United States or Laos ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In dense woodland a body of regular soldiers are almost as useless against Indians as they would be if at night they had to fight foes who could see in the dark; it needs special and long-continued training to fit them in any degree for wood-fighting against such foes.
Thus, as we marched along, Rogers kept talking to us, instructing us in the methods of wood-fighting. We went through Worcester, Brookfield, and Northampton to Pontoosuc Fort, where a party of Mohegan Indians from Stockbridge joined us, under their chief Jacob. Then to a Dutch settlement called Kinderhook, and to the Hudson River. The weather was very cold, and the river was frozen over.
Each regiment, moreover, was provided with a right and a left 'general guide, men selected for their special aptitudes, being good judges of distance, and noted for their steadiness and skill in maintaining the direction. I never saw the compass used in wood-fighting.
They were sent into the woods to learn how to fight. One company from each regiment of the regulars was fitted out as light infantry and clothed lightly. Plenty of powder and ball was given to these men, and we used to go into the woods with them and give them an idea of wood-fighting. We had a good deal of fun out of all this.
It seems evident, therefore, that it was not till near noon that Jackson's patrols came in sight of Middletown, and that the Confederate advanced guard had taken at least six hours to cover seven miles. The country, however, between Cedarville and the Valley turnpike was almost a continuous forest; and wood-fighting is very slow fighting. The advance had met with strong resistance.
Washington concludes this letter by calling upon Governor Clinton for an account of the force which New York can furnish for the contemplated expedition and describing the kind of men most desirable for this peculiar service "active rangers, who are at the same time expert marksmen, and accustomed to the irregular kind of wood-fighting practiced by the Indians."
As the war went on, the regulars found that the rabble were as brave as themselves, more expert in wood-fighting, and far better shots. But the ridicule that was heaped upon them at first caused a bitter feeling which lasted and prepared the way for the Revolution.
The wood-fighting, amid the stripped and gaunt trunks rising from labyrinths of wire, is specially terrible; and below the ground everywhere are the deep pits and dugouts, which have not only sheltered the enemy from our fire, but concealed the machine-guns, which often when our men have passed over, emerge and take them in the rear.
Word Of The Day