dles for them, with which to transport the provisions, ammunition, and other necessaries. During this delay, the Reverends John Craig and John Brown, pioneer Presbyterian clergymen in the Virginia Valley, preached twice respectively to the soldiery, and one of each of their efforts is, by Captain Preston, denominated a "Military Sermon." Major Lewis marched from Fort Frederick, on Wednesday, February 18th, with the advance-and among them Capt. Hog's company; Captains Preston and Paris brought up the rear the following day. Passing the Bear Garden on the North Fork of Holsten, they proceeded on over two large mountains to Burke's Garden, where they arrived on the 24th, and where they found plenty of potatoes in the deserted plantations; it snowed that night. Thence they steered for the head of Clinch, which they reached the 26th; "that day," says Capt. Preston, "I bought a little horse of Lieut. Smith for £4, to carry me out of the Shawnee Towns;" and that night it rained. The next day, "a very great rain" compelled the troops to remain in camp, except a few hunters who killed three or four bears. On the 28th, the march was resumed, when passing several branches of Clinch, they at length reached the head of Sandy Creek, where they met with great trouble and fatigue, occasioned by a very heavy rain and the driving of the pack-horses down the creek, which was crossed and re-crossed twenty times that evening; the hunters that day killed three buffaloes and some deer. On Sunday, the 29th, the troops crossed and re-crossed the creek, which proved to be very crooked, sixty-six times in the space of fifteen miles: "I passed the creek," says Capt. Preston, "sixteen times on foot; the Sabbath day was spent very disagreeably."

On Monday, March 1st, they experienced "a great gust of thunder, hail and rain ;" and Capt. Preston adds, "I bathed in ye river at nine o'clock;" signs of the enemy

were seen, as on former occasions. On the 2d, they were put upon half allowance of beef, which was almost exhausted. Their rations on the 3rd, were reduced to half a pound of flour per man, and no meat, except what they could kill, and that was very scarce; no food for the horses, which occasioned many of them to stray away; a few bears were killed; nine miles were gained that day.— After a tedious search for the strayed horses, some of which could not be found, the toilsome march was resumed on the 4th, and about six miles only were gained; the addition of several branches very much increased the volume of the stream, and rendered it difficult for the foot men to wade, which they had to do sixteen times that day; the hunters had no success, and "nothing but hunger and fatigue" stared them in the face. On Friday, the 5th, fifteen miles were accomplished with painful difficulty, "the river being very deep, and often to cross, almost killed the men, and the more so as they were in the utmost extremity for want of provisions:" Capt. Preston records in his journal, "this day my £4 horse expired, and I was left on foot with a hungry belly, which increased my woe; and this was indeed the case with alnost every man in the company :"Rained hard all night; and "no appearance of a level country though it was wishfully looked for;" and encamped near the Forks of Sandy.

The troops did not move on Saturday, the 6th, till eleven o'clock, and then only to cross the South East Fork and encamp. The Cherokees proposed to make bark canoes to carry themselves down the river, which was immediately put in practice; Major Lewis, at the same time, set men to work to make a large canoe to carry down the ammunition, and the small remains of the flour, then almost exhausted; the men murmured very much for want of provisions, and numbers threatened to return home." When

this was told to Maj. Lewis, he was "very much concerned, and had no other way to please them but to order a cask of butter to be divided among them, which was no more than a taste to each man: it rained very hard all that night, which still added to our misfortunes, as we had no tents, nor indeed hardly any other necessary for such a journey." The morning of Sunday, the 7th, was raining, yet the men continued to work at the canoes, and it was agreed upon by the officers, that Captains Smith, Preston, Breckenridge, Dunlap, and Lieut. Morton, with their companies, and part of Montgomery's volunteers, making a total of 130 in number, with nearly all the horses, should proceed down the creek fifteen miles, and no further, in search of hunting ground, there to await the arrival of Major Lewis, with the remainder of the men, who tarried to complete the canoes. A single pound of flour to each man was the only subsistence allotted to this advance detachment, and that to last until Major Lewis and the remainder of the men could overtake them.

Although this party marched at 9 o'clock in the morning, yet so difficult was it to find a passage over the mountain for the horsemen, and to secure which they had to leave the creek some distance, that at sun-set they had accomplished but about six miles, and encamped on the bank of the stream. No game was found; hunger and want increased. The mountains seemed very high, and no appearance of a level country, which greatly discouraged the men. A great number of them resolved to break off homeward next morning, justifying this unmilitary movement by declaring, that their daily allowance of half a pound of flour per man was insufficient for their support, and even this inadequate supply would soon cease; that they were faint and weak, and could not travel the mountains, or wade the rivers as they had done; and, finally, that there

was no game in the mountains, nor any prospect of a level country ahead. Capt. Preston proposed to kill horses for food. This they refused to do, saying it might answer if they were returning to support them home, but that it was not proper diet to sustain men encountering every hardship on a long march against an enemy. Captain Preston then urged them to make a further trial the next day down the river, to which they at length agreed with some reluctance. It rained hard that night.

At 8 o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 8th of March, the movement down the creek was recommenced, and continued about three miles, where the rugged mountains so completely closed in upon the streams as to preclude a passage between them. It became necessary to bear off some distance from the creek, pursue up a branch, over a high mountain, and down another branch; here two elks were discovered, seven shots fired, but all unfortunately without effect. Now passing another high mountain, they came upon the head of a branch, down which they followed some miles, where they met with some of the volunstream, and had luckily

teers who had kept nearer the killed two elks within a mile of Sandy. Arriving there, after a tedious march of seven miles, camp was struck upon the bank of the creek, one of the elks was brought in and divided among that portion of the men associated with Captain Preston, to the no small joy of every man. "By that time," says Captain Preston, "hunger appeared in all our faces, and most of us had become weak and feeble, and had we not got that relief, I doubt not but several of the men would have died of hunger; their cries and complaints were pitiful and shocking, and the more so as the officers could not afford them any help, for they were in equal want with their men."

The volunteers had the good fortune to kill two buffaloes

and an elk on the morning of Tuesday, the 9th, which af forded still further relief. The men, however, still continued to murmur; no further advance movement was attempted, as it was thought that the limited distance of 15 miles below the Forks had been attained: A great number of the young men went out that day to hunt and view the country; some of whom went seven or eight miles down the river and returned that night, reporting that they had climbed a very high mountain in order to survey the country, and that there seemed to be several prodigious mountains before them, compared with which the country behind appeared level; that the creek seemed to bear to the westward, and no probability of being able to travel with horses beside it; and that they saw no game. This report very naturally dispirited the men more than ever; in short, they agreed almost to a man to set out on their return home next morning. Capt. Preston, with a full knowledge of this determinatien, convened the officers, and it was concluded that each Captain should exert his best efforts to prevail on his men to stay until Major Lewis should arrive with the remainder of the troops. It rained very hard that night; and Capt. Preston confesses, that his mind was in a very confused and perplexed state to think of the men returning in such a manner, "which would infallibly ruin the expedition."

Although the men, on the morning of the 10th, were prepared to commence their return, yet an appeal from Capt. Preston to his company, that should they go before Major Lewis' arrival, his own character would suffer by it, induced them, as well as the other companies, to stay, until a letter could be sent to the Major. Lieut. Morton was immediately despatched, with two men, with a letter, wherein Capt. Preston set forth the confusion and disorder prevailing among the men, and their determination to return home;