Their position was not exactly what it had been on the previous occasion, but its characteristic advantages were the same.

Hitherto, the Indians had shown considerable judgment in the selection of their battle-grounds, and in the general employment of their strength.

This judgment they probably owed in great part to their present adversaries.

Quick in their instinct, and surprisingly observant, they had soon learned the use of European weapons.

The various lessons of European tactics, the modes of attack and defence, were, in their united struggles with the French, equally open to their study and acquisition.