The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-02-05
It'd BITS OF LITERATURE
Good Reading From the Current
Periodicals.
ST. cLArR's RETREAT.

~ bis tLAihb hhthhAfs
4. There was but one thing to do. n pos
sible the remnant OF the army must be
saved, and IL could only be saved by In
slant fight, even at the cost of abandon
ing the wounded. The broad road by
which the army had advanced was the
only line of retreat. The artillery had al
ready been spiked and abandoned. Most
of the horses had been killed, but a few
were still left, and on one OF these st.
Clair mounted. He gathered together
those fragments of the different battal-
ions which contained the few men who
still kept heart and head, and ordered
them to charge and regain the road from
which the sayages had cut them of. Re-
peated orders were necessary before some
OF the men could be reused from their
stupor sufficiently TO follow the charging
party, and they were only induced TO
move when told IL was to retreat.
Col onel Darke and q few officers placed
themselves at the head of the column, the
coolest and boldest men drew up behind
them, and they fell on the Indians with
such fury as to force them back well be-
yond the road. This made an opening,
through which, said Van Cieve, the pack
er, the rest OF the troops ''pressed like a
drove OF bullocks." THE Indians were
surprised by the vigor Of the charge, and
ON both sides, and half the men had gone
through before they fired more than a
chance shot or two. They then fell on
the rear and began a hot pursuit.
There never was a wilder rout. AS
soon as the men began to run, and real
lied that in flight there lay some hope OF
safety, they broke into a stampede, which
became uncoptrollable. Horses, soldiers,
and the few camp-followers and the wo-
men who had accompanied the army were
all mixed together. Neither command
nor example had the slightest weight;
ha man xuara ahanAnnaH 10 tha tarrihla
selfishness OF utter fear. They threw
AVA their weapons as they ran. They
thought of nothing but escape, and fled
In a huddle, the stronger and the few
who had horses ~trsmpling their way to
the front through the old, the weak, and
the wounded, while behind them ragged
the Indian tomahawk. Fortunately the
attraction OF plundering the camp was so
overpowering that the savages only fol-
lowed the army about four miles; other
wise hardly a man would have escaped.
st. Clair was himself IN much danger,
for he tried to stay behind and stem the
torrent Of fugitives; but he failed, be-
ing swept forward by the crowd; and
when he attempted To ride To- the front to
rally them he failed again, for his horse
could not be pricked out of a walk. The
packer, Van Cleve, in his journal gives a
picture of the rout. He was himself one
II the few who lost neither courage nor
generosity in the rout
Among his fellow-packers were his UNI
Gle and a young man named Bonham,
who was his close and dear friend The
uncle was shot in the wrist, the ball lodg-
ing near his shoulder; but he escaped.
Bonham, just before the retreat began,
was shot through both HRS, so that he
could not walk. Young Van Cleve got
him a horse, on which he was with did,
Guilty mounted; then, as the flight began,
Bonham babe VanCleve look to mis- safety,
n "a Ia ssnnn ~ HAAe A~l thAA aaA aAaa an 90
Bonham rode until the pursuit had almost
ceased; then, weak and crippled, he was
thrown off his horse and slain. Mean
while Van Cleve ran steadily on foot. BY
the time he had gone two miles most OF
the mount men hid passed him. A
boy, on the point OF falling rom exhaus-
ton, now begged his help, and the kind
hearted backwoodsman seized the lad and
pulled him along nearly two miles far
Their, when he himself became so worn
out that he nearly fell. There were still
two horses in the rear, n Carrying three
men and one two; and behind the latter
strength, threw the boy, who es-
capped. Nor did Van Cleve's
pity for his fellows cease with this, for
he stopped to tie his handkerchief around
the knee Of a wounded man. His violent
exertions gave him a cramp in both
thighs, so that he could barely walk;
and in consequence thetstrong and active
passed him, until he was within a nun
dred yards Of the rear, where the Indians
were tomahawking the old and wounded
men. So close were they that for a mo-
fnsIt his heart sunk in despair; but de
threw Oh his shoes, the touch of the
cold ground seemed to revive him, and
he again began to trot forward. He got
around a bend in the road, passing half a
dozen other fugitiyes; and long after
ward he told how well he remembered
thinking that 1t would be some time be
fore they would all be massacred and his
W turn eme However, at this point
the pursuit ceased, and a few miles fur
Their on he had gained the middle OF the
flying troops, and, like them, came to a
walk. He fell in with a queer group,
consisting OF the sole remaining officer
OF the artil cry, an infantry corporal,
and a woman called Red headed Nance.
Tue later two were crying, the corporal
for the loss OF his wife, the woman for the
loss of her child. The WORKOUT officer
hung on the corporal's arm while Van
Cleve "carried bis fuse and accoutre-
ments and led Nance, and in this So
ciable way arrived at Fort Jefferson a lit
tie after sun set. ~"-(From s'St. Clair's de-
feat" by Theodore Roosevelt, in Harper's
Magazine for February,