Forty-six warriors, by count, threw down their arms in token of surrender, and ran into one of the large houses.  A band of soldiers pursued them, with the apparent intent of shooting them down.  It was considered rare sport to shoot an Indian.  A woman came to the door, bow and arrow in hand.  Fixing the arrow upon the string, she drew the bow with all the strength of her muscular arm, and let the arrow fly into the midst of the approaching foe.  It nearly passed through the body of Lieutenant Moore, killing him instantly.  The woman made no attempt to evade the penalty which she knew weald follow this act.  In an instant twenty bullets pierced her body, and she fell dead at the door of the house.

The infuriate soldiers rushed in and shot the defenceless warriors mercilessly, until every one was fatally wounded or dead.  They then set the house on fire and burned it up, with the forty-six warriors in it.  It mattered not to them whether the flames consumed the flesh of the living or of the dead.

There was something very remarkable in the stoicism which the Indians ever manifested.  There was a bright-looking little Indian boy, not more than twelve years of age, whose arm was shattered by one bullet and his thigh-bone by another.  Thus terribly wounded, the poor child crept from the flames of the burning house.  There was no pity in that awful hour to come to his relief.  The heat was so intense that his almost naked body could be seen blistering and frying by the fire.  The heroic boy, striving in vain to crawl along, was literally roasted alive; and yet he did not utter an audible groan.

The slaughter was awful.  But five of the Americans were killed.  One hundred and eighty-six of the Indians were either killed or taken prisoners.  The party returned with their captives the same day to Fort Strother.  The army had so far consumed its food that it was placed on half rations.  The next day a party was sent back to the smouldering town to see if any food could be found.  Even these hardy pioneers were shocked at the awful spectacle which was presented.  The whole place was in ruins.  The half-burned bodies of the dead, in awful mutilation, were scattered around.  Demoniac war had performed one of its most fiend-like deeds.

On this bloody field an Indian babe was found clinging to the bosom of its dead mother.  Jackson urged some of the Indian women who were captives to give it nourishment.  They replied: 

“All the child’s friends are killed.  There is no one to care for the helpless babe.  It is much better that it should die.”

Jackson took the child under his own care, ordered it to be conveyed to his tent, nursed it with sugar and water, took it eventually with him to the Hermitage, and brought it up as his son.  He gave the boy the name of Lincoyer.  He grew up a finely formed young man, and died of consumption at the age of seventeen.

Jackson was a very stern man.  The appeals of pity could seldom move his heart.  Still there were traits of heroism which marked his character.  On the return march, a half-starved soldier came to Jackson with a piteous story of his famished condition.  Jackson drew from his pocket a handful of acorns, and presenting a portion to the man, said: