Authors: JAMES ALEXANDER Thom
On the parapet in the fort, Hamilton paled, turned away, and went down the ladder, trying to shut out the abject wails of his French ally.
He had paid for hundreds of scalps. But it was the first time he had ever witnessed a scalping.
W
HILE HIS SOLDERS ATE THE FIRST MEAL THEY HAD HAD IN SIX
days, George sat on a bench in the church in the village and wet a quill in ink. He wrote:
Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton Esq
r
Commanding Post St. Vincent
Sir
In order to save yourself from the Impending Storm that now Threatens you I order you to Immediately surrender yourself up with all your Garrison Stores &c. &c. for if I am obliged to storm, you may depend upon such Treatment justly due to a Murderer beware of destroying Stores of any kind or any papers or letters that is in your possession or hurting one house in the Town for by heavens if you do there shall be no Mercy shewn you.
Feb
y
24th 1779
G. R. CLARK
At about nine o’clock the gunfire fell silent for the second time, as the Americans waved a flag of truce. General Hamilton crossed the parade, ordered one of the gates opened a few feet, and stood inside waiting for the message. Captain Cardinal of the Vincennes militia brought in the letter from Colonel Clark. Hamilton broke the seal and stood reading the letter. His face grew pale, then red. He looked up, scowling, at Cardinal.
“Wait,” he said. Then he sent for all the officers of the garrison and had them come to his quarters, where he read them the letter. They listened, some chewing the insides of their lips, some pulling their noses; all were quite clearly frightened. Some of them doubtless were recalling the spectacle involving Monsieur Maisonville. Hamilton himself kept seeing that image. It was unsettling to think of oneself on the other end of the
scalping knife, as it were, and that brutal act, always heretofore a remote abstraction in the business of governing, today seemed sickeningly real and proximate.
“My intention,” Hamilton said, “is to undergo any extremity rather than give ourselves into the hands of such people. Has anyone an argument to that resolution? No? Good. Call assembly. I want to talk to the troops.”
The occasion was brief. Hamilton read Colonel Clark’s letter, told the troops what he and the officers had determined, and was assured by the British regulars that they would defend the king’s colors to the last man. “Sir,” barked one senior sergeant with a bulbous nose and ruddy jowls, “as the saying is, we’ll stick to you like the shirt on your back, sir.” The ranks gave three cheers. Hamilton clenched his molars, swallowed hard, and raised his chin.
“Thank you,” he said huskily, and turned back toward his quarters. The French militia had not joined in the spirit of the demonstration; they hung their heads and shuffled their feet.
At his desk, Hamilton wrote:
Gov
r
Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Col. Clark that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into any action Unworthy of British subjects.
H. HAMILTON
He gave the letter to Captain Cardinal, then sat slumped in his chair, gazing absently at a distant corner of the floor, and wondering what he might be bringing down on his brave people by this piece of defiance. He envisioned Captain Cardinal crossing the parade, going out through the gate, striding down the meadow to the American fortifications, handing the letter to Colonel Clark, the American reading it—
At that moment the crackle of rifle fire resumed, the booming of cannon, the rattle of splinters and spent balls on walls and roofs everywhere, the yelp of a defender nicked by a bullet. Hamilton sat at his desk listening to this mayhem. From the volume of the fire, he estimated that Clark must indeed have nearly a thousand attackers. My people can’t stand in the face of that kind of fire long, he thought. Can’t even use the bloody cannon! Damn, damn! He slammed his fist on the desk.
“Begging your pardon, Excellency,” said the orderly, “Captain
LaMothe sends word that a large body of the villagers have thrown in with the rebels, sir, and are firing on the fort.”
“Blast!” the general barked, slamming his fist on the desk again. “Frenchmen!”
T
HE
A
MERICANS AND THEIR ALLIES, NOW FED, WARMED BY THE
sun, certain that they had their long-hated enemies in their power, surfeited with ammunition, and presented with this huge fort which was a shooting gallery of such varied challenges, began competing with themselves for smarter and smarter shooting, with the result that the defenders by late morning had altogether stopped trying to return fire, either cannon or musket. It seemed incredible to George, but even without artillery, his marksmen had actually been able to silence a strong, well-defended British fort. He had never heard of such a thing; he felt that no man ever had been so happy, and was wondering just how to exploit this advantage when a truce flag appeared above the palisade, and he ordered a cease-fire.
The woodsmen reloaded and rested on their rifles as Governor Hamilton’s messenger was brought through the lines. George opened the letter and read:
L
t
Gov
r
Hamilton proposes to Col. Clark a truce for three days during which time he promises there shall be no defensive works carried on in the Garrison, on condition Col. Clark shall observe on his part a like cessation of any offensive work that he wishes to confer with Col. Clark as soon as can be and further proposes that whatever may pass between them two and any other Person mutually agreed upon to be present, shall remain a secret till Matters be finally concluded—As he wishes that whatever the Result of their conference may be to the honor and credit of each party—If Col. Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the fort L
t
Gov
r
Hamilton will speak to him before the Gate
24th Feb
y
H. HAMILTON
George pondered on the letter and passed it to his officers for their observations. He scratched his jaw, noting idly for the first time that a short but full-fledged beard had actually grown on him in the duration of this long and strenuous campaign. A fortnight
since we left Kaskaskia, he thought. And not a moment’s ease in all that time. And here we have Hamilton strapped really far tighter than we could have hoped; he’s begging for a reprieve.
“I fear it’s just a scheme t’get you inside that fort, George,” said Captain Bailey.
“Aye,” said Captain Worthington. “You’d be a prize hostage, all right.”
“No,” George replied. “A treachery of that nature would ruin his reputation. He wants those three days because—because—all I can see is, he has hopes of reinforcements by then.”
“But so have we,” Bowman said. “The galley must be nigh by now. She’ll be on us in a day or two, if not this very afternoon.”
“All’s I know is this,” said Captain McCarty. “Somethin’s got t’ change pretty soon. My boys is fed, fat, and sassy, an’ been enjoyin’ this shoot a whole lot, but some’s sayin’ they’d like t’ get into that fort there, an’ get to th’ heart o’ th’ matter with the Hair-Buyer.”
“Mine too,” said Worthington. “I’m havin’ a time making ’em keep down. They can git pretty rash, as y’know.”
“Pen and paper, then,” George said. He wrote:
Colonel Clarks Compliments to Mr Hamilton and begs leave to inform him that Col. Clark will not agree to any other terms than that of Mr Hamilton’s surrendering himself and Garrison, Prisoners at Discretion—
If Mr. Hamilton is Desirous of a Conference with Col. Clark he will meet him at the Church with Capt
n
Helm—
Feb 24th 1779
G. R. CLARK
General Hamilton watched the messenger clamber through the barricade and return up the road and prayed that the American commander had made a reasonable response. The fort, meadow, and village lay almost silent in the wintry midday sunlight, save for the distant murmur of conversation and laughter behind the American breastworks and the screech of a hunting hawk that was crossing the bright sky. Then, from the commons beyond the town came faint yells and war whoops, followed by the rattle of gunfire. The buildings of the town blocked the general’s view of that plain, and he had no idea what was happening there, but presumed that it might be one of his war parties
returning from Kentucky, whooping in triumph and wasting ammunition. If it is, he thought, God help them now.
The messenger had entered the fort. Hamilton quickly looked over Colonel Clark’s adamant letter, which was written with such sure, forceful slashes of the pen he thought he could sense its writer’s mood.
Captain Helm was brought out of the guardhouse and escorted to General Hamilton’s office, where the general sat looking very morose. The wounded had been removed and the general was alone. Helm greeted him with a flashing smile.
“Look at this,” Hamilton said, thrusting Clark’s letter at him. Helm read it, thrilling with pleasure at its forceful tone. He handed it back, smiling.
“Ol’ George ain’t changed a bit, I see. Is there sump’n about it you don’t get? Surely it’s plain enough.”
“Obviously a rash and very stupid boy,” Hamilton snarled. “Does he think I am without honor?”
“Guess he does.”
“I … Damn you, Helm! Can’t you remember the day of December seventeenth when you stood at the gate right out there, virtually all by yourself in the face of my army, and demanded honorable terms? And did I not grant them to you?”
“Yeah, you did, Guv’n’r,” Helm said laconically, “and I ’predated it. But y’ see, th’ big difference ’tween you and me is, I ain’t never bought th’ scalp of a woman or child.”
Hamilton’s mouth fell open and he went purple with rage. But he trembled and managed once again to contain his impulse to draw his sword and impale Helm. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that piece of insolence. You will please stand by, Mister Helm, while I confer with my officers. Then you will escort me and Major Hay down to the church to meet with this crass boy colonel of yours.”
“You mean I’m to be seen in company of Hay and yerself? Bless me, I don’t know if George’ll ever speak t’me agin!”
C
APTAIN
L
A
M
OTHE’S VOLUNTEERS
, H
AMILTON LEARNED, WERE BEGINNING
to mutter that it was difficult to be obliged to fight against their countrymen and relatives, who they now perceived had joined the Americans. LaMothe’s men made up nearly half the garrison, and after such expressions of doubt obviously could not be trusted. There were less than a company of British regulars still unscathed and able-bodied, and apparently no immediate way existed to rally the various parties of Indians in the
vicinity. Those red men within the fort had proved of little value as defenders; they were fickle mercenaries and it was not their nature to stand trapped in one place and fight to the death for someone else’s honor. He fully expected them to go over the walls at nightfall and vanish.
“In short,” he said to his officers now, “it appears that we have nothing much to expect from these rebels but the extremity of their revenge. Therefore I’m determined to go down and procure the most honorable terms I can, or else abide the worst.
“I must add, gentlemen, that if the defense of this fort depended on the spirit and courage of Englishmen only, the rebels would labor in vain. That is all, dear sirs. If you would inform your men of my intentions. And have them stand ready to cover me with musket and cannon in case something should go amiss at the church …”
The officers rose, swallowing hard, each harboring his personal sense of disaster.
Alone, heavy with dread, Hamilton sat at his desk and wrote out his proposed terms for surrender:
Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up to Colonel Clark, Fort Sackville as it is at present with all the Stores, ammunition and provision, reserving only thirty-six rounds of powder & ball per man, and as many weeks’ provision, as shall be sufficient to subsist those of the garrison who shall go by land or by Water to their destination which is to be agreed on hereafter
.
The garrison are to deliver themselves up prisoners of War, and to march out with their Arms, accoutrements & Knapsacks …
He asked for guides and horses to give the garrison safe transport to its destination, for three days’ time for baking bread and settling accounts with the Vincennes traders, and that prisoners with families should be permitted to swear neutrality and go to their homes, and concluded:
… Sick and wounded are recommended to the humanity and generosity of Colonel Clark—
Sign’d at Fort Sackville
Feb
y
24th 1779
H. HAMILTON
“So you are Colonel Clark.”
“And you’re General Hamilton.”
They stood two yards apart facing each other, arms folded over their chests, in front of the battered church, each eagerly absorbing impressions of the other. George noted the Englishman’s sensuous, somewhat pouty mouth and his drilling, dark gaze. Hamilton looked at the Virginian’s imposing stature and his fierce, weathered, but surprisingly aristocratic countenance and felt a surprising kind of satisfaction. At least, he thought, no one can shame me for surrendering to a man like this!
But Hamilton was determined not to be stared down, even by this eagle. He believed that the man who can make the other drop his gaze establishes his own superiority. He had faced down dozens of subordinates, enemies, and Indian chiefs over the years, and not once in the course of his career as a general officer had he been forced to lower his eyes. Bracing himself for it now, he was astonished to see the young man’s hard blue eyes suddenly crinkle, sparkle, glance aside at Leonard Helm, and wink. Clark stepped past Hamilton and embraced Helm, guffawing and pounding him on the back.
Hamilton, bewildered, suddenly felt one of his most cherished personal fancies shattered. The American, by dismissing his gaze as unimportant, had prevailed. Hoping no one had really noticed this, Hamilton glanced about to find the American Captain Bowman regarding him amusedly with his own ghostly pale-gray eyes. Then Bowman too stepped past him and joined in greeting Helm. Hamilton was mortified; he felt he had been dismissed as a less important personage than this yokelish Helm. Clenching his jaw, toeing the earth, and waiting for these arrogant louts to conclude their uproarious reunion, he found himself looking at the faces of some of the most piratical human beings he had ever seen; they were drifting close around, snaggle-toothed, evil of eye, lumpish in their rags and rotting buckskins, some barefoot, all unshaven and scrawny as jerky, stinking sourly even at this distance, but every one grinning with a happy mockery. A huge beast of a man stood smirking at him, testing the edge of a big hunting knife with his thumb, then suddenly reached up, snatched off his mangy coonskin cap, bent, and exhibited an ugly scar on the crown of his head, the white of skull-bone showing through. Then the man put his cap back on and winked at Hamilton, wrinkling his porous nose. Suddenly Governor Hamilton had the dispiriting notion that he would be unable to stare down any one of these fetid scoundrels;
they were looking at him as if he were a swine ready for the butcher block. Every last one of them felt superior to him!