hey won and the leader whom
they followed."

Early in June Clark had reached the falls in the Ohio at the present
city of Louisville, and here on an island commanding the falls he built
a block house and planted some corn. Here he left the weak and
dissatisfied members of his company, and having been joined by a few
Kentucky volunteers, he resumed his journey down the river. His first
goal was Kaskaskia on the Mississippi, and after a long and perilous
journey, the latter part across the country, he captured the post by
surprise, seizing the French commandant of the English garrison in an
upper room of his own house. He had little difficulty in winning the
confidence of the French settlers, who then willingly transferred their
loyalty to the new Republic that claimed to be their friend.

A different situation developed with the Indians, but after skilful
treatment and a long interview with representatives of the many tribes
he succeeded in winning their friendship, or at least a quiet
neutrality. In the meantime, Father Gibault, an active, friendly French
priest, had crossed the country and induced the inhabitants of Vincennes
to raise the American flag. Clark sent Captain Helm to take charge of
the fort and to lead the French militia.

Clark's ambition was to capture Detroit, but so great were the
difficulties besetting him that he was compelled to winter at Kaskaskia
with insufficient forces, struggling to keep peace and to hold the
country he had so successfully seized. In January, a month after the
event happened, Clark heard that Hamilton had recaptured Vincennes for
the British and was preparing to advance on Kaskaskia. Had Hamilton been
prompt in his actions and proceeded at once against Clark he might
easily have driven the latter from Kaskaskia and secured to the British
the wonderful Northwest territory. His delays, however, gave Clark time
to gather a larger force and to show his wonderful power as a leader and
his skill as a military campaigner.

Few men could have accomplished what Clark did, for few have either the
ability or the devotion. "I would have bound myself seven years a
Slave," he says, "to have had five hundred troops." Nothing, however,
deterred him. He built a large barge or galley, mounted small cannon
upon it and manned it with a crew of forty men. This was dispatched to
patrol the Ohio, and if possible to get within ten leagues of Vincennes
on the Wabash. It was Clark's determination no