Chapter XXI. Battle of the Chemung

by Joseph A. Altsheler

　　Paul had been sleeping heavily, and the sharp, pealing notes of atrumpet awoke him at the sunburst of a brilliant morning. Henrywas standing beside him, showing no fatigue from the night'sexcitement, danger, and escape, but his face was flushed and hiseyes sparkled.

　　"Up, Paul! Up!" he cried. "We know the enemy's position, and wewill be in battle before another sun sets."

　　Paul was awake in an instant, and the second instant he was onhis feet, rifle in hand, and heart thrilling for the greatattack. He, like all the others, had slept on such a night fullydressed. Shif'less Sol, Long Jim, Silent Tom, Heemskerk, and therest were by the side of him, and all about them rose the soundsof an army going into battle, commands sharp and short, therolling of cannon wheels, the metallic rattle of bayonets, theclink of bullets poured into the pouches, and the hum of mentalking in half-finished sentences.

　　It was to all the five a vast and stirring scene. It was thefirst time that they bad ever beheld a large and regular armygoing into action, and they were a part of it, a part by no meansunimportant. It was Henry, with his consummate skill and daring,who had uncovered the position of the enemy, and now, withoutsnatching a moment's sleep, he was ready to lead where the fraymight be thickest.

　　The brief breakfast finished, the trumpet pealed forth again, andthe army began to move through the thick forest. A light wind,crisp with the air of early autumn, blew, and the leaves rustled.The sun, swinging upward in the east, poured down a flood ofbrilliant rays that lighted up everything, the buff and blueuniforms, the cannon, the rifles, the bayonets, and the forest,still heavy with foliage.

　　"Now! now!" thought every one of the five, "we begin thevengeance for Wyoming!"

　　The scouts were well in front, searching everywhere among thethickets for the Indian sharpshooters, who could scorch soterribly. As Braxton Wyatt had truly said, these scouts were thebest in the world. Nothing could escape the trained eyes ofHenry Ware and his comrades, and those of Murphy, Ellerson, andthe others, while off on either flank of the army heavydetachments guarded against any surprise or turning movement.They saw no Indian sign in the woods. There was yet a deepsilence in front of them, and the sun, rising higher, poured itsgolden light down upon the army in such an intense, vivid floodthat rifle barrels and bayonets gave back a metallic gleam. Allaround them the deep woods swayed and rustled before the lightbreeze, and now and then they caught glimpses of the river, itssurface now gold, then silver, under the shining sun.

　　Henry's heart swelled as he advanced. He was not revengeful, buthe had seen so much of savage atrocity in the last year that hecould not keep down the desire to see punishment. It is onlythose in sheltered homes who can forgive the tomahawk and thestake. Now he was the very first of the scouts, although hiscomrades and a dozen others were close behind him.

　　The scouts went so far forward that the army was hidden from themby the forest, although they could yet hear the clank of arms andthe sound of commands.

　　Henry knew the ground thoroughly. He knew where the embankmentran, and he knew, too, that the Iroquois had dug pits, marked bytimber. They were not far ahead, and the scouts now proceededvery slowly, examining every tree and clump of bushes to seewhether a lurking enemy was hidden there. The silence enduredlonger than he had thought. Nothing could be seen in front savethe waving forest.

　　Henry stopped suddenly. He caught a glimpse of a brownshoulder's edge showing from behind a tree, and at his signal allthe scouts sank to the ground.

　　The savage fired, but the bullet, the first of the battle,whistled over their heads. The sharp crack, sounding triply loudat such a time, came back from the forest in many echoes, and alight puff of smoke arose. Quick as a flash, before the brownshoulder and body exposed to take aim could be withdrawn, TomRoss fired, and the Mohawk fell, uttering his death yell. TheIroquois in the woods took up the cry, pouring forth a war whoop,fierce, long drawn, the most terrible of human sounds, and beforeit died, their brethren behind the embankment repeated it intremendous volume from hundreds of throats. It was a shout thathad often appalled the bravest, but the little band of scoutswere not afraid. When its last echo died they sent forth afierce, defiant note of their own, and, crawling forward, beganto send in their bullets.

　　The woods in front of them swarmed with the Indian skirmishers,who replied to the scouts, and the fire ran along a long linethrough the undergrowth. Flashes of flames appeared, puffs ofsmoke arose and, uniting, hung over the trees. Bullets hissed.Twigs and bark fell, and now and then a man, as they fought fromtree to tree. Henry caught one glimpse of a face that was white,that of Braxton Wyatt, and he sought a shot at the renegadeleader, but he could not get it. But the scouts pushed on, andthe Indian and Tory skirmishers dropped back. Then on the flanksthey began to hear the rattle of rifle fire. The wings of thearmy were in action, but the main body still advanced withoutfiring a shot.

　　The scouts could now see through the trees the embankments andrifle pits, and they could also see the last of the Iroquois andTory skirmishers leaping over the earthworks and taking refugewith their army. Then they turned back and saw the long line oftheir own army steadily advancing, while the sounds of heavyfiring still continued on both flanks. Henry looked proudly atthe unbroken array, the front of steel, and the cannon. He feltprouder still when the general turned to him and said:

　　"You have done well, Mr. Ware; you have shown us exactly wherethe enemy lies, and that will save us many men. Now biggervoices than those of the rifles shall talk."

　　The army stopped. The Indian position could be plainly seen.The crest of the earthwork was lined with fierce, dark faces, andhere and there among the brown Iroquois were the green uniformsof the Royalists.

　　Henry saw both Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, the plumes intheir hair waving aloft, and he felt sure that wherever theystood the battle would be thickest.

　　The Americans were now pushing forward their cannon, sixthree-pounders and two howitzers, the howitzers, firingfive-and-a-half-inch shells, new and terrifying missiles to theIndians. The guns were wheeled into position, and the firsthowitzer was fired. It sent its great shell in a curving line atand over the embankment, where it burst with a crash, followed bya shout of mingled pain and awe. Then the second howitzer, aimedwell like the first, sent a shell almost to the same point, and alike cry came back.

　　Shif'less Sol, watching the shots, jumped up and down indelight.

　　"That's the medicine!" he cried. "I wonder how you like that,you Butlers an' Johnsons an' Wyatts an' Mohawks an' all the resto' your scalp-taking crew! Ah, thar goes another! This ain'tany Wyomin'!"

　　The three-pounders also opened fire, and sent their ballssquarely into the rifle pits and the Indian camp. The Iroquoisreplied with a shower of rifle bullets and a defiant war whoop,but the bullets fell short, and the whoop hurt no one.

　　The artillery, eight pieces, was served with rapidity andprecision, while the riflemen, except on their flanks, where theywere more closely engaged, were ordered to hold their fire. Thespectacle was to Henry and his comrades panoramic in its effect.They watched the flashes of fire from the mouths of the cannon,the flight of the great shells, and the bank of smoke which soonbegan to lower like a cloud over the field. They could pictureto themselves what was going on beyond the earthwork, the deadfalling, the wounded limping away, earth and trees torn by shelland shot. They even fancied that they could hear the voices ofthe great chiefs, Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas, encouragingtheir men, and striving to keep them in line against a fire notas deadly as rifle bullets at close quarters, but moreterrifying.

　　Presently a cloud of skirmishers issued once more from the Indiancamp, creeping among the trees and bushes, and seeking a chanceto shoot down the men at the guns. But sharp eyes were watchingthem.

　　"Come, boys," exclaimed Henry. "Here's work for us now."

　　He led the scouts and the best of the riflemen against theskirmishers, who were soon driven in again. The artillery firehad never ceased for a moment, the shells and balls passing overtheir heads. Their work done, the sharpshooters fell back again,the gunners worked faster for a while, and then at a command theyceased suddenly. Henry, Paul, and all the others knewinstinctively what was going to happen. They felt it in everybone of them. The silence so sudden was full of meaning.

　　"Now!" Henry found himself exclaiming. Even at that moment theorder was given, and the whole army rushed forward, the smokefloating away for the moment and the sun flashing off thebayonets. The five sprang up and rushed on ahead. A sheet offlame burst from the embankment, and the rifle pits sprang intofire. The five beard the bullets whizzing past them, and thesudden cries of the wounded behind them, but they never ceased torush straight for the embankment.

　　It seemed to Henry that he ran forward through living fire.There was one continuous flash from the earthwork, and acontinuous flash replied. The rifles were at work now, thousandsof them, and they kept up an incessant crash, while above themrose the unbroken thunder of the cannon. The volume of smokedeepened, and it was shot through with the sharp, pungent odor ofburned gunpowder.

　　Henry fired his rifle and pistol, almost unconsciously reloaded,and fired again, as he ran, and then noticed that the advance hadnever ceased. It had not been checked even for a moment, and thebayonets of one of the regiments glittered in the sun a straightline of steel.

　　Henry kept his gaze fixed upon a point where the earthwork waslowest. He saw there the plumed head of Thayendanegea, and heintended to strike if he could. He saw the Mohawk gesticulatingand shouting to his men to stand fast and drive back the charge.He believed even then, and he knew later, that Thayendanegea andTimmendiquas were showing courage superior to that of theJohnsons and Butters or any of their British and Canadian allies.The two great chiefs still held their men in line, and theIroquois did not cease to send a stream of bullets from theearthwork.

　　Henry saw the brown faces and the embankment coming closer andcloser. He saw the face of Braxton Wyatt appear a moment, and hesnapped his empty pistol at it. But it was hidden the nextinstant behind others, and then they were at the embankment. Hesaw the glowing faces of his comrades at his side, the singularfigure of Heemskerk revolving swiftly, and behind them the lineof bayonets closing in with the grimness of fate.

　　Henry leaped upon the earthwork. An Indian fired at him pointblank, and he swung heavily with his clubbed rifle. Then hiscomrades were by his side, and they leaped down into the Indiancamp. After them came the riflemen, and then the line ofbayonets. Even then the great Mohawk and the great Wyandotshouted to their men to stand fast, although the Royal Greens andthe Rangers had begun to run, and the Johnsons, the Butlers,McDonald, Wyatt, and the other white men were running with them.

　　Henry, with the memory of Wyoming and all the other dreadfulthings that had come before his eyes, saw red. He was consciousof a terrible melee, of striking again and again with his clubbedrifle, of fierce brown faces before him, and of Timmendiquas andThayedanegea 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 theRangers in full flight. But the Wyandots and the best of theIroquois still stood fast until the pressure upon them becameoverwhelming. When the line of bayonets approached their breaststhey fell back. Skilled in every detail of ambush, and awonderful forest fighter, the Indian could never stand thebayonet. Reluctantly Timmendiquas, Thayendanegea and theMohawks, Senecas, and Wyandots, who were most strenuous in theconflict, gave ground. Yet the battlefield, with its numeroustrees, stumps, and inequalities, still favored them. Theyretreated slowly, firing from every covert, sending a shower ofbullets, and now and then tittering the war whoop.

　　Henry heard a panting breath by his side. He looked around andsaw 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 theyscarcely noticed, and they and the whole group of scouts werejust behind Henry. But they now took breath, reloaded theirrifles, and, throwing themselves down in Indian fashion, opened adeadly fire upon their antagonists. Their bullets searched allthe thickets, drove out the Iroquois, and compelled them toretreat anew.

　　The attack was now pressed with fresh vigor. In truth, with somuch that the bravest of the Indians at last yielded to panic.Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, andthe white leaders of their allies were already out of sight. Onall sides the allied red and white force was dissolving.Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a greater lossin killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee withgreat speed when the battle began to go against them-but thepeople of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow intheir history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts ofthe Iroquois chiefs as they fled.

　　The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp,but the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the wholeIndian army was driven in at every point. The retreat wasbecoming a rout. A great, confused conflict was going on. Therapid crackle of rifles mingled with the shouts and war whoops ofthe combatants. Smoke floated everywhere. The victorious army,animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that had beenpracticed on the border, pushed harder and harder. The Iroquoiswere driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might behemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to aford. Uttering their cry of despair, "Oonali! Oonali!" a wailfor a battle lost, they sprang into the stream, many of themthrowing away their rifles, tomahawks, and blankets, and rushedfor the other shore. But the Scouts and a body of riflemen wereafter them.

　　Braxton Wyatt and his band appeared in the woods on the farshore, and opened fire on the pursuers now in the stream. Healone among the white men had the courage, or the desperation, tothrow himself and his men in the path of the pursuit. Theriflemen in the water felt the bullets pattering around them, andsome were struck, but they did not stop. They kept on for thebank, and their own men behind them opened a covering fire overtheir heads.

　　Henry felt a great pulse leap in his throat at the sight ofBraxton Wyatt again. Nothing could have turned him back now.Shouting to the riflemen, he led the charge through the water,and the bank's defenders were driven back. Yet Wyatt, with hisusual dexterity and prudence, escaped among the thickets.

　　The battle now became only a series of detached combats. Littlegroups seeking to make a stand here and there were soon sweptaway. Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas raged and sought to gathertogether enough men for an ambush, for anything that would stingthe victors, but they were pushed too hard and fast. A rally wasalways destroyed in the beginning, and the chiefs themselves atlast ran for their lives. The pursuit was continued for a longtime, not only by the vanguard, but the army itself moved forwardover the battlefield and deep into the forest on the trail of theflying Iroquois.

　　The scouts continued the pursuit the longest, keeping a closewatch, nevertheless, against an ambush. Now and then theyexchanged shots with a band, but the Indians always fled quickly,and at last they stopped because they could no longer find anyresistance. They had been in action or pursuit for many hours,and they were black with smoke, dust, and sweat, but they werenot yet conscious of any weariness. Heemskerk drew a great redsilk handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his glowing face,which was as red as the handkerchief.

　　"It's the best job that's been done in these parts for many ayear," he said. "The Iroquois have always thought they wereinvincible, and now the spell's been broke. If we only follow itup."

　　"That's sure to be done," said Henry. "I heard General Sullivanhimself say that his orders were to root up the whole Iroquoispower."

　　They returned slowly toward the main force, retracing their stepsover the path of battle. It was easy enough to follow it. Theybeheld a dead warrior at every step, and at intervals wererifles, tomahawks, scalping knives, blankets, and an occasionalshot pouch or powder horn. Presently they reached the main army,which was going into camp for the night. Many camp fires werebuilt, and the soldiers, happy in their victory, were gettingready for supper. But there was no disorder. They had been toldalready that they were to march again in the morning.

　　Henry, Paul, Tom, Jim, and Shif'less Sol went back over the fieldof battle, where many of the dead still lay. Twilight was nowcoming, and it was a somber sight. The earthwork, the thickets,and the trees were torn by cannon balls. Some tents raised bythe Tories lay in ruins, and the earth was stained with many darksplotches. But the army had passed on, and it was silent anddesolate where so many men had fought. The twilight drew swiftlyon to night, and out of the forest came grewsome sounds. Thewolves, thick now in a region which the Iroquois had done so muchto turn into a wilderness, were learning welcome news, and theywere telling it to one another. By and by, as the nightdeepened, the five saw fiery eyes in the thickets, and the longhowls came again.

　　"It sounds like the dirge of the people of the Long House," saidPaul, upon whose sensitive mind the scene made a deep impression.

　　The others nodded. At that moment they did not feel the flush ofvictory in its full force. It was not in their nature to rejoiceover a fallen foe. Yet they knew the full value of the victory,and none of them could wish any part of it undone. They returnedslowly to the camp, and once more they heard behind them the howlof the wolves as they invaded the battlefield.

　　They were glad when they saw the cheerful lights of the campfires twinkling through the forest, and heard the voices of manymen talking. Heemskerk welcomed them there.

　　"Come, lads," he said. "You must eat-you won't find out untilyou begin, how hungry you are-and then you must sleep, because wemarch early to-morrow, and we march fast."

　　The Dutchman's words were true. They had not tasted food sincemorning; they had never thought of it, but now, with therelaxation from battle, they found themselves voraciously hungry.

　　"It's mighty good," said Shif'less Sol, as they sat by a fire andate bread and meat and drank coffee, "but I'll say this for you,you old ornery, long-legged Jim Hart, it ain't any better thanthe venison an' bulffaler steaks that you've cooked fur us many atime."

　　"An' that I'm likely to cook fur you many a time more," said LongJim complacently.

　　"But it will be months before you have any chance at buffaloagain, Jim," said Henry. "We are going on a long campaignthrough the Iroquois country."

　　"An' it's shore to be a dangerous one," said Shif'less Sol. "Menlike warriors o' the Iroquois ain't goin' to give up with onefight. They'll be hangin' on our flanks like wasps."

　　"That's true," said Henry, "but in my opinion the Iroquois areoverthrown forever. One defeat means more to them than a halfdozen to us."

　　They said little more, but by and by lay down to sleep before thefires. They had toiled so long and so faithfully that the workof watching and scouting that night could be intrusted to others.Yet Henry could not sleep for a long time. The noises of thenight interested him. He watched the men going about, and thesentinels pacing back and forth around the camp. The sounds diedgradually as the men lay down and sank to sleep. The fires whichhad formed a great core of light also sank, and the shadows crepttoward the camp. The figures of the pacing sentinels, rifle onshoulder, gradually grew dusky. Henry's nerves, attuned so longto great effort, slowly relaxed. Deep peace came over him, andhis eyelids drooped, the sounds in the camp sank to the lowestmurmur, but just as he was falling asleep there came from thebattlefield behind then the far, faint howl of a wolf, the dirgeof the Iroquois.