A few
escaped, and either fled back to camp or up the St. Joseph. Those who
took the latter course met the militia returning and informed them of
what had happened. Soon afterwards the victorious Indians themselves
appeared, on the opposite side of the St. Joseph, and attempted to force
their way across. But the militia were flushed by the easy triumph of
the morning and fought well, repulsing the Indians and finally forcing
them to withdraw. They then marched slowly back to the Miami towns,
gathered their wounded, arrayed their ranks, and rejoined the main army.
The Indians had suffered heavily, and were too dispirited, both by their
loss, and by their last repulse, to attempt further to harass either
this detachment or the main army itself on its retreat.
Practical failure of the expedition.
Nevertheless, the net result was a mortifying failure. In all, the
regulars had lost 75 men killed and 3 wounded, while of the militia 28
had been wounded and 108 had been killed or were missing. The march back
was very dreary; and the militia became nearly ungovernable, so that at
one time Harmar reduced them to order only by threatening to fire on
them with the artillery.
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