The word "Retreat" being past around, there was a dismal cry
Then helter-skelter through the woods, like wolves and sheep they fly;
This well-appointed army, who, but a day before,
Defied and braved all danger, had like a cloud pass'd o'er.
Alas! the dying and wounded, how dreadful was the thought,
To the tomahawk and scalping-knife, in mis'ry are brought;
Some had a thigh and some an arm broke on the field that day,
Who writhed in torments at the stake, to close the dire affray.
To mention our brave officers is what I wish to do;
No sons of Mars e'er fought more brave, or with more courage true.
To Captain Bradford I belonged, in his artillery;
He fell that day amongst the slain, a valiant man was he.
No. VIII.
[Reference from Page 314.]
Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Massy Harbison, in the Spring of 1792, who resided in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, together with the Murder of her children, her own Escape, &c.
On the return of my husband from General St. Clair's defeat, mentioned in a preceding chapter, and on his recovery from the wound he received in the battle, he was made a spy, and ordered to the woods on duty, about the 22d of March, 1792. The appointment of spies to watch the movements of the savages was so consonant with the desires and interests of the inhabitants, that the frontier now resumed the appearance of quiet and confidence. Those who had for nearly a year been huddled together in the block-house were scattered to their own habitations, and began the cultivation of their farms. The spies saw nothing to alarm them, or to induce them to apprehend danger, till the fatal morning of my captivity. They repeatedly came to our house, to receive refreshments and to lodge. On the 15th of May, my husband, with Captain Guthrie and other spies, came home about dark, and wanted supper; to procure which I requested one of the spies to accompany me to the spring and spring-house, and Mr. William Maxwell complied with my request. While he was at the spring and spring-house, we both distinctly heard a sound like the bleating of a lamb or fawn. This greatly alarmed us, and induced us to make a hasty retreat into the house. Whether this was an Indian decoy, or a warning of what I was to pass through, I am unable to determine. But from this time and circumstance, I became considerably, alarmed, and entreated my husband to remove me to some more secure place from Indian cruelties. But Providence had designed that I should become a victim to their rage, and that mercy should be made manifest in my deliverance.
On the night of the 21st of May, two of the spies, Mr. John Davis and Mr. Sutton, came to lodge at our house, and on the morning of the 22d, at day-break, when the horn blew at the block-house, which was within sight of our house, and distant about two hundred yards, the two men got up and went out. I was also awake, and saw the door open, and thought, when I was taken prisoner, that the scouts had left it open. I intended to rise immediately; but having a child at the breast, and it being awakened, I lay with it at the breast to get it to sleep again, and accidentally fell asleep myself.
The spies have since informed me that they returned to the house again, and found that I was sleeping; that they softly fastened the door, and went immediately to the block-house; and those who examined the house after the scene was over, say both doors had the appearance of being broken open.