ne hundred and sixty men,
in July, 1779. Here they arrived undiscovered, and a battle ensued,
which lasted until ten o'clock, A.M., when Colonel Bowman, finding he
could not succeed at this time, retreated about thirty miles. The
Indians, in the mean time, collecting all their forces, pursued and
overtook him, when a smart fight continued near two hours, not to the
advantage of Colonel Bowman's party.

Colonel Harrod proposed to mount a number of horse, and furiously to rush
upon the savages, who at this time fought with remarkable fury. This
desperate step had a happy effect, broke their line of battle, and the
savages fled on all sides. In these two battles we had nine killed, and
one wounded. The enemy's loss uncertain, only two scalps being taken.

On the 22d day of June, 1780, a large party of Indians and Canadians,
about six hundred in number, commanded by Colonel Bird, attacked Riddle's
and Martin's stations, at the forks of Licking river, with six pieces of
artillery. They carried this expedition so secretly, that the unwary
inhabitants did not discover them until they fired upon the forts; and,
not being prepared to oppose them, were obliged to surrender themselves
miserable captives to barbarous savages, who immediately after tomahawked
one man and two women, and loaded all the others with heavy baggage,
forcing them along toward their towns, able or unable to march. Such as
were weak and faint by the way, they tomahawked. The tender women and
helpless children fell victims to their cruelty. This, and the savage
treatment they received afterward, is shocking to humanity, and too
barbarous to relate.

The hostile disposition of the savages and their allies caused General
Clarke, the commandant at the Falls of the Ohio, immediately to begin an
expedition with his own regiment, and the armed force of the country,
against Pecaway, the principal town of the Shawanese, on a branch of
Great Miami, which he finished with great success, took seventeen scalps,
and burnt the town to ashes, with the loss of seventeen men.

About this time I returned to Kentucky with my family; and here, to avoid
an inquiry into my conduct, the reader being before informed of my
bringing my family to Kentucky, I am under the necessity of informing him
that, during my captivity with the Indians, my wife, who despaired of
ever seeing me again--expecting the Indians had put a period to my life,
oppressed with the distresses of the country,