History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

404 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1777.
fight. Probably it was of tliis regiment that the following
story was told —
:
As the Hampshire regiment "wheeled one morning into line, Gen.
Gates, who was surveying the army from a little eminence on the right,
remarked that they must be old soldiers. ' Those.' asked Wilkinson,
' why they are the raw recruits from Northampton.' ' What, Pom-
eroy's men, eh ! I ought to know them,' and putting spurs to his horse,
he rode over to that part of the field where they stood, and complimented
the commanding colonel upon the appearance of the men.''^
David Strong's David Strong of Northampton was a mem-
Account.
-\jQY of this company. He stated that after
the battle of Bemis Heights, fought October
7"", the regiment while marching to take position, was
suddenly attacked by a party of the enemy, and compelled
to fall back. They took shelter behind trees and fought
after the Indian fashion. Gen. Lincoln was riding in ad-
vance, locating the regiments, when he was wounded, his
leg being broken by a ball. Strong and others placed him
on a blanket, fastened poles to its sides and carried him,
four men at a time, till they met an ambulance coming for
him. When Burgoyne retreated beyond Schuyler's Creek,
the troops followed close. The road presented a most distressing
spectacle. Dead horses, broken vehicles, abandoned
camp equipage, were strewed in every direction.
Col. May's regiment was among those that crossed the
creek in a fog and suddenly found themselves under the
British guns. They crouched beneath the bank, recrossed
the creek, and fell back " All in a huddle." The water was
up to the waist and in some places higher. After the cessation
of hostilities, and before the actual surrender, the
Northampton soldiers were dismissed. In coming home
they met troops in great numbers from Massachusetts and
Maine, told them all was over, and Burgoyne and his army
prisoners, but they all kept on, anxious to see and know
from personal observation. Strong said that he never saw
men so full of fight, as all were on the day of the last bat-
tle with Burgoyne. When they marched from the line
they went with a quick and lively step, eager for action.
His company was stationed in the woods, and he could not
1 American Whig Review.