the same circumstances as Ruddle's, was the last operation of that
campaign. Some quote this as an instance of weakness; Butler, in
particular, contrasts it with the energy of Clark.

The sudden retreat of the enemy inspired the people with joy as great
as their consternation had been at the news of his unexpected advance.
Had he pressed on, there is but little doubt that all the Stations would
have fallen into his hands, for there were not men enough to spare from
them to meet him in the field. The greatest difficulty would have been
the carriage of the artillery. The unfortunate people who had fallen
into the hands of the Indians at Ruddle's Station, were obliged to
accompany their captors on their rapid retreat, heavily laden with the
plunder of their own dwellings. Some returned after peace was made, but
too many, sinking under the fatigues of the journey, perished by the
tomahawk.

Soon after the retreat of the enemy, General Clark, who was stationed at
Fort Jefferson, called upon the Kentuckians to join him in an invasion
of the Indian country. The reputation of Clark caused the call to be
responded to with great readiness. A thousand men were collected, with
whom Clark entered and devastated the enemy's territory. The principal
towns were burned and the fields laid waste. But one skirmish was
fought, and that at the Indian village of Pickaway. The loss was the
same on both sides, seventeen men being killed in each army. Some
writers who have not the slightest objection to war, very gravely
express doubts as to whether the expedient of destroying the crops of
the Indians was justifiable. It is generally treated by these men as if
it was a wanton display of a vindictive spirit, when in reality it was
dictated by the soundest policy; for when the Indians' harvests were
destroyed, they were compelled to subsist their families altogether