march of one hundred and twenty miles across country.[1]
As this little company of eight or nine score adventurers drew around their fires on Massac Creek, they little dreamed, we may be sure, of the fame they were to gain from this plucky excursion into the prairies of Illinois. It was impossible for them to lift their eyes above the commonplaces of the journey and the possibilities of the coming encounter, and see in true perspective what the capture of Illinois meant to poor Kentucky. It is not less difficult for us to turn our eyes from these general results, which were so brilliant, and get a clear insight into the commonplaces of this memorable little campaign—to hear the talk of the tired men about the fires as they cleaned the heavy clods of mud from shoes and moccasins, examined their guns, viewed the night, and then talked softly of the
- ↑ Our principal source of information concerning the Kaskaskia campaign is George Rogers Clark's Memoir, written probably in 1791, the original of which is preserved in the Draper Manuscripts in the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Extracts of such portions as refer to the march to Kaskaskia will be found in Appendix A.
