The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
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 manhood
among them, living like any other young warrior; his Indian name was
Black Snake, and he married a sister of the great war-chief, Little
Turtle. 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. Afterwards, 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 to him; and he resolved
to leave his Indian wife and half-breed children and rejoin the people
of his own color. Tradition relates that on the eve of his departure he
made his purpose known to Little Turtle, and added, "We have long been
friends; we are friends yet, until the sun stands so high [indicating
the place] in the heavens; from that time we are enemies and may kill
one another." Be this as it may, he came to Wayne, was taken into high
favor, and made chief of scouts, and served loyally and with signal
success until the end of the campaign. After the campaign he was joined
by his Indian wife and his children; the latter grew up and married well
in the community, so that their blood now flows in the veins of many of
the descendants of the old pioneers. Wells himself was slain by the
Indians long afterwards, in 1812, at the Chicago massacre.
Surprise of an Indian Party.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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