Tuesday 13th. We dispatchd ⟨ ⟩ young Indian express to Val⟨ ⟩ Crawford, who had the charge o⟨f⟩ them to proceed on ⟨ ⟩ that place, where we purp⟨osed⟩ if possible, to get the Canoe ⟨it⟩ being about 50 Miles below ⟨ ⟩ In pursuance of this resolu⟨tion⟩ we Imbark’d again, and with ⟨diffi⟩culty got about 5 Miles furth⟨er⟩ to the Mouth of the Upperm⟨ost⟩ broken timber Creek. In ⟨ ⟩ of last Night the River rose ⟨ ⟩ perpendicular, and in the w⟨ ⟩ with what it rose in the day ⟨ ⟩ must be now 4 or 5 & twenty fee⟨t⟩ its usual height, & not a great ⟨ ⟩ below its banks—in low pl⟨aces⟩ them.
This day about 3 In the After⟨noo⟩n we met two Battoes & a large Ca⟨noe⟩ going (at a very fast rate) to ⟨ ⟩ Illinois with Provisions for the ⟨G⟩arrison at Fort Chartres.1
1. Fort Chartres is in the Illinois country on the east side of the Mississippi River some 50 miles below the site of Saint Louis. Originally a French fort, it had been acquired by the British in 1763. Visiting the fort in 1766, Capt. Harry Gordon found it “well imagined and finished. It has four bastions of stone masonry, designed defensible against musquetry. The barracks are also of masonry, commodious and elegant. The fort is large enough to contain 400 men, but may be defended by one third of that number against Indians” (, 163–64). It was abandoned by the British in 1772 “as it was rendered untenable by the constant washings of the River Missisippi in high floods” (, 37).