Captain Davis was one of the first who had a company, and being desirous of my service, in order to instruct the irregulars in their discipline, obtained from the Governor a certificate to indemnify me from any punishment which might be adjudged by the regiment to which I already belonged, for without that I had not gone. Our company, which consisted of 100 men, was not completed until the 24th of December 1755, when, losing no time, we next morning marched from Philadelphia in high spirits, resolving to shew as little quarter to the savages as they had to many of us.

Colonel Armstrong had been more expeditious, for he had raised 280 provincial irregulars, and marched a little time before against the Ogio Moravians; but of him more hereafter.

We arrived the 26th of December at Bethlehem, in the forks of the River Delaware, where, being kindly received by the Moravians, we loaded six waggons with provisions, and proceeded on to the Apalachinn Mountains, or Blue Hills, to a town called Kennorton-head, which the Moravians had deserted on account of the Indians. Fifty of our men, of whom I made one, were ordered before the rest, to see whether the town was destroyed or not. Disposing them to the best advantage, we marched on till we came within five miles of the place, which we found standing entire.

Having a very uneven rugged road to it, and not above four men able to go abreast, we were on a sudden alarmed by the firing of the flank guards, which were a little in the rear of our van. The savages briskly returned their fire, and killed the Ensign and ten of the men, and wounded several others.

Finding this, I being chief in command, (having acted as Lieutenant, and received pay as such from my first entrance, for my trouble and duty in learning the company) ordered the men to march on with all expedition to the town, and all the way to [put] a running fire on the enemy, as they had fallen on our rear.

We would have got there in very good order, had it not been for a river we had to cross, and the weather being so excessively cold, our clothes froze to our bodies as soon as we got out of the water. However, with great difficulty we reached the town, and got into the church, with the loss of 27 men.

There we made as good preparations for our defence as possibly we could, making a great fire of the benches, seats, and what we could find therein, to dry our clothes, not esteeming it the least sacrilege or crime, upon such an emergency.

The Indians soon followed us into the town, and surrounding us, tried all methods to burn the church, but our continual firing kept them off for about six hours, until our powder and ball were all expended.

In the night they set several houses on fire; and we, dreading the consequences of being detained there, resolved to make one bold effort, and push ourselves through the savage forces, which was accordingly done with the most undaunted courage.

The enemy fired continually on us during our retreat, and killed many of our men, but in their confusion many of themselves also, it being so very dark that we were not able to discern our own party, so that only five of us kept together, and got into the woods; the rest, whom we left behind, I doubt, fell sacrifices to the savages.

The night being so excessively cold, and having but few clothes with us out of the church, two of my comrades froze to death before we could reach any inhabited place. In short, we did not get any relief till four o'clock in the morning, when we arrived at a house that lay in the gap of the Blue Hills; where our Captain had arrived with the remainder of the men and waggons the day before.

The winter temperatures during this period, being at the height of “The Little Ice Age,” were lower than current norms. Snowfall was also heavier, with Iroquois warriors typically using snowshoes to assist them in winter warfare. Indians of the Eastern Woodlands were renowned for their winter fighting ability, and were not known to be superstitious about nighttime operations.