To creep unawares upon a foe and strike him in the dark was Indian warfare; to an Indian it was not dishonorable; it was not cowardly.  He was taught to hide in the long grass like a snake, to shoot from coverts, to worm his way stealthily through the dense woods and to ambush the paleface’s trail.  Horrible cruelties, such as torturing white prisoners and burning them at the stake were never heard of before the war made upon the Indians by the whites.

Comparatively little is known of the real character of the Indian of that time.  We ourselves sit before our warm fires and talk of the deeds of the redman.  We while away an hour by reading Pontiac’s siege of Detroit, of the battle of Braddock’s fields, and of Custer’s last charge.  We lay the book down with a fervent expression of thankfulness that the day of the horrible redman is past.  Because little has been written on the subject, no thought is given to the long years of deceit and treachery practiced upon Pontiac; we are ignorant of the causes which led to the slaughter of Braddock’s army, and we know little of the life of bitterness suffered by Sitting Bull.

Many intelligent white men, who were acquainted with the true life of the Indian before he was harassed and driven to desperation by the pioneers, said that he had been cruelly wronged.  Many white men in those days loved the Indian life so well that they left the settlements and lived with the Indians.  Boone, who knew the Indian nature, said the honesty and the simplicity of the Indian were remarkable.  Kenton said he had been happy among the Indians.  Col.  Zane had many Indian friends.  Isaac Zane, who lived most of his life with the Wyandots, said the American redman had been wrongfully judged a bloodthirsty savage, an ignorant, thieving wretch, capable of not one virtue.  He said the free picturesque life of the Indians would have appealed to any white man; that it had a wonderful charm, and that before the war with the whites the Indians were kind to their prisoners, and sought only to make Indians of them.  He told tales of how easily white boys become Indianized, so attached to the wild life and freedom of the redmen that it was impossible to get the captives to return to civilized life.  The boys had been permitted to grow wild with the Indian lads; to fish and shoot and swim with them; to play the Indian games—­to live idle, joyous lives.  He said these white boys had been ransomed and taken from captivity and returned to their homes and, although a close watch has kept on them, they contrived to escape and return to the Indians, and that while they were back among civilized people it was difficult to keep the boys dressed.  In summer time it was useless to attempt it.  The strongest hemp-linen shirts, made with the strongest collar and wrist-band, would directly be torn off and the little rascals found swimming in the river or rolling on the sand.