We

the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets. remained three days and nights on the banks of the Miamis, in front of the field of battle, during which time all the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a considerable distance above and below the garrison, among which were the houses, stores, and property of Colonel M’Kee, the British Indian agent and principal stimulator of the war now existing between the United States and the savages.

The army returned to head quarters on the 27th by easy marches, laying waste the villages and cornfields for about fifty miles on each side of the Miamis. It is not improbable but that the enemy may make one desperate effort against the army, as it is said a reënforcement was hourly expected at Fort Miamis from Niagara, as well as numerous tribes of Indians living on the margins and islands of the lakes. This is an event rather to be wished for than dreaded whilst the army remains in force; their numbers will only tend to confuse the savages, and the victory will be the more complete and decisive, and may eventually insure a permanent and happy peace.

The following is a return of the killed and wounded and missing of the federal army in the late action, to wit:

Killed.1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 3 sergeants, 28 privates; total, 33. Wounded.

4 captains, 2 lieutenants, 1 ensign, 4 sergeants, 3 corporals, 2 musicians, 84 privates; total, 100.

I have the honor to be your most obedient and very servant,

humble

ANTHONY WAYNE.

To the secretary of war.

The following circumstances, which took place previous to and during General Wayne's engagement, are worthy of record.

At the instant Captain Campbell was attempting to turn 'the left flank of the enemy, three of them plunged into the river. Two friendly negroes, being on the opposite side and observing the Indians making for the shore, placed themselves on the bank behind a log, and, as soon as the Indians approached within shot, one of the negroes fired and killed one of the Indians. The other two got hold of him to drag him out, when the other negro fired and killed another. The remaining Indian got hold of both those dead to pull them ashore ; when the negro who killed the first, having again reloaded, fired and killed the third, and they all floated down the river.

Another circumstance is also related; viz., a soldier, soon after the conclusion of the action, proceeding some distance from the camp, met an Indian. They attacked each other, the soldier with his bayonet and the Indian with his tomahawk. Some of the soldiers passing by that way two days after found them both dead — the soldier with his bayonet in the body of the Indian, and the Indian with his tomahawk in the soldier's head.

The following circumstance took place previous to the action: A Mr. Wells, who, when very young, was taken prisoner by the Indians, and had resided several years among them, had made his escape, and was employed by General Wayne as a spy. The day before the action he was taken by the Indians, who determined to put him to death. Finding it impossible to escape, he informed them that General Wayne had not five hundred men under his command, and did not expect an attack. On hearing this, the Indians attacked General Wayne with a confidence inspired by their supposed superiority of numbers, and were repulsed as before mentioned. After the action, Major Campbell, in whose custody the Indians had left Wells, inquired his motives for deceiving them. He answered, "For the good of my country." For this heroic action he was unfeelingly delivered to the

Indians, in whose hands it is supposed he experienced every torture that savage barbarity could invent or inflict. The circumstances respecting Mr. Wells were related by a British drummer who deserted from the fort to General Wayne.

A council of Indians was held a few days after their defeat by General Wayne, in which British agents endeavored to persuade them to risk another action; but this they refused to do, expressing a willingness to bury the bloody hatchet and return to their homes. Their loss they declared to be two hundred, and that their whole force at the commencement of the action amounted to fifteen thousand Indians and eighty Canadians. The body of the collector of Niagara was found among the slain.

A NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY OF

MRS. JOHNSON.

Jusanna (Willard)

Notices of the Willard Family.

To trace the progress of families from their origin to the present day, when, perhaps, they are spread over the four quarters of the globe, and no memorandums are found except in the uncertain pages of memory, is a task which can be but feebly performed. In noticing the name of Willard, which was my family name, I cannot pretend to accuracy; but the information which I have collected will, perhaps, be of some service to others who possess a greater stock; and if the various branches of families would contribute their mites, it would be an easy way of remedying the deficiency which at present exists in American genealogy.

The first person by the name of Willard who settled in this country was Major Willard, whose name is recorded in the history of New England wars. In the year 1675, in the time of "Philip's war," (a notorious Indian, who lived within the present limits of the State of Rhode Island,) Major Willard, who then lived in the town of Lancaster, in Massachusetts, commanded a troop of horse; and among his vigorous services he relieved the town of Brookfield from the Nipnet Indians, who had burned every house but one, and had almost reduced that to capitulation. When Lancaster was destroyed by the Indians Major Willard removed to Salem, where he spent the rest of his days. He had two sons ; one of whom was a settled minister in the town of Groton, from

which place he was driven by the Indians, and was afterwards installed in Boston. His other son, Simon, established himself on Still River, since taken from Lancaster and incorporated into the town of Harvard. He had nine sons; Simon, Henry, Hezekiah, John, Joseph, Josiah, Samuel, Jonathan, and James. Josiah removed to Winchester, in New Hampshire, and afterwards commanded Fort Dummer; the rest inherited the substance of their father, and lived to very advanced ages in the vicinity of their birth. They all left numerous families, who spread over the United States. His eldest son, Simon, was my grandfather. He had two sons, Aaron and Moses: Aaron lived in Lancaster, and Moses, my father, removed to Lunenburg. I ought to remark, that my grandmother Willard, after the death of her husband, married a person by the name of Farnsworth, by whom she had three sons, who were the first settlers of Charlestown, No. 4. One of them was killed by the Indians.

My father had twelve children. He removed to Charlestown, No. 4, in 1742, and soon had the pleasure to find his children settled around him. He was killed by the Indians in 1756. My mother died in March, 1797,* and had lived to see twelve children, ninety-two grandchildren, one hundred and twenty-three great-grandchildren, and four great-greatgrandchildren. The whole that survive are now settled on Connecticut River.

Notices of Mr. James Johnson.

In the year 1730 my great-uncle, Colonel Josiah Willard, while at Boston, was invited to take a walk on the Long Wharf to view some transports who had just landed from Ireland. A number of gentlemen present were viewing the

* At the age of eighty-four she busied herself in making a coverlid, which contains something of the remarkable; she did not quite complete it. It now contains upwards of five thousand pieces.