ectually, was his
only inquiry. Securing an avenue for retreat was no part of his
strategy--for he had never an intention or thought of returning, except
as a victor. "Keeping open his communications," either with the rear or
the flanks, had no place in his system; "combined movements" he seldom
attempted, for he depended for victory, upon the force he chanced to
have directly at hand. The distance from his "base of operations" he
never measured; for he carried all his supplies about his person, and he
never looked for reinforcements. Bridges and wagon-roads he did not
require, for he could swim all the rivers, and he never lost his way in
the forest. He carried his artillery upon his shoulder, his tactics were
the maxims of Indian warfare, and his only drill was the "ball-practice"
of the woods. He was his own commissary, for he carried his "rations" on
his back, and replenished his havresack with his rifle. He needed no
quartermaster; for he furnished his own "transportation," and selected
his own encampment--his bed was the bosom of mother-earth, and his tent
was the foliage of an oak or the canopy of heaven. In most
cases--especially in battle--he was his own commander, too; for he was
impatient of restraint, and in savage warfare knew his duty as well as
any man could instruct him. Obedience was no part of his
nature--subordination was irksome and oppressive. In a word, he was an
excellent soldier, without drill, discipline or organization.

He was as active as he was brave--as untiring as he was fearless.

A corps of rangers moved so rapidly, as apparently to double its
numbers--dispersing on the Illinois or Missouri, and reassembling on the
Mississippi, on the following day--traversing the Okan timber to-day,
and fording the Ohio to-morrow. One of them, noted among the Indians for
desperate fighting, and personally known for many a bloody meeting,
would appear so nearly simultaneously in different places, as to acquire
the title of a "Great Medicine;" and instances have been known, where as
many as three distinct war-parties have told of obstinate encounters
with the same men in one day! Their apparent ubiquity awed the Indians
more than their prowess.

General Benjamin Howard, who, in eighteen hundred and thirteen resigned
the office of governor of Missouri, and accepted the appointment of
brigadier-general, in command of the militia and rangers of Missouri
and Illinois, at no time, except for a few weeks in