before the massacre the people
had been there so long and lived so quietly that they didn't apprehend
any danger at all, and had therefore become quite careless. A small
negro boy, whose business it was to bring up the calves at milking time,
had been out for that purpose, and on coming back he said he saw a great
many Indians. At this the inhabitants took alarm, closed their gates
and put out guards who continued to watch for a few days. Finding that
no attack was made, they concluded the little negro had lied, and again
threw their gates open and sent out their hands to work their fields.
The same boy set out again on the same errand, and returned in great
haste and alarm, and informed them he had seen the Indians as thick as
trees in the woods. He was not believed, but was tied up to receive a
flogging for the supposed lie. In fact he was actually getting badly
licked at the very moment when the Indians came in a troop. They were
loaded with rails with which they stopped all the portholes of the fort
on one side, and then they fell to cutting down the picketing. Those
inside the fort had only the bastion to shoot from, and as fast as one
Indian would fall, another would catch up his ax and chop away until
they succeeded in cutting down enough of the picketing to permit them to
enter. Then they rushed through and immediately commenced scalping
without regard to age or sex. Having forced the inhabitants up to one
side of the fort, they carried on the work as a butcher would in a
slaughter pen.

[Illustration: THE ATTACK ON THE FORT]

This scene was partly described to me by a young man who was in the fort
when it happened. He said that he saw his father and mother, his four
sisters and the same number of brothers all butchered in the most
shocking manner, and that he made his escape by running over the heads
of the crowd to the top of the fort, and then jumped off and ran into
the woods. He was closely pursued by several Indians until he came to a
small bayou, across which there was a log. He knew the log was hollow
on the under side, so he slipped off and hid himself. He said he heard
the Indians walk over him, back and forward several times. Nevertheless
he remained quiet there until night, when he came out and finished his
escape.

We left our horses at the Cut-off and hurried on foot over the eighty
miles to Pensacola, where our arrival was hailed with great applause;
though we were a little after the feast, for