numbered them, and under this impression, dropping their blankets and other incumbrances, they turned and fled down the prairie towards the mouth of Elk River. As they ran, they would occasionally turn and fire back at their pursuers. And in this manner, a running fight was kept up for about three miles, when the Dakotas met a large party of their fellows who had come across from the Minnesota River to join them in their excursion against the Ojibways. With this addition, they outnumbered the Ojibways more than double, and the chase was now turned the other way.
The Ojibways, hard pressed by the fresh reinforcements of their enemy, ran up and along the banks of Elk River, till, becoming wearied by their long run, they made a firm stand in a grove of oak trees, which skirt a small prairie near the banks of Elk River. Here the fight was sustained for a long time, the Ojibways firing from the shelter of the oak trees, and the Dakotas digging holes in the ground on the open prairie, and thus gradually approaching the covert of their enemies. The Ojibways, however, manfully stood their ground, and the Dakotas after losing many lives in the attempt to dislodge them, resorted to a new and singular expedient. A strong south wind was blowing, and being the spring of the year, before the green grass had grown to any length, the prairie was still covered with a thick coating of the last year's dry grass. To this the Dakotas set fire, and it blowing immediately against the Ojibways, the raging flames very soon caused them to leave their covert, and seek for safety in flight. It required the utmost endeavors of their best runners to keep ahead of the flames, and those who had been wounded during the course of the previous conflict, were soon caught and devoured by the raging element.
