When they had reached their
villages they usually burned some of their captives and made slaves of
the others, the women being treated as the concubines of their captors,
and the children adopted by the families who wished them. Of the
captives a few might fall into the hands of friendly traders, or of the
British officers at Detroit; a few might escape, or be ransomed by their
kinsfolk, or be surrendered in consequence of some treaty. The others
succumbed to the perils of their new life, or gradually sank into a
state of stolid savagery.
Forays on the Settlements.
Naturally the ordinary Indian foray was directed against the settlements
themselves; and of course the settlements of the frontier, as it
continually shifted westward, were those which bore the brunt of the
attack and served as a shield for the more thickly peopled and peaceful
region behind. Occasionally a big war party of a hundred warriors or
over would come prepared for a stroke against some good-sized village or
fort; but, as a rule, the Indians came in small bands, numbering from a
couple to a dozen or score of individuals. Entirely unencumbered by
baggage or by impediments of any kind, such a band lurked through the
woods, leaving no trail, camping wherever night happened to overtake it,
and travelling whithersoever it wished.
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