CHAPTER II 



THE WAR IN THE NORTHWEST, 1787-1790 



THE Federal troops were camped in the Federal 

 territory north of the Ohio. They garrisoned 

 the fort and patrolled between the little 'log-towns. 

 They were commanded by the Federal General Har- 

 mar, and the territory was ruled by the Federal Gov 

 ernor St. Clair. Thenceforth the national authori 

 ties and the regular troops played the chief parts in 

 the struggle for the Northwest. The frontier mi 

 litia became a mere adjunct often necessary, but 

 always untrustworthy of the regular forces. 



For some time the regulars fared ill in the war 

 fare with the savages; and a succession of mortify 

 ing failures closed with a defeat more ruinous than 

 any which had been experienced since the days of 

 the "iron-tempered general with the pipe-clay 

 brain," for the disaster which befell St. Clair was 

 as overwhelming as that wherein Braddock met his 

 death. The continued checks excited the anger of 

 the Eastern people, and the dismay and derision of 

 the Westerners. They were keenly felt by the offi 

 cers of the army ; and they furnished an excuse for 

 those who wished to jeer at regular troops, and ex 

 alt the militia. Jefferson, who never understood 

 anything about warfare, being a timid man, and 



(373) 



