"

The marauders had established themselves in four or five of the negro
quarters on the plantation, and in a certain sense they were strongly
fortified. That is to say, they were housed in cabins built of logs too
thick for any bullet to penetrate them. Four of these cabins were so
placed that a fire from the door and the windows of either of them would
completely command the entrance of each of the others. But to offset
that, and to offset also the superiority of numbers which the marauders
enjoyed, Guilford Duncan decided upon an attack by night. He knew that
he was outnumbered by two or three to one, even if he counted the
willing but untrained negroes whom he had enlisted in this service. But
he did not despair of success. It was his purpose to dislodge the
marauders in a night attack, when he knew that they could not see to
shoot with effect. He knew also that "He is thrice armed who knows his
quarrel just."

Cautioning his men to maintain silence, and to advance as quickly as
possible, he got them into position and suddenly rushed upon the first
of the four or five negro quarters. Knowing that the door of this house
would be barricaded, he had instructed some of the negroes to bring a
pole with them which might be used as a battering ram. With a rush but
without any hurrah,--for Duncan had ordered quiet as a part of his plan
of campaign,--the negroes carried the great pole forward and instantly
crushed in the door. Within ten seconds afterwards Duncan's
ex-Confederate soldiers, with their pistols in use, were within the
house, and the company of marauders there surrendered--those of them who
had not fallen before the pistol shots. This first flush of victory
encouraged the negroes under his command so far that what had been their
enthusiasm became a positive battle-madness. Without waiting for orders
from him they rushed with their battering ram upon the other houses
occupied by the marauders, as did also his men, who were not accustomed
to follow, but rather to lead, and within a few minutes all of those
negro huts were in his possession, and all their occupants were in
effect his prisoners.

At this moment Guilford Duncan, who had now no legal or military
authority over his men, lost control of them. Both the negroes and the
white men seemed to go mad. They recognized in the marauders no rights
of a military kind, no title to be regarded as fighting men, and no
conceivable claim upon their conquerors' consid