The army was alarmed, by break of day, by the noise
of the rebels' approach, and the attack was made before sunrise, yet
when it was light enough to discern what passed. As soon as the enemy
came within gunshot they made a furious fire; and it is said that the
dragoons which constituted the left wing immediately fled. The Colonel,
at the beginning of the onset, which in the whole lasted but a few
minutes, received a wound by a bullet in his left breast, which made him
give a sudden spring in his saddle upon which his servant, who led the
horse, would have persuaded him to retreat, but he said it was only a
wound in the flesh, and fought on, though he presently after received a
shot in his right thigh. In the meantime, it was discerned that some
of the enemy fell by him, and particularly one man, who had made him a
treacherous visit but a few days before, with great profession of zeal
for the present establishment.
'Events of this kind pass in less time than the description of them can
be written, or than it can be read. The Colonel was for a few
moments supported by his men, and particularly by that worthy person
Lieutenant-Colonel Whitney, who was shot through the arm here, and a
few months after fell nobly at the battle of Falkirk, and by Lieutenant
West, a man of distinguished bravery, as also by about fifteen dragoons,
who stood by him to the last.
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