General Lewis with eleven hundred men began his march on the 11th of September for Point Pleasant, distant one hundred and sixty miles on the Great Kanawha. The whole distance led through a wilderness without trails, but the force had a veteran scout of the frontier to guide them over the best route. They reached their destination on the last day of the month, and formed an intrenched camp. Lewis waited for more than a week for the coming of Dunmore, but he did not arrive, and the officer was in a quandary. The action of Governor Dunmore laid him open to the gravest charges. The various explanations of his conduct will be referred to presently.
On the morning of October 10, while General Lewis was still wondering and perplexed over his failure to hear from Governor Dunmore, a white man came to him with a startling story. While he and a companion were hunting deer, they ran upon a camp of a numerous body of Indians in their war paint. They fired upon the hunters and killed one, the other escaping with great difficulty by fleet running.
The news brought by this messenger left no doubt that a large force of red men were hurrying to attack the soldiers. It is said that General Lewis coolly lit his pipe and smoked for several minutes while reflecting upon the situation. He then ordered his brother, Colonel Charles Lewis, and another officer of similar rank, to reconnoitre the approaching enemy, while the commander arranged to support them. The two regiments had gone barely a fourth of a mile, when they met the Indians, advancing to the attack.
It was early in the morning and the battle opened immediately. The Virginians had not forgotten the lesson of Braddock's defeat, and fought in the same fashion as their opponents, taking advantage of the trees, bushes, roughness of the ground, and every object that afforded protection. The conflict was long and desperate. The uniform of Colonel Lewis drew the attention of the warriors, and he soon fell mortally wounded. The Indians speedily proved their superiority and put the soldiers to flight, after having shot down a large number. In the crisis of the disorderly retreat, when a general massacre was imminent, reinforcements arrived and, by their firmness, checked the pursuit and compelled the Indians in turn to take refuge behind a breastwork of logs and bush, which they had been wise enough to prepare for such a check.
AN UNEXPECTED ATTACK
The redskins displayed rare military skill, for the breastwork alluded to extended clean across a neck of land from river to river. They had placed men on both sides of the stream, so that if the Virginians were defeated, not one of them would have been able to save himself. It is claimed that the battle which followed was the most hotly contested of any ever fought between white and red men. The Indians did not scramble for the breastwork, but gave way, foot by foot, as may be said, contesting the ground with an obstinacy that more than once made the issue doubtful. Colonel Lewis having fallen, his brother officer, Colonel Fleming, was twice wounded, but kept his command and animated others by his coolness and daring. When the reinforcements arrived at the critical moment, the tide was turned, but Colonel Field, who was leading them was killed, and Colonel Fleming, already twice hurt, was shot through the lungs, but still refused to give place to any other officer.
Behind that blazing breastwork were fifteen hundred brave warriors, of the Shawanoe, Delaware, Mingo, Wyandot, and Cayuga tribes, under the lead of Logan, Cornstalk, Red Eagle, and other famous chiefs. Cornstalk was the head sachem, and the attacking soldiers heard his ringing commands many times above the din of battle. When he saw one of his frightened men trying to run away, he sent his tomahawk in his brain. He dashed from side to side of the long line, cheering all by his example. The battle lasted from morning until late in the afternoon,—something, as has been said, unknown in similar circumstances, and still the Indians held their ground, despite the repeated and desperate charges of the soldiers.
General Lewis became intensely anxious. He was distressed at the sight of the number of his men who fell at every rush. He saw that the Indians must be routed before night, or the Virginians were almost sure to suffer disastrous defeat. He sent three companies, who, favored by the forest, reached the rear of the enemy unobserved. Then they dashed to the attack. The warriors did not believe they were a part of the force they had been fighting for hours, but thought they were reinforcements and that the Indians' only safety lay in instant flight. Just as the sun was setting they retreated across the Ohio and made for their towns along that river.
