Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-07-11

"forlorn hope OF twenty men each, lee by Lieu
tenants Knox and Gibbons. They were to sacrI.
fee their lives If need be to remove the abatts
through which the two columns were 10 rush to
the attack. Pompey, wha had earned that the
countersgn for TINT night was to be 1.-THE fort
Is our own!" not only told Wayne that fact but
volunteered to guide the Americans and he went
ahead with two stout soldiers disguised us
farmers.
At about half past eleven THAI night the Amer
leans advanced to the attack. Each wore In his
hat something white so that friend might he dis
tinguished from foe In the darkness Pompey
and his two companions were halted by the first
two sentinels and while he engaged them In
versation his companions seized them and gagged
them. However. they found the causeway flooded
and the water deeper than they had expected.
A British sentry heard splash in the water and
opened fire, which Immediately returned by
Murfrees men, as had been planned This
brought the British commander down to the
center, MS II was intended to do Immediately
the two assautIng forces swept forward. The
"fororn hopes rushed upon the abatis and tore
a way through them, one party losing eighteen
Of Its twenty men In doing So Through these
openings poured the Americans and, although the
garrison was bewdered at first they Immediately
opened plunging fire Of grape shot from the can
non on the bastons, which however, overshot
their mark
Sweeping forward under a storm Of mus
kerry, to which the only response the clash
of steel as Wayne's men drove their bayonets
home when the fight came to close quarters, the
Americans sprang upon the walls of the fort.
shouting the countersign which had become their
watchword for the nght-"The fort Is our own
The fort is our own!" Colonel Feury was the
first man over the ranparts land with his own
hands he lowered the British flag. Convinced
that resistance was useless the British began
snrrendering In squads Their commander,
Johnson, returning from the slope where he had
been drawn by the fire Of Murfrees imme.
diately surrendered to Febiger. So well timed
had been the movements OF the two columns
that they only few minutes apart In reach.
ing the middle of the fort. And so swift and
successful had been the attack that seepy-eyed
British soldiers were still tumhng out of their
barracks when the Americans were In full pos
session of the fort.
During the brief fighting at the inner abattIs
Wayne was struck down by musket shot which
grazed his head. With the blood streaming down
his face and thinking that he has received his
death wound he cried Garry me into the fort
and let me die at the head of the column" His
aides picked him up, hastily bandaged LIS wound
and carried him over the ramparts on their shout
ders while he waved his men on with his sword.
was shot in the side and Captain Phelps. Lieu
tenant Palmer and Ensign Hall were also wound
ed. The British loss 63 killed, 10 wounded
and 543 taken prisoner.
AT daybreak the guns Of the fort were turned
upon the British ships In the river and they at
once cut their cables and dropped down the
hudson carrying the message of disaster to Cn-
ton 1t was n much different message from the
one which Wayne sent to Washington telling OF
his success. "OHr officers and men behaved like
men determined to be free" he said Clinton
then moved up the river to tempt Washington In
hazarding a battle to hold Stony Point.
Washington inspected the fort carefully and
decided that 1t would take at least 500 men to
hold It, force which he could not spare. SO
after removing the cannon and destroying the
works, he took away stores and other property
to the value Of 100000 and abandoned the post
Since Wayne had demonstrated that this "Little
Gibraltar" was not impregnable. Its usefulness
was at an end.