The fate of Wyoming awoke the liveliest indignation; and an expedition of retaliation was very soon undertaken against the Indians of the Upper Susquehannah; and though the Indians, aware of their approach, fled, yet were their harvests destroyed and their fields laid waste. Another expedition was undertaken against the Canadian settlers, most of whom were loyalists, west of the Alleganies. These incursions served only to call forth reprisals; and in November, the flourishing settlement of Cherry Valley, in New York, was surprised by a party of Indians and loyalist regulars. The fort, which was garrisoned by about 200 soldiers, was not taken; but its colonel, who lodged in the town, was killed, the lieutenant-colonel taken prisoner, and the inhabitants suffered the cruel fate of those of Wyoming. We have already mentioned that Commodore Hyde Parker had been sent in November with a detachment of 3,500 men, under Colonel Campbell, against Georgia; at the same time instructions had been forwarded to Major-General Prevost, who commanded the troops in East Florida, to make all necessary preparations for the defence of Fort St. Augustine, and to co-operate in the views of the present expedition by entering the province of Georgia from that side, and advancing, if possible, so far as to assist Colonel Campbell in the intended attack on Savannah. The scene of events is now about to be in great measure removed from the North to the South. While the northern provinces had been so long harassed, and had suffered from the calamities of war, the southern had enjoyed such comparative tranquillity that they had duly cultivated their affluent lands and gathered in their abundant harvests, and had carried on their export trade with most of the European markets without impediment, except from British cruisers in the ocean. There had, it is true, been a continuance of petty hostilities between Georgia and East Florida, which had kept up a rumour of war in the south; and in West Florida the British settlements had quietly submitted to the Americans; but as yet all had been comparative peace. The shortness of provisions in the north, from which the British suffered, rendered it additionally important for them to gain possession of Georgia, the feeblest of the southern provinces. As regards, indeed, the want of provisions, it was felt by the Americans equally with the British; and it is stated that D’Estaing would have found it impracticable to have victualled his ships at Boston but for the opportune seizing, by the New England cruisers, of so large a number of English provision-ships on their way to New York, that there was not only abundance for the French fleet, but the general price of food was lowered thereby in Boston market. This event, which was a great triumph to the Americans, was a serious cause of increased anxiety and suffering to the British army.