Two hundred men were ordered to cut timber and to prepare to raise a garrison. The ground laid out for the garrison is on the south side of the Maumee River, nearly opposite the confluence of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph rivers. Three men deserted from the First Sublegion. Today the men began to draw full rations of flour, which had been stopped for some time.
September 26, 1794
No salt is available. I received a letter from Lieutenant Lee at Fort Defiance. He informs me that eleven men have actually deserted; and eight more are missing—either killed, deserted, or taken; the total rises to twenty-one, all since the thirteenth of this month. Miller, one of our spies, brought word that he had discovered an Indian and the trail of fourteen or fifteen more. A party of Kentucky volunteers was immediately dispatched after them and overtook them at sundown; but before they could complete their preparations for attack, the Indians had discovered them and had escaped unharmed. The fish basket is nearly completed.
September 27, 1794
Large hailstones fell during a heavy hailstorm, which lasted ten minutes.
September 28, 1794 (Sunday)
A man deserted from Captain Thompson’s company, now commanded by Captain Bines. This desertion seems somewhat extraordinary after McClellan’s [Robert McClellan, or McClelland, afterwards a famous trapper of the Rocky Mountains and immortalized in Washington Irving’s ASTORIA] report to the commander that he had, in accordance with orders, killed one of the deserters he was sent after and had seen two more who were killed and scalped. The contractors are out of beef and bread, and not a grain of salt is to be had. Major Price arrived bringing with him one hundred fifty bullocks. He informed me that four or five waiters, who had been sent for stores for officers, and who had preceded the escort, were killed about five miles from Greenville. Nelly Bundy was taken at the same time.
September 29, 1794
A heavy rain began at 4:00 p.m. The storm, accompanied with thunder and a whirlwind, blew down the top of a very large tree within a few steps of General Wayne’s marquee.
October 2, 1794