In the Current of the Revolution 69 



reached the river Kaskaskia, within three miles of 

 the town, which lay on the further bank. They 

 kept in the woods until after it grew dusk, and then 

 marched silently to a little farm on the hither side 

 of the river, a mile from the town. The family 

 were taken prisoners, and from them Clark learned 

 that some days before the townspeople had been 

 alarmed at the rumor of a possible attack; but that 

 their suspicions had been lulled, and they were then 

 off their guard. There were a great many men in 

 the town, but almost all French, the Indians having 

 for the most part left. The account proved correct. 

 Rocheblave, the Creole commandant, was sincerely 

 attached to the British interest. He had been much 

 alarmed early in the year by the reports brought to 

 him' by Indians that the Americans were in Ken- 

 tucky and elsewhere beyond the Alleghanies. He 

 had written repeatedly to Detroit, asking that 

 regulars should be sent him, and that he might him- 

 self be replaced by a commandant of English birth ; 

 for though the French were well-disposed toward the 

 crown, they had been frightened by the reports of 

 the ferocity of the backwoodsmen, and the Indians 

 were fickle. In his letters he mentioned that the 

 French were much more loyal than the men of En- 

 glish parentage. Hamilton found it impossible to 

 send him reinforcements, however, and he was 



contemporary; his "Memoir," as given by Dillon, comes 

 next in authority ; while Butler, who was very accurate and 

 painstaking, also got hold of original information from men 

 who had taken part in the expedition, or from their descend- 

 ants, besides making full use of the "Memoir." 



