midnight march
I asked of Waggoner , who had got back to headquarters before me , but he shook his head to show that he knew no more than I . A moment later , the flap of the tent was raised , and Colonel Washington appeared , wrapped in his cloak as though for a journey , and followed by an Indian , who , I learned afterwards , was none other than the Half King . He spoke a few words to Captain Stephen , and the order was given to form in double rank and march , Colonel Washington himself leading the expedition , which numbered all told some forty men . I shall never forget that midnight march through the forest , with the rain falling in a deluge through the dripping trees , the lightning flashing and the thunder rolling . We stumbled along upon each other 's heels , falling over logs or underbrush , the wet branches switching our faces raw and soaking us through and through . It seemed to me that we must have covered fifteen or twenty miles , at least , when the first gray of the morning brightened the horizon and a halt was called , but really we had come little more than five . Here it was found that seven men had been lost upon the way , and that our powder was so wet that most of it was useless , to many of us the charge in our firelocks being all that remained serviceable .