The first objective of Clark's general campaign was Kaskaskia and two or three minor posts on the Mississippi River within the present State of Illinois. The departure of the little army of less than two hundred men from Corn Island on June 24, 1778, properly marks the beginning of a military adventure that for reckless courage, heroic performance, good luck and great results hardly finds a parallel. The force the leader had counted on as necessary to success was hardly more than half filled out, and the difficulties to be met were an unknown quantity, though enough was known to make the invasion with the force at hand seem, by every probability, a foolhardy adventure. Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes were, or were supposed to be, well fortified points, equipped with troops and cannon; that these English troops would be re-enforced by the French inhabitants of those settlements was more than likely, and a yet more formidable factor to reckon with was the Indians, who were numerous about the French towns and almost certain to be hostile to the Americans. Collectively, English, French and Indians were numerous enough to swallow up the little band of audacious invaders. Clark's own words, in his "Memoir," show that he believed Vincennes alone to have contained "near four hundred militia, with an Indian town adjoining the great numbers continually in the neighborhood." Add to all, as an influence on the moral of the soldiers, they were bound for wilderness regions "near a thousand miles from the body of their country," where in case of reverses, their chances for getting back were exceedingly slender. It was, indeed, as one historian expressed it, "a dangerous and doubtful mission."