The French Indians worked round on to high ground, beyond the swamp on
the left, and their fire thence took the defenders in the flank.
Captain Eyre speedily turned his guns in that direction, and a few
well-directed shells soon drove the Indians from their vantage ground.
Dieskau directed his first attack against the left and centre; but the
Connecticut men fought so stoutly, that he next tried to force the
right, where the Massachusetts regiments of Titcomb, Ruggles, and
Williams held the line. For an hour he strove hard to break his way
through the intrenchments, but the Massachusetts men stood firm,
although Titcomb was killed and their loss was heavy.
At length Dieskau, exposing himself within short range of the English
lines, was hit in the leg. While his adjutant Montreuil was dressing
the wound, the general was again hit in the knee and thigh. He had
himself placed behind a tree, and ordered Montreuil to lead the
regulars in a last effort against the camp.
But it was too late. The blood of the colonists was now up, and, singly
or in small bodies, they were crossing their lines of barricade, and
working up among the trees towards their assailants. The movement
became general, and Lyman, seeing the spirit of his men, gave the word,
and the whole of the troops, with a shout, leaped up and dashed through
the wood against the enemy, falling upon them with their hatchets and
the butts of their guns.
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