ABSTRACT
Among their disappointments and failures from 1778-1779 the Americans gained one startling success, far in the interior, where Indian and Ohio and Illinois were to be found later on. That wild country was populated with Indians who were in league with the British. A young surveyor, George Rogers Clark, believed that they could be won away from the British, who held them by means of presents rather than through affection. Clark reassured them as best he could and set out to cover those 180 miles, most of which were under water. Patriots should stay in their houses: loyalists had better take refuge with Hamilton in the fort. The victory of Vincennes did not gain all the hinterland for the Americans or put an end to the Indian menace, but it did give them control of the northwest section. At the same time, far away in the south, the Spanish were occupying Florida and towns on the lower Mississippi.
