The Dakotas then attacked the village, but such of the Ojibways as were sober, and had got over their drunken frolic, having made their preparations, manfully resisted the attack, till the drunken warriors, being brought to their sober senses by being frequently immersed in cold water by the women, increased the ranks of the defenders, and after a desperate struggle finally succeeded in causing the Dakotas to retreat, who returning to their canoes, embarked with their prisoners, and continued their course down the Mississippi, triumphing in the repeated blows they had inflicted on their enemies.
They were doomed, however, to run a severe gauntlet before reaching their villages, and to pay dearly for the temerity which had led them to proceed so far into the country which the Ojibways claimed as their own. A party of sixty Ojibway warriors had, a short time previous, left their village at Sandy Lake (as has been mentioned), and under the leadership of Waus-uk-o-gub-ig, a distinguished war-chief, they proceeded down the Mississippi in their birchen canoes, to the haunts of their enemies. Meeting with no success in their foray after scalps, they left their canoes in the enemy's country, and were returning home on foot, when, arriving at Crow Wing, they discovered the late encampment of the Dakotas, who were making the grand circuit of the northern country.
From the marks thus discovered, the Ojibways became satisfied that the enemy, who had gone up the Crow Wing River, would either soon return the same way, or come down the Mississippi, after having perhaps massacred their wives and children at Sandy Lake. They determined, therefore, to await their coming at the confluence of these rivers, and notwithstanding the apparent strength of their enemies, to give them battle.
About half a mile below the main mouth of the Crow
