I Will Face The Enemy

Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, wounded early in the battle, was carried to a safer spot beneath a beech tree now marked by a stone monument. Although urged by his militiamen to retire from danger, he replied: "I will face the enemy!" Directing the battle while leaning against his saddle and smoking his old black pipe, Herkimer noticed that the Indians were watching the white puffs of smoke from the militamen's muskets. The Indians knew that in the few seconds it would take to reload, they could rush in to attack with their tomahawks. After a violent thunderstorm caused a one-hour lull in the battle, Herkimer had his men regroup on higher ground. This time they would fight by twos, so that while one reloaded the other fired. This strategy quickly discouraged the Indians, who soon retreated from the battlefield.

Whitestown, New York · United States