ords. He says:

"The Indians who form the confederacy of the Six Nations, commonly
called Mohawks, were the objects of this expedition. They inhabit that
immense and fertile tract of country which lies between New England, the
Middle States, and the Province of Canada. * * The Indians, on hearing
of the expedition projected against them, acted with firmness. They
collected their strength, took possession of proper ground, and
fortified it with judgment. General Sullivan, on the 29th of August,
attacked them in their works. They stood a cannonade for more than two
hours, but then gave way. This engagement proved decisive. After the
trenches were forced, the Indians fled without making any attempt to
rally. The consternation occasioned among them by this defeat was so
great, that they gave up all ideas of further resistance. As the
Americans advanced into their settlements, the Indians retreated before
them, without throwing any obstruction in their way. General Sullivan
penetrated into the heart of the country inhabited by the Mohawks, and
spread desolation everywhere. Many settlements in the form of towns were
destroyed. All their fields of corn, and whatever was in a state of
cultivation, underwent the same fate. Scarcely anything in the form of
a house was left standing, nor was an Indian to be seen.

"To the surprise of the Americans, they found the lands about the Indian
towns well cultivated, and their houses both large and commodious. The
quantity of corn destroyed was immense. Orchards, in which were several
hundred fruit trees, were cut down; and of them many appeared to have
been planted for a long series of years. Their gardens, replenished with
a variety of useful vegetables, were laid waste."[96]

From this review of the invasions and contests between the Americans and
Indians, it is clear that the Indians were the greater sufferers in life
and property. The mutual hatreds of former years, when the colonies were
warring with the French (instead of being, as now, in alliance with
them), and the Indians were in the interest and service of the French,
seems to have been perpetuated on both sides, and to have become more
intense on the part of the Americans after the failure of their efforts
to secure the Indians to their side. The old contests between the
Southern colonists and the Indians were renewed and repeated with
intense bitterness; and in the Northern colonies the policy of Congress
and its agents was