But  some  they  took  prisoners  they  let  go  again  ;  informed
they  had  a  number  wounded,  and  we  saw  a  number  of  them
fall,  so  that  we   have  reason  to  think  killed  more  of  them

242


THE  CHERRY  VALLEY  MASSACRE

than  they  killed  of  our  regiment,  though  they  butchered
about  40  women  and  children,  that  have  been  found.  It
came  on  to  storm  before  the  engagement  began  ;  first  with
rain,  but  for  the  day  past  it  has  been  a  thick  snowstorm.
Monday  16th — The  snow  continued  falling  and  is  al-
most knee  deep  on  a  level.
Though  there  were  300  men  between  this  and  the  river
[Mohawk]  most  of  them  together  before  we  were  attacked,
yet  they  came  within  four  miles  and  laid  there  until  they
were  assured  the  enemy  was  gone  off".*  Col.  [William]
Butler,  though  near  forty  miles  off,  marched  and  got  near
and  would  have  been  the  first  to  our  assistance,  had  we  not
sent  him  word  they  were  gone  off.  We  are  here  in  a  schock-
ing  situation  ;  scarcely  an  officer  that  has  anything  left
but  what  they  have  on  their  backs. f

The  citizens  killed  were  thirty  in  number,  and
seventy-one  others  were  made  prisoners,  the  most  of
them  being  released  afterward.  The  number  of
houses  burned  was  twenty,  of  barns  twenty-five,  and
of  mills  two.  During  the  night  after  the  attack
many  inhabitants  were  shut  out  from  the  fort
"  where  they  lay  all  night  in  the  rain  with  the  chil-
dren who  suffered  most."  One  of  the  prisoners  was
a  boy  named  Campbell  whose  son  William  W.  was
afterward  to  write  the  well-known  history  of  these
times.
Among  those  who  escaped  were  the  Johnstons.
