dred and fifty
horsemen from the American border met at Mingo Bottom, where the
murderers had rendezvoused, and set out from that point to massacre
the Moravian converts who had taken refuge among the Wyandots on the
Sandusky. They expected, of course, to fight the warlike Indians, but
they openly avowed their purpose of killing all Indians, Christian or
heathen, and women and children, as well as warriors. We must therefore
call them murderers, but we must remember that they had been hardened
against mercy by the atrocities of the savages, and we must make
allowance for men who had seen their wives and little ones tomahawked
and scalped or carried off into captivity, their homes burnt, and their
fields wasted. The life of the frontier at a time when all life was so
much ruder than now was as fierce, if not as cruel, among the white men
as among the red men.

The murderers at Mingo Bottom voted whether Colonel David Williamson or
Colonel William Crawford should lead them, and their choice fell upon
Crawford. He seems to have been a man of kinder heart than his fellows,
and he unwillingly took command of the turbulent and disorderly band,
which promptly set out on its march through the wilderness towards the
Sandusky country. They had hoped to surprise the Indians, but spies
had watched their movements from the first, and when they reached the
Moravian villages on the Sandusky River, they found them deserted. They
decided then to go on toward Upper Sandusky, and if they could not reach
that town in a day's march, to beat a quick retreat. The next day they
started, but at two o'clock in the afternoon they were attacked by large
numbers of Indians hidden in the tall grass of the prairies, and they
fought a running battle till nightfall. Then both sides kindled large
fires along their lines, and fell back from them to prevent a surprise.

In the morning the Americans began their retreat, and the Indians
renewed their attack with great fury in the afternoon, on all sides
except the northeast, where the invaders were hemmed in by swamps. There
seems to have been no cause for their retreat, except the danger of an
overwhelming onset by the savages, which must have been foreseen
from the start. But the army, as it was called, was wholly without
discipline; during the night not even a sentry had been posted; and now
their fear became a panic, their retreat became a rout. They made their
way as best they could through the marshe