Not So Fast!

At the time that the British retook Vincennes, George Rogers Clark was not in much of a position to defend the other posts of Kaskaskia and Cahokia from being retaken as well.  The terms of the enlisted men had expired and they had gone back to Kentucky and Virginia.  Creoles had replaced them but their loyalty was doubtful.  The Indians were restless...

The British commander, Hamilton, knew all this was in his favor to recapture the Mississippi posts and remove all traces of American dominance west of the Alleghenies. He also knew that it was mid-winter and the British didn't fight in winter, so the mission was postponed until spring - a decision that proved to be the salvation of the American cause in the West.

Meantime Clark, at Kaskaskia, had little over 100 men, against Hamilton's 500-600 men.  During that winter Francis Vige, a Spanish trader, escaped from captivity in Vincennes and brought Clark welcome information that Hamilton had dismissed his troops until spring.  That give Clark an idea - attack the British before they expected it and were ready.  Clark knew it was do or die, and mid-winter would have to do.

A large flat-bottomed boat, the Willing, was fitted with four guns and sent down the Mississippi with just 40 men to rendezvous just past the Ohio and the Wabash near Vincennes.  The total distance was 230 miles which in normal circumstances was a 5-6 day trip, but in February, swollen streams and rivers, desolate windswept country and bitter conditions took 10 days to reach the forks of the Little Wabash.  Now reinforced with 140 men thanks to Father Gibault, Clark found that the whole enterprise might fail.  There were no boats, provisions were low, game was scarce, and it was too wet for camp fires to be lit for cooking. 

Instead of turning back, Clark bolstered his men by song and a show of bravery, tact and determination.  He won the recommitted admiration of his men and held them together.  Through freezing water, from one bit of dry land to the next, holding their rifles above their head for hours on end to keep them dry, they did not falter.  On February 23, across Horseshoe Plain in chest deep water, they came out two miles from Vincennes.  The men were so weakened they were dragging each other forward.  Their struggle against the elements was one of the most important in the Revolutionary War. 

Next time...Hello Redcoats!
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Today in Pioneer Pieces History:  "On February 25, 1848, Edward Harriman, the controversial savior of the transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad, is born in Hempstead, New York. The son of an Episcopal minister, Harriman disliked school and dropped out to become a broker’s boy when he was 14. In pursuit of efficiency and predictable profits, Harriman gradually gained control over many of the central western and southwestern lines in the United States.