A little south of the fort there was a stream, which, in its circuitous course, partially encircled it.  The bank was high, leaving a slight level space or meadow between it and the stream.  Here the hostile Indians were encamped, and concealed from any approaches from the north.  It was at midnight, on the 7th of December, that Jackson set out on this expedition.  He had with him, for the occasion, a very strong force, consisting of twelve hundred infantry and eight hundred cavalry.

When they reached the fort, the army divided, passing on each side, and again uniting beyond, as they approached the concealed encampment of the enemy.  While passing the fort, the friendly Indians clambered the palisades, and shouted out joyously to the soldiers “How-de-do, brother—­how-de-do, brother?”

The lines, meeting beyond the fort, formed for battle.  No foe was visible.  Nearly a thousand warriors, some armed with arrows, but many with rifles, were hidden, but a few rods before them, beneath the curving bank, which was fringed with bushes.  Major Russel, with a small party, was sent cautiously forward to feel for the enemy, and to bring on the battle.  He was moving directly into the curve, where a concentric fire would soon cut down every one of his men.

The Indians in the fort perceived his danger, and shouted warning to him.  He did not understand their language.  They made the most earnest gestures.  He did not comprehend their meaning.  Two Indians then leaped from the fort, and running toward him, seized his horse by the bridle.  They made him understand that more than a thousand warriors, with rifle in hand and arrows on the string, were hidden, at but a short distance before him, ready to assail him with a deadly fire.  The account which Crockett gives of the battle, though neither very graphic nor classic, is worthy of insertion here, as illustrative of the intellectual and moral traits of that singular man.

“This brought them to a halt; and about this moment the Indians fired upon them, and came rushing forth like a cloud of Egyptian locusts, and screaming like all the young devils had been turned loose with the old devil of all at their head.  Russel’s company quit their arses and took into the fort.  Their horses ran up to our line, which was then in view.  The warriors then came yelling on, meeting us, and continued till they were within shot of us, when we fired and killed a considerable number of them.  They broke like a gang of steers, and ran across to the other line.

“And so we kept them running, from one line to the other, constantly under a heavy fire, till we had killed upwards of four hundred of them.  They fought with guns and also with bow and arrows.  But at length they made their escape through a part of our line, which was made up of drafted militia, which broke ranks, and they passed.  We lost fifteen of our men, as brave fellows as ever lived or died.  We buried them all in one grave, and started back to our fort.  But before we got there, two more of our men died of wounds they had received, making our total loss seventeen good fellows in that battle.”