the road, with their contents uninjured; and a rescue party brought them safely to Wayne.  The victors were a party of Wyandots and Ottawas under the chief Little Otter.  On October 24th the British agent at the Miami towns met in solemn council with these Indians and with another successful war party.  The Indians had with them ten scalps and two prisoners.  Seven of the scalps they sent off, by an Indian runner, a special ally friend of the British agent, to be distributed among the different Lake Indians, to rouse them to war.  One of their prisoners, an Irishman, they refused to surrender; but the other they gave to the agent.  He proved to be a German, a mercenary who had originally been in Burgoyne’s army. [Footnote:  Canadian Archives, Duggan to Chew, February 3, 1794. inclosing his journal for the fall of 1793.  American State Papers, iv., 361, Wayne to Knox, October 23, 1793.  The Americans lost 13 men; the Indian reports of course exaggerated this.] Later one of the remaining captives made his escape, killing his two Indian owners, a man and a woman, both of whom had been leaders of war parties.

    Another Detachment Defeats a Body of Indians.

In the spring of 1794, as soon as the ground was dry, Wayne prepared to advance towards the hostile towns and force a decisive battle.  He was delayed for a long time by lack of provisions, the soldiers being on such short rations that they could not move.  The mounted riflemen of Kentucky, who had been sent home at the beginning of winter, again joined him.  Among the regulars, in the rifle company, was a young Kentuckian, Captain William Clark, brother of George Rogers Clark, and afterwards one of the two famous explorers who first crossed the continent to the Pacific.  In his letters home Clark dwelt much on the laborious nature of his duties, and mentioned that he was “like to have starved,” and had to depend on his rifle for subsistence. [Footnote:  Draper MSS., William Clark to Jonathan Clark, May 25, 1794] In May he was sent from Fort Washington with twenty dragoons and sixty infantry to escort 700 packhorses to Greeneville.  When eighteen miles from Fort Washington Indians attacked his van, driving off a few packhorses; but Clark brought up his men from the rear and after a smart skirmish put the savages to flight.  They left behind one of their number dead, two wounded, and seven rifles; Clark lost two men killed and two wounded. [Footnote:  Do.  Also Canadian Archives, Duggan to Chew, May 30, 1794.  As an instance of the utter untrustworthiness of these Indian or British accounts of the American losses, it may be mentioned that Duggan says the Indians brought off forty scalps, and killed an unknown number of Americans in addition; whereas in reality only two were slain.  Even Duggan admits that the Indians were beaten off.]

    A Large War Party Attacks Fort Recovery.