Great Indian Chief of the West | Page 6

but the greater part of them took the road that led to the
upper gate, through the very ranks of the enemy, and were thus exposed
to the whole of their fire. About twenty persons, it is computed, met
their death in endeavoring to get within the entrenchments. None of
those within were injured, and none of the Indians were killed, at least
none of them were found. Their object was not plunder, for they did not
attempt, in their retreat, to take away with them any of the cattle or the
horses that were in the prairie, and that they might have taken; nor did
they attack any of the neighboring towns, where danger would have
been less, and the prospect of success greater. The only object they had

in view was the destruction of St. Louis; and this would seem to favor
the idea that they were instigated by the English, and gives good
ground, when connected with other circumstances, to believe that
Leyba was their aider and abettor. * * * *
"A Mr. Chancellier had gone on the day of attack, to the prairie for
strawberries, with his wife, two daughters and an American, the first
that had ever been in the country, in a cart drawn by two horses. When
they perceived the Indians, they immediately fled towards the town in
the cart; Mr. Chancellier being seated before, and the American behind,
in order to protect the women, who were in the middle. In their flight
the American was mortally wounded. As he was falling out, Mr.
Chancellier seized him and threw him into the midst of the women,
exclaiming, "they shan't get the scalp of my American." He was at the
same time struck by two balls, which broke his arm in as many places,
above the elbow. His wife received a bullet through the middle of her
hand, the elder daughter was shot through the shoulder, immediately
above the breast, and the younger was struck on the forehead, but the
ball glanced aside and merely stunned her. The moment Mr.
Chancellier arrived at the gate, his horses dropped dead, pierced with a
hundred wounds, but his family was saved."
Mr. Primm, the writer of this interesting narrative, has probably not
been fully informed in regard to the extent of Colonel George Rogers
Clark's participation in this affair. In a written memorandum now
before us, made on the authority of his brother, General William Clark
of St. Louis, who it is presumed has possession of his father's official
papers, it is stated, in reference to this affair, that although the Spanish
Governor could not be made to believe that an attack was intended, the
principal inhabitants sent over an express to Colonel Clark, who was
then at Kaskaskia with five hundred men, to come and protect them. He
accordingly marched his force up opposite the town and encamped a
little distance from the river. He did not send over any troops, but was
to do so, in case of an attack; when it was actually made Colonel Clark
crossed the river; and upon seeing the "long knives," as the Indians
called his troops, they hastily retreated, having killed seventy-two or
seventy-three of the Spaniards, before his arrival. This sudden

appearance of Colonel Clark, upon the scene of action, explains the
conduct of the Indians. So large a body of warriors, making a
preconcerted attack, upon a town but badly protected, would not, it is
thought, have given up the assault so suddenly and before they had lost
a single man, unless alarmed by the presence of a superior force. On the
supposition that Colonel Clark actually crossed the river with his troops,
the flight of the Indians is easily explained. They were probably
apprised of Colonel Clark's being at Kaskaskia, and his name was every
where a terror to the Indians. As an evidence of this, a short time
afterwards, he sent a detachment of one hundred and fifty men, as far
up the country as Prairie des Chiens, and from thence across Rock and
Illinois rivers and down to Kaskaskia, meeting with no molestation
from the Indians, who were struck with terror at the boldness of the
enterprise, saying that if so few dared to come, they "would fight like
devils."
General William H. Harrison, long familiar with the North West
Indians, in an official letter to the secretary at War, dated H.Q.
Cincinnati, March 22d, 1814, giving an able view of the Indian tribes,
makes the following remarks on the descent of this northern
confederacy, upon the great Illini nation.
"The Miamies have their principal settlements on the forks of the
Wabash, thirty miles from fort Wayne; and at Mississineway, thirty
miles lower down. A band of them, under the name of Weas, have