FROM PHILADELPHIA 181 



by pack-horse. In order to bring up these stores the 

 Congress had summoned all its strength and had been 

 at great expense. The Indians, who were thoroughly 

 informed of these fear-striking preparations, assembled 

 numerously and in good heart on the borders of their 

 country. They had as leaders Butler, Brant, and Guy 

 Johnson, and all their related and united tribes were 

 further strengthened by several hundred Refugees, or 

 Tories as the Americans called them. They took posi- 

 tion advantageously in a pass, in the woods between 

 Chemung and Newtown, not far from the Teaoga 

 river ; here they threw up a breast-work, or rather 

 abattis, more than half a mile long. Posted thus, Sulli- 

 van attacked them in August 1779, and they defended 

 themselves so obstinately and stoutly that only after a 

 warm fight of two hours could Sullivan bring them to 

 yield, and then not without the very active support of 

 his rude artillery. He boasted, however, of his com- 

 plete and stupefying victory over the allied Indians, 

 so much so that during the subsequent devastation of 

 their country they would not let themselves be drawn 

 into a second stand-up fight. This battle merely 

 opened the way for the beginning of Sullivan's real 

 enterprise, and there remained a number of other dif- 

 ficulties to be overcome which offered the greatest 

 obstacles to the undertaking. If any impression was 

 to be made it was necessary that this corps should stay 

 at least a month in the field, in an entirely unfamiliar 

 country moreover, where nothing was to be hoped for 

 in the item of any of the necessary supplies. But not- 

 withstanding all the care taken, on account of the dis- 

 tance, the bad roads, and other circumstances, Sullivan 

 found it possible to secure provisions requisite for 



