By reason of the location and small size of the border settlements and the great distance between detached dwellings, the inhabitants, from the very beginning of the Revolutionary struggle, were subject to constant attack by small bands of Indians, and Tories disguised as such, who murdered those who fell into their hands and burned and pdllaged their dwellings until none but the most intrepid dared remain in their homes. The supplicating tears of women and children, and the wail of helpless babes, were unheeded. The tomahawk and war-club fell without pity upon the defenceless heads of all alike, and the scalps of women and children and the silvered locks of the aged mingled with those of manhood to adorn the belt of the savage, and be bartered for British gold. Here and there a heap of ashes and a few putrefying bodies remained to show the location of some unfortunate settler's cabin or frontier hamlet. Desolation was spread from one end of the border to the other, and the wail of despair was not to be resisted by the Congress. That body had

Sullivan's campaign. 8i

received a constant stream of appeals for aid from the sufferers at the front since the very beginning of the war. A large part of the documentary remains of that period consist of such letters to Washington, Governor Clinton, and others in authority. On the first of April, 1779, Congress, in response to a letter of March 13th, from the Legislature of New York, passed a resolution authorizing an expedition against these marauders. The campaign was planned by the Commander-in-chief. Its execution was first offered to General Gates because of his seniority, but the offer was made in such a way that it could not be accepted, and Gates was obliged to decline in favor of Major-General John Sullivan, whom Washington intended from the first should be its commander.