CHAPTER VII 

 CLARK'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST VINCENNES, 1779 



HAMILTON, at Detroit, had been so encour- 

 aged by the successes of his war parties that, 

 in 1778, he began to plan an attack on Fort Pitt 1 ; 

 but his plans were forestalled by Clark's movements, 

 and he, of course, abandoned them when the as- 

 tounding news reached him that the rebels had 

 themselves invaded the Illinois country, captured 

 the British commandant, Rocheblave, and admin- 

 istered to the inhabitants the oath of allegiance to 

 Congress. 2 Shortly afterward he learned that Vin- 

 cennes likewise was in the hands of the Americans. 

 He was a man of great energy, and he immedi- 

 ately began to prepare an expedition for the recon- 

 quest of the country. French emissaries who were 

 loyal to the British crown were sent to the Wabash 

 to stir up the Indians against the Americans; and 

 though the Piankeshaws remained friendly to the 

 latter, the Kickapoos and Weas, who were more 

 powerful, announced their readiness to espouse the 

 British cause if they received support, while the 

 neighboring Miamis were already on the warpath. 



1 Haldimand MSS. Hamilton to Carleton, January, 1778. 



2 Do. Hamilton's letter of August 8th. 



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