The white riflemen thronged
after them. Most of the warriors escaped, but over twenty were slain; as
were also four or five French traders, while half a dozen Frenchmen and
one Indian squaw were captured. All the cabins were destroyed, the live
stock was slain, and much plunder taken. The prisoners were well treated
and released; but on the way home another party of French traders were
encountered, and their goods were taken from them. The two Chickasaws
were given their full share of all the plunder.
This blow gave a breathing spell to the Cumberland settlements.
Robertson at once wrote to the French in the Illinois country, and also
to some Delawares, who had recently come to the neighborhood, and were
preserving a dubious neutrality. He explained the necessity of their
expedition, and remarked that if any innocent people, whether Frenchmen
or Indians, had suffered in the attack, they had to blame themselves;
they were in evil company, and the assailants could not tell the good
from the bad. If any Americans had been there, they would have suffered
just the same. In conclusion he warned the French that if their traders
continued to furnish the hostile Indians with powder and lead, they
would "render themselves very insecure"; and to the Indians he wrote
that, in the event of a war, "you will compell ous to retaliate, which
will be a grate pridgedes to your nation.
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