Many,
throwing down their arms, thronged around Sedgwick as if for
protection, while the rest fled in confusion, plunging into the woods
to avoid the troops who were now advancing in plain sight on all three
roads. A few scattered shots were exchanged between the fugitives and
the militia, and the almost bloodless conflict was over.
"Who'd have thought they were such a set of cowards?" said a young
militia officer, contemptuously.
"They are not cowards," replied Sedgwick reprovingly. "They're the
same men who fought at Bennington, but it takes away their courage to
feel they're arrayed against their own neighbors and the law of the
land."
"You'd have had your stomach full of fighting, young man," added
Colonel Williams, "if Squire Sedgwick had not taken them just as he
did. Squire," he added, "my wife shall thank you that she's not a
widow, when we get back to Stockbridge. I honor your courage, sir. The
credit of this day is yours."
Those standing around joining heartily in this tribute, Sedgwick
replied quietly:
"You magnify the matter over much, gentlemen. I knew the men I was
dealing with. If I could get near enough to fix them with my eye
before they began to shoot I knew it would be easy to turn their
minds.
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