midnight
The victors were still engaged in the pleasant task of burning the prisoners to death . Little did the five , seeing and feeling only their part of it there in the dark woods , dream that the deeds of this day and night would soon shock the whole civilized world , and remain , for generations , a crowning act of infamy . But they certainly felt it deeply enough , and in each heart burned a fierce desire for revenge upon the Iroquois . It was almost midnight when they secured entrance into the fort , which was filled with grief and wailing . That afternoon more than one hundred and fifty women within those walls had been made widows , and six hundred children had been made orphans . But few men fit to bear arms were left for its defense , and it was certain that the allied British and Indian army would easily take it on the morrow . A demand for its surrender in the name of King George III of England had already been made , and , sitting at a little rough table in the cabin of Thomas Bennett , the room lighted only by a single tallow wick , Colonel Butler and Colonel Dennison were writing an agreement that the fort be surrendered the next day , with what it should contain .