144 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
to maintain an army of ten thousand men for a hundred days. The 
transportation of such a supply would be a task of immense difficulty. 
He informed the Secretary of War that the country north of the fortieth 
degree of latitude was “almost a continued swamp to the lake. When 
the streams run favorable to your course, a small strip of better ground 
is generally found, but in crossing from one river to another the greater 
part of the way at this season is covered with water. Such is actually 
the case between the Sandusky and the Miami Rapids, and from the 
best information I could acquire whilst I was at Huron, the road over 
it must be causewayed at least half the way.’’' 
Major Hardin, who had lately returned from Fort Winchester, 
reported that the road between Piqua and that place was so bad that 
a waggon could not haul its own forage. All hope of employing 
mounted men must inevitably be abandoned.? Rain enough had fallen 
to render the roads almost impassable without making the rivers navig- 
able. At best he could only hope to make use of water carriage for 
his left column as far as the Miami Rapids. He began to despair of 
ultimate success until he could obtain command of Lake Erie, or at 
least dispute its control. 
Shelby was urged to prepare the public for delay by concurrence 
in a proposal to disband all the State troops except a sufficient number 
to maintain the frontier posts and furnish escorts for supply trains 
during the winter. But the Secretary of War flatly refused to agree 
to such a mortifying admission of failure, coming so close on the heels 
of those upon the Niagara and the frontier of Lower Canada. 
Harrison, therefore, showed no relaxation in his efforts to push 
forward troops and stores by each of his three lines of advance, moving 
constantly from post to post with unflagging energy. 
The unsatisfactory result of General Hopkins’s movement laid 
open his left flank, and before sending his cavalry into winter quarters 
he determined to anticipate any attempt upon his line of communi- 
cations by raiding parties of Indians by striking at the villages on the 
Mississinewa branch of the Wabash.* It was alleged that some of their 
inhabitants had participated in the attack upon Fort Wayne, but the 
majority had certainly taken no part in the war so far. The gravest 
accusation that could be made against them was that they had failed 
to attend the council at Piqua in the latter part of August, after being 
warned that their absence would be construed as evidence that they 
had withdrawn from the protection of the United States. Early in 

1 Harrison to Eustis. McAfee, 167-8. 
2 McAfee, 177-8. 
