Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-02-29

In such twilight of war the twilight
OF nature overlook us. Another feint
was made to draw attention from a
heavy force Of assailants creeping
within twenty PAGES, under cover Of
smoke, to surprise the northwest block
house.
Musketry was directed against them.
They hesitated. The commander led a
charge and himself sprang first into
the ditch. We saw the fine fellows
leaping to carry the blockhouse, every
man determined to be first in making a
breach. They filled the ditch.
This was the instant for which Cro-
CHAN had waited. He opened the port
hole and unmarked his exactly trained
1t enfladed the assailants,
sweeping them at distance Of thirty
feet; slugs and grapeshot Kissed,
spreading fan rays Of death! BY the
flash of the reloaded 6.pounder we saw
the trench filed with dead and wound.
ed.
The besiegers turned.
Croghan's sweating gunners swab.
bed and loaded and fired, roaring like
lions.
The Indians, of whom there were
nearly a thousand, were not In the
charge, and when retreat began they
went in pants. We could hear calls
and yells, the clatter of arms and a
humping Of the earth; the strain of
men tugging cannon ropes; the swift
withdrawal of a routed force.
Two thousand more Indians, ap.
preaching under Tecumseh, were
turned back by refugees.
Croghan remarked as we listened to
the uproar. Fort Stephenson can
hardly be called untenable against
heavy artillery"
Then arose cries In the ditch which
penetrated to women's ears. Neither
side was able to help the wounded
there. But before the rout was com.
plete Croghan had water let down in
buckets to relieve their thirst and or.
dered a trench cut under the pickets
Of the stockade. Through this the
poor wretches who were able to crawl
came in and surrendered themselves
and had their wounds dressed.
BY 8 o'clock in the morning not a
British uniform glimmered red
through the dawn. The noise OF re-
treat ended. Pistols and muskets
the ground. Even sail boat
was abandoned on the river holding
military stores and the clothing of Of.
fcers.
They thought General Harrison
was coming" laughed Croghan as he
sat down to an early breakfast, having
relieved all the living In the trench
and detailed men to bury the dead.
I'VE have lost one man and have an.
other under the surgeons hands. Now
I'm ready to appear before court.
martial for disobeying orders"
"You mean you're ready for your
immortal page in history" o..
Paragraph" said Croghan, land
the dislike Of poor little boys and girls
who will stick their fists in their eyes
when they have to learn It at school,"
Intense manhood ennobled his long
animated face. The President after.
ward made him lieutenant colonel,
and women and his superior officers
praised him, but he was never more
gallant than when he said:
my uncle, George Rogers Clark,
would have undertaken to hold this
fort, and, by heavens, we were bound
10 try it,"
The other young officers sat at mess
with him, hilarious over the outcome,
picturing General Proctor's state of
mind when he learned the age of his
None OF them cared rap that Dan
lei Webster was opposing the war In
the House of Representatives at
and declaring that on land
1t was a failure.
A subaltern came to the mess room
door, touching his cap and asking to
speak with Major Croghan.
THE men working outside at the
trenches saw boy come up from the
ravine, sir, and fall every few steps,
80 they've brought him in"
Does he carry dispatch7'
mo, sir. He isn't more than nine
or ten years old. think he was
prisoner
rs he a white boy?"
Eyes, sir; but he's dressed like an
Indian
Il think 1t unlikely the British
would allow the Shawanoes to burden
heir march with any prisoners"
Somebody had him, and I'm afraid
he's been shot either during the action
Dr. in the retreat. He was hid in the
ravine."
Bring him here" said Croghan.
how with blue ewes set wide aDart