In  this  disagreeable  situation,  we  remained  till  the  seventh  of  Octo-
ber, when  we  jvere  attacked  by  two  thousand  five  hundred  Rebels,  under
the  command  of  Gen.  Williams.  Col.  Ferguson  had  under  his  com-
mand eight  hundred  militia,  and  our  detachment,  which  at  that  time
was  reduced  to  an  hundred  men.  The  action  commenced  about  two
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  was  very  severe  for  upwards  of  an  hour,
during  which  the  Rebels  were  charged  and  drove  back  several  times,
with  considerable  slaughter.  When  our  detachment  charged,  for  the
first  time,  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  put  a  Rebel  Captain  to  death,  which  1  did
most  effectually,  with  one  blow  of  my  sword  ;  the  fellow  was  at  least  six
feet  high,  but  I  had  rather  the  advantage,  as  1  was  mounted  on  an  ele-
gant horse,  and  he  on  foot.  But  their  numbers  enabled  them  to  sur-
round us  and  the  North  Carolina  regiment,  which  consisted  of  about
three  hundred  men.  Seeing  this,  and  numbers  being  out  of  ammuni-
tion, which  naturally  threw  the  rest  of  the  militia  into  confusion,  our
gallant  little  detachment,  which  consisted  of  only  seventy  men,  exclusive
of  twenty  who  acted  as  dragoons,  and  ten  who  drove  wagons,  etc.,
when  we  marched  to  the  field  of  action,  were  all  killed  and  wounded
but  twenty,  and  those  brave  fellows  were  soon  crowded  into  an  heap  by
the  militia.  Capt.  DePeyster,  on  whom  the  command  devolved,  seeing
it  impossible  to  form  six  men  together,  thought  it  necessary  to  surrender,
to  save  the  lives  of  the  brave  men  who  were  left.
