St. Clair and Wayne 55 



venison was a common food. 2 ^ On October I3th 

 a halt was. made to build another little fort, chris- 

 tened in honor of Jefferson. There were further 

 delays, caused by the wretched management of the 

 commissariat department, and the march was not 

 resumed until the 24th, the numerous sick being 

 left in Fort Jefferson. Then the army once more 

 stumbled northward through the wilderness. The 

 regulars, though mostly raw recruits, had been re- 

 duced to some kind of discipline ; but the six months' 

 levies were almost worse than the militia. 28 Ow- 

 ing to the long delays, and to the fact that they had 

 been enlisted at various times, their terms of ser- 

 vice were expiring day by day; and they wished 

 to go home, and tried to, while the militia deserted 

 in squads and bands. Those that remained were 

 very disorderly. Two who attempted to desert were 

 hanged; and another, who shot a comrade, was 

 hanged also; but even this severity in punishment 

 failed to stop the demoralization. 



With such soldiers there would have been grave 

 risk of disaster under any commander; but St. 

 Clair's leadership made the risk a certainty. There 

 was Indian sign, old and new, all through the 

 woods; and the scouts and stragglers occasionally 

 interchanged shots with small parties of braves, and 

 now and then lost a man, killed or captured. It was, 



5T Bradley MSS. The journal and letters of Captain Daniel 

 Bradley ; shown me by the courtesy of his descendants, Mr. 

 Daniel B. Bradley of Southport, Conn., and Mr. Arthur W. 

 Bradley of Cincinnati, Ohio. 



28 Denny, October 29, 1791, etc. 



