f the young men of the town, who
got permission, except fifty men kept as a reserve.

I had made myself fully acquainted with the situation of the fort and
town and the parts relative to each. The cannon of the garrison was on
the upper floors of strong blockhouses at each angle of the fort, eleven
feet above the surface, and the ports so badly cut that many of our
troops lay under the fire of them within twenty or thirty yards of the
walls. They did no damage, except to the buildings of the town, some of
which they much shattered; and their musketry, in the dark, employed
against woodsmen covered by houses, palings, ditches, the banks of the
river, etc., was but of little avail, and did no injury to us except
wounding a man or two.

As we could not afford to lose men, great care was taken to preserve
them, sufficiently covered, and to keep up a hot fire in order to
intimidate the enemy as well as to destroy them. The embrasures of their
cannon were frequently shut, for our riflemen, finding the true
direction of them, would pour in such volleys when they were opened that
the men could not stand to the guns. Seven or eight of them in a short
time got cut down. Our troops would frequently abuse the enemy, in order
to aggravate them to open their ports and fire their cannon, that they
might have the pleasure of cutting them down with their rifles, fifty of
which, perhaps, would be levelled the moment the port flew open; and I
believe that, if they had stood at their artillery, the greater part of
them would have been destroyed in the course of the night, as the
greater part of our men lay within thirty yards of the walls, and in a
few hours were covered equally to those within the walls, and much more
experienced in that mode of fighting.

Sometimes an irregular fire, as hot as possible, was kept up from
different directions for a few minutes, and then only a continual
scattering fire at the ports as usual; and a great noise and laughter
immediately commenced in different parts of the town, by the reserved
parties, as if they had only fired on the fort a few minutes for
amusement, and as if those continually firing at the fort were only
regularly relieved. Conduct similar to this kept the garrison constantly
alarmed. They did not know what moment they might be stormed or [blown
up?], as they could plainly discover that we had flung up some
entrenchments across the streets, and appeared to be frequently very
busy under