The guard of the night consisted of two captains' commands of
forty-two men and of four non-commissioned officers each and two
subalterns' guards of twenty men and non-commissioned officers each--the
whole amounting to about one hundred and thirty men, under command of a
field officer of the day. The night was dark and cloudy, and after
midnight there was a drizzling rain.
At four o'clock in the morning of Nov. 7, 1811, Governor Harrison,
according to practice, had risen, preparatory to the calling up of the
troops, and was engaged, while drawing on his boots by the fire, in
conversation with General Wells, Colonel Owens, and Majors Taylor and
Hurst. The orderly drum had been roused to sound the reveille for the
troops to turn out, when there came the report of a sentry's rifle on
the left flank, followed by a score of shots, and the morning air rang
loud with the wild war-whoops of savages.
In an instant the army was in line, the campfires were extinguished, and
the governor mounted his horse and proceeded to the point of attack.
Several companies had taken their places in the line within forty
seconds after the report of the first gun, and in two minutes the whole
army was ready for action; a fact as creditable to their own activity
and bravery, as to the skill and energy of their officers. The battle
soon became general, and was maintained on both sides with signal and
even desperate valor.
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