seen at the Indian village near the mouth of
Auglaize only a few weeks before by the late
Captain Wells (Indian agent, who was killed
by the Indians at the capture of Chicago, in
the late war with Great Britain), then a prisoner
at large among the Indians. 13

13 Captain William Wells, son of a prominent Ken
tucky family, was, like Spencer, carried into captivity
as a boy by the Indians. Unlike Spencer, however,
Wells was not rescued therefrom. He grew up among
the Indians, married a daughter of the noted chief,
Little Turtle, and became noted for his prowess as
a warrior. He took part in St. Glair s defeat, and
there is no inherent improbability in the story that he
slew several of the Americans on this occasion. Not
long after, however, he decided to abandon his Indian
life and rejoin his native race. His knowledge of
the Indians made him a valuable addition to the
white ranks, and he served as chief of scouts in
Wayne s campaign of 1794. Notwithstanding his de
sertion of them, the red men continued to hold him in
esteem, and at the Treaty of Greenville which closed
this period of Indian warfare the Miami especially re
quested that Wells be sent among them as Indian

51



With the dawn of the morning of the eighth
of July the Indians awoke, and untying the
cord with which I was bound we all arose.
Our scanty breakfast was soon made from the
remains of the raccoon which had furnished
our supper; our baggage, consisting of two
blankets, a bridle, a cord, and a scalp was
shouldered, the priming of the rifles was ex
amined, and before the sun rose we were
marching in single file, my master in front,
myself in the center, and the White Loon
bringing up the rear, in the direct course of
the Shawnee villages. The morning of this
day was very pleasant: the sky was clear and
the air balmy and refreshing; the ground, less
broken and hilly, was covered with verdure;
the tall woods through which we passed were
beautiful, and but for the condition in which I
was, a captive whose every step bore him
farther from friends and home, I should have
been delighted. As it was, however, my mind
by degrees became more cheerful and my
spirits began to resume their native elasticity.

About noon this day, passing along the east
side of a hill beyond which there appeared to be
a large opening, the Indians moved cautiously,
half bent and with trailed rifles. Proceeding

agent. Thereafter his home was at Fort Wayne
until he met his death in 1812 in a vain effort to
rescue the doomed Fort Dearborn garrison from im
pending destruction. For a fuller account of Wells
career and death, see the editor s Chicago and the
Old Northwest, 224-28.

52



of



about half a mile we halted in a deep ravine,
when White Loon, taking the bridle and pur
suing a westerly course down the hollow, soon
disappeared. In about ten minutes, however,
he returned, mounted on a fine cream-colored
horse which he had just stolen, and taking me
up behind him trotted off several miles, the
other Indian following, until coming to a thick
undergrowth we slackened our pace into a
brisk walk. Here we found a faint trace which,
pursuing a few miles, led us into a plain path
which I afterwards learned was the Indians
war path.

The Indians seemed highly pleased with
their late acquisition, riding by turns the
spirited animal, and, occasionally taking me
behind them, greatly relieved me from fatigue.
But, alas! how uncertain are the comforts of
this world ! About the middle of the afternoon
the horse suddenly became dull and seemingly
sullen, so that with difficulty he could be urged
forward. At length he stopped short, when in
vain did the White Loon on foot apply the
hickory: the horse only stood and kicked. In
vain did the other Indian, dismounting, en
deavor to lead him forward; he would proceed
no farther. He had been violently attacked
with either bots or colic, and now lying sud
denly began to roll and groan, sometimes
struggling with every limb and sometimes dash
ing his head against the ground. The Indians
stood over him, now beating him severely and

53



Cajrtiiritp



now talking to him in Indian as if expostulating
with him or threatening him with vengeance in
case of his remaining stubborn; at length my
master, seizing his rifle as if to shoot him, be
gan in broken English to curse him, and after
loading the poor animal with all the oppro
brious epithets he could think of, left him lying
in the path.

We encamped this evening about sunset in
a low rich bottom near a beautiful stream;
where having made a fire and roasted part of
a young fawn which White Loon a few min
utes before had killed, we ate a very hearty
supper, though without salt or bread, neither
of which did we taste until we arrived at the
Indian villages. After supper, taking a small
piece of tobacco and cutting it fine by passing
the edge of his knife between his forefinger
and thumb, receiving it as thus prepared into
the palm of his left hand, the White Loon with
great solemnity and apparent devotion sprinkled
a few grains of it on the coals, an offering, as
I afterwards understood, to the Great Spirit,
moving his lips as if uttering some petition;
then, mingling the residue with some dried
sumach leaves which he drew from his bullet
pouch and filling the bowl of his tomahawk,
serving as a pipe, first smoked a few whiffs,
then handed the pipe to his companion, who
also smoking a few minutes returned it; the
Indians thus alternately puffing until the to
bacco was consumed, frequently filling their

54



of



mouths with smoke and forcing it through
their nostrils, closing their brief use of the
pipe with a peculiar suck of the breath and
a slight grinding of the teeth. The day had
been remarkably fine; we had traveled with
short intermissions from early dawn until sun
set, a distance of at least forty miles; and very
weary, myself at least, we lay down before
our fire under a spreading beech and soon fell
into a profound sleep.

But we had slept only a few hours when we
were awakened by the roar of a tremendous
hurricane passing only a few rods north of us,
prostrating the trees with a terrible crash and
carrying devastation in its broad track. Over
our heads the thunders broke with deafening
peals and the lightnings seemed a constant
sheet of flame, while from the black dense
cloud that was furiously sweeping eastward
it sent its vivid bolts athwart and onward,
passing the storm with the rapidity of thought.
I had sprung from the ground and, gazing on
the awful scene, stood motionless with terror.
I feared that the great day of God s wrath
was come," and felt that I was not "able to
stand "; I vowed to God that if he would spare
me I would dedicate to him my future life;
but alas! no sooner had the fury of the storm
passed and the thunder, now distant, ceased to
terrify me, than my vows to God were forgot
ten and the thoughts of the great white throne
were banished. Expecting every moment to

55



perish, I stood for some minutes unconscious of
the presence of a human being; but my terror
a little subsiding, looking at the Indians who
were standing near me I saw them perfectly
calm, apparently insensible of danger, gazing
with a sort of delighted wonder; and frequent
ly, as from the dense cloud shot some more
vivid bolt with more deafening peal, expressing
their admiration with their customary exclama
tion, Wawhaugh! waugh!

On the morning of the ninth the sun rose
brightly above the cloudless horizon and shone
upon a sky as clear and beautiful as if it had
never been darkened by clouds or torn by
tempests; and but for the bent treetops above
us, the fallen branches around us, and the
widespread devastation before us, one would
scarcely have believed that in the heavens now
so bright and tranquil, desolation and terror
had so lately held their empire. Breakfasting
early, we pursued our journey; but our prog
ress for the first half hour was slow and very
difficult, having sometimes to climb over the
large bodies of the fallen trees, or to wind
around their uptorn roots; and sometimes to
creep through their tops, interwoven with the
underwood. One who has never seen the
effects of a tornado can have but a faint idea
of its power and operation. Here, for at least
a quarter of a mile in width and many miles
in length not a tree had been able to with
stand its force; not only were the largest trees

56



of <. ffi* fencer



torn up by the roots, but many one and even
two feet in diameter were twisted off, some
near to the ground and others ten or twenty
feet from it, apparently with as much ease as
a man would break off a slender twig.

Passing at length the fallen trees arid travel
ing on a few hours, on hearing the sound of a
bell we halted not far from a small opening on
our left. Here Wawpawmawquaw left us,
again taking a westerly direction, and in about
half an hour returned with an old black horse,
probably a packhorse belonging to the army, that
had given out and afterwards strayed off. Sus
pended from his neck by a broad leather strap
was a large bell, which was now stuffed with
grass to prevent its tinkling. This horse, though
very far inferior to the one we had lost, was
esteemed a valuable acquisition, particularly by
me; for my feet had now become sore from
walking, and I was delighted with the oppor
tunity of relief which riding afforded. Mounted
upon the old horse, a natural pacer, I now rode
very pleasantly, enjoying the comfort thus
accidentally afforded me without interruption,
for the Indians seemed not at all disposed to
share it with me.

Having halted at noon and taken some re
freshment we traveled on until about six
o clock, when passing along the side of a
ridge into a low bottom, we stopped on the
south bank of a beautiful stream (which I have
since been told by the White Loon is Buck

57



f)e



Creek) in the edge of a grove covering both
banks of the stream, skirting on one side a
small natural meadow of a few acres and on
the other a large prairie extending a mile or
two north and west. Here, determined to re
main until the next day, the Indians proceeded
to hopple the horse, and unstopping his bell
turned him out to graze. Next, intending to
secure me, they ordered me to sit down with
my back against a small tree; then taking their
cord, tying it first to the tree, passing it around
my neck, and then with a knot around my
wrists separately, extending my arms obliquely
on each side they fastened one end of it to a
stake driven into the ground and the other to a
root in the bank of the stream; then placing a
large piece of bark over me to shelter me from
the sun, went out to hunt.

Being left alone, my thoughts alternately
occupied with tender recollections of my home
and a painful consciousness of my wretched
condition, sometimes revolving in my mind the
probability of escape, then rejecting the thought
as chimerical, an hour had passed away. I now
began to think seriously of making my escape
and after a few minutes determined if possible
to effect it . Being a firm believer in an overruling
Providence and in the concern of God for the
welfare of his creatures, I first addressed myself
to Him and never did I utter a more sincere
and fervent prayer, supplicating His mercy and
imploring His aid, and promising that if He

58



of <,



would deliver me from the hands of the savages
and restore me to my beloved parents I would
serve Him the residue of my days "in truth
with all my heart." Believing, too, in the use of
means, I immediately began to exert my own
powers. Seizing the cord with which I was
bound I first pulled it violently with my right
hand, attempting to break it or detach it from
the root to which it was fastened; failing in
this effort I next laid hold of it with my left,
endeavoring to pull down the stake to which it
was tied. While trying to effect this, looking
at the stake over my left hand I discovered
that the cord was tied on the outside of the
cuff of my sleeve and, making the effort, suc
ceeded in drawing my arm through it; then,
with the aid of my left disengaging my right
hand in the same way, I soon set myself en
tirely free.

Picking up the bridle and thrusting in my
bosom a small piece of flyblown deer s meat as
provision for my journey, I soon found, bridled,
and unhoppled the old horse; and mounting on
his back and using the hopples (a cord of
twisted bark) in place of a whip set off for
home. From the report of their rifles, which I
had heard only a few minutes before, I judged
that the Indians were about a mile off in a
southwesterly direction, and that I should easily
return along the path we had traveled, unper-
ceived; for considerate for a child as I might
have been, the thoughts of home so engrossed

59



|)e



my mind that the probability and even certainty
of pursuit did not enter into my calculations,
and I thought that if I could only get a few
miles from the camp undiscovered I should be
safe. Unfortunately, as it then seemed, I could
not urge the horse beyond a moderate pace.
Whipping him with the hopples until I was
tired, I threw them down in the path and sup
plied their place with a switch; but with all my
exertions, striking with my heels, jerking with
the bridle, and applying the switch simultane
ously, I could not force him into a trot. The
sun when I left the camp was about an hour
high, and as I traveled steadily until sunset I
had probably proceeded three or four miles
when, concluding to halt for the night, I dis
mounted from the horse and bending a small
twig by the side of the path in a direction
toward home, I led him a few hundred yards
directly off from the trace, up a gentle slope of
woodland into a very close thicket of small
sassafras, and securing him with the bridle
went in search of a lodging place.

About sixty yards south of the thicket, find
ing a large fallen tree facing the path and
having near its roots a hollow forming a shelter,
I determined to lodge under it; but being very
hungry and having no provisions for my jour
ney saving a small piece of meat, which I
thought I should more need on the morrow, I
concluded to make my evening s meal on rasp
berries, which grew here in great abundance.

60



of <. ffi. fencer



Straying from bush to bush, eagerly picking
and eating to satisfy my hunger, I paid little
attention to my course; when, having eaten
sufficiently, I turned, as I thought, toward my
lodging place, but found after walking some
time that I was completely lost. I now felt
greatly alarmed; I ran about in every direction
seeking the thicket where I had tied the horse,
and terrified at the thought of perishing in the
wilderness, regretted for a moment my attempt
to escape. Happily, however, after wandering
about for some time I found the log, and lying
down under it, pillowing my head on some
leaves which I scraped together and covered
with my jacket, and devoutly thanking God for
saving me from the horror of losing myself and
starving in the wilderness and for all His kind
ness thus far, composed myself to rest.



61



CHAPTER V

THE sun had set with the promise of a fair
morrow; evening, mild and calm, had
followed him; the soft twilight, grad
ually deepening, was fast merging into night ; the
birds had chanted their vesper hymn and a deep
and universal stillness reigned. I felt that I was
alone in the midst of a vast wilderness, exposed
to prowling wolves and deadly panthers, and
my heart for a moment sank within me from a
sense of my utter helplessness and of my inability
to oppose even the barrier of a fire between me
and destruction; then the thought of home and
the hope of reaching it in safety banished my
fears and inspired me with fresh courage. I
had lain thus but a few minutes, now closing
my eyes to sleep and now opening them upon
the spreading tree tops, or stars faintly glim
mering through their branches, when I was
suddenly aroused by the cracking of bushes and
a noise like that from quick strokes on the
ground, and looking toward the path saw a herd
of deer bounding through the woods and swiftly
approaching me. Presently one of them sprang
over the log under which I lay; the others,
leaping between me and the thicket where I
had tied the horse, were in the next moment
out of sight.

Scarcely had I lain down again, when, hear
ing a rustling among the bushes at a short

63



distance from me, I raised myself upon my
elbow to ascertain the cause; but words cannot
express my feelings nor describe my conster
nation and dismay when, looking through an
opening between the roots of the fallen tree
under which I lay, I saw the two Indians
whom I had left enter the thicket. Advancing
immediately to the horse and laying hold of his
bridle, they stood a few moments, looking
through the small opening in the thicket facing
the spot where I lay, in different directions
evidently endeavoring to discover me. I had by
this time partially recovered my self-possession,
and fearing that if I waited for them to find me
they would tomahawk me where I lay, deter
mined at once to return to them. Instantly
springing up and putting on my jacket, I ran
to the thicket and with the mingled fear of
deserved punishment and the slight hope of
impunity uttered the truly childlike excuse, "I
have been out picking raspberries."

Methinks I can now see the horrible savage
grinding his teeth with rage, and with a look of
fiendish malice that almost froze my blood
raise his rifle to his shoulder intending to shoot
me . Were my mother s prayers now ascending
before the Throne? Was my father now sup
plicating protection for his lost son? Or had
the Father of Mercies said, "Lay not thine
hand upon the lad"? At that moment the
generous Wawpawmawquaw interposed, and
throwing up the muzzle of the nearly leveled

64



of <&* ffi. Spencer



rifle, saved my life. A brief altercation and
then a few moments earnest conversation en
sued, after which, setting down their rifles and
cutting large switches from the thicket, they
beat me severely on my head and shoulders
until their whips were literally "used up." I
bore their beating, however, with the firmness
of an Indian; never once complaining nor en
treating remission, but not daring to make
further resistance than to throw up my arms to
protect my head. Often since have I felt
thankful that there were none other than sas
safras bushes near; for had the Indians thus
beaten me with hickory or oak they would
certainly have killed me. Having wearied
themselves in punishing me and having told
me by signs which 1 could not misunderstand
that if again I should attempt to escape they
would certainly kill and scalp me, we set out
for our camp, the White Loon in front leading
me by the hand and the other Indian following
on the horse, until we reached the path, when
we proceeded along it in single file.

If at any time I flagged a little, falling too
far behind the leading Indian, the cruel savage
behind me goaded me with a stick or strove to
ride over me; and after proceeding about two
miles, discovering in the path the bark hopples
I had thrown down, he sprang from the horse
and picking them up inflicted many severe
blows with them on my head and shoulders.
Weary and faint, I rejoiced when at last we

65



Captitoitp



reached the camp; but my satisfaction was
momentary only, for without stopping even to
secure the horse the Indians proceeded to tie me.
Passing a cord around my elbows they drew them
together behind my back so closely as to almost
dislocate my shoulders; then tying my wrists
so tightly as nearly to prevent the circulation
of the blood in my hands, they fastened the ends
of the cord to a forked stake driven into the
ground. I had often, as I thought, suffered
not a little, but my sufferings this night were
extreme; I could not lie down, and to sleep
was impossible; my head, bruised and swollen,
pained me exceedingly, but this was trivial
when compared with the torture I suffered from
the violent straining of my arms behind my
back; my ribs seemed every moment as though
they would separate from my breast, and my
shoulder blades felt as if they would separate
from my body. Forgetting the late signal in
stances of divine interposition, I murmured
against God, and in the bitterness of my soul
longed for death.

The night seemed as if it would never end;
but at length the day dawned and gratefully
did I hail the cheerful sunrise, when the Indians,
having eaten their breakfast and being ready
to march, came and unbinding me relieved me
from the severity of suffering. Immediately
fording Buck Creek (the eastern branch of Mad
River), here about thirty feet wide and swelled
by the late rain, rising above my waist, we

66



















-M W 3MV1



of



passed on in a northwesterly direction through
the eastern side of a prairie, near to a high
woodland, about a mile and a half, and crossing
Mad River (an important branch of the Great
Miami) at a broad ford sixty feet wide, ascended
a high bank matted with blue grass, covered
with raspberry bushes and plum trees, and
exhibiting the appearance of having been once
the site of an Indian village. Here, the Indians
stopping a few minutes to adjust their blankets
and make a pair of bark stirrups, I availed
myself of the opportunity to breakfast on the
raspberries, which were abundant.

Traveling on in a northwest course through
open woods, over high rolling ground, about
noon we descended into a rich bottom and
halted on the bank of a small creek near a
fine spring. Distant from this spot a few rods
was a very large sycamore, hollow at the bot
tom and having on the side facing us an opening
about six feet high, barricaded below with logs
covered with brush. To this tree the Indians
immediately proceeded, and removing the brush
from before it and looking into its hollow for
a moment, returned to the spring, where making
a fire and roasting some squirrels which they
had killed in the morning they made their
dinner.

I had eaten nothing but raspberries for the
last twenty- four hours; I was very hungry;
yet the Indians offered me no food. I thought
of their late cruel treatment of me and of their

67



continued inhumanity. I looked at the opening
of the hollow sycamore, which appeared black
within as if it had been burned, and suddenly
was seized with the apprehension that they
there intended to burn me. Weak and faint
from want of rest, of food, and from the de
bilitating effects of a severe dysentery with
which I had been seized in the morning; stiff
and sore from beating and from confinement,
my feet swelled from walking and my legs torn
with briars, I was truly an object of pity. I
sat with my back toward the Indians ruminating
on my wretched condition and gloomy pros
pects, now begging for death to release me from
my sufferings and now shrinking from the
thought of its pain, its terrors, and above all
from that eternity beyond it for which 1 felt
that I was wholly unprepared. Soon, how
ever, I found relief in a flood of tears, which I
carefully concealed from the Indians, and
washing my face and bathing my throbbing
temples at the brook strove to assume the
semblance of cheerfulness. The Indians now
leading the horse out to the hollow sycamore
and removing the logs from before its opening,
I soon discovered the cause of their late haste
to examine it, and with that discovery dismissed
my foolish apprehensions. It is worthy of
remark that in their villages the Indians use
neither bolts nor locks, and that when they
leave for a time their cabins, either empty or
with any articles in them, a log placed against

68



of <, JWU Spencer



its door affords ample protection to its contents
and abundant evidence of the right of possession
in its owner; a right seldom if ever violated,
even by the most worthless among them. The
same respect is paid, even in the wilderness,
to property known or believed to belong to
Indians of the same tribe or to those of other
tribes at peace with them.

If discovered, their property here had re
mained inviolate; and now, taking from within
the hollow tree an old blanket and pack sad
dle and fastening them upon the horse s back,
the Indians next brought out two large packs
of deer skins of equal size, neatly folded and
firmly tied together, and connecting them with
tugs of rawhide and placing them on the
saddle so that they hung about half way down
his sides, made them fast with a cord; then
securing between the packs a small brass kettle,