Note 35 — VOYAGES AND TRAVELS

General Richard Montgomery, the commander of the American forces at Isle aux Noix—an island in Richelieu River about ten miles from the head of Lake Champlain—wrote September 12, 1775, concerning the skirmish here mentioned: “I went down the river the other day with 800 or 900 men, in order to cut off the communication between St. Johns and Montreal. The detachment marched off from the boats at night, and in less than half an hour, returned in the utmost confusion.”—Biographical notes concerning General Richard Montgomery (Poughkeepsie, 1876), p. 11.

Lieutenant Walter Butler was a New York Tory, son of Colonel John Butler, who led the Indians to the Wyoming Valley massacre. Walter Butler was with St. Leger in 1777, and was captured soon after the siege of Fort Schuyler. Escaping from prison at Albany, he led the Iroquois to the Cherry Valley massacre (1778). He seems to have been despised for his cruelty, even by his own associates. Brant said he was “more savage than the savages themselves.” He was killed and scalped at Butler’s Ford, in the retreat from Johnstown in 1781, by an Oneida, who called out as he fell, “Cherry Valley!”—Ed.