men must certainly perish, the water having frozen | stances, was sent to an antagonist. Prudence, as in the night, and so long fasting. Having no other Clark well knew, would, indeed, have been a "rast resource but wading this lake of frozen water, we plunged in with courage, Col. Clark being first. We took care to have boats by, to take those who were weak and benumbed with the cold into them. Never were men so animated with the thought of avenging the ravages done to their back settlements, as this small army was. About 1 o'clock, we came in sight of the town. We halted on a small hill of dry land, called "Warren's Island," where we took a prisoner, hunting ducks, who informed us that no person suspected our coming in that season of the year. Col. Clark wrote a letter by him to the inhabitants, as follows: “To the Inhabitants of Post Vincennes. "GENTLEMEN: Being now within two miles of your village with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to surprise you; I take this method of requesting such of you, as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses, And those, if any there are, that are friends to the king, will instantly repair to the fort, and join the HAIR-BUYER GENERAL, and fight like men. And if any such as do not go to the fort, shall be discovered afterwards, they may depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true friends to liberty, will be well treated. G. R. CLARK." cally virtue," on such an occasion. Hemmed in on one side by ice and water, with a fortified post bris tling with artillery in front, with one hundred and thirty soldiers-part Americans, part Creoles, without food, worn out, and armed only with rifles, it was, as Clark knew, only by acting the victor instead of the vanquished, (as was the real state of the case, if Hamilton had only known the fact,) that he could hope to succeed. He acted wisely and he acted bravely; any other course and he would have been a prisoner, instead of a conqueror. The very reply of Hamilton to this singular epistle shows he was already quailing :— "Gov. Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Colonel Clark, that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into any action unworthy British subjects." The battle was renewed; the skill of our western riflemen, celebrated even in our days, wounded several of the men in the fort through the port-holes, the only place where a shot could be made effective. Clark, with the skill of a practised commander, must have seen and felt from the answer returned to his communication, that another message would soon be delivered to him from the same quarter; and he was not long in receiving it. The flag of truce brought him as follows: be, and promises that whatever may pass between them two and another person, mutually agreed on to be present, shall remain secret till matters be finished; as he wishes that whatever the result of the conference may be, it may tend to the honour and credit of each party. If Col. Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the fort, Lieut. Governor Hamilton will speak with him by the gate. "Gov. Hamilton proposes to Col. Clark a truce In order to give effect to this letter, by having it for three days, during which time he promises, that communicated to the French inhabitants, the army there shall be no defensive work carried on in the encamped until about sun-down, when they com- garrison, on condition, that Col. C. will observe on menced their march, wading in water about breast his part a like cessation of offensive work; that is, high, to the rising ground on which the town is situ- he wishes to confer with Col. Clark as soon as can ated. One portion of the army marched up directly along where the levee is now raised, and came in by the steam mill. While another party under Lieut. Bradley, deployed from the main body, and came in by the present Princeton road. An entrenchment was thrown up in front of the fort, and the battle commenced from the British side by the discharge, though without effect, of their cannon, and the return on our side of rifle shot-the only arms which the Americans possessed. On the morning of the 24th, about 9 o'clock, Col. Clark sent in a flag of truce, with a letter to the British commander, during which time there was a cessation of hostilities, and the men were provided with a breakfast-the first meal which they had had since the 18th, six days before. The letter of Clark is so characteristic of the man, so laconic, and under such trying circumstances, shows so much tact, self possession and firmness, that I will read it: "SIR-In order to save yourself from the impending storm that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender yourself, with all your garrison, stores, &c. &c. For if I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or hurting one house in town. For, by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no mercy shown G. R. CLARK. Since the days of Charles the IXth, of Sweden, I doubt whether ever such a cartel, under such circum February 24th, "79." HENRY HAMILTON. If Governor Hamilton had known the man he was dealing with, he would have found ere this, that he getting would have made light of any difficulties in " into the fort;" and if not already convinced of the daring of the foe he was contending with, one would have supposed Clark's answer would have set him right. "Col. Clark's compliments to Gov. Hamilton, and begs leave to say, that he will not agree to any terms, other than Mr. Hamilton's surrendering himself and garrison prisoners at discretion. 66 If Mr. Hamilton wants to talk with Col. Clark, he will meet him at the church with Capt. Helm." Laconic enough, surely, and easily understood; and so it was. For, in less than one hour afterwards, Clark dictated himself the following terms, which were accepted, a meeting having taken place at the church: "1st. Lieut. Gov. Hamilton agrees to deliver up to Col. Clark "Fort Sackville," as it is at present, with all its stores, &c. 2d. The garrison are to deliver themselves up as prisoners of war, and march out with their arms and accoutrements. 3d. The garrison to be delivered up to-morrow at ten o'clock. 4th. Three days time to be allowed the garrison to settle their accounts with the inhabitants and traders. 5th. The officers of the garrison to be allowed their necessary baggage, &c. Signed at Post St. Vincents, this 24th of February, 1779 agreed for the following reasons: 1st. The remoteness from succour. 2d. The state and quantity of provisions. 3d. The unanimity of the officers and men in its expediency. 4th. The honourable terms allowed-and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy. HENRY HAMILTON, Lieut. Gov. and Superintendent.” It was on the twenty-fifth day of February, 1779, about ten o'clock in the forenoon, that the British troops marched out, and the Americans entered that fort, acquired with the tact, skill, judgment, bravery, peril, and suffering, which I have so briefly attempted to describe. The British ensign was hauled down, and the American flag waved above its ramparts; that flag, "Within whose folds Are wrapped the treasures of our hearts, enough to repay those gallant men, and those who aided them in their glorious struggle, which I have thus attempted feebly to describe. THE AMERICAN BOTTOM. BY EDMUND FLAGG. THE American Bottom is a distinction applied to that celebrated tract of country which is now known by that name, so long since as when it constituted the extreme limit in this direction of the Northwestern Territory. Extending northward from the embouchure of the Kaskaskia to the confluence of the great rivers, a distance of about one hundred miles, and embracing three hundred thousand acres of land, of fertility unrivalled, it presents, perhaps, second only to the Delta of Egypt, the most remarkable tract of country known. Its breadth varies from three miles to seven. Upon one side it is bounded by a heavy strip of forest a mile or two deep, skirting the Mississippi; and upon the other by an extended range of bluffs, now rising from the plain in a mural escarpment of several hundred feet, as at the village of Prairie du Rocher, and again, as opposite St. Louis, swelling gracefully away into rounded sand-heaps, surmounted by Indian graves. At the base of the latter are exhaustless beds of bituminous coal, lying between parallel strata of limestone. The area between the timber belt and the bluffs is comprised in Time would not permit me, my friends, to dwell one extended meadow, heaving in alternate waves like on the important results growing out of this conquest the ocean after a storm, and interspersed with islandto our common country. A volume would be re- groves, sloughs, bayous, lagoons, and shallow lakes. quired to delineate fully all the advantages which These expansions of water are numerous, and owe have been derived from it to that Union, a portion of their origin to that geological feature invariable to the which we now constitute. Calculate, if you can, western rivers-the superior elevation of the immethe revenue which the government already has, and diate bank of the stream to that of the interior plain. will continue to derive from its public domain within The subsidence of the spring floods is thus preclu the territory thus acquired. Bounded by the Lakes ded; and, as the season advances, some of the ponds, and the Miami on one side, and the Ohio and the which are more shallow, become entirely dry by Mississippi on the other, embracing three large states, evaporation, while others, converted into marshes, with a population now of upwards of two millions, stagnate, and exhale malaria exceedingly deleterious with a representation of six senators in one branch to health. The poisonous night dews caused by of our national councils, and eleven representatives these marshes, and the miasm of their decomposing in the other; and which, within the last half cen- and putrefying vegetation, occasion, with the sultritury, was represented by a single delegate, but in the ness of the climate, bilious intermittents, and the next half century to come, will have fifty represen- far-famed, far-dreaded "fever and ague," not unfre tatives; mild in its climate, rich in its soil, yielding in quently terminating in consumption. This circumthe abundance, variety, and excellence of its products, stance, indeed, presents the grand obstacle to the set perhaps, a greater quantity than the same space of tlement of the American Bottom. It is one, howe territory in the civilized world; inhabited, and to be ver, not impracticable to obviate, at slight expense, inhabited by a race of industrious, hard working, by the constructing of sluices and canals communiintelligent, high minded, and patriotic people, attached cating with the rivers, and by the clearing up and to the institutions of their country; lovers of order, cultivation of the soil. The salubrious influence of liberty, and law; republicans in precept and in prac- the latter expedient upon the climate has, indeed, tice; trained from their earliest infancy to revere and been satisfactorily tested during the ten or twelve to venerate, to love and to idolize the Constitution years past; and this celebrated alluvion now bids fair, adopted by their fathers, for the government of them-in time, to become the garden of North America. A selves and their posterity;-calculate if you can, the few of its lakes are beautiful water-sheets, with peb increase within this territory, of just such a popula-bly shores and sparkling waves, abounding with fish. tion as I have described, within sixty years to come- Among these is one appropriately named "Clear its wealth, its influence, its power, its improvements, Lake," or the Grand Marais, as the French call it, morally, and socially-and when your minds are which may be seen from St. Louis of a bright mornwearied in the immensity of the speculation, asking, when the sunbeams are playing upon its surface, yourselves to whom all these blessings are to be attri- or at night when the moon is at her full. The earlibuted; and whether national gratitude, in the fulness est settlements of the Western Valley were planted of national wealth and prosperity, can find treasures upon the American Bottom, and the French villagers 407 have continued to live on in health among the sloughs | tains. This extends northeastery to the "conflu and marshes, where Americans would most assuredly ence;" thence, bending away to the northwest, it have perished. Geologically analyzed, the soil con- reaches the Illinois, and forms the eastern bank of sists of a silicious or argillaceous loam, as sand or that river. Upon the western side, the hills along clay forms the predominating constituent. Its fertil- the Missouri are sufficiently elevated to present a ity seems exhaustless, having continued to produce barrier to the lake until they reach the confluence of corn. at an average of seventy-five bushels to the the rivers At this point spreads out the Mamelle acre, for more than a hundred years in succession, Prairie, sixty or seventy miles in length, and, upon in the neighbourhood of the old French villages, and an average, five or six in breadth. West of this without deterioration. Maize seems the appropriate plain, the lake was bounded by the range of bluffs, production of the soil; all of the smaller grains, on commencing with the celebrated "Mamelles," and account of the rank luxuriance of their growth, being stretching north until they strike the river; while the liable to blast before the harvesting. gradual elevation of the country, ascending the Upper Mississippi, presented a limit in that direction. Of the alluvial character of the celebrated Ameriean Bottom there can exist no doubt. Logs, shells, The event by which this great lake was drained fragments of coal, and pebbles, which have been appears to have been of a character either convulsive subjected to the abrasion of moving water, are found or volcanic, or to have been the result of the long at a depth of thirty feet from the surface; and the continued abrasion of the waters, as at Niagara. The soil throughout seems of unvarying fecundity. Whe- rocks at the Grand Tower are limestone of seconda ther this alluvial deposition is to be considered the ry formation-the stratum being several hundred feet result of annual floods of the river for ages, or whe- in depth, and imbedding hornstone and marine petrither the entire bottom once formed the bed of a vast factions throughout. They everywhere exhibit inlake, in which the waters of the Mississippi and Mis- dications of having once been subjected to the attrisouri mingled on their passage to the Gulf, is a ques- tion of rushing water, as do the cliffs bounding the tion of some considerable interest. The latter seems Northern Lakes, which have long been chafed by the the most plausible theory. Indeed, the ancient exis- waves. The evidence of volcanic action, or violent tence of an immense lake, where now lies the Ame- subterranean convulsion of some kind, caused by rican Bottom, upon the east side of the Mississippi, heat, seems hardly less evident. The former workand the Mamelle Prairie, upon the west side, exten- ings of a divulsive power of terrific energy is betrayding seventy miles northwardly from the mouth of ed, indeed, all over this region. In the immediate the Missouri, where the Bottom ends, appears geo- vicinity of the Grand Tower, which may be considlogically demonstrable. The southern limit of this ered the scene of its most fearful operations, huge vast body of water seems to have been at that re- masses of shattered rock dipping in every direction, markable cliff, rising from the bed of the Mississippi are scattered about; and the whole stratum for twenabout twenty miles below the outlet of the Kask as- ty miles around lies completely broken up. At the kia, and known as the "Grand Tower." There is point in the range of bluffs where this confusion is every indication, from the torn and shattered aspect observed to cease, the mural cliff rises abruptly to the of the cliffs upon either side, and the accumulation altitude of several hundred feet, exhibiting along the of debris, that a grand parapet of limestone, at this facade of its summit deep water-lines and other evipoint, once presented a barrier to the heaped-up wa-dence of having once constituted the boundary of a ters, and formed a cataract scarcely less formidable lake. At the base issues a large spring of fresh wathan that of Niagara. The elevation of the river by ter, remarkable for a regular ebb and flow, like the this obstacle is estimated at one hundred and thirty tides of the ocean, once in twenty-four hours. * At feet above the present ordinary water-mark. For this spot, also, situated in the southeastern extremimore than a hundred miles before reaching this point, ty of St. Clair county, exists an old American settlethe Mississippi now rolls through a broad, deep val- ment, commenced a century since, and called the ley, bounded by an escarpment of cliffs upon either "Block-house," from the circumstance of a stockade side; and, wherever these present a bold facade to fort for defence against the Indians. By a late geothe stream, they are grooved, as at the cornice rocks, logical reconnoisance, we learn that, from this reby a series of parallel lines, distinctly traced and markable tide-spring until we reach the Grand Towstrikingly uniform. As the river descends, these er, the face of the country has a depressed and sunkwater-grooves gradually rise along the heights, until, en aspect, as if once the bed of standing water; and at the Grand Tower, they attain an altitude of more was evidently overlaid by an immense stratum of calthan a hundred feet; below this point the phenome-careous rock. A hundred square miles of this masnon is not observed. This circumstance, and the sive ledge, have, by some tremendous convulsion of disruption of the cliffs at the same elevation, clearly nature, been thrown up and shattered in fragments. indicate the former surface of the lake. Organic re- The confused accumulation of debris is now sunken mains, petrifactions of madrepores, corallines, con- and covered with repeated strata of alluvial deposit. cholites, and other fossil testacea, are found imbed-Evidence of all this is adduced from the circumstance ded in a stratum nearly at the base. Similar phe- that huge blocks of limestone are yet frequently to be nomena of the water-lines exist upon the cliffs of the encountered in this region, some of them protruding Ohio, and a barrier is thought once to have obstruct- twenty or thirty feet above the surface. As we aped the stream at a point called the Narrows, sixty miles below Louisville, with the same result as upon the Mississippi. The eastern boundary of the expansion of the latter stream must have been the chain of bluffs now confining the American Bottom in that direction, and considered a spur of the Ozark Moun-Alps. *A similar spring is said to issue from the debris at the foot of the cliffs on the Ohio, in the vicinity of Battery Rock. Its stream is copious, clear, and cold, ebbing and flowing regularly once in six hours. This phenomenon is explained on the prin ciple of the syphon. Similar springs are found among the proach the Grand Tower-that focus, around which strate. Remains, also, of a huge animal of gramni the convulsed throes of nature seem to have concen- verous habits, but differing from the mastodon, have, trated their tremendous energy-the number and the within a few years, been disinterred from the soil. magnitude of these massive blocks, constantly in- The theory of the Baron Cuvier, that our earth is the crease, until, at that point, we behold them piled up wreck of other worlds, meets with ample confirmain mountain-masses, as if by the hand of Omnip- tion in the geological character of the Western Valotent might. Upon all this vast Valley of the West ley. the terrible impress of Almighty power seems plant- As to the agricultural productions, besides those ed in characters too deep to be swept away by the effa- of the more ordinary species, the soil of the Americing finger of time. We trace them not more pal-can Bottom, in its southern sections, seems eminentpably in these fearful results of the convulsions of ly adapted to the cultivation of cotton, hemp, and tonature, agonized by the tread of Deity, than in the bacco, not to mention the castor-bean and the Carolieternal flow of those gigantic rivers which roll their na potato. The tobacco plant, one of the most sensifloods over this wreck of elements, or in those ocean- tively delicate members of the vegetable family, has plains which, upon either side, in billowy grandeur been cultivated with more than ordinary success; and heave away, wave after wave, till lost in the magni- a quantity inspected at New-Orleans a few years ficence of boundless extent. And is there nothing in since, was pronounced superior to any ever offered those vast accumulations of organic fossils-spoils of at that market. the sea and the land-the collected wealth of the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds, entombed in the heart of the everlasting hills-is there naught in all this to arouse within the reflecting mind a sentiment of wonder, and elicit an acknowledgement to the grandeur of Deity? Whence came these varied productions of the land and the sea, so incongruous in character and so diverse in origin? By what fearful anarchy of elements were they imbedded in these massive cliffs? How many ages have rolled away since they were entombed in these adamantine sepulchres, from which nature's convulsive throes in later times have caused the resurrection? To such inquiries we receive no answer. The secrecy of untold cycles veils the reply in mystery. The effect is before us, but the cause rests alone with Omniscience. How wonderful are the phenomena betrayed in the geological structure of our earth! And scarcely less so are the ignorance and indifference respecting them manifested by most of our race. "It is marvellous," says the celebrated Buckland, "that mankind should have gone on for so many centuries in ignorance of the fact, which is now so fully demonstrated, that so small a part of the present surface of the earth is derived from the remains of animals that constituted the population of ancient seas. Many extensive plains and massive mountains form, as it were, the great charnel-houses of preceding generations, in which the petrified exuvia of extinct races of animals and vegetables are piled into stupendous monuments of the operations of life and death, during almost immeasurable periods of past time." "At the sight of a spectacle," says Cuvier, "so imposing, so terrible as that of the wreck of animal life, forming almost the entire soil on which we tread, it is difficult to restrain the imagination from hazarding some conjectures as to the cause by which such great effects have been produced." The deeper we descend into the strata of the earth, the higher do we ascend into the archæological history of past ages of creation. We find successive stages marked by varying forms of animal and vegetable life, and these generally differ more and more widely from existing species as we go farther downward into the receptacle of the wreck of more ancient creations. That centuries have elapsed since that war of elements by which the great lake of the Mississippi was drained of its waters, the aged forests rearing themselves from its ancient bed, and the venerable monuments resting upon the surface, sat'sfactorily demon ART.-CHARLES SPRAGUE, WHEN from the sacred garden driven, And cross'd the wand'rer's sunless path. She led him through the trackless wild, He rends the oak-and bids it ride, To guard the shores its beauty graced; See towers of strength, and domes of taste. And leaps triumphant o'er the grave. He plucks the pearls that stud the deep, He breaks the stubborn marble's sleep, In fields of air he writes his name, And treads the chamber of the sky; He moves in greatness and in grace; If every one's internal care HOUSE-FURNITURE AND diet. 66 EARLY HABITS, CUSTOMS, &c. OF THE WEST. ed. Hog and hominy" were proverbial for the dish of which they were the component parts. Jonnycake and pone were at the outset of the settleTHE settlement of a new country, in the immedi- ment of the country, the only forms of bread in use ate neighbourhood of an old one, is not attended with for breakfast and dinner. At supper, milk and mush much difficulty, because supplies can be readily ob- were the standard dish. When milk was not plenty, tained from the latter; but the settlement of a coun- which was often the case, owing to the scarcity of try very remote from any cultivated region, is a very cattle, or the want of proper pasture for them, the different thing, because at the outset, food, raiment, substantial dish of hominy had to supply the place and the implements of husbandry are obtained only of them; mush was frequently eaten with sweetenin small supplies and with great difficulty. The ed water, molasses, bears oil, or the gravy of fried task of making new establishments in a remote wil-meat. derness, in a time of profound peace, is sufficiently Every family, besides a little garden, for the few difficult; but when in addition to all the unavoidable vegetables which they cultivated, had another small hardships attendant on this business, those resulting from an extensive and furious warfare with savages are superadded; toil, privations and sufferings are then carried to the full extent of the capacity of men to endure them. enclosure containing from half an acre to an acre, which they called a "Truck patch," in which they raised corn, for roasting ears, pumpkins, squashes, beans, and potatoes. These, in the latter part of the summer and fall, were cooked with their pork, venison and bear meat for dinner, and made very wholesome and well tasted dishes. The standard dinner dish for every log rolling, house raising, and harvest day, was a pot-pie, or what in other countries is cal Such was the wretched condition of our forefathers in making their settlements here. To all their difficulties and privations, the Indian war was a weighty addition. This destructive warfare they were compelled to sustain almost single handed, be-led " Sea-pie." This, besides answering for dincause the revolutionary contest with England gave full employment for the military strength and resources, on the east side of the mountains. The following history of the poverty, labours, sufferings, manners and customs of our forefathers, will appear like a collection of tales of olden times,' without any garnish of language to spoil the original portraits, by giving them shades of colouring which they did not possess. ner, served for a part of the supper also. The remainder of it from dinner being eaten with milk in the evening, after the conclusion of the labour of the day. In our whole display of furniture, the delft china and silver were unknown. It did not then as now require contributions from the four quarters of the globe, to furnish the breakfast table, viz: the silver from Mexico; the coffee from the West Indies; the tea from China, and the delft and porcelain from I shall follow the order of things as they occur- Europe, or Asia. Yet our homely fare, and unsightred during the period of time embraced in these nar-ly cabins and furniture, produced a hardy veteran ratives, beginning with those rude accommodations with which our first adventurers into this country furnished themselves at the commencement of their establishments. It will be a homely narrative; yet valuable, on the ground of its being real history. If my reader, when viewing, through the medium which I here present, the sufferings of human nature in one of its most depressed and dangerous conditions, should drop an involuntary tear, let him not blame me for the sentiment of sympathy which he feels. On the contrary, if he should sometimes meet with a recital calculated to excite a smile or a laugh, I claim no credit for his enjoyment. It is the subject matter of the history and not the historian which makes those widely different impressions on the mind of the reader. In this chapter, it is my design to give a brief account of the household furniture and articles of diet which were used by the first inhabitants of our country. A description of their cabins and half-faced camps, and their manner of building them, will be found elsewhere. The furniture for the table, for several years after the settlement of this country, consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons; but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. race, who planted the first footsteps of society and civilization, in the immense regions of the west. Inured to hardihood, bravery, and labour from their early youth, they sustained with manly fortitude the fatigue of the chase, the campaign and scout, and with strong arms "turned the wilderness into fruitful fields," and have left to their descendants the rich inheritance of an immense empire blessed with peace and wealth. I well recollect the first time I ever saw a tea-cup and saucer, and tasted coffee. My mother died when I was about six or seven years of age. My father then sent me to Maryland, with a brother of my grandfather, Mr. Alexander Wells, to school. At Colonel Brown's, in the Mountains, at Stony creek glades, I for the first time saw tame geese, and by bantering a pet gander, I got a severe biting by his bill, and beating by his wings. I wondered very much that birds so large and strong should be so much tamer than the wild turkeys; at this place, however, all was right excepting the large birds which they called geese. The cabin and its furniture were such as I had been accustomed to see in the backwoods, as my country was then called. At Bedford everything was changed. The tavern at which my uncle put up, was a stone house, and to make the change still more complete, it was plastered in the inside, both as to the walls and ceiling. On going into the dining room I was struck with astonishment at the appearance of the house. I had no idea that there was any These articles of furniture corresponded very well house in the world which was not built of logs; but with the articles of diet, on which they were employ-here I looked round the house and could see no logs, The iron pots, knives and forks, were brought from the east side of the mountains along with the salt and iron, on pack-horses. |