Men came running from barn and mill, shouting for the women and children; men ran to the hill to look for signs of the enemy, to drive in cattle, to close and latch the doors of their wretched dwellings, as though bolt and bar could keep out the red fury now at last unloosened.
I saw a woman, to whose ragged skirts three children clung, toiling across a stump-field, staggering under a flour-sack full of humble household goods. One of the babies carried a gray kitten clasped to her breast.
Pell-mell into the tavern they hurried, white-faced, panting, pushing their terrified children into dark corners and under tables.
"Tell that woman to let her cow go!" I shouted, as a frightened heifer dashed up the road, followed by its owner, jerked almost off her feet by the tether-rope. Old Wemple seized the distracted woman by the shoulder and dragged her back to the tavern, she weeping and turning her head at every step.
In the midst of this howling hubbub I ripped open my despatches and read:
"Johnstown,
October 25, 1781.
"Capt. Renault:
"Sir—Pursuant to urgent orders this instant arrived by express from Col. Willett at Fort Rensselaer, I have the honor to inform you that Major Ross and Capt. Walter Butler have unexpectedly struck the Valley at Warren's Bush with the following forces:
| Eighth Regiment | 25 |
| Thirty-fourth Regiment | 100 |
| Eighty-fourth Highlanders Regiment | 36 |
| Sir John's Royal Greens Regiment | 120 |
| Yagers Regiment | 12 |
| Butler's Rangers | 150 |
| Indians | 130 |
| Renegades | 40 |
With bat-horses, baggage-wagons, and camp-trains, including forces amounting to a thousand rifles.