mored. Moreover, the commissariat arrangements were poor. Under
such circumstances the keenest observers on the frontier foretold
failure from the start. [Footnote: Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, i.
Jno. O'Fallan to the President, Lexington, Ky., Sept. 25, 1790.]

The March to the Miami.

For several days the army marched slowly forward. The regular officers
had endless difficulty with the pack horsemen, who allowed their charges
to stray or be stolen, and they strove to instruct the militia in the
rudiments of their duties, on the march, in camp, and in battle. A
fortnight's halting progress through the wilderness brought the army to
a small branch of the Miami of the Lakes. Here a horse patrol captured a
Maumee Indian, who informed his captors that the Indians knew of their
approach and were leaving their towns. On hearing this an effort was
made to hurry forward; but when the army reached the Miami towns, on
October 17th, they had been deserted. They stood at the junction of two
branches of the Miami, the St. Mary and the St. Joseph, about one
hundred and seventy miles from Fort Washington. The troops had marched
about ten miles a day. The towns consisted of a couple of hundred
wigwams, with some good log huts; and there were gardens, orchards, and
immense fields of corn. All these the soldiers destroyed, and the
militia loaded themselves with plunder.

Failure and Defeat of a Militia Expedition.

On the 18th Colonel Trotter was ordered out with three hundred men to
spend a couple of days exploring the country, and finding out where the
Indians were. After marching a few miles, they came across two Indians.
Both were killed by the advanced horsemen. All four of the field
officers of the militia--two colonels and two majors--joined
helter-skelter in the chase, leaving their troops for half an hour
without a leader. Apparently satisfied with this feat, Trotter marched
home, having accomplished nothing.

Defeat of a Small Detachment of Troops.

Much angered, Harmar gave the command to Hardin, who left the camp next
morning with two hundred men, including thirty regulars. But the militia
had turned sulky. They did not wish to go, and they began to desert and
return to camp immediately after leaving it. At least half of them had
thus left him, when he stumbled on a body of about a hundred Indians.
The Indians advanced firing, and the militia fled with abject cowardice,
many not even discharging their