The sun was now shining again with a heat so fierce and intense that the
earth smoked vapor all around us. It was at this time that I,
personally, experienced the only close fighting of the day, which
brought a sudden end to this most amazing and bloody skirmish.

I had been lying full length behind a bush in the lines of the Palatine
regiment, eating a crust of bread; for that strange battle-hunger had
been gnawing at my vitals for an hour. Some of the men were eating, some
firing; the steaming heat almost suffocated me as I lay there, yet I
munched on, ravenous as a December wolf.

I heard somebody shout: "Here they come!" and, filling my mouth with
bread, I rose to my knees to see.

A body of troops in green uniforms came marching steadily towards us,
led by a red-coated officer on horseback; and all around me the
Palatines were springing to their feet, uttering cries of rage, cursing
the oncoming troops, and calling out to them by name.

For the detachment of Royal Greens which now advanced to the assault
was, it appeared, composed of old acquaintances and neighbors of the
Palatines, who had fled to join the Tories and Indians and now returned
to devastate their own county.

Lashed to ungovernable fury by the sight of these hated renegades, the
entire regiment leaped forward with a roar and rushed on the advancing
detachment, stabbing, shooting, clubbing, throttling. Mutual hatred
made the contest terrible beyond words; no quarter was given on either
side. I saw men strangle each other with naked hands; kick each other to
death, fighting like dogs, tooth and nail, rolling over the wet ground.

The tide had not yet struck us; we fired at their mounted officer, whom
Elerson declared he recognized as Major Watts, brother-in-law to Sir
John Johnson; and presently, as usual, Murphy hit him, so that the young
fellow dropped forward on his saddle and his horse ran away, flinging
him against a tree with a crash, doubtless breaking every bone in
his body.

Then, above the tumult, out of the north came booming three
cannon-shots, the signal from the fort that Herkimer had desired to
wait for.

A detachment from the Canajoharie regiment surged out of the woods with
a ringing cheer, pointing northward, where, across a clearing, a body of
troops were rapidly advancing from the direction of the fort.

"The sortie! The sortie!" shouted the soldiers, frantic with joy. Murphy
and I ran towards them; Elerson yelled: "Be ca