rugged valley.
On their right was a gorge, hidden in bushes, beyond which rose the
rocky height of French Mountain. On their left rose gradually the
slopes of West Mountain. The ground was thickly covered with thicket
and forest. The regulars marched along the road, the Canadians and
Indians pushed their way through the woods as best they could. When
within three miles of the lake, their scout brought in a prisoner, who
told them that an English column was approaching. The regulars were
halted on the road, the Canadians and Indians moved on ahead, and hid
themselves in ambush among the trees and bushes on either side of the
road.

The waggoners, who had escaped the evening before, had reached
Johnson's camp about midnight, and reported that there was a war party
on the road near Fort Lyman. A council of war was held, and under an
entire misconception of the force of the enemy, and the belief that
they would speedily fall back from Fort Lyman, it was determined to
send out two detachments, each 500 strong, one towards Fort Lyman, the
other to catch the enemy in their retreat. Hendrick, the chief of the
Mohawks, expressed his strong disapproval of this plan, and accordingly
it was resolved that the thousand men should go as one body. Hendrick
still disapproved of the plan, but nevertheless resolved to accompany
the column, and, mounting on a gun carriage, he harangued his warriors
with passionate eloquence, and they at once prepared to accompany them.
He was too old and fat to go on foot, and the general lent him a horse,
which he mounted, and took his place at the head of the column.

Colonel Williams was in command, with Lieutenant Colonel Whiting as
second. They had no idea of meeting the enemy near the camp, and moved
forward so carelessly that not a single scout was thrown out in front
or flank. The sharp eye of the old Indian chief was the first to detect
a sign of the enemy, and, almost at the same moment, a gun was fired
from the bushes. It is said that the Iroquois, seeing the Mohawks, who
were an allied tribe, in the van, wished to warn them of danger. The
warning came too late to save the column from disaster, but it saved it
from destruction. From the thicket on the left a deadly fire blazed
out, and the head of the column was almost swept away. Hendrick's horse
was shot, and the chief killed with a bayonet as he tried to gain his
feet.

Colonel Williams, seeing rising ground on his right, made for it,
cal