of Colonel Field turned the fortune of the day, but
not without a severe loss; Colonel Fleming was again
wounded, by a shot through the lungs; yet he would
not retire, and Colonel Field was killed as he was
leading on his men. The whole line of the breastwork
now became as a blaze of fire, which lasted nearly
till the close of the day. Here the Indians under
Logan, Cornstock, Elenipsico, Red-Eagle, and other
mighty chiefs of the tribes of the Shawneese, Delawares,
Mingos, Wyandots, and Cayugas, amounting, as was supposed,
to fifteen hundred warriors, fought, as men will ever
do for their country’s wrongs, with a bravery
which could only be equaled. The voice of the
great Cornstock was often heard during the day, above
the din of strife, calling on his men in these words:
“Be strong! Be strong!” And when by
the repeated charges of the whites, some of his warriors
began to waver, he is said to have sunk his tomahawk
into the head of one who was basely endeavoring to
desert. General Lewis, finding at length that
every charge upon the lines of the Indians lessened
the number of his forces to an alarming degree, and
rightly judging that if the Indians were not routed
before it was dark, a day of more doubt might follow,
he resolved to throw a body, if possible, into their
rear. As the good fortune of the Virginians turned,
the bank of the river favored this project, and forthwith
three companies were detached upon the enterprise,
under the three captains, Isaac Shelby (after renowned
in the revolution, and since in the war with Canada,)
George Matthews, and John Stewart. These companies
got unobserved to their place of destination upon Crooked
Creek, which runs into the Kenhawa. From the high
weeds upon the bank of this little stream, they rushed
upon the backs of the Indians with such fury, as to
drive them from their works with precipitation.
The day was now decided. The Indians, thus beset
from a quarter they did not expect, were ready to
conclude that a reinforcement had arrived. It
was about, sunset when they fled across the Ohio,
and immediately took up their march for their towns
on the Scioto.
Of the loss of both Indians and whites in this engagement,
various statements have been given. A number
amounting to seventy-five killed, and one hundred
and forty wounded of the whites, has been rendered;
with a loss on part of the Indians not so great, but
not correctly known.[21] This was the severest battle
ever fought with the Indians in Virginia. Shortly
after this battle the Indians sent messengers to Governor
Dunmore, suing for peace, and a treaty was accordingly
concluded. In this treaty the Indians surrendered
all claim to Kentucky. The Six Nations had already
done the same thing at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
in 1768. The Cherokees had sold their claims to
Henderson’s company; so that when Boone settled
in Kentucky it was effectually cleared of all Indian
titles.
[Footnote 21: “History of the Backwoods.”]