I told him of the mighty gathering at Chillicothe and of the influx of the fierce Ottawas. Lost Sister’s warning to me to keep clear of the Great Kanawha impressed him deeply. It convinced him, I think, that the astute Cornstalk had planned to attack the army before it could cross the Ohio, and that the Shawnees on learning of the assembling at the levels knew the advance must be down the Kanawha. The Indian who escaped after Clay was killed was back on the Scioto by this time. After musing over it for a bit he insisted that it did not necessarily follow the attack would be in force.
“That was Cornstalk’s first plan. But now he knows Governor Dunmore has an army at the mouth of the Little Kanawha. He may choose to attack him instead of me. I hope not, but there’s a strong chance he’ll do that while making a feint to fool me, and then float down the river and give me a real battle.”
He kindly offered to attach me to one of the companies as sergeant, with the possibility of appointing me an ensign, but I preferred to act as scout and enjoy more independence of action.
“That’s the trouble,” he remarked. “All these fellows want to be scouts and range the woods free of discipline. They want to whip the Indians but they want to do it their own way. They persist in wasting ammunition, and it now looks as if we would go into battle with less than one-fourth of a pound of powder per man.
“If any man speaks up and says he is the best marksman in Virginia then every man within hearing challenges him to prove it. And they’ll step one side and have a shooting-match, even if they know Cornstalk’s army is within a couple of miles of us. They’re used to bear- and deer-meat. They don’t want to eat bullock-meat. I’ll admit the beef is a bit tough. And every morning some of them break the rules by stealing out to kill game. This not only wastes powder, but keeps the outposts alarmed.”
Before I was dismissed I asked about Cousin. The colonel’s face became animated.
“Oh, the young man with the sad history? He’s out on a scout. That fellow is absolutely fearless. I am surprised every time he lives to return to make a report. It’s useless to lay down a route for him to scout; he prowls where he will. But he’s valuable, and we let him have his own way.”
On the next day we marched to the mouth of the Elk where Colonel Charles Lewis was completing arrangements for transporting the supplies down the river. While at that camp I went on my first scout and found Indian tracks. One set of them measured fourteen inches in length. The men went and looked at the signs before they would accept my measurements.
The camp was extremely busy, for we all knew the crisis was drawing close. Our armorer worked early and late unbreeching the guns having wet charges. Three brigades of horses were sent back to Camp Union for more flour. I went with Mooney on a scout up Coal River and we found Indian signs four miles from camp. Other scouts were sent down the Kanawha and up the Elk.
On returning, I found Cousin impatiently waiting for me to come in. He had changed and his bearing puzzled me. He was given to laughing loudly at the horse-play of the men, yet his eyes never laughed. I took him outside the camp and without any circumlocution related the facts concerning his sister and Kirst.