midnight
`` Moving order , I should think , father , '' laughed Lucilla . `` Yes , '' returned the captain with a smile ; `` but knowing Croghan 's innate bravery , Harrison feared he would not move promptly , so sent him another order to abandon the fort . It was carried by a white man named Connor and two Indians . They started at midnight and lost their way in the dark . So they did not reach the fort until the next day about eleven o'clock , and by that time the woods were swarming with Indians . `` Major Croghan called his officers together and consulted them in regard to a retreat . A majority were of his opinion -- that such a step would be disastrous , now that the Indians swarmed in the woods , and that the post might be maintained .