90 The Winning of the West 



who knew that Helm's troops had deserted him, 

 marched up to the fort at the head of his soldiers, 

 and the American was obliged to surrender, with no 

 terms granted save that he and his associates should 

 be treated with humanity. 11 The instant the fort 

 was surrendered the Indians broke in and plun- 

 dered it; but they committed no act of cruelty, and 

 only plundered a single private house. 



The French inhabitants had shown pretty clearly 

 that they did not take a keen interest in the struggle, 

 on either side. They were now summoned to the 

 church and offered the chance which they for the 

 most part eagerly embraced of purging them- 

 selves of their past misconduct by taking a most 

 humiliating oath of repentance, acknowledging that 

 they had sinned against God and man by siding with 

 the rebels, and promising to be loyal in the future. 

 Two hundred and fifty of the militia, being given 

 back their arms, appeared with their officers, and 



11 Letter of Hamilton, Dec. 18-30, 1778. The story of 

 Helm's marching out with the honors of war is apparently a 

 mere invention. Even Mann Butler, usually so careful, per- 

 mits himself to be led off into all sorts of errors when de- 

 scribing the incidents of the Illinois and Vincennes expedi- 

 tions, and the writers who have followed him have generally 

 been less accurate. The story of Helm drinking toddy by 

 the fireplace when Clark retook the fort, and of the latter 

 ordering riflemen to fire at the chimney, so as to knock the 

 mortar into the toddy, may safely be set down as pure and 

 very weak fiction. When Clark wrote his memoirs, in his 

 old age, he took delight in writing down among his exploits 

 all sorts of childish stratagems ; the marvel is that any sane 

 historian should not have seen that these were on their face 

 as untrue as they were ridiculous. 



