-62 The Winning of the West 



artillery was thus almost silenced, and the Indians 

 emboldened by success swarmed forward and seized 

 the guns, while at the same time a part of the left 

 wing of the army began to shrink back. But the 

 Indians were now on comparatively open ground, 

 where the regulars could see them and get at them; 

 and under St. Glair's own leadership the troops 

 rushed fiercely at the savages, with fixed bayonets, 

 and drove them back to cover. By this time the 

 confusion and disorder were great ; while from every 

 hollow and grass patch, from behind every stump 

 and tree and fallen log, the Indians continued their 

 fire. Again and again the officers led forward the 

 troops in bayonet charges ; and at first the men fol- 

 lowed them with a will. Each charge seemed for a 

 moment to be successful, the Indians rising in 

 swarms and running in headlong flight from the 

 bayonets. In one of the earliest, in which Colonel 

 Darke led his battalion, the Indians were driven sev- 

 eral hundred yards across the branch of the Wabash ; 

 but when the Colonel halted and rallied his men, he 

 found that the savages had closed in behind him, 

 and he had to fight his way back, while the foe he 

 had been driving at once turned and harassed his 

 rear. He was himself wounded, and lost most of 

 his command. On re-entering camp he found the 

 Indians again in possession of the artillery and bag- 

 gage, from which they were again driven ; they had 

 already scalped the slain who lay about the guns. 

 Major Thomas Butler had his thigh broken by a 

 bullet; but he continued on horseback, in command 



