of which, Captain Spaulding, with
about sixty or seventy men, was dispatched to their assistance. This
detachment was, at the time of the massacre, about forty miles distant.
The garrison had been apprised of their march from Lancaster, but not of
their proximity.

"The people in the garrison grew uneasy, under the insults of the
invaders. The militia were placed under officers taken from themselves,
and the whole body was commanded by Colonel Zebulon Butler, of the
continental army. Colonel Dennison, of the militia, was second in
command. There was a fortification about three miles above Forty Fort,
called Wintermoot's Fort. This was in the possession of tories. They
surrendered at the approach of the enemy, without opposition, and gave
them aid; some of them entering fully into their interests. Wintermoot's
Fort instantly became the headquarters of the expedition from Canada;
and was commanded by Colonel John Butler, a British officer, and
commander of a party of rangers. The second in command was Colonel
Brandt, a natural son of Sir William Johnson, by an Indian woman. Some
communications by flag had taken place between the hostile parties
previous to the battle, with propositions of compromise. The Canadians
insisted on an unqualified submission to Great Britain; but this the
garrison peremptorily refused, and nothing was effected. The reciprocal
bearers of flags represented the army of the invaders as double the
garrison in number, and still more superior in the quality of their
arms.

"It was debated in the garrison, whether it would be a point of prudence
to hazard a sally. An officer, who had been at the enemy's camp with a
flag, opposed it, as did also Colonel Dennison and several others, and
Colonel Butler rather declined it; but, among others who were in favor
of it, a certain captain, (who never lived to lament his temerity,)
urged it with so much vehemence, that the commandant consented. A Mr.
Ingersol, then in the garrison with a flag from the enemy, had been some
time their captive, and was intimately acquainted with their strength.
He did his utmost to deter them from the rash attempt, but all in vain;
and, when he saw them turn out and parade, could no longer refrain from
tears.

"The third day of July, in the year 1778, was the fatal day that deluged
in blood the plains of Wyoming! The garrison marched off in a solid
column, and met with no material obstruction till they reached the
enemy's camp, a