54 The Winning of the West 



had acquired the rudiments of a soldier's training, 

 and, of course, they never even understood what 

 woodcraft meant. 26 The officers were men of cour- 

 age, as in the end most of them showed by dying 

 bravely on the field of battle; but they were utterly 

 untrained themselves, and had no time in which to 

 train their men. Under such conditions it did not 

 need keen vision to foretell disaster. Harmar had 

 learned a bitter lesson the preceding year; he knew 

 well what Indians could do, and what raw troops 

 could not; and he insisted with emphasis that the 

 only possible outcome to St. Clair's expedition was 

 defeat. 



As the raw troops straggled to Pittsburg they 

 were shipped down the Ohio to Fort Washington; 

 and St. Clair made the headquarters of his army at 

 a new fort some twenty-five miles northward, which 

 he christened Fort Hamilton. During September 

 the army slowly assembled; two small regiments of 

 regulars, two of six months' levies, a number of 

 Kentucky militia, a few cavalry, and a couple of 

 small batteries of light guns. After wearisome de- 

 lays, due mainly to the utter inefficiency of the quar- 

 termaster and contractor, the start for the Indian, 

 towns was made on October 4th. 



The army trudged slowly through the deep woods 

 and across the wet prairies, cutting out its own road, 

 and making but five or six miles a day. It was in a 

 wilderness which abounded with game; both deer 

 and bear frequently ran into the very camps; and 



86 Denny's Journal, 374. 



