66 The Winning of the West 



frontiersmen wondered greatly, but for the most 

 part held it to be a good omen. 



Clark had weeded out all those whom he deemed 

 unable to stand fatigue and hardship; his four little 

 companies were of picked men, each with a good 

 captain. 17 His equipment was as light as that of 

 an Indian war party, for he knew better than to take 

 a pound of baggage that could possibly be spared. 



He intended to land some three leagues below the 

 entrance of the Tennessee River, 18 thence to march 

 on foot against the Illinois towns ; for he feared dis- 

 covery if he should attempt to ascend the Mississip- 

 pi, the usual highway by which the fur traders went 

 up to the quaint French hamlets that lay between 

 the Kaskaskia and the Illinois rivers. Accordingly 

 he double-manned his oars and rowed night and day 

 until he reached a small island off the mouth of the 

 Tennessee, where he halted to make his final prepa- 

 rations, and was there joined by a little party of 

 American hunters, 19 who had recently been in the 

 French settlements. The meeting was most fortu- 



17 The names of the four captains were John Montgomery, 

 Joseph Bowman, Leonard Helm, and William Harrod. Each 

 company nominally consisted of fifty men, but none of them 

 was of full strength. 



18 At the old Fort Massac, then deserted. The name is 

 taken from that of an old French commander; it is not a 

 corruption of Fort Massacre, as has been asserted. 



19 In his "Memoir" he says "from the States" ; in his letter 

 to Mason he calls them "Englishmen," probably to show 

 that they were not French, as they had just come from Kas- 

 kaskia. He almost always spoke of the English proper as 

 British. 



