St. Clair and Wayne 103 



Wayne's reports are accompanied by many exam- 

 inations of Indian captives. 34 



Among these wilderness warriors who served 

 under Wayne were some who became known far 

 and wide along the border for their feats of reckless 

 personal prowess and their strange adventures. 

 They were of course all men of remarkable bodily 

 strength and agility, with almost unlimited power 

 of endurance, and the keenest eyesight; and they 

 were masters in the use of their weapons. Several 

 had been captured by the Indians when children, 

 and had lived for years with them before rejoining 

 the whites; so that they knew well the speech and 

 customs of the different tribes. 



One of these men was the captain of the spies, 

 William Wells. When a boy of twelve he had been 

 captured by the Miamis, and had grown to man- 

 hood among them, living like any other young war- 

 rior; his Indian name was Black Snake, and he 

 married a sister of the great war-chief, Little Tur- 

 tle. He fought with the rest of the Miamis, and 

 by the side of Little Turtle, in the victories the 

 Northwestern Indians gained over Harmar and St. 

 Clair, and during the last battle he killed several 

 soldiers with his own hand. Afterward, by some 

 wayward freak of mind, he became harassed by the 

 thought that perhaps he had slain some of his own 

 kinsmen ; dim memories of his childhood came back 



34 American State Papers, IV, 48r, 94. Examination of two 

 Pottawatomies captured on the $th of June; of two Shawnees 

 captured on the 22d of June; of a Shawnee captured on Aug. 

 nth, etc., etc. 



