They experienced some loss, and a general dispersion from each
other in the woods. Colonel Floyd, in great haste, raised twenty-five
men, and repaired to the scene of action, intent alike upon
administering relief to the sufferers, and chastisement to the enemy. He
divided his party, and advanced upon them with caution. But their
superior knowledge of the country, enabled the Indians to ambuscade both
divisions, and to defeat them with the loss of half his men; a loss
poorly compensated by the circumstance, that a still greater number of
the savages fell in the engagement. The number of the latter were
supposed to be three times that of Colonel Floyd's party. The Colonel
narrowly escaped with his life, by the aid of Captain Samuel Wells, who,
seeing him on foot, pursued by the enemy, dismounted and gave him his
own horse, and as he fled, ran by his side to support him on the saddle,
from which he might have fallen through weakness from his wounds.--This
act of Captain Wells was the more magnanimous, as Floyd and himself were
not friends at the time. Such noble generosity was not thrown away upon
Floyd. It produced its natural effect, and these two persons lived and
died friends. It is pleasant to record such a mode of quelling
animosity.
Early in May, two men, one of whom was Samuel McAffee, left James
McAffee's station, to go to a clearing at a short distance. They had
advanced about a fourth of a mile, when they were fired upon. The
companion of McAffee fell.
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