48 The Winning of the West 



ished. Small garrisons were also placed in the 

 different villages. 



Our people had little to do with either Florida 

 or Louisiana until after the close of the Revolu- 

 tionary War; but very early in that struggle, and 

 soon after the movement west of the mountains 

 began, we were thrown into contact with the French 

 of the Northwestern Territory, and the result was 

 of the utmost importance to the future welfare of 

 the whole nation. 



This northwestern land lay between the Missis- 

 sippi, the Ohio, and the Great Lakes. It now con- 

 stitutes five of our large States and part of a sixth. 

 But when independence was declared it was quite 

 as much a foreign territory, considered from the 

 standpoint of the old thirteen colonies, as Florida 

 or Canada; the difference was that, whereas during 

 the war we failed in our attempts to conquer Flor- 

 ida and Canada, we succeeded in conquering the 

 Northwest. The Northwest formed no part of our 

 country as it originally stood; it had no portion in 

 the Declaration of Independence. It did not revolt; 

 it was conquered. Its inhabitants, at the outset of 

 the Revolution, no more sympathized with us, and 

 felt no greater inclination to share our fate, than 

 did their kinsmen in Quebec or the Spaniards in 

 St. Augustine. We made our first important con- 

 quest during the Revolution itself, beginning thus 

 early what was to be our distinguishing work for 

 the next seventy years. 



These French settlements, which had been 



