[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1872)] land wars, he spared neither the aged nor * Documentary History, iv, 14. the young. " He could justify putting 3 Colonial History, i, 182. the weak and defenceless to death, for 4 " They rove in parties continually says he, ' the Scripture declareth women around day and night on the island of and children must perish with their pa-Manhattans, slaying our folks not a thou-rents ' — ' we had sufficient light from the sand paces from the fort, and 'tis now word of God for our proceedings.'" — arrived at such a pass, that no one dare Trumbull. move a foot to fetch a stick of fire wood 114 THE INDIAN TRIBES companies were soon organized, one of sixty-five and one of seventy-five men, and the work of retaliation commenced. The second company was composed of forty burghers under Captain Pietersen, and thirty-five Englishmen under Lieutenant Baxter j Councillor La Montagne acting as general. This company passed over to Staten island; but found that the Indians, who had fallen back from the vicinity of the fort some time previously, had also abandoned their houses. Five or six hundred skepels of corn rewarded the invaders, but nothing was accomplished beyond its removal. Returning to the fort, the company was increased to one hundred and twenty men and