mur, was those men led on to the Banks of the Little Wabash which we reached on the 13th." The spectacle, here presented, of officers inveigling soldiers forward, is one of the most singular in the history of the West. We may well believe Clark refers particularly to the two French companies which composed a most important arm of his force—the Virginians, perhaps, not needing equal inspiration to endeavor. The climax in Clark's diplomacy was reached as he now approached the flood-tides of the raging Little Wabash.
It is necessary here to emphasize that the army, turning eastward just north of present Nashville, abandoned the watershed to which their path had thus far held; the route now was nearly due east, across the tributaries of the Little Wabash. Of these, Petit Fork (Adams tributary of the Skillet) was the first to be encountered; it was passed with great heroism on the tenth of February. On the eleventh the eastward route was followed and the Saline River (Skillet Creek) was crossed. Bowman's record reads: "11th. Crossed the Saline river. Nothing extraordinary this day."
