Thayendanegea and Timmendiquas were carried away in the rush, and
the white leaders of their allies were already out of sight. On
all sides the allied red and white force was dissolving.
Precipitate flight was saving the fugitives from a greater loss
in killed and wounded-it was usually Indian tactics to flee with
great speed when the battle began to go against them-but the
people of the Long House had suffered the greatest overthrow in
their history, and bitterness and despair were in the hearts of
the Iroquois chiefs as they fled.
The American army not only carried the center of the Indian camp,
but the heavy flanking parties closed in also, and the whole
Indian army was driven in at every point. The retreat was
becoming a rout. A great, confused conflict was going on. The
rapid crackle of rifles mingled with the shouts and war whoops of
the combatants. Smoke floated everywhere. The victorious army,
animated by the memory of the countless cruelties that had been
practiced on the border, pushed harder and harder. The Iroquois
were driven back along the Chemung. It seemed that they might be
hemmed in against the river, but in their flight they came to a
ford.
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