138 The Winning of the West 



started overland against the town of Old Chillicothe, 

 fifty or sixty miles distant. The three-pounder was 

 carried along on a pack-horse. The march was hard, 

 for it rained so incessantly that it was difficult to 

 keep the rifles dry. Every night they encamped in 

 a hollow square, with the baggage and horses in the 

 middle. 



Chillicothe, when reached, was found to be de- 

 serted. It was burned, and the army pushed on to 

 Piqua, a town a few miles distant, on the banks of 

 the Little Miami, 39 reaching it about ten in the morn- 

 ing of the 8th of August. 40 Piqua was substantially 

 built, and was laid out in the manner of the French 

 villages. The stoutly built log-houses stood far 

 apart, surrounded by strips of corn-land, and front- 

 ing the stream ; while a strong block-house with loop- 

 holed walls stood in the middle. Thick woods, 

 broken by small prairies, covered the rolling country 

 that lay around the town. 



Clark divided his army into four divisions, taking 

 the command of two in person. Giving the others 

 to Logan, he ordered him to cross the river above 

 the town 41 and take it in the rear, while he himself 

 crossed directly below it and assailed it in front. 



39 The Indians so frequently shifted their abode that it is 

 hardly possible to identify the exact location of the succes- 

 sive towns called Piqua or Pickaway. 



40 "Papers relating to G. R. Clark." In the Durrett MSS. 

 at Louisville. The account of the death of Joseph Rogers. 

 This settles, by the way, that the march was made in August, 

 and not in July. 



41 There is some conflict as to whether Logan went up or 

 down stream. 



