The sharp eye of the old Indian chief was the first to detect
a sign of the enemy, and, almost at the same moment, a gun was fired
from the bushes. It is said that the Iroquois, seeing the Mohawks, who
were an allied tribe, in the van, wished to warn them of danger. The
warning came too late to save the column from disaster, but it saved it
from destruction. From the thicket on the left a deadly fire blazed
out, and the head of the column was almost swept away. Hendrick's horse
was shot, and the chief killed with a bayonet as he tried to gain his
feet.
Colonel Williams, seeing rising ground on his right, made for it,
calling his men to follow; but, as he climbed the slope, the enemy's
fire flashed out from behind every tree, and he fell dead. The men in
the rear pressed forward to support their comrades, when the enemy in
the bushes on the right flank also opened fire.
Then a panic began. Some fled at once for the camp, and the whole
column recoiled in confusion, as from all sides the enemy burst out,
shouting and yelling. Colonel Whiting, however, bravely rallied a
portion of Williams' regiment, and, aided by some of the Mohawks, and
by a detachment which Johnson sent out to his aid, covered the retreat,
fighting behind the trees like the Indians, and falling back in good
order with their faces to the enemy.
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