357: Result of Council of Officers of Washington District, August 19, 1788.] The Indian War.
Before the troops assembled many outrages were committed by the savages.
Horses were stolen, people were killed in their cabins, in their fields, on the roads, and at the ferries; and the settlers nearest the Indian country gathered in their forted stations, and sent earnest appeals for help to their unmolested brethren.

The stations were attacked, and at one or two the Indians were successful; but generally they were beaten off, the militia marching promptly to the relief of each beleaguered garrison.

Severe skirmishing took place between the war parties and the bands of militia who first reached the frontier; and the whites were not always successful.

Once, for instance, a party of militia, greedy for fruit, scattered through an orchard, close to an Indian town which they supposed to be deserted; but the Indians were hiding near by and fell upon them, killing seventeen.

The savages mutilated the dead bodies in fantastic ways, with ferocious derision, and left them for their friends to find and bury.