; the panic
extended to the right wing. The savages, throwing down their rifles,
rushed on with tomahawk and scalping-knife, and a horrible massacre
ensued. Some of the Americans escaped to Forty Fort, some swam the
river; others broke their way across the swamp, and climbed the
mountain; some few were taken prisoners; but the greater number were
slaughtered.

The desolation of the valley was now completed; fields were laid
waste, houses burnt, and their inhabitants murdered. According to the
British accounts, upwards of four hundred of the yeomanry of Wyoming
were slain, and five thousand persons fled in the utmost distress and
consternation, seeking refuge in the settlements on the Lehigh and the
Delaware. After completing this horrible work of devastation, the
enemy retired before the arrival of the troops detached by Washington.

For a great part of the summer, Washington had remained encamped at
White Plains, watching the movements of the enemy at New York. Early
in September he observed a great stir of preparation; cannon and
military stores were embarked, and a fleet of one hundred and forty
transports were ready to make sail. What was their destination? There
were but two capital objects which they could have in view, beside the
defeat and dispersion of his army. One was to get possession of the
forts and passes of the Highlands: the other, by a junction of their
land and naval forces, to attempt the destruction of the French fleet
at Boston, and regain possession of that town. Those points were so
far asunder that it was difficult to protect the one without leaving
the other exposed. To do the best that the nature of the case would
admit, Washington strengthened the works and reinforced the garrison
in the Highlands, stationing Putnam with two brigades in the
neighborhood of West Point. General Gates was sent with three brigades
to Danbury in Connecticut, where he was joined by two brigades under
General McDougal, while Washington moved his camp to a rear position
at Fredericksburg on the borders of Connecticut, and about thirty
miles from West Point, so as to be ready for a movement to the
eastward or a speedy junction for the defence of the Hudson.

Scarce had Washington moved from White Plains, when Sir Henry Clinton
threw a detachment of five thousand men under Lord Cornwallis into the
Jerseys, between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and another of
three thousand under Knyphausen into Westchester Count