Among his fellow packers were his uncle and a young man named Bonham, who was his close and dear friend.  The uncle was shot in the wrist, the ball lodging near his shoulder; but he escaped.  Bonham, just before the retreat began, was shot through both hips, so that he could not walk.  Young Van Cleve got him a horse, on which he was with difficulty mounted; then, as the flight began, Bonham bade Van Cleve look to his safety, as he was on foot, and the two separated.  Bonham rode until the pursuit had almost ceased; then, weak and crippled, he was thrown off his horse and slain.  Meanwhile Van Cleve ran steadily on foot.  By the time he had gone two miles most of the mounted men had passed him.  A boy, on the point of falling from exhaustion, now begged his help; and the kind-hearted backwoodsman seized the lad and pulled him along nearly two miles farther, when he himself became so worn-out that he nearly fell.  There were still two horses in the rear, one carrying three men, and one two; and behind the latter Van Cleve, summoning his strength, threw the boy, who escaped.  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 the strong and active passed him until he was within a hundred yards of the rear, where the Indians were tomahawking the old and wounded men.  So close were they that for a moment his heart sunk in despair; but he threw off 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 fugitives; and long afterwards he told how well he remembered thinking that it would be some time before they would all be massacred and his own turn came.  However, at this point the pursuit ceased, and a few miles farther 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 artillery, an infantry corporal, and a woman called Red-headed Nance.  Both of the latter were crying, the corporal for the loss of his wife, the woman for the loss of her child.  The worn-out officer hung on the corporal’s arm, while Van Cleve “carried his fusee and accoutrements and led Nance; and in this sociable way arrived at Fort Jefferson a little after sunset.”

    The Remnant of the Army Reaches Cincinnati. 
    Exultation of the Victors.

Before reaching Fort Jefferson the wretched army encountered the regular regiment which had been so unfortunately detached a couple of days before the battle.  The most severely wounded were left in the fort; [Footnote:  Bradley MSS.  The addition of two hundred sick and wounded brought the garrison to such short commons that they had to slaughter the pack-horses for food.] and then the flight was renewed, until the disorganized