The Scouts of the ValleyAltsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
General
The Scouts of the Valley
Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander)
Chemung River Valley (N.Y. and Pa.) -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Wyoming Valley (Pa.) -- Fiction
Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadful things that
had come before his eyes, saw red. He was conscious of a terrible melee,
of striking again and again with his clubbed rifle, of fierce brown
faces before him, and of Timmendiquas and Thayedanegea rushing here and
there, shouting to their warriors, encouraging them, and exclaiming that
the battle was not lost. Beyond he saw the vanishing forms of the Royal
Greens and the Rangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best
of the Iroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them became
overwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breasts they
fell back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and a wonderful forest
fighter, the Indian could never stand the bayonet. Reluctantly
Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and the Mohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who
were most strenuous in the conflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield,
with its numerous trees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them.
They retreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower of
bullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.
Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around and saw the
face of Heemskerk, glowing red with zeal and exertion.
“The victory is won already!” said he. “Now to drive it home!”
“Come on,” cried Henry in return, “and we'll lead!”
A single glance showed him that none of his comrades had fallen. Long
Jim and Tom Ross had suffered slight wounds that they scarcely noticed,
and they and the whole group of scouts were just behind Henry. But they
now took breath, reloaded their rifles, and, throwing themselves down
in Indian fashion, opened a deadly fire upon their antagonists. Their
bullets searched all the thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled
them to retreat anew.
The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with so much that
the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic. Thayendanegea and
Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and the white leaders of
their allies were already out of sight. On all sides the allied red and
white force was dissolving. Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives
from a greater loss in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics
to flee with great speed when the battle began to go against them-but
the people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of the
Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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