In the Current of the Revolution 283 



portance was slain ; whereas the Americans had sev- 

 enteen officers killed or wounded, and lost in suc- 

 cession their second, third, and fourth in command. 

 The victors buried their own dead and left the 

 bodies of the vanquished to the wolves and ravens. 

 At midnight, after the battle, Col. Christian and his 

 Fincastle men reached the ground. 



The battle of the Great Kanawha was a purely 

 American victory, for it was fought solely by the 

 backwoodsmen themselves. Their immense supe- 

 riority over regular troops in such contests can be 

 readily seen when their triumph on this occasion is 

 compared with the defeats previously suffered by 

 Braddock's grenadiers and Grant's highlanders, at 

 the hands of the same foes. It was purely a sol- 

 diers' battle, won by hard individual fighting; there 

 was no display of generalship, except on Corn- 

 stalk's part. 42 It was the most closely contested of 

 any battle ever fought with the Northwestern In- 

 dians; and it was the only victory gained over a 

 large body of them by a force but slightly superior 

 in numbers. 43 Both because of the character of the 



Smith, who wrote from the Indian side, makes their loss 

 only 28 ; but this apparently does not include the loss of the 

 Western Indians, the allies of the Shawnees, Mingos, and 

 Delawares. 



42 Smyth, the Englishman, accuses Lewis of cowardice, an 

 accusation which deserves no more attention than do the 

 similar accusations of treachery brought against Dunmore. 

 Brantz Mayer speaks in very hyperbolic terms of the "relent- 

 less Lewis," and the "great slaughter" of the Indians. 



43 Wayne won an equally decisive victory, but he outnum- 

 bered his foes three to one. Bouquet, who was almost beaten, 



