But buffalo meat and corn were confiscated
from the canoes of some passing squaws, and soon the troops were
refreshed and in good spirits. The battle with the enemy ahead
seemed as nothing when compared with the struggle with the
elements which they had successfully waged. No exploit of the
kind in American history surpasses this, unless it be Benedict
Arnold's winter march through the wilderness of Maine in 1775 to
attack Quebec.
Two or three creole hunters were now taken captive, and from them
Clark learned that no one in Vincennes knew of his approach. They
reported, however, that, although the habitants were tired of the
"Hair-Buyer's" presence and would gladly return to American
allegiance, some two hundred Indians had just arrived at the
fort. The Willing had not been heard from. But an immediate
attack seemed the proper course; and the young colonel planned
and carried it out with the curious mixture of bravery and
braggadocio of which he was a past master.
First he drew up a lordly letter, addressed to the inhabitants of
the town, and dispatched it by one of his creole prisoners.
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