282 The Winning of the West 



or with Indians in the woods. Their utter lack 

 of discipline was decisive against them at first in 

 any contest with regulars. In warfare with the 

 Indians there were a very few of their number, men 

 of exceptional qualities as woodsmen, who could 

 hold their own ; but the average frontiersman, though 

 he did a good deal of hunting and possessed much 

 knowledge of woodcraft, was primarily a tiller of the 

 soil and a feller of trees, and he was necessarily 

 at a disadvantage when pitted against an antagonist 

 whose entire life was passed in woodland chase and 

 woodland warfare. These facts must all be remem- 

 bered if we wish to get an intelligent explanation 

 of the utter failure of the frontiersmen when, in 

 1812, they were again pitted against the British and 

 the forest tribes. They must also be taken into 

 account when we seek to explain why it was possi- 

 ble but a little later to develop out of the frontiers- 

 men fighting armies which under competent generals 

 could overmatch the red coat and the Indian alike. 

 The extreme individualism of the frontier, which 

 found expression for good and for evil both in its 

 governmental system in time of peace and in its 

 military system in time of war, was also shown 

 in religious matters. In 1799 and 1800 a great re- 

 vival of religion swept over the West. Up to that 

 time the Presbyterian had been the leading creed 

 beyond the mountains. There were a few Episco- 

 palians here and there, and there were Lutherans, 

 Catholics, and adherents of the reformed Dutch and 

 German Churches; but, aside from the Presbyterians, 



