382 The Winning of the West 



under such circumstances, and my only expectation 

 is that the men will find themselves so far engaged 

 that it will be obviously better to go forward than 

 to return, at the same time it precludes the estab- 

 lishment of another post of communication how- 

 ever necessary, but that indeed is precluded also 

 from our decreasing numbers, and the very little de- 

 pendence that is to be placed upon the militia." 



Col. Winthrop Sargent writes to General Knox 

 from Ft. Washington, on January 2, 1792. He 

 states that there were fourteen hundred Indians op- 

 posed to St. Clair in the battle, and repeats a rumor 

 that six hundred Indians from the Lakes quarreled 

 with the Miamis over the plunder, and went home 

 without sharing any part, warning their allies that 

 thereafter they should fight their battles alone. Sar- 

 gent dwells upon the need of spies, and the service 

 these spies would have rendered St. Clair. A few 

 days afterward he writes in reference to a rumor 

 that his own office is to be dispensed with, protesting 

 that this would be an outrage, and that he has al- 

 ways discharged his duties well, having entered the 

 service simply from a desire to be of use to his 

 country. He explains that the money he receives 

 would hardly do more than equip him, and that he 

 only went into the army because he valued reputa- 

 tion and honor more than fortune. 



The letters of the early part of 1792 show that 

 the survivors of St. Glair's army were torn by jeal- 

 ousy, and that during the winter following his defeat 

 there was much bitter wrangling among the various 



