Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 23, 2025
So far, no thanks to myself, I had carried out my orders in all save the apprehension of Walter Butler. And now I was uncertain whether to remain and hang around the council-fire waiting for an opportunity to seize Butler, or whether to push on at once, warn Gansevoort at Stanwix that St. Leger's motley army had set out from Oswego, and then return to trap Butler at my leisure.
I wondered why it was that Colonel Gansevoort delayed in the coming, and could see, without looking in any direction save at my foe, that the number of savages inside the stockade was increasing each moment.
He could ill afford to spare the troops necessary for the undertaking, since Burgoyne was now manoeuvring in his front; but the gravity of the situation could not be overlooked. He therefore sent Arnold, with Learned's brigade, to retrieve Herkimer's disaster in the valley. Gansevoort was still holding out against St. Leger as stubbornly as ever.
Leger had under his command; of the possibility that we might, perhaps, come across Peter Sitz; the chances that Colonel Gansevoort would be forced to surrender even before we could arrive with information that reinforcements were near at hand, and, in fact, the numberless happenings which might occur to change the entire situation, served to drive sleep so far from my eyelids that I despaired of being able to summon it until sheer exhaustion should come.
Leger approached Fort Stanwix, or Schuyler, a log fortification situated on rising ground near the source of the Mohawk river, and garrisoned by about 600 Continentals under the command of Colonel Gansevoort. Next day he invested the place with an army of sixteen or seventeen hundred men, nearly one-half of whom were Indians, and the rest British, Germans, Canadians, and Tories.
"But I would not set off against your wishes, because of the danger in the road, although I claim it would be quite as great if we attempted to enter the fort at once." "Then it is decided you will return to General Herkimer," Colonel Gansevoort said, quickly, as if fearing lest we might repent of our decision.
Of course he's holding out; isn't he?" I made a short report of the situation as I knew it; the General looked straight into my eyes as though he were not listening. "Yes, yes," he said, impatiently. "I know how to deal with St. Leger and Sir John I wrote Gansevoort that I understood how to deal with them. He has only to sit tight; I'll manage the rest."
"Then Colonel Gansevoort is as great a coward as General Herkimer, for we are of sufficient strength to march whithersoever we will."
"But we stand as much chance of rescuing my father as we do of gettin' speech with Colonel Gansevoort, an' surely you will not leave a friend to be tortured to death?" Jacob said, pleadingly, and speaking incautiously loud. "Lad, we have no choice in the matter. If General Herkimer was in your father's place I would turn my back on him until after our work had been done.
As on the previous occasion, we were drawn up in a hollow square, with Colonel Gansevoort and his staff inside, and without wasting many words in leading up to the subject, the commandant announced that the majority of the men had decided there was no need of further punishment for Reuben Cox; that the penalty which he had already paid was a sufficient lesson for those of us who entertained any idea of trusting to the promises made by the British commander.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking