dings. Taking into consideration the
material of which the army was composed and the total inefficiency of
the quartermaster and the contractors, "it was a matter of astonishment
to him," says Denny, "that the commanding general * * * * should think
of hazarding, with such people, and under such circumstances, his
reputation and life, and the lives of so many others, knowing, too, as
both did, the enemy with whom he was going to contend; an enemy brought
up from infancy to war, and perhaps superior to an equal number of the
best men that could be taken against them."

Owing to delays the army which was to rendezvous at Fort Washington not
later than July tenth, did not actually start into the wilderness until
the fourth day of October. On the seventeenth of September, a halt had
been made on the Great Miami, and Fort Hamilton erected. Twenty miles
north of this place, a light fortification known as Fort St. Clair, was
built. About six miles south of the present town of Greenville, in Darke
county, Ohio, the army threw up the works of Fort Jefferson, and then
moved forward at a snail's pace into the forests and prairies. Every
foot of the road through the heavy timber had to be cleared. Rains were
constant. The troops were on half rations and terribly impatient.
Parties of militia were daily deserting. On the twenty-seventh of
October, Major Denny entered in his diary the following: "The season so
far advanced it will be impracticable to continue the campaign. Forage
entirely destroyed; horses failing and cannot be kept up; provisions
from hand to mouth." The Little Turtle was again on the watch. A hostile
army was entering the sacred domain of the Miamis. Indian scouts and
runners were constantly lurking on the skirts of the army. In after
years, a woman heard the great chief say of a fallen enemy: "We met; I
cut him down; and his shade as it passes on the wind, shuns my walk!"
This terrible foe, like a tiger in his jungle, was waiting for the
moment to spring on his prey. It soon came. On the thirty-first of
October, a party of militia, sixty or seventy in number, deserted the
camp and swore that they would stop the packhorses in the rear, laden
with provisions. St. Clair sent back after them the First United States
Regiment under Major John Hamtramck, the most experienced Indian
fighters in the whole army. These were the men the Indians most feared.
The savage chieftain determined to strike.

Later than usual, and on