Part 2

The dreadful attack was first received by a Company of regulars, under the command of Capt. Barton, and a Company of Militia, commanded by Capt. Geiger,--their men had not the least notice of the approach of the Indians, until they were aroused by a horrid yell and a discharge of rifles at the very door of their tents; considerable confusion ensued in these two companies, before they could be formed in any regular order; but notwithstanding the disorder this sudden attack created, the men were not wanting in their duty--they sprang from their tents and discharged their pieces upon the enemy, with great execution, and kept their ground good until relief could be brought them. The attack soon extended round to the right line, where the troops were formed in complete order, and the assaults of the savages were returned in full measure. One company of Indiana militia fell back in great disorder, but after some arduous exertions of their officers, they were again rallied and fought with a spirit that evinced a determination to escape the odium of cowardice.--The battle had now become general, every musket and rifle contributed its share to the work of carnage. A few Indians had placed themselves in an advantageous situation on the left of the front line, and being screened from our fire by some large oak trees, did great execution in our ranks, The small company of U.S. Riflemen, commanded by Lieut. Hawkins, were stationed within two rods of these trees, and received the heaviest of their fire, but maintained the position in a most gallant manner, altho' the company of militia on their left were giving way in great disorder. Major Daviess, with a small detachment of dragoons attempted to dislodge them; but failed in the attempt, and was himself mortally wounded. Capt. Snelling, of the regulars, soon after made a desperate charge at the head of his company, with success, losing one man, who was tomahawked by a wounded Indian. The Indians fell back, and for a short time, continued the action at a distance--here was some sharp shooting, as they had greatly the advantage, by the light afforded them from our fires, which could not be entirely extinguished. We were well supplied with buck shot cartridges, which were admirably calculated for an engagement of this nature. The savages were severely galled by the steady and well directed fire of the troops. When near day-break, they made their last desperate effort to break our lines, when three cheers were given, and charge made by the 4th Regt. and a detachment of dragoons--they were completely routed and the whole put to a precipitate flight. They fled in all directions, leaving us masters of the field which was strewed with the bodies of the killed and wounded. Some sharp-shooters of the militia, harassed them greatly in their retreat, across the marshy prairie. The day was appropriated to the mournful duties of dressing the wounds of our unfortunate comrades, and burying the dead. To attempt a full and detailed account of this action, or portray to the imagination of the reader the horrors attendant on this sanguinary conflict, far exceeds my powers of description.--The awful yell of the savages, seeming rather the shrieks of despair, than the shouts of triumph--the tremendous roar of musquetry--the agonizing screams of the wounded and dying, added to the shouts of the victors, mingling in tumultuous uproar, formed a scene that can better be imagined than described.

The following statements are from Sergeant Montgomery Orr, of Capt. Barton's Company, (one of the Companies first attacked) and that of William Brigham, a private of the late Captain Whitney's Company of Riflemen, who was on his post, in front of Barton's Company, at the time of the attack; the latter of whom was mortally wounded, and died of his wounds a few weeks afterwards at Vincennes. Their veracity is unquestionable, and as I had the recital from their own lips, I do not hesitate to declare my belief of them.

_Statement of Sergeant Orr._

"About 20 minutes, before the attack, I got up and went to the door of my tent, (No. 1.) and overheard the sentinels talking in front--listened, but could not distinctly hear what was said--it was rainy and very dark.--I laid down and was partly asleep, when some person rushed by and touched the corner of the tent--I sprang partly up--all was still. I jogged Corpl. Thomas, (who slept in the same tent) and asked, "if he did not hear somebody run by the tent?"--He said, "no--I've been asleep." I then laid down again, when something struck the top of the tent--Corpl. Thomas rose up, took his gun; in a moment three or four rifles were discharged at the very door of the tent, and an awful yell ensued--Thomas fell back on to me--I said, "Corpl. Thomas, for God's sake don't give back"--he made me no answer,--for he was a dead man.--I got out of the tent as soon as possible--the men were in confusion, some in front and some in the rear of the tents firing--the Indians within a rod of us.--Capt. Barton ordered the men to form instantly--they were too much broken, and no regular line could be formed; but they kept up a steady fire on the Indians, who fell back. Capt. Griger's company of militia, stationed near us, were in great confusion--they could hardly be distinguished from the Indians--I received a wound and was obliged to retire."

_Statement of William Brigham._

"On the night of the battle, I was warned for Guard, and took post a little after sunset--Wm. Brown, (a regular) was the sentinel on my left, and a militia man on my right. These three posts were directly in front of Capt. Barton's Company of U.S. Infantry.

"I examined the ground adjacent to my post very particularly. There was a small thicket of willows, on a stream of water, about two rods in front of my post, and high grass between me and the willows--I observed it to be a favorable place for the approach of Indians and determined to be on the alert. Capt. Barton's Company were a few feet higher, and between us there were logs and some small bushes. I was relieved off post about 10 o'clock--At 3 o'clock I again took post; very dark, and rainy. I had resumed my station about half an hour, when I heard a faint whistle, not far from Wm. Brown's post, as I supposed--he called to me; but I did not think it prudent to answer--however, after he had called several times, I answered "holloa"--says he, "look sharp"--[the usual word of _caution_ between sentinels]--I kneeled down, with my gun on a charge. It was so very dark that no object could be discerned within three feet of me, and I could hear nothing except the rustling noise occasioned by the falling rain among the bushes. At this time, Brown, (being much alarmed) very imprudently left his post, and came towards me. I heard light footsteps--presented my gun, and should have fired upon him had he not that moment spoke, much agitated--"Brigham, let us fire and run in--you may depend on it there are Indians in the bushes." I told him not to fire yet for fear we should give a false alarm.--While we were standing together, something struck in the brush near us, (I suppose an arrow)--we were both frightened and run in without firing--the Indians close upon our heels--we passed swiftly by Capt. Bartons's tents--I soon afterwards fell into Capt. Wilson's Company of militia, where I received a wound which broke my right arm."

Had this attack been delayed but ten minutes longer, the troops would have been formed in line of battle, and in readiness to receive it.--The General had arisen but a few moments previous to its commencement, and in four minutes more would have ordered the usual signal (three taps of the drum) to be given for the troops to rise and stand to their arms. The orderly Musician at the same time stood in readiness for that purpose, awaiting the orders of the General.--Some of the troops were up, and sitting by the fires; many of which had been furnished with fresh fuel, and the light arising from them, must have afforded the Indians a pretty correct view of our situation, and of the most proper place to make their assault. Every exertion was made to extinguish these fires the moment the attack commenced, which could not be but imperfectly accomplished, as the Indian marksmen were sure to pick off whoever approached them.

It was truly unfortunate that these fires were not extinguished the moment the troops retired to rest; for it is certain that the Indians derived a great advantage from this circumstance in the course of the action.

The hasty charge made by Major Daviess to dislodge the Indians from behind the trees on the left of the front line, was made with only 20 of his dragoons, dismounted; and its fatal consequence to the Major, was in a great measure owing to his having on a white blanket surstuot. He was easily distinguished by the Indians, and received three balls in his body; he immediately fell, exclaiming, "I am a dead man;" he was taken up and lived, however, till the close of the action. The fall of this brave and amiable officer was greatly lamented by the army, as well as the citizens of the state of Kentucky, where he held the office of Attorney General. He volunteered his services in the expedition under Gen. Harrison, who, knowing his worth, appointed him to the command of the volunteer dragoons.

Col. Owen, another brave officer, considerably advanced in years, and acting as aid-de-camp was shot from his horse by the side of the General, and immediately expired. Judge Taylor, the other aid, had his horse shot under him; in their fall the horse came on top of the Judge, where he lay confined for some time, unable to extricate himself; he was relieved from this disagreeable situation by a soldier, who happened to pass near him.

Capt. Baen, who had been with us but a few days, was shockingly mangled with the tomahawk;--he was taken up in a delirious state, and died a short time afterwards.--There was but one other instance of any person being tomahawked in this engagement; which was a private soldier of Capt. Snelling's company, upon a charge in the midst of the Indians.

Gen. Harrison received a shot through the rim of his hat. In the heat of the action, his voice was frequently heard and easily distinguished, giving his orders in the same calm, cool, and collected manner with which we had been used to receive them on a drill or parade.--The confidence of the troops in the General was unlimited, and his measures were well calculated to gain the particular esteem of the 4th Regt. All kinds of petty punishments, inflicted without authority, for the most trifling errors of the private soldier, by the pompous sergeant, or the insignificant corporal,[1] were at once prohibited.--A prohibition of other grievances which had too long existed, in this Regiment, at once fixed in the breast of every soldier, an affectionate and lasting regard for their General. The benefit of which was fully realized in the conduct of the troops in the engagement, as well as throughout the campaign.

[1] This is not intended to apply to the _whole_ of the Non-commissioned officers of the 4th--there were many honorable exceptions; those of my comrades who may peruse this Journal, well know how to make the selection.

After the action, a soldier of the Kentucky militia, discovered an Indian at some distance above the encampment, leading a horse out of the woods, into some high grass in the prairie; he caught his rifle and made after him. The Indian had loaded his horse with two others wounded, and was returning, when the Kentuckian gave a whoop, discharged his rifle, brought the Indian down, and returned in triumph to the camp, leading in his horse.

One Indian only broke through the lines into the encampment, and he was immediately afterwards dispatched by Capt. Adams, the pay-master of the regiment.

The force of the enemy in the engagement could never be correctly ascertained; but from the best information that could be obtained, it was calculated to amount to between ten and twelve hundred warriors, headed by Winnemac, a Kickapoo Chief,--and that they lost about four hundred in killed and wounded. Our loss amounted to forty-one killed, and one hundred forty-seven wounded. The names of those of the 4th regt are given in the latter part of this Journal.

A Potawatimie Chief was found severely wounded on the field, sometime after the action. He was brought before the General, and expressed the greatest sorrow at what had happened--and accused the Prophet of deceiving them. His wounds were dressed by the surgeon, and the best care taken of him while he remained with us on the ground. The Gen. left with him a speech to be delivered to the Indians, if they should return to the battle ground.

Nov. 8.--A small detachment of mounted men were ordered to advance to the Prophet's town, and see what had become of the Indians. They entered the town and found an aged squaw only, who informed them that the Indians had left it in great haste, immediately after the action, and had crossed the Wabash.--It was a handsome little Indian village of between one and two hundred huts or cabins, and a large store house, containing about 3,000 bushels of corn and beans. In their hasty retreat they left many articles of value to themselves, which except a few were destroyed in the conflagration of the town.

Nov. 9. After destroying considerable of our baggage, in order to make room in the waggons for the conveyance of the wounded, we began our march on the return to Vincennes expecting the Indians would follow and attack us. Such an event was greatly to be dreaded; as we were nearly out of provisions, and had upwards of a hundred and thirty wounded men to be attended to, who were painfully situated in the waggons, especially those who had broken limbs, by their continual jolting, on an unbeaten road through the wilderness.

Having suffered severely in consequence of the light afforded the Indians from our fires in the late attack, we adopted another method on our return, by building large fires some distance beyond the line of sentinels, while those in the encampment were extinguished on our retiring to rest; which in case of an attack, would have been of much service by placing the enemy between us and the fires. The sentinels on post at night having been frequently alarmed by lurking Indians, would place a stake in the ground about the height of a man, and hang their blanket and cap upon it, and retire a few paces behind some log or tree; as it had become hazardous for sentinels to walk their posts while the Indians were continually hovering about them. It was said that arrows had been found in some of the blankets put up in this manner, which is very probable, as they would approach within a few feet of a sentinel in the stillest night, without being discovered, as was the case at Fort Harrison, where a sentinel was shot down by an Indian, who had made his way through a thicket of bushes directly in front, and within twelve feet of the man on post.

On the 14th we arrived at the small block-house on the Vermillion river, where we left our sick, who had looked with painful anxiety for our safe return. The vigilance of Sergeant Reed, who commanded at this place was highly applauded in the arrest of two militia men, who deserted us the moment the action commenced, and fled with such precipitancy that they reached the block-house the night following, informing Sergeant Reed that the army was defeated, and nearly all were destroyed,--advising him to leave the place and hasten back to Fort Harrison. Their advice was disregarded by the sergeant, who put them under arrest. The express on his way to Vincennes a few hours afterwards passed the block-house, and informed them of the success of our engagement.

We suffered much for the want of provisions during our march to this place. Many of the troops had made use of horse meat to satisfy their craving appetites for the last 5 days. Col. Miller, then at Fort Harrison, being apprized of our destitute situation, immediately dispatched a boat with fresh provisions to our relief, which fortunately arrived at the block-house nearly at the same time with the army.

Nov. 15.--The wounded were placed in boats, and arrived at Fort Harrison on the morning of the ensuing day. Capt. Snelling with his company were left to garrison the Fort, and the army proceeded on their march.

The author being one of the wounded, was put on board a boat with other disabled men and sent down the river to Vincennes.--About 12 o'clock at night the boat we were in struck on a sand bank; which obliged us to lay by until the next morning. The night, as may be supposed, was passed in a very uncomfortable manner--the weather was freezing cold, and our wounds which had not been dressed for two days past, became stiff and extremely painful.

Nov. 19.--Arrived at Vincennes nearly at the same time the army did by land, and immediately after were placed in excellent quarters, and every possible attention paid to the sick and wounded, by Gov. Harrison and Col. Boyd, who always evinced the most anxious solicitude for the welfare of their soldiers.

Nothing more was heard from the Indians until the latter part of Dec. when a Kickapoo Chief, bearing a white flag, with a few others, who were desirous of concluding a peace with the United States, came to Vincennes with the intention of holding a council for that purpose. The Governor informed them that he did not consider them as qualified for making a treaty which would be binding on their leader the Prophet; and therefore no treaty would be made unless the Prophet was present at the council, with his principal chiefs.

They informed the Governor that the warriors of the Prophet had all left him; reproaching him with being the instigator of all their misfortunes, and threatened to put him to death.--They were impressed with a belief that they could defeat us with ease; and intended to have attacked us in our camp at Fort Harrison, had we remained there a week longer.

The Potawatimie chief who was taken prisoner by us and left on the battle ground, they said, had since died of his wounds; but that he faithfully delivered the speech of the Governor, to the different tribes, and urged them to abandon the Prophet, and agree to the terms offered them by the Governor.

March 10, 1812.--We experienced some heavy shocks of an Earthquake about this time, which occasioned considerable alarm; but did no other damage than throwing down a few chimnies in the town.--On the Mississippi the shocks were more severe, where considerable damage was done, especially to buildings. It is said the motion of the earth in that quarter was from six to eight inches to and fro; but at Vincennes, 250 miles to the north, it did not exceed three inches in the heaviest shocks, as was ascertained with a lead ball suspended by a thread from the ceiling in the house.--The duration of the longest shock was about 3 minutes--they continued at intervals throughout the month.

March 29.--About 150 Indians who were said to have remained neutral in the late contest, came to Vincennes, and encamped about two miles north of the town. They were requested to deliver up their arms, and a guard of soldiers should be placed over them for their _protection_, and tents supplied them while they tarried with us: this they complied with, and desired an audience of the Governor on the ensuing day, which was granted.

In Council, they declared their detestation of the Prophet and his adherents, expressing their wishes to remain in peace and friendship with their father, the President of the U. States.--The Governor, in a short reply, warned them against entering into any alliance with the Prophet and his warriors--telling them, if he should again be disturbed, and obliged to come among them, it would be out of his power to restrain his young warriors from destroying them all. A treaty was signed, and the Indians received their annual presents of blankets, broadcloths, calicoes, &c. and left the town for their encampment.

April 2.--The Indians again came in, habited in their new dresses, performing their dances through the town, to the great diversion of the Regiment, who were unacquainted with their peculiarities, except their propensity to deception and treachery; the ill consequences of which we had been taught at the battle of Tippecanoe.--Towards evening they retired in good order, and soon after received their arms, and returned to their villages up the Wabash.

There were still remaining many refractory Indians on the Wabash, who would agree to no terms of peace with the U. States. They had even opened the graves of our unfortunate comrades who fell in the late action--stripped and scalped them, and left their bodies above ground. Col. Miller was preparing to send a detachment of troops to the battle ground to have them again interred; but some friendly Indians undertook this office, and the bodies were again replaced.

April 4.--Information was received of the murder of a family of seven persons on White river, and others in Indiana, besides many depredations on the Mississippi. The settlers were alarmed, and fled to the forts and the most populous towns for protection, leaving their property to the mercy of the savages.

April 9.--A family on the Embaras river, only seven miles from Vincennes, consisting of a man, his wife and three small children, were massacred while in the act of leaving their home for the purpose of finding protection at Vincennes. A young man who had resided with the family escaped and fled to Vincennes, where he arrived about 12 o'clock at night, and gave the alarm; the troops were immediately called to arms, expecting an attack upon the town. The next day Col. Miller, with a small detachment from the regiment, proceeded to the river Embaras, where they found the bodies of the murdered family, shockingly cut up with the tomahawk and scalping knife. The man had his breast opened, his entrails torn out and strewed about the ground. They were all scalped except an infant child in the mother's arms, which was knocked on the head.--The bodies were decently interred and the party returned to Vincennes without being able to discover the perpetrators of this horrid massacre.

We received information soon after the above transaction, that the famous Indian Chief, Tecumseh, brother to the Prophet, had collected a considerable force on the Wabash with the intention of attacking the town of Vincennes,--saying to the Governor--"You have destroyed my town in my absence; I shall, when the corn is two inches high destroy yours before your face." Tecumseh was not an enemy to be despised; and the information of his approach towards Vincennes, created considerable alarm among the inhabitants. The town was filled with families who came to avoid the fury of the savages. Many of the principal dwelling-houses were piqueted in, and the militia were called upon to be at their posts at a moment's warning;--thus were we kept in fearful apprehension of an attack being made upon us by the Indians, whenever we should retire to rest; add to this the frequent shocks of earthquakes, and the reader may imagine the unhappy situation in which we were placed.