170 The Winning of the West 



salt, flour, powder, and lead were impressed, 49 not 

 always in strict compliance with law, for some of the 

 officers impressed quantities of spirituous liquors 

 also. 50 The troops themselves, however, came in 

 slowly. 51 Late in September, when twelve hundred 

 men had been gathered, Clark moved forward. But 

 he was no longer the man he had been. He failed 

 to get any hold on his army. His followers, on 

 their side, displayed all that unruly fickleness which 

 made the militia of the Revolutionary period a 

 weapon which might at times be put to good use 

 in the absence of any other, but which was really 

 trusted only by men whose military judgment was 

 as fatuous as Jefferson's. 



After reaching Vincennes the troops became mu 

 tinous, and at last flatly refused longer to obey or 

 ders, and marched home as a disorderly mob, to the 

 disgrace of themselves and their leader. Neverthe 

 less, the expedition had really accomplished some 

 thing, for it overawed the Wabash and Illinois In 

 dians, and effectively put a stop to any active ex 

 pressions of disloyalty or disaffection on the part 

 of the French. Clark sent officers to the Illinois 

 towns, and established a garrison of one hundred 

 and fifty men at Vincennes, 52 besides seizing the 



district of Kentucky, Aug. 2, 1786. State Dept. MSS., No. 

 150, Vol. II. Letter of P. Henry, May 16, 1786. 



48 Draper MSS. J. Cox to George Clark, Aug. 8, 1786. 



50 State Dept. MSS., Madison papers. Letter of Caleb 

 Wallace, Nov. 20, 1786. 



" State Dept. MSS., Papers Continental Congress. No. 

 150, Vol. II. Letter of Major Wm. North, Sept. 15, 1786. 



M Do. Virginia State Papers. G. R. Clark to Patrick 



