When near the door in his agitated march about the room, he stopped and
burst forth, "Yes, here on this very spot I took leave of him; I wished
him success and honor; 'You have your instructions,' I said, 'from the
Secretary of War; I had a strict eye to them, and will add one word--
Beware of a surprise! You know how the Indians fight us!' He went off with
that as my last solemn warning thrown into his ears. And yet, to suffer
that army to be cut to pieces--hacked, butchered, tomahawked--by a
surprise! O God, O God, he's worse than a murderer! How can he answer it
to his country! The blood of the slain is upon him--the curse of the
widows and orphans--the curse of Heaven!"

The secretary relates that this torrent of passion burst forth in
appalling tones. The President's frame shook. "More than once he threw his
hands up as he hurled imprecations upon St. Clair." But at length he got
his feelings under control, and after a pause he remarked, "I will hear
him without prejudice. He shall have full justice." St. Clair was, indeed,
treated with marked leniency. A committee of the House reported that the
failure of the expedition could not "be imputed to his conduct, either at
any time before or during the action." St. Clair was continued in his
position as Governor of the Northwest Territory and remained there until
1802.

Notwithstanding the dire results of relying on casual levies, Congress was
still stubbornly opposed to creating an effective force under national
control, and in this attitude to some extent reflected even frontier
sentiment. Ames in a letter of January 13, 1792, wrote that "even the
views of the western people, whose defense has been undertaken by
government, have been unfriendly to the Secretary of War and to the
popularity of the Government. They wish to be hired as volunteers, at
two-thirds of a dollar a day to fight the Indians. They are averse to the