Throughout this period, whatever the negotiators might say or do, the ravages of the Indian war parties never ceased.  In the spring following St. Clair’s defeat the frontiers of Pennsylvania suffered as severely as those of Virginia, from bands of savages who were seeking for scalps, prisoners, and horses.  Boats were way-laid and attacked as they descended the Ohio; and the remote settlements were mercilessly scourged.  The spies or scouts, the trained Indian fighters, were out all the while, watching for the war bands; and when they discovered one, a strong party of rangers or militia was immediately gathered to assail it, if it could be overtaken.  Every variety of good and bad fortune attended these expeditions.  Thus, in August, 1792, the spies discovered an Indian party in the lower settlements of Kentucky.  Thirty militia gathered, followed the trail, and overtook the marauders at Rolling Fork, killing four, while the others scattered; of the whites one was killed and two wounded.  About the same time Kenton found a strong Indian camp which he attacked at dawn, killing three warriors; but when they turned out in force, and one of his own scouts was killed, he promptly drew back out of danger.  Neither the Indians nor the wild white Indian fighters made any point of honor about retreating.  They wished to do as much damage as possible to their foes, and if the fight seemed doubtful they at once withdrew to await a more favorable opportunity.  As for the individual adventures, their name was legion.  All the old annalists, all the old frontiersmen who in after life recorded their memories of the Indian wars, tell with interminable repetition stories, grewsome in their blood-thirstiness, and as monotonous in theme as they are varied in detail:—­how such and such a settler was captured by two Indians, and, watching his chance, fell on his captors when they sat down to dinner and slew them “with a squaw-axe”; how another man was treacherously attacked by two Indians who had pretended to be peaceful traders, and how, though wounded, he killed them both; how two or three cabins were surprised by the savages and all the inhabitants slain; or how a flotilla of flatboats was taken and destroyed while moored to the bank of the Ohio; and so on without end. [Footnote:  Draper MSS., Major McCully to Captain Biddle, Pittsburgh, May 5, 1792; B. Netherland to Evan Shelby, July 5, 1793, etc., etc.  Also Kentucky Gazette, Sept.  I, 1792; Charleston Gazette, July 22, 1791, etc.]

    The Frontiersmen Wish War.

The United States authorities vainly sought peace; while the British instigated the tribes to war, and the savages themselves never thought of ceasing their hostilities.  The frontiersmen also wished war, and regarded the British and Indians with an equal hatred.  They knew that the presence of the British in the Lake Posts meant Indian war; they knew that the Indians would war on them, whether they behaved