on as it was ascertained that the Indians had retired from the
neighborhood, the inhabitants proceeded to gather the dead, that lay
scattered in all parts of the prairie. Seven were at first found and
buried in one grave. Ten or twelve others, in the course of a fortnight,
were discovered in the long grass that bordered the marshes. The acts of
the Indians were accompanied by their characteristic ferocity. Some of
their victims were horribly mangled. With the exception of one
individual, the whites who accompanied the Indians, did not take part in
the butcheries that were committed. A young man by the name of Calve,
was found dead, his skull split open, and a tomahawk, on the blade of
which was written the word Calve, sticking in his brain. He was supposed
to have fallen by the hand of his uncle. Had those who discovered the
Indians in the prairie, fled to the lower gate, they would have escaped;
but the greater part of them took the road that led to the upper gate,
through the very ranks of the enemy, and were thus exposed to the whole
of their fire. About twenty persons, it is computed, met their death in
endeavoring to get within the entrenchments. None of those within were
injured, and none of the Indians were killed, at least none of them were
found. Their object was not plunder, for they did not attempt, in their
retreat, to take away with them any of the cattle or the horses that
were in the prairie, and that they might have taken; nor did they attack
any of the neighboring towns, where danger would have been less, and the
prospect of success greater. The only object they had in view was the
destruction of St. Louis; and this would seem to favor the idea that
they were instigated by the English, and gives good ground, when
connected with other circumstances, to believe that Leyba was their
aider and abettor. * * * *
"A Mr. Chancellier had gone on the day of attack, to the prairie for
strawberries, with his wife, two daughters and an American, the first
that had ever been in the country, in a cart drawn by two horses. When
they perceived the Indians, they immediately fled towards the town in
the cart; Mr. Chancellier being seated before, and the American behind,
in order to protect the women, who were in the middle. In their flight
the American was mortally wounded. As he was falling out, Mr.
Chancellier seized him and threw him into the midst of the women,
exclaiming, "they shan't get the scalp of my Ameri
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