Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/331

DELAWARE COUNTY. 807 ceive, the commanding officers found it dangerous to neglect his advice. His double barrelled rifle ; his skill as a marks- man, and his fleetness either in retreat or pursuit, made him an object both of dread and vengeance to the Indians. He fought them in their own way and with their own weapons. Sometimes habited in the dress of the Indian, with his face painted, he would pass among them, making important disco- veries as to their strength and designs, without detection. He early learned to speak the Indian language, which of course was of great service to him. During the succeeding winter, the Indians were continually on the alert. They generally formed themselves into small parties, and a particular portion of country was assigned to a party of Indians for their direct destruction. At that time the Grerman flats, or that portion of country lying on either ■' side of the Mohawk between Utica and Schenectady, was their more immediate sphere of action. Murphy, together with a small party of riflemen, were ordered to that part of the country to watch, and to prevent if possible, the destruction of human life, and devastation of property, then so rapidly being made by the inhuman savages. It was on this occasion that Murphy and two other indi- viduals had strayed from the main party to which they were attached, and were rambling about among the woods and brush, studying the plans and watching the movements of the Indians. They had not been long separated from the main party, when they discovered a number of Indians skulking about among the weeds and brush, apparently watching the movements of Murphy and his companions. They had proceeded but a short distance farther when they saw two Indians sitting upon the trunk of a masterly looking oak, with their backs toward them ; they immediately fired, each brought his man, and then ran back to join the main party. The report of the guns, and the death of their fellows, roused the revengeful blood of the savages,