Woe on the Frontier.

Until near the close of the year 1782 the frontiers suffered heavily.  A terrible and deserved retribution fell on the borderers for their crime in failing to punish the dastardly deed of Williamson and his associates.  The Indians were roused to savage anger by the murder of the Moravians, and were greatly encouraged by their easy defeat of Crawford’s troops.  They harassed the settlements all along the Upper Ohio, the Alleghany and the Monongahela, and far into the interior, [Footnote:  Va.  State Papers, III., 235.] burning, ravaging, and murdering, and bringing dire dismay to every lonely clearing, and every palisaded hamlet of rough log-cabins.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CONQUERED FRENCH SETTLEMENTS, 1779-1783.

    Illinois Made a County.

The Virginian Government took immediate steps to provide for the civil administration of the country Clark had conquered.  In the fall of 1778 the entire region northwest of the Ohio was constituted the county of Illinois, with John Todd as county-lieutenant or commandant.

Todd was a firm friend and follower of Clark’s, and had gone with him on his campaign against Vincennes.  It therefore happened that he received his commission while at the latter town, early in the spring of ’79.  In May he went to Kaskaskia, to organize the county; and Clark, who remained military commandant of the Virginia State troops that were quartered in the district, was glad to turn over the civil government to the charge of his old friend.

Together with his commission, Todd received a long and excellent letter of instructions from Governor Patrick Henry.  He was empowered to choose a deputy-commandant, and officers for the militia; but the judges and officers of the court were to be elected by the people themselves.  He was given large discretionary power, Henry impressing upon him with especial earnestness the necessity to “cultivate and conciliate the French and Indians.” [Footnote:  See Col.  John Todd’s “Record Book,” while County Lieutenant of Illinois.  There is an MS. copy in Col.  Durrett’s library at Louisville.  It is our best authority for these years in Illinois.  The substance of it is given on pp. 49-68 of Mr. Edward G. Mason’s interesting and valuable pamphlet on “Illinois in the 18th Century” (Chicago, Fergus Printing Co., 1881).] With this end in view, he was bidden to pay special heed to the customs of the creoles, to avoid shocking their prejudices, and to continually consult with their most intelligent and upright men.  He was to cooeperate in every way with Clark and his troops, while at the same time the militia were to be exclusively under his own control.  The inhabitants were to have strict justice done them if wronged by the troops; and Clark was to put down rigorously any licentiousness on the part of his soldiers.  The wife and children of the former British commandant—­the