about nine in
the morning
Still trembling with excitement , yet perhaps somewhat reconciled to the adventure by the exultant spirit of the scene before him , General Herkimer got into the saddle , and watched closely the efforts of the colonels , now once more all gratified enthusiasm , to bring their eager men into form . It had been arranged that Cox with his Canajoharie regiment should have the right of the line , and this body was ready and under way in less time , it seemed , than I have taken to write of it . The General saw the other three regiments trooped , told Visscher to bring the supply-wagon with the rear , and then , with Isaac Paris , Jelles Fonda , and myself , galloped to the head of the column , where Spencer and Skenandoah with the Oneida Indians were . So marching swiftly , and without scouts , we started forth at about nine in the morning . The road over which we hurried was as bad , even in those hot , dry days of August , as any still to be found in the Adirondacks . The bottom-lands of the Mohawk Valley , as is well known , are of the best farming soil in the world , but for that very reason they make bad roads . The highway leading to the fort lay for the most part over low and springy land , and was cut through the thick beech and hemlock forest almost in a straight line , regardless of swales and marshy places .