Monette, John W. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, by the Three Great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by the United States, Until the Year 1846, in two volumes, Volume II . New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1846. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=monette2.html

Lexington and Georgetown, and any other troops requisite, should be held ready to obey his orders in suppressing any enterprise attempted against Louisiana. ¹⁹⁹

All effectual interposition on the part of the Governor of Kentucky being precluded by his expressed opinion, the President issued his proclamation on the 24th of March, warning the people of the United States against the unlawful enterprise, and the consequences of any participation in it.

On the 31st of March an order from the War Department instructed General Wayne, commander-in-chief of the northwestern army, to send without delay to Fort Massac a respectable force, "under the command of an officer of approved integrity, firmness, and prudence," and there to "erect a strong redoubt and block-house," supplied with "some suitable cannon from Fort Washington." The object of this post was to prevent the advance of any "lawless people residing on the waters of the Ohio, who, in defiance of the national authority, had entertained the daring design of invading the territories of Spain." ²⁰⁰ Governor St. Clair had been previously authorized to call out the militia of the Northwestern Territory, to suppress any attempted expedition from Kentucky. ²⁰¹

At this time, an agent of General Clark, of Georgia, was at Lexington, engaged in the purchase of five hundred pounds of powder and one ton of cannon ball, to be shipped from "the Falls" in boats, with provisions said to be ready on the Ohio, to descend by the 15th of April. ²⁰² It was represented to the Federal government that about the 8th and 9th of April preparations were active in Kentucky, and boat-builders and artificers at the Falls were busily employed on account of the expedition. Some of the United States troops deserted to join the enterprise; some persons in Kentucky sold their property, and received commissions in the French service as officers of the Legion. Among them was Charles Smith, of Kentucky, who subsequently resigned his commission. Many gave the enterprise a tacit assent, and but few opposed it boldly. Cannon were said to be ordered at the iron-works, and some of the inhabitants of Lexington had subscribed to furnish ammunition. ²⁰³

Yet such was the influence of the French party, and the hostility

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