Single file.
1791. The horses having ranged themselves in regular Indian file, the veteran in the van, and the younger in the rear.—W. Bartram, ‘Carolina,’ p. 440. (N.E.D.)
1811. In the formation of my troops, I used a single rank, or what is called Indian file.—Report of Gov. W. H. Harrison to the Sec. of State, Nov. 18: Mass. Spy, July 28.
1817. Two or three families stroll about in company, headed by some gigantic, tawny sachem, who is followed ‘in Indian file,’ by the younger men, their squaws and children.—Analectic Mag., x. 495 (Dec.).
1826. As soon as they have walked the length of the boat, they raise their pole, walk forward in Indian file, and renew their “set,” as the phrase is, again.—T. Flint, ‘Recollections,’ p. 25.
1830. [They] marched us over gold pits, logs, and brushes, in a style called Indian file.—Mass. Spy, July 28: from The N.Y. Commercial Advertiser.
1833. The Tunkers came out from Germany in 1709…. When [they] were numerous at Ephrata, they used to make visits of love, to those in Germantown, walking one after the other in Indian file, to the number of forty to fifty persons.—Watson, ‘Historic Tales of Philadelphia,’ pp. 53–4.
