The Chemung and the Susquehanna, flowing from the east and the west out of the heart of the Indian country, approach very near to each other at Tioga Point, enclosing a pretty peninsula shaped like an arrow head. Further down they meet and unite in one stream, the lordly Susquehanna, on which canoes could reach the cities on the Chesapeake Bay or any of the rivers flowing into it. Tioga Point was the Southern Door of the Long House of the Iroquois confederacy, and here, as a base of supplies, a diamond-shaped fort with a block house at each corner, with hospital and barracks, was to be built. Upon this the army could fall back in case of defeat, and here be re-victualed on their return march. In the rivers, nature provided the only highways, though the Iroquois during centuries of war, trade and travel had made many trails. From Tioga Point the Continentals were to march up the Chemung Valley and thence into the wonderfully fertile lake country of Central New York. Along the ridge overlooking Seneca Lake they would pass, in order to strike the Tory headquarters and center of supplies at the lake’s northern end, where then stood a big Indian village, and now not far away is the city of Geneva. Thence westwardly they were to move to Canandaigua and along the great trail at the southern end of the smaller lakes, Canadice, Hemlock and Conesus, into the valley of the Genesee. Possibly they might be able to reach the British fort at Niagara. Indeed, in the great virgin wilderness of Central and Western New York there was no other way of advance, save through the river valleys and along Indian trails. When leaving the former and advancing through the forests, it would be necessary for the axemen to chop their way. In miry places the pioneers must cut down trees, lay the logs and make corduroy roads. Swamps must be filled and the smaller streams bridged. In many parts of the country to be traversed there were indeed large open spaces where the cornfields of the Indians furnished stores of food, while their gardens yielded, as our men discovered, twelve kinds of vegetables. Yet in the main, the army would have to march through a country covered with timber and brush wood. A large force of axemen, pioneers, surveyors and road-makers would be necessary, especially as the artillery must be carried along, for Washington, being himself a backwoodsman and an Indian fighter, knew the persuasive power of cannon with the Indians. Brave as the painted warriors undoubtedly were, they preferred fighting behind logs and trees under cover. They objected, most decidedly, to stand up in ranks and coolly keep their places in the presence of howitzers that could tear them to pieces, not only by a frontal attack, but by sending shells to burst among and behind them. The Indian had physical stamina, but he lacked moral courage. Washington knowing this, ordered Colonel Proctor to take nine pieces of artillery and his regiment of three hundred artillerists.