St. Clair and Wayne 73 



himself by a mighty effort : "General St. Clair shall 

 have justice ... he shall have full justice." 

 And St. Clair did receive full justice, and mercy 

 too, from both Washington and Congress. For 

 the sake of his courage and honorable character 

 they held him guiltless of the disaster for which 

 his lack of capacity as a general was so largely 

 accountable. 



Washington and his administration were not free 

 from blame. It was foolish to attempt the cam- 

 paign against the Northwestern Indians with men 

 who had only been trained for six months and who 

 were enlisted at the absurd price of two dollars a 

 month. Moreover, there were needless delays in 

 forwarding the troops to Fort Washington; and 

 the commissary department was badly managed. 

 Washington was not directly responsible for any 

 of these shortcomings; he very wisely left to the 

 Secretary of War, Knox, the immediate control 

 of the whole matter, seeking to avoid all interfer- 

 ence with him, so that there might be no clashing 

 or conflict of authority; 38 but he was of course ul- 

 timately responsible for the little evil, no less than 

 for the great good, done by his administration. 



The chief blunder was the selection of St. Clair. 

 As a commander he erred in many ways. He did 

 not, or could not, train his troops; and he had no 

 business to challenge a death fight with raw levies. 

 It was unpardonable of him to send back one of his 



88 State Dept. MSS., Washington Papers. War Dept. Ex. 

 C., Washington to Knox, April i, 1791. 

 VOL. VIII. 4 



