On the second night of their march homeward, while encamped at the Great falls, some of Hogg's men went out on the hills to hunt turkeys, and fell in with a party of Indians, painted as for war. As soon as they saw that they were discovered, they fired, and two of Hogg's men were killed--the fire was returned and a Shawanee warrior was wounded and taken prisoner. The remaining Indians, yelling their war whoop, fled down the river.
Many of the whites, thinking that so small a party of Indians would not have pursued the army alone, were of opinion that it was only an advanced scout of a large body of the enemy, who were following them: the wounded Indian refused to give any information of their number or object. A council of war was convoked; and much diversity of opinion prevailed at the board. It was proposed by Capt. Paul to cross the Ohio river, invade the towns on the Scioto, and burn them, or perish in the attempt.[7] The proposition was supported by Lieut. M'Nutt, but overruled; and the officers, deeming it right to act in conformity with the governor's orders, determined on pursuing their way home. Orders were then given that no more guns should be fired, and no fires kindled in camp, as their safe return depended very much on silence and secrecy.
An obedience to this order, produced a very considerable degree of suffering, as well from extreme cold as from hunger. The pack horses, which were no longer serviceable (having no provisions to transport) and some of which had given out for want of provender, were killed and eaten. When the army arrived at the Burning spring, the buffalo hides, which had been left there on their way down, were cut into tuggs, or long thongs, and eaten by the troops, after having been exposed to the heat produced by the flame from the spring.--Hence they called it Tugg river--a name by which it is still known. After this the army subsisted for a while on beachnuts; but a deep snow falling these could no longer be obtained, and the restrictions were removed.
About thirty men then detached themselves from the main body, to hunt their way home. Several of them were known to have perished from cold and hunger--others were lost and never afterwards [65] heard of; as they had separated into small parties, the more certainly to find game on which to live. The main body of the army was conducted home by Col. Lewis, after much suffering--the strings of their mocasons, the belts of their hunting shirts, and the flaps of their shot pouches, having been all the food which they had eaten for some days.[8]