Louisiana and Aaron Burr 381 



Indians. The most interesting and valuable is a 

 long letter from Col. Darke giving a very vivid 

 picture of St. Clair's defeat, and of the rout which 

 followed. While it can hardly be said to cast any 

 new light on the defeat, it describes it in a very 

 striking manner, and brings out well the gallantry of 

 the officers and the inferior quality of the rank and 

 file; and it gives a very unpleasant picture of St. 

 Clair and Hamtranck. 



Besides the Darke letter there are several other 

 manuscripts containing information of value. In 

 Volume XXIII, page 169, there is a letter from 

 Knox to General Harmar, dated New York, Sep- 

 tember 3, 1790. After much preliminary apology, 

 Knox states that it "has been reported, and under 

 circumstances which appear to have gained pretty 

 extensive credit on the frontiers, that you are too 

 apt to indulge yourself to excess in a convivial 

 glass"; and he then points out the inevitable ruin 

 that such indulgence will bring to the General. 



A letter from St. Clair to Knox, dated Lexing- 

 ton,*September 4, 1791, runs in part : "Desertion and 

 sickness have thinned our ranks. Still, if I can only 

 get them into action before the time of the levies 

 expires, I think my force sufficient, though that 

 opinion is founded on the calculation of the proba- 

 ble number that is opposed to us, having no manner 

 of information as to the force collected to oppose 

 us." On the I5th he writes from Ft. Washington 

 about the coming expiration of enlistments and says : 

 "I am very sensible how hazardous it is to approach, 



