Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1841-12-03
From the Ladies' Repository
THE CAPTURED RTGL.A. y
BIT A. NJ. LORRAINE.


! slightly or incidently mentioned in some ac-
counts of the last war. 1t was an expedition
that was largely presumed on by the English.
| The intention was TO carry out stragem WHICH
had been conveyed and principally planned by
the celebrated Indian chiettain, Tecumseh. 1t
is spoken Of to the present day, by the veter-
ans of the Rapids. as Teeumseh's sham bat
| tie" After the first repulse of the British,
measures of very strict 2recaution were adop-
ted. One improvement was the establishment
of piquet guard in the edge of the clearing,
| TO prevent a surprise. This guard was gene
rally marched out at the rising, and remanded
late to fort at the sitting Of the sun. The post
was occupied at first with true military vigil
lance. But as no enemy appeared for some
time, the soldiers became very careless. They
would sometimes stack their arms. kndle a
fire, and spend tie whole day in telling stories
playing cards, &c.
One lovely morning, as the guard were mar
| ching out not strictly in the order of battle,
and We're within few yards of their post, as
many as eigh; or ten rifles blazed away from
| the ihcket, and not more than two made good
their escape. 1t was soon evident that we
were again surrounded by an English and In
dian force. They lay round our fortress for
| several days. As no batteries were construct
ed. and no besieeing engines or apparatus
could be discovered, the general belief was that
they medItated a storm. Indeed constant eff
forts were made TO deepen this impression.-
Every morning before daylight, they marched
round the fort, Cat respectable distance OF
| course.) playing on a single instrument. which
poured forth the most perfect and lovely music
| of the kind we ever heard. Mullen, who was
passonately fond of instrumental music, would
| listen with the most profound but qulzzical at
| tention, presenting either ear alternately. blink
ing significantly, like maybe. until the close
of the air, and then would eycIaim. with the
strongest assurance imaginable, boys, will
never see Petersburg again until blow blast
with that same sweet bug'e."
This always provoked burst of incredulous
laughter; but as often as the music came
round, he would repeat his unreasonable pro-
phecy, to the no small diversion OF his COM
rades. After the enemy had made their POM
pous and harmless promenadeS. until they had
lost both their novelty and terror, they aimed
10 carry into execution the scheme OF their
grand ambuscade. About 10 4. NJ. on sui
try morning. a distant, continuous roar OF small
arms was iteard on the e,--1-.-*y road. but
heard very distinctly. The sound, however,
| rapidly increased. 1t seems as if reinforce
men, was fighting its way to the camp. Hark
Hark, Now they rush on with impetuosity
that bears down all opposition. Louder and
louder-nigher and higher! Well done. old
kenrnck. Now they will cut their way thro
in spite Of red coats or red skins. But now
alas. alas they retreat, they fly! They are
making back for SandnSky. The din of the
battle recodes towards the settlements. No
no: they rally to the charge. Onward the
human tempest comes charging. deepen
inc, mneIing peal on peal" Now they have
almost gained the clearing. columns CT smoke
are seen rolling up among the the branches o.
ofthe trees-the roar of rifles and of mnsketry
the shrieks Of the wounded and dying. the
shonts Of the soldiery, the brutal yells of the
the savages are heard. All the horrors of the
battle field are about to burst upon our sight
The soldiers in the garrison are standing al
their posts in almost brcathless anxiety. with
their strained and aching eyes fastened on tho
uudeTbrush expecting every momentto see ou'
victorious band make their debut, amid the
cheers and huzzas Of the whole fortress. Blu
o. sad reverse. general fight commences
The British and Indians seem to drive the re-
treating forces like sheep to The slaughter. A
this luncture the troops in the forts became al
most unmanageable. "There." said some
.'see how they are driving and cutting up ou
men, our friends, our BRETHREN, who have pas
sed TO relieve US, and that right under our guns
Here we are with our hands in our pockets
where is the general 0, if Harrison was on
" in the FORT" Some could scarcely be re
strained by the officers from sprlngng over the
picke,ing. while some wept like Children
Messengers We're despatched through the
lines with the information that the commando
had received, the evening before, an express
from HARRISON stating that he would send OF
no reinforcements.
White the running fight was raging in al
its fury, an unusually black cloud, which hal
been gathering over our head for some time
began to discharge its magazine of forkec
lightning and defending thunder. In few
minutes the rain fell in mighty torrents. The
martial flames of ardent warriors became quen
ched. and in one monument the clamor of battle
ceased. We were told by prisoners that sew
, eral Of Tecumseh's men realized, by fatal eX
perience, that the battle, so far as they were
concerned was no sham at all. The Irish sol
diers cherished such mortal hatred 20 thei
red allies. that they occasionally dropped 10
bullet, and laid some Of their finest braves OF
the ground. We were subsequently informed
that pending the engagement, the English cav
airy were posted both above and below tn
fort. under cover Of the forest. Their order
were to rush between the garrison and combat
tants. as soon as sorlle might be made. !
was also contemplated to make sudden as
sault, by choice troops. on the most defence
less quarter Of the camp at the same 'i!he' -, i
all this orr enemies were disappointed. Tn