Like his predecessor, Gaines expected to reap a rich harvest of laurels, and, like the former, was he doomed to disappointment. Again, it was the cypress wreath.
Without delay, our army—reinforced by fresh troops from Louisiana and elsewhere—was put in motion, and once more marched upon the “Cove.”
We reached the banks of the Amazura, but never crossed that fatal stream—equally fatal to our glory as our lives. This time, the Indians crossed.
Almost upon the ground of the former action—with the difference that it was now upon the nether bank of the stream—we were attacked by the red warriors; and, after some hours of sharp skirmishing, compelled to shelter our proud battalions within the protecting pickets of a stockade! Within this inclosure we were besieged for a period of nine days, scarcely daring to trust ourselves outside the wooden walls. Starvation no longer stared us in the face—it had actually come upon us; and but for the horses we had hitherto bestrode—with whose flesh we were fain to satisfy the cravings of our appetites—one half the army of “Camp Izard” would have perished of hunger.
We were saved from destruction by the timely arrival of a large force that had been dispatched to our rescue under Clinch, still commanding his brigade. Having marched direct from Fort King, our former general had the good fortune to approach the enemy from their rear, and, by surprising our besiegers, disentangled us from our perilous situation.
The day of our delivery was memorable by a singular incident—an armistice of a peculiar character.
Early in the morning, while it was yet dark, a voice was heard hailing us from a distance, in a loud “Ho there!—Halloa!”
It came from the direction of the enemy—since we were surrounded, it could not be otherwise—but the peculiar phraseology led to the hope that Clinch’s brigade had arrived.
The hail was repeated, and answered; but the hope of a rescue vanished when the stentorian voice was recognised as that of Abram, the black chief, and quondam interpreter of the council.
“What do you want?” was the interrogatory ordered by the commander-in-chief.