1691. 



SUCCESS OF SCHUYLER. 293 



from the path. " We broke through the middle 

 of their body," says Schuyler, " until we got into 

 their rear, trampling upon their dead ; then faced 

 about upon them, and fought them until we made 

 them give way ; then drove them, by strength of 

 arm, four hundred paces before us ; and, to say 

 the truth, we were all glad to see them retreat." ] 

 He and his followers continued their march un- 

 molested, carrying their wounded men, and leaving 

 about forty dead behind them, along with one of 

 their flags, and all their knapsacks, which they had 

 thrown off when the fray began. They reached 

 the banks of the Richelieu, found their canoes safe, 

 and, after waiting several hours for stragglers, em- 

 barked for Albany. 



Nothing saved them from destruction but the 

 failure of the French at La Prairie to follow their 

 retreat, and thus enclose them between two fires. 

 They did so, it is true, at the eleventh hour, but not 

 till the fight was over and the English were gone. 

 The Christian Mohawks of the Saut also appeared 

 in the afternoon, and set out to pursue the enemy, 

 but seem to have taken care not to overtake them ; 

 for the English Mohawks were their relatives, and 

 they had no wish for their scalps. Frontenac was 

 angry at their conduct ; and, as he rarely lost an 

 opportunity to find fault with the Jesuits, he laid 

 the blame on the fathers in charge of the mission, 

 whom he sharply upbraided for the shortcomings 

 of their flock. 2 



1 Major Peter Schuyler's Journal of his Expedition to Canada, in N. Y. 

 Col. Docs., III. 800. " Les ennemis enfoncerent notre embuscade" Bel- 

 mont. 



2 As this fight under Valrenne has been represented as a French 



