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that the enemy were on their way to Albany. Some horse, 

 sent out to discover their march, were unable to proceed through 

 the deep snow, and obliged to return. The same fate attend- 

 ed an express sent to procure assistance from Sopus. Thus 

 cut off from all communication with their neighbors, the in- 

 habitants awaited the result ; nor were they correctly informed 

 of the motions of the enemy, until some time in the afternoon : 

 had they known these early in the morning, they might, in all 

 probability, have surprised them while pillaging the city, and 

 rescued the prisoners afterwards carried to Canada. Some 

 Macquase Indians were sent from Albany in the morning, un- 

 der the direction of Lawrence, (an Indian very friendly to the 

 English,) to carry the tidings to their castles, and prevail on the 

 Macquase to hasten to their assistance. The bloody scene 

 presented to their sight on their arrival at Schenectady, crowd- 

 ed from their minds the object of their mission, and thus gave 

 the enemy an opportunity to proceed unmolested. Although 

 several messengers were afterwards sent, the Macquase re- 

 mained wholly unacquainted with the dreadful catastrophe, 

 until too late to be of any real service. The inhabitants of 

 Albany, in the mean time, were preparing to pursue, when 

 they received uiformation that the whole expedition consisted 

 of 1,900 men, 1,700 of whom were destined to Albany : this 

 at once put a stop to the expedition, and prevented any from 

 leaving the city that day. 



On the next morning, (February 10th,) six men were des- 

 patched to bury the dead, with orders to follow the enemy, pro- 

 vided a sufficient number of friendly Indians could be found 

 at Schenectady to render such a course advisable. These 

 were followed in the afternoon by twenty-five volunteers under 

 Evert de Ridder, (recorder of the city,) and the whole joined 

 by another party on the next day, (February 11th.) 



When the third party reached Schenectady, Lawrence, who 

 had been in pursuit since the 9th instant, had just returned 

 with information that the enemy were only two hundred 

 strong : this intelligence gave those collected at Schenectady, 

 for the purpose of rescuing the prisoners, (twenty-seven in 



