nearly two to one
They had the minds of statesmen and generals , and they prolonged , for generations , a fight that was doomed , from the beginning . We lost more people in our Indian wars than in all the others combined , except the Civil War . More American soldiers fell at St. Clair 's defeat by the Northwestern Indians than in any other battle we had ever fought until Bull Run . The British dead at Braddock 's disaster in the American wilderness outnumbered the British dead at Trafalgar nearly two to one . So valiant a race has always appealed to youth , at least , as a fit subject of romance . The long struggle with the brave and wary red men bred a type of white foresters who became fully their equals in the craft and lore of the wilderness . Such as these stood as a shield between the infant settlements and the fierce tribes , and , in this class , the author has placed his heroes .