| 1048 As the Indians left the party, they fired three times at them, and the shot fell thickly around Brown-the Indians going towards the village, and the party from it over the hills. When out of sight of the Indians and the village, the party again halted, filled their powder horns, and took a good quantity of balls in their pouches, and went on again; but they had scarcely started, when two Indians were seen coming from towards the village over the hills soon another & another appeared in sight, each coming from different directions & in ten minutes from the time the first two appeared in sight the party were completely surrounded by two or three hundred men armed with rifles, muskets, bows & arrows, tomahawks & war-clubs, while the air resounded with the awful war whoop, as they still continued to dash upon them on their fleet horses. Seeing that four could do nothing by firing on such numbers, the Doctor told the party not to fire, while the Indians were in great confusion among themselves. The first who came, talked loud and boisterous, and began to catch the pack horses, when it was proposed to go with them to the village.
In the mean time, all was confusion, some snatching a rifle from one, while another caught a blanket from another, and run off. Saxton first got under way, following his pack horse, having many valuable papers, and surrounded by some twenty Indians; they soon stripped him of his powder horn and his horse and saddle, and put him bare back, while a brave, with a huge battle axe, led his horse by the bridle. Brown followed Saxton in a similar manner, passed him, and was the first to grace their fiendish triumph as they entered their village in full gallop. The Doctor was next suffered to start towards the village, but not until they had torn his coat into pieces, and stripped him of his vest. One Indian then struck him a hard blow with his bow on the right cheek; another hit him two blows on the top of the head with a war club, which nearly deprived him of his senses. With nothing left but his flannel shirt and pantaloons, he passed Saxton soon after Brown; they struck him several times as he was riding; he was hurried along and taken into the village. The Doctor was last on the ground, and was conducted into the lodge of a Chief, but not permitted to converse with any of his party: the rest of the men were conducted to separate lodges and treated in a similar manner.
The party were fed several times during the evening on boiled corn, at different lodges, accompanied by an Indian, but were not permitted to be together, except about ten minutes at a time. The first Impression made upon the Doctor and all the party, on entering the lodges was, that the Chiefs would cause most of the property to be given back, but before morning all were convinced to the contrary, by having their packs opened, and pillaged of everything of value; not even letters to people in the States were omitted. Dr. White lost many of his most valuable papers, and some twenty letters, though he mailed at this place 541, to various persons in the Union. After robbing the party of all their provisions and clothing, as well as horses; in the morning several squaws, true to the character of women, put up some corn, and the Chiefs who were at the head of the outrage, brought forward several poor, lame ponies and mules, and gave each man a few old garments, scarcely enough to cover him, much less to protect him from the inclement season. A little after sunrise they told them to be off, pointing over the hills where they were taken prisoners.
In the lodge where Saxton stopped during the night, while Brown was with him a few moments, an old Chief came in with a large package of papers, evidently robbed from some individual, but he would not suffer him to read any of them except the wrapper, which was of the kind of paper used for envelops [envelopes] in the War Department, and directed on the envelope, "Tangawanga, Chief of the Otto nation." The Indian then opened the package and took out a passport from the United States, and a large paper having ten or twelve seals upon it, opposite of which were many signatures, a large paper resembling a deed, and a French passport; he then folded them all up, after pointing to the coat of arms on each, but would not suffer them to be investigated; putting them all into the envelope, laid them under his thigh, gave a contemptuous laugh, and soon left the lodge. The party travelled [traveled] till one o'clock at night without a drop of water, on the day they left the village on the open prairie, taking as their guide the north star, and going in an easterly direction. The Doctor was very much indisposed, owing to the violent blows he had received. Soon after the party were out of sight of the village, the smoke behind them told them that their enemies had fired the prairie, and all that day the wind drove the fire hard upon the party, and at night the flames of the tall grass were seen behind them, mingling with the horizon, giving it the appearance of an ocean of fire. One of the party kept watch while the other slept, or rather dosed. Next morning taking a bit of raw
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