CHAPTER IV 

 ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT, 1791 



THE backwoods folk, the stark hunters and tree- 

 fellers, and the war-worn regulars who fought 

 beside them in the forest, pushed ever westward the 

 frontier of the Republic. Year after year each 

 group of rough settlers and rough soldiers wrought 

 its part in the great epic of wilderness conquest. 



The people that for one or more generations finds 

 its allotted task in the conquest of a continent has 

 before it the possibility of splendid victory, and the 

 certainty of incredible toil, suffering, and hardship. 

 The opportunity is great indeed; but the chance of 

 disaster is even greater. Success is for a mighty 

 race, in its vigorous and masterful prime. It is an 

 opportunity such as is offered to an army by a strug- 

 gle against a powerful foe ; only by great effort can 

 defeat be avoided, but triumph means lasting honor 

 and renown. 



As it is in the battle, so it is in the infinitely 

 greater contests where the fields of fight are conti- 

 nents and the ages form the measure of time. In 

 actual life the victors win in spite of brutal blunders 

 and repeated checks. Watched nearby, while the 

 fight stamps to and fro, the doers and the deeds 

 stand out naked and ugly. We see all too clearly 



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