Sidetrack:
Hitchcock's description of the battle scene
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Excerpts from Major Hitchcock's report on the scene of the Dade massacre, written February 22, 1836:
"We first saw some broken and scattered boxes; then a cart, the two oxen of which were lying dead, as if they had fallen asleep, their yokes still on them .... We then came to a small enclosure, made by felling trees in such a manner as to form a breastwork for defence. Within the triangle ... were about thirty bodies, mostly were skeletons, although much of the clothing was left upon them. They were lying, almost every one of them, in precisely the position they must have occupied during the fight -- their heads next to the logs over which they had delivered their fire, and their bodies stretched with striking regularity parallel to each other. They had evidently been shot dead at their posts, and the Indians had not disturbed them, except by taking the scalps of most of them.
....
"They were buried, and the cannon, a six-pounder, that the Indians had thrown into the swamp, was recovered and placed vertically at the head of the grave, where it is to be hoped it will long remain.....We buried them all.
....
"The officers' features could not be discerned, but they were identified by various articles found upon them, which, strange to say, the Indians had left. A breastpin was found on Lieutenant Fraser, a finger ring on Lieutenant Mudge, a pistol upon Lieutenant Keais, a stock on Doctor Gatlin, a map on Captain Gardiner, and a net shirt on Lieutenant Bassinger. Major Dade and Lieutenant Henderson were known by their teeth."
Sources:
Hitchcock 90-92.
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Part 2, War: l |