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Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander), 1862-1919

"The Scouts of the Valley"

Thayendanegea was destined to come again with bands of
red men and white and inflict great loss, but the power of the
Six Nations was overthrown forever, after four centuries of
victory and glory. Henry, Paul, and the rest were all the time
in the thick of it. The army, as the autumn advanced, marched
into the Genesee Valley, destroying everything. Henry and Paul,
as they lay on their blankets one night, counted fires in three
different directions, and every one of the three marked a
perishing Indian village. It was not a work in which they took
any delight; on the contrary, it often saddened them, but they
felt that it had to be done, and they could not shirk the task.
In October, Henry, despite his youth, took command of a body of
scouts and riflemen which beat up the ways, and skirmished in
advance of the army. It was a democratic little band, everyone
saying what he pleased, but yielding in the end to the authority
of the leader. They were now far up the Genesee toward the Great
Lakes, and Henry formed the plan of advancing ahead of the army
on the great Seneca village known variously as the Seneca Castle
and Little Beard's Town, after its chief, a full match in cruelty
for the older Seneca chief, Hiokatoo.


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