trackless wilderness. The pursuers almost of necessity went
slower, for they had to puzzle out the tracks; and after a certain
number of days either their food gave out or they found themselves too
far from home, and were obliged to return. In most instances the pursuit
was vain. Thus a party of twenty savages might make a war-trail some
hundreds of miles in length, taking forty or fifty scalps, carrying off
a dozen women and children, and throwing a number of settlements, with
perhaps a total population of a thousand souls, into a rage of terror
and fury, with a loss to themselves of but one or two men killed and
wounded.

A Great War Band Threatens Kentucky

Throughout the summer of 1781 the settlers were scourged by an unbroken
series of raids of this kind. In August McKee, Brant, and other tory and
Indian leaders assembled on the Miami an army of perhaps a thousand
warriors. They were collected to oppose Clark's intended march to
Detroit; for the British leaders were well aware of Clark's intention,
and trusted to the savages to frustrate it if he attempted to put it
into execution. Brant went off for a scout with a hundred warriors, and
destroyed Loughry's party of Westmoreland men, as already related,
returning to the main body after having done so. The fickle savages were
much elated by this stroke, but instead of being inspired to greater
efforts, took the view that the danger of invasion was now over. After
much persuasion Brant, McKee, and the captain of the Detroit rangers,
Thompson, persuaded them to march towards the Falls. On September 9th
they were within thirty miles of their destination, and halted to send
out scouts. Two prisoners were captured, from whom it was learned that
Clark had abandoned his proposed expedition. [Footnote: Haldimand MSS.
Captain A. Thompson to De Peyster, September 26, 1781.] Instantly the
Indians began to disband, some returning to their homes, and others
scattering out to steal horses and burn isolated cabins. Nor could the
utmost efforts of their leaders keep them together. They had no wish to
fight Clark unless it was absolutely necessary, in order to save their
villages and crops from destruction; and they much preferred plundering
on their own account. However, a couple of hundred Hurons and Miamis,
under Brant and McKee, were kept together, and moved southwards between
the Kentucky and Salt rivers, intending "to attack some of the small
forts and infest the roads."