Our axes, of which we had seventy,
were immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men
being dextrous in the use of them, great despatch was made.
Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch
when two men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon
the ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine
made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end.
While these were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round,
of three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be planted;
and, our waggons, the bodys being taken off, and the fore and hind
wheels separated by taking out the pin which united the two parts
of the perch, we had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring
the palisades from the woods to the spot. When they were set up,
our carpenters built a stage of boards all round within, about six
feet high, for the men to stand on when to fire thro' the loopholes.
We had one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles,
and fir'd it as soon as fix'd, to let the Indians know, if any
were within hearing, that we had such pieces; and thus our fort,
if such a magnificent name may be given to so miserable a stockade,
was finish'd in a week, though it rain'd so hard every other day
that the men could not work.
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