e
of protection had been given him by the commander of the army.--His
death can, consequently, only be considered as an unwarrantable
murder; provoked indeed, by the barbarous and bloody conduct of the
savages. These, though they do not justify, should certainly extenuate
the offence.

The fact, that the enemy, with whom they were contending, did not
observe the rules of war, and was occasionally, guilty of the crime,
of putting their prisoners to death, would certainly authorize the
practice of greater rigor, than should be exercised towards those who
do not commit such excesses. This extraordinary severity, of itself,
tends to beget a greater regard for what is allowable among civilized
men, and to produce conformity with those usages of war, which were
suggested by humanity, and are sanctioned by all. But the attainment
of this object, if it were the motive which prompted to the deed, can
not justify the murder of the prisoners, placed [222] under the safe
keeping of the militia. It evinced a total disregard of the authority
of their superior officer. He had assured them they should only be
detained as prisoners, and remain free from farther molestation; and
nothing, but the commission of some fresh offence, could sanction the
enormity. But, however sober reflection may condemn those acts as
outrages of propriety, yet so many and so great, were the barbarous
excesses committed by the savages upon the whites in their power, that
the minds of those who were actors in those scenes, were deprived of
the faculty of discriminating between what was right or wrong to be
practised towards them. And if acts, savouring of sheer revenge, were
done by them, they should be regarded as but the ebullitions of men,
under the excitement of great and damning wrongs, and which, in their
dispassionate moments, they would condemn, even in themselves.

When, upon the arrival of Hinkston at Lexington, the people became
acquainted with the mischief which had been wrought by the Canadian
and Indian army,[12] every bosom burned with a desire to avenge
those outrages, and to retort them on their authors. Runners were
despatched in every direction, with the intelligence, and the cry
for retribution, arose in all the settlements. In this state of
feeling, every eye was involuntarily turned towards Gen. Clarke as
the one who should lead them forth to battle; and every ear was
opened, to receive his counsel. He advised a levy of four-fifths of
t