the rear of the long and slender line.  Putnam himself led the way, shouldering through the bushes, gun in hand; and just as the bluff yeoman emerged from them to enter the forest-growth beyond, the air was rent with yells, the thickets before him were filled with Indians, and one of them, a Caughnawaga chief, sprang upon him, hatchet in hand.  He had time to cock his gun and snap it at the breast of his assailant; but it missed fire, and he was instantly seized and dragged back into the forest, as were also a lieutenant named Tracy and three private men.  Then the firing began.  The French and Indians, lying across the path in a semicircle, had the advantage of position and surprise.  The Connecticut men fell back among the bushes in disorder; but soon rallied, and held the enemy in check while Dalzell and Rogers—­the latter of whom was nearly a mile behind—­were struggling through briers and thickets to their aid.  So close was the brushwood that it was full half an hour before they could get their followers ranged in some kind of order in front of the enemy; and even then each man was forced to fight for himself as best he could.  Humphreys, the biographer of Putnam, blames Rogers severely for not coming at once to the aid of the Connecticut men; but two of their captains declare that he came with all possible speed; while a regular officer present highly praised him to Abercromby for cool and officer-like conduct.[642] As a man his deserts were small; as a bushfighter he was beyond reproach.

[Footnote 642:  Letter from the Camp at Lake George, 5 Sept. 1758, signed by Captains Maynard and Giddings, and printed in the Boston Weekly Advertiser.  “Rogers deserves much to be commended.” Abercromby to Pitt, 19 Aug. 1758.]

Another officer recounts from hearsay the remarkable conduct of an Indian, who sprang into the midst of the English and killed two of them with his hatchet; then mounted on a log and defied them all.  One of the regulars tried to knock him down with the butt of his musket; but though the blow made him bleed, he did not fall, and would have killed his assailant if Rogers had not shot him dead.[643] The firing lasted about two hours.  At length some of the Canadians gave way, and the rest of the French and Indians followed.[644] They broke into small parties to elude pursuit, and reuniting towards evening, made their bivouac on a spot surrounded by impervious swamps.

[Footnote 643:  Thomas Barnsley to Bouquet, 7 Sept. 1758.]

[Footnote 644:  Doreil au Ministre, 31 Aout, 1757.]

Rogers remained on the field and buried all his own dead, forty-nine in number.  Then he resumed his march to Fort Edward, carrying the wounded on litters of branches till the next day, when he met a detachment coming with wagons to his relief.  A party sent out soon after for the purpose reported that they had found and buried more than a hundred French and Indians.  From this time forward the war-parties from Ticonderoga greatly relented in their activity.