impassable for infantry,
and at all points impassable for artillery and pack horses; while
south of the bridge, is a wet swamp almost impenetrable from the thick
growth of underbrush, west of the lake and Inlet is a steep hillside,
the face of which, cut up by numerous ravines, is so steep that with
considerable difficulty an army could march directly up it. The trail
after leaving the bridge probably continued south westerly up the hill
obliquely, nearly on the line of the present highway to the summit of
the bluff, and thence turning northwest followed along the heads of
the ravines for a mile and thence directly west to Gathtsegwarohare.
Directly west of the bridge, between two very deep ravines, is a space
nearly half a mile in width, which continues up the hill on very
favorable ground for the advance of the army. It appears to be the
only point where it could advance in the order of march laid down,
which would require a space of nearly a half a mile in width for the
several columns.

After the battle of Newtown, Butler and Brant with their demoralized
forces, sullenly retired, powerless to prevent the advance of the
devastating army. Butler had reached the last Indian village of
Canawaugas, located on the west side of the Genesee, twelve miles
north of the Great Genesee Castle. Here he received re-inforcements of
regulars from Niagara, and determined to make one more effort against
the invaders. Gathering all his available forces of regulars, tories,
and Indians, he left Canawaugas on the morning of the 12th of
September, and probably reached the position on the hill west of
Kanaghsaws, on the evening of the same day. Here they posted
themselves north of the trail, at the heads of the ravines about
three-fourths of a mile west of the bridge, and a mile and a half from
Kanaghsaws. This was a most admirable position for an ambuscade, and
in many essential particulars of topography and fact, bears a striking
resemblance to the fatal ground where Braddock so ingloriously
sacrificed his army; and had Sullivan advanced in the same blundering
manner, he too, might have met with an equally disastrous defeat. The
plan appears to have been, to attack a portion of the army after it
had crossed the bridge, or to ambuscade the head of the column while
ascending the hill; but whatever may have been the original design, it
was completely frustrated by the fortunate movements of the
unfortunate Boyd. It will be remembered that