made in good military style. There were two iron
three-pounders in the wretched little fort, and one of these was loaded
to the muzzle and placed in the open gate. As Hamilton and his men
advanced, so runs a not very well authenticated story, Lieutenant
Helm stood by the gun with a lighted taper and called sternly upon
the invaders to halt. The British leader demanded the surrender of the
garrison. Helm parleyed and asked for terms. Hamilton finally conceded
the honors of war, and Helm magnanimously accepted. Hamilton thereupon
drew up his forces in a double line, the British on one side and
the Indians on the other; and the garrison--one officer and one
soldier--solemnly marched out between them! After the "conquerors" had
regained their equanimity, the cross of St. George was once more run
up on the fort. A body of French militia returned to British allegiance
with quite as much facility as it had shown in accepting American
sovereignty under the eloquence of Father Gibault; and the French
inhabitants, gathered again in the church, with perfectly straight faces
acknowledged that they had "sinned against God and man" by taking sides
with the rebels, and promised to be loyal thereafter to George III.

Had the British forces immediately pushed on, this same scene might have
been repeated at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Clark's position there was far
from strong. Upon the expiration of their term of enlistment most of
his men had gone back to Kentucky or Virginia, and their places had been
taken mainly by creoles, whose steadfastness was doubtful. Furthermore,
the Indians were restless, and it was only by much vigilance and bravado
that they were kept in a respectful mood. All this was well known to
Hamilton, who now proposed to follow up the recapture of the Mississippi
posts by the obliteration of all traces of American authority west of
the Alleghanies.

The difficulties and dangers of a midwinter campaign in the flooded
Illinois country were not to be lightly regarded, and weeks of
contending with icy blasts and drenching rains lent a seat by an open
fire unusual attractiveness. Hence the completion of the campaign was
postponed until spring--a decision which proved the salvation of the
American cause in the West. As means of subsistence were slender, most
of the Detroit militia were sent home, and the Indians were allowed to
scatter to their distant wigwams. The force kept at the post numbered
only about eighty or ninety