INDIAN AFFECTION FOR WHITE COMRADES. 221 



Indian friends at the last, with bitter tears and manifest- 

 ations of heartfelt grief on both sides; they positively 

 refused to return to the settlements or to acknowledge 

 their nearest kin, some of whom stood by endeavouring 

 to regain their affections by every means in their 

 power, until finally they had to be separated from their red 

 companions by force. In the cases of children, who 

 retained but a faint remembrance of home, these cases 

 were very numerous, and the little creatures abundantly 

 testified by their shrieks and struggles their unwillingness 

 to part with their Indian foster-parents. 



We think a description of this scene, given by an 

 eye-witness, is quite worthy of being reproduced in 

 confirmation of this remarkable historical incident : 



" And here " (he says) " I enter on a scene which language 

 can but weakly describe. I mean the arrival of the prisoners 

 in camp, where were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing 

 and clasping their long lost babes: husbands hanging round 

 the necks of newly recovered wives," etc., etc. "The Indians 

 too, as if wholly forgetting their usual savageness, bore a capital 

 part in heightening this most affecting scene. They delivered up 

 their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance, shed torrents 

 of tears over them, recommending them to the care and protec- 

 tion of the commanding officer. Their regard continued all the 

 time they remained in camp. They visited them from day to 

 day, and brought corn, skins, and horses, and other presents 

 with all the marks of the most sincere and tender affection. 

 When the army marched, they obtained leave to accompany 

 them, and employed themselves in hunting for them on the 

 road. A young Mingo carried this still further, and gave an 

 instance of his love which would make a figure, even in ro- 

 mance. A young woman of Virginia was among the cap- 

 tives, whom he called his wife; and against all remonstrances 

 of the imminent danger to which he exposed himself by ap- 



