Accounts are unclear about how the battle began, but Harrison's sentinels encountered advancing warriors in the pre-dawn hours of November 7. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bartholomew was officer of the day, and he had ordered the troops to sleep with their weapons loaded. Around 4:30 a.m., the soldiers awoke to scattered gunshots, and found that they were nearly encircled by Tenskwatawa's forces. Contact was first made on the left flank of the perimeter, then to the front of the camp, the right flank and the rear. Captain Robert Barton's regulars and Captain Frederick Geiger's Kentucky militia faced immediate fierce attacks and were unable to hold their line. Harrison replaced them with the Indiana militia, commanded by Lieutenant Peters – their commander Wentworth died in the first attack. Harrison found the front line under fire (facing Prophetstown), pressed by warriors with rifles situated in a grove of trees. The Americans held their position as the attacks continued, the regulars reinforcing that critical section of the line. The militia's small-caliber rifles had little effect on the warriors as they rushed the defenders.