the very head of American commerce and navigation, was
especially so at this particular epoch, when the Indian
spirit, stirred to action by the great chief who had so
recently measured his strength with his hated enemies at
Tippecanoe, was likely to be aroused on all occasions
where facility of conquest seemed to present itself. And,
yet, that government well knew that there were, even at
that moment, difficulties existing between themselves
and Great Britain of a character to lead to an interruption
of the friendly intercourse that had hitherto subsisted
between the two countries, and which, if suffered to
ripen into hostilities, would necessarily, associate many
of the Indian tribes with the forces of England, drawing
down certain destruction on those remoter posts, whose
chief reliance on immunity from danger, lay, in a great
degree, in the array of strength they could oppose to
their subtle and calculating enemy.

This company, consisting, of seventy-five men--many of
them married and with families--was under the command of
an officer whose conduct throughout the eventful and
trying scenes about to be recorded, has often been the
subject of much censure--with what justice our readers
must determine.

Captain Headley was one of those officers who, without
having acquired no greater rank at the age of forty than
he now possessed, had served in the army of the United
States from his boyhood, and was, in all the minutiae of
the service, a strict disciplinarian. He had, moreover,