USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 76
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The second day after the battle, the drums beat up for volunteers to attack the British redoubt. Plenty of men turned out, all eager for the at- tempt. I don't know who were the projectors of this attack, but so it was, that just after the men had paraded and taken leave of their comrades, and while they were as wolfish and full of fight as it was possible for that number of animals to be, here came an order from Old Hickory for every man to face to tho right-about and go to cooking and eating. This was quite a damper. The men could not exactly tell what to make of it, but they knew if Jackson said so it had to be done. They didn't fully understand the long and short of it, but so it was.
A few days after this, I was walking about the levee at New Orleans, when I saw three officers passing on horseback. As they came up I turned to give them the usual salute, when who should I see but Col. Andrew Hines, then one of Jack- son's aids, and who I had been well acquainted with when he kept store at Bardstown. "Why, halloo! old man," said he, "are you here?" " Yes, Colonel," said I, " I'm knocking about with the rest." With that we shook hands and he asked me about my family. After a few words had passed, I told him I'd like to ask a question, if he didn't think it improper-that I didn't want to ask him any thing that was improper to be told ; but there was one thing I had some curiosity to know. "Well, what is it;" said he, " I'll tell you any thing I can consistently." " Then," said I, " I'd just like to know what was the rea- son that old Jackson ordered us all out of the field the other day, when we had got ready to go and fight the British." " O!" said he, " I'll tell you with freedom. General Jackson has got more wisdom than all of us put together. He knew that we had gained one of the greatest victories that ever was heard of, and he was determined to keep it. He said, if we attacked the redoubt there would be a great many good men killed, and that it was better to drive off the enemy with- out the loss of our own men."
About a week or ten days after the battle-I don't recollect the exact time now-the British broke up their camp and went over to Lake Pon- chartrain. The night they left, I was out on picket guard, about half way between the camps. I did not notice any thing remarkable during the night, except the old bluetailed bomb shells that were discharged at them from our lines, every half hour. They would go whizzing over our heads, leaving a long streak of bluish light with a sprinkling of sparks in their rear. We heard a great screaming at the moment one of them fell. As I afterwards heard, it smashed through the roof of a little negro house, where a lieutenant and fourteen men were sleeping, every one of whom were killed or wounded.
Just at daylight, an Irishman who had deserted came to the sentinels, with whom he remained
British had all gone, and said, that as they were marching off, he pretended to have left something behind, and handing his gun to a comrade to hold, ke ran back as if to look for it; but instead of do- ing so he ran as fast as he could towards the American camp. He soon heard a party in pur- suit of him, and took refuge in a little negro hut, crawling up the chimney. His pursuers entered the house, and he said his heart beat so while they were hunting him, that he was afraid they would hear it thumping. They did not think of the chimney, however, and the poor fellow escaped. As soon as they had gone he made his way to our line and came in. I heard of the execution done by the bomb shell, at the time we heard the screaming. This man afterwards came to Ken- tncky and is, or was a few years ago, living in Nelson county, where he became a very respecta- ble citizen.
After the British moved down to the Lake, they remained for some time near the mouth of Ville- ry's Canal, embarking in flats. Whilst they were there, a certain number of men were detailed from our camp, every three days, to serve as swamp guards. The Lake was skirted by a cypress swamp, which, as is the usual character of that kind of swamp, was very miry and full of water. Along the Lake edge of this swamp, the British had sentinels, posted on logs of timber cut for them to stand orlie upon; and in like manner our sentinels were stationed in the same way, along the other edge of the swamp on the land side. At some places where the swamp was narrow and the timber thin, we could see the British sentinels on their posts very plainly. Amongst the rest, there was one that attracted particular attention. He had a plank laid upon some logs along which he walked backwards and forwards. His red coat, with the steel about his accoutrements, and par- ticularly, the plate upon his cap, glistened very conspicuously in the sun. Whether it was be- cause the men had nothing else to do but look at him, or because he was the most conspicuous ob- ject, or for what precise reason, I do not know, but he became a sort of an eye-sore. So about ten o'clock in the morning, Col. Ben Harrison, of Bardstown, spoke up to some men, who were lounging about the guard fire. "Boys," said he, " I'll give five dollars to any one of you that will go and shoot that darned red-coat, and a suit of clothes to boot, as soon as we get home." With that, a little, slender, palefaced fellow, belonging to Higdon's company, named Dick Pratt, jumped up and declared he'd try it any how. He wiped out his rifle, and having loaded it to his mind, he put into the swamp. Dick went crawling along among the roots, wading in the water and dodg- ing about behind the trees and brush, pretty much as if he was trying to get a shot at a scurvy duck. The Englishman kept on walking up and down his plank, probably little thinking of being game for a Kentucky hunter. He might have been
thinking of a wife and children or a sweetheart at home, poor fellow! But our men who knew what was on foot, watched the result with breathless interest, though, if the truth must be told, with- out much thinking of pity. The general impres- sion was, that the British had come there to kill our men, if they could, and it was only serving them as they deserved, to shoot them whenever there was an opportunity. They soon lost sight of Dick who had disappeared in the swamp, but they kept their eyes on the sentinel. It was pretty near half an hour before any thing took
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place. At last a little puff of smoke spouted up from behind a log in the middle of the swamp, which was quietly followed by a sharp crack of Dick's rifle. The poor Englishman instantly dropped his musket and threw his hands above his head. He then staggered backwards and forwards on his plank for a moment or two-the next, he tumbled head foremost into the water. A sharp fire of grape and canister shot was immediately opened from the British boats, which made the mud and water fly in good earnest; but Dick, the cunning varmint, as soon as he had fired ran off rapidly from his smoke to one sice, instead of re- treating in a direct line, and thus fooled them. He came off scot free, but the British kept up such a fire that our guards were compelled to re- treat from their stations on the edge of the swamp. After this there were no more British sentinels in sight or within reach of our men. Dick got his five dollars, and after we got home, I saw him one day in a suit of clothes, which he said, was the reward of that exploit.
Next day after returning from swamp guard, I was detached to go to New Orleans, to attend some of my comrades who were sick in the hos- pital. Four of our company were sick, but they all got well except Barnett Bridwell. He, poor fellow! died of a complication of diseases. I saw nothing more of the army until we started home. We left New Orleans about the 20th of March, ninety of us in company, and arrived safely in Kentucky about the ist of April.
A Grizzly Bear Hunt.
The every-day sports of the wild woods in- clude many feats of daring that never find a pen of record. Constantly in the haunts of the sav- age, are enacting scenes of thrilling interest, the very details of which would make the denizen of enlightened life turn away with instinctive dread. Every Indian tribe has its heroes, celebrated re- spectively for their courage in different ways ex- hibited. Some for their acuteness in pursuing the enemy on the war-path, and others for the de- struction they have accomplished among the wild beasts of the forest. A great hunter among the Indians is a marked personage. It is a title that distinguishes its possessor among his people as a prince; while the exploits in which he has been engaged hang about his person as brilliantly as the decorations of so many oders. The country in which the Osage finds a home possesses abund- antly the grizzly bear, an animal formidable beyond any other inhabitant of the North Ameri- can forests: an animal seemingly insensible to pain, uncertain in its habits, and by its mighty strength able to overcome any living obstacle that comes within its reach, as an enemy. The In- dian warrior, of any tribe, among the haunts of the grizzly bear, finds no necklace so honourable to be worn as the claws of this gigantic animal, if he fell by his own prowess; and if he can add an eagle's plume to his scalp-lock, plucked from a bird shot while on the wing, he is honourable in- deed. The Indian's "smoke," like the fire-side of the white man, is often the place where groups of people assemble to relate whatever may most pleasantly while away the hours of a long even- ing, or destroy the monotony of a dull and idle day. On such occasions, the old " brave" will sometimes relax from his natural gravity, and grow loquacious over his chequered life. But no recital commands such undivided attention as the adventures with the grizzly bear; and the death
of an enemy on the war-path hardly vies with it in interest.
We have listened to these soul-stirring adven- tures over the urn, or while lounging on the sofa; and the recital of the risks run, the hardships en- dured, have made us think them almost impossi- ble, when compared with the conventional self- indulgence of enlightened life. But they were the tales of a truthful man: a hunter, who had strayed away from the scenes once necessary for his life, and who loved, like the worn-out soldier, to " fight his battles over," in which he was once engaged. It may be, and is the province of the sportsman to exaggerate; but the " hunter," sur- rounded by the magnificence and sublimity of an American forest, earning his bread by the hardy adventures of the chase, meets with too much re- ality to find room for colouring-too much of the sublime and terrible in the scenes with which he is associated to be boastful of himself. Apart from the favourable effects of civilization, he is also separated from its contaminations; and boast- ing and exaggeration are "settlements" weak- nesses, and not the products of the wild woods.
The hunter, whether Indian or white, presents one of the most extraordinary exhibitions of the singular capacity of the human senses to be im- proved by cultivation. The unfortunate deaf, dumb, and blind girl, in one of our public insti- tutions,* selects her food, her clothing, and her friends, by the touch alone-so delicate has it be- come from the mind's being directed to that sense alone. The forest hunter uses the sight most ex- traordinarily well, and experience at last renders it so keen, that the slightest touch of a passing object on the leaves, trees, or earth, seems to leave deep and visible impressions, that to the common eye are unseen as the path of the bird through the air. This knowledge governs the chase and the war-path; this knowledge is what, when excelled in, makes the master-spirit among the rude inhabitants of the woods: and that man is the greatest chief, who follows the coldest trail, and leaves none behind by his own footsteps. The hunter in pursuit of the grizzly bear is gov- erned by this instinct of sight. It directs him with more certainty than the hound is directed by his nose. The impressions of the bear's footsteps upon the leaves, its marks on the trees, its rest- ing-places, are all known long before the bear is really seen; and the hunter, while thus following " the trail," calculates the very sex, weight, and age with certainty. Thus it is that he will ne- glect or chose a trail: one because it is poor, and another because it is small, another because it is with cubs, and another because it is fat, identify- ing the very trail as the bear itself; and herein, perhaps, lies the distinction between the sports- man, and the huntsman. The hunter follows his object by his own knowledge and instinct, while the sportsman employs the instinct of domestica- ted animals to assist his pursuits.
The different methods to destroy the grizzly bear, by those who hunt them, are as numerous as the bears that are killed. They are not ani- mals which permit of a system in hunting them; and it is for this reason they are so dangerous and difficult to destroy. The experience of one hunt may cost a limb or a life in the next one, if used as a criterion; and fatal, indeed, is the mistake, if it comes to grappling with an animal whose gi- gantic strength enables him to lift a horse in his
* Hartford Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb.
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is one terrible exception to this rule; one habit of huge arms, and bear it away as a prize. There the animal may be certainly calculated on, but a daring heart only can take advantage of it.
'Thie grizzly bear, like the tiger and lion, have their caves in which they live; but they use them principally as a safe lodging-place wlien the cold of winter renders them torpid and disposed to sleep. To these caves they retire late in the fall, and they seldom venture out until the warmth of spring. Sometimes two occupy one cave, but this is not often the case, as the unsociability of the animal is proverbial, they prefering to be soli- tary and alone. A knowledge of the forests, and an occasional trailing for bear inform the hunter of these caves, and the only habit of the grizzly bear that can with certainty be taken advantage of, is that of his being in his cave alive, if at a proper season. And the hunter has the terrible liberty of entering his cave single-handed, and there destroying him. Of this only method of hunting the grizzly bear we would attempt a de- scription.
The thought of entering a cave, inhabited by one of the most powerful beasts of prey, is calcu- lated to try the strength of the best nerves; and when it is considered that the least trepidation, the slightest mistake, may cause, and probably will result in the instant death of the hunter, it certainly exhibits the highest demonstration of physical courage to pursue such a method of hunting. Yet there are many persons in the for- ests of North America who engage in such peril- ous adventures with no other object in view than the " sport" or hearty meal. The hunter's prepa- rations to " beard the lion in his den," commence with examining the mouth of the cave he is about to enter. Upon the signs there exhibited he de- cides whether the bear is alone; for if there are two, the cave is never entered. The size of the bear is also thus known, and the time since he was last in search of food. The way this knowl- edge is obtained, from indications so slight, or un- seen to an ordinary eye, is one of the greatest mysteries of the woods. Placing ourselves at the mouth of the cave containing a grizzly bear, to our untutored senses there would be nothing to distinguish it from one that was empty; but if some Diana of the forest would touch our eyes, and give us the instinct of sight possessed by the hunter, we would argue thus: "From all the marks about the mouth of the cave, thie occupant has not been out for a great length of time, for the grass and the earth have not been lately dis- turbed. The bear is in the cave, for the last tracks made are with the toe marks towards the cave. There is but one bear, because the tracks are regular and of the same size. He is a large bear; the length of the step and the size of the paw indicate this; and he is a fat one, because his hind feet do not step in the impressions made by the fore ones, as is always the case with a iean bear." Such are the signs and arguments that present themselves to the hunter; and mysterious as they seem, when not understood, when explained they strike the imagination at once as being founded on the unerring simplicity and the certainty of nature. It may be asked, how is it that the griz- zly bear is so formidable to numbers, when met in the forest, and when in a cave can be assailed successfully by a single man? In answer to this, we must recollect that the bear is only attacked in his cave when he is in total darkness, and suf-
fering from surprise and the torpidity of the sea- son. These three things are in this method of hunting taken advantage of; and but for these ad- vantages, no quickness of eye, no steadiness of nerve or forest experience, would protect for an instant the intruder to the cave of the grizzly bear. The hunter, having satisfied himself about the cave, prepares a candle, which he makes out of the wax taken from the comb of wild bees, soft- ened by the grease of the bear. This candle has a large wick, and emits a brilliant flame. Noth- ing else is needed but the rifle. The knife and the belt are useless; for if a struggle should ensue that would make it available, the foe is too pow- erful to mind its thrusts before the hand using it would be dead. Bearing the candle before him, with the rifle in a convenient position, the hunter fearlessly enters the cave. He is soon surround- ed by darkness, and is totally unconscious where his enemy will reveal himself. Having fixed the candle in the ground in firm position, with an apparatus provided, he lights it, and its brilliant flame soon penetrates into the recesses of the cav- ern-its size of course rendering the illumination more or less complete. The hunter now places himself on his belly, having the candle between the back part of the cave where the bear is, and himself; in this position, with the muzzle of the rifle protruding out in front of him, he patiently waits for his victim. A short time only elapses before Bruin is aroused by the light. 'The noise made by his starting from sleep attracts the hunt- er, and he soon distinguishes the black mass, moving, stretching, and yawning like a person awaked from a deep sleep. The hunter moves not, but prepares his rifle; the bear, finally roused, turns his head towards the candle, and, with slow and wading steps, approaches it.
Now is the time that tries the nerves of the hunter. Too late to retreat, his life hangs upon his certain aim and the goodness of his powder. The slightest variation in the bullet, or a flash- ing pan, and he is a doomed man. So tenacious of life is the common black bear, that it is fre- quently wounded in its most vital parts, and will still escape or give terrible battle. But the griz- zly bear seems to possess an infinitely greater te- nacity of life. His skin, covered by matted hair, and the huge bones of his body, protect the heart, as if incased in a wall; while the brain is buried in a skull, compared to which adamant is not harder. A bullet, striking the bear's forehead, would flatten, if it struck squarely on the solid bone, as if fired against a rock; and dangerousin- deed would it be to take the chance of reaching the animal's heart. With these fearful odds against the hunter, the bear approaches the can- dle, growing every moment more sensible of some uncommon intrusion. He reaches the blaze, and either raises his paw to strike it, or lifts his nose to scent it, either of which will extinguish it, and leave the hunter and the bear in total dark- ness. This dreadful moment is taken advantage of. The loud report of the rifle fills the cave with stunning noise, and as the light disappears, the ball, if successfully fired, penetrates the eye of the huge animal-the only place where it would find a passage to the brain; and this not only gives the wound, but instantly paralyzes, that no temporary resistance may be made. On such chances the American hunter perils his life, and often thoughtlessly courts the danger.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
Abernethy, 8. Aborigines, the 137, 153. A game of Chess with Napoleon, 200 Aid Decamp Extempore, 110. Air tight preservers, 191. A Lady's age, 204. A Legal Examination, 240.1 Alcohol in Wines, 2410. American Ingenuity, 149. Animal Magnetism, 33, 36. Annals of the War of 1812, 225. Anthracite Coal, Penn., 170. Apology for Free Trade, 146. Armstrong, Col. J., 7, 30, 37, 52, 67, 118. 168, 207, 210, 220, 222, 228, 233, 249, 264.
Bailey, Dr., 163. Bank Note Engraving, 61, 84. Bathing, 258. Bear Adventure, 226, 241. Bite, a deep, 360. Bryant's Station, defence of, 236. Building Architects, 247. Bull Fights, 180, 201. Bull Frogs, 20. Burns and Byron, 103. Burr's Expedition, 259.
Caricatures of the West, 177. Changes in Transportation, 31. Chapter on names, a, 262, Chinese, 71, 96.
Christ healing the sick, 251. Christmas Guest, 100. Chronology, 47, 119.
Church at Giant's Causeway, 77. Cincinnati Artists, 14, 73, 83, 218.
A leaf from the old re- cords of, 143. Antiquities, 4, 9.
66 .6 Attorneys and Physici- ans, 74. A legend of, 261. Bartlett's Commercial College, 171. Bell and brass foundery, 123. Brass and Iron Moulders Society, 239. Cooking Stoves, 160. Chair factories, 187. Christmas Living, 109. Churches and Religious Societies, 8. Directory for 1845, 244. Dyers and Painters Col- ors, 131. Early Baking, 69. 66 jails, 50.
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66 .6 66
.. 66
promissory notes, 9.1.
.. scouts, 119.
66 statistics, 5, 11, 16, 193, 236.
stove dealings, 99. Elections in 1814, 117 .. Equatorial Telescope, 145. Fancy Soaps, 72. Fifty years ago, 198. Growth and Improve- ment, 64, 67, 71, 78, 84, 97, 109, 113, 114, 129, 136, 145, 206, 209. Health, 198. Horticultural Society, 70. Hucksters, 101, 205. Ingenious locks, 152. in 1841, 119. Lock Factory, 114. Manufactures, 96. 66
Markets, 110. Mayors, 222.
Cincinnati, Organ Building, 119, 179. Observatory, 254. Patent Bedsteads, 243.
. Periodical Press, 107. Pioneers of. 209, 255, 272. Portable flour mills, 174. Salamander Safes, 194.
: War of 1812, 159, 193, 203. White Lead Factories,249. 66 .. Wood Company, 102, 115.
Citizens' Bank, 221, 230. Clevenger's bust of Harrison, 119. Coal, 31.
Coleman's Eolian Attachment, 18. death of, 231.
Collecting a bill, 199. Col. Polk, 170. Commerce with the east, 122. Court Martial in 1812, 141. Covington, 16. Cowpens, battle of, 148. Customs, English, 97.
Derivations and Etymology, 35, 45, 63, 117.
Dioramas, 50, 72. Documents of the last war, 7. Dogs. 179. Duelling, 69. Dyeing operations, 90.
Early Annals, 124, 136.
Drought, 255.
66 History of Hamilton Co. 241.
66 Navigation of Lake Erie, 224.
S. B. of the West, 150. 157, 166. Enlistments and discharges, 250. English Election scene, 157.
East and West, 70. Education, 43, 46. Estill's Defeat, 2. Egeria, the, 203.
Facts for Physiologists, 252. Fairs, Central Pres. Church, 99. Family Government, 272. Fancy Names, 239. 66 Trades, 134. Fire Engines, 23, 108, 222. First Court in Ohio, 229. " Mill in Hamilton Co. 246. Fink, Mike, 31, 156. Fish from the Lakes, 118. Flaxseed, 24. Flower Garden, the, 141, 197. Force of Ridicule, 190. Franklin, Benj.' 30, 62, 76, 190. French Literature, 95, 35. Ft. Steuben, 228.
Fulton Bagging Factory, 74. 92.
Gen. Assembly Pres. Church, 258. Girty's, last of the, 125. Glascow University, 37. Goforth, Judge, 187.
Grindstones, sales of, 205. Growth of Ohio, Penn. and N. Y. 77. Guano, 47.
Hamilton, Alex. Harmar's campaign, 182, 195. Helmbold, 98. Historical collection, 65. Hopple's Row, 256. Human Nature, 172, 221. Humor, 8, 13, 55, 72, 80, 140, 150, 200. Hunting Shirts, 192.
Improvement in Tanning, 239. Indian sense of propriety, 120. Indian warfare, 121, 161, 169, 177. Ingenuity of the Germans, 263.
Jerk beef in Buenos Ayres, 257. Jews, 251.
Jones, Paul. 111. Jones, journal of Rev. David, 211,232, 263.
Kellogg, Miner K., 242.
Last tree, the, Legal examination, a, 210. Leveis in the West, 91. Light, Magnetic, 12, 45, 46, 149. Living by Faith, 231. Lotteries in Ohio, 246. Lough the Sculptor,
Macauley, T. B., 36. McEwan, John, 139. Man Traps, 240. Manure, 228.
Marriage Licence, 29, 43, 31, 174. Marrlages and Deaths, 53, 64, 72, 80, 24, 28, 84, 96, 112, 120, 128, 136, 152, 160, 168, 176, 181, 208, 224, 232, 240, 256, 264.
Martin, Jonah, 12, 35.
Masonic Lodge, 222 Memory, the, 48. Methodist Preacher, 54. Metroscope, the, 270. Miami Settlement, 173. Millerism, 29, 41.
Modern Traveling, 263.
Navy, U. S., 123. Newspaper paragraphs, 272. New York, 165. New Orleans, old times in, 14.
Obituary, Archibald Woodruff, 176. Charles Tatem, 255. Ohio Legislature, 190.
Panthers, 70, 219. Pardoning power, 49. Patent Locks, 268. Penn, William, 163. Pioneer Adventures, 154.
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