[FN-1] The late Doctor Moses Younglove, of Hudson, Columbia County, was the surgeon of General Herkimer's brigade. He was taken prisoner in this battle by a sergeant of Sir John Johnson's regiment. After his release he made a deposition setting forth many grievous barbarities committed, both by the Indians and Tories, upon the prisoners who fell into their hands that day. They were cruelly tortured, several of them murdered; and, as the Doctor had reason to believe, some of them were subsequently taken to an island in Lake Ontario, and eaten. This is scarcely to be believed. See Deposition of Dr. Younglove, Appendix No. IV.
[FN-2] MS. statement of Jacob Timmerman, in the author's possession.
[FN-3] "On the 5th I learned, from discovering parties on the Mohawk river, that a body of one thousand militia were on their march to raise the siege. On the confirmation of this news, I moved a large body of Indians, with some troops, the same night, to lay in ambuscade for them on their march. They fell into it. The completest victory was obtained. Above four hundred lay dead on the field, amongst the number of whom were almost all the principal movers of rebellion in that country."—Letter of Colonel St. Leger lo General Burgoyne, Aug, 11, 1777.
Retaining possession of the field, the survivors immediately set themselves at work in constructing rude litters, upon which to bear off the wounded. Between forty and fifty of these, among whom was the commanding General, were removed in this manner. The brave old man, notwithstanding the imprudence of the morning—imprudence in allowing a premature movement at the dictation of his subordinates—had nobly vindicated his character for courage during the day. Though wounded, as we have seen, in the onset, he had borne himself during the six hours of conflict, under the most trying circumstances, with a degree of fortitude and composure worthy of all admiration. Nor was his example without effect in sustaining his troops amid the perils by which they were environed. At one time during the battle, while sitting upon his saddle raised upon a little hillock, being advised to select a less exposed situation, he replied—"I will face the enemy." Thus, "surrounded by a few men, he continued to issue his orders with firmness. In this situation, and in the heat of the onslaught, he deliberately took his tinder-box from his pocket, lit his pipe, and smoked with great composure." [FN-1] At the moment the soldiers were placing him on the litter, while adjusting the blankets to the poles, three Indians approached, and were instantly shot down by the unerring rifles of three of the militia. These were the last shots fired in that battle. [FN-2]
[FN-1] Campbell. An officer, who was in the general staff at the battle of Leipzig, has related to the author a very similar incident in the conduct of old Blucher. He was not wounded; but he sat upon a hillock, issuing his orders and smoking his pipe, while the cannon balls were ploughing up the earth about him.
[FN-2] Narrative of Jacob Sammons, MS. The officers of the Tryon County militia killed or wounded in this battle were as follows:—In Colonel Frederick Visscher's regiment, Captains John Davis and Samuel Pettingill, killed; Major Blauvelt and Lieut. Groat taken prisoners and never heard of afterward; Captain Jacob Gardenier and Lieut. Samuel Gardenier wounded. In Colonel Jacob Klock's regiment, Major John Eisenlord, and Major Van Sluyck, and Captain Andrew Dillenback, killed; Captains Christopher Fox and John Breadbeg, wounded; Brigade Major John Frey, wounded and taken prisoner. In Colonel Peter Bellinger's regiment, Major Enos Klepsattle, Captain Frederick Helmer, and Lieut. Petrie, were killed. Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Bellinger and Henry Walradt were taken prisoners. In Colonel Ebenezer Cox's regiment, Colonel Cox and Lieut. Col. Hunt were killed; Captains Henry Diefendorf, and Robert Crouse, and Jacob Bowman, killed. Captain Jacob Seeber and Lieut. William Seeber mortally wounded. The surgeon, Moses Younglove, was taken prisoner. Among the volunteers not belonging to the militia, who were killed, were Isaac Paris, (then a member of the Legislature,) Samuel Billington, John Dygert, and Jacob Snell, members of the Committee of Safety. There was likewise a Captain Graves who fell, but to which regiment he belonged the author has not ascertained.
The loss of the enemy in this engagement was equally, if not more severe, than that of the Americans. The Greens and Rangers of Sir John Johnson and Colonel Butler must have suffered badly, although no returns were given in the contemporaneous accounts. Major Watts was severely wounded and left on the field, as was supposed, among the slain. His death was reported by Colonel Willett, in his letter to Governor Trumbull, and by other authorities. But such was not the fact. Reviving from faintness produced by loss of blood, some hours after the action, he succeeded in crawling to a brook, where, by slaking his thirst, he was preserved from speedy death, and in the course of two or three days was found by some Indian scouts, and brought into St. Leger's camp. [FN-1] But the Indians were the most roughly handled, they having lost nearly one hundred warriors, several of whom were sachems in great favor. Frederick Sammons, who had been detached upon a distant scout previous to the battle, returning some days afterward, crossed the battle-field, where, he says—"I beheld the most shocking sight I had ever witnessed. The Indians and white men were mingled with one another, just as they had been left when death had first completed his work. Many bodies had also been torn to pieces by wild beasts." [FN-2]