Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1841-04-21
mo. 81.
ANINcIDENTIN 177s.

hit their arms and shed their blood in nobler
struggle; and never has any commotion of
states gwen rise to more interesting and strik-
ing events. And shame upon the sons of Amer
lca, m whose veins courses Revolutionary
blood, II they cannot svmpathize IN the suffer-
ing, deprvalons and tolls of their sires. or If
their blood does not boil at the thought of
their wrong. Let us trust that every drop of
That sacred blood will beget spirit oftbe same
stamp If there is, indeed, this love of byooDe
days, the following short story, from the hps
OF one who has now gone to JOIN his fathers.
VIII attract some interest. There is nothing
very extraordinary in tit IS but one instance
among hundreds, which show of what romantic
scenes our border was often the theatre. I viii
give 1t as nearly as possible, in his own simple
style, with but little embellishments of nv
own.
I'll was hot, oppressive day in August,
It's, as was leturnngfrom the woods about
twelve O'Clock, to my house, which was situa-
ted on the Schenectady road, few miles
from Albany, was surprised to hear the re.
port OF rife. 1t appeared to proceed from nv
little CABIN, and also it fred within it. The
horrid thought that the Indians were commit
ting then internal ravages upon my helpless
family, for moment Hyited me to the spot and
froze my blood. But soon, anger and revenge,
joined to the feelings Of husband and father
reused me TO the highest pitch of courage and
daring | rushed rapidly on through the I'M
dergrowth of bushes, fred with the dete.mina-
ton to spend my strength to the last in de-
fence OF the objects dearest to me on earth. /
remembered their utterly destitute condition.
Tor my two eldest sons had gone to town, and
| none remained at home but nv wife. and
daughter cf about sixteen, and two little chill
dren; and sothe savages could have no very
great resistance in making sure their prev.
Pushed on by these thoughts hurried forward
But here, most fortunately, my knowledge of
indian warfare showed me what folly such
haste was, andth my rashness would lead me
INTO some snare of these crafty villains, and
suggested that by proceeding and a"ting more
cautiously and deliberately could make nv
| assistance OF much more effect. And a most
happy idea 1t was-for having stopped sudden
| " behind large tree, and looking carefully
around, lspled savage about fifty yards from
me creeping like serpent through the bushes.
Having watched him long enough TO assure
myself that he had not,preceiped me / followed
example, dropeG down silently among the un-
dergrowth, and id.along quickly toward the
clearing on which my house stood. When
arrived at the fence which enclosed NJ, field OF
land, had full view of the case. NY wife
and daughter, having, supposed, seen the In!
dams skulking IN the forest had barricaded the
door, and kept up a kind of defence through the
window, with an old gun which was in the
house. And saw, also, that their courage
and skill had done some execution, for two war
rors stlffon the ground tod the merits of tho
trusiy old piece, and proved that the women o
The white men were not mere squaws. Blu
/ the Indians feet
Of their loss, and five were already batterne
the door down, while four more were rushinS
up to their add
''At this juncture raised my rife and sent
bullet which soon found its wav to the yer,
heart ofone who was foremost of those run
| ring to the house. The fall of their conpanios
brought the others to stand for moment, t6
| see whence this unexpected messenger earne
'ust then preceive1 fash from the opposit.
de Of the clearing. and the death cry of an
other monstrous savage announced that the
cod lead had settled him, who stood fixed wit
astonlshment at beng thus brought betwee{
two fires. My own surprise at this new ali
was quickly relieved by seeing my two sou
bounding across the field towards the hous,
Hope now reioiced my heart, and re-loadin
| my rltle, leaped the fence, and ran to the res
cue, calling 10 my boys 10 come on. The
obeyed most courageously, but they had in.
reached about the middle of the field when III
eldest, who was foremost, dropped dead by
shot from an Indian standing near the doc
but the younger one, who had not yet di cha
| ged his gun, made the red skin pay for the az
by the forfeit of bis own life. My remainir
son was then e by the two ont oe the for
who were running tow ards the house. One
them rushed upon him with knife and tom
hawk-the other laid low with a discharc
from my rifle, and coming to the first,who b:
closed IN with my son, gave him a terrih
whack with the but of the gun, which laid hi
stunned at my feet. But now our turn can
for our victory was but short. Two or tbre
+ bullets whIzzed among US one of which struo
NY shoulders and completely disabled me. w
nevertheless moved on towards the house,
"The Demons had at length broken 4
door down, and we came up Ii time to S
them commence TIER diabolical work. o.
had already struck the murderous tomabay
into the temple ofmy wife, who had sunk to 4
floor, and he was tearing off the bloody sea
Two others had despatched the lite on.
and another one was raising his powerful an
10 give the fatal blow TO my daughter. VIII
| a noble looking savage, who appeared to bet
Chief OF the party, hurled the weapon from
hand to the other side. of the room, and saw
her from the deadly stroke. The first one Dire
back from his expected prize with eyidentd'
relished, while the chief tied her arms in
manner IN which they always dotheir captivt
and then turned round TO attend the rest of 4
proceedings How | was thunderstruck
discover that this savage was the far fam
| Brant. | recognized him immediately.
having resided up the Mohawk Valley, / b
been well acquainted with him. He know
| also, and walking up to me, he SAID that
were their prisoners, and had better vie
without resistance, otherwise he would d,
patch us as he had my wife and children. Sc
ing that our efforts would be vain, / told
son we had better surrender. They then II
cur arms behind our backs, while Brant bon
a piece ofcloih around my shoulders. he
her out and told us to follow. We proceed
a short distance, and turning we saw our III
CABIN IN flames and becoming the funeral D
OF the wife ofmy youth and the children of
latter years, while few rods from me laid
tloody corpse of my first born. turned f.
the sickening sight" Ei
1.-Two Indians having remained to take :.
of the dead, the rest of lls proceeded iowa ! (
the woods, upon entering which we met
Indian whom | first saw creeping among f,
bushes. He spoke few words TO Brani. !;
then joined our party. Our course led dire
towards Schenectady, which we passed at
distance ofa couple of miles that same aft
noon About ten miles up the valley of
Mohawk, We came upon party of Indians
one OF the hostile tribes. Branf committed
to them, and went off that very night IL
southerly direction. have never seen :
since
'hfter having dragged our weary Ir
q through the tangled forests of these Wesf