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Show lti AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF various positions in the door-yard with their throats cut, their scalps torn off, and the war1n life-blood still oozing fron1 their gaping wounds! In the door-way lay their father, and near him their mother, in the same condition; they had all shared the same fate. I found myself soon back at my father's house, but without the sack of corn-how I managed to get it off I never discovered-and related the circumstance to my father. He immediately gave the alar1n throughout the settlement, and a body of men started in pursuit of the savages w~o had perpe_trated this fearful tragedy; my father, With ten of his own men, accompanying them. In two days the band returned, bringing with them eighteen In~ian s~alps; for the backwoodsman fought the savage In Indian style, and it was scalp for scalp between then1. T~e day when I beheld the harrowing spectacle of my httle murdered playmates is still as fresh in my n1~mory as at the time of its occurrence, and it never ~Ill fade from my mind. It was the first scene of Indian cruelty 1ny young eyes had ever witnessed, and I wonde~·ed how even savages could possess such relentless_ min~s as to wish to bathe their hands in the blood of httle Innocents against whom they could have no cause of qua:-rel. But my subsequent experience has better ac~uainted me with the Indian character, as the reaId er Will learn in the course of the ~ 11 . 1 10 OWing pages. · ha ·s o recollect a large body of Indi"ans assem bl"I ng l~ t_ ei~ w~r costume on the opposite side of th l\,!f• - sissipp R · h e .1n.Is . I Iver, In w at is now the State of Illinois. This was at Portage de Soix twenty five "I b St L · ' ... mi es a ove . OUis, and about two miles fronl my rath ' I d th · · · li er s 1ouse · ~n eir Intention was to cut off all the white inhab~ Itants of the surrounding country Th I , · e a arm • was JA~'lES P. BECKWOURTH. 17 given; a large party of the settlers collected, crossed the river, and after a severe engagement defeated the Indians with great loss, and frustrated their bloody purposes. . Three days after this battle, a woman came Into the settlement who had been three years captive among the Indians. She had made her escape during the confusion attending their defeat, and reached her friends in safety, after they had long supposed her dead. The name of this woman I do not remember, but I have no doubt there are old settlers in that region who yet recollect the circumstance, and the general rejoicing with which her escape was celebrated. The news that she brought was of the most alarming nature. She related how several of the Indian tribes ha-d held a grand council, and resolved upon a gen~ral attack upon St. Louis and ~ll :he _s~rrounding country, with the view to butcher Indiscriminately all the white inhabitants, French and Spanish excepted. This intelligence produced the greatest alarm among the inhabitants, and every preparation was made to repel the attack. New block-houses were erected, old ones repaired, and every thing placed in the best po~ture for defense. The Indians soon after appeared In great force opposite St. Lou_is. Biondo, an_ interpreter, was dispatched across the river to then1, to Inform them of the preparations made for their reception. He informed them of the intelligence communicated by the woman fugitive from their catnp; and represented to them that the people of St. Louis were provided with numerous ''big guns mounted on wagons," which, in case of attack, could not fail to annihilate all their warriors. They credited Biondo's tale, and withdrew their forces. |
