ordered him to unite with him (Clark) at the mouth of the Miami, up which river it was previously designed to proceed; but the General having changed his plan, left a small party at the Miami, with directions to Lochry to follow him to the mouth of the falls. Sundry accounts agree that this party, and all of Lochry's troops, to a man, were waylaid by the Indians and British, (for it is said they had artillery) and all killed or taken, not a man escaping, either to join General Clark or to return home." In a journal kept by General Richard Butler, while attending a conference with the Ohio Indians at the mouth of the Great Miami, in the winter of 1785-6, he designates Lochry's creek, about seven miles south of the Great Miami, on the north side of the Ohio, as the scene of this tragedy. "Col. Lochry," he says, "and his party were defeated and cut to pieces by Brant and his people, who perfectly surprised Lochry." It is singular that our historical compilations contain so slight a reference to a battle which resulted in the destruction of more than a hundred whites, especially as, in the language of Gen. Irvine, "Lochry's party were the best men of the frontier." In the disastrous battle of Blue Licks, the Kentucky loss was but seventy-six, although on that occasion there were many survivors, to report as well as to revenge the horrors of the day. But at Lochry's creek a hecatomb of brave spirits died and gave no sign.1

In the spring of 1782, occurred the Moravian campaign, already noticed in the narrative of the mission on the Muskingum.

It was immediately followed by active preparations for a

4) Craig's Olden Time, vol. ii., 541. Gen. Butler was doubtless mistaken, if he supposed that the leader of the Indians engaged in the slaughter of Lochry's party, was the Mohawk chieftain, Joseph Brant.

volunteer expedition against the new settlement of the Christian Indians and the Wyandot and Delaware towns, on the head waters of the Sandusky. The enterprise was conducted with secrecy and dispatch; the men were all mounted, and furnished themselves with all their outfits, except some ammunition which was supplied by the Lieutenant Colonel of Washington county.

On the 20th of May, 1782, the volunteers assembled at the deserted Mingo village, on the west bank of the Ohio, seventy-five miles below Pittsburgh. No estimate of their number is less than four hundred and fifty. Here, Colonel William Crawford, the agent and friend of Washington, was elected to the command. Col. David Williamson was an unsuccessful candidate for the post, and accompanied the expedition.

On Saturday, the 25th of May, the army commenced its march, and on the fourth day reached Shoenbrun, on the Muskingum, finding sufficient corn in the adjacent fields for a night's forage of their horses. On the morning of the 30th, Major Brunton and Capt. Bean, being a few hundred yards in advance of the troops, observed two Indians skulking through the woods, apparently observing the movements of the detachment. Although fired upon, they escaped. From the excitement and confusion of his troops on this slight occasion, Crawford was held to apprehend the worst consequences from their want of discipline.

It had been supposed that the expedition would surprise the Indians, but the spies of the latter had hovered near the army during the whole route, visiting each encampment the day after it was abandoned, and transcribing from the trees where some loungers had carved the words, that "No quarter was to be given to any Indian, whether man, woman or child."

The savages were alert and ready to repel the invaders, who now pressed rapidly forward.

"Nothing material happened," says Doddridge, "until the sixth day, when their guides conducted them to the site of the Moravian village, on one of the upper branches of the Sandusky river, but here, instead of meeting with Indians and plunder, they found nothing but vestiges of desolation. The place was covered with high grass, and the remains of a few huts alone announced that the place had been the residence of the people whom they intended to destroy." The removal of the missionaries to Detroit, and the dispersion of the congregation a few weeks before, thus proved a providential interposition in their behalf.

The accounts of what followed are very conflicting. The men here insisted upon returning, as their horses were jaded and the stock of provisions nearly exhausted. The officers held a council and determined to march one day longer, and if they should not meet the enemy in the course of the day, to retreat. Doddridge states that the army commenced their march next morning, which was continued until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the advance guard was attacked and driven in by the Indians, who were discovered in large numbers in the high grass with which the plain was covered. Another version is, that on the eleventh day of the march, "the army reached the spot where the town of Sandusky had formerly stood, but from which the Indians had lately removed to a spot about eighteen miles below"-that here a council was held with the result already mentioned; and that "just as the council broke up," one of the advance guards arrived with the intelligence that the Indians had appeared in force a few miles in advance." If the army, all of whom were

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5) McClung's Western Adventure, 120.

mounted, had advanced beyond the Moravian town from sunrise on a June day, until two hours after noon, the distance to the place where the Indians were discovered would have been more than a "few miles."

The traditions of Wyandot county represent the scene of the engagement which ensued as three miles north of the Upper Sandusky of a modern map, and one mile west of the Sandusky River. A spot near Leesville or Leesburg in Crawford county, is called "the battle ground," from a tradition that there, Crawford, on his way to Upper Sandusky, had a skirmish with the Indians. If the route of his march was so far north as Leesville, and we admit the statement of a six hours' progress between the Moravian towns and the battle field, it becomes probable that the temporary settlement of the Christian Indians was in the vicinity of Bucyrus, whence a westward march of six hours before meeting the enemy, might have occurred.

The discrepancy is not merely whether the alarm of an enemy in advance, was communicated to the army "just as the council broke up" or after a six hours' further march; but it includes a contradiction as to the locality of the Moravian settlement on the Sandusky. McClung makes it within a short distance of the Indian ambuscade-Doddridge, a full half day's journey by a mounted body of men. McClung's Narrative is consistent with the opinion that the council was held at the old Indian town of Upper Sandusky, which would also be the site of the Moravian settlement, and stood on the bank of the Sandusky River, four miles north-east of the present town of Upper Sandusky. Heckewelder's Narrative describes the destination of the captive congregation in a manner favorable to this view of the case. "On the 11th of October" (1781,) he says "they arrived at the old Up

per Sandusky town, which is on the east branch of the river of that name, where the Half King and his party left them and proceeded nine or ten miles further to their homes." Heckewelder also mentions that Pipestown was ten miles distant.

All the accounts unite that there were two Wyandot villages (of which one, Upper Sandusky Old Town, was probably deserted at this time) and one Delaware village, the residence of Captain Pipe. The latter was situated on the Tymochtee, about eight miles above its junction with the Sandusky, and we assume that New Wyandot Town, probably the residence of Half King, was at Big Spring, now Springville in Seneca county. These localities are ascertained with a fair degree of certainty, and rest upon the authority of Col. John Johnston, and Joseph McCutchen Esq., of Wyandot county. The only doubt is raised by Doddridge's Narrative, whether Old Town of Upper Sandusky was the Moravian village. We incline to the affirmative belief, and that the council of war was held within a short distance of the battle field.

With these explanations, we resume the narrative of the battle of Sandusky Plains.

The main body of the Indians had stationed themselves in a grove of trees. Crawford immediately ordered his men to dismount, tie their horses, and force the enemy from this position, which was done. The Indians continued their fire from the high grass of the prairie. Doddridge relates that the savages attempted to gain a small skirt of wood on Crawford's right flank, but were prevented by the vigilance and bravery of Major Leet, who commanded the right wing; while McClung's statement is, that Crawford was outflanked and exposed, except as the wood was a partial shelter, to a severe fire on every side. From four o'clock until dark, the

6) Heckewelder's Narrative of Indian Missions, 281, 285.