perfectly
square and regular. They were attended by "a captain of the British
army, a sergeant, and six matrosses, provided with fixed ammunition,
suited to the calibre of two field pieces, which had been taken from
General St. Clair, and deposited in a creek near the scene of his defeat
in 1791." They expected to find this artillery, which had been hidden by
the Indians, and turn it on the fort, but the guns had been recovered by
their legitimate owners and were now used for defense. A considerable
number of white men accompanied the savages, disguised as Indians and
with blackened faces, and three British officers, dressed in scarlet,
were posted in the rear and encouraged the Indians in their repeated
assaults.

The first attack on Major McMahon was successful. Nineteen officers and
privates and two packhorsemen were killed and about thirty men wounded.
Packhorses to the number of two hundred were quickly taken. But the
Indians now made a fatal mistake. In a spirit of rashness, they rushed
on the fort. The determined legionaries, aided by McMahon's men, poured
in a murderous fire, and they fell back. Again they attacked, and again
were they repulsed. All day long they kept up a constant and vigorous
fire but it availed nothing. During the succeeding night, which was dark
and foggy, they carried off their dead.

On the next morning the attack was renewed, but great numbers of the
savages were now becoming disheartened. The loss inflicted by the
American garrison had been severe, and was mourned for months by the
Indian tribes. Forty or fifty red men had bit the dust and over a
hundred had been wounded. Disgraced and crestfallen the savage horde
retired to the Maumee. The first encounter with Wayne's army had proved
disastrous.

On the twenty-sixth of July, Wayne was joined by sixteen hundred mounted
volunteers from Kentucky under the command of Major-General Charles
Scott. Scott was a man of intrepid spirit and his men knew it. Moreover,
the Kentuckians now looked forward to certain victory, for they trusted
Wayne. On the twenty-eighth of July, the whole army moved forward to the
Indian towns on the Maumee. No finer body of men ever went forth into
the wilderness to meet a savage foe. Iron drill and constant practice at
marksmanship had done their work. Officers and men, regulars and
volunteers, were ready for the work at hand. Unlike Harmar and St.
Clair, Wayne had in his service some of the most renowned scouts a