The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-08-24
Indian Adventure In Ohio.


In the wear 1892, on the banks of
the Hockhockipg, few miles above
its junction with the Ohio, stood a
small stockade, then one of the from
tier posts of the Northwest. It's IN
mates had been annoyed by repeated
attacks of Indians but protected by
their works, and actuated by the har-
dy courage of their class, they bad
uniformly repulscd their assailants,
aud frequently with considerable loss
Sometime in the month Of October
intelligence reached the little garrison
that the savages We're preparing an ex-
petition against the settlements in
great force A council was iInmedi-
ately held, and scouts were sent out
with instructions to ascertain, if posi-
BILE, the number Of the enemy and the
probable point of attack. Two of
these, McClelland and White, ascend
ed the river as far as the picturesque
promontory, now known as Mount
Pleasant, the summit of which com
manded an extensive view of the sur
rounding country.
Here the two scouts took their sta
ton, and were not long III discovering
the objects of their search The smoke
of an encampment rising through the
trees betrayed the presence of their
foes, at a distance much better adapt
ed 20 scrutiny than to securing the
safety of the watchers Each day
brought fresh accessions to the war
riors and every new arrival was greet
ed with prolonged and exultant yells.
Such sounds were we'll calculated to
appall those to whom they were unfa-
nniliar ; but to our gallant scouts they
served like martial music, to string
the nerves and stir the spirits. From
early youth they had lived on the from
tier 1t was not likely, therefore, that
they would either be circumvented by
their foes, on, without a desperate
struggle, fall victims to the scalping-
knife
On several occasions Small parties
left the eucampment and assembled the
hill, at which times the scouts would
hide in cleft of the rocks, or creep
among the, branches of some fallen
tree, TIL the danger was past. For
food they depended on the supply in
tisos4 h.s-r,--...l-.. 60 .l.~.v eis.,,.,a mot
kindle fire, and the report of one Of
their rifles would have precipitated
upon them the entire band of sayages.
1t had recently rained, aud pool of
water among the rocks served them for
their drink. Ia a few days, however,
this disappeared, and the alternative
was presented OF finding a new supply
OF abandoning their undertaking.
McClelland volunteered to make the
attempt. Carrying his trusty rifle in
his hand, and with two canteens strung
across his shoulders, he cautiously de-
scended to the verge of the prairie,
and keeping within the thlckets OF ha-
eel which skirted the hills, directed
his course to the river, on the banks
of which he had the good fortune to
find gushing spring, from whose wa
tiers he filed his canteens aud returned
III safety.
The success of this enterprise deter
mined the two friends to have fresh
supply of water daily, and the task of
procuring it was to be performed al
ternately. The next day, when White
had filed his canteens, he sat n few
moments watching the limpid element
as it gurgled from the earth. While
thus employed, a sound of light foot
steps caught his ear; and, turning, he
saw a couple of squaws, Indian wo-
men, within few feet of him, the ell.
der of whom Immediately uttered one
of those far-reaching whoops peculiar
to her race.
White at once comprehended the
peril of his situation. Ii the alarm
should reach the camp, both he and
his companion must inevitably perish.
Seif-preservation prompted the infiic-
ton of noisless death npon the two
squaws--a proceeding to which, in all
probability, he felt but little repug
nance from any scruples of border gal
lantry. The purpose was no sooner
formed than acted upon. He sprang
upon his victims with the strength and
activity of a panther, and tightly grasp
ing their throats, leaped with them in
to the river. Without difficulty he
succeeded in thrusting the head of the
elder beneath the water, where she
speedily became insensible but the
Younger made q stouter resistance,
and during the struggle, to his great
surprise, addressed him in his own
language, though in words scarcely ar
ticulate. He quickly released his hold,
when she informed him that, ten years
before, she had been made prisoner
by the Indians, who had brutally muir
dered her mother and two sisters be-
fore her eyes.
During the narrative, White let go
his grasp upon the squaw, whose body
foated where it was not likely soon To
be discovered and then hastily di-
recting the girl to follow him, with
wonted speed and energy he pushed
for the hill. They had scarcely gone
two hundred yards, when shouts of
alarm were heard about II quarter of a
mile below. Some warriors on their
way to the camp, had probably reach
ed the river as the body OF the drown
ed squaw foated past. White and the
girl succeeded in reaching the hill,
vhara McClellan had remained no in