the sight. The militia stood the fire well for a short time, and as they
pressed forward there was some giving way on the enemy's right.
Unluckily, just at this moment the appalling war-whoop of the Indians
rang in the rear of the Americans' left; the Indian leader, having
conducted a large party of his warriors through the marsh, succeeded in
turning Dennison's flank. A heavy and destructive fire was
simultaneously poured into the American ranks; and amidst the confusion,
Colonel Dennison directed his men to 'fall back,' to avoid being
surrounded, and to gain time to bring his men into order again. This
direction was mistaken for an order to 'retreat,' whereupon the whole
line broke, and every effort of their officers to restore order was
unavailing. At this stage of the battle, and while thus engaged, the
American officers mostly fell. The flight was general. The Indians,
throwing away their rifles, rushed forward with their tomahawks, making
dreadful havoc; answering the cries for mercy with the hatchet, and
adding to the universal consternation those terrific yells which invest
savage warfare with tenfold horror. So alert was the foe in his bloody
pursuit, that less than sixty of the Americans escaped either the rifle
or the tomahawk. Of the militia officers, there fell one
lieutenant-colonel, one major, ten captains, six lieutenants, and two
ensigns. Colonel Durkee and Captains Hewett and Ransom were likewise
killed. Some of the fugitives escaped by swimming the river, and others
by flying to the mountains. As the news of the defeat spread down the
valley, the greater part of the women and children, and those who had
remained to protect them, likewise ran to the woods and mountains, while
those who could not escape thus sought refuge in Fort Wyoming. The
Indians, apparently wearied with pursuit and slaughter, desisted and
betook themselves to secure the spoils of the vanquished.

"On the morning of the 4th, the day after the battle, Colonel John
Butler, with the combined British and Indian forces, appeared before
Fort Wyoming and demanded its surrender. 'The inhabitants, both within
and without the fort, did not on that emergency sustain a character for
courage becoming men of spirit in adversity. They were so intimidated as
to give up without fighting; great numbers ran off; and those who
remained all but betrayed Colonel Zebulon Butler, their commander' (Col.
Z. Butler's letter). 'The British Colonel Butler sent s