of the Minute Boys sided with these malcontents,
while Sergeant Corney and Peter Sitz moved here and there throughout the
day, trying to persuade the men to do only that which was for their own
good, but without success.

The longer such talk ran through the garrison the stronger it became,
until shortly before sunset the mutiny was so well advanced that the
commandant could do no less than take serious notice of it, and it pleased
me that he did not delay.

Save for the sentinels on the walls, the entire garrison was called out as
for parade, and, having been clumsily formed in a hollow square, Colonel
Gansevoort, surrounded by his staff of officers, undertook to still the
rising tempest.

He began by saying that it was the opinion of himself and his staff that
the men ought to know exactly the condition of affairs, lest they be led
astray by idle fears, and to that end he called upon the quartermaster for
a detailed statement of the amount of eatables then on hand.

When this had been given, and it required some time to read the entire
list, he announced the number of men, women, and children which were
inside the walls of the fort, figuring out that by slightly decreasing the
size of the rations it would be possible to provide every person with food
during three weeks at least.

True it is the supply was not large enough to admit of our gorging
ourselves; but I dare venture to say that many there would have lived on
much less had they been thrown upon their own resources in their own
homes.

Then he told how many times the big guns had been fired during the late
assault, and stated that we had two hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition
remaining for the cannon. He claimed that it was possible for us to hold
the fort even though we did not use the heavy weapons, and showed that we
could yet put up as much of a fight as St. Leger's army would be able to
stomach.

After all these details, he described to the men what would likely be
their fate in event of surrender, declaring that we had every reason and
the ability to hold the fort if we were so minded, and urged us to be men
rather than cowards.

It was a good speech, and one which should have put heart into the veriest
white-livered militiaman that ever pretended to be a soldier; but, to my
surprise, I could see on the faces of those who had talked surrender the
loudest, an expression telling that the words passed by them as does the
wind.

When we were d