Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1812-10-03
WASHINGTON CITY, Oct. :
Letter from CONAN z. 1ArLos' com
maading Fsrt Harrison, Ind'ana 's'-

al ;,stant. aftcr retreat beating, ioui
inns were heard 20 fire i'll the dIrecuoh
Where two young men (ciiizens VINO re,
sided herc) were making hay ABOUT 4oo
Yards distance from the Fort. wAs
Immediately impressed with IN ioea 'na'
thew were killed by the indians, as inc
Miamies or Weas had that day mior'"Su
me that the Prophets party would soon
be here for the purpose OF commencing
bes,ilitics; and that they had oeeh di-
rected TO leave this place, which they
we've about to do. did not think II
nrudent to send out at that late hour OF
The nisht to see what had become OF
them; and their not coming in conv''c-
ed me that was right in my conjecture
7 waited until S'clock next morning,
when sent out a corporal with small
party to find them, if it could be done
Without running too much FISK OF oc'''Es
drawn into an ambuscade. he soon
sent back to inform me, that ne had
found them both killed, and wished 70
know nv further orders; sent the cart
and oxen, had them brought IN and ou-
ried they had been each shot with two
balls. scalped and cut in the most shock
inp manner. Late in the evening OF the
the 4th instant, old Joseph I.enar and
between 80 and 40 Indians arrived from
the Prophets Town with white flag;
among whom were about ten women,
the men were composedot chiefs OF the
different tribes that compose the Pro-
phet's party A Sbawanoe man, that
spoke good English, infoemed me that
old Lenar intended to speak to me next
morning, and try TO get something to
eat. At retreat beating | examined the
mems arms, and found them all III good
order, and completed their cartridges
to Is rounds per man. AS l had not
been able to mount guard OF more than
6 privates end non-commlssloned OH
GERS, for some time past. and sometimes
part of them every ether day, from the
utnhealtlin@ss of the company l had
not conceived my force adequate to he
defence of this post, should 1t be vlS"r-
ously attacked, tot some time past. As
had Just recovered from very severe
attack of the fever, l was not able TO be
up much through the night. Alter Ia
too, cautioned the guard t. be vlSllant,
and ordered one OF the non coa'mls SION
cd officers, as The centinels could not
sec every part OF the garrison, to walk
around on the inside during the whole
night, 10 prevent the indians taking any
advantage Of US, provided they had any
intention of attacking us. About IL o.
clock | was awakened by the firing OF
one of the centinels sprung up, ran
ont, and ordered the men 10 their posts;
when my orderly sergeant who had
charge OF The upper block house called
out that the Indians bad fired the lower
blsck.house (Which contained the pro-
perry Of the contractor, which mas de-
posted in the lower part, the upper
having been assigned to a corporal and
ten privates Us an alarm post. The
guns had began to fire pretty smartly
from both sides. | directed The buckets
to be got ready and water brought from
the well, and the FIRE extingulshed I'M
media;ely, as it was hardly perceiyable
at tia, time but from debility or some
other cause, the men were very slow in
executing my orders-the word fire ap
peared to throw the whole of them into
confusion and by the time they had got
the water aud broken open the door, The
fire had unfortunately communicated to
a quantity Of whlskey (tbe STOCK having
LlcKED several holas through the lower
part Of the building, after the salt that
was stored there, through which they
had introduced the fire without being
discovered, Us the night was very dark);
and in spite of every eXertlon that we
could make use of, in less than mo- !,
ment it assembled to the roof and baflled
every effort VIC could make to exIin-
guish il. AS that block house adjoined
the barracks that make part of the iorti-
fic&tisns, most Uf the men Immediately
gave themselves up for lost, and had
the greatest difficulty in getting any Of
my orders exccuted--aud, Sir, what
from the raging of the fre--the Yelling
and howliig Of several hundred Indians
the CRIES oil 9 women and children Ca
part soldiers and part citizens wives,
who had taken shelter in the Fort)-and
the Responding ofso many of the men,
which eas worse than all can assure I
you that my feelings were very unplea-
SAINT and indeed there were not more
than 10 or IS men able to do great
deal, the others being either sick or
convalescent and to add 10 our other
misfortuncs, two of the stoutest men in
the fort, and that had every confidence
in, jumped the picket, and left US. But
my presence of mind did not for mo.
ment forsake me. saw, by throwing
off part Of the roofthat joined the block
house that was on fire, and keeping the
end perfectly wet, the whole row IT
buildings mis- hit be saved, and leave only
an entrance of 10 or 90 feet for the Indi-