Note 1557 — Chapter IX

Stoddard and Martin state that Clark was present; Nicollet denies the statement, on the ground that Clark was then at Kaskaskia, and "that gallant officer could not have had time to aid in that affair." Hall and Billon make no mention of Clark; and Primm and Peck (in Perkins) say that Clark tendered aid to Leyba in 1779, but not in 1780. It was a part of Clark's policy to be always on friendly terms with the Spanish commandant at St. Louis (Campaign, p. 35), and to give aid whenever he needed it. In so doing, as they were fighting a common enemy, he served his own interests. Mr. O. W. Collet, in Mag. of Western Hist., i. 271, has discussed the friendly relations between Clark and Leyba before the attack on St. Louis, but is unmindful of the significance given to it in the text. See also Scharff's Hist. of St. Louis, p. 217.