The old gentleman, however, had sown his wild oats. His days of romance were over. Preferring, therefore, the produce of his own fields, the company of his white children, and the comforts of his own house, to the venison, the freedom, and the forests of the western wilds, he chose to return. His son, fulfilling his word, bowed to the election, and giving his father in charge to a suitable escort, he was enabled to reach his own dwelling in safety. The proud Seneca and his warriors moved off to their own wilds.
Simultaneously with the movements of Sir John Johnson through the Schoharie and Mohawk country, the enemy had been actively engaged against the settlements at the North of Albany, between the Hudson and Lake Champlain, and likewise against some of the upper settlements on the Connecticut river. In order to create a diversion in favor of Sir John, Major Carleton came up the lake from St. John's, with a fleet of eight large vessels and twenty-six flat-bottomed boats, containing upward of one thousand men, regular troops, loyalists and Indians. Fort George and Fort Anne were both taken by surprise, and their garrisons, which were not large, were surrendered prisoners of war. [FN-1] The party directed against the upper settlements of the Connecticut river, was commanded by Major Haughton of the 53d regiment, and consisted almost entirely of Indians, of whom there were two hundred. This marauding incursion was likewise successful. In addition to the booty taken, thirty-two of the inhabitants were carried away prisoners. Several of the militia, who turned out in pursuit of Major Haughton, were killed. In regard to Major Carleton's expedition, sad tales of cruelty were reported. One of these was a relation, by a deserter named Van Deusen, of a horrible case of torture inflicted upon a soldier of Colonel Warner's regiment, taken by Carleton in the action near Fort George. Van Deusen was a deserter from the American army to the enemy; but having stolen back into his own country, was apprehended and executed. Colonel Gansevoort, however, then in command at the North, wrote to Major Carleton upon the subject on the 2d of November, stating the particulars of the story. Carleton repelled the charge in the most positive and earnest manner, as will presently appear. [FN-2]