companions, and sheltered themselves under the bank while
the canoes were sent hack for reenforcements. In this way they all
crossed over and then advanced up the bank, where at once they were
warmly assailed from every side except the rear, which they kept open
only by hard righting. 1
The Creeks had been righting the Americans in their front at such
close quarters that their bullets flattened upon the bayonets thrust
through the portholes. This attack from the rear by five hundred
Cherokee diverted their attention and gave opportunity to the Tennes-
seeans, Sam Houston among them, cheering them on. to swarm over
the breastwork. With death from the bullet, the bayonet and the
hatchet all around them, and the smoke of their blazing homes in their
eyes, not a warrior begged for his life. When more than halftheir
number lay dead upon the ground, the rest turned and plunged into
the river, only to rind the banks on the opposite side lined with enemies
and escape cut off in every direction. Says General Coffee:
Attempts to cross the river at all points of the bend were made by the enemy, but
nnt .me ever escaped. Very few ever reached the bank and that lew was killed the
instant they landed. From the report of my officers, as well as from my own obser-
vation, I feel warranted in saying that from two hundred and fifty to three hundred
of the enemy was buried under water and was not numbered with tin- dead that
were found.
Some swam for the island below the bend, but here too a detach-
ment had been posted and " not one