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324 AMEKICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. went near some of tho American HentinelH and wero Mbot at anil toll as wounded men, but on the Hentint^ls coming up to dispatch tbem, they arose and tomahawked them. tho indigiirtiou of the Indians and they determined and accordingly connueuced tho attack at cockcrowing. They had the AinericunM between two tires; driven l)y the Winibiegoes they wero received by tho Kikapoos, alternately, till about 9 o'clock when the Indians gave w:iy for want of arrows and annniinition. It appears that not above 100 IinliunH tired a shot, the greater )iart being engaged in plnnilering and conveying of horses. This iiiHiiIt roiiH<>d to be revengtMl asserted that tlioy had less than iiOO men in the belonging to seven dittei-ent nations, and admitted the loss of only 25 in killed and wounded Replying about tlie saimi time to incjuiries from Colonel Claus, Elliot assured him that "all tlie Indians, with the excei)tion of a few stragglers of all the nations within the limits of your sketch, may be depended upon the exact number of whom I can not give you, but the following is what I Imve been able to collect of those living from the St. Croix lliver to the Wabash, viz: Chippewas, .JOO; Nodouessies, 1,000 and iipwar<l (because there are 1,000 in one party); Saukies, 1,000 went against the Osages; Foxes, 1,000; Mashoutas, 500; lowas, 200; Meuominies, .SOO. The situation of their villages is out of my power to a.scertaiu. The i)art of the country I was formerly acquainted with has entirely eluinged iis face with its masters and the Indians have moved to other i)arts. The Ottawas of the Miami Bay and branches of tliat river and about Sandusky are about 300 men," considerable number of British traders were then domiciled near tlie Mis8issip|>i in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien, and Brock apj)lied for information to Robert Dickson, tho most influential of these, who had spent more than twenty years of an adventurous life in the exploration of the western c<mntry and witli whom he appears to have previously discussed the The Indians field, ; A subject. A message to him was dispatched from Toronto on the 2Tth of February, 1812, by an Indian runner, and delivered early in June at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, requesting hivn to state <leHnitely the nund)er of his "friends" who could be depended tipon, and directing him to send down " a few faithful and very confidential agents." 1 )ick8on replied that "the unparalleled scarcity of provisions of all sorts" had reduced the number of his " friends" to 250 or 300, speaking several difi'erent languages, but that they were all ready to