and Wisconsin. But the cession was repudiated by the Rock River band of the united tribes, who eagerly joined with the British in the hope of saving their hunting grounds. The noted warrior Black Hawk accepted a commission in the British army.—Ed.

10For the early history of St. Charles, see Bradbury'sTravels, volume v of our series, p. 39, note 9.—Ed.

11Cap-au-Gris is situated on the Mississippi a few miles above the mouth of Cuivre River. In 1812 Fort Howard was erected near that point, for the protection of the Missouri frontier; its name was in honor of the governor, Benjamin Howard. Fort Howard was a shipping port of some importance until the advent of the railroads into that region, but it now exists only in name. The event here related was an attack upon Fort Howard by Black Hawk and his band, immediately after the siege of Fort Meigs (July, 1813).—Ed.

12Fort Bellefontaine was established (1805) by General James Wilkinson, governor of Louisiana, on the site of an old Spanish fort named Charles the Prince. It was on the Missouri River, four miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and was occupied by United States troops until the construction of Jefferson Barracks in 1827. For further details, see Thwaites,Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, v, p. 392, note 2.—Ed.

13Thomas McNair was a son of Robert, a blacksmith living at Troy, about eighteen miles west of Cap-au-Gris; and a nephew of Alexander McNair, governor of Missouri (1820-24). The family had emigrated to St. Louis from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, about 1800.—Ed.

14As Pattie obtained his discharge in 1813, he must have yielded his command to Lieutenant John McNair, brother of Thomas, who was stationed at Cap-au-Gris during the latter part of the war. See Goodspeed,History of Lincoln County, Missouri(Chicago, 1888), p. 224.The Sauk and Foxes signed a treaty of peace in May, 1816, wherein they acknowledged the cession of 1804; but the consequent removal across the Mississippi was one of the causes of the Black Hawk War (1832).—Ed.

The Sauk and Foxes signed a treaty of peace in May, 1816, wherein they acknowledged the cession of 1804; but the consequent removal across the Mississippi was one of the causes of the Black Hawk War (1832).—Ed.

15Gasconade River rises in southern Missouri, and flowing northeast empties into the Missouri about a hundred miles above the latter's junction with the Mississippi.—Ed.

16Newport, now Dundee, is a small town on the Missouri, at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, some sixty miles above St. Louis.—Ed.

17This was an important place during the fur-trading era. It was more commonly known as Bellevue, and was situated about nine miles above the mouth of the Platte. The first post was established about 1810, and soon passed into the control of the Missouri Fur Company, under Joshua Pilcher—hence the name of Pilcher's Post. For a sketch of Pilcher, see James'sLong's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 269, note 193.—Ed.

18Chariton was about two hundred and twenty miles up the Missouri, at the mouth of Chariton River. In 1818 the sale of government land began in that region, and the town sprang up with extraordinary rapidity. Many lots in St. Louis were exchanged for lots in Chariton, but the site of the latter is now a farm.—Ed.

19This was Cabanne's Post, nine or ten miles (by land) above Omaha. It was established about 1822 for the American Fur Company, by J. P. Cabanne. He remained in charge until 1833, and soon thereafter the company moved its trading station to Bellevue.—Ed.

20Silvester Pratte was born in St. Louis (1799), the son of Bernard Pratte, a partner in the American Fur Company. He did not return from this expedition, but died in New Mexico; seepost.—Ed.

21For the early history of Council Bluffs, see Brackenridge'sJournal, volume vi of our series, p. 78, note 28.—Ed.

22For Elkhorn River, see James'sLong's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 240, note 182.—Ed.

23For the Pawnee Indians, consult Brackenridge'sJournal, in our volume vi, p. 61, note 17.—Ed.

24This is not the stream now known as the Little Platte, for which see James'sLong's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 174, note 141. Possibly it was Maple Creek, a stream which rises in the southern part of Stanton County, Nebraska, and flowing westward through Dodge County joins the Elkhorn nearly opposite the town of Fontenelle. At the time of Major Long's expedition (1820), all the Pawnee villages were situated within a few miles of each other, on the Loup fork of the Platte (see volume xv of our series, pp. 144-149), while Pattie finds a Republican Pawnee village within a day's march of the Elkhorn. Probably this was but a temporary village, as Colonel Henry Dodge (1835) and later travellers describe the location on the main Platte (seeSenate Doc., 24 Cong., 1 sess., 209). Pattie is also the only person who mentions more than one Republican Pawnee village. It seems likely that he erroneously classed as Republican the other Pawnee villages, excepting that of the Loups (which he mentions separately)—namely, the Grand and the Tapage villages.—Ed.

25The definiteness with which Pattie gives his dates, lends to his account an appearance of accuracy, which an examination of the narrative does not sustain. By his own enumeration of days after leaving Council Bluffs, this should be August 8. There is no indication that Pattie kept a journal, or that he wrote any account of his travels before reaching California.—Ed.

26For the Pawnee Loups see Bradbury'sTravels, volume v of our series, p. 78, note 44. An account of the visit of the Pawnee chiefs to Washington may be found in Faux'sJournal, volume xii of our series, pp. 48-52.—Ed.

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