876

SIEGE OF FORT HARRISON.

1812.

" Lieutenant Lina T. Helm, with twenty-live non-commissioned officers and privates, and eleven women and children, were prisoners, when we separated.

" Mrs. Heald and myself were taken to the mouth of the river St. Joseph, and being both badly wounded, were permitted to reside with Mr. Buruet, an Indian trader. In a few days after our arrival there, the Indians all went off to take Fort Wayne, and in their absence I engaged a Frenchman to take us to Michilimacki-nack, by water, where I gave myself up as a prisoner of war, with one of my sergeants.

" The commanding officer, Captain Robert, offered me every assistance in his power to render our situation comfortable while we remained there, and to enable us to proceed on our journey. To him I gave my parole of honor, and reported myself to Colonel Proctor, who gave us a passage to Buffalo; from that place I came by the way of Presqu' Isle, aud arrived here yesterday."

"Thus, by the middle of August, the whole north-west, with the exception of Fort Wayne and Fort Harrison, was again in the hands of the British and their red allies. Early in September, these two posts were also attacked, and the latter, had it not been defended with the greatest vigor, would have been taken.

" The fort was invested by a large body of Indians, some of whom had affected to be friendly, and had, the day before, intimated to Captain Taylor, that an attack might soon be expected from the Prophet's party. On the evening of the 3d of September, two young men were killed near the fort; and the next day, a party of thirty or forty Indians, from the Prophet's town, appeared with a white flag, under pretense of obtaining provisions. Captain Taylor, suspecting an attack that night, examined the arms of his men, and furnished them with cartridges. The garrison was composed of no more than eighteen effective men, the commander and the greater part of his company having suffered very much from sickness. For some time past, the fort had actually been considered incapable of resisting an attack.

"About eleven o'clock, the night being very dark, the Indians had set fire to one of the block houses unperceived. Every effort was made to extinguish the flames, but without effect; a quantity of whisky amongst other stores belonging to the contractor, deposited there, blazed up, and immediately enveloped the whole in a flame.

" The situation of the fort became desperate; the yells of the Indians, the shrieks of a number of women and children within,