It was truly unfortunate that these fires were not extinguished the moment the troops retired to rest; for it is certain that the Indians derived a great advantage from this circumstance in the course of the action.
The hasty charge made by Major Daviess to dislodge the Indians from behind the trees on the left of the front line, was made with only 20 of his dragoons, dismounted; and its fatal consequence to the Major, was in a great measure owing to his having on a white blanket surstuot. He was easily distinguished by the Indians, and received three balls in his body; he immediately fell, exclaiming, "I am a dead man;" he was taken up and lived, however, till the close of the action. The fall of this brave and amiable officer was greatly lamented by the army, as well as the citizens of the state of Kentucky, where he held the office of Attorney General. He volunteered his services in the expedition under Gen. Harrison, who, knowing his worth, appointed him to the command of the volunteer dragoons.
Col. Owen, another brave officer, considerably advanced in years, and acting as aid-de-camp was shot from his horse by the side of the General, and immediately expired. Judge Taylor, the other aid, had his horse shot under him; in their fall the horse came on top of the Judge, where he lay confined for some time, unable to extricate himself; he was relieved from this disagreeable situation by a soldier, who happened to pass near him.
Capt. Baen, who had been with us but a few days, was shockingly mangled with the tomahawk;—he was taken up in a delirious state, and died a short time afterwards.—There was but one other instance of any person being tomahawked in this engagement; which was a private soldier of Capt. Snelling's company, upon a charge in the midst of the Indians.
Gen. Harrison received a shot through the rim of his hat. In the heat of the action, his voice was frequently heard and easily distinguished, giving his orders in the same calm, cool, and collected manner with which we had been used to receive them on a drill or parade.—The confidence of the troops in the General was unlimited, and his measures were well calculated to gain the particular esteem of the 4th Regt. All kinds of petty punishments, inflicted without authority, for the most trifling errors of the private soldier, by the pompous sergeant, or the insignificant corporal,[ [1] were at once prohibited.—A prohibition of other grievances which had too long existed, in this Regiment, at once fixed in the breast of every soldier, an affectionate and lasting regard for their General. The benefit of which was fully realized in the conduct of the troops in the engagement, as well as throughout the campaign.
After the action, a soldier of the Kentucky militia, discovered an Indian at some distance above the encampment, leading a horse out of the woods, into some high grass in the prairie; he caught his rifle and made after him. The Indian had loaded his horse with two others wounded, and was returning, when the Kentuckian gave a whoop, discharged his rifle, brought the Indian down, and returned in triumph to the camp, leading in his horse.
One Indian only broke through the lines into the encampment, and he was immediately afterwards dispatched by Capt. Adams, the pay-master of the regiment.
The force of the enemy in the engagement could never be correctly ascertained; but from the best information that could be obtained, it was calculated to amount to between ten and twelve hundred warriors, headed by Winnemac, a Kickapoo Chief,—and that they lost about four hundred in killed and wounded. Our loss amounted to forty-one killed, and one hundred forty-seven wounded. The names of those of the 4th regt are given in the latter part of this Journal.
A Potawatimie Chief was found severely wounded on the field, sometime after the action. He was brought before the General, and expressed the greatest sorrow at what had happened—and accused the Prophet of deceiving them. His wounds were dressed by the surgeon, and the best care taken of him while he remained with us on the ground. The Gen. left with him a speech to be delivered to the Indians, if they should return to the battle ground.
Nov. 8.—A small detachment of mounted men were ordered to advance to the Prophet's town, and see what had become of the Indians. They entered the town and found an aged squaw only, who informed them that the Indians had left it in great haste, immediately after the action, and had crossed the Wabash.—It was a handsome little Indian village of between one and two hundred huts or cabins, and a large store house, containing about 3,000 bushels of corn and beans. In their hasty retreat they left many articles of value to themselves, which except a few were destroyed in the conflagration of the town.