Conquest of the country northwest of the river Ohio, 1778-1783 : and, life of Gen George Rogers Clark . in a tolerable state of defense,a more vigorous and successful resistance was to have beenexpected with the aid of cannon and a protected garri-son of seventy-nine men, against one hundred and seventvhungry and tired backwoodsmen, without any of the ap-pliances of war, except ordinary hunting rifles, and a verylimited supply of ammunition. Clarks men had beenalmost entirely without food, and in water most of thetime, for six days. The breakfast the inhabitants of Vin-cennes furnished them on
Conquest of the country northwest of the river Ohio, 1778-1783 : and, life of Gen George Rogers Clark . in a tolerable state of defense,a more vigorous and successful resistance was to have beenexpected with the aid of cannon and a protected garri-son of seventy-nine men, against one hundred and seventvhungry and tired backwoodsmen, without any of the ap-pliances of war, except ordinary hunting rifles, and a verylimited supply of ammunition. Clarks men had beenalmost entirely without food, and in water most of thetime, for six days. The breakfast the inhabitants of Vin-cennes furnished them on the 24th of February, Bowmansays, was their only meal of victuals since the iSth There has been some controversy as to the exact loca- ST. xaviers church. 321 tion of the fort but all agree that it stood near the eastbank of the Wabash river, facing from the river. The historic St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church stoodabout eighty yards in front of the fort. There have beenseveral church buildings in succession near the same local-ity, of the same name, and, practically, the same ST. XAVIERS CHURCH. The one standing at the time of Clarks capture of FortSackville in 1779, Mr. Cauthorn says, was constructedof timbers set on end, and the interstices filled with adobehad a dirt floor, benches for seats, and a veryrude and plain altar. It had no windows and no lightsother than those upon the altar. The door was in thenorthwest end and faced the fort and the The ores- 21 322 ST. XAVIER S CHURCH. ent cathedral, he thinks, is near the same site, and that theold church was built before the fort, probably between1735 and 1740,. and was not torn down until about 1825,when it was succeeded by another church building nearits site. The venerable Mrs. Bayard, his mother-in-law,was baptized in the old church in 1S06, married in it in1823, and her son Samuel Bayard, president of the Evans-ville National Bank, was baptized in itin 1824, so that she was entirely famil-
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