A body of
Indians, being informed by their scouts of the situation of this army,
made a forced march, crossed the river in the night, on rafts hastily
constructed, completely surprised the camp before sun-rise in the morning,
butchered all before them, and made their retreat good with their scalps
and plunder, before the enemy recovered from the general consternation.
The system of military tactics Wayne has introduced is admirably adapted
to the perilous service, in which he is engaged. He fights the Indians in
their own way, and scalps are now taken on both sides. - There is expected
to be warm work this campaign; and it is generally imagined Wayne will
meet with the fate of Braddock and St. Clare. A few military men I have
discoursed with, are of another opinion; they tell me the rifle-men of the
western army were recruited from Kentucky, and other remote settlements,
and are all experienced _back-woods-men_, who have been great part of
their lives in the habits of Indian fighting; that the general is forming
a body of cavalry, on principles entirely new, from which much is
expected; in short, that Wayne will oblige the Indians to _bury the
hatchet_ on his own terms. The Indian war is not popular. It has met
with much opposition both in the General Assemblies of the States, and in
Congress.
The devastation that has (even within the present century) taken place
among the brave and independent aborigines of this continent, is really
shocking to humanity[Footnote: The Cherokees are by no means the
formidable body of warriors they were 40 years ago. The original
possessors of the vast tract of land which forms North Carolina, are
reduced to a single family; and several tribes of the eastern Indians
actually exterminated.].
I spent the evening at the Pioli, with a surgeon of the american army
lately from the scene of action; he gave me a disgusting account of the
misunderstanding that subsists between the american citizens on the
frontiers, and their neighbours in Upper Canada. It seems the Canadians
are accused of assisting the indians in the decisive action against St.
Clare.
As many of the descendants of the original french settlers have indian
blood in their veins, the charge is not improbable, as far as relates to a
few _individuals_, but that they received either the connivance, or
protection of _government_, (as the Americans assert) is totally
without foundation.
I never take up a western newspaper that does not teem with the most
illiberal abuse of the british government. It would therefore be
impossible to exonorate certain american citizens from _their share of
provocation_, and a wish to blow up the hardly-extinguished embers of
the late war.
