subjected, if he should succeed in reaching our town. Accordingly they
sent all their women and children into the woods a little west of Little
Beard's Town, in order that we might make a good retreat if it should be
necessary, and then, well armed, set out to face the conquering enemy. The
place which they fixed upon for their battle ground lay between Honeoy
Creek and the head of Connessius Lake.

At length a scouting party from Sullivan's army arrived at the spot
selected, when the Indians arose from their ambush with all the fierceness
and terror that it was possible for them to exercise, and directly put the
party upon a retreat. Two Oneida Indians were all the prisoners that were
taken in that skirmish. One of them was a pilot of Gen. Sullivan, and had
been very active in the war, rendering to the people of the states
essential services. At the commencement of the revolution he had a brother
older than himself, who resolved to join the British service, and
endeavored by all the art that he was capable of using to persuade his
brother to accompany him; but his arguments proved abortive. This went to
the British, and that joined the American army. At this critical juncture
they met, one in the capacity of a conqueror, the other in that of a
prisoner; and as an Indian seldom forgets a countenance that he has seen,
they recognized each other at sight. Envy and revenge glared in the
features of the conquering savage, as he advanced to his brother (the
prisoner) in all the haughtiness of Indian pride, heightened by a sense of
power, and addressed him in the following manner:

"Brother, you have merited death! The hatchet or the war-club shall finish
your career!--When I begged of you to follow me in the fortunes of war,
you was deaf to my cries--you spurned my entreaties!

"Brother! you have merited death and shall have your deserts! When the