to do the best he could without them; but he succeeded well in his endeavors to organize troops, as he found the creole militia very willing to serve, and the Indians extremely anxious to attack the Americans. [Footnote:  Haldimand MSS.  Carleton to Hamilton, May 16, 1777; Rocheblave to Carleton, February 8, 1778; Rocheblave to Hamilton, April 12, 1778; Rocheblave to Carleton, July 4, 1778.] He had under his orders two or three times as many men as Clark, and he would certainly have made a good fight if he had not been surprised.  It was only Clark’s audacity and the noiseless speed of his movements that gave him a chance of success with the odds so heavily against him.

Getting boats the American leader ferried his men across the stream under cover of the darkness and in profound silence; the work occupying about two hours.  He then approached Kaskaskia under cover of the night, dividing his force into two divisions, one being spread out to surround the town so that none might escape, while he himself led the other up to the walls of the fort.

Inside the fort the lights were lit, and through the windows came the sounds of violins.  The officers of the post had given a ball, and the mirth-loving creoles, young men and girls, were dancing and revelling within, while the sentinels had left their posts.  One of his captives showed Clark a postern-gate by the river-side, and through this he entered the fort, having placed his men round about at the entrance.  Advancing to the great hall where the revel was held, he leaned silently with folded arms against the door-post, looking at the dancers.  An Indian, lying on the floor of the entry, gazed intently on the stranger’s face as the light from the torches within flickered across it, and suddenly sprang to his feet uttering the unearthly war-whoop.  Instantly the dancing ceased; the women screamed, while the men ran towards the door.  But Clark, standing unmoved and with unchanged face, grimly bade them continue their dancing, but to remember that they now danced under Virginia and not Great Britain. [Footnote:  Memoir of Major E. Denny, by Wm. H. Denny, p. 217.  In “Record of the Court of Upland and Military Journal of Major E. Denny,” Philadelphia, 1860 (Historical Society of Penn.).  The story was told to Major Denny by Clark himself, some time in ’87 or ’88; in process of repetition it evidently became twisted, and, as related by Denny, there are some very manifest inaccuracies, but there seems no reason to reject it entirely.] At the same time his men burst into the fort, and seized the French officers, including the commandant, Rocheblave. [Footnote:  It is worth noting that these Illinois French, and most of the Indians with whom the French fur traders came in contact, called the Americans “Bostonnais.” (In fact the fur traders have taught this name to the northern tribes right across to the Pacific.  While hunting in the Selkirk Mountains last fall, the Kootenai Indian who was with me always described me as a “Boston man.”) Similarly the Indians round the upper Ohio and thence southward often called the backwoodsmen “Virginians.”  In each case the French and Indians adopted the name of their leading and most inveterate enemies as the title by which to call all of them.]