about midnight
The day and evening were spent in silent preparations for the surprise and assault -- if so be it the snow-storm came which was agreed upon as the signal . Last words of counsel and instruction were spoken . Suppressed excitement reigned everywhere . The skies were clear and moonlit in the evening ; now , about midnight , a damp , heavy snowfall began and a fierce wind arose . So much the better for us and our enterprise , we thought . We left Holland House some hours after midnight , without lights and on foot , and placed ourselves at the head of the three hundred and fifty men whom Colonel Campbell -LRB- not the Cherry Valley man , but a vain and cowardly creature from down the Hudson , recently retired from the British army -RRB- held in waiting for us . Noiselessly we descended from the heights , passed Wolfe 's Cove , and gained the narrow road on the ledge under the mountain .