380 The Winning of the West 



Doubtless this estimate, made under the sting of 

 defeat, was too harsh; and it was even more ap 

 plicable to the forced levies of militia than to the 

 Federal soldiers; but the shortcomings of the regu 

 lar troops were sufficiently serious to need no exag 

 geration. Their own officers were far from pleased 

 with the recruits they got. 



To the younger officers, with a taste for sport, 

 the life beyond the Ohio was delightful. The cli 

 mate was pleasant, the country beautiful, the water 

 was clear as crystal, and game abounded. In hard 

 weather the troops lived on salt beef; but at other 

 times their daily rations were two pounds of turkey 

 or venison, or a pound and a half of bear meat or 

 buffalo beef. Yet this game was supplied by hired 

 hunters, not by the soldiers themselves. One of the 

 officers wrote that he had to keep his troops prac 

 ticing steadily at a target, for they were incompetent 

 to meet an enemy with the musket; they could not 

 kill in a week enough game to last them a day. 6 It 

 was almost impossible to train such troops, in a 

 limited number of months or years, so as to enable 

 them to meet their forest foes on equal terms. The 

 discipline to which they were accustomed was ad 

 mirably fitted for warfare in the open ; but it was not 

 suited for warfare in the woods. They had to learn 

 even the use of their firearms with painful labor. 

 It was merely hopeless to try to teach them to fight 

 Indian fashion, all scattering out for themselves, 



State Dept. MSS., No. 150; Doughty's Letter March 15, 

 1786; also, November 30, 1785. 



