Even those of the women who knew how to shoot, insisted upon being provided with guns and assigned to posts of duty.

There was not only no use in flinching, but every one of them knew that whenever the fort should be attacked the only question to be decided was, "Shall we beat the savages off, or shall every man woman and child of us be butchered ?" They could not run away, for there was nowhere to run, except into the hands of the merciless foe.

The life of every one of them was involved in the defence of the forts, and each was, therefore, anxious to do all he could to make the defense a successful one.

Their only hope was in desperate courage, and, being Americans, their courage was equal to the demand made upon it.

It was not a civilized war, in which surrenders, and exchanges of prisoners, and treaties and flags of truce, or even neutrality offered any escape.