s riflemen were as good shots as any hunters
he had ever seen at any of the many matches he had attended in the
backwoods. [Footnote: _Knoxville Gazette_, August 27, 1793.]

Wayne's Scouts.

Wayne showed his capacity as a commander by the use he made of his spies
or scouts. A few of these were Chickasaw or Choctaw Indians; the rest,
twenty or thirty in number, were drawn from the ranks of the wild white
Indian-fighters, the men who plied their trade of warfare and the chase
right on the hunting grounds of the hostile tribes. They were far more
dangerous to the Indians, and far more useful to the army, than the like
number of regular soldiers or ordinary rangers.

Efficiency of the Scouts.

It was on these fierce backwoods riflemen that Wayne chiefly relied for
news of the Indians, and they served him well. In small parties, or
singly, they threaded the forest scores of miles in advance or to one
side of the marching army, and kept close watch on the Indians'
movements. As skilful and hardy as the red warriors, much better
marksmen, and even more daring, they took many scalps, harrying the
hunting parties, and hanging on the outskirts of the big wigwam
villages. They captured and brought in Indian after Indian; from whom
Wayne got valuable information. The use of scouts, and the consequent
knowledge gained by the examination of Indian prisoners, emphasized the
difference between St. Clair and Wayne. Wayne's reports are accompanied
by many examinations of Indian captives. [Footnote: American State
Papers, IV., 489, 94. Examination of two Pottawatamies captured on the
5th of June; of two Shawnees captured on the 22d of June; of a Shawnee
captured on Aug. 11th, etc., etc.]

Among these wilderness warriors who served under Wayne were some who
became known far and wide along the border for their feats of reckless
personal prowess and their strange adventures. They were of course all
men of remarkable bodily strength and agility, with almost unlimited
power of endurance, and the keenest eyesight; and they were masters in
the use of their weapons. Several had been captured by the Indians when
children, and had lived for years with them before rejoining the whites;
so that they knew well the speech and customs of the different tribes.

Feats of the Scouts.

One of these men was the captain of the spies, William Wells. When a boy
of twelve he had been captured by the Miamis, and had grown to manhood
among th