314 THE FIGHT OF BLOODY BRIDGE. [1763, Jcly. 



the retreat was resumed. No sooner had the men 

 faced about, than the savages came darting through 

 the mist upon their flank and rear, cutting down 

 stragglers, and scalping the fallen. At a little 

 distance lay a sergeant of the 55th, helplessly 

 wounded, raising himself on his hands, and gaz- 

 ing with a look of despair after his retiring com- 

 rades. The sight caught the eye of Dalzell. That 

 gallant soldier, in the true spirit of heroism, ran 

 out, amid the firing, to rescue the wounded man, 

 when a shot struck him, and he fell dead. Few 

 observed his fate, and none durst turn back to 

 recover his body. The detachment pressed on, 

 greatly harassed by the pursuing Indians. Their 

 loss would have been much more severe, had not 

 Major Rogers taken possession of another house, 

 which commanded the road, and covered the retreat 

 of the party. 



He entered it with some of his own men, while 

 many panic-stricken regulars broke in after him, in 

 their eagerness to gain a temporary shelter. The 

 house was a large and strong one, and the women 

 of the neighborhood had crowded into the cellar 

 for refuge. While some of the soldiers looked in 

 blind terror for a place of concealment, others 

 seized upon a keg of whiskey in one of the 

 rooms, and quafl'ed the liquor with eager thirst ; 

 while others, again, piled packs of furs, furniture, 

 and all else within their reach, against the windows, 

 to serve as a barricade. Panting and breathless, 

 their faces moist with sweat and blackened with 

 gunpowder, they thrust their muskets through 



