Whilst in camp down the river the previous evening a canoe filled with friendly Indians, bearing a white flag, called upon General Gaines to inform him of their neutrality, and ascertain a place of safety to which they might remove from the dangers of the anticipated battle of the morrow. Had Gaines desired to pursue a tactful course and punish the Indians, he might have learned definitely the position of the enemy and planned a successful campaign, but he gruffly told them to be gone, and that night they returned to the village, where preparations were immediately made to abandon it, as they did the following morning. Governor Ford, who was a private of Whiteside’s battalion in this expedition, has been especially severe with Gaines in his narration of the lack of preparation and the frightful confusion which ensued, together with the peril in which the troops found themselves by Gaines’ disposition of the cannon on the heights above. It always is easy to plan an enterprise after it has been concluded and all its details fathomed by experience; much easier than before, with its uncertainties and possible failure. The Indians left; no blood was shed; no accidents happened to man or beast, and so long as the wish became a fact, though somewhat ingloriously done, there should be no cause for such acrimonious comments as Ford saw fit to record. The enemy having escaped, the volunteers were determined to leave behind them a record of their displeasure. The rain descended in torrents, and though shelter might have been found for many in the frail houses, the Indian village was put to the torch and soon consumed with flames.