A KIND INDIAN.



put them on my feet,    Having reached i
Stony Cieek, live miles from   the bat-
tle   ground,     where     the     Brit-
ish  and   Indians  camped    the  night
before the battle of the 22d of January,
their camp fires were still burning, and
many had stopped with their prisoners to
warm. In a short time I discovered some
commotion among them. An Indian toma-
hawked Ebenezer Blythe, of Lexington.
Immediately the Indian who had taken me 1
resumed his march, and soon overtook his
father, v. hom I understood to be an old
chief. They stopped by the roadside, and
directed me to a seat on a log and proceeded
topaint me. We reached Brownstown about
sundown in the evening, when having a
small ear of corn A e placed it in the fire for
a short time, and then made our supper on
it. A blanket was spread on bark in front
of the fire, and I pointed to lie down. My
captor finding my neck and shoulder so stiff
that I could not get my bead back, immedi-
ately took some of his plunder and placed
under my head and covered me with a
blanket.  Many Indians, with several pris-
oners, came into the council house after-
ward, and they employed themselves dress-
mg, in hoops, the scalps of our troops. There
was the severest thunder storm that night
witnessed at that time of the year. The
water ran under the blanket, and the ground
being lower in the centre around the fire, I
awoke some time before day and found my-
self lying in the water, possibly two iches
deep, got up and dried myself as well as I
could. About daybreak they resumed their
march toward Detroit, stopping on the way
and painting me again. We reached Detroit
about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and as
we passed along the street, a number of
women approached us, and entreated the
Indians not to kill me. Passing on, we met
two  British officers on horseback, and
stopped and chatted with the Indians, ex-
ulting with them in the victory, to whom
the women appealed in mv behalf, but they
paid no more regard to me than if I had
been a dog. I passed the night with the
Indians at the house of a white woman in
the city, who the next morning asked lib-
erty to give me a cup of tea, with a. loaf of
bread and butter.  In the afternoon the
Indians paraded with their prisoners and
the trophies, scoip, and marched to the
fort.  After remaining some time in the
guard-house, where all the prisoners were
suriendered but myself, my captors arose
to leave with me. When we reached the
door the guard stopped me. which seemed
to excite the Indians considerably. Major
Muir, commanding the fort, was immediate-



ly called for, and entered into a treaty for
myt release. It was said he gave as a ran-
som for me an old broken down nack horse
and a keg of whisky. My Indian captor
took affectionate leave of me, with a promise
to see me again. Let me here say my
Indian captor exhibited more the principle
of the man and the soldier than all the
British I had been brought in contact with
up to the time I met Major Muir. The next
day the British officers, Hale and Watson,
invited me to mess with them so long as I
remained in the fort. . Three or four days
afterward and the day before our officers,
Winchester, Madison and Lewis, were to
leave for the Niagtra nver, one of these
officers accompanied me across the Detroit
river to tiandwich. When passing to the
hotel where they were, when I became op-
posite the dining-room door, I saw Major
Madison sitting down to supper.    The
temptation was so strong I entered the door,
to the astonishment of the Major and other
officers, who supposed 1 had been murdered
with many other prisoners. I am con-
strained to acknowledge the great mercy of
God in my preservation thus far. On the
following morning, when arrangements
were being made for transportation of
officers to Fort George, but none for me, my
heart felt like sinking within me at the
thought of being left to the care of those I
had no confidence whatever in. Providen-
tially a Canadian lieutenant was listening
and as soon as all, both British and Ameri-
can officers, left the room, nobly came to me
and said: "I have a good span of horses and
a good carryall. You are welcome to a seat
with me." I joyfully accepted his offer,
and I herebv acknowledge that I met in his
person a whole-souled man and soldier,
through whose kindness, mainly, I reached
Niagara river. When I was once more per-
mitted to look on that much loved flag of
our country, and paroled and put across the
INiaeara liver on American soil, then, with
all the suffering, I felt that I could once
more breathe freely. I have again to ac-
knowledge the goodness of God, in provid-
ing for reaching my home and friends, after
travelinz more than 1,000 miles, badly
woundcd, a half-ounce ball buried in my
shoulder. But I lived to be fully avenged
upon the enemies of my country in the bat-
tle of the 8tb of January, 1915, below New
Orleans. I have omitted many minor in-
cidents that were in this communication,
the writing of which has given great pain
in mv wounded shoulder.
                    THOMAS P. DUDLEY.
  Lexington, Ky., Jfay 26, 1870.



4