What the teamsters about the fire saw was an apparently endless column of men advancing upon them.

Their leader halted the column, called for the captain of the train, ordered him to have his men stack their arms, collect their property, and stand by under guard.

Dismounting from his horse, he fashioned a torch and directed one of the drivers to apply it to the wagons, in order that "the Gentiles might spoil the Gentiles." By the time the teamsters had secured their personal belongings and a little stock of provisions for immediate necessity the fifty wagons were ablaze.

The following day, on the Big Sandy, they destroyed another train and a few straggling sutlers' wagons.
And so the campaign went forward.

As the winter came on colder, the scouts brought in moving tales of the enemy's discomfiture.