St. Clair and Wayne 99 



them went a number of English and French rangers, 

 most of whom were painted and dressed like the 

 Indians. 



When they reached the fort they found camped 

 close to the walls a party of fifty dragoons and 

 ninety riflemen. These dragoons and riflemen had 

 escorted a brigade of packhorses from Greeneville 

 the day before, and having left the supplies in the 

 fort were about to return with the unladen pack- 

 horses. But soon after daybreak the Indians rushed 

 their camp. Against such overwhelming numbers 

 no effective resistance could be made. After a few 

 moments' fight the men broke and ran to the fort. 

 The officers, as usual, showed no fear, and were 

 the last to retreat, half of them being killed or 

 wounded, one of the honorably noteworthy fea- 

 tures of all these Indian fights was the large relative 

 loss among the officers. Most of the dragoons and 

 riflemen reached the fort, including nineteen who 

 were wounded; nineteen officers and privates were 

 killed, and two of the packhbrsemen were killed and 

 three captured. Two hundred packhorses were cap- 

 tured. The Indians, flushed with success and ren- 

 dered over-confident by their immense superiority 

 in numbers, made a rush at the fort, hoping to 

 carry it by storm. They were beaten back at once 

 with severe loss; for in such work they were no 

 match for their foes. They then surrounded the 

 fort, kept up a harmless fire all day, and renewed 

 it the following morning. In the night they bore 

 off their dead, finding them with the help of torches ; 



