ference was
made in the first; beside the American State Papers, I have drawn on the
Canadian Archives, the Draper Collection, including especially the
papers from the Spanish archives, the Robertson MSS., and the Clay MSS.
for hitherto unused matter. I have derived much assistance from the
various studies and monographs on special phases of Western history; I
refer to each in its proper place. I regret that Mr. Stephen B. Weeks'
valuable study of the Martin family did not appear in time for me to use
it while writing about the little state of Franklin, in my third volume.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

SAGAMORE HILL, LONG ISLAND,

_May_, 1896.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT, 1791

II. MAD ANTHONY WAYNE; AND THE FIGHT OF THE FALLEN TIMBERS, 1792-1795

III. TENNESSEE BECOMES A STATE, 1791-1796

IV. INTRIGUES AND LAND SPECULATIONS--THE TREATIES OF JAY AND PINCKNEY,
1793-1797.

V. THE MEN OF THE WESTERN WATERS, 1798-1802

VI. THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA; AND BURR'S CONSPIRACY, 1803-1807

VII. THE EXPLORERS OF THE FAR WEST, 1804-1807.

APPENDIX

INDEX

[Illustration: Map Showing the First Explorations of the Great West.
Based on a map by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London.]

THE WINNING OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER I.

ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT, 1791.

The Westward March of the Backwoodsman.

The backwoods folk, the stark hunters and tree-fellers, and the war-worn
regulars who fought beside them in the forest, pushed ever westward the
frontier of the Republic. Year after year each group of rough settlers
and rough soldiers wrought its part in the great epic of wilderness
conquest.

The people that for one or more generations finds its allotted task in
the conquest of a continent, has before it the possibility of splendid
victory, and the certainty of incredible toil, suffering, and hardship.
The opportunity is great indeed; but the chance of disaster is even
greater. Success is for a mighty race, in its vigorous and masterful
prime. It is an opportunity such as is offered to an army by a struggle
against a powerful foe; only by great effort can defeat be avoided, but
triumph means lasting honor and renown.

As it is in the battle, so it is in the infinitely greater contests
where the fields of fight are continents, and the ages form the measure
of time. In actual life the victors win in spite of brutal blunders and
repeated checks.

The Grimness and Harshness of Frontier Life.