Being Captured by Native Americans

It was their custom to carry off the women and children. If the children were hindered the march of their mothers, or if they cried and endangered or annoyed their captors, they were tomahawked, or their brains were dashed out against the trees. But if they were well grown, and strong enough to keep up with the rest, they were hurried sometimes hundreds of miles into the wilderness. There the fate of all prisoners was decided in solemn council of the tribe. If any men had been taken, especially such as had made a hard fight for their freedom and had given proof of their courage, they were commonly tortured to death by fire in celebration of the victory won over them; though it sometimes happened that young men who had caught the fancy or affection of the Indians were adopted by the fathers of sons lately lost in battle. The older women became the slaves and drudges of the squaws and the boys and girls were parted from their mothers and scattered among the savage families. The boys grew up hunters and trappers, like the Indian boys, and the girls grew up like the Indian girls, and did the hard work which the warriors always left to the women. The captives became as fond of their wild, free life as the savages themselves, and they found wives and husbands among the youths and maidens of their tribe. If they were given up to their own people, as might happen in the brief intervals of peace, they pined for the wilderness, which called to their homesick hearts, and sometimes they stole back to it. They seem rarely to have been held for ransom, as the captives of the Indians of the Western plains were in our time. It was a tie of real love that bound them and their savage friends together, and it was sometimes stronger than the tie of blood. But this made their fate all the crueler to their kindred; for whether they lived or whether they died, they were lost to the fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters whom they had been torn from; and it was little consolation to these that they had found human mercy and tenderness in the breasts of savages who in all else were like ravening beasts. It was rather an agony added to what they had already suffered to know that somewhere in the trackless forests to the westward there was growing up a child who must forget them. The time came when something must be done to end all this and to put a stop to the Indian attacks on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The jealous colonies united with the jealous mother country, and a little army of British regulars and American recruits was sent into Ohio under the lead of Colonel Henry Bouquet to force the savages to give up their captives.

57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture

Miami Indian Hunting Superstitions: Reverence for the Snake and Wolf

The Miami Indians were superstitiously opposed to killing snakes or wolves, and they had a custom of making peace with snakes at certain seasons, by offerings of tobacco, etc. The cliff of rocks on the north side of the canal near the west line of the county, was for many years known as Tobacco Rock, and tobacco has been seen there by early settlers. It was one of the greatest snake dens in the county until the canal was made, which destroyed their hiding places.
   One of the early settlers who lived in the west part of Allen County, Mr. Morrissoe. borrowed a gun from an Indian neighbor known as " Old Zeke, " to go hunting. When he returned the gun Zeke asked him what he killed. Mr. Morrissoe, well know ing the superstition of the Indians in regard to wolves, but not thinking of it at the time, told him he had killed a wolf, at which the old Indian expressed great sorrow, and said that his gun would never shoot straight any more, that it was spoiled; he took it all apart, washed and thoroughly cleaned every par ticle of it and went through some incantation to remove the spell from it. Mr. Morrissoe, who had lived among the Indians many years, said that it was not an uncomm on thing, when In dians killed more game than they could carry home, to leave a f art of it, in a certain place where they could get it the next day. if anyone in the evening would suggest that the wolves might eat it, the reply would always be," they are eating it," after which they would not go after it, but let it remain there. Another one of their peculiar customs was, cleaning and hang ing up in their cabins, the skulls of a certain number of the an imals caught in traps, as they seemed to think it would bring them good luck. 

57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture

A Funny Tale of a Pottawatomie Dinner 

   In October, 183l,  the late Gen. N. D. Grover, at that time Indian Agent, located at Logansport, in company with a young man from Baltimore—an Agent of the Government, in charge of a large amount of money—were en route for Chicago with a supply of change for the disbursing department the Northwestern Agency at that point. The route lay along the Indian trace, the only line of travel between those points. When about half way to Chicago, night was likely to overtake them before they could reach any regular stopping place for travelers.  
    Early in the evening. they reached the Wigwam of an old Indian chief well known to the General to be highly honorable and trustworthy. According to custom, they applied for accommodations for the night. Permission was readily granted, and the squaws set about preparing the evening meal for the guests.
      During the progress of the cooking, the young man .was seen to watch the operations with intense interest. though little attention was paid to it, supposing it was mere curiosity. He grew fidgety and pale, indicative of acute suffering. Though very hungry, he seemed afraid to touch the hominy that was cooked, and dished out in wooden bowls. Finally: the General, seeing the young man’s pallor and indisposition to eat, knowing he was hungry, asked him the cause of his sudden illness. Having, in the meantime, also noticed that the youth had been eyeing with fearful interest, the process of boiling something in a kettle near by, the General became some what alarmed as to his condition, lest some terrible malady had suddenly overtaken him. The young man answered his question by pointing to the kettle he had been watching so intently. Seeing something resembling a baby's hand thrown above the service by the boiling water every few moments, he whispered, almost breathlessly, with fear unmistakably impressed on his countenance, “ Cannibals! Cannibals! they are boiling a negro baby, and are going to eat it, and give to us to eat! Why, they are heathens, and eat one another: and we, too, will be murdered and eaten!" He continued to grow still more excited as the boiling went on, and stoutly insisted on leaving at once, before they were murdered.
   The General, observing his continued trepidation and discomfort, explained to him that what he saw in the kettle was only a skinned raccoon, that animal being often cooked and eaten by white people. This quieted him somewhat, but there was still a tremor about him that destroyed his appetite. The squaws soon discovered the cause of the young man's conduct, and manifested a good deal of merriment. Pointing to the kettle and then to their own hands, they would exclaim: " Muck-she-as-pin (black raccoon), seemingly much delighted with the young man's cause of fear eating a coon, supposing it to be a baby.

57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture

Miami Indian Territory and Land Cessions

 It has been correctly said that the Miamis were of the Algonquin family. whose dominions extended from the most eastern extremity of New England westward to the waters of the Mississippi, embracing the territory north from the Gulf of Mexico to the land of the Esquimaux Everywhere throughout this vast expanse, branches of their primitive family were to be found, tracing their lineage back to the parent stock. But, while it is true that they were descendants in direct line " of those who greeted the colonists of Raleigh at Roanoke, of those who welcomed the Pilgrims at Plymouth," they only sustain that relation in common with numerous other kindred tribes, and are only entitled to special consideration because of their enjoyment, by inheritance, of more of the elements in affinity with the parent stem than their less consanguineous neighbors, being, also, more powerful in competition with them. Bancroft says, too: "The Miamis were more stable, and their own traditions preserve the memory of their ancient limits, illustrated by the regular tracing of Little Turtle. at the treaty of Greenville, elsewhere noted. The same reputable historian says further: “ The forests beyond Detroit were at first found unoccupied, or, it may be, roamed over by bands too feeble to attract a trader or win a missionary; the Ottawas, Algonquin fugitives from the basin of the magnificent river whose name commemorates them, fled to the Bay of Saginaw and took possession of the whole north of the peninsula as of a derelict country; yet the Miamis occupied its southern moiety, and their principal mission was founded by Allouez, on the banks of the St. Joseph, in the limits of the present State of Michigan.” In 1670, the Miamis were the most powerful confederacy in the West, when, it is said, an army of five thousand men could be called into the field. It is also stated that, in the early part of the eighteenth century, the Pottawatomies had crowded the Miamis from their dwellings, at Chicago. The intruders came from the islands near the entrance of Green Bay, and were a branch of the great nation of the Chippewas. That nation, or, as some write, the Ojibwas, held the country from the mouth of Green Bay to the head waters of Lake Superior. and were early visited by the French at Sault St. Mary and Chegoimegon." Notwithstanding the fact that they met with occasional reverses, they continued‘ to be a leading and influential tribe, leaving the impress of their name on many of our Western rivers.
   
   The great treaty entered into by the Miamis and the Commissioners on the part of the United States, under the provisions of which the first important cession of territory in this part of Indiana was made, was concluded on the 6th of October, 1818, at St. Mary’s, Ohio. The boundaries of the territory embraced in this cession were substantially the following: “Commencing near the town of LaGro, on the Wabash, where the Salamonie unites with the Wabash River; running thence through Wabash and Grant Counties into Madison County, its southeast corner was about four miles southeast of Independence, at the center of Section 17; thence running south of west, with the general course of the Wabash River, across Tipton County, close to the town of Tipton, just north thereof, to where it intersects a line running north and south from Logansport, which is the western boundary of Howard County, one mile west of Range line No. 1, east; thence north to Logansport; thence up the Wabash to the mouth of the Salamonie, the place of beginning. There was contained within these boundaries 930,000 acres. The greater part of this reservation remained in the hands of the Indians until November, 1840, when it was relinquished, being the last of their claims in Indiana.
   By the treaty of October 23, 1826, held at Paradise Springs, known as the old “ Treaty Grounds," the chiefs and warriors of the Miamis, in council with Lewis Cass, James B. Ray and John Tipton, Commissioners representing the United States, ceded to the latter power "all their claim to lands in the State of Indiana, north and west of the Wabash and Miami Rivers, and of the cession made by the said tribe to the United States, by the treaty concluded at St. Mary's, October 6, 1818." By further provision of the same treaty, the State of Indiana was authorized to lay out a canal or road through any of the reservations, and for the use of a canal, six chains along the same were appropriated.
   By treaty of November 6, 1838, they made a further cession to the United States of certain lands reserved by former treaties. Finally, on the 28th of November, 1840, they relinquished their right to all the remaining lands in Indiana, except certain specific reservations, for which they re ceived the sum of $550,000, and agreed to vacate these lands within five years. They did not move, however, until 1847.        

57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and torture

The Act of Revenge by the Miami Indians

     Again, speaking of the Miamis, it is said they possessed a quiet, persevering, but determined nature. To illustrate: "If the death of a brother was to be avenged, they proceeded quietly about the work. Patience, at such a time, was called actively into play; and, if needs be, months might roll away before a blow was struck. While this is generally true of most Indian tribes, it was especially true of the Miamis. A case in point is remembered by many of the earlier residents of Cass County. Many years before. from some cause, whether imaginary or real, an offense was committed by one Thorntown Miami against another, which was kept in remembrance until the favored opportunity presented itself. On the occasion referred to, the event having transpired on the evening of February 24, 1835) —No-ka-me-na, better known as Capt. Flower, a principal chief of the Miamis, was stealthily murdered by a drunken Indian called “ Lame Man," on the south side of the Wabash, opposite Logansport. It seems that Lame Man had long and silently nursed his wrath, and only waited the arrival of the opportune moment. During the day and early evening preceding, he had been lying around one of the trading houses, considerably intoxicated, watching his victim. Later in the evening, he disappeared, and was not again heard or noticed until, on the following morning, it was announced that Capt. Flower had been killed the night previous to compensate for an old grudge. An editorial notice in the Telrgraph of February 28, 1835, thus referred to him: “ Capt, Flower was one of the finest looking Indians be longing to the Miami nation, and his death is regretted by a large number of friends and acquaintances." This was but one notable instance of the many that took place in this locality, exemplifying a peculiarity of the Miami nation as strikingly characteristic. perhaps, as any belonging to other nations.

                                                          57 gruesome tales of capture and torture

Native American's Napoleon: Little Turtle of the Miami Indians

Native American's Napoleon: Little Turtle of the Miami Indians

    The early history of the Miami Indians is veiled in tradition and obscurity and little is known concerning its chiefs or head men prior to July 3, 1748.  On that date a treaty of peace and friendship was concluded at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between commissioners appointed by the English colonial authorities and the chiefs of the several tribes in the interior.  In that treaty the name of A-gue-nack-gue appears as "principal chief of the Miamis," and it is said that he then lived at Turtle Village, a few miles northeast of the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Two other chiefs from Wabash country also signed the treaty, which lasted until after the Government of the United States was established.

    This chief Augenackgue married a Mohican woman, according to the Indian custom, and one of their sons wa Me-she-ke-no-quah, or Little Turtle, who became the chief leader of the Miami Nation upon the death of his father.  Little Turtle was born at Turtle Village about 1747 and at the time he succeeded to the chieftainship, his tribe was regarded as the leading one in all the great West.

    Little Turtle was not lacking in any of the essential qualifications of a great chief.  He has been described as "short in stature, well built, with symmetrical form, prominent forehead, heavy eyebrows, keen, black eyes and a large chin."  From his mother he inherited many of the finer qualities of the Mohicans.  Agile and athletic, his physical ability was not to be questioned for a moment.  As a youth his influence was made manifest on more than one occasion, even the older warriors listening with respect when he resented his views in council.  After he became chief, not only of his own tribe, but also other tribes of the Miami confederacy, he was acknowledged by all as their great leader and they followed him without the slightest jealousy or envy.  Wise in council, he was equally brave in battle.  No military academy taught him in the art of war, yet in the management of an army he showed the skill and strategy of a Napoleon.  His prowess as a commander is seen in the masterly manner in which he handled his warriors in the defeat of General St. Clari, November 4, 1791.  Not until he met Gen. Anthony Wayne, whom he designated as "the man who never sleeps" did the chief Little Turtle acknowledge defeat.

    As a statesman, Little Turtle was a conspicuous figure in the negotiations of the several treaties with the United States.  Having once affixed his signature to a treaty, his honor would not permit him to violate any of its provisions, and in this way he won the confidence and esteem of all the whites, though he incurred the displeasure of many of his tribe, who referred to him as "an Indian with a white man's heart."  Gen. George Washington, while President of the United States, resented him with a medal and a handsome sword as tokens of regard.  His last years were spent at Little Turtle Village.  A few months before his death, afflicted with gout, he went to Fort Wayne to consult a surgeon and died at his abode in the "Old Orchard," not far from the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers on July 14, 1812.


    Brice in his "History of Fort Wayne" says of Little Turtle

    "His body was borne to the grave with the highest honors by his great enemy, the white man.  The muffled drum, the solemn march, the funeral salute, announced that a great soldier had fallen, and that even his enemies paid tribute to his memory."

    Deposited in the grave with him were the sword and medal presented to him by Washington, together with the Indian ornaments and implements of war, according to the custom of his tribe.  A monument was afterward erected over his last resting place, and it has been said of him "He never offered nor received a bribe."  
Robert M. Waddell, History of northeast Indiana: LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1920, Noble County,

Unwanted Miami Indians For Dinner in Frontier Indiana

History of Dekalb County, Indiana 1885

   “ At that time there was a large Indian village where -Denmark now is, and some traders came among there with whisky and made them .drunk, so they came to rob us. We had worked hard all day until nearly sundown, when we went to the house to eat supper. The Indians came yelling and soon filled the house. They then drew their knives, bows and arrows and tomahawks, stuck their hands into our supper pot, and our supper was gone in a trice. Samuel Houlton drew a large poker and was about to strike, when Avery exclaimed, ‘Don’t strike, Sam, or they will kill us all!’ Hughes also told him not to strike, but let them take what they wanted, and he would go to the Indian Agent at Fort Wayne and make them pay for it. They then acted as true lords of the soil. 
   “They poured out the whisky into their camp kettles, knocked in the head of a flour barrel and also of a pork barrel, and in fif teen minutes flour, pork and whisky were gone. They crossed the creek about twelve rods off and camped for the night. While they were making their fires and drinking the whisky, we rolled out our last barrel of flour and hid it in a' brush heap. We had also about thirty pounds of pork up in the chamber that they did not get, and that was all that saved us from starvation. The 200 Indians fought and screamed all night. A better sample of the infernal regions never could be gotten up in this world.
       “ As soon as we had secured our barrel of flour, we next re solved that when they had generally got drunk we would alight on them with a vengeance and kill the last one of them. So we loaded our four guns with slugs and then got two tomahawks and two hand axes, and waited until they would become more drunk. In this, however, we were disappointed. They did not seem to get more intoxicated. After drinking twenty gallons of whisky, eating 230 pounds of pork, and using up 250 pounds of flour. With several bushels of potatoes, they started off about eight in the morning well satisfied with what they had done.
   “ We made application to the Indian Agent, at Ft.Wayne, but never got any compensation for the articles taken. Every time I think of the Indian tragedy I feel thankful that we were prevented from imbruing our hands in their life blood. It was the traders, with their whisky, that made all this trouble.

                                        57 gruesome stories of Indian capture and Torture

Ottawa Indians Cede Land to the Chippewa For a Rare Case of Murder

The murders in cold blood among the Ottawa and Chippewa nations of Indians in their primitive state were exceedingly few, at least there was only one account in our old tradition where a murder had been committed, a young Ottawa having stabbed a young Chippewa while in dispute over their nets when they were fishing for herrings on the Straits of Mackinac. This nearly caused a terrible bloody war between the two powerful tribes of Indians (as they were numerous then) so closely related. The tradition says they had council after council upon this subject, and many speeches were delivered on both sides. The Chippewas proposed war to settle the question of murder, while the Ottawas proposed compromise and restitution for the murder. Finally the Ottawas succeeded in settling the difficulty by ceding part of their country to the Chippewa nation, which is now known and distinguished as the Grand Traverse Region. A strip of land which I believe to have extended from a point near Sleeping Bear, down to the eastern shore of the Grand Traverse Bay, some thirty or forty miles wide, thence between two parallel lines running southeasterly until they strike the head waters of Muskegon River, which empties into Lake Michigan not very far below Grand Haven. They were also allowed access to all the rivers and streams in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, to trap the beavers, minks, otters and muskrats. The Indians used their furs in former times for garments and blankets. This is the reason that to this day the Odjebwes (Chippewas) are found in that section of the country.

57 gruesome tales of Indian capture and torture

Artifacts and Description of the Last French Fort in Present Day Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Artifacts from the last French Fort in Ft. Wayne, Indiana

FRENCH RELICS DUG UP ON THE SITE OF FORT WAYNE.
These three relics of the seventeenth century days of the occupation of the site of Fort Wayne by the French — B medallion bearing the date 1693, a copper kettle and a copper box are of incalculable historical value. The medal lion and the kettle are the property of Kenton P. Baker, 1008 Delaware Avenue. In 1870, while he was superintending some work of excavation at the junction of the present Delaware avenue and St. Joe boulevard, Henry J. Baker, Sr. (grandfather of Kenton P. Baker), uncovered the kettle shown here. It was found to contain some Indian arrowheads and the large brass medallion of which the picture shows the two sides. The indentations of the kettle were made by the ads in the hands of the workman who unearthed the relic. The place of finding the reminders of the French occupation, is the site of the last French fort, erected In 1750. It would seem that the medallion and the kettle have reposed within the limits of the present city of Fort Wayne for a period of nearly two centuries. The medallion was for a time the property of Mrs. C. E. Stapleford, now a resident of Colorado Springs, Col. Mrs. Stapleford ascertained, through correspondence with the mayor of Bordeaux. France, that Gull (William) de Nesmond, whose portrait appears on the medallion which was issued in commemoration of his death In 1963, was a member of a noble family in France. It is interesting to note that an exact duplicate of this medallion, found in the same locality. Is the property of Byron F. Thompson, residing north of Fort Wayne. The small copper box, with a hinged, embossed cover, undoubtedly a relic of the French occupation, is owned by L. W. Hills. It was unearthed by boys while at play in the vicinity of the site of the French fort.

THE LAST FRENCH FORT IN PRESENT DAY FORT WAYNE, INDIANA
Whatever Captain Rai mond may have thought of the refusal of the visitors to interest themselves in the location of his new fort, it is certain that he lost little time in beginning its erection. By the spring of 1750, this new home of his men, high above the surrounding territory, was ready for occupancy. While the former location was on low ground, the new fort occupied a commanding position on the east bank of the St. Joseph river (at the present St. Joe boulevard and Delaware Avenue, formerly Baker Avenue), where today the automobilist, as he hurries past the historic spot looks out upon a landscape to the westward very similar to that which gladdened the vision of these hardy Frenchmen, now made unromantic, of course, by the evidences of civilization. The coming years were destined to weave about this fort of Captain Raimond many thrilling tales of romance, horror and bloodshed. Here were to be enacted the scenes of the love story of the Englishman, Holmes, and its tragic climax of massacre; the tale of Morris who faced death at the stake ; of Croghan and the remnants of the French and British during the days when the young republic was training a Wayne and a Harrison in the school of warfare.
    With the abandonment of the old fort on the St. Mary's, the discarded buildings of the past became the center of an Indian settlement known as a Cold Foot's village, over which Chief Cold Foot presided until his death, which came at a time when his friendship was most keenly needed by the French commandant.
    "My people are leaving me for Detroit. Nobody wants to stay here and have his throat cut. All of the tribes who go to the English at Pickawillany come back loaded with gifts. I am too weak to meet the danger. Instead of twenty men, I need five hundred. We have made peace with the English; yet they try continually to make war on us by means of the Indians. They intend to be masters of all this upper country. The tribes here are leagued together to kill all the French, that they may have nobody on their lands but their English brothers. This I am told by Cold Foot, a great Miami chief, whom I think an honest man, if there be such thing among the Indians. * * • If the English stay in this country, we are lost. We must attack them and drive them out." To add to the distress of mind of the commandant of Post Miami, an epidemic of smallpox spread over the Maumee- Wabash region during the winter of 1751-2 and carried away as its victims, two of his true Indian friends, Chief Cold Foot and Chief LeGris, as well as many of the Miamis who formed the Cold Foot village.

                                              57 gruesome tales of Indian capture and torture

1642 Mohawk Indians Torture a French Jesuit Catholic Priest

1642 Mohawk Indians Torture a French Jesuit Catholic Priest

   A party of about 70 Mohawks set out in July on a foray, and from both sides of the St. Lawrence attack a party of Huron Indians accompanied by French priests from Canada, among them Father Isaac Jogues, who were going in twelve canoes to their country near the big lake (Huron) and the Mohawks take 22 of them prisoners. The occurrences, of a most horrible nature, transpiring then, and the tortures to which they were subjected on their travel to the Mohawk river, when Father Jogues was beaten senseless for displaying sympathy for a prisoner being tortured, (as described in a letter written at Rensselaerswyck, on Aug. 5, 1643, by Father Jogues himself) being as follows: "Scarcely had I begun to breathe, when some others, attacking me, tore out, by biting, almost all my fingernails, and crunched my two forefingers with their teeth, giving me intense pain.  No trial, however, came harder upon me than to see them, five or six days afterward, approach us jaded with the march, and in cold blood, with minds nowise excited by passion, pluck out our hair and beard, and drive their nails, which are always very sharp, deep into parts most tender and sensitive to the slightest impression." The day of the ambushed attack, Aug. 4. Father Jogues, describes in his letter the cruelties perpetrated by the victorious Mohawks, states: "On the eighth day we fell in with a band of two hundred Indians going out to fight (on an island in Lake Champlain); and as it is the custom for savages, when out on war-parties, to initiate themselves, as it were, by cruelty, under the belief that their success will be the greater as they shall have been the more cruel, they thus received us: First rendering thanks to the sun, which they imagine presides over war, they congratulated their countrymen by a joyful volley of musketry. Each then cut some stout clubs in the neighboring wood in order to receive us. After we had landed from the canoes, they fell upon us from both sides with their clubs in such fury, that I, who was the last and therefore the most exposed to their blows, sank overcome by their numbers and severity before I had accomplished half the rocky way that led to the hill on which a stage had been erected for us. I thought I should quickly die there; and therefore, partly because I could not, partly because I cared not, I did not rise. How long they spent their fury upon me He knows for whose love and sake it is delightful and glorious thus to suffer. Moved at last by a cruel mercy, and wishing to carry me to their country alive, they ceased to strike. And thus half dead and covered with blood, they bore me to the scaffold. Here I had scarce begun to breathe, when they ordered me to come down to load me with scoffs and insults, and countless blows upon my head and shoulders, and indeed my whole body. I should be tedious were I to attempt to tell all that the French prisoners suffered. They burnt one of my fingers, and crushed another with their teeth; the others already thus mangled they so wrenched by the tattered nerves that even now, though healed, they are frightfully deformed."

First Hand Account of the Slaughter and Scalping of 700 U.S. Soldiers on the Wabash

700 U.S. Soldiers were killed at the headwaters of the Wabash River in Indiana under the leadership of General St. Clair. This terrible massacre has been completely ignored by modern historians. 


General Arthur St. Clair, the commanding officer of the army on November 4th, 1791,
700 Men Slaughtered and Scalped on the Wabash River by the Miami Indians

    The coming victory over St. Clair was clearly the result not of overwhelming numbers, but of superior generalship. Here on the banks of the Wabash about daylight on the morning of November 4th, 1791, Little Turtle assailed St. Clair's army in front, on both flanks, and also at the rear near the close of the action, which was about half-past nine o'clock in the morning. At this time it became necessary to make a charge in order to clear the way to the road, so as to permit the retreat of the remnant of the army, which was hurled headlong down the trail, southward for a distance of three or four miles, with terrible slaughter by the victorious and triumphant Indian warriors. No such defeat had heretofore occurred in American history, not even that of General Braddock in 1775. Down to the present time it has only been surpassed once, the disastrous defeat of General Custer on the Big Horn, June 25th, 1876. St. Clair's defeat was described by one Mr. Thomas Irwin in a diary which he kept at the time. He was a wagoner in St. Clair's army. He says, "That battle always reminded him of a furious thunderstorm that comes up quick and rapidly, and soon disappears, leaving havoc and desolation in its path."
     The escape of Stephen Littell was remarkable. At the commencement of the battle he was in the extreme advance. Being unable to keep up with his comrades in their precipitate flight, he sprang aside and hid in a dense thicket as the yelling savages rushed by in hot pursuit. Here he remained some time in dreadful suspense as the roar of the battle died away in the distance, the Indians being in full chase of the flying army. He then ventured slowly forward until he reached the scene of the night's encampment. Awful was the scene presented to him there, the bodies of some seven hundred of the killed and wounded encumbering the ground for the space of about three hundred and fifty yards. It was a cold, frosty morning. The scalped heads presented a very revolting spectacle. A peculiar vapor or steam ascended from them all. Many of these poor creatures were still alive, and groans were heard on all sides. Several of the wounded, knowing that as soon as the savages returned they would be doomed to death by torture, implored young Littell to put an end to their misery. This he refused to do. Ling anxious as to the fate of his father, and seeing among the dead one who bore a strong resemblance to him. he was in the act of turning over the body to examine the features when the exultant and terrific shouts of the returning savages fell upon his ear, and already he could see through the forest the plumed warriors rushing back. It so chanced that an evergreen tree of very dense foliage had been felled near where he stood. It was his only possible covert. He sprang into the tree and turned its branches as well he could around him. Scarcely had he done this when the savages came bounding upon the ground like so many demons. Immediately they commenced their fiend-like acts of torture upon all the wounded. The scenes he continued to witness were more awful than the imagination could possibly conceive. Here our sub ject remained until a suitable time arrived for him to make his escape, which he did — the only one left to tell the sad story of the awful battlefield.

                                                57 gruesome tales of Indian capture and torture