[FN] Letter of General Haldimand to Lord George Germaine.
The plan of Sir John and Captain Brant was to enter the valley by night, pass, if possible, the upper fort unobserved, and then, by silently destroying the intervening settlements, attack the middle fort, at Middleburgh, early in the morning. This fort was garrisoned by about one hundred and fifty state troops, called three months men, exclusive of some fifty militia-men--the whole under the command of Major Woolsey, [FN-1] who, from all accounts, appears to have been an inefficient officer, and by some writers has been represented as the most miserable of poltroons. [FN-2] The design of passing the upper fort unperceived, was in part successful; nor was the enemy's approach to the middle fortress discovered until just at break of day, on the morning of the 16th of October, when a sentinel, named Philip Graft, standing upon the parapet of a mud wall, discovered a fire kindling in some buildings not more than a quarter of a mile distant. Calling to the sergeant of the guard, he communicated the discovery through him to the commanding officer. The drums at once beat to arms, and Major Woolsey requested forty volunteers to sally forth and discover the cause of the alarm. Every man on duty promptly responded to the invitation, and the complement was thereupon counted off from the right, and sent out in charge of Lieutenant Spencer. The little band proceeded with alacrity in the direction of the burning buildings, until they suddenly encountered the enemy's advance. Three shots were exchanged, when Spencer retreated, and brought his detachment back into the fort without the loss of a man. [FN-3] At this moment the concerted signal of three guns from the upper fort came rolling down the gorge of the mountains, from which it was evident that the enemy had passed that fortress without molesting it. A proper degree of vigilance, however, ought certainly to have enabled the sentinels of that garrison to observe the advance of the invading army, instead of merely catching a glimpse of its rear. The moment the enemy had thus been discovered, front and rear, concealment of his approach being no longer possible, the torch was indiscriminately applied to such houses and barns as came in his way. The season had been bountiful, the rich alluvial bottoms of the Schoharie-kill producing an unusually abundant harvest that year. The barns were therefore well stored with the earlier grains, while the fields were yet heavily burdened with the autumnal crops. But the husbandmen in the neighborhood, or those lodging for greater security in the little apology for a fortress, looked abroad at sunrise to behold the produce of their industry in flames.