"At 8 o'clock at night I crossed the bar with three cutters and 25 men and proceeded up the river. My object was to look for pilots, and also to find some schooners supposed to be inside," reported William Cushing.
After meeting light resistance, Cushing beached his boats and formed his men about 200 yards from Fort Randall.
"Knowing that the enemy was ignorant of our numbers, I charged with bayonet and captured their works, going over one side as they escaped over the other," he wrote.
In the abandoned camp, Cushing found a blockhouse pierced for muskets, but no cannons. Apparently they had been taken to more strategic forts.
"The enemy left in such haste that their stores, clothing, ammunition and a portion of their arms were captured. I destroyed all that I could not bring away," wrote Cushing. "I went a short distance up the river; had another skirmish; did not see the schooners; got out of ammunition and returned with the loss of but one man shot in the leg."
--Old B-Runner
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