Note 318 — Chapter XX · 1763. THE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN.

MS. Letters—Bouquet to Amherst, Aug. 5, 6. Penn. Gaz. 1809-1810. Gent. Mag. XXXIII. 487. London Mag. for 1763, 545. Account of Bouquet’s Expedition. Annual Register for 1763, 28. Mante, 493.

The accounts of this action, published in the journals of the day, excited much attention, from the wild and novel character of this species of warfare. A well-written description of the battle, together with a journal of Bouquet’s expedition of the succeeding year, was published in a thin quarto, with illustrations from the pencil of West. The writer was Dr. William Smith, of Philadelphia, and not, as has usually been thought, the geographer Thomas Hutchins. See the reprint, Clarke’s Historical Series, Vol. I. A French translation of the narrative was published at Amsterdam in 1769.

Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, August 12 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1810):—

“We formed a Circle round our Convoy and Wounded; upon which the Savages collected themselves, and continued whooping and popping at us all the Evening. Next Morning, having mustered all their Force, they began the War-whoop, attacking us in Front, when the Colonel feigned a Retreat, which encouraged the Indians to an eager Pursuit, while the Light Infantry and Grenadiers rushed out on their Right and Left Flanks, attacking them where they little expected it; by which Means a great Number of them were killed; and among the rest, Keelyuskung, a Delaware Chief, who the Night before, and that Morning, had been Blackguarding us in English: We lost one Man in the Rear, on our March the Day after.

“In other Letters from Fort Pitt, it is mentioned that, to a Man, they were resolved to defend the Garrison (if the Troops had not arrived), as long as any Ammunition, and Provision to support them, were left; and that then they would have fought their Way through, or died in the Attempt, rather than have been made Prisoners by such perfidious, cruel, and Blood-thirsty Hell-hounds.”

See Appendix, D.