The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-11-28

pan's family, including women and chill
dren, and this without provocatlon, OF any
sort. At once Logan. abandoning his
friendship for the race which had 30 foulIy
rewarded his kindness, raised a band of
warriors among the various northern In
dian tribes, including even outlying mem
beers of the Senecas and others OF the
Iroauois confederacy, and went on the war
path, rnvaging and staying III a wild
beast. killing women and children as we'll
as men, and leaving notes in the burned
huts addressed to the relatives of his VIC
Tins, tsunting them with the vengeance he
had obtained.
Speedily all the border was in a flame,
and bands of maraudin2 Indians laid waste
the settlements, with the usual ~accompani-
ment of unspeakable atrocities that render
Indian warfare 80 dreadful.
Thoroughly aroused and exasperated,
the ba~ckwoodsmen began to gather
for the fray, and the royal governor,
the eetl of Dunmore, tn ew himself
heartily into it. He Instantly appointed
two gathering places for the forces.
The men of tho western district were to
mite near the head of the Kanawha river,
while the earl himself led hie own force
n%orthward across the mountains. The earPs
army was the first to move, but 1t marched
without adventure to the Ohio, crossed 1T
and went into the Indian country. Mean
while the decisive fight of the campaign
was reserved for the other division.
This division. composed purely of the
backwoods' levies, was under the nominal
command of Colonel Lewis, belonging to a
famous family of the Virginia mountains;
but really it consisted of several regiments
of frontier militin, which were practically
independent of one another. The discip-
line of the whole force WAS very lax. The
colonels got but scant obedience from the
captains. and the latter even less from their
men, However, individually the militia
men were as fine fighters us walked the
earth's surface, keen-eyed, sinewy men,
skilled in the use of the rifle and versed IN
all the arts of forest warfare.
This tumultuous levy of warlike but not
well disciplined men marched down the
Kanawha, driving their pack animals and
bullocks before them. and being helped by
n brigade of canoes, which went down the
stream with them. When they reached the
mouth of the kanawha, where ID enters the
Ohio, they camped on tho hat-wooded space
of ground known aa Point Pleasant. Here
a few DAYS afterward, they were unexpect-
edly attacked at dawn by u great host OF
Indians under the renowned Shawnee chief,
Cornstatk.
Cornstalk was a man of unusual oapae-
ity, and displayed considerable strategic
skill, Instead Of attacking the EARL
army, which was prepared, he slipped by it
crossed the Ohio, and fell on the back.
woods levies of Lewis, who were, of course
not anticipating danger. Although in on
sense thus taken unawares, and although
their picket duty was very defective, thu
ba~ckwoodamen were not surprised, for par
ties of them were continually leaving
camp and hunting through the neighborini
forest; and as the Indians moved forward
at dawn they encountered two small bod
les OF these hunters, and the fire that en-
sued alarmed the main camp. In
stantly the hunter soldiers sprang t.
arms, and as fast az the mei
got ready they pushed on
under their different leaders toward the In
dian advance, and the engagement speedily
became very hot indeed. Defeat for thu
whites meant humiliation, hemmed al
they were between the Ohio and the Kama
wha; but after the first moments they wer,
never pushed back. The Indians Tough
with extreme bravery. and in the thicl
woods the red and white combatants pushed
close toward one another. The red mel
kept haunting their foes with oaths ant
iibes in broken English. telling them tina
they would teach them how to shoot. ask
ing why they did not whistle now, In allu
sion to the flies. and the whites could hea
tho voices of the chiefs and head mon, as she,
walked to and fro behind the lines OF her'
warriors, exhorting them to stand firm ant
shoot straight. by midday a series OF OBJ
stinate attacks aud repulses had laugh
each side in turn that 1T could make llttl'
impression in trying to drive back its foes
and the forces then stood at bay. resting OF
their arms. save forbccasional skirmishine
whites had been killed or wounded, and til
Indipna' loss was about the same.
However. the result was a substantial vic