Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

In

fully the sense of the army on the measures to be pursued; adding, that if 500 volunteers turned out he would put himself at their head, and proceed in quest of the Indian towns, and the rest of the army might return to Fort Harrison. In less than an hour the report was made almost unanimously to return. vain did the general request that he might dictate the course for that day only. His authority was now at an end; and all the efforts of the officers were necessary to restore order in the ranks, and to conduct the retreat without danger from the surrounding though unseen foe.

Though this expedition returned almost without obtaining the sight of an enemy, yet it was not altogether unproductive of benefit. The Indians of the neighbouring towns, hearing of its approach, had marched the greater part of their warriors to meet it, leaving their villages in a defenceless condition. In this state they were found by colonel Russell, who had marched upon them in the expectation of meeting with Hopkins' army, and his detachment attacked and defeated those who had been left behind. Having driven them into a swamp, through which the rangers pursued them for three miles, up to their waists in mud and water, he returned and burnt their towns, and destroyed their corn. The number of warriors who advanced to meet Hopkins from those towns is stated to have amounted to 700; Russell's force consisted of not more than 400 men. A considerable number of Indians were killed in this attack. part of the Americans there were only four wounded, none of them mortally.

On the

Craig's force was still smaller than that under Russell; it is stated to have consisted of not more than 80 men. With this small body he marched up the Illinois river, twenty miles above the town destroyed by Russell. Here he attacked an Indian settlement, which he totally destroyed, with all the improvements, and took 42 prisoners, one of them an Englishman, and a large collection of furs. He returned with his prisoners and booty, without the loss of a man.

11. In the month of November another Indian expedition was undertaken by general Hopkins, with about 1250 men. This was directed against the towns on the Wabash, where the battle of Tippecanoe had been fought about twelve months before. Having left Fort Harrison on the 11th, accompanied with boats for the transportation of provisions, forage, and military stores, Hopkins arrived at the Prophet's town on the 19th, without interruption. Early in the morning of that day, 300 men were detached to surprise the Winebago town, on Ponce Passu creek, a short distance below the Prophet's. Having sur

rounded it about the break of day, they were surprised to find it evacuated. The party, accordingly, after destroying it, rejoined the main body at the Prophet's town.

For three days Hopkins' detachment was employed in achieving the complete destruction of the Prophet's town, and the large Kickapoo village adjoining, the former consisting of 40 and the latter of 160 cabins and huts. They likewise destroyed all their cultivated fields, fences, &c. and constructed works for the defence of the boats and of the encampment.

On the 21st a reconnoitering party were attacked by a body of Indians, and one of their number killed. The following day 60 horsemen were despatched to bury their comrade, and gain a better knowledge of the ground, but they unfortunately fell into an ambuscade, in which 18 of the party were killed, wounded, or missing. This party, on their return, brought information of a large assemblage of the enemy, who, encouraged by the strength of their camp, appeared to be waiting an attack.— Every preparation was accordingly made to march early next morning, to engage the enemy. A violent fall of snow, however, prevented the movement on the 23d; and the camp was found abandoned on the following day. The position which the Indians had thus abandoned is spoken of as having been remarkably strong. The Ponce Passu, a deep rapid creek, was in their rear, running in a semicircle; in front was a bluff, 100 feet high, almost perpendicular, and only to be penetrated by three steep ravines.

On the return of the troops to camp, the river was found so full of ice, as to alarm them for the return of the boats. Hopkins had intended to have spent one week more in endeavouring to find the Indian camps; but the shoeless, shirtless state of the troops, now clad in the remnants of their summer dress; a river full of ice; the hills covered with snow; and, above all, the uncertainty of finding an enemy; all these circumstances determined him to return. They accordingly set out on the 25th, and in a few days arrived at Fort Harrison, having completed a march of upwards of 100 miles into the Indian country, which is totally devoid of roads, and destroyed three of their principal towns, in the space of less than twenty days.

The last Indian expedition of which mention is made, in this quarter, is one which was commanded by colonel Campbell, consisting of 600 men, which marched from Greenville (Ohio) against the towns on the Mississinewa, a branch of the Wabash.

12. On the 17th of December, after marching all night, Campbell arrived at one of the towns about day-break, which he instantly attacked, and the Indians were driven across the Mississinewa river, with the loss of 7 killed and 37 prisoners. Only

1

one American was killed and one wounded in this skirmish.After securing the prisoners, a part of the detachment was despatched down the river, who returned the same day, having burned three villages without resistance. They then encamped on the ground where the first village stood.

The following morning, a little before day-light, the camp was attacked by a body of Indians, supposed to be about 300. They commenced their attack on the right, with a horrid yell. After a desperate conflict of about three quarters of an hour, a charge was made by the cavalry, which forced the Indians to retreat, leaving 40 killed on the field. In this affair the Americans had eight killed, and twenty-five or thirty wounded.

Another attack was anticipated, as information was received that Tecumseh, with four or five hundred warriors, was only fifteen miles from the scene of action; but reinforcements shortly after arriving from Greenville, they effected their retreat without molestation.

§ 13. A small body of Georgia volunteers had been collected early in August, for an expedition against the Indians on our southern border, where considerable depredations had been committed. Several unforeseen circumstances, however, prevented its being carried into effect, until the 24th of September, when the detachment, consisting of only 117 men, with twelve horses, marched from St. John's, under the command of colonel Newnan, against the Lotchaway towns in East Florida. This small force carried with them only four days' provisions.

The detachment left St. John's in the evening, marching in Indian file, with a small party in front and in rear, the openness of the country rendering it unnecessary to employ men on the right and left. The encampment at nights, there being three companies, was in the form of a triangle, with the baggage in the centre; the men lying with their clothes on, their feet pointing outward, and their firelocks in their arms. In case of an attack, the officers were instructed to bring up their companies upon the right and left of the company fronting the enemy, and to follow the Indian mode of fighting until ordered to charge.

In case of meeting the enemy on the march, the first company, which consisted of riflemen, was instructed to file off to the right, the centre company to advance and form to the front in single rank, and the company in the rear to file off to the left: the whole then to advance in the form of a crescent, and endeavour to encircle the enemy.

On the morning of the fourth day, when within a few miles of the Indian towns, the party in advance discovered a body of Indians marching along the path meeting them. The compa

VOL. II.

·H

nies were immediately ordered to advance according to the previous instructions, which appeared exactly suited to the situation in which the enemy was found, and Newnan placed himself at the head of the centre company. The Indians were now seen falling back and making preparations for battle, by unslinging their packs, trimming their rifles, and forming; and the Americans continued to advance, taking advantage of the trees in their progress, until within musket-shot of the enemy, when many of the Indians began to fire. The charge being now ordered, the enemy were forced precipitately to retire, and take refuge in a swamp. Unfortunately the riflemen, in filing to the right, inadvertently took too great a circuit, by which means a small swamp was interposed between them and the Indians, which rendered the victory less decisive than it would have been had the whole charged together before the Indians dispersed. The action, including the skirmishing on the flanks, lasted two hours and a half, the Indians having frequently attempted to outflank and get in the rear of the detachment, but were always repulsed, by the companies extending to the right and left. The detachment had one killed and nine wounded in this affair. The loss of the Indians was more considerable. Among the killed was their king Payne.

The Americans remained on the ground to watch the motions of the Indians, who were now seen near the swamp, painting themselves, and in consultation, which indicated an intention of renewing the combat. Accordingly half an hour before sun-set, having obtained a considerable reinforcement of negroes and Indians from their towns, they commenced the most horrid yells, imitating the cries and noise of almost every animal of the forest, their chiefs advancing in front in a stooping serpentine manner, and making the most wild and frantic gestures, until they approached within two hundred yards, when they commenced firing. The soldiers remained perfectly still and steady behind logs and trees, until the enemy had approached somewhat nearer, when a brisk and well directed fire soon drove them back to their original ground. The action lasted until eight o'clock, when the enemy were completely repulsed. Two men were killed and one wounded; the enemy carried off several of their men before it was dark-after which all firing was at the spot from whence the flash arose. After thus fighting all day, the detachment had to work throughout the whole of the night, and by day-light had completed a tolerable breast-work of logs and earth, with port-holes.

As soon as it was dark, one of the officers was despatched to St. John's for reinforcements and provisions, and six of the men

took the liberty to accompany him, taking with them some of the best horses.

For two days succeeding the battle, nothing was seen nor heard of the enemy; but on the evening of the third day they commenced firing at their works at long distance, and renewed it every day for five or six days, but without effect.

Seven or eight days having elapsed since the express had left them, hunger was staring them in the face, and they were now reduced to the necessity of eating one of the horses; they had no surgeon to dress the wounded, and apprehensions were entertained that the enemy would receive reinforcements from Augustine, or the Makasukie Indians. Expecting relief, however, every hour, Newnan was unwilling to leave the breastwork while a horse was left to eat; but one of the captains declared that he was determined to set off with his company; and many of the men, giving up all hopes of relief, talked of deserting in the night rather than perish or fall a sacrifice to the merciless negroes and Indians, whom they were taught to believe would surround them in great numbers in a few days.

In this trying situation, the few remaining horses being shot down, and the number of sick daily increasing, Newnan reluctantly assented to leave the works, and directed the litters to be prepared to carry the wounded. About nine in the evening they commenced their distressing march, carrying five wounded men in litters, and supporting two or three more; and had not proceeded more than eight miles, when the men became perfectly exhausted from hunger and fatigue, and were unable to carry the wounded any farther.

This hasty retreat was peculiarly unfortunate; for they had not left the breast-work more than two hours when twenty-five horsemen with provisions, arrived to their relief, on a different road from the one they had taken, but, finding the place deserted, they returned to St. John's, two men that had been despatched on the path the horsemen came, by some means or other missing them. They again constructed a plan of defence, and a sergeant-major with one private was despatched to Picalata, to learn what had occasioned the delay of the supplies.

Here once more the spirit of insubordination began to display itself, and at three o'clock in the afternoon, Newnan was compelled again to order the march. They had scarcely marched five miles, however, before the front of the detachment discovered the heads of several Indians on both sides of the path, from among some pine trees that had been laid prostrate by a hurricane; at the same instant, the enemy fired upon the advanced party, and shot down four of them, one of whom died on the

« ForrigeFortsett »