Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-09-18

his troops. He sought in vain
then, but it could not be done !" rally
panic they carried the main bodv ~ - thelr
mile with them. In the meant;nHa laf
yeils and re]olclngs of our own men ~ I'M 'ns
ed great up-oar. They picked VI eat
seventy muskets among the dead y our
each musketeer carried horn of ANT, anu
and ten balls. The weapons were p ~
served out to take the place of sn .s az once
an were anxious for the neTt aua
Mpstati saw that he had made a m;s,eto'
he had depended on his name and STAKE.
lcal strength striking terror to the baneI
Oh our people, but 1t was a failnra ~
perhaps believed our forces greatly ox
gerated. and the idea of defenses he 4
er entered MS mind. As soon rs no III
raiiy his forces he advanced and snread ~.
In crescent before the grove. and oI'
musLet sho. away. There his ranks ~ ~
ed, as II to keep us from breaking tbronob
aithough we had an open route al ',l,
packs: As he was now within reach os
the sings. | stationed 100 men an tba
hiilslde, and Instructed them as IN tbo
elevation, Each had an attendant 10 fl n0
| nlsh missiles. and every stone fell amona.
Mpstatl S forces. They could not acconn,
Tor such rainfall, and after a number ns
them had been hurt all moved back ont ~
range. "' VI
had force enough to move down and
attack, but darkness had now coma III
no steps could be taken | knew that
Mpstatl would remain quiet during ths
night, as he had many wounded to attend
10 ana must pefect some new plan of hat.
tie, and spent good share of the NIGHT
moving my troops to new positions. and
seeing that all understood the orders DIV.
en-. They had fallen back to the cover Of
timber on our left, and during the NIGHT
the sky was lit up by the glare of his camn
fires. | divided my forces into three com.
mands moved out entirely from shelter
and when morning came we moved down
on Mpsfatl from the north, northeast and
northwest. | was in command of the cen.
teT, and probably thinking my 400 men
constituted our entire force he drew ON
his command on the edge of the woods 10
receive us. sent forward skirmisber.
who created considerable loss and confus.
ION, and then advanced in two battle line.
They tred two volleys at us as we aGyanc.
ed, but not man was hit. We then
hred IN return and created great loss and
disorder. Mpstati ordered charge, but
Just as it Was to be made our thanking mar
ties came up and opened fire, and with
yels of terror and dismay his force broke
and scattered, and every man became
fugitive. The rout was complete Had
been satisfied with it could not have
restrained my men from pursuit. Hadwe
been defeated every officer would have
been tortured to death, and every soldier
been taken as a slave. They could not see
why any mercy should be shown invader.
who had come with such evil intent. and
the pursuit was therefore lasting and BIT
ter. 1t was continued for fifty miles in
some cases, and of the army invading our
territory not more than fifty escaped. We
secured every musket, hundreds of spear.
and war clubs. great lot of camp stuff.
and M pstati himself was one of the dozen
prisoners brought in.
This battle was great one and its re-
suits were far-reaching. 1t broke up a
great rendezvous for cattle stealers and
slave hunters, and repopulated district
half as large as the state of Maryland,
which had been abandoned for years 1t
assured permanent peace to no less than
ten different tribes of natives, some of
whom had been compelled to pay Mptasti
a large tax each year. The captives were
nj ICED under strong guard until our peO-
pie had had a grand blowout over the vic
tory. The captured chief was a big six
footer, 40 years of age, and of great will
and determination. had several long
conversations with him through an in
terpreter and at his request he was taken
out for a survey of the battle ground. He
had never seen anything but natural de-
lenses, and he at once pronounced the idea
good one. The fact of so many of hi.
men being killed and wounded by musket
balls WAS great surprise to him, as his
own men could never be trained to fire
steadily lie had fought many battles,
but it had never occurred to him to find
artificial shelter for his men, or to divide
his force. He anxiously impaired where
had learned the art of war. and did not
believe me when | told him that ! was a
marched with the soldiers. When asked
him what he though his fate would be
he promptly answered:
THE same that yours would have been
had won the victory.
He was doubtless honest In this, as be
was man of brutal and wicked tempera-
ment, and was never known to show the
least bit of mercy to an enemy. After the
jubilee was over it was left to me to name
the manner in which the prisoners should
die All were defiant and impudent. Had
they been otherwise. believe | should
have helped them to escape, as several OPP
portunities to do so occurred during the
ten days. | refused to name the manner
of death, and on the day they were ex-
ecuted went up ON the mountains and re,
manned away all day. When ! returned
all was over and the bodies had been
dragged away for the beasts of prey to de-
your that night.