He had no means of defensive retreat--no provisions, no transportation for his arms and equipage, no supply of ammunition.

The suggestion is an evident afterthought.
Whether from choice or necessity, however, he remained only to find himself more and more closely pressed.

By Monday noon the squad in the rifle-works, distant one mile from the armory, had been driven out, killed, and captured.

The other squads, not so far from their leader, joined him at the armory, minus their losses.

Already he was driven to take refuge with his diminished force in the engine-house, a low, strong brick building in the armory yard, where they barricaded doors and improvised loop-holes, and into which they took with them ten selected prisoners as hostages.