Extracted from the account of John Dillon. Used by permission of Constance Hackman and Alice Scott. This party of Indians, which consisted of ten or twelve warriors, nearly all of whom were Shawnee, then attacked the Pigeon Roost settlement about sunset and, in the space of about one hour, they killed one man, five women and sixteen children. He found that the Indians had been before him and already done their deadly work.
Words are inadequate for describing the barbarity of results here.
Mrs. Collings was pregnant at the time and after having been made the victim of the Indian mob, the child was taken from the womb and scalped. Afterwards they found the body of the baby laid on the bosom of the woman. The incentive to such a diabolical deed was the five-dollar British reward offered for each scalp. In the Collings home on this memorable afternoon was the aged father William, Lydia and Captain Norris, an old Indian fighter, who had engaged in the battle of Tippecanoe and was here now to warn the settlers of their threatened danger. Captain Norris espied the Indians approaching.