Ao^ :i°^ . . » * A ;* v^' ''^. .v^^ ^-^. O > «? ^ .^^ '- ./.i^-^-^-^w c°^li^•.>o /.c;^^.\ ^- ^°/^<^"- ,/\v:^%V /.^^%'\ \0 '7*. ^ "V * o « o ' ^^^ 0^ »L'^'* ^> V . THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA THE SARATOGA MONUMENT Erected by the Saratoga Monument Association to commemorate the Sur- render of Burgoyne's Army to Gen. Gates, October 17, 1777, the grand finale of one of the fifteen decisive battles of the world. It stands on the site of Burgoyne's fortified camp, on the hill overlooking the place of his surrender. The corner stone was laid with civic and military ceremonies, October 17, 1877, and com- pleted in June. 1883. Height, 155 feet; Base, 40 feet square; 184 steps lead up to the last windows, which command an enchanting view of from ten to eighty miles in all directions. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA THE BURGOYNE CAMPAIGN TO WHICH IS ADDED NEW YORK'S SHARE IN THE REVOLUTION BY JOHN HENRY BRANDOW, M. A. K Sometime Pastor of the (Dutch) Reformed Chuich of Schuylerville, N. Y. and member of the New York State Historical Association SECOND EDITION Fort Orange Press THE BRANDOW PRINTING COMPANY ALBANY, N. Y. 1919 nn Copyright, 1919 By John IIenry Brandow MAK ! 2 m\} S)CLA566045 DEDICATION To the Patriotic Societies in the United States and to all Americans who revere the characters and cherish the heroic deeds of their forebears I dedicate this book PREFACE This book, like many another, is a growth from a small beginning; the outcome of a brief sketch made for another purpose. The author never dreamed that he would be guilty of perpetrating a book. When he began the aforesaid sketch he supposed that the history of the locality had been thoroughly written up and that nothing of interest could be found which had not repeatedly been spread before the interested public. This surmise was certainly true of the Burgoyne cam- paign with its battles and auspicious ending which occurred within the bounds of Old Saratoga. All of this had become well threshed straw before we began our task ; hence, we have been able to add but a little to what has already appeared in print concerning it, except a few anecdotes of a personal nature. We can claim nothing more with respect to that decisive campaign in the great struggle of the fathers for independence than that we have redrawn the picture from the view point of the " Heights of Saratoga," and have put into the scene a series of details which heretofore had appeared only as scattered and disjointed fragments. Our excuse for the book is this : While hunting for Colonial or ante-Revolutionary data relative to the his- tory of this locality we di.scovered that there was very much more to it than had yet appeared in any form accessible to the public ; and, what is more to the point, we found that this is the only locality, worthy of it, in the yalley between New York City and Plattsburg, whose Colonial history had not been carefully explored and xii PREFACE written up. With this in mind we resolved to dig down and get at the roots of its history ; so we have diligently examined everything we could hear of or find that would throw any light on that shadowy epoch in Old Saratoga's story ; and we trust that those who are interested in such matters will agree with us that we have been measurably paid for the trouble. In the meantime we believe we have also discovered several important historic sites, together with the name of the one local annalist, the anonymous Sexagenary, which had long been lost. It is a pity that there had not been more chroniclers to record the many interesting incidents which must have occurred here, particularly during the period of King George's war, and yet more is the pity that many of the records that were made have been lost. Still, as it is, we feel that we can assert without fear of suc- cessful contradiction that outside the cities of New York and Albany, Old Saratoga is the most interesting historic locality in New York State, and New York was the battle ground of America in Revolutionary and Colonial days. But notwithstanding the fact that this is the scene of so many events, tragic, thrilling, and heroic, in their character ; events far reaching and superlatively benefi- cent in their effects on our civilization, Saratoga is a name that has been made little of by American writers, and is seldom used to conjure with in speech or story. We have in this work kept the military history separate from the civil in the belief that the average reader will find it less confusing, and hence more satis- factory, than any attempt at mixing the two together, and yet we confess that the line of demarkation be- tween the civil and the military is sometimes pretty hazy. That w^e have been enabled to carry this work to completion grateful acknowledgments are due, first, PREFACE xiii to the many interested citizens of Schuylerville, with- out whose encouragement we would not have dared to embark on such a venture ; to Mr. W. L. Stone, the accomplished Revolutionary historian, and to Gen. J. Watts De Peyster. military critic and prolific author, for valuable facts and suggestions ; to Miss Fanny Schuyler, for the loan of Schuyler manuscripts and for criticising a portion of the work; to Mr. W. B. Melius, the erudite keeper of the Albany County records, for help in our search for data; to Mr. Hugh Hastings, State Historian, and Henry Harmon Noble, his efficient assistant, for their hearty encouragement, timely suggestions and valuable hints concerning historic manuscripts preserved in the State Library ; and to Mr. Arnold J. F. van Laer, State Archivist, for invaluable assistance in deciphering some of the ancient manuscripts under his care. We are also especially obligated to Mr. C. W. May- hew of Schuylerville for the free use of his library, rich in historic works ; to Miss Anna Hill for generously type- writing a large portion of the manuscript; to Mrs. John H. Lowber and Mrs. Jane Marshall for courteously per- mitting a careful examination of their historic homes, and foi interesting facts connected therewith. We also feel deeply indebted to Rev. F. C. Scoville of Greenwich, N. Y.. for valuable assistance in our search for the author of the Sexagenary. Schuylerville, N. Y.. Dec. 15, igoo. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION About the time the first edition of this work was ex- hausted the author received notice from the Chief of the School Libraries Division of The University of New York that he had placed the story of Old Saratoga on the list of supplementary readings for our public schools. Naturally pleased by such a gracious testimony to the value of the work the author decided to publish a new edition. Before doing so, however, he resolved to make a second and somewhat more extended research among original sources for data concerning the early history of this locality. The result was the discovery of many facts which, though not of prime importance, yet, at least, are interesting and illuminating ; and furthermore, by them gaps in the story have been filled, and many questions that before were puzzling have been answered. This edition being designed for a wider constituency will omit several chapters and a number of paragraphs which appeared in the first edition. Our reasons for this are 1st: Because such annals of this locality as are of Statewide interest, and really important, have to do al- most exclusively with its Colonial and Revolutionary history. Much of the latter has heretofore been inac- cessible to our people, while the modern history is less interesting, and is also within easy reach of the curious.* Because of this much of the matter relating to modern Schuylerville, etc., we have left out. 2d. We have done this because room was needed for the new and important material above referred to. 3d. Because we are publish- * Such should read the first edition of this work. xvi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION ing in this new edition four chapters on New York's Share' in the Revolution. These contain a series of im- portant facts which never before have we seen collated, and which, we believe, should be made accessible to the youth in our public schools. The author is painfully aware that these chapters do not fit well in this volume, but they are not bulky enough for a separate book, and he flatters himself that they con- tain facts well worth placing before such New Yorkers as are interested in the history of their own State. In the preparation of this second edition the author feels himself specially obligated to Rev. H. D. B. Mul- ford. D. D., sometime Professor of English Language and Literature in Rutgers College, Sherman Williams, Chief of the School Libraries of the University of New York, A. W. Risley, Professor of History in the New York State College for Teachers, and James Sullivan, Director of Division of Archives and History for the University of the State of New York, for their valuable criticisms, and many wise and helpful suggestions, gen- erously given. Albany, N. Y., Feb. 15th, 1919. CONTENTS BOOK I MILITARY HISTORY CHAPTER I Discovery and Discoverers of the valley between New York Bay and Canada. CHAPTER H Saratoga. Origin of the name. Old Indian trails. Hostile forays from both sides of the line. CHAPTER IH Destruction of Schenectady and return blows. CHAPTER IV First settlement at Old Saratoga. Queen Anne's War. Nich- olson's expeditions against Canada. CHAPTER V King George's War. Building of the forts. CHAPTER VI Destru6tion of Saratoga. A word about the captives. CHAPTER VII Fort Clinton. Discovery of its site. Its fate. CHAPTER VIII The French and Indian War. CHAPTER IX The Revolution. Causes of the war. First period of the Burgoyne campaign. CHAPTER X Second period of Burgoyne campaign. Indian atrocities. Oriskany and Bennington. Schuyler superseded by Gates. Movements of hostile armies. xviii CONTENTS CHAPTER XI First battle of Saratoga. Results. CHAPTER Xn Second battle of Saratoga. CHAPTER Xni Third period of campaign. Burgoyne retreats. CHAPTER XIV Burgoyne surrounded and besieged. Woes of the besieged. CHAPTER XV Terms and description of Burgoyne's surrender. Saratoga a decisive battle, why? CHAPTER XVI General Gates, his behavior after the surrender. The Conway cabal. Conditions at Saratoga. CHAPTER XVII Dark days of the Revolution. CHAPTER XVIII 1781 at Saratoga. Generals Stark and Lord Sterling in com- mand at. CHAPTER XIX Anecdotes connected with the Revolution. CHAPTER XX Anecdotes continued. CHAPTER XXI War of 1812 and the Civil War. CONTENTS xix BOOK II CIVIL HISTORY CHAPTER I Saratoga. Significance of the name. First settlers. Resettle- ment after the massacre. CHAPTER H The first permanent settlers. CHAPTER HI Revolutionary trials of the citizens. CHAPTER IV About the several Schuyler mansions and their occupants. CHAPTER V Mansion No. 3 built in record time. Visits of Washington. CHAPTER VI Mansion No. 3 continued. Its later occupants. CHAPTER VII About William Duer, and Colonel James Livingston. CHAPTER VIII A historic church. Reorganization and settlement of Saratoga after the Revolution. Partition of the township. CHAPTER IX . Growth of villages. Advent of the canal, its effect. The coming of railroads. CHAPTER X The Saratoga monument, the building of it. etc. XX CONTENTS BOOK III NEPV YORK'S SHARE IN THE REVOLUTION CHAPTER I New York unfairly dealt with in most histories. Some things that differentiated her from New England. Some of her con- tributions to our civilization. CHAPTER n Causes of the Revolution. Some of New York's contributions toward independence, and her early sufferings. The Boston port bill. CHAPTER HI Certain reflections on preceding events, and their outcome. CHAPTER IV The war in New York. New York's strategic importance. Importance of Lexington and Concord compared with some other battles. New York's contributions and sacrifices compared with other states. CHAPTER V The treaty of peace with England. John Jay's part in it. A word about Gouverneur Morris and Gen. Philip Schuyler. CHAPTER VI Origin and adoption of the Federal Constitution. New York's share in the launching of the government of the United States. Guides to the battlefield and historic Saratoga, or Schuyler- ville, with maps. INTRODUCTION It would be impossible to write an intelligible narrative of Old Saratoga, now Schuylerville, without sketching the broader field of history of which it forms a part. As well attempt a satisfactory description of a two-mile section of the majestic Hudson that flows before it with- out telling whence the river rises and whither its gleam- ing waters go. Old Saratoga is but one link in a chain of marvellous story. We must at least catch a glimpse of the whole chain or we shall never come to appreciate this one golden link. That the place now called Schuylerville has become historic is due neither td the size of the town, to the famous deeds of its inhabitants, nor to the fact that someone whom the world calls specially great was born here. It was well known to two great nations while yet it was a howling wilderness, and it had obtained world- wide renown before any one had yet dreamed of the vil- lage of Schuylerville. Its place in history is due mainly to its location. Here, in military language, was one of the few strategic points in the great Hudson valley. Whoever held these points held the whole valley, and whoever held this valley could hold the continent. How is that? you may ask. Well, take a good map of New York State and you will notice that an extraor- dinary depression or valley extends from the river St. Lawrence, in Canada, directly south to New York bay. This valley is the result of some mighty convulsion in nature, which rent the mountains asunder, leaving this chasm between the ranges, to be further hollowed out xxi XXll INTRODUCTION and smoothed down by the action of those giant rivers of ice, the glaciers. The highest point of the divide, or watershed, in this depression is between Fort Edward and Fort Ann, and this is only 147 feet above sea level. This elevation is remarkably slight in a distance of 350 miles, especially when one considers the mountain ranges between which the valley runs. With the exception of some twenty miles this whole distance between New York and Montreal was navigable for small craft before the dams were built in the Hudson. Besides this valley running north and south, another depression, starting from Schenectady, stretches west- ward and cleaves the great Appalachian mountain range in twain, forming an open gateway toward the setting sun. Through this runs the Mohawk. Scan your map of North America closely from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Florida and you will learn to your surprise, mayhap, that from the Gulf of St. Law- rence to the Gulf of Mexico there is no other wide-open portal except the Mohawk, to the west, through those mighty barriers which the great Appalachian range has thrown across the pathway to the imperial domain of the Mississippi valley. Thus, if you have a military eye, you can readily see that, before the days of railroads, who- ever held the Hudson valley held the key to the continent from the east. Turn to your map of New York State again and you will notice that the country where dwelt the Iroquois is drained by the St. Lawrence through the Black, the Seneca and the Genesee rivers ; by New York bay through the Mohawk and Hudson rivers ; by Delaware bay through the Delaware river ; by Chesapeake bay through the Susquehanna river, and by the Gulf of Mexico through the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. Those old "Romans of the West," the Five Nations or INTRODUCTION xxiii Iroquois, somehow discovered the strategic value of their position and took advantage of it. Having formed a civil confederacy, and then uniting their military forces, they became a menace and a terror to all their neighbors. The trails leading up and down these various rivers they transformed into warpaths. Ere long their fierce war- whoop was heard westward to the Mississippi, north- ward to the Saguenay, and southward to the great gulf, and from everywhere they returned as conquerors, proudly bringing with them those spoils so dear to the savage heart, scalps and captives. These conquests were completed by the year 1715 when they brought back the Tuscaroras from the Carolinas, and admitted them into their confederacy. After that they were called the Six Nations. The Adirondack region, including the Champlain and Hudson valleys, as far south as the old district of Sara- toga extended, was reckoned specially desirable as a pos- session, and had long been disputed territory between the Algonquins of the north and the Iroquois. Long before the white man set eyes on this region it was known to the red man as "the dark and bloody ground." Against all opponents, the indomitable courage and persistency of the fierce Iroquois had quite won the day when the white man appeared on the scene as a new contestant for the valuable prize. When he entered the field, he was des- tined to add some still darker chapters to its already bloody history. BOOK I MILITARY HISTORY CHAPTER I Discovery of this Valley Our first introduction to these natural pathways lead- ing northward and westward is connected with the meet- ing of a party of whites and Indians drifting south from Canada on discovery intent, and a party of painted Iro- quois hastening north, on war and pillage bent. The leader of the party from the north was Samuel de Cham- plain, the founder of Quebec, and the first French Gov- ernor of Canada. The Algonquihs had told him of a wonderful inland sea that stretched far southward into the land of the terrible Iroquois. He became curious to see it, and so in the spring of 1609, with two white companions and 60 native warriors with their canoes, he started on the eventful voyage. They reached the lake July 4th and paddled south leisurely, till they arrived in the vicinity of Ticonderoga, where in the night they met the party of two hundred Iroquois painted and plumed for war. Immediately on the discovery of the approaching enemy the Iroquois hastened ashore to fortify them- selves. The Algonquins lined up their canoes just be- yond arrow shot and having mutually agreed to wait till morning for the fight, they spent the night in jeering one another, and boasting what terrible things each would do to the other at the break of day. At daylight the Algonquins went ashore and quickly advanced for the deadly grapple. Because of their superior numbers and 2 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA position the Iroquois felt confident of victory, but the sudden apparition of three strangely-dressed men with white faces, a thing never before dreamed of by them, together with the thunder of their arquebuses and the terrible execution they wrought, quickly decided the day, and the Iroquois fled precipitately, not pleased with their first experience of the white man. Champlain came no farther, but the beautiful lake which he had discovered and described, fittingly bears his honored name. It is worthy of note that this is the first known appearance of a white man within the borders of northern New York, and that too through the northern gateway. And Champlain's contest with those Indians was the first recorded battle on the soil of this State, and on a spot which afterwards was the scene of many bloody conflicts. Six weeks after this event, by a strange coincidence, Hendrick Hudson, an Englishman, commanding a Dutch ship, sailed into the splendid harbor now known as New York bay, and laying his course due north entered what he fondly hoped would prove to be the much looked for passage to the East Indies, but which .turned out to be only a river, yet a river far more beautiful than any his eyes had ever beheld. Wishing to learn the character and size of his great find, he worked his way as far north as Troy or Cohoes. Then he returned to report his dis- covery. He, too, was honored by having his name af- fixed to the southern portion of this marvellous valley and its noble river. Five years thereafter a trading post was established 150 miles north of New York bay, and which for fifty-five years bore the name of Fort Orange, after the noble house whose sons had successfully led the Netherlands in their eighty years' fight for liberty against Spain. But a hundred miles of this valley from Troy to Crown Point was as yet terra incognita to the white man, and it remained so for one-third of a century. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 3 During all this time the Iroquois of Central New York had refrained from war against the north ; but they by no means forgot their humiliating defeat at the hands of the white men who were the allies of their ancient foes in Canada. For thirty-three years they had nursed their wrath and drilled themselves in warfare with other tribes, to the west and south, when in the spring of 1642, after having become possessed of fire-arms and practiced in their use, they decided that the time had come to blot out their disgrace in the blood of the Algonquins and French. And had it not been for the timely arrival of some French troops the Canadian settlements would have been utterly exterminated. Among their captives on that foray was a noble Jesuit priest. Father Isaac Jogues, who in company with sev- eral helpers and converts were returning, with their canoes loaded with supplies, to a mission already estab- lished among the Hurons in the distant west. He, with two assistants, Couture and Goupil, and a number of Hurons, were horribly tortured ; then they were bound and headed south for the Mohawk country. It was about the 1st of September when they arrived at that bold promontory jutting out into Lake Champlain, which has since become famous as Ticonderoga. Rounding this they turned west where soon they were stopped by the churning rapids and chiming falls of a goodly stream, the outlet of another lake. Here the Indians landed, shouldered their canoes, followed up the stream, and soon with their captives launched forth upon the crystal waters of Andiatarocte (Lake George). Here, for the first time since the dawn of creation, eyes, that could appreciate, looked upon the rare beauty of that "fair Naiad of the ancient wilderness," Lac St. Sacrament, as it was christened four years later by Father Jogues. These savage warriors, with their hapless victims. 4 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA duly landed where now stands that handsome hostelry, the Fort William Henry Hotel, and straightway plunged into the dusky woods and followed the ancient war trail. This trail led from Lake George to the bend in the Hudson a few miles west of Glens Falls, thence south westward till it struck the Mohawk in the vicinity of Amsterdam. Arrived at their castles, the captives were again ferociously tortured for the entertainment of savage women and children. Finally Goupil was mur- dered. Couture having struck the fancy of the Indians by some act of skill or bravery, was adopted into the tribe. Father Jogues lived for months in daily expecta- tion of being murdered. The latter was given to an old Indian as a slave and performed for him the most menial tasks. In the following March he accompanied his mas- ter on his spring fishing trip. They repaired to a lake four days distant. On reasonable grounds this is sup- posed to have been Lake Saratoga. If so Father Jogues was the first white man who ever gazed upon the placid surface of that beautiful sheet of water. About the 1st of August, 1643, he accompanied a party of Indians on a fishing trip down the Hudson about twenty miles below Albany. Before the main body was ready to leave he secured permission to return with a few Indians who were going up the river in a canoe. At Albany he was very kindly treated by the Dutch who urged him to escape, they having previously made a fruitless attempt to ransom him. Finally he concluded to make the attempt, slipped away from his custodians, and secreted himself. But the Indians made such an ado about it, that to pacify them Megapolensis, the good Dutch Dominie, or clergyman, and Arendt Van Curler, the subsequent founder of Schenectady, collected enough goods to ransom him. The Albany Dutchmen then gave him free passage to France. At New York Gov. Kieft THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 5 exchanged his squaHd and savage dress for a good suit of Dutch cloth and placed him aboard a small vessel bound for his home. On his arrival there he was re- ceived as one risen from the dead, for they had heard of his capture. He at once became an object of curiosity and reverence. He was summoned to court and Queen Anne of Austria kissed his mutilated hands. Soon he returned to Canada. In 1646 he was ordered by his superior to go to the Mohawk country on an em- bassage of peace for the government. He with Sieur Bourdon, an engineer, and two Algonquin Indians started about the middle of May. laden with rich gifts for the Mohawks to confirm the peace. They reached Lake George on the eve of the feast of Corpus Christi. From this fact he named it Lac St. Sacrament, a name which was retained for more than a hundred years. From Lake George they took the trail to the Hudson, where, being greatly fatigued by their loads of gifts, they bor- rowed some canoes from an Iroquois fishing party and descended the Hudson, passing Old Saratoga to Fort Orange. Here the Dutchmen, to whose sacrifices he owed his life, heartily welcomed and entertained him. After a few days he left them for the Mohawk council where he was received with grudging courtesy. His mission having ended successfully, he started for home, but with the determination to return and found a mission among the Mohawks. With this purpose in mind he left behind a small chest containing a few trinkets and necessaries. But the Indians were per- suaded that it harbored some malignant spirits that would work mischief among them. And indeed there was sickness in the village that summer, and the cater- pillars ate their corn. All this was of course laid to the evil" spirits left in that box. Hence, when Father Jogues returned, there was a case against him. He was foully 6 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA murdered on the 18th of October, 1646. "Thus," as Parkman says, "died Isaac Jogues, one of the purest ex- amples of Roman Catholic virtue which this Western continent has seen."^ (The shrine at Auriesville is erected on the traditional site of his martyrdom.) Thus, when Father Jogues reached Albany in 1646 the whole of the Champlain-Hudson valley had been trav- ersed by the white man. It is also interesting to note that he and Sieur Bourdon were the first to see the site of Schuylerville. The reader will recall the fact that New York and Albany had been occupied as trading posts since 1614, and the latter had been permanently settled or colonized since 1623. ^ See Parkman's Jesuits in North America. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER II Saratoga — Origin of the Naaie, the old Indian Trails — First expedition from Canada into the Mohawk Country under Courcelle and De Tracy To most people outside the boundaries of this county the name Saratoga is coupled always and only with the great watering place, twelve miles west of the Hudson, whose medicinal waters gush forth "for the healing of the nations," whereas its adoption there was a long after- thought. Indeed, the name as applied first to a river district, and later to a definite locality, was known to white men for scores of years before the springs were discovered. Saratoga is an Indian word, and was used by the red men as the name of a favorite hunting and fishing ground, including the eastern section of the present county of Saratoga. It was written in the original Saratoga Patent as Ochserantongue, or Sarach- togie. This Patent took in land on both sides of the Hudson from Mechanicville north to near Fort Miller. Later the name was given to the settlement on the south side of the Fishkill creek, across from Schuylerville. Within a radius of, say, four miles of Schuylerville this region is still called by its inhabitants Old Saratoga. Indeed, the name as applied to a river district was known to white men for a hundred years before the springs were discovered. As has already been intimated, Schuylerville, or old Saratoga, owes its historic importance to its geographical location. In colonial days it was regarded by military men as an important strategic position. From this point important lateral trails diverged from the main one, 8 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA which ran Hke a great trunk line up and down the Hud- son valley. These lateral trails started here because at this point two large streams empty into the Hudson ; the Battenkill (or Di-an-on-de-howa, in Indian) from the east, and the Fishcreek from the west. The one afforded easy access to the Connecticut valley, while the other offered ready passage from the north and east over into the valley of the Mohawk. In short, here was a sort of Indian "four corners." Two trails led from the north or Champlain valley into the Mohawk valley. One started at Ticonderoga, passed through Lake George, thence across country, passing the Hudson not far west from Glens Falls, thence through the towns of Moreau and Wilton turning west through the pass south of Mt. McGregor at Stile's Tavern, over near Lake Desolation, southwest through Galw^ay, thence into the Mohawk valley a little west of Amsterdam. This was called the Kayadrosseras trail^ The other started at Whitehall, thence to Fort Edward and down the Hudson to Schuylerville, up the Fishcreek to Saratoga lake, thence up the Kayadrosseras river to the Mourningkill, thence over a carry into Ballston lake, over another carry into Eelplace creek (or Alplaus), and down this into the Mohawk river. This was called the Saratoga trail. If on their expeditions to the north the Mohawk Indians chose to build their canoes at home before starting, they came down the Saratoga trail because it was a waterway. If they decided to build their canoes at the head of the lake, then they took the Kayadrosseras trail overland, for it was shorter. These trails were already ancient and warworn before the white man appeared on the scene. He promptly appropriated them to his own use for purposes not only of warfare but for commerce. - Sylvester's Hist, of Saratoga County. Edition of 1878, p. 32. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 9 Courcelle's Expedition against the Iroquois. This region was frequently seen and traversed by the white man years before the name Saratoga appeared in printer's ink, or official correspondence. For years prior to 1666, bands from the Five Nations, or Iroquois, had harassed the French settlements in Canada, at Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec, murdering and carrying the settlers into captivity. Finally a full regiment of French soldiers was sent to their defense. The French governor. Samuel de Remi Sieur de Courcelle, impatient of delay after they came, started out with a force of 600 men and a number of Algonquin Indians as guides to wreak ven- geance on the hated savages. Equipped with snow shoes, and with provisions loaded on toboggans drawn by mas- tiff dogs, they started from Quebec on October 29, 1665. Slowly and laboriously they made their way south over frozen lakes and the wilderness of snow till they arrived at the Hudson about February 1st. 1666. Their Indian guides failing them on account of too much "fire-water." they missed the Kayadrosseras trail, their intended route, and took the Saratoga trail instead. This brought them down to the mouth of the Fishcreek at Schuylerville. up which they went to Saratoga lake and so on. The 9th of February they discovered to their chagrin that instead of being near the Mohawk castles, or palisaded forts, they were within two miles of the Dutch trading post at Schenectady. Here they fell into an ambush set by the Mohawk Indians and lost eleven men. The Indians fled and gave the alarm. Nearly exhausted from cold and exposure, but receiving some timely succor from the Dutch, they abandoned the enterprise, and hastilv retreated by the way they came, down through Old Sara- toga and up the Hudson and Lake Champlain.-'' That trip of some 700 miles over a frozen desert, void of -Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. Ill, pp. ii8, 126. 10 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA human habitation, in the teeth of howhng blizzards and biting cold, was an achievement never excelled before that day. De Tracy's Expedition. Stung to madness by the murder, that summer, of Sieur Chazy, a favorite captain in the regiment, at the hands of these same Iroquois, a new expedition was organized. In October of the same year, 1666, under the efhcient leadership of the Marquis de Tracy, a force of 1,300 men and two cannons started on their mission of vengeance. They came with boats instead of toboggans and snow shoes, and as their flotilla of at least 250 canoes and bateaux swept over the crystal waters of Lac St. Sacrament, (Lake George) it formed the first of those splendid military pageants which were destined to render forever famous that pellucid gem of the old wilderness. This force took the Kayadrosseras trail and plunged boldly into the woods, reaching the Mohawk in due time, where they succeeded in utterly destroying the strongholds of the Indians and laying waste their fields, yet capturing and killing bvtt few of their wily foes. Then with a vast deal of flourish and gusto, de Tracy caused a cross to be erected, the arms of France elevated on a pole, and a high sounding procla- mation read, declaring all this territory to belong to His Majesty, the King of France, by the right of conquest. Then they went home by the way they came without the loss of a man.* Descent of the Iroquois upon Canada. After de Tracy's punishment of the Mohawks they kept shy of the Canadians for more than twenty years. The peace then conquered would have doubtless continued indefinitely had not Canada been most unfortunate in one of her governors. Denonville, greedy for trade and ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IX, pp. 56, 79. • THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA H the extension of the French dominions, tried to woo the Iroquois from their EngHsh allegiance. FaiHng in this he trespassed on their territories, attacked some of the villages of the Senecas, and killed and captured a number of their people. This roused the slumbering hate of the whole Confederacy, and war to the death was declared. Their forces having assembled, they paddled down the Mohawk river in their bark canoes, passed the little fron- tier village of Schenectady, and landed at Alplaus creek about the 1st of August, 1689. They had decided upon the Saratoga trail. A flotilla of about 250 canoes filled with 1,300 plumed and painted warriors, the fiercest in the new world, must have been a stirring sight as they debouched from the Kayadrosseras and floated out upon the tranquil bosom of Saratoga lake. It was a fit fore- runner of the showy regattas seen on the same waters 200 years later.^ And again when they glided into Fish- creek, lined with tamaracks, and embowered with birches and maples and oaks, festooned with the wild grape and clematis vines, could we have stood that day, behind some bushy screen, say at Stafford's Bridge, we would have witnessed a splendid pageant of over a mile in length. They swept down the crooked and tortuous Fish- creek to the modern village of Victory, whence they car- ried their canoes down the south side to the Hudson, and then lustily paddled north on their bloody mission. Their descent upon the settlements about Montreal was as a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. This was the most dread- ful blow sustained, the most terrible event recorded in Canadian history. The buildings of the settlers were burned, their garnered harvests destroyed, between three and four hundred citizens and soldiers^ were butchered, and 130 were brought back to be tortured for the enter- * Sylvester's Saratoga County Hist., p. 34. "Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IX, pp. 431, 434. 12 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA tainment of those left at home, or to supply their savage feasts with unusual and dainty meats. The Indians returned, most of them, as they had gone, by the Sara- toga trail. The ancient forest then standing here, echoed that day to the sighs of those hapless captives, and the soil of old Saratoga was moistened with their tears, as they toiled up the carry from the river to the smooth water of Fishcreek above Victory. That was one pro- cession at Schuylerville which none of us, I fancy, would care to have beheld, unless prepared to rescue the unfortunate victims. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 13 CHAPTER III Destruction of Schenectady and Retaliation The above mentioned descent of the Iroquois upon Canada, though wholly an affair of their own, proved to be coincident with the outbreak of war between France and England, which, of course, would surely involve their colonies. This war grew out of the English Revo- lution of 1688, which dethroned James II of England and enthroned, in his place, William and Mary of Holland. France proposed to replace King James on his throne. Count de Frontenac was sent over by the French in October. 1689, to displace the impolitic Denonville. He resolved to be the first to strike a blow in that war on this side the water, and accordingly, fitted out three expedi- tions, one from Quebec against Maine, the second from Three Rivers against New Hampshire and the third from Montreal against Albany. The force designed for Albany numbered 210 men, ninety-six of whom were Indians, under the command of two Canadian officers, Sieur la Moyne de St. Helene and Lieut. Daillebout de Mantet. Forgetful of the experi- ence of de Courcelle, twenty-three years before, they, like him, started out in the dead of winter. Having reached the head of Lake Champlain, near Ticonderoga, they halted and held a council. The Indians, under the lead of Chief Kryn, a converted Mohawk, who had moved to Canada and of whose people about 60 had been murdered by the Iroquois in their late foray, demanded to know whither they were bound. De St. Helene replied that he wished to surprise and take Fort Orange (Albany). The Indians remembering the defeats which the French 14 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA had lately sustained, strongly objected and said : "Since when have the French become so brave ?" Still undecided they continued their march for eight days, toward Albany, till they came to the parting of the ways here at Old Saratoga,^ (Schuylerville). On their own motion the Indians left the Hudson here, turned to the right, and took the trail leading toward Schenectady, and the French followed after without serious protest. A thaw had set in and they waded through snow and slush that were knee deep. It must have been dreadfully exhaust- ing work, for it took them nine days to make the trip from Schuylerville to Schenectady, a distance of thirty- seven miles by the route they took. But just before they reached their goal one of those sudden and extreme changes occurred, so common to our winters in this lati- tude. A blizzard came howling down from the north- west, which chilled them to the marrow. They had in- tended to defer the attack till about two o'clock a. m., on February 10th, but they were forced to proceed at once or perish from the cold. They afterward said, had they been attacked at that time, or had they met with resistance when they attacked, they would have been forced to surrender, so benumbed were they by the cold. There was no need, however, for delay on their part, for they could not have imagined better arrangements for their reception than they found. The Revolution in England naturally created two par- ties ; those who sided with and those who sided against the dethroned King James. These parties were dupli- cated in the colonies. There were many here who were intensely loyal to James, as well as many who were eager to ^wear allegiance to William and Mary. Of course, this caused trouble and divisions throughout the realm. After the sudden departure of Lieut. Governor Nichol- ' Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol_ IX, p. 466. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 15 son one Jacob Leisler had been appointed by the Com- mittee of Safety of New York city as Governor ad interim, he to hold office until the arrival of the official soon to be appointed by King William. Leisler's claim to the office was readily allowed by the common people, to which class he belonged, but he was repudiated by the aristocrats, and the Patroons, or great landholders. Hence, out of this difference, there arose two political factions in the Province called the Aristocratic and the Democratic parties. Schenectady and Albany had already become very jealous of each other because of a strong rivalry for the fur trade with the Indians to the west. Hence anything that Albany favored Schenectady was quite sure to frown upon, and vice versa. Therefore since the Aristo- crats, who at this time ruled in Albany, opposed Leisler, Schenectady could be depended on to favor him. Connecticut, like New York, fearing an attack from Canada, had sent one Capt. Bull with 87 men to aid in the defense of this frontier. He arrived in Albany November 25th, 1689, with the understanding that his troops were to be supported by, and under the direction of. the Albanians. On the 29th, Lieut. Talmadge, with 24 of the Connecticut men was sent over to garrison the fort at Schenectady. But controlled mainly by their prejudices the Schenectady people refused to aid in the support of these men who had come to defend them, 1st, because they had been procured through the mediation of the Aristocrats, and 2nd, because they felt that Con- necticut ought to provide for her own soldiery, she being equally with New York menaced by the danger from the north. There was however a small minority of anti Leislerites, or Aristocrats, in Schenectady These were greatly encouraged in their opposition by the coming of the soldiers. The result was that the 16 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA quarrel between the factions became so heated that neither would do a thing for the town's protection though they well knew that a state of war already existed be- tween France and England. The two gates of the little town fronting east and west were left wide open and a dummy sentinel made of snow, in mockery of the idle troops quartered within the town, stood guard before the western portal. Everybody, even the soldiers, were sleeping in fan- cied security. A body of Mohawk Indians had been en- gaged by the Albany authorities to scout to the north, but the love of the fireside proved more alluring than the charms of fire-water and Dutch gold, and so they had lingered at or near Schenectady. Guided by some captured squaws, the Canadians crossed the Mohawk on the ice and appeared before the western gate. Silently, as if shod with wool, they glided in and posted themselves next the palisades that sur- rounded the village. Then the hideous warwhoop was raised, and before the stupefied inhabitants could realize what it all meant, the work of destruction and butchery was under way. For two hours hell was let loose in Schenectady while Satan and his imps held high carnival. It would be useless to attempt a description of the horrors crowded into that brief space. Suffice it to say that at the end of it sixty men, women and children lay stark in death, horribly mutilated, or roasting in the flames of their former homes. Among the victims were Hendrick Meese Vrooman and his son Bartel Vrooman, the latter the first settler of Old Saratoga. Between eighty and ninety were reserved as prisoners while a few escaped in their night robes, and with bare feet, carried the dreadful tale to Albany, seventeen miles away. After refreshing themselves a little, the victors started on their retreat, the following morning. Leaving behind THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 17 the old men, the women and children, and retaining twenty-seven of the younger men and boys as prisoners, they hastened away, taking the Kayadrosseras trail toward Canada. But they were not allowed to return unmolested. They were chased to Lake Champlain and eighteen of their number killed or captured by a band of Mohawk Indians.^ Winthrop's Expedition. The fight was now on in dead earnest, for the colonists could not allow so cruel a deed to go unavenged. The authorities at Albany on the 26th of March. 1690, ordered Capt. Jacob de Warm to proceed to Crown Point with a party of twelve English and twenty Indians to watch the motions of the enemy. On the 30th, Capt. Abram Schuyler was sent to Otter Creek, Vt., which was the usual starting point for forays into Massachusetts, with nine men and a party of Indians to do like service at that point. Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, New York and Maryland resolved upon an invasion of Canada. Each agreed to furnish its quota of troops. Fitz John Win- throp of Connecticut was commissioned major-general to lead the expedition. The troops from Massachusetts and Plymouth did not materialize. Winthrop brought 135 of those promised by Connecticut, Maryland sent fifty. New York furnished 150 men besides 180 Indians. 515 men was not a very formidable array to be led by a major-general. On the 30th of July, 1690, the Yankees with the Dutch troops assembled from this colony set out from Albany and camped the first night at the Flatts, the old Schuyler homestead. August 1st they marched to the Stillwater, - Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IX, p. 466. 2 18 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA "soe named," says Winthrop, "for that the water passeth soe slowly as not to be discerned." "August 2d/' continued the journal of Winthrop, "we martched forwards and quartered this night at a place called Saratogo, about 50 English miles from Albany, where is a blockhouse and some of the Dutch soldiers."^ The site of this blockhouse is a matter of conjecture. Certainly it was on the west side of the river for the army marched on that side. It was as certainly on the south side of Fishcreek, for the first settlement was made there, and the creek would be one of its defences against the north. It probably stood on the ground afterward occupied by Forts Saratoga and Clinton. It was here that Winthrop established his depot of supplies, for on August 7th he says, "I sent 30 horse under Ensigne Thomlinson to Saratogo for more pro- vition." Thus, in this, the first of many expeditions against Canada, Saratoga (Schuylerville) looms up as an important point. "At the great carrying place [Fort Edward] we overtook the Dutch companyes carrying their canoes and provition about 12 miles [to Fort Anne] ; very bad and difficult passing. This hardship the Burghers and Dutch soldiers performed vigorously and without any repining which made me think noe thing would be difficult for them to perform." The little army got no nearer Canada than Whitehall, through lack of canoes and provision, and because of sickness among the troops. This according to Winthrop. But Capt. Johannes Schuyler of Albany, only twenty- three years old, commanding those Dutch troops that Winthrop was moved to praise so highly because of their superior efficiency, was clearly dissatisfied that the expe- dition should be abandoned without an attempt to strike a blow. And this not alone because of its depressing • Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, pp. 194, 195. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 19 effect upon the colonists, but he greatly feared the effect of failure upon the Indians who were just then wavering in their allegiance between the French who were so belligerent and the English who showed so little fight. He therefore resolved that as for his single self he would not return to Albany without an effort to bring back something to show for all the trouble. He applied to Gen. Winthrop for permission to go forward. Winthrop cheerfully granted it and commissioned him captain for the venture.* At once he called for volunteers; twenty-nine whites and 120 Indians responded. Loading their canoes with sufficient provision, they cut loose for the north. The first day out he met Capt. Sanders Glen from Schenec- tady, with his company, who had been posted in advance. Here he recruited 13 white men and 125 Indians. August 13th, they surprised La Prarie, south of Montreal, killed a number of the inhabitants, took many prisoners, did great damage to property and returned with but little loss to themselves. This was the first armed force that ever penetrated Canada from the English colonies. They reached Albany on the 31st of August, only eleven days after Winthrop and his hundreds had sheepishly crept back. This Johannes Schuyler was the grand-father of General Phillip Schuyler. Expedition of 1691. The success of Johannes Schuy- ler's raid seemed to whet the appetite of the Albany Dutchman, and also of the Indians, for more experience of like flavor. Hence on June 21, 1691, another ex- pedition started from Albany, this time led by Pieter Schuyler, brother of Johannes, the hero of the campaign of '90. They started with 120 whites, and sixty river Indians (Catskills and Schagticokes). The first night * Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, p. 196. 20 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA they camped at Stillwater. "On the 24th," says Schuy- ler's Journal, "we marched to Saraghtoga, 16 miles distant, and camped about 2 of the clock afternoone." "June 26th. We continued at Saraghtoga ; foul weather, where we were joined by 15 Mohawks com- manded by one Schayavanhoendere." These Mohawks came over by the Saratoga trail from Schenectady and were from a party of ninety-five or more, which later joined the expedition at Ticonderoga. Pieter Schuyler '' followed the tracks of his brother of the year before, fought and won two battles in one day, August 1st; killed many of the enemy, paralyzed the plans of Frontenac for that year, and returned with a goodly number of prisoners and much glory. But what was of much more consequence at the time, they had won for their fighting qualities the high esteem and firm allegiance of the Iroquois. The French account of these actions declares that Schuyler's party was practically annihilated. Schuyler reports thirty-seven of his men captured and killed, and twenty-five wounded, out of a force of 260.'"' The French admitted in their report to the home gov- ernment, that these battles were the "most obstinate ever fought in Canada," and that after the battle in the woods they could not pursue, the "men able to march being sent to the fort for assistance to carry ofif the wounded." John Nelson, an English gentleman taken prisoner by the French, arrived at Quebec about the time when the news of Schuyler's expedition was received. In his memorial to the English government on the state of the colonies, he says : "In an action performed by one Skyler ° This Peter Schuyler was the first Mayor of Albany, and gained un- bounded influence over the Indians, by whom he was called Quider, pro- nounced Keeder, which was as near as they could speak the name of Peter. " Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. Ill, pp. 781-795, 800. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 21 of Albania, whilst I arrived at Quebec in the year 1691, when he made one of the most vigorous and glorious attempts that hath been known in these parts, with great slaughter on the enemie's part, and losse on his own, in which if he had not been discovered by an accident, it is very probable he had become master of Monreall. 1 have heard the thing reported so much in his honor by the French, that had the like been done by any of theire nation, he could never missed of an acknowledgment and reward from the court, tho I do not hear of anything amongst us hath been done for him."' There is nothing in the reqords to indicate that the home government ever took any notice of these most heroic deeds performed by the Schuylers at a very criti- cal juncture in our colonial history. It is acknowledged by all who are familiar with the situation in 1690-1 that those two successes preserved the friendship of the Iro- quois, at a time when their friendship was absolutely essential to England's hold on New York, and New York was the key to the situation. Bancroft styles Pieter Schuyler "the Washington of his times." The French get even with the Mohawks. For the next year and a half the Iroquois, especially the Mohawks, so harassed the Canadian settlers that Count de Frontenac determined to exterminate them utterly. Collecting a force of 625 French and Indians he started for them in January, 1693. The party endured the usual hardships, but no cold could chill their ardor, nor blizzard beat them back, so determined were they upon ven- geance. They took the Kayadrosseras trail from Lake George, reached the Mohawk valley and took the Indians wholly by surprise. They stormed and destroyed all their towns save one, which was several miles back from ' Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, p. 209. 22 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA the river, captured over 300 prisoners, had a grand jubil- ation and started back with their booty.® But most of their prisoners escaped or were rescued before they reached Canada. Fortunately for New York, the peace of Ryswick in 1697 put an end to King William's war. In fact, the war had proved especially costly to Albany county, com- prising as it then did all the northern settlements in the colony of New York. It is interesting at this day to read the comparative census of the years 1689 and 1698. In 1689 Albany county had 2,016 white inhabitants. At the end of the war in 1698, 567 were missing. That left but 1,449 with which to begin the 18th century. The Indians lost more than half their number. In 1689 they had 2,800 warriors, in 1698 only 1,320. It was about time for all concerned to bury the hatchet. s Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IX, pp. 649-656; also Vol. IV, pp. 173, 180. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 23 CHAPTER IV First Settlement of Old Saratoga — Queen Anne's War — Nicholson's Expeditions against Canada Coincident with the time that King William's war was threatening to involve the colonies the records refer to Saratoga as a settlement already in existence. E. g. in the Journal of the Albany Convention (of Magistrates) appear the following entries : "Ye 1st day of Sept. 1689. "Harme Janse Van Bommel brings news yt our Indians have taken 5 Praying Canida Indians upon ye Lake who were bound hither to do mischeeffe, & yt sev- eral french were seen upon ye Lake. Upon which Capt. Wendel & 6 men were ordered to goe to Sarachtoga to examine sd Indians & to make enquiry of affairs there.'" A stockaded fort was then ordered to be built about the house of Bartel (Bartolomeus) Vrooman. Parties of men with Schaghticoke Indians were kept there dur- ing the autumn of 1689 to protect the settlers and patrol the country to the north. From Col. Romer's report,- in 1698, we learn that "the farms and fort built at Saratoga, in Leisler's time, have been entirely ruined by the late war, since which time they have never been thought of, and the settlers have never thought of returning thither." He suggests the building of a fort to protect possible settlers. It is probable that these first settlers had left the place for the winter of 1689-90 else they would have been discovered and the fact of their capture would have appeared in * Documentary History, N. Y., pp. 87, 8q. ^Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, p. 441. 24 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA the French report of the expedition against Schenectady in 1690. The next we hear of Saratoga as a miHtary post is in the report of the governor, Lord Cornbury, dated September 24, 1702. There among other recommenda- tions he says : "I propose there should be a stockadoed fort at Saractoga, a place six and twenty miles above the Half Moon upon Hudson's River and is the farthest settlement zve have."'^ Again in his report of June 30, 1703, he is about to set to work on the fort, for he says : "There are but few fam- ilies there yet, and these will desert their habitations if they are not protected." Meanwhile war had again broken out between France and England, known in England as the war of the Span- ish succession. In this war the French and Indians seemed to wreak their vengeance specially on the New England settlements ; for example, Deerfield, Mass., was destroyed in 1704, and Haverhill in 1708. Why New York escaped was not known to the settlers at the time, but subsequently it was learned that the Iroquois and their Roman Catholic relatives in Canada had made a treaty not to molest each other's domain in that war. One Congreve reported, in 1704, that most of the forts on the northern frontier v/ere out of order, among which was the fort of 1689 at old Saratoga.* The many outrages from Canada, at last impelled the colonists of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey to unite for an invasion of Canada. A fleet was to attack Quebec while a formidable army of 1,500 was to reduce Montreal. This force assembled at Al- bany and got under way the fore part of June, 1709. The main body had been preceded by a force of 300 " Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, p. 969. ■•Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. IV, p. 1128. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 25 Dutchmen from Albany and vicinity under Col. Peter Schuyler. First this pioneer force built a stockade fort at Stillwater, which Schuyler called Fort Ingoldsby, after the governor; then they moved up to Saratoga and built a similar fort on the east side of the river, evidently to guard the ford which crossed just below the island over which the bridge and highway to Greenwich now pass. The next was built at the Great Carrying place (Fort Edward), which he named Fort Nicholson, and the next at the forks of Wood creek, which he called at first Queens' Fort, but later Fort Anne in honor of the reign- ing English sovereign. Moreover Colonel Schuyler and his pioneers built the first military road in this country of which we have record. This road began here at Old Saratoga, at the ford no doubt, on the east side of the river and ran up that side of the stream to Fort Edward, thence to Wood creek. It had to be cut most of the way through the primeval forest. The road to Fort Edward has no doubt been practically the same ever since. This army was under the command of General Francis Nicholson, who, Governor Hunter declared, had never seen an army in the open field." This was the first time the red-coated British regular appeared on the scene and trod this old war-worn trail which was so soon to become familiar tramping-ground to him. Gen. Nicholson marched bravely up, garrisoned the several forts which had been built for him and then, like Micawber, sat down at Fort Anne and waited for some- thing to turn up. The first thing that turned up was a malignant disease in his camp by which he lost more men than if he had hastened forward and fought a disastrous battle with the French. The next thing that did not ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. V, p. 451. 26 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA turn up was the British fleet, which had been promised to co-operate with him on the St. Lawrence. In the midst of such calamities what was there left for brave men like him and his army to do but to turn their backs upon Canada and march down the hill again to Albany? Which thing they did. In 1711 another campaign was organized for the con- quest of Canada. The plan was a duplicate of the pre- vious one, with this difference that the force which marched up through Old Saratoga was about twice as formidable, numbering nearly 3,000 regulars, colonists and Indians. This time they selected the Lake George route instead of the one through Fort Anne and White- hall, evidently because it was the healthier. This was wise, but the redoubtable Gen. Nicholson had no sooner reached Lake George than he heard that the fleet on which he depended for support had been scattered by the winds and wrecked. At once he threw up his hands in despair, burned forts Anne and Nicholson and marched back ingloriously. Thus the third attempt at conquering Canada failed, mainly through the inefficiency of its leaders. Had either John, or Peter Schuyler been at the head of the expedition we feel sure that that army would have been heard from in Canada, but no New York Dutchman could hope for any worthy recognition from either Old or New England. The fort at Saratoga was thus left the uttermost military post of the colony facing the ever frowning north. The treaty of Utrecht between France and England put the finale on Queen Anne's war. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 27 CHAPTER V King George's War— The Building of the Forts In all the early histories of New York much is made of the sack and massacre of Schenectady in 1690, and that of Cherry valley in 1778, while little or nothing is said of the equally tragic fate of Old Saratoga in 1745. One is led to wonder why that event should have received from the historians such scant courtesy. The only reasons for it that suggest themselves to the writer are first : That most of the people who made up the vil- lage at that time were doubtless illiterate. None of the survivors nor any of their friends was possessed of sufficient literary ability, or interest in the event to write up a worthy account of the fate of this frontier village. Apparently the only one present who could have done it, died bravely fighting for his honor and his home, and "dead men tell no tales." That was Capt. Philip Schuyler, uncle of the general. A second reason which suggests itself is the existence of fiercest political dissension between the people and their governors, which largely absorbed the thought and time of the thinkers. About the only detailed accounts that we possess of the massacre are found in the reports given by the French of their exploit. In order to a better appreciation of that event it will be well to glance at such fragments of history as have been preserved relating to the planting and growth of the settlement at Old Saratoga. As we have seen, the first settlers were obliged tc abandon the place at the time of King William's war in 1689-'97. Just when the settlers ventured back the 28 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA record saith not, but there were a few families here in 1703 as we have already learned. During the long peace which followed Queen Anne's war the little settlement at Saratoga developed gradu- ally under the fostering care of the enterprising Schuy- lers. The settlers by no means confined themselves to the west side of the river, but cleared for themselves many a broad acre of those rich bottom lands on the east side. There too, substantial homes were reared, and no doubt one of the houses on that side was built in blockhouse style for their common defence, and called The Fort. Where it was located we know not. The French and the English of those days were very anxious to extend the sphere of their influence in the great American wilderness, just as they now are doing in Asia and Africa. The French looked with covetous eyes upon the colony of New York especially, for they had already discovered that whoever held New York could have it all. Hence we are not surprised at seeing them attempt to move their frontiers as far south as the elastic treaty of Utrecht and the patience of the English would permit. In 1731 they determined to appro- priate that natural stronghold, Crown Point, to them- selves.^ Brooking no delay, they began to fortify it, first by a stockade, then soon by a substantial stone work which they called Fort St. Frederic. Quite a town grew up around it numbering 1,500, it is said. This was a menace to both the New York and New England colonists, who viewed the movement with deepest apprehension and chagrin. The ease with which France could now invade New York from Canada retarded the settlement of those fertile regions to the north of Albany. After this no one who could appreciate the situation would deliberately put himself under the ' Documents relating to Colonial Hist of N. Y. Vol. VIII, p. 345. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 29 shadow of such a threat. As a counter move they should have fortified Ticonderoga, but political strife and jealousies between the several governors and their legis- latures seemed to paralyze every effort looking toward the public safety and welfare. The building of this fort together with the constant efforts to win over the Six Nations and steal away the fur trade greatly exasperated the colonists. And when- ever the relations between France and England became especially strained the New Yorkers would think about their defenses toward the north. One of those crises occurred in 1721, when the author- ities decided to delay no longer in building a fort at Sara- toga for the defense of the northern frontier. This was erected in the months of September and October of that year under the superintendency of Philip Livingston. The bill of items presented by Livingston for the build- ing of this fort, with many receipts from the workmen, are still preserved in the archives at Albany. The docu- ment is a fine specimen of penmanship. The bill as ren- dered amounted to 153£ lis. 4d. Johannes Schuyler, proprietor of the first sawmills erected here, furnished much of the material for the above mentioned fort.- Capuin William Helling ^ was the first commandant of thic; fort ; whether he had any successors does not appear. Another crisis occurred in 1739. As a result of this one, Lieut. -Governor Clarke reporting to the Lords of Trade in London, says that he had persuaded the Assem- bly to make provisions for building several forts, among the rest, one at "Sarachtoga ;" but as no appropriation for this fort appears in the Act to which the governor refers we are left in the dark as to when it was begun - X. Y. Colonial MSS. Vol. LXIV, pp. 39, 40. =< Ibid., p. 45. 30 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA or finished ; but subsequent events make it evident that the fort was really built at that time. For example, Governor Clinton, reporting to the Lords of Trade June 5, 1744, says, he is about to send "a party of troops to the fort at Saratoga for the defense of that place." ** A few- years later we see the Assembly squaring its accounts with a large number of individuals for work done in 1745 in rebuilding this fort.^ Since the old records say that the effective life of those wooden forts was only five to seven years, this "rebuilding" would indicate that there was a fort built here at least as early as 1739. The fort as rebuilt in the winter and spring of 1745 was square with a blockhouse on each corner.® The long peace of thirty-one years was broken in 1744 by France declaring war against England. In fact pretty much all Europe was involved in that war. It started with a quarrel between rival claimants to the Austrian throne. The chief competitors for the prize were the noted Maria Theresa, daughter of the late Emperor Charles VI., and Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria. England sided with Maria Theresa while France took the part of Charles. It was called in Europe the War of the Austrian Succession, but it is usually set down by Ameri- cans as King George's war. The representatives of the two belligerent nations on this continent cared precious little about who should sit on the Austrian throne, but they did care very much about who should hold the sceptre over the imperial domain of this continent, and for this they were ready to fight. * Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI, p. 255. ' Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI, p. 648. 'A block house was built of heavy logs, with the second story projecting over the first about two feet, and pierced for small arms and, some times, cannon. In a fort these block houses were connected by palisades of logs set in the ground and extending from 10 to 12 feet above ground. A gal- lery was built inside the palisades and high enough from the ground to enable a sentinel to walk about and look over. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 31 In this war the English struck the first blow. Early in 1745 an expedition was organized against Louisburg, a stronghold of the French on Cape Breton island. The French had spent fully $5,000,000 and thirty years of labor on the fortifications there, and it was called by them the Gibrahar of America. Each of the New England colonies furnished its quota of troops, while New York appropriated 5,000£ in aid of the expedition. The cam- paign was entirely successful; Louisburg fell and great was the rejoicing in both Old and New England. New England troops did about all the fighting, but the Old England officers and troops got most of the rewards. The French forces at that time in Canada were not very numerous, but with what they had they must avenge such a disaster as best they could. Where should they strike? Why, of course, where they could do the most harm with the forces they had, and that "where" lay through the open gateway of the Champlain and Hudson valleys. 32 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER VI Destruction of Saratoga The governor of Canada planned an expedition in the fall of that same year, 1745, with the design of striking the New England settlements along the Connecticut river. The forces were put under the control of M. Marin. It consisted of 280 French and 229 Indians, in all 509. The chaplain was the Abbe Francois Picquet, who after- ward became famous as the founder of the Mission La Presentation at Ogdensburg, N. Y. They started from Montreal the 4th of November and arrived at Fort St. Frederick (Crown Point) the 13th. In the council convened at Fort St. Frederick the Indians held, that it was too late in the season to go over the mountains into the Connecticut valley. Then, the Abbe Picquet, displaying a map of the Hudson, pointed out Saratoga among other places as worthy of capture. The map showed thirty-one houses and two forts, (one on each side of the river no doubt). After much ex- postulation and argument M. Marin concluded to yield to the wishes of the Indians, and so the doom of fair Sara- toga was sealed. Embarking again they paddled south for a distance, then left their canoes and took up their march along the north shore of South Bay, thence over the Fort Anne Mountains heading for Fort Edward. They lost their way, however, and spent several days wandering about before they got out of the woods. At last on the morn- ing of the 27th of November they struck the Hudson near the house of John H. Lydius, a bold trader who had dared to establish himself so far away from his white THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 35 neighbors. His was a large house built on the site of old Fort Nicholson, (Fort Edward). Here they captured a boy and hired man, Lydius and his family having retired to Albany for the winter. In a house near by, the Indians found three men ; all these together with two Schaghticoke Indians, captured the day before, they placed in the Lydius house under a guard of twenty men. Then the men, having received absolution from the priest, who remained behind, hastened on, taking the old military road built by Peter Schuyler in 1709. !Marin went ahead down the river with a few men in canoes to find a suitable fording place. On the way, the Indians captured six or seven men in a house near the road. They were sent to keep company with the other captives at Lydius'. About four and a half miles from Saratoga, the army met a man and his wife returning from Schuy- ler's Mills with some bags of flour. After some parley the man and woman were given to Atagaronche, a chief, while the French appropriated the flour and horses. As the woman started for Lydius' she said, in hopes of frightening them ofif: "You are going to Saratoga, but you will find 200 men in the fort waiting to give you a warm reception." This did not disturb them, for the two Schaghticokes, above mentioned, had told them that the fort was empty. The place selected for a crossing was evidently a little below the State dam, at Northumberland, for it was south of Fort Miller where the man and woman were captured, and in describing the crossing the journal of the expedition says : "Happily we found ourselves near an island and a waterfall, whose sound mingled with the noise we made in crossing the river." The island men- tioned is doubtless the one just below the railroad bridge at Thompson's Mills. It was about midnight before they got across. Then 34 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA says the journal: "The night was very cold, and had it not been for a little lire, which the bed of a creek shel- tered by two hillocks enabled us to make, some would have run the risk of freezing their feet, as we all had wet feet." The "creek" mentioned is evidently the little stream that crosses the highway perhaps twenty rods south of the residence of Mr. E. W. Towne, and about five rods south of a road which turns up the hill to the west. The "hillocks" are either the steep banks of the creek, or the steep wooded hill back of Mr. Towne's, and the bare hill back of Mr. D. A. BuUard's farm buildings. The first theory is doubtless preferable. While the main body was thus trying to thaw itself out and make itself comfortable, M. Beauvais was sent forward with a scout to make a reconnaissance of the doomed hamlet. A generation had passed since this ancient war-path had been pressed by hostile feet. Most of the inhabi- tants of the sleeping village knew not what war and pillage meant except from hearsay. One need not stretch his imagination to form a pretty correct picture of Old Saratoga as it looked on the 27th of November, 1745, Here were at least thirty dwellings with their usual outbuildings, barns, granaries, pens, etc. ; four mills, a blacksmith shop, perhaps a store of general merchandise, and the frowning fort, made up the material portion of this primitive hamlet. These buildings were all strung like beads on a single narrow, lane-like road running north and south for perhaps a half mile above and one mile below Fishcreek. There was no bridge across the creek at that time. It was forded a few rods above the present canal aqueduct. The only brick house in the place was owned and occupied by Philip Schuyler, uncle of Gen. Philip Schuyler; this was located twenty rods directly east of the present mansion. This house was de- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 35 signed for defense, being pierced above and below for small arms. The original road ran east of that house. The fort stood a half mile below the creek on the flats. Most of the houses were about and below the fort. The fort, though much had been done on it, was still in bad repair, so much so that the troops claimed that they could not stay there with comfort or safety. Instead of there being 200 in the garrison, as the woman told the Frenchmen, there had been only ten privates stationed there in charge of one Sergeant Convers, who in turn had gone over to Schenectady, leaving a corporal in command. Governor Clinton had left it optional with the Lieutenant of the company whether the men should remain or withdraw. Their stay was to depend on the treatment they should receive at the hands of the Indian Commissioners, who seemed to be the source of supplies and repairs. The little garrison withdrew only a short time before the attack, and reported at Albany. It is a wonder that the settlers did not follow them, as they must have known that they were liable to an attack at any time from the north. But thirty years of peace seem to have lulled their fears to sleep. The settlement had evidently enjoyed a prosperous season. The barns, the granaries, and the cellars were full to repletion ; many goodly stacks of hay and grain nestled close to the buildings. Herds of sleek cattle and plump sheep lay in their comfortable stalls ; great piles of lumber were awaiting shipment to the markets below, and the mills were grinding and sawing night and day, seemingly rushed with orders. " The evening meal had been eaten; the mother had sung her lullaby over the cradle ; the fires were all ' raked up ' on the hearthstone, and all had gone to rest," save a few men at the sawmill. " Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," is an oracle that was 36 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA tragically, yes luridly, illustrated in the fate of Saratoga on the morning of November 28, 1745. For, owing to the wariness of the invaders its people had not received the least intimation that that morning should not be just as peaceful as any that preceded it. On the return of M. Beauvais from below with his re- port, Marin gave orders for the advance and attack. From this point let the journal of the French adjutant be our guide. ^ " The Nipissing and Abenakis followed the eastern shore of the river under the lead of Messrs. de Courte- manche and Niverville with a few French volunteers." to look after the settlement on that side. " November 28. On the return of Beauvais Ave began to move quietly, and in good order with all the officers at their posts. We marched through the woods about a league along a very good road and then came to the houses. When we reached the first one M. Alarin or- dered me to detail four Frenchmen and ten Indians to go and surround it, but did not permit them to attack it until daybreak, which was the time when we were all to make the attack together. We had not gone more than an eighth of a league when they fired a gun and uttered their death yells, rushing to the assault. The Abenakis, [on the east side], who until then had awaited the signal, took upon themselves to make the attack, and from that time it was not possible to exercise any control. However, we went on to the edge of the wood in good order. M. de Beauvais having told M. Marin that we were discovered, he directed us to follow him. We passed a very rapid river [Fish creek! , for which we were not prepared, and came to a sawmill, which ' This journal was found in the archives at Quebec after its capture by Wolfe in 1759. It was placed in the hands of Col. Philip Schuyler, as the Mie most interested. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 37 two men (a negro and a Dutchman), were running, and in which there was a large fire. M. de St. Ours and M. Marin's son were disputing the possession of the negro* with an Indian, although another Indian said that it was Marin who had captured him. His father, with whom I was, told him this was not the time to dispute about prisoners, and that it was necessary to go on and take others. A large party attacked a blacksmith's house on this side of the river [creek], when a native unfortun- ately killed a child twelve or fourteen years old. It was doubtless the darkness of the night and the fear of the river that separated us. " Coming out of the mill we went to the house of a man named Philip Schuyler, a brave man, who would not have been seriously incommoded if he had only had a dozen men as valiant as himself. M. Beauvais, who knew and liked him, entered the house first, and, giving his name, asked him to give himself up, saying that no harm would be done him. The other replied that he was a dog, and that he would kill him. In fact, he fired his gun. Beauvais repeated the request to surrender, to which Philip replied by several shots. Finally Beauvais, being exposed to his fire, shot and killed him. We im- mediately entered and all was quickly pillaged. This house was of brick, pierced with loop-holes to the ground floor. The Indians had told us that it was a sort of guard house where there were soldiers. In fact, I found there more than twenty-five pounds of powder, but no soldiers. We made some of the servants prisoners, and it was said that some people were burned who had taken refuge in the cellar. " We burned no more houses before reaching the fort, as this was the last. We had captured everybody, and had no longer any cause to fear lest anyone should go and warn the fort of our approach. It was at quite a 38 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA considerable distance from the houses where we had been. We found no one in it. We admired its construc- tion. It was regularly built, and some thought one hun- dred men would have been able to defend it against 500. I asked M. Marin if he wished to place a detachment there ? He replied that he was going to set fire to it, and then told me I might go and do my best. This permis- sion gave several of us the pleasure of taking some pris- oners, and it did not take us long to get possession of all the houses below the fort, breaking the windows and doors in order to get at the people inside. However, everyone surrendered very peaceably. We had never counted on the facility with which all the houses were taken and the pillage accomplished. We set fire to everything good and useful ; for instance, more than 10,000 planks and joists, four fine mills, and all the barns and stables, some of which were filled with animals. The people who were in the fields were in great part killed by French and Indians. In short, according to our estima- tion, the Dutch will not repair the damage we caused short of 200 marks. The barns were full of wheat, In- dian corn and other grains. The number of prisoners amounted to 109, and about a dozen- were killed and burned in the houses. Our achievement would have been much more widely known and glorious, if all the merchants of Saratoga had not Jeft their country houses, and gone to spend the winter at Albany ; and, I may add, had we met with more resistance. " The work was complete at 8 a. m., when M. Marin issued orders for the retreat. On our return we reached Fort St. Frederic, December 3d, and Montreal, Decem- ber 7th."- Such is the French account of that deed of savagery. =^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist !of N. Y. Vol. X, p. 76; also G. W. Schuyler's Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. II. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 39 The chronicler, apparently somewhat ashamed of their work, strives to paint the barbarities of that night in as light a shade as they will bear. The number of prisoners given is no doubt correct, because he was in a position to know, but the number mentioned as butchered is pal- pably incorrect. The savages, greatly exasperated over the recent execution of seven of their braves by the English, would not be content with ten or a dozen scalps. Nor could any individual in that party possibly know how many perished. It was night and they were concerned only to do their work of destruction as quickly as possible and retire. Governor Clinton gives the num- ber killed as thirty. This is doubtless much nearer the truth. Only one family escaped by flight.^ Thus what we saw to be a busy, thriving hamlet on the 27th of November was a scene of blackened ruins and an utter solitude on the 28th. The prisoners, men, women and children, many of them half clothed and barefooted, were collected, bound together and headed toward the frowning north, doomed to a fate which, to many of them, was worse by far than death. Some died in prisons. A few were ransomed from the Indians and returned, but most of them never saw the old home-land again. A thrill of horror ran through the colonies as the news of this catastrophe spread. A storm of indignation broke over the heads of the governor, the Assembly, and on everyone who could, in any way, be held responsible for the defenseless condition of this frontier post. Captain John Rutherford, who commanded the com- pany from which the men were detailed to garrison the fort, demanded a court of inquiry, which was granted. The men swore that the fort was neither habitable nor ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI, p. 288; Vol. X, P- 39- 40 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA defensible ; that there was no well for water, nor oven for baking bread. Lieutenant Blood testified that Gov- ernor Clinton had given him orders to withdraw unless the Indian Commissioners should repair and equip it as they had promised. They failed to do so, and therefore he had withdrawn the men as per orders. There is little doubt but that the men exaggerated the facts considerably, as they probably found it dull busi- ness doing garrison duty at such an out-of-the-way place, and naturally wanted to get away, and keep away. That the fort was untenable is disproved by the testi- timony of the Frenchmen above quoted. They thought it to be admirably built, and that 100 men could hold it against 500. The only English account of the massacre at Saratoga which has been preserved, aside from Governor CHn- ton's brief report to the Lords of Trade appears in a letter to Sir William Johnson. It is dated Albany, Nov. 28, 1745. Sr. I have received your favor of the 23d instant &c. The bearer hereof In obedience to your Request therein shall herein give you as brief and true account of that unfortunate Affair which happened on the 17th* [O. S.] Instant at Saraghtogue — as I am Every Other Night & day on the watch, and my houses full of people soe That I cannot be at Large herein — Viz : at Break of Day or one hour or two before Day a Number of 400 french & 200 Indians appeared and did Besett all the houses there, Burnt and Destroyed all that came Before them. Left only one Sawmill standing which stood a little out * The English :at this time used the old ,style of reckoning, which was eleven days behind that of the French, who used the new style. The Eng- lish dated the massacre of Saratoga, November 17th; the French November -Sth. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 41 their way it seems ; took along with them such Booty as they thought fit & kilt and took Captives 100 or 101 persons, Black and white. I guess the Black most all prisoners, and the number of them exceeds the number of the white. The unfortunate Capt. Philip Schuyler was kilt in this Barbarous action, they say certain true; hoped He may Rather Be prisoner, the Latter is not Believed. ° Sr, Your friend ; well wisher & Very Humble Servant ROBT. SANDERS. The Assembly severely blamed the governor for with- drawing the garrison. Instead of doing that, he should have reinforced the post with some of the many idle troops camped below Albany, where they were of no use to anybody. Once at the fort they could have repaired it speedily, dug a well, and built an oven as a matter of agreeable employment and exercise. The truth is that the Governor and the Assembly were both to blame ; for each was more anxious to spite the other than to care for the public interests. The secret of this animosity was that Clinton, like his predecessors, was an absolutist, very jealous of the King's, and especially his own, prerogatives. On the other hand the Assembly, as representing the people, who were largely Dutch trained to republicanism before they emigrated, was equally jealous of its rights and liberties, and would neither be cajoled nor bullied into giving up a single privilege it had gained, but constantly pressed for more. The struggle for liberty and independence and the drill for self-government in these colonies began long years before the Revolutionary war. The Dutch of = Johnson MSS. Vol. XXIII. p. i8. 42 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA New York and the Pilgrims of New England had tasted the sweets of civil and religious liberty, and self-govern- ment in Holland, before they came here, and they were not disposed to yield them up at the beck and call of despotic governors who did not believe that colonial sub- jects had any rights which they were bound to respect. SOME EXPERIENCES OF THE SARATOGIANS IN CAPTIVITY Up to the time of the publication of the first edition of this work we had been unable to find the names of the residents of the original Saratoga ; none of those who were among the victims of the massacre, or the names of any who had been carried captive to Canada. The only name recorded by M. Marin, who led the attack, was that of Philip Schuyler who perished in his house as already recorded. Since then we have discovered several Journals that were kept by certain New England men who were com- panions in distress, at Quebec, of a number of the Sara- toga captives. Among these were Nehemiah How whose Journal is published in Drake's Indian Captivities, Nor- ton's Redeemed Captive, and Capt. Wm. Pote's Journal. Wm. Pote was a sea captain. From these Journals we have gleaned the following facts : Nehemiah How says a Dutchman captured at Saratoga told him that 50 whites and 60 negroes were taken during that raid. This quite agrees with M. Marin's report of 109 taken. Only 25 of the prisoners reached Quebec, and they were sent there in instalments from Dec. 11th, 1745 to Feb. 22, 1746. The rest were distributed among the Indians. Only two entire families seem to have been taken to Quebec. These were Jacob Quackenbush and wife and three children, Isaac, Rachel and Martha. Gratus Van- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 43 der Vericke, (Vander Werken, a name still common in this region) his father and mother aged respectively 75 and 72. They had been compelled to walk most of the way to the places of their captivity. The father had already been a prisoner at Quebec in Queen Anne's war. These old people were also the parents of Mrs. Quacken- bush. Besides there were Lawrence Platter, a German, Andrew Hanes, (probably Hans) a Dutchman, and James Price, a lad. There is also mentioned a nameless woman whom Capt. Pote says " had her husband killed when taken & had 6 Children in ye hands of ye Savages. She expects to stay here till a peace by Reason of the fact her children Cannot be Exchanged. She lives with a Gentleman in town In a Genteel hansom manner & I believe will content her self to Live hear all ye days of her Hfe." During the late fall of 1746 a fever, contagious and deadly in its nature, broke out in the prison, and this together with very unsanitary conditions resulted in a great mortality. On Nov. 18th 1746 Andrew Hans died, Dec. 1st, following, Gratus Vander Vericke died, ae 30. Dec. 7th Martha Quackenbush died, ae 12. On the 26th of April 1747 both Jacob Quackenbush and his son Isaac died. Mrs. Quackenbush was also seized with the disease but recovered. Capt. Pote says one rough box was used for carrying out all the dead. What they did with them he never learned but the same box was quickly returned for a fresh corpse. James Price, released from prison, went to live with a Roman Catholic priest named Father Tonnancourt. At some point on the way north from Saratoga Rachel Quackenbush was separated from her parents and com- pelled to go and live with the Indians. Their village was on the south side of the St. Lawrence. One night the following summer she secured a canoe and paddled 44 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA across the river to Three Rivers. From thence she stealthily worked her way toward Quebec assisted by some kindly disposed French people. There she was received into the family of a well-to-do gentlemen where she was kindly treated. After a time she was taken to the prison to see her mother. The mother of course was overjoyed to see her long lost daughter, for Rachel was now all that was left her. But who can measure the anguish of that mother's heart when she found that Rachel would have nothing to do with her, but had de- cided to remain with her newly found friends. Nor would the gentleman with whom she was staying accept the terms offered by sympathetic friends for her ran- som. The explanation for this unnatural conduct as given in the journal is that she had abjured the Protest- ant faith and accepted Catholicism. But here is another possible explanation which offers itself : Perhaps that mother had not been, in the days gone by, as wise and kind in the treatment of her daughter as she should have been. Rachel was said to be 16 by one journalist, and 18 by another. Another fact connected with this captivity, and learned from Drake's Indian Wars, p. 87, is that the owners of the negro slaves offered to redeem them from their Indian captors, but the negroes utterly refused to go back preferring the larger liberty allowed by their new masters to the exacting drudgery enforced by their old white owners. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 45 CHAPTER VII Fort Clixton — Its Site — Its Fate Immediately after the destruction of Saratoga Colonel Schuyler (cousin of the general) suggested to the gov- ernor that the fort be rebuilt. The governor and council took the matter under advisement at once. As a result, Clinton ordered it to be rebuilt immediately, trusting that the Assembly would furnish the means with alacrity.^ The Assembly appropriated to this purpose 150£ ($750) on the 24th of December, 1745 ; a sum wholly inadequate, as this sixth fort in the series was to be considerably larger than the one destroyed. The work was started, and much of that winter was apparently spent in the work of reconstruction. In March it was ready for occupancy and was named Fort Clinton after the gov- ernor, but great difficulty was found in getting the militia up to garrison it. A garrison was evidently secured however, at an early date; for the Provincial Council received a letter from the commandant of that fort, Jacob Ten Eycke, dated May 10th, 1746, in which he says: "The garrison is uneasy and desires to be relieved, and the enemy is con- stantly passing and repassing in great companies, and there are scarce men enough here to hold the fort."^ William Smith, in his history of New York, says, 30 men made up the garrison here in May, 1746. A party of Indians hovering about Saratoga in July, of that year, reported to the French that there were 300 at the fort. Still another party reported to the French that no person went outside the fort except in parties of 1 Minutes of Council in MSS. Vol. XXI, p. 66. -Council Minutes, Vol. 21, p. 93. 46 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA thirty. This was about August first of that year, 1746.^ Early in September a band of fourteen Abenaki In- dians, headed by Sieur de Montigny, who had been de- tached by M. Rigaud, after his attack on Fort Massa- chusetts,* came over this way to keep an eye on Sara- toga, and learn more about the rumored English expedi- tion against Crown Point. One day they caught a party of twenty soldiers outside the fort, escorting a wagon loaded with clay for making a chimney. They fell upon them, took four prisoners, killed and scalped four ; the rest, some of whom were badly wounded, threw them- selves precipitately into the fort. About October 23 a scouting party of thirty-three In- dians and four Frenchmen, under M. Repentigny, hover- ing about the road somewhere between Saratoga and Waterford, heard a great noise through the woods toward the river. The Indian chief skulked down to the road to see what was up and discovered a great train of wagons escorted by several hundred troops bound for Fort Clinton. There were a few carriages in the caval- cade occupied by finely-dressed officers. The enemy stationed themselves near the road in a thicket and waited their chance. Seeing a couple of carts somewhat separated from the rest they pounced upon the drivers, killed both of them, scalped one, and scattered in the woods before any one could come to the rescue. ^ This was no doubt the New York militia, under the command of Captain Henry Livingston, who was com- mandant of the fort from November, 1746, till March, 1747. The wagons were loaded with ammunition and camp belongings, provisions, etc. ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. X, p. 59. * Fort Massachusetts was located at Williamstown, Mass. Its site is marked by a liberty pole and can be seen from the train a little way east of the B. & M. Station. ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. X, p. 75. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 47 In December, '46, a French and Indian scouting party observed the fort [no doubt from the top of some trees on the high ground toward Victory] , and reported that it was twice as large as the old one ; that the English had a large storehouse erected near the fort, and that the gar- rison numbered perhaps 300.*^ Early in April, '47, Lieutenant Herbin at the head of a party of thirty French and Indians struck a blow near Saratoga. They fell upon a detachment of twenty-five on their Avay to Albany, killed six of them, captured four, and the remaining fifteen threw away their muskets and took to flight. These prisoners reported some interest- ing facts concerning Fort Clinton, viz : That there were twelve cannon at the fort, six eighteen-pounders and six eight-pounders ; that 100 bateaux had been built for the proposed expedition against Crown Point; that a great sickness had prevailed that winter at Albany and was still raging there and at Saratoga, where a great many of the soldiers had died.'' A letter was found in the pocket of the commanding officer, who was killed, written by Commandant Livingston. This letter declares that " all the soldiers are ill ; the garrison is in a miserable condition ; no more than a hundred men are fit for duty ; and we are in want of every succor, and then adds : " Were we killed in this expedition against Canada it would have been an honor to us ; that the fort is in the worst condition imaginable, and I pity the men who are to succeed us." It was in the mind of Gov. Clinton to erect a strong fortified camp of stone at Fort Edward capable of hous- ing a garrison of 500. But the provincial Assembly, Clinton afterward concurring, thought it wiser to use ' Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. X, pp. 93, 96. 'Ibid. p. 89. 48 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA the money for erecting a chain of block houses from the frontier of Mass. to Saratoga, thence to the westward. In a message to the Assembly dated April 4th 1747 Clinton says among other things : " The Forces did March for the Carrying Place [Ft. Edward] but by the unexpected Interruption in the Provisions for the Men, who were to cover the Works while they were erecting, and to defend the place after it was erected, this work (though in my opinion) was absolutely necessary, was laid aside, and the officers who had the Command, were by. the Cold Weather, which came on, forced to take up with the old Fort at Saratoga, only enlarging it and mak- ing new Defenses to it. Then too, by all the Information which I had of that Place, it is the most disadvantage- ously situated that anything of the kind could be, as it cannot serve for any of the Purposes, which I had in view by the fortified Camp at the Carrying Place, and is so overlooked by Hills and covered with Woods, that the skulking Parties of the Enemy can discover every motion in the Fort by the lowness of its situation and the watery swamps around it. It has always been unhealth- ful and has brought on a continued sickness in every Garrison that has been placed in it." The Assembly in its reply says that the expense con- nected with a fort at the Great Carrying place, as of the other expenses of the war, were to be met by the several Colonies and not by New York alone, which was unable to bear, unassisted, a burden in which all were equally interested. And about the Fort at Saratoga they say : "As to the Fort at Saratoga we can say little about it, the placing of it being within the Governor's province at the time it was first built, and was afterwards rebuilt by your Excellencie's Directions." According to their state- ments much or most of the money raised for the public good and defense had somehow disappeared with little THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 49 or nothing to show for it.^ That is a specimen of what we in this year of grace call " grafting." Clinton's response to the long and unanswerable reply of the Assembly was its forced adjournment till June. He would also tell the King all about their naughty be- havior. Verily, when two mother hens spend their time fight- ing each other (as did Gov. CHnton ^ and the Assembly) the chickens are pretty sure to suffer. Capt. Livingston was succeeded by Colonel Peter Schuyler who came up from New Jersey with his Regi- ment. But apparently Capt. Livingston did not at once withdraw, for with a part of his men, he stayed till in April. On March 9th 1747 Col. Schuyler reported 386 men present & fit for duty, & 75 deserters. Early in the spring of 1747, the enemy again appeared at Saratoga ready for the season's campaign. For the records say that on April 7th, as Captain Trent with Lieut. Proctor's party went out of the fort and started north along the river, passing the ruins of Capt. Philip Schuyler's house, intending to cross Fish creek, they were ambushed by 60 French and Indians who killed 8 men and wounded several others. Trent and Proctor rallied their men and bravely fought the enemy for .an hour. Captain Livingston on learning the nature of the contest dispatched Capt. Bradt with a company who suc- ceeded in crossing to the north side of the creek. The enemy thus threatened in their rear hastily withdrew leaving behind considerable plunder and one wounded Frenchman. ^*^ * Journal of the Gen'l Assembly of New York, pp. 146 and 152. ' This Gov. Clinton was the father of Sir Henry Clinton who succeeded Gen. Howe at New York in the Revolution, and a kinsman of George CHn- ton, first Governor of New York State. '° Drake's French and Indian Wars, p. 142. 4 '50 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Chew's Exploit. In the early part of June 1747 Sir Wm. Johnson (then Col.) was advised that the French, with their Indian allies were again showing themselves in the vicinity of Fort Clinton. On the 16th of the same month he was also informed by a war party of Schoharies, just returned from an un- successful foray, of the approach on Lake Champlain of a fleet of 300 canoes and admonished to be on his guard against surprise. A runner was at once dispatched to Fort Clinton with this intelligence. Immediately Capt. Chew was ordered forth with a detachment of a hundred men to patrol the country between that post and the head of Lake Champlain. Falling in with the enemy, or quite probably being ambushed, 15 of his men were killed and 47 more, including himself, were captured. It appears that La Corne St. Luc was the leader of this advanced party of French and Indians. He on meeting with and being attacked by Chew at once fell back on the larger force which succeeded in entrapping the eager but un- suspecting English. ^^ La Corne St. Luc's Expedition Against Fort Clinton, 1747. Immediately after this encounter with Capt. Chew the French and Indians returned to Fort St. Frederick to repair damages and replenish their stores. Capt. Chew with his fellow prisoners were at once sent to Quebec. The energetic leader, St. Luc, pining for a speedy repetition of similar exploits prevailed upon M. Regaud de Vaudreuil, Commandant at Fort St. Frederick, to de- tach 20 Frenchmen and 200 Indians of the various tribes, and place them under his command, then he would make an immediate and resolute attempt at the reductipn of Fort Clinton. The journal of that expedition is worth the reading, so we give it here : ^' Stone's Life of Johnson. Vol. I, p. 279. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 51 " June 23d. Started from Fort St. Frederic at mid- night for Sarastau to endeavor to find an opportunity to strike some good blow on the EngHsh or Dutch garrison at Fort KHncton, as they called it. " 26th. Left his canoes and slept near the river of Orange [Hudson], which he crossed, the first in a little pirogue. Had five canoes made of elm bark. Left Messrs. de Carqueville and St. Ours to cross their men. All were over at two o'clock in the afternoon. " 28th. At early dawn the Abenakis told him he was exposing his men very much, and they wished to form an ambuscade on a little island in front of the fort, in order to try and break somebody's head. He told them they ■ must go to the fort. " He sent Sieur de Carqueville with seven Indians of the Saut and Xepissings, to see what was going on at the fort. They reported that some forty or fifty English were fishing in a little river [the Fish creek], which falls into that of Orange, on this side of the fort. He sent Sieur de Carqueville, a Nepissing, and an Abenaki to ex- amine where the fort could be approached. ' M. de St. Luc said he should give his gun, a double-barreled one, to the first who would take a prisoner, and told them that after the first volley they should charge axe in hand. He said the same thing to the French. Sieur de Carqueville arrived, and said the English had retired into the fort. I sent M. de St. Ours to see where the river [Fishcreek] could be crossed, and to watch the movements of the fort. He returned to say that he had found a good place ; that several Englishmen were out walking. They crossed the river [creek] and spent the remainder of the day watch- ing the eneni}-. " 29. They all crossed half a league above [Victory Mills], though the Abenakis were opposed to it. Waited all day to see if any person would come out. Sent 52 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA twenty men on the road to Orange [Albany], who re- turned under the supposition that they were discovered, passing near the fort. Made a feint to induce them to come out. He demanded of the chiefs six of their swift- est and bravest men ; commanded them to He in ambush, on the banks of the river, within eight paces of the fort at daybreak, to fire on those who should come out of the fort, and to try and take a scalp, and if the fort returned their fire to pretend to be wounded and exhibit some dif- ficulty in getting off so as to induce the enemy to leave the fort. Those in ambush neither saw any person nor heard any noise ; they came to say they thought they were discovered. The chiefs assembled around the officers and said that they must retreat; that they were surrounded' by 400 men who had just come out of the fort. These gentlemen told them that it was not the custom of the French to retire without fighting, when so near the enemy and that they were able to defend themselves against this number of men, should they be so bold as to come and attack them. They sent out the six scouts to lie in ambush at their appointed place, and to pass the night on their arms. He commanded the French and Indians to discharge their pieces in case a large number of people came out and to let them return the fire, and then to rush on them axe in hand, which was done. " 30th. Those who lay in ambush fired on two Eng- lishmen who came out of the fort at the break of day on the 30th, and who came towards them. The fort made a movement to come against our scouts who withdrew. About a hundred and twenty men came out in order of battle, headed by two Lieutenants and four or five other officers. They made towards our people, in order to get nearer to them by making a wheel. They halted at the spot where our scouts had abandoned one of their mus- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 53' kets and a tomahawk. [Another account says they were lured some distance from the fort.] De St. Luc arose and discharged his piece, crying to all his men to fire ; some did so, and the enemy fired back, and the fort let fly some grape, which spread consternation among the In- dians and Canadians, as it was followed by two other dis- charges of cannon ball. Our men then rushed on them, axe in hand, and routed the enemy, who they pursued within thirty toises [about 200 feet] of the fort, fighting [Another account says St. Luc surrounded them]^' Some threw themselves into the river and were killed by blows of the hatchet, and by gunshots. Forty prisoners were taken and twenty-eight scalps. The number of those drowned could not be ascertained. One lieutenant, who commanded, with four or five other officers, were killed and one lieutenant was taken prisoner. Only one Iroquois of the Saut was killed, he was attacked by three Englishmen; five were slightly wounded. " The attack being finished, Sieur de St. Luc collected the arms and withdrew his men. He remained with three Frenchmen and as many Indians, watching the enemy's movements. About 150 men, as well as they could judge, came out of the fort, without daring to advance. Of the 120 or 130 who might have been in the sortie from the fort, some twenty or twenty-five only appeared to have re-entered it." The above quotation is given at length chiefly that the interested reader might have the data from which to form his own opinion as to the location of Fort Clinton. It has been a bone of historic contention for many year.s. Some writers, taking their cue from the description given by the Swedish traveller Kalm, have placed it on a hill "Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. X, p. 112. 54 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA east of the Hudson. ^^ Others insist that it was located north of the Fishcreek on or near the site of Fort Hardy. After a careful analysis of the above journal the present writer ventures to claim that the movements of the French described, and the conditions revealed therein, warrant the assertion that Fort Clinton, like the block- house of 1689, and the two wooden forts which suc- ceeded it (of 1739 and 1745) were all of them located on the west side of the Hudson, south of Fishcreek, and near the bank of the river. A landmark or two mentioned in St. Luc's Journal, together with a statement of locality found in Marin's account of his destruction of the fort in 1745, suggested to the writer where he ought to look for the site of old Forts Saratoga and Clinton. Soon after this, in a con- versation with a citizen of Schuylerville, whose father for many years owned the river flats in that locality, that gentleman told of remains of a former occupancy, still to be seen, and of many relics found on the site in question, such as lead balls, grape shot, cannon balls, brass buttons, inkstands, etc., which, said he, led his father to believe it must have been the location of a fort or barracks. This very interesting historic spot is about half a mile below Fishcreek on the river flats. There, on personal inspection, the writer found scattered over the ground a little higher than the rest, many brick-bats and rough '^ " Saratoga has been a fort built of wood by the English to stop the attacks of Trench Indians upon the English inhabitants in these parts, and to .«:ervc as a ram;jart to Albany. It is situated on a hill on the east side of the River Hudson, and is built of thick posts, driven in the ground, close to each other, after the manner of palisades, forming a square, the length of whose sides was within the reach of a musket shot. At each corner are the houses of the officers and within the palisades are the barracks, all of timber. The English themselves set fire to it in 1747, not being able to defend themselves against the attacks of the French and their Indians." — Peter Kalm's Travels. Vol. II, p. 287. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 55 stones which had no doubt formed part of the " twenty chimneys " and fire-places in the old fort. The space over which these fragments are scattered is about 225 feet square. Loads of them have been dumped over the bank, doubtless to get rid of them. On a later visit the writer's attention was called to what appeared to be sec- tions of heavy stone walls embedded in the bank 100 feet or more below the dumping place, and which recent freshets had exposed ; for the river is rapidly cutting away the banks here. There, plainly visible, were some foundations of the old fire-places, three in a row, to- gether with a stratum of broken brick, stone and charred wood about sixteen inches below the surface. In lay- ing them the builders had dug three feet below the sur- face. Many thin brick of the old Holland pattern lay about mingled with the stone that had tumbled down. About 100 feet north of these we discovered another foundation which had been partially disclosed by an en- terprising woodchuck. We also picked up many old hand-made nails in the charred wood embedded in the steep bank. Another person found in the same place an English half -penny dated 1736. A careful reading of Kalm's account leads one to con- clude that despite the fact that the fort, seen by him, had been set on fire, much of it was yet standing, else he could not have given so detailed a description of its con- struction ; whereas, the French account declares that nothing remained of Fort Clinton but twenty chimneys. Moreover Kalm's fort was square, w^hereas. Fort Clin- ton was oblong according to French measurements. The fort described by Kalm was doubtless the one built by Philip Livingston in 1721, and kept in repair as a refuge for the people on the east side of the river. Kalm evi- dently did not inspect the west bank of the river, and hence did net see the remains of Fort Clinton. In a 56 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA speech at Albany in 1754 King Hendrick chides the Eng- lish for having burned their " forts at Saratoga," which leaves room for Kalm's fort in addition to Fort Clinton. Recall also the two forts marked on Father Picquet's map in connection with Marin's expedition against Saratoga.^* As a decisive proof that Fort Clinton was not on a hill but on low ground we would recall Gov. Clinton's criti- cism of the location of this work, quoted on a preceding page. There he finds fault with the " lowness of its situ- ation," that it is " so overlooked by hills that the skulk- ing parties of the enemy can discover every motion within the fort." He also calls attention to "the watery swamps around it, which has always made it unhealth- ful to the garrisons placed in it." Some of those " water swamps " still remain to the west and south of the site we discovered. The following letter written to Sir William Johnson the day after the attack is of so interesting a character and in certain particulars tallies so closely with the French account that we insert it : " Saratog, Saturday night, June 20th, [O. S.] July 1st. [N. S.] 1747 '' I wrote you last night which was giving you an ac- count of the unhappy ingagement we had yisterday with the French, and have thought proper to write you again this evening for the following Reasons. This morning,, " On invitation of the writer, Messrs. Samuel V/ells, William S. Ostran- der, George R. Salisbury and W. E. Bennett, prominent lawyers in Schuy- lerville, went down and looked the ground over carefully. He thereupon read to them the above journals, and his conclusions therefrom, when they agreed that the spot answers all the conditions, and the remains and relics which have been discovered here, confirm the fact that this must be the site of those two Colonial forts known as Saratoga and Fort Clinton. Forts Clinton and Hardy alone, of the eight or more that were erected here, received a name; the others, each in its time, were always spoken of as the block house, or " fort at Saratoga." THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 57 at ten of the clock, A French Indian Came running to- wards the Garrison, and made all the signs of a distressed person, fired off his Piece, laid it down, and came up to the Garrison, and Desired to be admitted; which was granted, and has made the following discourse, to wit: He says he came out of Crown pt under the command of one Monjr Laicore [La Corne St. Luc] who is com- mander in Chief of the whole party which consists of Twelve Companies. And since [then] he has Tould us he has Four Thousand French and Indians. And he further tells us that Monsr Lacore went up to the place of Rendesvous, which is The Great Carrying Place, [Fort Edward] after the engagement with Mr. Chews, who with the rest of the prisoners are sent to Crown pt. Monsr Lacore has left Monsr Lagud [Laquel] as com- manding officer of 300 men who are constantly seen in the woods Round the Garrison, and he says his desire is to intercept all parties coming from Albany ; And that Monsr Lacorn is expected down from ye Carrying Place with the rest of the forces under his command this Even- ing, and are determined to stay here until they can have several Guns, Provisions &c. that they- have sent for to Crown pt. as thinking it impossible to reduce this place without them, tho he says they have got hand-grenades, Cohorns, shovels & spades, & fire-arrows in order to fire the Block Houses, which that party attempted to do that fired upon the Rounds [sentries] from under the Bank. The person appointed to perform the same had a Blankit carryed before him that we should not Discover the fyer upon the point of the arrows. They not finding [the] thing according to their mind thought it best to come the next night and undermine ye Blokhouse No. 1, which they understood the Maggazine was in. But now I have rendered it impossible by Levelling ye Bank, and am in such a posture of Defense which will render it impossible 58 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA to take ye Garrison with small arms, or anything else they have with them.^^ Here the letter ends, apparently unfinished, and is with- out signature. This officer, who was evidently Col. Peter Schuyler of N. J., displays a good deal of pluck and resolution after the severe losses of the day before, and, despite the threatening disclosures of the Indian, says not a word about reinforcements. The letter written the day before, describing the attack has been lost. Peter Kalm, the noted Swedish naturalist, passed up through here on a tour of exploration just two years after this famous attack on Fort Clinton. He tells the story of it in his book as he had heard it from the lips of participants on both sides, and since it throws some new light on the situation here at the time we give it herewith. " I shall only mention one out of many artful tricks which were played here [at Saratoga], and which both the English and the French who were present here at that time told me repeatedly. A party of French with their Indians, concealed themselves one night in a thicket near the fort. In the morning some of the Indians, as they had previously determined, went to have a nearer view of the fort. The EngHsh fired upon them as soon as they saw them at a distance ; the Indians pretended to be wounded, fell down, got up again, ran a little way and dropped again. Above half the garrison rushed out to take them prisoners ; but as soon as they were come up with them, the French and the remaining Indians came out of the bushes, betwixt the fortress and the English, surrounded them and took them prisoners. Those who remained in the fort had hardly time to shut the gates, nor could they fire upon the enemy, because they equally exposed their countrymen to danger, and " Sir William Johnson's MSS. Vol. XXIII, p. 44. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 59 they were vexed to see their enemies take and carry them off before their eyes, and under their cannon. There was an island in the river near Saratoga much better situated for a fortification."^'' The last garrison that served in Fort Clinton was made up of New Jersey troops under Colonel Peter Schuyler, already mentioned. These troops seem to have fared worse at the hands of the public than any of their prede- cessors. Governor Clinton insisted that the New York Assembly should provide for them ; but the Assembly refused on the ground that since this was a general war, and all the colonies alike interested in the defense of the frontiers, it was the duty of each colony to subsist its own troops, wherever they were on service. During the latter part of the summer of 1747 the As- sembly becoming apprehensive that the garrison would desert because of lack of subsistence, apprised Governor Clinton of the facts, and asked that a sufficient number of the forces recently levied in New York for the proposed expedition against Canada be sent to garrison the fort at Saratoga, or that a hundred of the regulars be sent up, assuring him that they had an abundance of provision for their own troops.^' The first outburst of the much dreaded mutiny occurred apparently the latter part of August, But Col. Schuyler was enabled to suppress it for the time being by advancing to the men, from his own private resources, sufficient money for their present maintenance. For this he was reprimanded by both Gov. Clinton, and President Hamilton of N. J. because it would tend to increase dis- content among the other soldiers, and encourage mutinies. ^^ ^° Kalm's Travels in North America. Vol. II, pp. 2S9, 290. ^' Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI, p. 6i8. ^' Colonel Peter Schuyler was clearly a man whose military enthusiasm could not be easily damped. For we read that in 1755 he was in command 60 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Finally the storm, which for sometime had been brew- ing, broke in September of that year, when the majority of the garrison resolved to right their wrongs in their own way. So on the morning of the 20th, at the word of their leaders, they shouldered their muskets and started for Albany. The official account of the incident is still preserved in manuscript, which we shall herewith put in type, for the first time, and as one reads it he is con- strained to wish that the soldier's side of the story had also been preserved. This letter was addressed to Governor George Clin- ton then in New York city. "Albany, Sept. 22d, 1747. "Sir: " On the 20th inst. deserted from the garrison of Fort Clinton (after the provision arrived there and the party had come away) [Provisions were finally sent from Al- bany on the 18th, but evidently too late] about 220 of the troops under Coll Schuyler's command and left him with about forty men. I immediately summoned a council of war, who join with me in the opinion, as there were not a sufficient number of men able to go to Saraghtoga with- out leaving the City and Quarters, with the sick entirely defenseless, that the cannon and other warlike stores be- longing to His Majesty ought (comfortable [to] the Paragraff of your Excellencie's letter of the 10th instant) to be brought away to Albany. .1 have accordingly ordered a Detatched party from the whole, except your Excellency's Company who go down by the Douw [name of a sloop perhaps], for that service with horses, car- of a N. J. regiment at the battle of Lake George. Again in 1756 he was there with his regiment and was among the prisoners surrendered to Mont- calm. He was released from Quebec in Oct. 1757, but while in confine- ment had from his own resources contributed largely to the support and comfort of his fellow prisoners. Again he offered his services and was in the final campaign which resulted in the capture of Quebec. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 61 riages, &c, as is necessary for that purpose, [and] which are just marched. The Mayor and Corporation this morning appHed to me to request that I would, if pos- sible, prolong the time of removing the artillery, &c, till the Return of an Express they now send down with the utmost dispatch, with one of their Aldermen to apply to your Excelency and Assembly, that a Provition may be made for maintaining that Garrison, which they are. con- vinced cannot be by the new Levies in their present situa- tion. I have consented to it provided the Corporation would be at the expense of keeping the horses and work- men so many days longer than otherwise would be nec- essary, which they have agreed to ; Especial as they assure me it will occation most of the Inhabitants of this City deserting it, and be a further predjudice to us in regard to our Interest with the Indians. I have there- fore wrote to Coll. Schuyler to this purpose and have de- sired him to prolong the time of the preparation as will be ' necessary for removing ; as Corking batteaux, &c., and that I would send your Excel'cy's commands up the Instant the Express returns, which beg may be as soon as possible ; for I can have no dependence on the present Garrison, nor is there well men enough to relieve it. " I have, however, advised Coll. [Peter] Schuyler if he finds he cannot maintain the Garrison till he hears from me, and it is your Excel'cy's Orders that the artillery. Stores. &c., belonging to His Majesty be all brought down to Albany. I take this opportunity of writing, and as I have but a quarter of an hour's notice hope you will forgive the hurry I am obliged to write with,^® I am Sir, Your Excel'cy's Most Obliged & Humble Serv't, J. ROBERTS [Colonel]" =" "N. Y. Colonial Mss. Vol. LXXVI. -"Col. John Roberts was commandant at Albany in i746-'47. 62 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA On the receipt of this letter, Sept. 26th, Chnton im- mediately convened his council, laid the communication before them, and asked their advice. The council, which was wholly subservient to the governor, advised the abandonment and burning of Fort Clinton, and the sav- ing of as much of the timber as could be used in the con- struction of a new fort at Stillwater. Accordingly the governor, despite the pleas and pro- tests of the Albany delegation, sent up orders to burn the fort" and remove the cannon, stores, etc. On the 14th of October following he laid before the council the aforesaid orders together with a statement that the fort was in ashes, and that the cannon, etc., were removed to Still- water.-^ But there was no fort built at Stillwater to take its place. Fort Clinton was dismantled and the torch applied October 6th, 1747, when the men, we may suppose with alacrity, turned their backs on the whole business, and left Saratoga to its pristine solitude, to savage beasts and the still more savage men from the north. The governor said in excuse for his orders that he had learned that the only persons interested in having a fort there were the Schuylers, and a few others who wanted it as a protection for their wheat fields.-- When he made this statement he seems to have forgotten those Commission- ers who came to plead, in behalf of Albany and English prestige with the Indians, that the fort be preserved and regarrisoned, and also that he himself had favored con- structing a battlemented work at Fort Edward. Hence the act of the governor smacks far more strongly of per- sonal spite than of solicitude for the pubHc treasury and the public safety. At the end of November, 1747. Sieur de Villiers, at the 21 Council Minutes. Vol. XXI. ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI. p. 630. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 63 head of a troop of seventy Indians and French, while out on a foray, visited Saratoga and was greatly sur- prised to find Fort Clinton in ashes. He describes it as about 135x150 feet in size; that twenty chimneys were still standing; and that the well had been polluted. ^^ Thus Old Saratoga and her forts seem to have been doomed to hard luck, judging from the records. No story of heroic deeds done by the garrisons, has been preserved, if they were ever performed. Their neg- lected and half-starved condition seems to have sapped their energies, and quenched their fighting spirit. That the Albany people were right in their contention with the governor that the destruction of Fort Clinton would hurt the standing of the English with the Six Nations is evidenced by the following. In a General Colonial Council, held at Albany, in July, 1754, to confer with the Indians, and endeavor to retain their allegiance, King Hendrick, the great sachem of the Mohawks, in his speech said this among other things : " 'Tis your fault, brethren, that we are not strength- ened by conquest ; for we would have gone and taken Crown Point, but you hindered us. We had concluded to go and take it, but we were told that it was too late, and that the ice would not bear us ; instead of this you burnt your own forts at Saratoga, and ran away from them, which zvas a shame and a scandal to you. Look' about your country and see ! you have no fortifications, no, not even to this city. 'Tis but a step from Canada hither, and the French may easily come and turn you out of your doors. ^* From the beginning of the war there had been much talk about and preparation for the conquest of Canada. The colony of New York spent £70,000 ($350,000.) on ^Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. X, pp. 147. 148. ^ Documents relating to Colonial Hist, of N. Y. Vol. VI, p. 870. 5 64 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA it ; but It all evaporated in talk and preparation instead of actual performance. Massachusetts, Connecticut. New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, and Maryland were all to help, but only a few troops ever assembled at Albany. After the fall of Louisburg an army of 3,000, well equipped and led could have marched from end to end of Canada without se- rious opposition ; for she had only a few troops at that time with which to defend herself. But jealousy and inefficiency then ruled in the seats of authority in these colonies, and so nothing was accomplished. " In union there is strength ;" but first get your " union." The treaty of peace signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, in May, 1748. put an end to King George's war and gave the colonists a breathing spell, but not for long. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 65 CHAPTER VIII The French and Indian War There could be no permanent peace on this continent so long as both the French and EngHsh laid claim to all the vast territory west of the Alleghany mountains, and so long as their representatives here were each straining every nerve to make good that claim. The war which afterwards became general in Europe and was known there as the Seven Years War, began here in 1754 with a blow struck for English sovereignty in western Pennsylvania by a detachment led by a young man, with an old man's head on his shoulders. That young fellow bore a name afterward to become famous. It was George Washington, and at the time he was only twenty-two years old. England had begun to realize the value of her pos- sessions here, and she decided to do more for her colo- nies now than she had in the last war. Three separate expeditions against the French were to be organized : one led by General Braddock, against Fort Du Quesne ; one by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, against Niagara, and the third, directed against the very vitals of French power in Canada, must of necessity take the ancient war trail up the Hudson against Crown Point, and Quebec, if possible. The latter was entrusted to the command of William Johnson, then a colonel of militia, and a great favorite with the home authorities. The army was made up of five thousand provincials from the neighboring colonies, and collected at that ancient rendezvous of councils, and armies, Albany. There too, that brave old Mohawk Sachem, King Hendrick, assembled his dusky warriors. 66 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Early in July six hundred pioneers went forward to clear the path to Lac St. Sacrament [Lake George,] and build at the Great Carrying place a fort. This they called Fort Lyman, in honor of the brave General who was leader of the party. Soon afterwards Johnson re- named it Fort Edward, in honor of the Duke of York and brother of George IIL On the 8th of August, Gen- eral Johnson, as he was now called, started from Albany, and the whole war-like procession passed through Old Saratoga about three days thereafter. Since Saratoga figured so little in the war of 1754-'60, we shall give but a brief resume of the thrilling events of that period, referring the reader, to the many excel- lent histories that describe them. So far as can be learned very few people had ventured to settle at old Saratoga after the close of King George's war in 1748. The unusually fertile soil with the promise of big crops had evidently drawn a few of the more venturesome hither, but the terror of the massacre of '45 was still like a nightmare resting heavily on most spirits. Hence, when the news of a probable rupture, between France and England, came in 1753, Saratoga was again abandoned.^ Johnson's mission was the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. He reached Lac St. Sacrament in due time, and at once took the liberty to rechristen it Lake George, in honor of his sovereign, and, as he said, " an assertion of his king's right of dominion there." Having reached there he showed no anxiety about pro- ceeding farther. The French were more aggressive, and since their foe did not come to them they would go to him and attack him on his own ground. Baron Dies- kau marched around by South Bay and Fort Edward and attacked Johnson on the 8th of September. John- ' N. Y. His. Soc. Mag. Vol. Ill, p. 142. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 67 son was able to beat him off, yet with great loss to both sides. Johnson failed to follow up his victory, while the scare of it was on the enemy, and spent his time building a fort at the south end of the lake instead of taking the one at the north end, which he was sent to do, and which he might have done, had he been a Baron Dieskau. He named it Fort William Henry. " I found," he said, " a wilderness, never was house or fort erected here before." So that campaign failed of its object, but it gave the provincials a higher and truer notion of their own lighting qualities. Philip Schuyler took a hand in the battle of Lake George as a captain of the Albany County Militia. While nothing specially belligerent occurred at Old Saratoga during the French and Indian war, yet the Johnson Mss. contain a few items which throw some light on the material conditions here at that time. General Johnson, on his march to Lake George, found the roads in a most wretched state. After the battle we find him taking steps to repair them, and improve the means of communication with Albany. In his letters and orders concerning these we find that Saratoga fig- ures quite prominently. Early in October, 200 men were set to work on the road between Albany and Sara- toga ; a large number were also set to similar work be- tween Saratoga and Fort Edward on the east side. His soul was mightily vexed at the tardy manner in which his orders about these roads were obeyed, and at the way in which the soldiers " sojered." As Saratoga was the point where the supply trains crossed the river, much attention had to be given to the ways and means of the crossing. It appears that the point where his army crossed on the advance was not the best possible ; for in a report to Governor Hardy, dated. Camp Lake George, 7th October, 1755, he says among other things: 68 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA " Mr. Wraxall informs me that at the north end of an Island, opposite the House of Killaen DeRidder's, if the Bank on the west side is dug away & a waggon passage made, the Ford of the River is not above Horse knee High,^ whereas through the usual Ford, [below the is- land] unless the wagons are uncommonly high the water generally comes into the wagons by which means the Provisions have been often damaged."^ Again as the river could be forded only at low water, provision had to be made for crossing at high water, and also for defending the passage against an enemy. A large scow boat was therefore built for ferrying the wagons, etc., over the Hudson. This ferry-boat was built near the house of one Hans Steerhart on the west side of the river at Saratoga. A picked company of fifty men from a Massachusetts regiment was posted here, during the fall of 1755, to guard the supplies and the crossing, and to help the wagoners, etc., to pass the ford.* Campaign of 1756. Another expedition was planned the next year with the same objective, but under a differ- ent commander. This time it was led by General John Winslow. He started from Albany, about the first of Tune, with a force of 5,000 men. He built a fort at Still- water, and honored it with his own name. But, he like so many of his predecessors, marched up the hill and then marched down again, with nothing accomplished. It is to be presumed, however, that the General and his war- riors bold had a pleasant summer outing on Lake George, ^ The river bank has been greatly worn away on the west side at this point, but remains of the old dug-way are still visible, and stock yet pass down it for water. From this point the ford passed to the north end of the island, thence north-east to where the line fence between Robert Coffin's larm and Walsh's reaches the river. * Johnson's Mss. Vol. , p. 45. 'Johnson's Mss. Vol. Ill, pp. 131, 15S. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 69 at the public expense. Philip Schuyler, disgusted with the inaction and incapacity of the leaders, left the ser- vice at the end of this campaign, but afterward served in the quartermaster's department under Col. John Bradstreet. With him he saw active service, and was in several hotly contested fights. All of this proved a good schooling for the future general. Campaign of 1757. The next campaign against Crown Point was under the leadership of the most spiritless, sneaking poltroon that had yet led the soldiery of these colonies to inaction and disgrace, General Daniel Webb. The efficient and stirring Montcalm, leader of the French forces, organized an expedition the same year against Fort William Henry. He was before it with 6,000 men, 2,000 of whom were Indians, by the 2d of August. The fort was defended by two thousand two hundred men under Colonel Monroe. Webb, with an army of four or five thousand, was at Fort Edward do- ing nothing. And when called upon for help virtually refused to give it, and traitorously allowed Fort William Henry to be besieged and captured without lifting a finger to give it succor. For example, Sir William Johnson, having obtained Webb's reluctant consent, started with a body of provincials and Putnam's rangers for the relief of Monroe, when, after proceeding a few miles Webb sent an aide and ordered him back. Webb was clearly a coward. On hearing of the fall of Fort William Henry, he at once sent his own baggage to a place of safety far down the Hudson, and would have ordered a retreat to the Highlands had it not been for the timely arrival of young Lord Howe, who suc- ceeded in assuring him that he was in no immediate danger. And Lord Loudoun, the commander-in-chief in America for that year, and who, if possible, was a 70 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA bigger coward than Webb, was utterly paralyzed by the news, and grimly proposed to encamp his army of twelve or fifteen thousand men on Long Island " for the defense of the Continent " ! The French could not possibly have mustered over seven thousand men in all Canada at the time. It was during this campaign that an incident of some local interest occurred on the east side of the river oppo- site Saratoga. It is related by the Sexagenary, whose father was one of a body of wagoners returning from a trip to Fort Edward. He says : " The main body of wagoners returned by the west side of the river, but my father and his friends kept on the east side, and when they reached the Battenkill, they discovered on crossing the bed of the creek the wet print of a moccasin upon one of the rocks. They were confident from this cir- cumstance that hostile Indians were near them, and that one must have passed that way but a few minutes before. To go back seemed as dangerous as to go for- ward. They therefore pushed on towards the river [at the ford] but had scarcely reached its bank when the distinct report of a musket in their rear brought with it the confirmation of their fears. When this firing was heard, a detachment from an escort guarding the wagon- ers on the west side came across to ascertain the cause. On searching, they found in a garden belonging to a Mr. De Ruyter [De Ridder] the body of a dead man, still warm and apparently shot while in the act of weeding, and then scalped." It was during this year, 1757, that the authorities again decided to adorn Old Saratoga with another fort. It was built on the north side of Fish creek in the angle made by it with the river, and named Fort Hardy, after the royal governor of the province. It was by far the largest and most elaborate of the forts built here, cover- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 71 ing about fifteen acres. It could not have served any practical purpose at that time further than a shelter for troops and a depot for supplies, because it was com- manded by hills on two sides within easy cannon shot. Concerning this fort as with old forts Saratoga and Chnton, there has been much diversity of opinion. One historian argues from its bad strategical position, and the silence of all Revolutionary writers (as he claimed) regarding it, that there was no such fort here. Others affirm that it was built by the French under Baron Dies- kau, in 1755. As to Baron Dieskau the fact is he never got further south with his valiant Frenchmen than the vicinity of Fort Edward. He himself, however, was brought down after the battle of Lake George in a boat, wounded and a prisoner of war. This dispute over Fort Hardy furnishes a good test case on the value of silence, on the part of contempo- rary writers, as tending to prove the existence or non- existence of an object, custom, or alleged fact. Here it is shown to be untrustworthy. The writer rummaging in the State Library at Albany came across the official journal of the engineer who laid out and superintended the building of the fort.'' He was Colonel James Mon- tressor, chief of the Royal Engineers, in America, who was commissioned to build forts the same year at Al- bany, Schenectady, Halfmoon, Stillwater, Fort Edward and Fort George on Lake George. Fort George, like Fort Hardy, was of no value for defense, and for a long time it was known as Montressor's Folly. He began work on Fort Hardy August 19th, 1757. For some time he had considerable trouble to get help, but on the 7th of September he had at work about a hundred men and six teams. There had been a sawmill on the north side of the creek, about where the gristmills are "Collections of the N. Y. Historical Society. Vol. XIV. 72 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA now located, but the provincial soldiers had torn it to pieces for firewood, so this work had to be done with whip-saws run by hand power. The stone was drawn from the hills, presumably from the ridge west of the old north burying ground, as old residents say loose stone was most plentiful there. The brick was brought down from Fort Edward in bateaux, or scow boats. Thus early Fort Edward had its brick yards. The tim- ber was procured up the river on both the mainland and islands, floated down and dragged out with ox teams. The first buildings finished were three storehouses, which were placed on posts three feet high to preserve the stores from water in case of inundation. The capacity of the three was 2,596 bbls. of flour. The barracks for the soldiers were 220 feet long; the officers' rooms were 14x16 feet in size. One day the mechanics all struck work because the commissary tried to put them off with a gill of rum instead of their regular ration. The trouble was that " the jug was out." This journal discloses another particularly interest- ing fact, that there was already standing in that same angle, north of the creek, a blockhouse, or stockaded fort. Its size and location, as also that of the afore-mentioned sawmill, appear in the adjoining pen-sketch map repro- duced from the journal. It took several days to tear it down. When and by whom this fort was built is a mys- tery. The silence of the writers, however, does not estab- lish its non-existence. From old maps we learn that a road was constructed on the west side of the Hudson from Saratoga to Fort Edward in 1757. After 1758 the road approached the river opposite the Fort and island, and there wa? also a pontoon and ford below the island. >^ montressor's sketch map of fish creek and old block house 74 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Campaign of 1758. The army mobilized for the cam- paign of 1758 was the most formidable and imposing that had yet appeared on the American Continent. This also was put under the command of one of those chicken- hearted but titled incompetents whom royalty persisted in selecting for positions of grave responsibility. This time it was General James Abercrombie. He led an army of 16,000 men up the old war path through Saratoga. It must have been a thrilling spectacle to see those gaily ca- parisoned warriors swinging along with measured tread to the skirl of the bagpipe or the more stirring music of fife and drum. The trains of supply wagons, ambu- lances, and the batteries of artillery must have seemed well nigh endless to the onlooker. One French scout counted 600 oxen in one drove that were being driven north to feed this army of British beef eaters. Among the potent influences which served to estrange the hearts of Americans from their allegiance to the English government was the snobbery and tactless be- havior generally of British officials toward colonials. For example we are told that Gen's. Loudoun and Aber- crombie. like Braddock, despised all suggestions from men born on colonial soil. They would astonish the natives by their scientific European methods of conduct- ing war ; stupidly assuming that social and natural con- ditions here were the same as in the long settled coun- tries of the old world. Among other things Abercrombie proposed to remove the native officers from their regiments and substitute Englishmen thus reducing all Provincials, of whatever grade, to the common level of privates. But of course the Americans resented this and resolutely refused to serve under any officers but those of their own choosing.® Perhaps Lake George never served as a setting to so " Tarbox's Life of Putnam, p. 57. New York's Part in History, p. 84. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 75 magnificent a pageant, as when, embarked in over 1,000 boats, with flags and pennants flying, this embattled col- umn swept majestically over its crystal waters toward Ticonderoga. But how great the change wrought upon this sup- posed invincible host in a single day of battle with the doughty Montcalm ! Through bad generalship, or rather through the lack of all generalship, we see this splendid army defeated, shattered, and panic stricken, scuttling back to Fort William Henry with its boats laden with the dead and dying. In one of these was borne the body of the brave young Lord Howe, the very soul, and the acknowledged idol, of the whole army. On reaching the head of the lake, Philip Schuyler, now a major, whose deep affection he had won, begged and received permission to convey the body of his hero to Albany, where he was buried in St. Peter's church. Of those who died from their wounds many were buried at Fort Edward, and some were buried here at Old Saratoga (Schuylerville). but all in nameless graves. Campaign of 1759. For the first time in her hundred years of occupancy, England selected as leaders for this year men who bore the semblance of generals — Amherst and Wolfe. Satisfactory results were soon apparent. With an army of twelve thousand, Amherst followed Abercrombie's line of advance, and within a week's time from landing at the foot of Lake George both Ticon- deroga and Crown Point, for so long the dread and envy of the English, were in their possession. It is but fair, however, to state that owing to Wolfe's menace of Quebec, the garrisons at these forts had been greatly weakened. That same year the brave Wolfe captured Quebec. Canada's Gibraltar, and so all Canada became an English possession by the right of conquest. 76 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA "Old Put's" Thrilling Adventure at Fort Miller. Sometime during the summer of 1758 Major Israel Putnam chanced to lie with 5 men and a batteau on the left bank of the Hudson near the steep rapids at Fort Miller. Some of his men on the opposite bank signaled to him that a large body of savages were in his rear, and would be upon him in a few moments. To stay and be sacrificed, to attempt crossing against the swift current, or to go down the falls with the chances, ten to one, of being drowned, were the only alternatives for escape that offered themselves. Instantaneously he adopted the latter course. And this he did knowing that one of his men had just rambled a little way back in the woods, and must be left a victim to savage barbarity. The Indians reached the shore soon enough to fire many bullets at them before they could get out of range. But no sooner were they beyond musket shot than death in another form, and but little less terrible, stared them in the face. Rocks, and eddies, swirling currents and steep descents, for a quarter of a mile afforded barely a single chance to escape. But Putnam trusting himself to a good Providence whose kindness he had often be- fore experienced, coolly took the helm issuing his orders to the men at the oars with marvellous skill and well nigh superhuman strength guided the bulky boat between the savage rocks, yawning whirlpools, and over seem- ingly impossible falls till at last the boat glided forth into the more quiet waters below. At sight of this it is asserted that the Indians, those rude children of nature, were affected with the same kind of veneration which Europeans in the Dark Ages enter- tained for some of their most valorous champions. They concluded the man bore a charmed life. He had shown himself proof to their bullets, and here he had floated in safety down a rapids and over falls which they had ever THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 77 deemed impassable. They therefore concluded it would be an affront to the Great Spirit to make any further at- tempt to kill this favored mortal, even though they could get at him.'^ Some of the journals kept by the soldiers during these campaigns against Canada are very interesting not only for the facts and incidents related but as primitive efforts at what we are striving for in these days, phonetic spell- ing; and also they serve as lurid examples of the pic- turesque in orthography. Here are some specimens from Luke Gridley's diary : "The 5 D[ay] [May 1757] they [the regiment] trained But I was garding & fiching we Being straitened for Proviccon : & hungery ; Johnnathan Beamman Eate 3 Raw fich : inwards & al for 4 quarts of wine. " Day 23 [May] wich was monday we marcht 10 mils & Picht our tents at Suratoke thare we went Into the River and Chast [cacht or caught] aboute 3000 Alewifes [herrings] for Super." "Day 13th [Sept.] one Yorker whipt 300 lashes for gitting Drunk, a Regular [British] for ye same offense got 100." Note that this is a sample of the Briton's estimate at that period of the comparative worthfulness of a subject born on English soil and one born in an American colony. [Oct.] " Day 12th one Asbel moses a Simsbury man Died with ye lung fever, [pneumonia] Being ye 10th man that has died with Distempers out of our Company." That is, at least 10 per cent of their number had died within six months, not in battle or of wounds, but of un- sanitary conditions, infectious diseases, ignorance of the ordinary laws of health, etc. These journals are filled with tales of sickness and mortality which prove that ' Humphiey's Putnam, p. 54. 78 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Camp) life in those days, for Provincials, was far more deadly than pitched battles. " Day 30th wich was ye Sabbath fifteen of our Rig- ment set out for home and marcht to Surrotoge. " Day 30th we set sail two oclock & went to Capt. Lamsons." At Saratoga they took scows, or batteaus down the Hudson to Stillwater. To this point (Saratoga) much of the provision for the army was brought by water transportation, from thence north to Lake George it was carted. In Samuel Lyons Diary for 1758 we find this incident: " June 25, We got 2 Battoes to carry our packs [from Stillwater] up to Salatogue, and we went afoot & 8 of our men were drawn out to stay at Salatogue. Capt. Lewis shot at an Indian and kild him & [as he?] sot in the Battoe."" Archelaus Fuller a soldier in the same campaign of 1758 writes down some of his experiences as follows: "Monday ye 19 day [May] we marched, went over there to Albany side whear we Reseavd Eleven mor arms, then marched with the hoi Battalion threw Mis- coyeung [Niskayuna] to Senacade [Schenectady] wheare we taried al knight, it was about 20 miles, it was a fine place, very good land, it lais upon the Mohock River, so caled." " Wednesday ye 19 [July] thair cam in a man that was lost the forst day we had our fit [at Ticonderoga July 6th] he levd the hoi of the time on gren leves & nuts, he saw no bereys. 3 days before he cam in he saw 3 In- gons which gave him chas he run & fell down under a log and got clear, he came in bear feet & bear leg, he loke like a corps." Just one more sample and then we pass on. * Soldiers Journals, p. 16. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 79 "Monday 3d [July 1758] Yesterday Mager [Israel] putmons Company cam up and and this morning the Connetticuts rigiment were Inbodied for to lorn how to form your front to Right & Left for Jineral Abba Cromba and his A de Camp to vieu." "Sat. Aug. 12 Colonel Phich [Fitch] had a leter from Mager [Israel] putmon at tiantiroge, he is taken prisoner. " Tues. 15. I was upon picit [picket] gard, & wet and stormy it was, 1 of the reglars whipt for sleeping upon gard."« 'Military Journals of two private soldiers, pp. 20, 30. 80 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER IX The Revolution — The Causes of the War The scope and purpose of this work will admit of noth- ing more than a glance at the reasons which led the col- onies to declare themselves independent of the sover- eignty of Great Britain. There were but few people in England that knew much or cared much about America, and still fewer who under- stood the Americans. The fact that they were colonists seemed of itself to reduce them to a lower plane racially than themselves. The English ruling classes behaved as though they thought the colonies were of use only to be ex- ploited for the imperial glory and commercial profit of Great Britain. Their asserted right to self-government in matters local was a thing rarely known in England, and of course, it could not be tolerated by her in the colonies. The royal governors had all fumed and fretted them- selves into hysterics over the wilfulness and perversity of colonial assemblies. But so long as France was power- ful here. England dared not attempt to thwart the will of her colonists too much ; for she needed their assistance to maintain herself against the assumptions of her great rival. But when France was well out of the way, and England had a free hand on this continent, she at once began to assert her sovereign authority over her refrac- tory subjects. The Seven Years War had left her deeply in debt; she would make the colonies help her pay that debt through her Stamp Acts. She forgot that they had already borne the brunt of the conflict and largely the expense of that war in so far as it was waged in this country. Next she set about depriving the colonial assemblies of their THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 81 inherent legislative rights. She began to interfere in matters of " internal police," and was rapidly moving to- ward placing the administration of all law and govern- ment in the hands of men responsible to no one but the Crown. All this without consulting the colonists, or asking their consent. Her repeated acts of tyranny finally aroused the provincials to realize that they were in imminent danger of losing even the commonest liber- ties of an Englishman, but they did not resort to the arbitrament of arms till they had exhausted all other means of redress. Events of 1775 and 1776. The final break came and open hostilities began in 1775. This was a year big with success and inspiration to the patriots. It was the year of Lexington, and Concord, and Bunker Hill ; the important capture of Ticonderoga, and Crown Point; the invasion of Canada, with the capture of St. Johns, of Chambly, and of Montreal by Montgomery under Schuyler, a cam- paign which, if it had received a decent and patriotic sup- port from the citizenship and soldiery" of the north, and something more substantial than resolutions from Con- gress, would have gained Canada for the Union, but which ended in defeat on the last day of December, and the irreparable loss of the noble Montgomery, who breathed out his heroic life with the expiring year under the granite walls of Quebec. The end of this year also witnessed the siege of Boston under Washington, with good auguries of success. The year 1776 brought some more good cheer at its beginning, with the expulsion of the British from Bos- ton, the successful defense of Fort Moultrie in South Carolina, and the Declaration of Independence. This in turn was followed by disaster, in the ejection of the Americans from Canada, the defeat of x\rnold on Lake 82 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Champlain, and also of Washington at the battle of Long Island, the loss of Forts Washington and Lee, and finally the chase of Washington by the British across New Jersey into Pennsylvania. But as a breath of life to one well nigh asphyxiated, came the unlooked-for smashing of the Hessians at Trenton ; the outgeneralling of Corn- wallis and whipping of the British at Princeton, and the virtual expulsion of the enemy from the Jerseys in the end of that year. And all this by that same Washing- ton after Howe and Cornwallis had solemnly and unani- mously agreed that he had just received his quietus at their hands. Campaign of 1777. After the evacuation of Boston by the British, General Burgoyne, who was present during its investment, went to Canada and served under Carleton during 1776, but becoming dissatisfied with his position he returned to England. There, closeted with Iving George and his favorite ministers, they planned a cam- paign which was certain, as they thought, to put an end to the war and reduce the colonies to submission. The scheme was to get possession of the Hudson val- ley, sever the colonies, paralyze their union,' and so, hold- ing the key to the situation, conquer them in detail. To this end an ample force under St. Leger was to move up the St. Lawrence to Oswego, strike into New York from that point, capture Fort Schuyler, (formerly Fort Stanwix, where Rome, N. Y., now stands) and sweep down through the Mohawk valley to Albany. Another army under Howe was' to move up the Hudson from New York toward Albany ; and the third under General John Burgoyne was to take the old route from Canada south through Champlain and down the Hud- son, when they would all concentrate at Albany to con- gratulate one another, and divide the honors and the THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 83 spoils. This admirable plan was adopted and its execu- tion was placed in the hands of Burgoyne, under the title of Lieutenant-General. As to the British plan of campaign doubts concerning it in the minds of the American leaders quite paralyzed all intelligent preparations. The retreat of Gen. Carleton from Lake Champlain, the preceding autumn, even after Crown Point, and practically the entire lake were in his possession, suggested a doubt whether a serious invasion was meditated from that quarter. On the contrary the impression was general after news about it had reached them, that the expedition of Burgoyne was destined for Boston, and that Sir. Wm. Howe, whose movements in New Jersey were enigmatical in the extreme, was to cooperate in an effort to resubjugate New England. The British government itself, as it is believed, contributed to the distractions of Congress and the American com- mander by causing reports to be circulated that Boston was to be the next point of attack. As a result Massa- chusetts, feeling that all her strength would be required for her own defence, set about raising troops for home protection, and was reluctant to allow any to go beyond her borders. Before the close of June, however, the designs of the enemy became quite clear. Among other events a man, arrested as a spy, and brought to Gen. Schuyler, revealed very explicitly the plans of the enemy. First Period of the Campaign. Early in June Bur- goyne started from Canada, animated with the highest hopes and brightest anticipations. Should he succeed, as no doubt he would, he expected to find a title of nobility among other good things in his Christmas stock- 84 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA ing} Certainly all things looked favorable for his success. His was not the largest, but it was the best appointed army that had yet appeared on these shores.^ It was made up of British, 4,135; Germans, 3,116; Canadians, 148 ; Indians, 503 ; total, 7,902. Later the 22d regiment joined him. Burgoyne expected 2,000 Canadians, but they declined the service mainly because they had learned that the British were uniformly arrogant in their treat- ment of Provincials.^ Some of those regiments, both British and German, were ancient and honorable organizations and were vet- erans of a hundred battles. Europe could furnish no better soldiers. On the 1st of July, Burgoyne was before Ticonderoga, which he at once invested. Through lack of sufficient force, General St. Clair, the commandant, felt obliged to abandon his line of communication with Lake George, likewise " the old French lines " just west of the fort. He had not over 3,500 men all told, while the works were so extensive that it would require ten thousand to man them properly. Of course, the British seized the points of vantage at once and made the most of them. Still with his meagre force and contracted lines, St. Clair felt confident that he could keep the enemy at bay for a respectable while, and time was valuable just then to Schuyler, who was laboring to collect an army and get up reinforcements to him. The British were no sooner on the ground than the ^ George III, empowered Lord George Germaine to promise Burgoyne a Knight Commandership of the Bath with other good things to follow should he succeed. — Trevelyan's Am. Revolution, Pt. Ill, pp. 108-9. - " The brass train that was sent out on this expedition was perhaps the finest, and probably the most excellently supplied as to officers and men, that had ever been allotted to second the operations of an army." — Lieuten- ant Digby's Journal, p. 226. ^ Belcher's First American Civil War THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 85 practiced eye of that veteran artillerist. General Phillips, noticed a mountain across a stretch of water to the south which appeared to be unoccupied, and which looked to be within range of the fort. He had it inspected and the officer reported it to be within easy cannon shot, and though difficult of ascent, still accessible. One night's labor built a road and put several cannon on the summit of the mountain, which the British then christened Mount Defiance ; an appropriate name under the circum- stances, and the one it still bears. When daylight came, on the 5th of July, the garrison was paralyzed with amazement to see the crest of that mountain blossoming with red-coats, and frowning with a brazen battery. A council of war was called immediately which decided that the works were now untenable, and that nothing was left but evacuation. That night, as soon as it was dark, the sick and the non-combatants, together with as much of the stores as they could load on the bateaux, were sent to Skenesborough (Whitehall) with an escort of six hundred men under Colonel Long. Having spiked the guns, the army quietly withdrew at 2 a. m. on the 6th over the floating bridge that connected Ticonderoga with Fort Independence, and started for Castleton, Vt. But the accidental, (some say intentional) burning of a house on the Fort Independence side betrayed their movements to the British, who straightway prepared for the chase. As he withdrew from Ticonderoga St. Clair partially broke up the bridge and left four men on the Fort Inde- pendence side to discharge a well shotted battery when the British should be crossing in great numbers. But disobeying orders they attacked a rum cask instead and hence were found lying dead drunk with their matches still lighted by the cannon. Apparently they had also been ordered to blow up the magazine because the powder barrels were found with their heads ofif and the 86 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA powder scattered about.* On the second day of the pur- suit the British caught up and the unfortunate battle of Hubbardton, Vt., was fought. In the morning after the evacuation the British fleet, having broken through the barriers placed in the lake between Ticonderoga and Independence, gave chase, caught up with and captured several of the flying galleys and bateaux. The Americans, having set fire to every- thing valuable at Skenesborough, hastened toward Fort Ann. Colonels Long and Van Rensselaer were stationed at this little stockaded fort with 500 men, many of whom were convalescents just arrived from Ticonderoga. On the evening of the 7th Gen. Schuyler, fearing an attack, visited the post and urged the officers and men to with- stand the British troops at all hazards, for one day, to enable him to remove the garrison, artillery, and stores from Fort George. The men and officers pledged them- selves with cheers to do it. A detachment of British regulars under Colonel Hill pursued the fugitives the next day far toward the fort. The morning of the 8th, having heard of their approach, Colonels Long and Van Rensselaer sallied forth and gave battle to Hill, in a narrow pass a little to the north-east, and would have annihilated him had it not been for the, to him, timely arrival of a body of Indians, and the failure of the American ammunition.^ Fort Ann was immediately evacuated and burned; but the British retired to Skenes- borough (Whitehall). The Americans returned and occupied the post tih the 16th. * Anburey's Travels, I. p. 287. * In the action at Fort Anne the Americans lost their colors, " a flag of the United States, very handsome, thirteen stripes alternate red and white, [with thirteen stars] in a iblue field, representing a new constellation." — Digby's Journal, p. 234. This fact found in a British journal is especially interesting as connected with the early history of Old Glory. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 87 Was Schuyler to Blame for the Loss of Ticon- deroga? Consternation and dread filled the hearts of the patriots over this unlooked-for disaster. They had fondly nursed the delusion that Ticonderoga was a veritable Gibraltar, impregnable ; and this apart from the question as to whether it was properly manned or no. As soon as the direful news spread through the country, a storm of indignation and obloquy broke over the heads of Gen- erals Schuyler and St. Clair. " They were cowards," " they were traitors," " they had sold their country for naught," " they had been bribed by silver bullets shot into the fort by Burgoyne." John Adams, in Congress, said : " We shall never gain a victory till we shoot a General." This disaster gave occasion to the enemies of Schuyler to resurrect their old prejudices formed against him before the war in connection with the boun- dary disputes between Massachusetts and New York, and the quarrels about the New Hampshire Grants. As this boundary dispute obtrudes itself so frequently in the history of this region, before and during the Revo- lution, it is well that the reader should have some knowl- edge of its nature. These disputes originated in the hazy indefiniteness of the early Royal Charters. The western boundaries of Massachusetts and Connecticut were declared by them to be the South Seas, or Pacific ocean. After the Con- quest of New Netherland by the English, Charles II granted this province to his brother, the Duke of York. Since the only settlements in the province at that time were along the Hudson River, Massachusetts' and Con- necticut's pathway to the west was clearly blocked by this grant. Hence a conflict of claims was inevitable which nothing but compromise could adjust. The partition line was finally located 20 miles east of the Hudson. Soon thereafter New Hampshire came forward and 88 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA asked that an extension of this said Hne to the north be fixed as the boundary between it and New York. New York objected to this and claimed that the Connecticut river should be the line. Before this difference was ad- judicated Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire made many grants to would be settlers in territory west of the Connecticut. Bennington, Vt., named after the Governor, stands within the bounds of this first grant. An appeal was finally made by New York to the King and his council who decided in favor of New York. Then New York declared that all the grants made by Wentworth were null and void, and also, by proclama- tion, gave the settlers the choice between repurchasing their lands or eviction. Naturally the settlers on the Grants, as they came to be called, protested stoutly against this proposition and stood ready to defend their claims by force and arms. Thus originated the quarrel known in history as the Hampshire Grants controversy. In their behavior toward these bona fide settlers the authorities of New York acted unwisely and ungener- ously. Had they allowed those who had titles to their holdings from New Hampshire to remain unmolested, but warned all others that, after a certain date, only a title from New York would be recognized as valid there would have been no further trouble. But this equitable course our influential officials and land speculators re- fused to follow, hence the animosity of those people of the Grants against New Yorkers. And this bitter feeling never quite subsided till after New York's claims were extinguished by the erection of the State of Vermont. It seems that Philip Schuyler had been chosen as one of the commissioners to represent New York in these disputes, and, as such, had shown himself somewhat of a leader ; hence their dislike of him. In consequence the delegates from the Grants and from New England p;en- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 89 erally, set to work to poison the minds of the delegates to the Continental Congress against him, and magnify the virtues of General Gates, who had improved every opportunity to declare openly that New York had been wholly in the wrong in those disputes. It is worth our while to tarry a bit and glance at the principal facts that we may the better know how much blame belongs to the aforementioned officers. First, as to Gen. St. Clair. We discover that a later and soberer judgment not only cleared him of all blame for evacuat- ing Ticonderoga but commended him for having done the sanest and bravest thing possible under the circum- stances. For example Col. Trumbull, a member of Gates staff, said : " Gen. St. Clair became the object of furious denunciation whereas he merited thanks for having saved a part of the devoted garrison who sub- sequently formed the nucleus of the force which ulti- mately baffled Burgoyne, and compelled his surrender at Saratoga." Someone else has sententiously said of him : "A post was abandoned, but a State was saved." But how about Gen. Schuyler, St. Clair's superior, can he be vindicated so easily ? Well, let us see. To that end we will consider : First, his failure to occupy Mount Defiance that, no doubt, was a fatal error of judgment; but that astute Frenchman, Montcalm, and Generals Wayne and St. Clair, and Gates himself, had all been in command there, and yet none of them had thought Sugar-loaf, as they called it, any cause for serious apprehension, though their attention had been called to it more than once. It was in the summer of 1776 that Gates was stationed at Ticon- deroga. Col. John Trumbull, quoted above, serving as engineer on Gates' staff, conceived the notion that that fortress was within cannon range of Mt. Defiance, and proved it by actual demonstration. He also, after a care- 90 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA ful survey, found that cannon could be dragged to the top of it ; then, too, he computed that it would take 10,000 men to properly garrison the works in and about the old fort, while 500 men could make Mt. Defiance impreg- nable. But Gates refused to act upon the suggestion.^ Abercrombie's failure to see it in 1758 cost him 2,000 men and defeat. A case exactly analogous occurred at Boston the year before. The British General Howe neglected to fortify Dorchester Heights, Washington seized it, planted his batteries, and the British forthwith evacuated Boston before he fired a shot at them from that point. Again : Why the insufficient garrison at Ticonderoga and the general lack of preparation in his department? Because, after he had labored all the previous winter, heartily seconded by Washington, to put his department in a proper posture of defense. General Schuyler found, when spring opened, that he had accomplished but a fraction of what he had resolutely set out to do. And all this first, because of the apathy of the populace, and of most of the authorities to whom they unremittingly appealed. Again; because of the desertion and chronic insubordination of most of the militia organizations ; because of jealousies among his subordinates, and rascal- ity and sluggishness among contractors and commis- saries. Once again ; we discover a sufficient cause for this state of unpreparedness in the fact that General Gates had spent most of the winter of 1776-7 hovering in the purlieus of Congress. There much of his time was de- voted to quitely fomenting dissatisfaction with Gen. Schuyler, and his conduct of the war in the north. Schuyler, hearing repeatedly through his friends, in the Congress, of this criticism, but not knowing its source, •Col. J. Trumbull's Reminiscences of his own Times, p. 31. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 91 felt so outraged that he offered his resignation ; but de- manded of the Congress, as a necessary preliminary to its acceptance, an inquiry into the conduct of his depart- ment. Gates, of course, knew all about this, and quietly awaited the outcome. Schuyler started for Philadelphia on the 25th of March. The same day Gates was appointed to relieve him. On his arrival in Albany Mrs. Schuyler invited Gates to take up his quarters in the General's mansion, but he declined the proffer with thanks, and remained in the city. But mark, we find that Gates failed to visit a single outlying post while in command of this Northern Department. As a result of the investigation the Congress fully exonerated Schuyler of all charges, and restored him to his command with added powers. At the same time it defined the relative positions of Gates and Schuyler. Gates was to remain subordinate to Schviyler and serve as commandant at Ticonderoga. Gates insisted that by this action he had been degraded, refused to serve under Schuyler, asked permission to leave the department, and started for Philadelphia, to lay his grievances before his partizans in Congress, and continue his intrigues. On his arrival in Albany, June 3d, about a month be- fore the disaster at Ticonderoga. Schuyler found that Gates had done literally nothing to further preparations for the coming campaign, preparations just then abso- lutely imperative, such as had taxed all his time and energies up to the day of his departure in March." Oh a visit of inspection to Ticonderoga, from June 20th to the 23d, he found the garrison in a woeful condition. Of the 3,000 men there stationed, 500 were sick or ineffec- tive. Many of them were barefooted and nearly all of them ragged, and to crown all he discovered that their " Letter from Peter Schuyler to Jay, Tuckerman's Schuyler, p. 187. 92 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA food and lodgings were deplorably unsanitary. Gates evidently knew nothing of all this, conditions about which, a General, alive to his calling and responsibilities, would have informed himself. After the aforesaid inspection we can appreciate this quotation from a letter to his friend, Richard Varick, and can believe that Schuyler was not greatly surprised when the news of the fall of Ticonderoga reached him, though he was doubtless surprised that the event hap- pened so soon. "Albany, July 1, 1777. Dr Sir, Your favor of the 21st Inst. I received on the 29th with the enclosures. The Insufficiency of the Garrison at Ticonderoga, the Imperfect state of the Fortifications, and the want of Discipline in the Troops, give me great cause to appre- hend that we shall lose that Fortress, but as a Reinforce- ment is coming up from Peeks Kill, with which I shall move up, I am in hopes that the Enemy will be prevented from making any further progress. Ph Schuyler Colo. Varick."« On his return Schuyler at once threw himself into the work with renewed energy because rumors were now rife of the advance of Burgoyne from the north, and of St. Leger from the west, but he was met on every hand with the same old indifference and languor, though he warned the authorities of possible disaster unless they should awake to the gravity of the situation. Schuyler was in Albany in a fever of expectancy and impatience, waiting for the four Massachusetts regiments ' Mss. letter in N. Y. State Library. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 93 which Washington had ordered up to his support from Peekskill. and as each day failed to bring them he fin- ally fixed on the 6th of July as the last day of his wait ; for he must be away to the north, if only with the few hundreds of militia at hand. But the Continentals failed to appear. So instead of the 10,000 he had called for, he had not more than 5,500 poorly-equipped, half -clad men and boys with which to meet Burgoyne's splendid army of veterans. Just at daybreak on Monday, the 7th of July, he answered a loud knock at his door, when a messenger thrust into his hand a despatch announcing the evacu- ation of Ticonderoga. Of course, he was stunned by the news, not being able to account for the suddenness of the move, but he was not utterly cast down, as were those around him, even though he knew that a storm of public fury awaited him. Immediately he mounted his fleetest horse and started for the north. At Stillwater and Saratoga he despatched messengers everywhere an- nouncing the dreadful tidings coupled with urgent pleas for help. Schuyler Blocks up Burgoyne's Pathway. Schuyler reached Fort Edward the morning of the 8th, where he immediately issued orders for obstructing Burgoyne's advance from Skenesborough, for driving oflF all cattle, horses, etc., and the removal of all wagons out of the reach of the enemy. Brigades of axemen were sent to fell trees across the roads and into Wood creek, a navigable stream, to break up bridges, and destroy the corduroy roads that led through that savage, swampy, wilderness that stretched from beyond Fort Ann to Fort Edward. So effectually was this work done that on some days Burgoyne could not advance over a mile. British eye witnesses declare that they had to 94 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA construct no less than forty bridges, and over one morass there was a corduroy road of nearly two miles." In all this Schuyler showed himself a master of what in military parlance is called practical strategy, which often proves more effective than pitched battles in van- quishing an enemy. Recognized military experts were agreed that before reaching the Hudson, the wilderness, under Schuyler's quick witted leadership, had dealt Burgoyne the deadly blow of irremediable delay. A little later when Bur- goyne was encamped on the Hudson, at Fort Miller and the Batten Kill, a German officer has this to say of Schuyler's success in delaying the invader: "I have called it a desert country not only with reference to its natural sterility, and Heaven knows it was sterile enough, but because of the pains which were taken, and unfor- tunately with too great success, to sweep its few culti- vated spots of all articles likely to benefit the invaders. In doing this the enemy showed no decency either to friend or foe. All the fields of standing corn were laid waste, the cattle were driven away, and every particle of grain, as well as morsel of grass, carefully removed; so that we could depend for subsistence, both for men and horses, only on the magazines which we might our- selves establish.^'' As a result of this work it took Burgoyne twenty days to get his army from Whitehall to the Hudson. Had he returned immediately to Ticonderoga, and advanced through Lake George, in all probability he would have captured Fort George, at the head of the lake, with its valuable stores of horses, wagons and provisions. Then, had he left his heavy cannon behind, and pushed forward with the light field pieces, he could have reached Albany ^ Anburey's Travels. Lamb's Journal. ^° Glich's Journal, in Vermont Hist. Sec. Vol. I, p. 12. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 95 as quickly as he did Fort Edward from Skenesborough. Schuyler's meagre forces depressed by defeat, and the citizenry obsessed by panic, could not at that juncture, have ofifered any effective opposition. This w^as the recorded judgment of some of Burgoyne's officers, and also of General Gates. But as it turned out the time thus gained by Schuyler proved of priceless worth to the patriots, for in the in- terim they, in large measure,, recovered their morale and had begun to exhibit much of their old confidence. By great efifort they succeeded in removing their munitions of war from Fort George and transporting them down the river. Among other things Schuyler saved 40 un- mounted cannon. These were left at Saratoga (Schuy- lerville), where he ordered carriages to be made for them ; for after Ticonderoga was evacuated he had not one piece of mounted cannon left, and not an artillery man on whom he could lay his hand.^^ For material with which to mount these cannon his mills located here were kept running night and day sawing up the stock of oak logs which had been collected for the building of bateaux for transport. Some of these cannon afterward de- fended the American camp at Bemis Heights, and were later used in the investment of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Stampede of the Inhabitants, The patriotic in- habitants on the upper Hudson and near the lakes, seized with panic at the fall of Ticonderoga and the sudden appearance of Burgoyne's Indians, hastily gathered together their most valuable eflfects, loaded them on carts or wagons, or the backs of horses, and in some cases leaving everything behind, started pell-mell for Albany, or Manchester, Vt., whichever was the more convenient. In their panic, and dread of the " N. Y. Historical Soc. Collns., Vol. XTI, p. 138. 7 96 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Indians, whom they fancied were right at their heels, they often forgot the ordinary claims of humanity. Those on horseback or in wagons paid no heed to the pleas of tired mothers, trudging along afoot, trying to escape with their children. " Everyone for himself, and the devil take the hindmost " was the code that too often ruled in those fugitive crowds. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 97 CHAPTER X Second Period of the Campaign When Burgoyne reached Skenesborough on the 7th of July he found himself in a most happy frame of mind. Thus far it had seemed as if all that was necessary for him to do was to pass along, jar the trees, and the rip- ened plums of success would fall of their own weight into his lap. So elated was he that on the 10th of July he ordered a Thanksgiving service to be read "at the head of the line, and at the head of the advanced Corps, and at sunset on the same day, a feu de joic to be fired with cannon and small arms at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Skenesborough and Castleton." That was indeed a bright day in Burgoyne's career, but alas ! for him, he never again saw as bright a one. Here ended the first period of the campaign, as he calls it in his " State of the Expedition." A contemporary historian relates that the " joy and exultation were extreme " among all the friends of King George who insisted upon the unqualified subjugation and unconditional submission of the colonies. Loyalist refugees in England had been full of hope ever since the plan of the Burgoyne campaign became known. One of these Tories writing from London in April said : " We believe the American game of independency is nearly up." And when the news of the fall of Ticonderoga came a score of such engaged births on a packet to New York ; while twelve or fifteen others chartered an armed vessel to convey themselves and a large consignment of merchandise, to New York so as to be on the spot when the Royal authority was reestablished, and the American 98 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Colonies were once more thrown open to English goods/ He retained his headquarters at the house of Colonel Skene, after whom the place was named, till his men had cut their way, under a broiling July sun, through a tangled mass of tree-trunks and tree-tops, harassed night and day by exhaustless and persistent hordes of punkies and mosquitoes. When the road was cleared Burgoyne advanced with his host to Fort Ann on the 25th, and on the 28th caught his first sight of the Hud- son. Then he congratulated himself and his men that their troubles were over; but they had hardly begun. The first unpleasant discovery which he made was that Schuyler had so effectually stripped the country of. food and forage that sufficient supplies could not be secured for love nor money; he was therefore obliged to halt there till stores and provisions could be brought from Canada by the way of Fort George and Skenesborough, over wretched roads made worse by incessant rains. The Jane McCrea Tragedy. While Burgoyne was encamped between Fort Ann and Sandy Hill there occurred an event, which he perhaps thought trifling, but, which wrought as powerfully for his defeat as any other one thing in the campaign. That was the murder of Jane McCrea, between Fort Ed- ward and Sandy Hill, on the 27th of July. She was a beautiful young woman visiting a Tory family at Fort Edward, and was engaged to a young Lieuten- ant of Provincials in Burgoyne's army, named David Jones. She and Mrs. McNeil, with whom she was stay- ing, were seized and carried from the house (still stand- ing in Fort Edward) by some Indians, part of a band who were in pursuit of an American scouting party which had fled to their camp, near the old fort. On their ' Trevelyan's Am. Revolution, Part III, pp. 108-9. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 99 way up the hill toward Gen. Fraser's camp located north of Sandy Hill (Hudson Falls) the Indians got quarrel- ling over their prisoners when one of them shot Miss McCrea and scalped her. Her beautiful tresses were soon seen up at the camp dangling from the belt of the Wyandotte Panther. It was generally believed at the time that her murder was wholly ,the work of Burgoyne's Indians. The news of this shocking tragedy drove her lover frantic, while her story, with many embellishments, flew everywhere and aroused the people to a sense of their personal danger as nothing else had been able to do. Every man felt that his daughter, wife, mother, or affianced might be the next victim of the murderous savage. Thus the employment by the English of Indians, as allies against their kith and kin, proved to be a veritable boomerang, for this occurrence, followed by many others, quite as revolting, wrought mightily in arousing hatred against the invaders, and in unifying the senti- ment for independence. The result was that scores and hundreds who had been wavering before, seized their muskets, hastened to the nearest recruiting station and volunteered for service against Burgoyne and his savages. It was soon dis- covered that the Indians in their forays made no distinc- tion between loyalists and rebels, e. g. about the time of the murder of Jane McCrea a British officer sent his servant to a spring out in the woods for water. In a short time an Indian came from that direction brandish- ing the man's smoking scalp, and claimed his £2 or $10. prize money. - Schuyler's Movements. While Burgoyne was eager to get himself and his armv out of Skenesborough and Heath's Memoirs, p. 124. 100 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA over to the Hudson, Schuyler, seated at Fort Edward, was just as eager to block his way and prepare a desert waste there for his reception, and this he executed with such a measure of success as we have already seen. On the 12th of July General St. Clair joined him at Fort Edward with about two thousand men, the remnant of the army which he brought away from Ticonderoga. The same day Nixon brought up his brigade from Peekskill, but instead of the four regiments ordered by Washing- ton, he had only 575 effectives, many of whom were mere boys. Schuyler now found himself at the head of some four thousand five hundred troops, about fifteen hundred of whom were raw militia. Here the calumnies so indus- triously circulated against Schuyler and St. Clair began to produce their effect on the army, and this, together with anxiety about ripening harvests, and the total lack of shelter for the troops, engendered so much discontent and insubordination, that the militia deserted faster than he could supply their places. [See note.] In this desperate Note. — Evidently some born trouble makers among the New England troops launched the slander, and diligently circulated it, that Gen. Schuyler was secretly, at heart, a Tory. Naturally this undermined his influence with them, and with their friends, back home, to whom they wrote, and sadly interfered with his plans for checking the enemies' advance. A letter published in B. Tuckerman's Life of Schuyler is very illuminating on this point. It was written by a Rev. C. M. Smith of Sharon, Conn., to his wife: " You wish to know if the rumors about General Schuyler are true, if he is secretly a Tory? saying that you are requested to ask me. My dear wife they are not true. Say this, to any who ask you, on my authority, for I speak whereof I do know. Gen. Schuyler is as earnest a patriot as any in our land, and he has few superiors in any respect. I do grieve that so many of our New England men should fail to do him justice, yet they THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 101 situation Schuyler appealed afresh to the Committees of Safety and other authorities in New York, and the East- ern States, to Congress, and to Washington for more men with whom to stem the tide of invasion, but little help came to him. At such a time as this those very New Englanders who, as politicians, had been foremost in promoting the war against tyranny, ran from, or refused to go to, the one place on earth where they could show their faith by their works. Congress was notably apathetic, and for more than a month hardly so much as lifted a finger for his aid and encouragement. Washing- ton alone appreciated the situation. He wrote urgent letters to the militia generals in Massachusetts, Con- necticut, and New Hampshire, pointing out the danger to their homes and country should Burgoyne be left un- opposed. Because of the wholesale desertion of the New Eng- land troops General Schuyler had written to Washington asking that he send him an energetic General or two who are not quite without excuse, not for their suspicions but for their dislike. The General is somewhat haughty and overbear- ing. He has never been accustomed to seeing men that are reasonably well taught, and able to give a clear opinion, and to state their grounds for it, who were not also persons of some wealth and rank ; and when our blacksmith C , came up to the General, without any preliminaries, to offer him some infor- mation and advice, but withal not disrespectfully, the General, albeit the information was of importance, and should have speedy attention — spake sharply to the poor man and bade him begone. He could have easily seen that the man meant no harm, and was far more intelligent than the most of his ' stupid Dutchmen ' (as I grieve to say our N. E. men are too apt to call 'em) even when they are officers; but it was not till I had explained to him that the man was well descended and only a blacksmith by reason that his grandfather's English estates had been forfeited to the Crown, that the General could be prevailed upon to listen to him. This is our commander's one weakness, 102 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA would be acceptable to the eastern people. He responded by sending him Lincoln and Arnold. General Arnold reported to Schuyler at Fort Edward July 22d, Gen. Lincoln at Fort Miller on the 29th. The latter was at once dispatched to Manchester to assume command of the militia assem- bling there from the Grants. A little later Washington sent north Gen. Glover with a part of his Brigade, but he could do nothing further, as his own heart and hands were full with Howe and his erratic movements in the vicinity of New York. And yet in this hour of deepest gloom Schuyler writes to the Committee of Safety of New York: "I thank God I have fortitude enough not to sink under the load of calumny that is heaped upon me, and despite it all I am supported by a presentiment that we shall still have a merry Christmas."^ He surely proved himself to be a prophet that time. Fort Edward possessed no fort during the Revolution, only a camp, and this being badly situated for defense, Schuyler withdrew the main body of his army on the 22d of July, four miles south to Moses' Creek, where Kos- and I would not have you repeat it to anyone. On the other hand our men are much too free with their strictures. Full one third of my time is taken up in trying to make them see that we have no warrant for suspicions of him, and every reason for the greatest confidence. I am in a position to form a good judg- ment, and I consider the General to be an honorable gentleman, a man of unusual probity, an excellent commanding officer, and most devoted to our cause. Tell all who talk to you about him just what I here do say, and bid 'em to pay no heed to aught the perverse faultfinders, like E. N. and N. W., may choose to say." Gen. Schuyler having received his military training in the British army had naturally grown to be somewhat strict in matters of military etiquette. In this he was not unlike Wash- ington who had in him much of the martinet. Then, too, people ' Collections of the N. Y. Historical Society. Vol. XII, THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 103 ciusko, the noted Polish engineer, had laid out an in- trenched camp. Here he prepared to dispute Burgoyne's passage ; but the army became so dispirited and so depleted by desertion, that he, with the approval of his officers, ordered a retreat further down the river, and nearer the source of supplies. The movement began on the 30th. His right wing under St. Clair took the west side of the river, and his left, under Arnold, kept down the east side. The movement was accomplished by easy stages, the army destroying the roads and bridges behind them. They reached Fort Miller on the first day's march, thence to Saratoga on the 31st of July. Here the army lay for two days. Burgoyne's Indians, ever in advance, hung like a pesti- lence on the American flanks, alert for stragglers, or de- tached parties. For example, Aug. 1st, they killed three men, on the east side of the river, and scalped two of them. This was right in sight of the American camp then at Saratoga. August 3d, about two miles west of untraveled, and of limited experience, are usually suspicious of, and often regard as stupid, those who speak their language with a dialect, or brogue, and whose habits of life are quite different from their own. In this connection would it not be wholesome for us to take a look at the reverse side of the medal. Associated with the above, Mr. Tuckerman quotes the following as an illustration of how New Yorkers in those days regarded New Englanders. It is from Lewis Morris' will, dated 1762: "It is my desire that my son, Gouverneur Morris, may have the best education that is to be had in Europe or America, but my express will and directions are, that he be never sent for that purpose to the Colony of Connecticut, lest he should imbibe in his youth that low craft and cunning so incident to the people of that country, which is so interwoven in their constitutions, that all their art cannot disguise it from the world, though many of them under the sanctified garb of religion, have endeavored to impose them- selves on the world for honest men." 104 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Saratoga, they ambushed a scouting party, killed and wounded 20 or 30, among whom was Capt. Gray of the 10th Mass. Schuyler's mills, and other buildings, located here, were full of public stores ; these had to be removed. They were mainly floated down the river to Stillwater on rafts. General Schuyler and his staff spent all the first of August in the saddle looking for a suitable place here- abouts to entrench and make a stand against the enemy, but failing in their quest, he ordered the retreat to be sounded on the 2d, and on the 3d the army reached Still- water. Here he selected a place and began to entrench, and while here made the house of Dirck Swart (still standing), his headquarters. [See Note.] Note. — Believing that it would add the human touch and give vividness to this narrative if we could know how the actual experience of camp life and marching affected the average soldier of that day we here subjoin portions of a letter writ- ten, during this retreat from the north, by William Weeks a young paymaster in Col. Scammell's regiment. " Still Water Aug. 6th, 1777. Brother : Having so convenient an Opportunity, though Time be ever so precious, I will take a Minute to give you some Idea of my present Situation & of this Part of the Globe. I suppose you have heard some Information of our Retreating from Place to Place by the Letter I wrote to my Father when at Moses Creek. Since then we left that Place & march'd to Saratoga & from thence to Still Water. The Army are somewhat unhealthy, their Disease being chiefly the Fever Ague & Dysentery, scarcely any but have had some Complaint. ... It is not at all to be wondered at if we have a few sick when lodging on the bare Ground covered with Dew wet Blankets, having a few Boards for Cover. But now they begin to be more healthy as they get hardened to this Method of living. I find there is a great deal * Journal of Col. Jeduthan Baldwin. Diary of Capt. Benjamin Warren THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 105 Gen. Schuyler was at Stillwater when he received news on Aug. 8th of the battle of Oriskany. Col. St. Leger in the execution of his part of the Burgoyne cam- paign was on his way from Oswego to Fort Schuyler (Rome), by the last of July. That post was commanded by Col. Peter Gansevoort with a garrison of 750 men. Brig. Gen. Herkimer, commander of the Tryon County militia, learning of the approach of the enemy had mobil- ized something over 800 men and was on his way to the relief of Col. Gansevoort. He reached the site of the present village of Oriskany on the 3d of August. That same day St. Leger had begun the investment of Fort Schuyler. While at Oriskany awaiting further rein- forcements some of Herkimer's officers became impatient in Use. When at " Ti " I thought I had very poor lodging when laying on my Mattress, what can I say now— this I can, that I sleep as well upon the Ground as ever I did upon a Bed Cloaths are amazing dear here as well as everything else, R[ed] Shirts are sold for 20 to 25 Dollars a piece [Continental money]. ... I hope to get some Cloathing here to rub along for the present I saved none of my cloaths except what I had on when we left " Ti." .... AUmost all the Officers & Soldiers shared the same Fate which makes Cloathing so excessive dear. A Soldiers' Life is such that no one can have a true Idea of it without the Trial. It is such that I am convinced it will suit no Man except he have a Constitution like Iron. . . There is a very good Crop in these parts but soon comes a Desolation. Wherever we march we keep our Horses in the Fields among the Corn & Oats, So that the enemy if he gain the Ground may have poor fare for them and their Horses. Tories are very Troublesome here [Col. Dearborn confirms this in his Journal]. Many of these take up Arms against us & lurk in the Woods with the Indians waiting for a Sculp. It is believed many of the Tories have sculped many of their Countrymen as there is a Premium from Burgoyne for Sculps. They [Tories] are daily taken and brought in 106 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA of delay and urged him to advance immediately, but he refused to take unnecessary risks. These malcontents gradually waxed insolent in their behavior and charged Herkimer with being a Tory and a coward. Finally under great provocation he took council of his resent- ment rather than of his judgment and ordered the ad- vance. St. Leger having heard of his approach prepared an ambuscade in a ravine about 4 miles east of Fort Schuyler. Into this Herkimer's men were entrapped and, being furiously assailed, there ensued what is generally reckoned, considering the numbers engaged, the fiercest and bloodiest battle of the Revolution. It was, however, a drawn battle as neither party at- by our Scouts & I believe some of them will swing [be hung] very soon. The Indians treat both Sexes with the same Bar- barity, have kilt and Sculped whole Familys together, Men Women & Children. At one place as our Men were passing they saw a Man his Wife & Children sculped (by those sav- ages) gaping and expiring & the Hogs rooting their Bodys. A few days ago I rode a little Distance from Camp where we had a few men stationed to guard the Sick. I had just past the Place where a Party of Indians happened to lay & stopped at the first House talking with an Officer. As I set upon my Horse out rush'd those Indians and fired at some swimming in the Water & chas'd Some as they were passing. I seeing this scream'd to the Guard to pursue them, and rode towards ,them, they discharged their Pieces toward us. Im- mediately upon our pursuing them they ran into the Woods and got off. We were in such haste they had not time to get a Sculp. They kil'd two, one shot in the Water who got out & ran a considerable Distance before he fell. Since then they have cut ofif more of our Men. One Hundred Indians in the Woods do us more harm than looo British Troops. They have been the Death of many brave Fellows. Give my best Respects to my Relations & Acquaintance, par- ticularly to my Father & Mother. I remain with due Respect Your L. Brother ^ From Five Straws. Letters of Wm. Weeks. ^^'''"- Week',."" THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 107 tempted pursuit after the fight, but Fort Schuyler was not reheved. Col. Gansevoort sent a trusty messenger to report the battle and his situation to Schuyler. Gen. Schuyler at Stillwater felt that Gansevoort should be succored at all hazards. When urging the case before a council of officers he learned that some of them were echoing one of the charges of Herkimer's officers, that he was at heart a Tory because he was willing to weaken the army in the presence of the enemy. Overhearing this he resolutely assumed all responsibility and called for a General to lead the expedition. Gen. Arnold at once volunteered. Learned's Brigade was selected. This was composed of Jackson's, Bailey's, and Van Schaack's regiments. The latter was a New York regiment, as was also Col. James Livingston's which was sent on a little later. Learned and his men started on Aug. 12th, Arnold followed the next day. St. Leger was relentlessly pushing the siege when Arnold from Fort Dayton (Herkimer), by a clever stratagem, succeeded in creating such a panic among his men. and especially the Indians, that they suddenly aban- doned their camp and scurried as for life northward. And thus Burgoyne was hopelessly crippled in the right arm of his strength, while patriot hearts thrilled with new hope in consequence, and Schuyler's little army was gladdened by the assurance of a speedy accession to its strength. It should ever be remembered that this resolute and timely action on the part of Schuyler had as much to do with shattering that important adjunct of Burgoyne's plan of campaign, viz : the conquest of the Mohawk val- ley, as did any other one human cause, and that St. Leger's defeat, equally with Baum's at Bennington, were the two events that made possible the great victory at Saratoga. 108 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Schuyler having concluded that Stillwater was unten- able with his present force, he withdrew to the " sprouts of the Mohawk," a place at that time admirably adapted for defense. General Winfield Scott on visiting this spot eighty years later, pronounced it the best strategic posi- tion to be found for the defense of Albany and the lower Hudson against the north, at that time. Movements of Burgoyne. Returning to the north we find that Burgoyne remained in the vicinity of Sandy Hill and Fort Edward till the 14th of August, when he moved down with his center to Fort Miller. Brigadier General Fraser, commanding his right wing, had already been sent forward, and on the 13th we find him camped at the Battenkill. Following him came Colonel Baume, at the head of his 521 dragoons, his Indians, and Tories, equipped for the expedition against Bennington, Ver- mont. Its purpose was to provide Burgoyne with a lot of much needed horses for cavalry, artillery, etc., be- sides other supplies, all of which were sorely needed by him, and which had been stored there for the use of the American army. Another grand purpose of this expedition was to en- courage and arm the Loyalists, or Tories, who, Burgoyne had been assured, were very numerous on the Grants and in Massachusetts. The Battle of Bennington. On the morning of the 13th Lieut. Colonel Baume forded the Battenkill near its mouth.® After reaching the old road from Schuyler- ville to Greenwich he turned to the eastward. His was a heterogeneous force, made up of two hun- dred dragoons (cavalrymen) of Riedesel's regiment, « Letters of Col. Philip Skene to Lord Dartmouth, N. Y. State Hist'ol Asso'n. Vol. V, — , 73. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 109 Capt. Fraser's marksmen, Peters' Provincials, Canadian volunteers, and something over a hundred Indians. Think of it, three races and at least four languages represented in that small body of troopers. A motley collection, that. for a task requiring unity of thought, action, and control. They made 16 miles the first day over a rugged road, mainly through a wilderness, arriving at Cambridge about 4 p. m. From Cambridge Col. Baume sent an ex- press to Burgoyne reporting a skirmish with 40 or 50 rebels who were guarding cattle. On the 14th, at 9 a. m.. he reported from Sancoik (Van Schaick's mills) another sharp skirmish with the rebels, the capture of the mills, with flour, grain, salt, etc., also that " people [Tories] are flocking in hourly and want to be armed." Some prisoners taken reported to him a force of fifteen or eigh- teen hundred, assembled at Bennington, who would prob- ably withdraw on his approach. He also stated that " the savages would destroy or drive off all horses unless he paid for them at once in cash, and that no one seemesd able to control them." That day he advanced within four miles of Benning- ton. The Americans appearing in large numbers, and beginning to harass his flanks, he retired some distance and occupied a commanding hill at a bend of the Wal- loomscoick, which was quite well wooded, and there began to intrench. It appears that after the battle of Trenton, General John Stark had returned to New Hampshire on a re- cruiting expedition, but soon thereafter hearing that the Congress had promoted junior officers over his head he resigned in disgust and retired to private life. But when the menace of Burgoyne's army appeared above the horizon his patriotism got the better of his resentment and he accepted the command of a Brigade strongly urged upon him by the General Assembly of his State. 110 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA But he would accept only on two conditions; 1st, that he should not be expected to join the main army, and 2d, that he should be subordinate to no one save the body that commissioned him. He had been at Bennington since the 9th assembling forces intending to march to Schuyler's relief, but was being held back by the Vermont Council of Safety when, on the night of the 13th, word came that a body of Bur- goyne's Indians had reached Cambridge. Col. Gregg was at once sent with 200 men to oppose their advance. The next day toward night, he received information that a large column of the enemy, with a train of artil- lery, was in full march for Bennington. Stark at once rallied all his forces, sent an urgent call for the militia in the vicinity, and also an express to Manchester order- ing Col. Warner's Regiment to march immediately to his support. The order was promptly obeyed, and they arrived just before dawn of the 16th thoroughly drenched with rain. Col. Symonds also came with a de- tachment of Berkshire militia. The 15th was a very rainy day, which rendered flint lock muskets practically useless ; but Gen. Stark and Col. Baume, however, utilized the time in preparation for the conflict. Baume spent the day intrenching and dis- posing his force to the best advantage. But very un- wisely he allowed a gap of nearly a mile, and the Wal- loomscoick river, to intervene between him and Peters' corps of Provincials, and Canadians. Burgoyne having concluded from Baume's dispatches that he would need reinforcements sent Col. Breyman on the morning of the 15th with 500 men and two brass cannon. On account of the badness of the road, made worse by the rain, the excessive heat, and through getting lost in the woods, Breyman made but slow progress, ar- riving too late to be of service. Gen. Stark, having THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 111 thoroughly reconnoitred the enemy's position, carefully planned his course of action. The 16th being a fair day Stark issued his orders for the attack. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon Baume found himself being assailed on all sides. Col. Hubbard quickly dislodged Peters' corps, which fled in disorder to the Hessian camp. Col. Nichols attacked the Hessian left, in its rear, and Col. Herrick their right. The In- dians, whose camp was in Baume's rear, beat a hasty retreat and took to the woods. Gen. Stark, with the main body, assailed the camp in front, and, clambering up the steep hillside, furiously charged the trenches defended by cannon. Two Jiours of fiercest fighting, much of it hand to hand, put an end to the fray. Most of the enemy were captured, though a few found their way through and escaped. Col. Baume, their brave leader, among others, was wounded to death. After the fight Stark's soldiers broke ranks and started pell mell to loot the enemies' camp. This nearly proved fatal to them, for at that moment, Col. Breyman arrived with his reinforcements for Baume. And had it not been for the opportune coming of Col. Warner's regi- ment, it is doubtful whether Stark could have reassem- bled his men, and reformed his ranks, to withstand this unexpected assailant. As it was the battle was renewed by Warner, and continued till sunset at which time Breyman's ammunition being exhausted, the meagre remnants of his force broke and fled. The trophies of the fight included four brass cannon,^ 259 dragoon swords, 12 brass drums, and nearly 1,000 stand of arms. The British casualties are variously re- ' The history of these four brass cannon is very interesting They were of French manufacture, were taken by Wolfe at Quebec in 1759, captured by Stark at Bennington in 1777, surrendered by Hull to the British at De- troit in i8i2, and retaken at Niagara in 1813. Fonblancjue's Burgoyne, P- 27.3 8 112 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA ported. About 200 were killed, and something like 800 were taken prisoners. After Bennington Congress voted • to make Stark a Brig. General in the U. S. army, the position which he had previously claimed of right, and which had been denied. So this venture, from which so much was expected, brought far more foreboding than forage to the royal army waiting by the Hudson. Burgoyne was now badly crippled in the left arm of his strength. Lieutenant Digby, in his Journal (page 286) says, the British officers all carried sober faces after Bennington. La Corne St. Luc, the leader of the attack on Fort Clinton at Saratoga in 1747, had command of most of the Indians with Burgoyne's army. He, with many of his Indians, was with Colonel Baume when attacked, but the battle had hardly opened when they ran. Nor did they stop running when they reached the camp of Eraser at the Battenkill, but hastily collecting their effects they all, with the exception of about eighty, started at night for Canada.^ When Burgoyne arrived at Ticonderoga he had five hundred of them. Digby in his Journal says of St. Luc : " He was as cruel and treacherous as his fol- lowers, for as soon as the British were in a critical situa- tion he deserted them." A little later quite a number of the Indians who had been with St. Leger in the west, joined Burgoyne's army. In his " State of the Expedition " Burgoyne sharply criticises the Provincials for their reluctance to enter the service and for insubordination. He had expected about two thousand, but apparently not over eight hundred ever appeared. Peters in his defense against these charges says : " Burgoyne encouraged the Provincials (native Canadians and Refugees from the States) to ^ Hadden's Journal, p. 134. Digby's Journal, p. 253. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 113 enlist and be under their own officers, to whom he prom- ised to issue commissions. He failed to do this, and at Fort Edward, told the Provincial officers that since they knew not the art of war, his sergeants and officers would take command of their men. Whereat the Americans mutinied and were about to go off with the Indians. Burgoyne, seeing this, recalled his orders and allowed them to proceed as before, but issued no commissions. Peters, and other Provincial officers, advised against making the Bennington expedition with so few men, but Burgoyne treated the advice with supercilious contempt, as did Gen. Braddock before him, and had to pay a like penalty for his conceit and arrogance. Peters and the other Provincial officers, having no commissions, were in the end defrauded by the British government of pay for seven years hard service.^ The two battles of Oriskany and Bennington caused the hitherto depressed Americans to believe that what they had done with Burgoyne's lieutenants they could no doubt do with General Burgoyne himself, so they began flocking to the standard of Schuyler at the mouths of the Mohawk, and that of General Lincoln at Manchester, Vt. And thus Washington's prediction was literally ful- filled which he made in a letter to Schuyler about the 1st of August : " As I suggested before, the successes Gen. Burgoyne has met with may precipitate his ruin. From your account he is pursuing that line of conduct which of all others is most favorable to us, I mean acting in detachments. This conduct will certainly give room for enterprise on our part, and expose his partys to great hazard. Could we be so happy as to cut one of them off, though it should not exceed four, five, or six hundred men, it would inspirit our people." » Jones, N. Y. in the Revolution, Vol. I. p. 683. 114 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Schuyler Relieved by Gates. Some days before these happy events at Bennington, and Fort Schuyler occurred, General Schuyler had been called to Albany on business. On the morning of the 10th of August, as he was about to mount his horse and return to the army, an officer approached and handed him a dis- patch. After the General had broken the seal and read it an observant onlooker would have noticed an involuntary compression of the lips, a flush of passion crimson his face, and a gleam of righteous anger shoot from his darkling eyes. The dispatch was a resolution of Congress relieving him of his command. Oh, the injustice of it ! Was this his reward for all the unselfish toil, wasting anxiety, and limitless sacrifices he had been making for his country? Well, so it seemed. Smothering his resentment he dismissed the messenger courteously, and started for Stillwater. At such a moment could he help but remember that when he assumed command there was no northern army in exist- ence ; it must be created, officered, and equipped. There were no military supplies ; he provided them. No money was given him ; he procured all that was obtainable. And now everything being ready for the crucial test just at hand, he finds himself dismissed. In this connection we will quote a criticism made by an English historian on the short sighted, childish, be- havior of the Congress toward its best Generals during these years : " Congress ousted Schuyler, insulted Greene and Knox, repremanded Stark, snubbed Benedict Arnold, courtmartialed Sullivan, Wayne and St. Clair, and promoted a cabal against Washington himself. At the same time it held Charles Lee and Horatio Gates in high repute." ^^ '" H. Belcher's First American Civil War. Vol. II-322. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 115 The best and wisest men of the Congress of 1776 with- drew from that body, preferring positions of trust in their State governments. After that the majority of the delegates to Congress were second rate, narrow minded men. Schuyler's first impulse was to abandon the army immediately, but an imperious sense of duty together SCHUVLER Rl'. LU.\l.MAi\U TO l,ATES with the tirgent appeals of his officers, prominent among whom were the New England generals, decided him to remain and serve till the coming of his successor, whose name was then unknown. We may judge, however, that he was not much surprised when General Horatio Gates, the appointee of Congress, arrived in camp on the 116 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA evening of the 19th of August to relieve him. He was received by Schuyler with every mark of distinction, who immediately turned over to him all useful papers, and oflfered to render him every assistance in his power. But so far was Gates from responding to Schuyler's magna- nimity and profiting by the counsel of the one man who, more than any other, was acquainted with the Depart- ment, that he did not even ask him to be present at his first council of war, although he did invite up from Al- bany Brig. Gen. Tenbroeck of the militia, and others. Gates arrived just at the turning of the tide in Schuy- ler's ill fortune ; in time to reap what he had been sow- ing; to profit by all the delays and harassments he had inflicted upon Burgoyne, by the successes at Fort Schuy- ler and Bennington, which had set free thousands of troops flushed with victory. E. g. In the second week of August Gen. Lincoln wrote Schuyler that he was on the way with 2,000 men from the Hampshire Grants ; Stark wrote that he was coming with the victors of Ben- nington. And while Gates was on his way from Phila- delphia, Arnold was returning with augmented forces from up the Mohawk. Schuyler now saw himself backed by 10,000 men and the skies clearing. Then too, just at this juncture, the northern army received a veritable windfall, which had also been mediated by Schuyler. In his correspondence with Washington, he had asked for help, and had pictured the terror caused by the murderous raids of Burgoyne's Indians. Wash- ington bethought himself that he had a sure antidote for them in Col. Daniel Morgan and his incomparable Ran- gers. With great reluctance he resolved to part with them for awhile, and so ordered them north. They ar- rived a few days after Gates assumed command. And Burgoyne heard from those crack woodsmen and marks- men, as we shall see later on. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 117 In addition to the command Congress had freely voted to Gates every aid and authority which had been asked by Schuyler but studiously withheld. Schuyler finding- himself totally ignored withdrew to his home at Albany, resolved however, still to serve his country in some way during this crisis. And this he did zealously and effi- ciently. Thus he put his own nobility of character and largeness of heart in startling contrast with the littleness and coarseness of Gates. Estimates of Schuyler's Character. The appear- ance of such exalted characters from time to time serves to hold us to our faith in the perfectability of human nature, and should stimulate all who contem- plate them to cultivate the grace of unselfishness. Gen. Wilkinson, Gates' Adjutant, during the Burgoyne cam- paign, has this to say of Gen. Schuyler in his Memoirs : " The zeal, patriotism, perseverance, and salutary arrangements of General Schuyler, had aroused the spirit of the country, and vanquished the predjudices excited against him by artifice, intrigue, and detraction." Daniel Webster once said to General Schuyler's grand- son, Geo. L. Schuyler: "When a life of your grand- father is to be published I should like to write the pre- face. I was brought up with New England prejudices against him, but I consider him as only second to Wash- ington in the services he rendered to the country in the war of the Revolution." Said Gov. Horatio Seymour in his Centennial speech : " We could not well lose from our history his example of patriotism and of personal honor and chivalry. We could not spare the proof which his case furnishes, that virtue triumphs in the end. We would not change, if we could, the history of his trials. For we feel that they gave luster to his character, and we are forced to say of General Schuyler that, while he 118 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA had been greatly wronged, he had never been injured. "^^ And Fiske, one of the sanest and most fair of our American historians, says of him : " No more upright and disinterested man could be found in America, and for bravery and generosity he was like the paladin of some mediaeval romance." Question ! Why had Gen. Schuyler to wait so long for his justification before the world? And why is he still overtopped in popular esteem, at least in certain quarters, by Revolutionary Brig. Generals immeasurably below him in calibre and efficiency? Trevelyan, a recent English historian, in his American Revolution, Part III., has answered it. He says : " Schuyler had the supreme misfortune of being disHked in Boston; and a statesman, or a General of the Revolution, who was out of favor with the Bostonians, had as small a chance of making a good figure in history as an Anglo Saxon, or a Plan- tagenet Monarch, who had offended the clergy and monastic chroniclers," who were the only historians of that day. But here is something conceived in quite a different vein, yet interesting. A letter from Schuyler to John Jay, dated Jan. 18th, 1779, contains the following pas- sage: "I have long since justified Congress for depriv- ing me of the command in 1777, convinced that it was their duty to sacrifice the feelings of an individual to the safety of the States, when those people, who only could defend the country, refused to serve under him."^^ This, as an example of magnanimity, is quite ideal; but in no way does it exonerate Gates from his intrigues. An American born General, as Greene, or Knox, or perhaps Arnold, should have been chosen. ^' Memoir of the Centennial Celebration of Burgoyne's Surrender, p. 60. W. L. Stone. ^- Magazine of Am. Hist. Vol. Ill, p. 760. THE STORY OF OlD SARATOGA 119 Question. \Miy has the city of Albany never reared a monument to perhaps the greatest man she has ever produced ? Burgoyne's Advance Delayed by Bennington. It had been Burgoyne's purpose to move right on toward Albany as soon as Baume should return with the spoils of Bennington, and he had already given orders to that effect. Indeed General Fraser had actually crossed the river on a bridge of rafts and boats, August 14th, and spent a day or two with his men at Saratoga.^" but the disaster to Baume and Breyman obliged a change of plan. That defeat suddenly convinced Burgoyne of the impossibility of securing supplies from the country. He saw also that he had been deceived as to the sentiment of the citizenship, and was forced into the realization of an unwelcome conclusion that he was in the midst of a hardy people, skilled with the musket, and at home in the woods, which hemmed him in on every side. In a letter to Lord George Germaine, dated Aug. 20th, he says : " Had I latitude in my orders I should deem it my duty to wait in this position [i. e. Hudson Falls to the Batten- kill] where my communication with Lake George would be perfectly secure, till some event happened to assist my forward movement." Evidently the shadows were be- ginning to fall upon his spirits. In the meantime, the bridge over the river had been swept away by a freshet. Fraser with his corps got back to their entrenchments north of the Battenkill the best way they could on small boats and rafts, while the whole army was detained an entire month, till supplies could be hauled down from Lake George. This, through lack of sufficient draught animals, was a herculean task, men being forced to do the work of mules and oxen. About " Hadden's Journal, p. 137. Digby's Journal, p. 249. 120 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 500 horses arrived from Canada on the 18th of Aug. which greatly relieved the strain. This respite gained for us by the battle of Bennington was most opportune, because it afforded the needed time for recruiting and thoroughly organizing the American army, which was now progressing quite rapidly at the " sprouts of the Mohawk." Fraser threw his first bridge across the Hudson, some- where above the present State Dam at Northumberland, but finding a narrower and better place below the rapids constructed the next one there. The latter was a pontoon bridge, or bridge of boats, about 425 feet long, and its exact location is still marked by the cut through the bank on the west side, and the road excavated by the British down the east bank. The road is clearly visible from the new iron bridge, in the rear of the house of Ex. Gov. John A. Dix. Mr. Dix has very considerately left this historic road intact, and also much of the breastworks constructed by Burgoyne, behind which he posted a bat- tery to defend the crossing. Amid so much spoliation and vandalism which has been exhibited hereabouts it is refreshing to feel that there are some among us possessed of a proper reverence for such monuments of the heroic past. For a month after Bennington the British lay strung along the river from Hudson Falls to the Battenkill. Fraser was at the Battenkill, Burgoyne and Phillips with the center at Fort Miller or " Duer's House," and Riedesel, with the left, at Fort Edward and Sandy Hill. Burgoyne Begins His Final Advance. On Satur- day, the 13th of September, the crossing began under the lead of Fraser. Colonel Breyman followed imme- diately to cover his left wing. Next, on the 14th, came Burgoyne and Phillips with the train of artillery. To THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 121 expedite the crossing the 20th regiment forded the river instead of crowding the bridge. Burgoyne took up his quarters in the Schuyler mansion that night. The Marshall house and one other, standing where the old parsonage of the Reformed church now is, were then the only dwellings north of the creek. The military bar- racks built by the Americans in the northwest angle formed by Broadway and Spring street, were also stand- ing. Fort Hardy was then a ruin. The heights above Broadway were nearly all densely wooded at that time ; hence it was extremely hazardous for the advance guard to separate itself from the main body, cross the river, and camp in a position difficult of defense. That the British fully appreciated this we are assured from the fact that after Burgoyne was over, and while his center was crossing, he and his generals inspected the heights and decided where each division should be posted in the event of an attack. In fact the advance or right wing camped for two nights on the heights in three col- umns, in order of battle.^* On the 15th Riedesel with the left wing crossed, when, at once, Burgoyne severed his communications with Can- ada by breaking up the bridge. The advance was sounded and the invading host forded the Fishkill and started forth to find the enemy posted somewhere in the woods to the south. Singularly enough Burgoyne had not pro- vided himself with scouts, or if he had them, did not use them ; hence we have here the unique spectacle of an invading army groping its way through an unmapped wilderness for an enemy, native to the soil, without send- ing out feelers or using its eyes to ascertain their exact whereabouts. The British advanced in three parallel columns, one " Digby's Journal, p. 267. 122 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA by the river along the flats, the artillery and baggage by the main road, and the right wing a half mile or more to the west through the woods. Sometimes it was diffi- cult for the columns to keep up communication with each other. In addition to this a fleet of 200 bateaux, floated down the river carrying the baggage, the ord- nance stores, and a month's supply of provisions. " The money value of that cargo amounted to a king's ransom, for (according to an elaborate calculation which found its way into London newspapers) every pound of salt meat on board that flotilla had already cost the taxpayers the sum of 30 shillings," i. e. $7.50 per lb. in our currency. ^^ That day the army advanced only as far as Dovegat^'' (Coveville) and encamped. While stationed here, Burgoyne occupied the house shown in the picture, and which was but recently torn down.^^ The army remained at Dovegat all of the 16th, while several regiments personally conducted by Burgoyne, and accompanied by some two hundred workmen, started forth to repair bridges, and learn the whereabouts of the enemy. So rapid were their movements that they covered nearly three miles that day ; they saw no enemy, but heard the sound of drums ofif in the woods to the south calling the men to arms. On the 17th the army advanced and ^' Trevelyan's American Rev., p. i6i. " Dovegat is a word whose etymology has been much in dispute. That it is of Dutch origin is not doubted. The writer consulted Mr. Arnold J. F. van Laer, State Archivist at Albany, a cultured linguist, and a native of Holland. He concludes that it is a corruption of the Dutch iduevenkot, equivalent to the English dove-cote. It must have been a favorite haunt or nesting place of wild pigeons. Burgoyne, and Hadden, and Digby, all wrote it Dovegot. " When this photo was taken the house stood on the north side of the oanal, but when the canal was straightened in i88S it was left on the south side. Its exact location was just west of the south abutment of Mr. Charles Sarlc's canal bridge. The large elm tree, still standing, was pcrha;is two rods from the south-east corner of the house. The barn in the photo stood Tn.the north side i'>f the present canal. •-^8*^ ( ^i»."i *N. * m^' ,y , 1 "TWfSSS' i THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 123 took up its position at Sword's house. (This should be written S wart's house. )^* While the British army was lying at Swart's house, a party of soldiers and women strolled out in front of the encampment a few hundred yards to dig some potatoes in a field. While thus engaged a party of Americans swooped down upon them, killed and wounded quite a number, and led away about twenty of them as prisoners. ^^ Movements of the American Army. As we have seen. Gates assumed command the 19th of Aug., on \'an Schaick's island at the mouths of the Mohawk. On the 30th Col. Morgan with his 500 rifle- men reported. These men had been carefully picked from the different regiments of the main army. On the 31st Gen. Arnold came in from his Fort Schuyler expe- dition with five regiments. Morgan on his arrival re- ceived from Gates a most cordial welcome, and every mark of deference. Moreover, as a special token of regard, his corps was designated as " the advance of the army," and he was directed to receive orders only from the General-in-Chief. Also under Morgan was placed an additional battalion of about 300 men, selected from the Northern Army in the same way his own had been from the Southern. This battalion was led by Major ^' The site of Sword's house is on the south side of a spring brook, about fifty yards west of the canal. To find it, take the private road running westward, just north of Searles' ferry, cross the canal bridge, and on a knoll a little to the left you will find a slight depression, at the foot of a higher hill. That is where Sword's or Swarts house once stood. Mr. Robert Searles told the writer that his father tore it down, and that the hall was so large that he could turn a yoke of oxen around in it. " Sword's house," is doubtless a mistake of Burgoyne's secretary, who misunderstood his informant. It should have been Swart's house. There were no Swords living in this region at that time nor since, but plenty of Swarts, one of whom is known to have owned a farm in that neighborhood. " Hadden's Journal, p. i6a. 124 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Dearborn, a New Hampshire man, who had been a comrade of Morgan in the 1775 attempt against Quebec. Gates now felt himself strong enough to start north- ward to contest the advance of the enemy. This move- ment began the 8th of Sept. On the 9th Army head- quarters were established at Stillwater. That day a white flag came in from Gen. Burgoyne with a Doctor and necessaries for the sick and wounded of Benning- ton. A most thoughtful and fitting act. Gates at first settled on Stillwater as the place where he would make his stand, and forthwith began intrench- ing himself. But the wide area of comparatively level ground at that point made it difficult to defend his left and center. Gen. Arnold and Kosciusko, the Polish en- gineer, having spent a day inspecting the country a little to the north, reported to Gates a site at Bemis Heights admirably fitted by nature for holding an enemy at bay. Gates approving of their judgment ordered the abandon- ment of Stillwater so, on the 13th, the army moved up to that position and began there the construction of defensive works. The Hudson, at the little hamlet of Bemis Heights, approaches within 30 rods of the river hills or bluffs. Gates' right rested on the river, his left on the high ground to the west. The whole camp was fortified by strong batteries and breastworks as well as by the natural defenses of ravines and thick woods. A deep intrench- ment ran from the foot of the hills to the river at Bemis' tavern, and was defended at the river end by a battery. From here a floating bridge was thrown across the river, defended on the east side by a tete du pout. A similar work was thrown up farther north at Mill creek. Several redoubts connected by trenches crowned the bluffs facing the river. A strong earthwork was constructed on the high knoll at the northwest angle of the camp, a mile or THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 125 more west of the river. This was thrown up around a log barn, which was strengthened by a double coating of logs and named, after the patriotic owner of the property. Fort Neilson. In addition td breastworks the left and front on the high ground were made difficult of approach by an abatis formed of trees felled with their tops out- ward. The defenses on the high ground were not com- pleted till after the first battle. A flank intrenchment was also begun on a knoll a little west of Fort Neilson. Midway between Wilbur's Basin and Bemis Heights Mill Creek empties into the canal. Following up this creek you will enter first a wide and deep ravine which soon turns northward. This again separates into three principal ravines which lead toward the west. A little to the south of the first one you meet, Gates threw up his northern line of breastworks. The one called the Middle Ravine was recognized as the dividing line be- tween the hostile camps after the first battle. This figures largely in all descriptions of the movements and incidents connected with the battles. These ravines being thickly wooded, filled with fallen timber and tan- gled brushwood, and with sides very steep, were practi- cally impassable for large bodies of men equipped for battle, and of course were easily defended. Arnold had command of the left wing till after the first battle. Under him were Morgan and Poor, with their headquarters in the Neilson house, still standing. Gates reserved to himself the command of the right, with his headquarters at Bemis' tavern. When he gave com- mand of the right to General Lincoln he moved up on the hill into a house owned by Ephraim Woodworth, whose site is now marked by a granite tablet. A fairly correct idea of the lay of the land, the plan of the camps, and relative positions of the hostile armies, may be had by reference to the map. 126 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Morgan and Dearborn, with their Rangers, had for some days kept themselves about two miles in advance of the main army. The same day that Bemis Heights was occupied they went scouting as far north as Sara- toga and brought back a few prisoners. From that time bodies of troops were kept in the woods to the north on the lookout for the enemy. On the 18th Arnold with about 3,000 men, and Morgan with his corps started out with the hope of striking the British on their flank but found it impracticable to assail them advantageously. How- ever it was a party of Morgan's men who swooped down on the potato diggers, previously mentioned, and stopped the fun of foraging. That day they bagged 36 prisoners. A German officer said of these annoyances : " We had to do the enemy the honor of sending out whole regiments to protect our workmen while repairing roads and bridges." Gen. Stark came in on the 16th with his brigade of militia, the heroes of Bennington. But unfortunately the time of their enlistment was about expired. Both Gates and Stark used every argument to induce them to stay a few days longer as a battle with Burgoyne himself was now imminent, but all their pleadings were of no avail. The men asserted it had been expressly stipulated that they were to obey no commander but Gen. Stark, and now their time being out they were going home, even though their General himself desired to stay. They left on the 18th, the day before the battle. Soon, however. Stark was enabled to take the field with a new brigade. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 127 CHAPTER XI Battle of the 19th of September Early on the 19th of September, Lieutenant-Colonel Colburn of the New Hampshire line and a small scout- ing party posted themselves in the trees across the river from Swart's house to observe the British camp. From there they counted no less than eight hundred tents, but observed also something of far more consequence, namely, a movement among those tents that strongly in- dicated an advance. This being immediately reported to Gates, he put his men on the alert. He at the same time issued orders for the army to strike their tents and have the teams and baggage ready for retreat. This order was repeated on five subsequent days according to the diary of Sergeant Frank Squier.'^ Gen. Gates' army, at this time, was made up as fol- lows : Gen. Poor's Brigade, consisting of the New Hampshire regiments of Cilley, Scammel, and Hale : Van Cortland's and Henry Livingston's New York regiments ; Cook's and Latimer's Connecticut militia; Morgan's rifle corps, and Dearborn's rangers. These composed the left wing under Arnold, resting on the heights a mile and more west of the river. General Learned's brigade, Bailey's, Wesson's and Jackson's Mass. regiments, and James Livingston's New York regiment were posted on the plateau to the east of the Neilson barn. The main body under the immediate command of Gen. Gates, was composed chiefly of Nixon's, Patterson's, and Glover's brigades. These formed the right wing on the bluff, and extended across the low ground to the river. ' Mag. of American Hist. Vol. II p. 693. ' 128 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA The surmise of the scout proved to be correct. Bur- goyne, as the result of a brief reconnaissance., and after consultation with certain Americans in his army who knew the ground, decided that the only vulnerable point of the American lines was the left flank. He resolved, therefore, to advance, ascertain the position and strength of his enemy, and outflank him if possible. The move- ment was made in three columns. The right under General Fraser, composed of the 24th regiment, the English and German grenadiers, a body of Provincials and Canadians, and a light German battalion with eight six pounders under Colonel Breyman took the road west from Swart's house to a point where the present Quaker Springs road runs, and there turned south. The center column, led by Burgoyne. composed of the 9th, 20th, 21st, and 62d regiments, with a body of Indians and Canadians, took the same road for half a mile west, when he turned southeast till he struck the Wilbur's Basin ravine, crossed it and then turned west. Bur- goyne's advance was very slow and laborious, as many obstructions had to be removed and several bridges thrown- across ravines for the passage of his artillery. The intention was to form a junction with Fraser near the head of the Middle ravine and from there attempt to turn the American left. Phillips and Riedesel, with the balance of the army, were to follow the river road to within a half mile of the American works and there to await the report of three minute guns as notice that the aforesaid junction had been made, when they were to threaten the American right until Burgoyne had executed his flanking movement. Then the advance was to be general. Gates, although apprised of these movements by his scouts, had planned to await the enemy behind his de- fenses. But Arnold, divining the intention of Burgoyne, THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 129 urged Gates to permit him to go out with his men and attack the enemy before he could reach the camp, urging as arguments that if beaten in the attack they would still have the woods and their intienchments to fall back on, and that if Burgoyne should get near enough to the camp to use his artillery, it would be impossible to hold their position. This brings to mind Napoleon's dictum, " It is a maxim of the military art that the army which remains in its intrenchments is beaten." If that be cor- rect then Arnold here proved himself to be the better general. Finally Gates yielded so far as to permit Morgan, and soon thereafter Dearborn, with their rangers and rifle- men, to go out to observe and harass the enemy. About 12 :30 p. m. they met Burgoyne's' Indians and Canadians under Major Forbes scouting a little west of the Free- man cottage. These were driven back, with considerable loss, every officer in the party being either killed or wounded. Morgan's men eagerly pursued and unex- pectedly struck the main body in the edge of the woods, northeast of the cottage where, after a stubborn contest, they were routed and badly scattered in the woods. Mor- gan, though greatly disconcerted by this accident, was soon able by the vigorous use of his " turkey call " whistle to rally his men about him. Having been strengthened on his left by the arrival of Cilley's and Scammel's regiments, they renewed the attack about one o'clock, but with indifferent results. Burgoyne formed his line of battle in the woods on the north side of a clearing owned by one Isaac Freeman. It contained 12 or 15 acres and extended east and west about sixty rods. This clearing, called Freeman's farm, was the princi])al scene of the action of the 19th. Fraser with the right wing had reached the line of low hills just west of Freeman's farm when the action began. After 130 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA the termination of the first skirmish, and when the con- test had been vigorously renewed, Fraser wheeled to the left for the purpose of flanking Morgan and the other regiments when, to his surprise, he encountered, in the woods near the head of the Middle ravine, Arnold with several additional New York and New Hampshire regi- ments intent on separating Fraser from Burgoyne. It is needless to say that the dogs of war were unleashed at once, and a furious struggle ensued. The two most fiery leaders in either army were here personally opposed to each other. Arnold and Fraser both seemed ubiquitous, rushing hither and yon in the thick of the fray, giving orders and encouraging their men. The battle here raged for more than an hour, and Fraser seemed in imminent danger of being cut ofif from the main body when Colonel Breyman with his German grenadiers and a few pieces of artillery appeared on the field and assailing Arnold on his right forced him back. But he retired only to catch breath and regain his strength, for soon being reinforced by two regiments of Connecticut militia he returned to the field, and then the battle raged all along the line. Fraser having formed his junction with Burgoyne, the chief struggle was now on Freeman's clearing and in the open woods just to the west. The Americans attacked the British furiously and drove them into the woods on the north side, where they were rallied, and charging with bayonets drove the Americans back across the same field into the cover of the woods to the south, where they in turn recovered themselves and hurled the redcoats back with great slaughter. Morgan's sharpshooters, posted in trees, did terrible execution among the British officers as well as the rank and file. Both sides exhibited the most desperate valor, and bloody hand to hand con- tests were frequent, especially about the British field battery, which was taken and retaken at every charge. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 131 but the Americans, having no horses nor matches could neither get them off the field nor fire them. Gates, hav- ing been persuaded to reinforce the tired patriots, about five o'clock sent out Learned's brigade, which renewed the fight with such spirit that Burgoyne, finding himself on the perilous edge of defeat, sent to his left for rein- forcements. Riedesel responded promptly and reaching the field about dusk, struck the American right, folded it back, and posted Pausch's battery on the hill south of Freeman's cottage, which was served with such efficiency that the patriots were obliged to give way and retire. Though nearly dark Riedesel and Fraser were on the point of following up their success when Burgoyne, neither energetic nor wise enough to improve his advan- tage, called a halt, to the infinite disgust of both generals and common soldiers. Thus twice during that eventful day the Germans saved the British army from rout, and yet Burgoyne scarcely mentioned them in his dispatches home. Victory that day was evidently for the General who could most promptly bring up the largest reserves; but the reinforcements that Gates so sparingly doled out to Arnold were all he was allowed to receive. He had a number of brigades in reserve most of whom were, no doubt, eager for a chance at the enemy. Some of these men had already had their baptism of fire at Bunker Hill, Quebec, and Oriskany. At least Gates, if he were a really live general, could and should have made a diver- sion in Arnold's favor at the British left, down on the river flats. That would have kept Generals Phillips and Riedesel at their posts instead of leaving them free to go to Burgoyne's rescue as they did. Of course Burgoyne claimed a victory, but like Pyr- rhus' victory over the Romans, another such would prove 132 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA his ruin.^ Indeed it had been an unusually fierce and sanguinary struggle. On the British side the 62d regi- ment was nearly cut to pieces. It had three or four en- signs or color bearers killed; only sixty of the three or four hundred men who entered, with five or six officers, reported for duty, and thirty-six out of forty-eight men in Captain Jones' artillery company were either killed or wounded, the Captain himself being among the victims. Lieut. Hadden, who worked two guns on the British left says, he lost in killed or wounded nineteen out of twenty artillerymen, and that while he was applying to Gen. Phillips for aid his cap was shot through. Lieut. Anbury, in his " Travels," says : '' The officers who have been killed and wounded in the late action are much greater, in proportion, than that of the soldiers, which must be attributed to the great execution of the riflemen, who directed their fire against them in particular." Again he says : " The courage and obstinacy with which the Americans fought, were the astonishment of everyone, and we now became fully convinced they are not that contemptible enemy we had hitherto imagined them." It is fitting to recall right here that Morgan's corps was the first on the field and the last to leave it. Where it was engaged the strife was more deadly and less in- terrupted than in any other position. Its loss was greater than that of any American regiment engaged, while the number who fell by its hands was nearly half of those admitted by Burgoyne to have fallen in battle. More- over after this battle, in which Morgan's men had been specially pitted against the Indians, in the British army, and as a result of their costly experience, most of the - It was a dear bought victory, if I can give it that name, as we lost many brave men .... and no very great advantage, honor excepted, was gained by tlit- day. — Digby's Journal, p. 273. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 133 savages discovered that some very pressing business called them homeward, and they went. The Americans lost in killed and wounded three hun- dred and nineteen, or ten per cent of those engaged; the British lost six hundred or twenty per cent of those actually engaged. And as to the question of victory : Since it was Burgoyne's purpose to advance and not simply to hold his ground, while Gates' purpose was to hold his ground and check the advance of Burgoyne, the reader can judge for himself to whom the palm should be given. However it is fair to call it a drawn battle. Moreover, the Americans learned that they were a match for the dreaded British regulars, which discovery was in itself worth a victory to them. Burgoyne issued orders for a renewal of the conflict in the morning. Accordingly, ammunition and rations were served early to the men, but a dense fog hindered any movement at the appointed hour. While waiting for it to clear up, Fraser observed to Burgoyne that since his grenadiers were greatly fatigued after yesterday's fighting, it might be well to wait till the morrow, when they would be in far better spirits. Acting on this sug- gestion, Burgoyne countermanded the order and the men returned to their quarters. The Americans, apprised of this proposed movement by a deserter, manned their works and awaited the attack in dread suspense. Had Burgoyne attacked that morning, as he had planned, in all probability he would have carried Gates' works ; for the American stock of ammunition was practically exhausted, and several days elapsed before the magazine was replenished.^ ^ It was due to General Schuyler's diligence in collecting powder and lead that this deficiency was supplied. For the purpose he had the lead- ing stripped from the windows and roofs in Albany, and sent up to the army. 134 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA The following night a dispatch from Sir Henry Clin- ton reached Burgoyne to the effect that he was about to move up the Hudson from New York to his aid. This decided Burgoyne to remain where he was until the expected diversion should cause either the withdrawal or diminution of Gates' army. Why Howe Failed to Co-operate with Burgoyne. For many years after the event, students of the Revo- lutionary war, in both England and America, cogitated much over Howe's failure to execute his share of the carefully planned campaign. The question was, Why did he not advance up the Hudson simultaneously with Burgoyne's descent from the north? Clinton's attempted diversion in Burgoyne's behalf was afterward learned to be wholly on his own motion. This served rather to com- plicate than to clear up the problem. But a memoran- dum left by Lord Shelburne, and quite recently brought to light by Lord Edmund FitzMaurice, has solved the mystery. A number of orders, dispatches, etc., duly pre- pared, awaited the signature of Lord George Germaine, the colonial secretary. Among these were the orders to Howe giving explicit directions for co-operating with Burgoyne. Lord George called in the office on his way to attend some social function or fox hunt down in Kent. He hastily signed the several papers, but when he came to this particular one, on glancing it over, he refused to sign it on the ground that it was not " fair copied." Always impatient of anything that interfered with his plans, the fairer " copy " must await his signature until he returned from his holiday. But when he came back the matter had wholly slipped his mind. And thus the document on which hung the fate of an army, and the retention of a vast empire, got pigeon-holed, where it was discovered, unsigned, long after Saratoga had tipped the balances in favor of American liberty and independence. Thus THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 135 Howe being left to his own devices, planned a campaign to the south, placed Clinton in charge at New York, and left Burgoyne to shift for himself. Those of us who believe that the Almighty Ruler takes a hand in the affairs of men and nations, reckon this to be a conspicuous proof that he favored this people in their mighty struggle for a freer and nobler life. Indeed this whole campaign is full of astonishing Providences for those who have an eye to see them. Gen. J. Watts De Peyster, an acknowledged authority in military science, in a letter to the writer, says : " The American success of 1777 was due to ' the strategy of Providence ' and not of men, as Kingsley puts it : cer- tainly not to Gates, who was another of those English military Phantasms, as he demonstrated in South Caro- Hna in 1780." The Interim Between the Battles. The morning after the battle the field presented a most dis- tressing spectacle. The dead lay everywhere like autumn leaves in the forest. Some were still clutching their weapons, or the grass and twigs they had grasped in their death agonies, and some were mangled beyond all recognition. Shallow trenches were hastily dug on the field, into which the bodies were flung (each one of them no doubt was most precious and sacred to loved ones far away) and thinly covered with earth. Here note one of the horrors of war ; a violent death, far from friends ; and burial like a beast in a nameless grave. The writer has heard old residents on these battle-fields tell of see- ing human bones turned up by the plow and skulls of grenadiers adorning stumps in the field. As soon as Burgoyne had resolved to await Clinton's coming, he moved the major part of his army up on the heights, occupied a portion of the late battle-field and 136 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA began the construction of a fortified camp. The right embraced the Freeman farm, and also took in a hill about sixty rods to the northwest of the Freeman cottage, since called Breyman's hill.* On this a strong redoubt was erected ; another was placed about fifteen rods north of the cottage, and the spot is now marked by a granite tab- let ; another called the Great Redoubt, was located on the knoll a few rods southwest of the old battle well. This defended the southwest angle of the camp. Others were located at proper intervals from this point east across the plain to the crest of the bluffs near the river. These redoubts were connected by strong intrenchments. The irjterval between Breyman's hill and the next redoubt to the south was defended by a breastwork, of two parallel tiers of rails laid up between perpendicular posts and the space between filled with earth. At Wilbur's Basin, a pontoon bridge was thrown across the river, its eastern end was defended by a redoubt. This bridge was intended for the use of foraging parties chiefly. On each of the three hills just north of Wilbur's Basin a redoubt was erected. The middle one was called the Great Redoubt. In addition to these defenses, breast- works of logs were thrown up at intervals along the brink of the Middle ravine as cover to the advanced pickets. Thousands of trees were cut to give clear play to the ar- tillery. Burgoyne had his hospitals and magazine on the river flats below the hills. These were defended on the north by a line of breastworks. His headquarters were with the center on the high ground. Burgoyne's army was disposed as follows : Fraser's brigade held the right wing; Breyman, with his Bruns- wickers and artillery, defended the hill with its redoubt at the extreme right; next to him were the few Indians left, and Canadians, behind the rail breastworks; next * The residents in the vicinity now call it Burgoyne's hill; a misnomer. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 137 to the left was Earl Balcarras, with the light infantry, and the English grenadiers. These manned the other re- doubts on the right. Eraser's left rested on a ravine run- ning north and south across the camp ground, and east of the Freeman cottage. Hamilton's brigade occupied the center at Eraser's left, while Riedesel, with his Ger- mans, held the left wing on the plateau overlooking the river; a part of the 47th regiment and a few German companies defended the hospitals, magazines, etc., on the river flats. It js interesting to note, by the way, that the 47th took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. Thus the hostile camps, each the counterpart of the other, were separated by the distance of a cannon shot only. Indeed so close together were they that the British officers in their journals say they could often hear talk- ing and shouting in the American camp, while the sound of chopping and the rattle of chains were daily reminders that the Americans were strengthening their defenses. But the thick woods effectually screened each camp from the other. Soon after the battle ended, and the hush of night was fallen, Gen. Gates sent out a picket of a hundred selected men to watch the movements of the enemy. They re- ported that all night long they heard the cries and groans of the wounded boys. They were anxious to offer them help, but the enemies' guard would not allow it. The day following as soon as Gates concluded that Burgoyne would not renew the attack, he gave orders to hasten the completion of the defensive works, already laid out by Kosciusko. The work on these was pushed till the camp became well nigh unapproachable to a force like Burgoyne's, should it attempt to storm it. Also, by the 30th, Col. Jeduthan Baldwin, of the Engineers, had a floating bridge completed across the Hudson. Just before the battle of the 19th Gates had sent for 138 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Gen. Lincoln that he might post himself immediately on Burgoyne's left. He at once started from Manchester for Bemis Heights and arrived on the 22d with 2,000 troops. He had been detailed by Gen. Schuyler on July 30th to take command at Manchester. His appearance put new heart into the inhabitants of that region, who were abandoning their homes through fear of Burgoyne's Indians. Early in Sept. he advanced northward to Paw- let, near Skenesboro, whence, on the 12th, he sent Col. Brown against Fort George, and Col. Johnson against forts Ticonderoga and Independence. On the 17th Brown captured Fort George ; a party of rangers under Capt. Allen got possession of Mt. Defiance ; while an- other detachment from Johnson surprised and captured a company of the 47th British regiment, at the old French lines within pistol shot of Fort " Ti." Capt. Brown immediately started southward, and appeared at Bemis Heights, Oct. 1st, with 315 British prisoners, and 118 Americans whom they had released from captivity. They had done the enemy much damage, and brought off plunder valued at £10,000. In the Journals of American officers we note that many deserters from the British camp, mainly Hessians, came in daily. These poor fellows persisted in deserting despite the dreadful punishment inflicted by Burgoyne on those recaptured. On the 20th about 120 Oneida, Onondaga, and Tuscarora Indians came in, and made themselves useful for a time capturing stray Britons. One day a party of them came in with two prisoners and a scalp. Gen. Gates gave them $20 each for the prison- ers, but would allow them nothing for the scalp. Whether such tpeatment disgruntled them doth not appear, but most of them, however, went off on the 27th to the great relief of all concerned. Though well able to defend himself against attack, yet THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 139 Burgoyne and his men were allowed precious little peace or rest. He was subjected to constant harassnients at the hands of the vigilant Americans. His advanced pickets were frequently gathered in by venturesome par- ties, his scouts and messengers were waylaid and cap- tured, and no foraging party dare move abroad without a strong guard ; for example 40 or 50 of the seamen who had charge of the flotilla of bateaux were captured while searching for food among the deserted farms on the east side of the river. The early morning of Sept. 23d Burgoyne sent Capt. Gerlach of the Brunswickers. across the Hudson, with a strong detachment of Provincials, to ascertain the position of the " rebels." He reported that he had been down the river several miles but failed to discover anything definite. Another party attempted to cross the ravines for the same purpose, but a chaos and tangle of brush and fallen timber defeated that venture. Packs of wolves attracted by the thinly covered bodies of the slain hovered about the camp and rendered the nights hideous with their dismal howls. At first it was thought the uncanny noises were made by camp dogs, and they were ordered to be confined. But the following night the hullaballoo was still more frightful. A scout sent to learn what it meant reported the real cause. No soldier slept without his clothes. No night passed that the officers were not up and abroad, repeatedly, to assure themselves against surprise, while everybody was invariably up and equipped for action an hour before day. Thus two weary weeks had passed and yet no fur- ther tidings came from Clinton. Says one of the Hessian officers : "At no time did the Jews await the coming of their Messiah with greater eagerness than we awaited the coming of Gen. Clinton." Meanwhile the stock of pro- visions was running perilously low. Gates though urged to attack, wisely declined, feeling 10 140 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA that time was fighting for him more efficiently and cheaply than could bristling battalions and belching bat- teries, because his own army was augmenting, while Bur- goyne's was decreasing, and furthermore, a thing of far weightier import was the fact that gaunt famine could not be far away from his belligerent neighbor across the ravine to the north. On the other hand the American camp was not alto- gether a heavenly place. For some time Gates had been treating Arnold with growing coolness, for reasons that were not apparent to the ordinary observer. Colonel Brockholst Livingston, writing from the camp at Bemis Heights, says it was because Arnold was an avowed friend of General Schuyler. But after the battle of the 19th this coolness rapidly developed into an open rup- ture. Another reason for Gates' attitude was this : He discovered that the soldiery were giving to Arnold and Morgan the principal credit for whatever was achieved in the late battle. A temperamental weakness of that Gen- eral here came to the surface, viz : impatience with those above or below him whom the public deHghted to honor. It reminds one of King Saul after he heard the women singing: " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." I. Sam. 18:5-9. Thereafter Saul had no more use for David. In general orders for Sept. 26 Gates gives belated praise to the army. In his thanks he mentions Generals Poor and Learned, Col. Marshall and his 10th Mass. regiment, which was al- together proper, but says nothing about Arnold and Morgan. Again in his report of the battle, to Congress, Gates did not mention the name of Arnold nor did he speak of Morgan approvingly, though it was notorious that the checking of Burgoyne's advance was mainly due to Arnold's judgment and skill, ably seconded by Mor- gan. And when Arnold called his attention to this slight, THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 141 Gates, assuming lofty airs, treated him as an impertinent meddler. Arnold, not being specially gifted with docility and sweetness of spirit, resented this, when high words ensued, which resulted in Gates depriving him of his command. General Schuyler, replying to a letter from Colonel Richard Varick, then in the camp, says : "I won- der at Gates' policy. He will probably be indebted to him for the glory he may acquire by a victory ; but per- haps he is so very sure of success that he does not wish the other [Arnold] to come in for a share of it." This conjecture of Schuyler's soon developed into a fulfilled prophecy. "Lossing truly says : 'But for Arnold on that eventful day, Burgoyne would have marched into Albany at the autumnal equinox, a victor,' and yet Gates behaved toward Arnold as if he had clone him an injury instead of a favor." At the earnest entreaties of the officers of his division, Arnold pocketed his insults and determined to remain with the army till after the next battle, which then seemed imminent. After the rupture between Gates and Arnold, Gen. Lincoln was given the command of the right wing, and Gates moved his quarters from Bemis' tavern up on the heights and occupied Capt. Ephriam Woodworth's house, at the junction of the Saratoga and Quaker Springs roads. A few days before the second battle Gates re- ceived a request from Washington, that Morgan and his corps be returned if he could possibly be spared. From his reply to Washington one can easily draw Gates' real estimate of Morgan's worth to him. After describing the two armies as still facing each other, waiting to re- new the struggle. Gates says : " In this situation your Excellency would not wish me to part with the corps that the army of Gen. Burgoyne are most afraid of." Italics our own. 142 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER XII Battle of the 7th of October BuRGOYNE, not having heard anything from CHnton, and his commissariat running low, called a council of his principal officers on the evening of the 5th of October, laid the situation before them, and asked their advice. Riedesel advised a hasty retreat to Fort Edward ; Eraser conceded the wisdom of this, but was willing to fight ; Phillips declined to give an opinion. Burgoyne, strongly averse to a retreat, decided to ascertain first, the position and strength of his enemy, by a reconnaissance in force ; and secondly, to learn if the high ground to the west com- manded Gates' cariip ; then if he should think it unwise to attack, he would retreat. With a body of fifteen hundred picked men, and two twelve pounders, six six-pounders, and two howitzers, he set out from the camp between ten and eleven o'clock on the morning of the 7th. Generals Phillips, Riedesel and Eraser accompanied Burgoyne to assist in the reconnaissance. They moved toward the southwest about two-thirds of a mile and deployed in an open clearing and sat down while a detail of drivers and batmen from Eraser's brigade foraged in a wheat field. The place is the southern slope of the rise of ground just north of the Middle ravine. The highway running from Quaker Springs to Bemis Heights passes through the left of the center of the British position. The light infantry, under the Earl of Balcarras, were stationed on the right, Riedesel, with his Germans and a battery of two six pounders under Captain Pausch, held the center; Majors Ackland and Williams, with the gren- adiers and most of the artillery, were posted on the left. General Eraser with five hundred grenadiers had occu- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 143 pied some high ground in the advance to the right with the intention of steaHng around to the left of the Ameri- can works and holding their attention while the main body could gain the high ground to the west of the American camp. Gates having been apprised of the movement, sent out his adjutant, Wilkinson, to ascertain if possible its pur- pose. Having posted himself on the high knoll at the turn of the road, about fifty rods south of the Middle ravine bridge he saw the enemy arrayed in the fields over against him, and several officers posted on the roof of a log house, with glasses, trying to get a glimpse of the American works. He reported that Burgoyne apparently offered battle. Gates said, " what would you suggest ?" Wilkinson replied, " I would indulge him." Then, said Gates, " order out Morgan to begin the game." After a little consultation it was decided that Morgan should make a circuit to the west and strike the enemy in flank. General Poor, with his brigade, was to assail their left flank, while Learned's brigade and Dearborn's light in- fantry were to engage the center and left. Sufficient time was to be given Morgan to reach his position before the attack should begin. General Poor having formed his line of battle ordered his men not to fire till after the first volley from the enemy. At about 2 :30 p. m. the advance began, and Poor's men descended into the ravine with perfect coolness and ascended the opposite bank with the steadiness of veter- ans. They were well up and were nearing the enemy before a shot was fired, when suddenly a tremendous volley of musketry and cannon thundered forth, but the pieces being elevated too much, the missiles of death harmed only the tree tops in their rear. At once they rushed forward in open order and forming again on their flanks, they literally mowed down the grenadiers with 144 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA their accurately aimed volleys. Then charging, they closed with the enemy, and a desperate hand to hand conflict ensued; the combatants surging back and forth as each for the moment gained an advantage. The most furious contest, however, raged around Williams' battery. One of the twelve pounders was taken and retaken no less than six times, till finally Major Williams was taken prisoner, and Major Ackland, of the grenadiers, was seriously wounded, when the men, seized with panic through the loss of their leaders, abandoned the contest and fled. Colonel Cilley at this moment leaped upon the much disputed gun and having " sworn it true to the cause of America," turned it upon its late defenders. About the time the action began on the right, Morgan having discovered Fraser in his advanced position, man- aged to gain the ridge to the west and then rushing down upon him like an avalanche, compelled him to retire to the main body ; then by a quick movement to his left he soon placed himself where he could flank the British right, and then struck with such tremendous force as to fold them back and compel Balcarras to change front. Almost simultaneously with Morgan's flank attack Dear- born with his men leaped the fence and charged their front with such effect as to force them to give way, but Earl Balcarras, their skillful and intrepid leader, rallied and formed them again behind a second fence, where they held their ground for a little time ; but being overborne by numbers, and skill in the use of the deadly rifle, they soon broke into disorderly retreat. But where is Arnold all this while? Arnold of the quick eye and lightning action ; Arnold the thunderbolt ? Why, he is being held in leash by the will of the jealous Gates. There deprived of all command he is pacing the ramparts of Fort Neilson like a caged lion. He hears the roar of battle ; his ear catches the shouts of the com- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 145 batants, but half a mile away, and the trumpet tones of command. A passing breeze brings to him a whiff of the battle's smoke. That, sir, is his native element ; it kindles a raging fire in his veins ; his soul is in his face ; his eyes are ablaze; all the instincts of his nature urge him thither. He has asked Gates to allow him to serve as a volunteer in the ranks, but has been refused. The stress is too great for his unruly spirit. Breaking through all restraint he mounts his splendid bay, rushes through the sally port and is off for the scene of action in a trice. Suspecting his intention. Gates dashes off a dispatch ordering his instant return, and giving it to Major Arm- strong, bade him deliver it to him at once " lest he should do some rash thing." Once on the field Arnold took in the situation at a glance, and putting himself at the head of a detachment of Learned's brigade, he directed them in a furious charge against the Germans at the center ; but being stoutly repelled by them again and again, he finally in a charge, which he personally led, forced himself through their lines closely followed by his men. Their lines thus broken, they retreated in confusion. Meanwhile Major Armstrong had been trying to fulfil his commission, but Arnold, divining his errand, managed to keep out of his way, till finally his course becoming so erratic and peril- ous, Armstrong decided to await a less hazardous occasion. But let us glance at the struggle from the British standpoint. Burgoyne was evidently disconcerted by the suddenness and vigor of the American attack. Fraser having been forced back from his advanced position, put in where he could be of the most service. Nor was there any lack of opportunity. Under the withering fire and tremendous pressure of the American attack, the lines were being constantly broken. Fraser on his splendid 146 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA iron gray charger rushed fearlessly here and there rally- ing and animating the men and directing their move- ments. When the right wing was broken and in danger of being cut off, Burgoyne ordered Fraser to form a second line to cover and reinforce them. This movement was executed with such energy that Morgan's men were effectually held in check. The falling back of both wings uncovered the center, but the Germans stubbornly held their ground. It was at this juncture that Arnold's des- perate charge forced them into disorderly retreat. Fraser noticing their peril, hastened to their relief with the 24th regiment, which soon brought order out of chaos. Indeed wherever Fraser appeared everything seemed to prosper for King George, for the men believed in him and would follow him anywhere. Morgan, who was directly opposed to his brigade, noticing that the contest seemed to be wavering in the balances, called for a few of his best sharpshooters and directing their attention toward the enemy, said : " That gallant officer on the gray horse is General Fraser; I admire and respect him, but it is necessary for our cause that he should be put out of action — take your station in that clump of trees and do your duty." But a few minutes had elapsed when the gallant Fraser fell mortally wounded, and was ten- derly borne from the field by a detail of his brave grena- diers. After the fall of Fraser, General Burgoyne assumed the personal direction and bravely exposing himself, tried to rally his men and stem the tide, but in vain ; for at this juncture General Tenbroeck, at the head of his brigade of New York militia appeared on the field, and the British overwhelmed and beaten at every point, were forced to abandon the field and seek refuge in their in- trenched camp, leaving nearly all their artillery in the hands of the Americans. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 147 To avoid confusion on the part of the reader it will be well to note that the rout of the two wings and the center of the British force was nearly simultaneous, and that from the opening of this part of the contest to the retreat of the British only fifty-two minutes elapsed. The British in retreating to their defenses were hotly pursued through the woods by the Americans, who as- sailed the front and entire right flank of Eraser's camp. The war demon raging in Arnold's bosom, not yet sated with blood and carnage, prompted him to lead portions of Glover's and Patterson's brigades in a dare-devil assault upon the Great Redoubt, which defended the southwest angle of the British camp. He drove the enemy through and beyond the abatis at the point of the bayonet, and then made desperate attempts to scale the works, but was finally beaten ofif with loss. This place proved to be a veritable " bloody angle " to the Ameri- cans, because in assaulting the redoubt they found them- selves exposed to the fire of a strong battery shotted with grape and canister, and with little shelter to themselves save stumps and brush. Suffice it to say, they got out of that. Arnold seeing little chance for success here, re- called the men and then darted ofif alone northward to- ward the extreme British right in search of a more favorable opening. On his way he insanely urged his horse between the firing lines, but escaped unscathed. Meanwhile the redoubt on Breyman's hill, with its flanking breastworks, the strong defense of the British extreme right, had been thoroughly invested, but no assault had as yet been attempted. General Learned having just ap- peared on that part of the field with his brigade, asked Wilkinson, Gates' aide, who had surveyed the situation, where he could " put in to the best advantage." He re- plied that he had noticed a slack fire from behind the rail breastworks in the interval between Brevman's 148 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA redoubt and Balcarras' camp, and suggested an assault there. On his way to the place Arnold appeared on the scene, and putting himself at the head of the brigade (Arnold was of right Learned's superior officer) led the assault. It chanced that there were but few men to de- fend those works at the moment, as the Provincials and Indians stationed there had been withdrawn for scouting and other service before the battle, and had on the retreat taken refuge behind Fraser's breastworks instead of their own ; hence the slack fire from that point. The few that were there, finding themselves overmatched by the as- saulting party, soon abandoned the position and fled. This left the flank of the Brunswickers in the redoubt exposed. Arnold following up his advantage, razed a section of the breastworks, rushed with his men through the opening, struck them in the rear, and quickly possessed himself of that important work without serious opposition. The Germans who defended it fled precipitately, but left their brave commander, Colonel Breyman, behind in the works shot to death. Arnold had his horse shot under him by the parting volley and himself was wounded in the same leg that was hurt at Quebec. There in the moment of victory he was overtaken by Major Arm- strong with the order for his return to camp " lest he should do some rash thing." He was now ready to go, but had to be carried. And he had done a very " rash thing," he had gone to the field without any official authority to fight, much less to command, and had con- tributed greatly to the winning of one of the most impor- tant battles in all history. A blessed thing were it for his memory had that bullet gone through his heart in- stead of his leg. As Arnold fell an American soldier rushed forward to bayonet the German soldier who had shot him, the Ger- man himself having been wounded. Arnold shouted: THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 149 "Don't hurt him, he did but his duty ; he is a fine fellow !" Thus with an expression of truest chivalry he saved the life of the one who had just attempted his life.^ One bright spot, that, in Arnold's career. Lieutenant Colonel Speht, then in Balcarras' camp, hearing of Breyman's disaster to the right, undertook to recover the position, but having trusted himself to the guidance of a supposed royalist, he with his four officers and fifty men, were delivered into the hands of an Ameri- can detachment and found themselves prisoners. The Americans thus possessed of this right flank defense, found it to be an open gateway to the whole British camp. The British recognizing the significance of its capture, knew that the game was up for them. But night put an end to this struggle, as it did to the battle of the 19th of September. Both conflicts also ended on practically the same ground. The loss to the British in this battle in killed and wounded and missing was about seven hundred. The loss of General Fraser alone was equal to that of a small army ; there, too, were Sir Fran- cis Gierke and Golonel Breyman wounded to death, and Majors Ackland and Williams, and Lieutenant Golonel Speht prisoners in the hands of the Americans ; the loss of these men was well nigh irreparable. The American loss was inconsiderable, there being only one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. Arnold was the only com- missioned officer wounded. This wide diversity in casualties was chiefly due. no doubt, to the superior skill in marksmanship on the part of the patriots. Colonel Wilkinson having occasion to pass over the field just after the British had retreated from their first position, records the following among other things which he saw : " The ground which had been occupied by the British grenadiers [where the battle was begun by Poor's ' Stone's Burgoyne's Campaign, p. 66. 150 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA brigade] presented a scene of complicated horror and exultation. In the square space of twelve or fifteen yards lay eighteen grenadiers in the agonies of death, and three officers propped up against stumps of trees, two of them mortally wounded, bleeding, and almost speechless. With the troops I pursued the flying enemy, passing over killed and wounded until I heard one exclaim, ' protect me, sir, against this boy.' Turning my eyes, it was my fortune to arrest the purpose of a lad in the act of taking aim at a wounded officer who lay in the angle of a worm feirce. Intjuiring his rank, he answered, ' I had the honor to command the grenadiers ;' of course I knew him to be Major Ackland, who had been brought from the field to this place by one of his men. I dismounted, took him by the hand and expressed hopes that he was not badly wounded. ' Not badly,' replied the gallant officer, but very inconveniently, I am shot through both legs ; will you, sir, have the goodness to have me conveyed to your camp?' I directed my servant to alight and we lifted Ack- land to his seat, and ordered him to be conducted to headquarters." It was fitting also, at this point, to give an instance of the courage and hardihood of the private soldier; for he represents the average man. Thomas Haines, a private in the 1st N. H. Regt., was one of those who fought for Maj. Williams' 12 pounders in the second battle, Oct. 7th. In the desperate hand to hand conflict he killed three British soldiers, then was himself struck by a mus- ket ball which, passing through the mouth, tore out 1 1 of his teeth, a portion of his tongue, and oame out near the left ear. He fell as one dead, and was left on the field two nights and a day. When a detail went out to bury the dead Haines was picked up, carried and deposited on the ground for burial. An officer present, who had known him well, noticed that his body was not stiff like THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 151 the rest, and refused to allow him to be burie*!. His breast was then bared and he was found to exhibit symp- toms of life. He was at once tenderly carried to the hospital where, to the surprise of all, he soon recovered sufficiently to be taken to Albany. After months of con- valescence he fully recovered his strength and reenlisted, and served out his full term of three years. He finall)f^\^y returned home and lived to the remarkable ag« of ninety, / dying at Loudon, N. H., the place of his nativity. - Two things this man possessed in a remarkable degree, animal vitality, and persistency of purpose. Note the difiference in spirit exhibited by the generals in chief in these two battles. Whatever the failings of General Burgoyne, he certainly was not lacking in the grace of personal courage ; for he exposed himself right in the thick of the fight in both battles, a target for sharp- shooters, who succeeded in putting a ball through his hat, and tearing his clothes but failed to touch his person. Gates, on the other hand, never ventured within a mile of either field, nor even got a whifif of the smoke of battle, unless, perchance, there was a stiflp wind from the north that day. Besides being a coward, Gates again showed himself to be the small minded, jealous ingrate, that we have already noticed, in that he barely mentioned Arnold or Morgan -^ in his report of the battle, and meanly -Kidder's ist. New Hampshire Regt. ■* Col. Daniel Morgan was living on a farm in Virginia, when the news of the battle of Lexington reached him. He mustered a picked company of riflemen and marched with them to Cambridge, Mass., a distance of 600 miles, in twenty-one days, an average of 28^ miles per day. It was in the dusk of the evening when Morgan met General Washington, who was riding out to inspect the camp. As they met, Morgan touchetl his broad- brimmed hat, and said. "General — from the right bank of the Potomac." Hastily dismounting, Washington " took the captain's hand in both of his, and pressed it silently Then passing down the line, he pressed, in turn, the hand of every soldier, large tears streaming down the noble cheeks as he did so. Without a word, he then remounted his horse, saluted, and returned to headquarters." Graham in his biography of Morgan relates how, upon his return to head 152 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA ignored the commander-in-chief, General Washington, in f aiHng to report to him at all, which, to say the least, was a gross breach of official courtesy. On one of his returns from the battle field with reports Wilkinson found that Sir Francis Gierke had been brought from the field badly wounded and was laid upon Gates' bed, and that while the conflict was still raging, and the outcome was yet trembling in the balance, Gates was engaged in a heated argument with Sir Francis over the merits of the questions at issue between England and America, apparently more anxious to win in that wordy contest than in the awful life and death struggle raging just outside his camp. Gates not being able to make his wounded prisoner yield to the force of his arguments turned away in unconcealed disgust and said to Wilkin- son : " Did you ever see such an impudent son of a b — h !" The whole scene discloses the real fibre of the man's character.* Wilkinson in his Memoirs, written in later life, says : quarters the night of the 7th of Oct., to report, he was met by Gates who warmly embraced him, saying: " Morgan you have done wonders to day. You have immortalized yourself, and honored your country; if you are not promoted immediately I will not serve another day." But wait a bit and we shall see how genuine was this boi.sterous enthusiasm. Later in life Morgan saw fit to relate the following incident. Soon after the surrender at Saratoga he visited Gates on business, when he was taken aside by the General and confidentially told that the main army was extremely dissatisfied with the [conduct of the war by the present leader, and that several of the best officers threatened to resign unless there was a change. Morgan quickly caught Gates' drift, then sternly replied: " I have one favor to ask of you General: Never mention that subject to me again; for under no other man than Washington, as Commander-in-Chief, would I consent to serve." About that time it was noted that .Morgan was treated by Gates with growing coolness and neglect, and it afterwards became known that in a covert way he hindered his promotion by Congress. To us New Yorkers it is interesting to note that on ,his return to Virginia, in 1778, Morgan rechristened his home Saratoga as a constant reminder of his most im- portant battle. * Sir Francis Gierke was taken the next morning to the house of Dirck Swart at Stillwater and there he died some days later.— Clinton Paps. II, 430. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 153 " The same force which enabled Gates to subdue the British army would have produced a similar effect under the orders of Gen. Schuyler, since the operations of the campaign did not involve a single instance of profes- sional skill, and the triumph of the American arms was accomplished by the physical force and valor of the troops under the direction and protection of the God of battles." All of which means, so complete were the preparations, and so favorable the conditions on the 19th of August, when Gates assumed command, that there- after the role of commander was largely perfunctory. 154 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER XIII. Third Period of the Campaign — The Retreat BuRGOYNE now finding his position on the heights unten- able, withdrew his army during the night of the 7th to the low ground near the river, retaining, however, so much of the high ground as lies immediately north of the Wilbur's Basin ravine. His leading generals urged him to abandon his heavy artillery and unnecessary camp equipage and push with all speed for Canada. But No ! life on the way would not have been worth the liv- ing without that precious park of artillery, his generous stock of liquors, and his packs of showy millinery ; so all must be risked that they might be kept.^ If Burgoyne could have brought himself to abandon everything except necessities, as did St. Clair when he evacuated Ticonderoga, or as did Morgan and his men in 1775 who, in their light equipment, made 600 miles in twenty-one days from Winchester, )^'> Va., to Boston, he could have crossed to the east side of the Hudson on his floating bridge, and, made Ticonderoga without a question, and saved his army ; for Gates at that time had not a sufficient force at the north to materially obstruct him. The ancients had a saying, " Whom the gods propose to destroy they first make mad." While a commission of lunacy would hardly have voted General Burgoyne non compos mentis, yet for the next few days his behavior was so lacking in sound sense and vigorous action that had he been really mad he could not have compassed the ' It took thirty carts to transport Burgoyne's personal baggage. No other officers in the army was allowed a single cart for his private use after they left Fort Edward. — Sec Hodden's Journal, p. 314. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 155 ruin of his army with greater certainty or celerity than he did. General Fraser died the next morning after the battle. Before his death he requested that he might be buried at 6 p. m. within the Great Redoubt on the second hill north of Wilbur's Basin. This hill had been with him a favorite spot on account of the beauty of the view. Such a request proves that General Fraser was not himself, or that he did not realize the situation when he made it. It was no time for Burgoyne to take counsel of sentiment, yet he resolved to fulfil the dying soldier's request to the letter ; so he spent that, to him, precious day in preparing leisurely for retreat and in sharp skirmishes with the advanced lines of the Americans who had occupied his old camp ground. On this day General Lincoln, who had command of the American right, while personally leading a body of militia to take post near the enemy on the river flats, fell in with an advanced party of Germans in a thick wood. Mistaking them for Americans, because of their blue uniforms, he approached within a short distance of them before he discovered his error. At once he wheeled his horse and, as he did so, they fired a volley, and a shot fractured his leg. He escaped and was car- ried back to his quarters.^ Wilkinson writes that the same day (the 8th) : " The enemy refused a flag with which I attempted, at every point of his line, to convey a letter to Lady Harriet Ack- land from her husband, a prisoner in our hands." Death of Fraser. General Fraser was evidently the idol of the army, for among other eulogists, Lieut. An- bury in his Travels, has this to say of him : " Gen. Fraser was brought back to camp on his horse, a grenadier on 'Sparks' Am. Biography, Vol. 13, p. 260. 11 156 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA each side supporting him. The officers all anxious and eagerly inquiring as to his wound — the downcast look and melancholy that was visible to every one as to his situa- tion, and all the answer he could make to the many in- quiries was a shaking of the head, expressive that it was all over with him. So much was he beloved that not only officers and soldiers, but all the women, flocked around solicitous for his fate." General Fraser died in a srhall farm house which at the time was occupied by the Baroness Riedesel, wife of the General of the German contingent. The house was located near the foot of the hill whereon he was buried. When the road was changed it was moved and stood on the present highway near the river till 1873, when it waS torn down. The Baroness in her Memoirs gives a touching account of the death of the General. On the morning of the 7th, before the reconnaissance and battle, Generals Burgoyne, Phillips, and Fraser had promised to dine with herself and husband, and she was still waiting for them when General Fraser was brought in on a litter mortally wounded. Afterward, when told that his hurt was fatal and that he had but a few hours to live, she heard him exclaim repeatedly and sadly : "Oh fatal ambition ! Poor General Burgoyne ! My poor wife !" Then he frequently begged the Baroness' pardon for caus- ing her so much trouble, because he was laid in her apart- ment, and she was so assiduous in her efforts to add to his comfort. His brave spirit took its departure at eight o'clock a. m. of the 8th. The corpse having been washed and wrapped in a sheet, was laid on the bed and she, with her three children, was obliged to remain in the room most of the day. Precisely at 6 p. m. he was carried by his beloved grenadiers to the spot he had selected for his sepulture, accompanied by the chaplain Brudenell, the generals and C/3 ^ ^ § ^ Hh Q^ _ iz; c/T w i-j W > < < 05 H t/) Iz' O ">- W (« « 'Si « 2 o s < Ph ^ _! A < o ^ :3 •i u. en Ifl < "« n w C/3 tn < ■« « P b, K 2 u; as THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 157 all other officers whose duties would permit them to be present. The Americans noticing the procession, and imagining that some hostile movement was on foot, opened a battery upon them. The balls flew thick and fast, some of them tearing up the ground and scattering the dirt over the participants during the ceremony ; but fortunately their aim was high and all the shots went wild." Burgoyne Describes Fraser's Burial. Burgoyne's eloquent description of the burial of Fraser is well worthy of a place here. He says : "The incessant cannonading during the solemnity, the steady attitude and unaltered voice with which the chaplain officiated, though frequently covered with dust, which the shot threw^ up on all sides of him, the mute but expressive mixture of sensibility and indignation upon the mind of every man who was present, the growing duskiness added to the scenery, and the whole marked a juncture of such character that would make one of the finest sub- jects for the pencil of a master that the field ever exhib- ited. To the canvas and to the pen of a more important historian, gallant friend, I consign thy memory. There may thy talents, thy manly virtues, their progress and their period find due distinction, and long may they sur- vive, after the frail record of my pen shall be forgotten." Retreat and Delay at Coveville. After the burial service was fittingly closed, Burgoyne issued orders for the retreat, an order sadly at variance with his grandiloquent announcement of three months agone that " this army must not retreat." He felt obliged to leave behind him his hospital, with some four hundred sick and wounded, whom he commended to the tender * The old story about the Americans substituting the solemn peal of the minute gun for their savage cannonade, after they learned the nature of the gathering on the hill top, we have found to be entirely mythical. 158 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA mercies of General Gates and his insurrectionists. His confidence in their humanity was not misplaced, for as soon as he learned of it Gates sent forward a body of light horse to protect the sick and wounded from insult and plunder. It was nine o'clock before the army got under way. During the night a pouring rain set in, which, together with the inky darkness and the narrow road, and the in- ability of the poor horses, weakened by starvation, to pull the loads, permitted only a snail's pace movement. Burgoyne reached Dovegat (Coveville) about 4 a. m., the same hour that his rear guard left Wilbur's Basin, or two hours before day, when he ordered a halt. It was generally supposed that this was for the better con- centration of the army, and that they would move on again shortly ; but, to the unspeakable chagrin and dis- gust of the whole army, the delay was protracted till 4 p. m. before the retreat was resumed. This was a crim- inal blunder under the circumstances, for not only was much precious time lost but the continued rain rendered the roads so soft that further movement with his artil- lery and baggage train was well nigh impossible. As a result he was obliged to abandon most of his tents and camp equipage, which, by the way proved a most accept- able contribution to the comfort of the Americans, who promptly appropriated such as were not too badly dam- aged by the fire set by Burgoyne's orders. During this interval of twelve hours the British army was strung along from within a mile of Saratoga to below Coveville, General Riedesel in charge of the ad- vance and General Phillips bringing up the rear. Digby in his Journal says : " During our march [retreat] it surprised us their not placing troops on the heights we were obliged to pass under, [i. e. the bluffs which for a long way overlook the river flats] as by so THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 159 doing we must have suffered much." Others likewise have wondered much about the same thing. On the 8th a Brigade marched through the woods nearly to Sara- toga, and returned. Why were there not other Brigades sent forward to harass the enemy on the 9th? We have not been able to discover any sufficient reason, except rain, and Gates' lack of initiative, for such failure to improve an opportunity. Woes of the Bateaumen, Burgoyne's bateaumen on their retreat up river were greatly annoyed by the American militiamen, who posted themselves along the bank to waylay them. An interesting writer who, as a boy, native to this locality, followed up Gates' army after the battles " to see what was going on." relates the following incident in this connection: "A few bateaux and scows were passing along as I arrived — they were loaded with military stores, the baggage of the officers, and the women who followed their * soger laddies.' A few well directed shots brought them to the bank. A rush took place for the prey. Everything was hauled out and carried back into a low swampy place in the rear, and a guard placed over it. When the plunder was divided among the captors, the poor females, trem- bling with fear, were released and permitted to go oft' in a boat to the British army, a short distance above. Such a collection of tanned and leathern visages was never before seen. Poorly clad, their garments ragged, and their persons war-worn and weary, those women * were objects of my sincere pity."* Lady Ackland's Adventure. While Burgoyne was delaying at Dovegat, there occurred one of * There were over 300 women connected with Burgoyne'* army. — Hod- den's Journal, p. 81. *a The Sexagenary. 160 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA those incidents which display in the most engaging Hght the heroic fortitude of womankind under the most trying conditions, particularly in cases where her affections are involved. The heroine on this occasion was the Lady Harriet Ackland, before mentioned, wife of Major John Dyke Ackland, of the grenadiers. She had already nursed him back to health in a miserable hut at Chambly, in Canada, and afterward when she heard that he was wounded at the battle of Hubbardton, Vt., she, contrary to his injunctions, came up the lake to Skenesborough (Whitehall) with the determination not to leave him again. From there she shared his tent through all the vicissitudes of the campaign. Judge then of her state of mind when word was brought from the field that her husband was mortally wounded and a pris- oner in the hands of the Americans. After spending two nights and a day in an agony of suspense, she resolved to ask General Burgoyne for permission to go over to the enemy's camp to seek out and care for her husband. She was urged to this step also by the Baroness Riedesel. Bur- goyne was astounded by such a request from a woman of her quality at such a time, and especially as she was then in a most delicate condition. Finally he yielded to her importunities, furnished her with a boat and crew, and allowed the chaplain Brudenell ^ — he of the steady nerves — and her husband's valet who still carried a ball ^ The Rev. Edward Brudenell, chaplain to the artillery, was nearly lost in a man-of-war's barge while coming over Lake George, July 27th, in one of those sudden squalls so common on that sheet of water. — Hadden's Journal, p. 106. Major Ackland was a gallant officer and a generous foe. While in New York, on parole, he did all in his power to mitigate the treatment of dis- tinguished American prisoners. After his return to England he sacrificed his life ill defence of American honor. At a dinner of military men, the courage of Americans generally was questioned. He repelled the imputation with great energy. High words ensued, in the course of which the lie was passed between him and a subordinate officer named Lloyd. A duel was the consequence, in which the Major was killed. As a result Lady Harriet lost her senses, and continued deranged for two years. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 161 in his shoulder received in the late action, to accompany her, and then armed with a letter of commendation from Burgoyne to Gates, she set out in the edge of evening, during a storm of wind and rain, on her venturesome trip. She reached the American advanced pickets about ten o'clock, and being hailed, went ashore, where she was courteously received and hospitably lodged for the night by Major Dearborn, who was able to relieve her mind with the assurance that her husband was in a most com- fortable and hopeful condition. In the morning she passed on down the river to Bemis Heights, where she was met and most graciously received by General Gates, whence she was taken to her husband, who was lodged in the roomy tent of one Joseph Bird. General Bur- goyne's letter to Gates in her behalf, though written in haste and on a piece of dirty wet paper, has ever been regarded as a model of gracefulness and point in epis- tolary literature. Here it is : "Sir: Lady Harriet Ackland, a Lady of the first distinction by family, rank, and by personal virtues, is under such concern on account of Major Ackland, her husband, wounded and a prisoner in your hands, that I cannot refuse her request to commit her to your protection. Whatever general impropriety there may be in per- sons acting in your situation and mine to solicit favors, I cannot see the uncommon perseverance in every female grace, and exaltation of character of this Lady, and her very hard fortune, without testifying that your atten- tions to her will lay me under obligation. I am. Sir, Your obedient servant, October g, 1777. J. Burgoyne. Major General Gates." 162 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Fellows Anticipates Burgoyne's Retreat to Sara- toga. General Gates, in anticipation of an early retreat on the part of Burgoyne had sent forward General Fellows, before the battle of the 7th, with thirteen hundred men to occupy the heights of Saratoga, north of Fish creek (whereon Schuylerville stands) to waylay stragglers and dispute the passage of the creek with any advanced parties of the enemy that might be sent forward. The day after the battle the Americans discovering signs that the British were preparing to decamp, Gates sent two messengers, one on each side of the river, to apprise Fel- lows of the probable movement and order him to recross the Hudson and defend the ford. This ford was located at the upper end of the island over which the Schuyler- ville and Greenwich highway bridge now passes. Before this notice reached him General Fellows had a narrow escape from surprise and possible capture. On the night of the 8th, and some hours before his army started, Burgoyne had sent forward Lieutenant Colonel Sutherland with a scout to make observations. He discovered Fellows' situation, and guided by the fires, he completely encircled his camp without once being challenged. He hastened back and begged Burgoyne to allow him to go on with his regiment and attack him, assuring him that since they lay there unguarded he could capture the whole body. Burgoyne refused per- emptorily; but had he permitted it, in all probability, Sutherland would have succeeded. The reasons for the refusal were probably, first, because he had no men to lose, and secondly, he had neither place nor provender for so large a body had they been captured. At four o'clock p. m. on the 9th, the British army was again set in motion, and wading the now swollen Fish creek, bivouacked wet, shivering and hungry, without tents or covering, on the cold wet ground. They were THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 163 over just in time to see the rear of General Fellows' de- tachment ascend the eastern bank of the Hudson and place himself in a position to bar their passage that way and to take possession of their old camp north of the Battenkill. Previously to his withdrawal across the Hudson, Fellows destroyed the bridge over Fish creek.^ Burgoyne did not forget to make himself very com- fortable that night, though his men were most miserable. He remained on the south side of the creek and occupied the Schuyler mansion, retaining Hamilton's brigade as a body guard. The officers with their men slept on the cold, wet ground, with nothing to protect them but oil- cloth. Nor did the wives of the officers fare any better. Discomforts of the Ladies. Supposing that Bur- goyne's advance to Albany would be little else than a triumphal march, with but feeble opposition to overcome, these fine ladies, with adventurous spirit, had come along to enjoy a novel excursion and picnic, and, incidentally, to select for themselves a fine mansion from the estates sure to be confiscated from the rebels. Among these were Lady Ackland, as we have seen, and the Baroness Riedesel, wife of the General (pronounced Re-day-zel ; the British soldiers called him Red-hazel), a woman of rare culture, intellectual force, and vivacity of spirit, and withal possessed of unusual literary ability. Colonel Wilkinson, Gates' adjutant gen- eral, speaks of her as " the amiable, the accomplished and dignified baroness." She was accompanied by her children, three little girls. The oldest was Augusta, 4 years and 7 months ; the 2d Frederika, 2 years ; and 3d Caroline, 10 weeks old when they started." • Digby's Journal, p. 297. ' Describing her experience in getting started from home Frau von Riedesel writes: "Not only did the people tell me of the dangers of the sea, but they also said that we must take care not to be eaten by the 164 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Of her experiences on this particular night she writes : " Toward evening, we at last came to Saratoga, which was only half an hour's march from the place where we had spent the whole day. I was wet through and through by the frequent rains, and was obliged to remain in this condition the entire night, as I had no place whatever where I could change my linen. I, therefore, seated my- self before a good fire, and undressed my children; after which, we laid ourselves down together upon some straw. I asked General Phillips, who came up to where we were, why we did not continue our retreat while there was yet time, as my husband had pledged himself to cover it, and bring the army through ? 'Poor woman,' an- swered he, 'I am amazed at you ! completely wet through, have you still the courage to wish to go further in this weather? Would that you were only our commanding general ! He halts because he is tired, and intends to spend the night here, and give us a supper.' In this latter achievement, especially, General Burgoyne was very fond of indulging. He spent half the nights in singing and drinking, and amusing himself with the wife of a commissary, who was his mistress, and who as well as he loved champagne." The Marshall House Cannonaded, Early in the morning of October 8th, General Gates, expect- ing that Burgoyne would retreat, had ordered Gen- eral Bailey, with 900 New Hampshire troops, to cross the Hudson and hasten to the aid of General Fellows, opposite Saratoga. Captain Furnival was ordered to fol- savages; and that the people of America lived on horseflesh and cats. But all this frightened me less than the thought of going to a land where I did not understand the language. However, I made up my mind to everything, and the idea of following my husband and doing my duty, held me up through the whole course of my journey." In these days that would he equal to a wife following her husband on a military expedition into the heart of Africa. The Baroness became the mother of 9 children. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 165 low with his battery. The same evening they were reinforced by a Massachusetts regiment under Colonel Mosley. On the evening of the 9th Captain Furnival was ordered to cross the Battenkill and erect some earth- works. This battery was placed on the hills north of Clark's Mills, and was erected during the night of the 9th of October.^ General Matoon, then a lieutenant of this company, relates that on the morning of the 10th, "seeing a number of officers on the steps of a house [The Marshall house] opposite, on a hill a little north of the mouth of the Battenkill surveying our works, we opened fire on them. I leveled our guns and with such effect as to disperse them. We took the house to be their head- quarters. We continued our fire till a nine or twelve pounder was brought to bear on us, and rendered our works untenable." This battery, in company with a Massachusetts regi- ment, was then ordered to Fort Edward to defend the fording place there, which they did effectually till recalled on the 14th, after the armistice was declared.'' There was no more cannonading from this hill during the siege of Burgoyne. On the 10th the force of General Fellows on the east side of the Hudson was augmented to three thousand, made up of New Hampshire and Massachusetts troops, chiefly militia. * Mr. Hiram Clark of Clark's Mills, told the writer that he could re- member the remnants of that work. It consisted of two lengths of heavy timbers, locked together at one end, placed at an obtuse angle, and filled in with dirt behind. * Burgoyne's Campaign, by W. L. Stone, p. 376. 166 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA CHAPTER XIV The Siege BuRGOYNE waded Fish creek the morning of the 10th, dragged across his heavy artillery, and seeing that it was now too late to cross the river at the Battenkill, took up the positions he had determined upon on the 14th of Sep- tember, in case of an attack at that time. He erected a fortified camp on Prospect Hill, or the heights of Sara- toga, as it was then called. This camp began north of the house of Counsellor William S. Ostrander, and embraced Prospect Hill Cemetery, also the land between the cemetery and the terrace -east of George M. Watson's orchard and extended south into the Victory woods. Part of the 20th, and six companies of the 47th regiment, with the German grenadiers and Berner's battalion, had their camp on the flat where Green and Pearl streets now run and north of Burgoyne street. The German Yagers (riflemen) and Canadians camped each side of the Sara- toga road on the flat or terrace above the Boston & Maine R. R. station. The balance of the 20th British regiment, and the Germans under Riedesel, occupied the ground north of Spring street, bounded on the east by Broadway and on the west by a line running north from Dr. Web- ster's house and reaching toward the Marshall house. The artillery was parked on the spur of high ground east of Broadway and on the continuation of Spring street, now called Seeleyville. The same day (the 10th) Burgoyne sent forward a working party made up chiefly of loyalists, under Capt. Mackey, to repair roads and bridges, also a detachment of the 47th Regt., all under Lieut. Col. Sutherland. They were also to learn if the enemy had occupied Ft. Edward THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 167 and, if feasible, to build a bridge and take possession of the fort. Sutherland sent back word that he had met none of the enemy, and that the bridge was already building. His express had not reached Saratoga before the Colonel received orders to return to camp with his force. He at once started with the regulars, but left Mackey with his company to continue work on the bridge. Soon a large party of Americans appeared on the Ft. Edward side and put an end to their bridge build- ing. About then Capt. Mackey and his Provincials, and the few Indians with him, discovered that Canada was a far more attractive place than Saratoga, so they struck for the north. Sutherland was recalled because Bur- goyne had been apprised of an attack by the Americans. Gates Tardy Pursuit. Through some mismanage- ment in the commissary department. Gates could not immediately follow up the advantage which the victory of the 7th gave him. In consequence of this, his main body was not ready for the pursuit till about noon of the 10th. The road and fields on the way northward were found to be strewed with abandoned wagons and carts, carcasses of horses starved or driven to death, ammun- nition, tents and every sort of baggage, all of which had been purposely damaged. Besides this the bridges had been destroyed, and many of the buildings along the way had been burned. Among these were the fine dwelling and all outbuildings of Col. Cornelius Van Veghten at Coveville. Colonel Wilkinson in his "Memoirs" says : "It rained and the army did not march until the afternoon; our front reached Saratoga about four o'clock, where we discovered the British army encamped on the heights be- yond the Fish creek, General Fellows' corps on the opposite bank of the river, and the bateaux of the enemy 168 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA at the mouth of the creek, with a fatigue party busily employed unloading and conveying their contents across the plain to the heights. The commanding officer of artillery, Major Stevens, ready to improve every advan- tage, ran a couple of light pieces down on the plain near the river, and opened a battery upon the bateaux and working party at the landing, which soon dispersed it ; but he drew the fire of the enemy's whole park upon him from the heights, which obliged him to retire after the loss of a tumbrel, [ammunition cart], which was blown up by a shot from the enemy, and caused a shout from the whole British army." " The army took a position in the wood on the heights in several lines, their right resting on the brow of the hill, about a mile in the rear of the Fish creek, Colonel Morgan being in front and near the church."^ The same authority says that Gates appropriated a small hovel about ten feet square with a dirt floor for his headquarters. It was located at the foot of a hill, along the road something over a mile south of Fish creek. It was probably the older portion of what is now the Edward Dwyer house. [See Note.] Note. — Benson J. Lossing, in his Field Book of the Revolu- tion, asserts that what is now (1900) the Edward Dwyer house was Gates' headquarters. He gives a cut of the house and then adds this: " It is of wood and has been enlarged since the Revo- lution. It was used by General Gates for his quarters from the loth of October until after the surrender of Burgoyne, on the 17th. It belonged to a Widow Kershaw, and General Gates amply compensated her for all he had, on leaving it." Lossing got his information from Walter Van Veghten, in 1848. Walter was a son of Col. Van Veghten, of Revolutionary fame, and succeeded to the old homestead at Coveville. Despite Wilkinson's statement, several facts make Van Veghten's asser- ' Wilkinson's Memoirs. Vol. I. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 169 After Gates had posted his army south of the creek, Burgoyne ordered the Schuyler mansion with the mills and other outbuildings, to be set on fire. These with their contents were valued at $50,000. Gates' Abortive Attack. That same evening (the 10th) word came to Gates that Burgoyne had gone on toward Fort Edward, and that only a guard was left behind with the baggage. His informant had mistaken the two regiments sent ahead for the whole army. Gates at once issued orders for the entire force to cross the creek in the morning and assault the British camp under cover of the fog, which usually rises from the river and remains till after sunrise at that sea- son of the year. Burgoyne in some way received notice of this proposed assault and posted his men to the best advantage to receive it. Agreeably to orders, Morgan crossed the creek at Victory Mills, below the old dam at the stone bridge, and advancing through the fog soon fell in with a British picket, which fired and cut down a lieutenant and two privates. This led him to think that there must be some tion altogether probable. It is the uniform testimony of other writers that at the time of the surrender, Gates had his quarters much nearer the front. This would indicate that he must have moved up after negotiations had opened to avoid loss of time in transmission of dispatches. Since Wilkinson does not mention this removal, which must have occurred, it is quite probable that he in writing his Memoirs some years later, got the two places mixed in his mind, and in his story transferred the " hovel " down to where the house stands, which, according to Lossing, was but a small affair at the time. Walter Van Veghten was in a position to know the facts, and being an intelligent and also a prominent citizen, was not liable to be in error as to such a matter. 12 170 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA i mistake about the retreat of the British, which misgiving he reported to Colonel Wilkinson, who came up at this moment. As a result Generals Learned and Patterson were sent to his support with their brigades. Wilkinson then hastening down to the right, learned from a deserter, and from a squad of thirty-five of the enemy just captured, that Burgoyne had not retreated, but was posted and awaiting the American attack. At once he dispatched an aide to Gates with the message : "Tell the General, that his own fame and the interests of the cause are at hazard ; that his presence is necessary with the troops." But in obedience to orders, Nixon's and part of Glover's brigades had forded the creek and were deploying for action ; Captain Nathan Goodale,^ of Putnam's regiment, swung to the right and captured a party of sixty men at the mouth of the creek and also the bateaux they were guarding. Suddenly the fog lifted and disclosed to their astonished gaze the whole British army drawn up and ready to give them a fiery greeting. They at once opened with musketry and cannon upon the Americans who, realizing their ugly situation at a glance, broke for the south side of the creek, without much re- gard as to the order of their going. Wilkinson fearing that the left might be badly entrapped, hastened up and found Morgan and Learned within two hundred yards of Burgoyne's strongest posi- tion on Prospect Hill, and just entering ground which had been cleared by the enemy in front of their works. He found Learned near the center and begged him to - This Capt. Nathan Goodale was one of the most efficient of Gates' scouts. He gave Gates the first reliable information concerning the situ- ation of Burgoyne's army during its advance as it lay along the river oppo- site and above Saratoga. Before the surrender of the British army, no less than 121 prisoners fell into his hand. In 1899 a descendant of Captain Goodale erected a tablet to his memory on Prospect Hill, near the monu- ment. He was killed by the Indians, in Ohio, in 1790. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 171 halt, which he did. Wilkinson said to him (quoting from his Memoirs), "'You must retreat,' Learned asked me, ' have you orders ? ' I answered, ' I have not, as the exigency of the case did not allow me time to see General Gates.' He observed, 'Our brethren are engaged on the right, and the standing order is to attack.' I informed him ' our troops on the right have retired, and the fire you hear is from the enemy ;' and, I added, 'although I have no orders for your retreat, I pledge my life for the General's approbation.' " Several field officers coming up and approving the proposition, the order for the retreat was given. They were hardly turned when the British, who had been quietly awaiting the assault, fired a volley and killed several men, among whom was an officer. Thus Gates got out of a tight place, and escaped dire disaster, by a very narrow margin. Had he been the great general that his friends pictured him, he would not have ordered such an attack without knowing for a certainty whether the main body of his enemy had decamped or not. He would also have been near the front, when the attack began that he might be able quickly to recall or give new orders as the exigency might demand. For this escape, as for his victories, Gates could thank his subordinates. He never allowed his sacred person to be seen along danger lines if he could avoid it. Only once during the Revolution was he under fire, at Camden, S. C, and then he beat the record in getting away, for he made two hundred miles on horseback in three days. Burgoyne had hoped great things from this move on the part of Gates, feeling sure that he could annihilate the assaulting force, but was sorely disappointed at the outcome. He described it as " one of the most adverse strokes of fortune during the campaign." 172 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Gates Decides Upon a Regulation Siege. Gates now decided to starve Burgoyne into a surrender by siege, rather than compel him by force of arms as some of his officers urged, thus avoiding much blood- shed. He at once took steps to make sure of his prey by completing his lines of circumvallation. Alorgan and his Virginians, Learned's brigade, and a Pennsylvania force occupied the high grovmd to the west of Burgoyne. Their lines stretched from the creek, up back of the Victory school house, through the French burying grovmd, in the rear of the house now owned and occupied by Mr. David H. Craw, and along the elevated ridge to the north. The east side of the river was held by New Hampshire, Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut troops, while New York, New England and New Jersey held the south. New Hamp- shire and Vermont, under the redoubtable Stark, a day or two later filled the gap to the north, and so practically corked the bottle. Thus New England, the Middle and Southern States were all represented at that crucial moment in our national history, and all very appropri- ately had a share in the decisive stroke that determined the severance of these colonies from the mother country, and assured their independence. But as late as the 12th there was still a chance for Bur- goyne to escape. There was an opening northward on the west side of the river, as it had not yet been occupied by our people. He called a council of his generals, laid the situation before them, and asked their advice. Riede- sel strongly urged that they should leave artillery and baggage behind, and, thus lightened, attempt to escape by avoiding Fort Edward, now held by the Americans, cross four miles above, and strike for Ticonderoga through the woods on the west of Lake George. Orders were at once issued to move out that night if the pro- visions could be distributed bv ten or eleven o'clock. Pre- COLONEL DANIEL MORGAN 174 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA : cisely at ten o'oclock Riedesel notified Burgoyne that the provisions had been distributed, and everything was ready, when he and all the rest were astonished to receive orders to stay where they were, as it was now too late. What decided him that it was "too late" is not known. But when the morning broke, sure enough, it was too late ; for during the night Stark and his men had crossed the river just above the mouth of the Battenkill on rafts, occupied the gap and erected a battery on a hill, (prob- ably the bare one back of Mr. D. A. Bullard's farm buildings). This was the springing of " the trap," about which General Riedesel had talked, the corking of the bottle which sealed the fate of the British army. They were now completely surrounded. Gates had thrown a floating bridge across the Hudson below Fish creek. The approach to this bridge was just below the mouth of the deep ditch that runs east from Chubb's bridge. This gave easy communication with Fellows to the east; and on this with the raft just built above. Gates could pass in safety all around his foe, if he dared. The Americans now made it very warm for the Britons. Fellows' batteries on the bluffs, east of the river, were echoed by Gates' from the heights south of Victory, and then the new battery on the hill to the north bellowed Amen ! we are with you ! while Morgan's sharp- shooters to the west, and the Yankee marksmen every- where else popped at any hostile head that dared show itself from behind a tree, or above the breastworks. All this, with the answering thunder of Burgoyne's heavy artillery, must have made terrific music, such as these Saratoga hills never heard before nor since. Woes of the Besieged. The experiences of those shut within this fiery and thunderous arena whereon Schuylerville now stands, must have been appalling THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 175 beyond description. There were but few places of safety except behind trees, in a few hollows, or im- mediately behind breastworks. Hundreds of dead horses and oxen lay everywhere, which had been killed by cannon or musket shots, or which had died from starvation. Without hospital tents or any hospital conveniences, the sick and wounded soldiers would drag themselves to some sheltered spot and there breathe out their lives in agony on the cold, damp ground. There were but few places where the surgeons could dress the wounds without being interrupted by cannon shot drop- ping or crashing through the trees. Fellows' battery on the blufifs opposite Schuylerville was especially annoying, to the British, and they were unable to silence it. It was from thence that the Marshall house was chiefly cannon- aded ; ^ from there the shot was fired that carried off the ham from Burgoyne's table, and so broke up one of his dinner parties,'* and thence the cannon ball came that lodged in an oak tree by the side of which General Bur- goyne was standing.^ No soldier dare lay aside his arms even to sleep. There was constant firing on the picket lines, and a man on duty there hardly dared show him- self from behind a tree, or his head above a rifle pit, lest a whistling bullet should perforate him. And though there were rivers of water all about, yet for those beleaguered Britons there was hardly a drop to drink. A few springs and the rivulets running down the hills could not supply the needs of six thousand men with their horses and cattle. Any man who attempted to reach the creek or river became a mark for a dozen rifles. Some of the wives of the common soldiers risked a trip to the river with their buckets for water, and found the " See Baroness Riedesel's account, which immediately follows. * Burgoyne's State of the Expedition. Edition of 1780, p. 55. ' Digby's Journal, p. 304. 176 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA Americans too chivalrous to harm a woman. And, by the way, there were no braver hearts in that army than beat in the breasts of those women. Baroness de Riedesel tells of one who supplied the occupants of the Marshall house, and how they rewarded her. Baroness Riedesel Relates Her Experiences. The account given by that most estimable lady of her ex- periences in the Marshall house are of so interesting and thrilling a character that we should wrong our readers not to allow her to tell them her own story. She proved herself to be a veritable angel of mercy to those poor officers and men, yes a forerunner of Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton and the Red Cross. She writes : "About two o'clock in the afternoon [of the 10th] , the firing of cannon and small arms was again heard, and all was alarm and confusion. My husband sent me a message telling me to betake myself forthwith into a house not far from there. I seated myself in the calash with my children, and had scarcely driven up to the house when I saw on the opposite side of the Hudson river five or six men with guns, which were aimed at us. Almost involuntarily I threw the children on the bottom of the calash and myself over them. At the same instant the churls fired, and shattered the arm of a poor English soldier behind us, who was already wounded and was also retreating into the house. Immediately after our arrival a frightful cannonade began, principally directed against the house in which we had sought shelter, prob- ably because the enemy believed, from seeing so many people flocking around it, that all the generals made it their headquarters.*' Alas ! it harbored none but wounded soldiers, or women ! We were finally obliged to take ° This was from Furnival's battery, north of the Battenkill. THE BARONESS RIEDESEL 178 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA refuge in a cellar, in which I laid myself down in a cor- ner not far from the door. My children lay down on the earth with their heads upon my lap, and in this manner we passed the entire night. A horrible stench, the cries of the children, and yet more than all this, my own anguish, prevented me from closing my eyes. On the following morning [the 11th], the cannonade again began, but on a different side.'^ I advised all to go out of the cellar for a little while, during which time I would have it cleaned, as otherwise we would all be sick. They followed my suggestion, and I at once set many hands to work, which was in the highest degree necessary ; for the women and children being afraid to venture forth, had soiled the whole cellar. After they had all gone out and left me alone, I for the first time surveyed our place of refuge. It consisted of three beautiful cellars, splen- didly arched. I proposed that the most dangerously wounded of the officers should be brought into one of them ; that the women should remain in another ; and that all the rest should stay in the third, which was near- est the entrance. I had just given the cellars a good sweeping, and had fumigated them by sprinkling vinegar on burning coals, and each one had found his place pre- pared for him — when a fresh and terrible cannonade threw us all once more into alarm. Many persons, who had no right to come in, threw themselves against the door. My children were already under the cellar steps, and we would all have been crushed, if God had not given me strength to place myself before the door, and with extended arms prevent all from coming in ; otherwise every one of us would have been severely injured. Eleven cannon balls went through the house, and we could plainly hear them rolling over our heads. One poor sol- ' This was from Fellow's battery, opposite Schuylerville and south of the Battenkill. Furnival's battery had been ordered to Fort Edward. ORIGINAL MARSHALL HOUSE REFUGE OF BARONESS RIEDESEL AND THE WOUNDED OFFICERS CELLAR IN MARSHALL HOUSE THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 181 dier [a British surgeon by the name of Jones], whose leg they were about to amputate, having been laid upon a table for this purpose, had the other leg taken off by another cannon ball, in the midst of the operation. His comrades all ran off, and when they again came back they found him in one corner of the room, where he had rolled in his anguish, scarcely breathing. I was more dead than alive, though not so much on account of our own danger, as for that which enveloped my husband, who, however, frequently sent to see how I was getting along, and to tell me that he was still safe. " The wife of Major Harnage, a Madam Reynels, the wife of the good lieutenant who the day previous had so kindly shared his broth with me, the wife of a commis- sary, and myself, were the only ladies who were with the army.^ We sat together bewailing our fate, when one came in, upon which they all began whispering, looking at the same time exceedingly sad. I noticed this, and also that they cast silent glances toward me. This awakened in my mind the dreadful thought that my hus- band had been killed. I shrieked aloud, but they assured me that this was not so, at the same time intimating to me by signs, that it was the lieutenant — the husband of our companion — who had met with misfortune. A moment after she was called out. Her husband was not yet dead, but a cannon ball had taken off his arm close to the shoulder. During the whole night we heard his moans, which resounded fearfully through the vaulted cellars. The poor man died toward morning. We spent the remainder of this night as the former ones. In the meantime my husband came to visit me, which lightened my anxiety and gave me fresh courage. On the follow- ing morning [the 12th], however, we got things better regulated. Major Harnage, his wife, and Mrs. Reynels " Seventy soldiers brouKht their wives with them also. 182 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA made a little room in a corner, by hanging curtains from the ceiling. They wished to fix up for me another corner in the same manner, but I preferred to remain near the door, so that in case of fire I could rush out from the room. I had some straw brought in and laid my bed upon it, where I slept with my children — my maids sleeping not far from us. Directly opposite us three EngHsh officers were quartered — wounded it is true, but, never- theless resolved not to be left behind in case of a retreat. One of these was Captain Green, aide-de-camp of Gen- eral Phillips, a very valuable and agreeable man. All three assured me, upon their oaths, that in case of a hasty retreat, they would not leave me, but would each take one of my children upon his horse. For myself one of my husband's horses constantly stood saddled and in readiness. Often my husband wished to withdraw me from danger, by sending me to the Americans ; but I re- monstrated with him on the ground that to be with people whom I would be obliged to treat with courtesy, while perhaps, my husband was being killed by them, would be even yet more painful than all I was now suffering. He promised me, therefore, that I should henceforward follow the army. Nevertheless, I was often in the night filled with anxiety lest he should march away. At such times I have crept out of my cellar to reassure myself, and if I saw the troops lying around the fires, (for the nights were already cold), I would return and sleep quietly. On the third day, I found an opportunity for the first time to change my linen, as my companions had the courtesy to give up to me a little corner; the three wounded officers meanwhile standing guard not far off. " Our cook saw to our meals, but we were in want of water ; and in order to quench our thirst, I was often obliged to drink wine, and give it also to the children. The continued danger in which my husband was encom- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 183 passed, was a constant source of anxiety to me. I was the only one of all the women whose husband had not been killed or wounded, and I often said to myself — * shall I be the only fortunate one ? ' "As the great scarcity of water continued, we at last found a soldier's wife who had the courage to bring \vater from the river, for no one else would undertake it, as the enemy shot at every man who approached the river. This woman, however, they never molested ; and they told us afterward that they spared her on account of her sex. " I endeavored to divert my mind from my troubles, by constantly busying myself with the wounded. I made them tea and coffee, and received in return a thousand benedictions. Often, also, I shared my noon day meal with them. One day a Canadian officer came into our cellar who could scarcely stand up. We at last got it out of him that he was almost dead with hunger. I con- sidered myself very fortunate to have it in my power to offer him my mess. This gave him renewed strength, and gained for me his friendship. One of our greatest annoyances was the stench of the wounds when they began to suppurate. "One day I undertook the care of Major Bloomfield, adjutant to General Phillips, through both of whose cheeks a small musket ball had passed, shattering his teeth and grazing his tongue. He could hold nothing whatever in his mouth. The matter from the wound almost choked him, and he was unable to take any other nourishment except a little broth, or something liquid. We had Rhine wine. I gave him a bottle of it, in hopes that the acidity of the wine would cleanse his wound. He kept some continually in his mouth ; and that alone acted so beneficially that he became cured, and I again acquired one more friend. 184 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA " In this horrible situation we remained six days. Finally, they spoke of capitulating, as by temporizing for so long a time, our retreat had been cut off. A cessation of hostilities took place, and my husband, who was thoroughly worn out, was able for the first time in a long while to lie down upon a bed. "On the 17th of October the capitulation was consum- mated. Now the good woman who had brought us water at the risk of her life, received the reward of her ser- vices. Everyone threw a handful of money into her apron, and she received altogether over twenty guineas. At such a moment the heart seems to be specially suscep- tible of gratitude." THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 185 CHAPTER XV The Capitulation. — Burgovne Summons Council of War Burgoyne knowing himself to be surrounded by over- whelming numbers ; for the American militia had been pouring in from everywhere since the battles ; called a council of war on the 13th, laid the situation before it, and inquired if in its opinion a proposition to surrender would be warranted by precedent, and would it be hon- orable. The council agreed that surrender was the wisest course. They were doubtless urged to this conclusion by a forceful argument in the shape of a cannon ball that swept across the table about which they were sitting. Accordingly General Burgoyne sent a flag of truce asking if Gates would receive a " field officer from him, on a matter of high moment to both armies." Gates re- plied that he would receive such an officer at 10 o'clock the next morning, the 14th. Major Robert Kingston, of Burgoyne's stafif, was selected to bear the message to Gates. The next morning at the appointed hour King- ston descended the hill, and, crossing the creek on some sleepers of the bridge that had been left, was met there by Colonel Wilkinson, who represented Gates, and who, after blindfolding him, conducted him on foot down to headquarters, over a mile away. Burgoyne Sues for an Armistice. Through him Burgoyne asked for a cessation of hostilities while terms might be arranged for an honorable surrender. General Gates sent back the terms on which he would accept the surrender of the British army, and granted a cessation of hostilities during the negotiations. Gates' 13 186 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA terms seemed to offend the pride of Burgoyne and his generals, who thereupon refused point blank to treat upon such conditions. The offensive articles were, first: that the British should surrender as prisoners of war; and, second: that they should lay down their arms within their intrenchments at the command of their adjutant general. At sunset Burgoyne returned Gates' propositions with the answer that he and his army would die to a man rather than submit to conditions involving such humilia- tion. Along with this answer he presented the terms on which he would consent to a surrender. Gates, evidently frightened by the news just received that Sir Henry Clinton had broken through the obstructions and had passed the forts in the Highlands ; that he had destroyed Kingston, and was advancing upon Albany, tamely accepted Burgoyne's proposals, and thus allowed the British general to dictate his own terms. Terms of Surrender Agreed Upon. But before any treaty could be signed, there were several sub- ordinate questions and items which must be settled; for this purpose two men from each side were selected, at Burgoyne's suggestion, who were to meet at some convenient place, to be selected, to arrange the final terms. A tent was pitched upon the bluff, just south of the Horicon mill, where the representatives met and, after due discussion, signed and exchanged the articles of capitulation, and moreover agreed when they separated, at 8 p. m. of the 15th, that their respective chiefs should sign and exchange in the morning. Burgoyne expressed himself as well pleased with everything, but objected to calling the instrument a "treaty of capitulation;" he would term it a treaty of convention. To this also Gates agreed. THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 187 During the night of the 15th, a spy managed to get through to the British camp with the news that Chn- ton was on the way with rehef, and was now nearing Albany. Burgoyne saw here a ray of hope, and the next morning called another general council of his officers, told them what he had heard, and asked whether in their opinion he would be justified, under the circumstances, in repudiating his agreement with the American General. The majority decided that the public faith had been pledged, and therefore voted that it would be dishonorable to abrogate the treaty. However, instead of signing the Convention, as he had agreed, he sent Gates an evasive letter, in which he charged him with -having reduced his army since negotia- tions were opened, and asked that two of his officers might be permitted to inspect his army, that he might know if it was as large as reported. Gates was evidently nettled by the rudeness and impudence of the request, but sent Wilkinson to allay Burgoyne's apprehensions. This parley was spun out to such a length that finally Gates, who had just heard of the burning of Kingston by the British, got impatient, drew up his army, and sent Burgoyne word that he must either sign or fight. Burgoyne, urged by his generals, came down from his perch, on Prospect Hill, signed the Convention and sent it over to Gates in proper form. And let us never, never, forget that this was wholly an American victory ; foreign elements had little or nothing to do with it. With the exception of Gates, a mere figurehead, native born soldiers, led by native born officers, fought all the battles that culminated at Sara- toga. For the first time in her history proud old England here surrendered an army, and that to a host of embattled farmers, the sort of men her ruling classes, then and for long, regarded with lordly contempt. A French fleet 188 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA and a French army helped round up Cornwallis at Yorktown. Articles of Convention The instrument as finally agreed to and executed is herewith subjoined. Articles of Convention between Lieutenant-General Burgoyne and Major-General Gates. I. " The troops under Lieutenant-General Burgo'yne, to march out of their camp with the honors of war, and the artillery of the intrenchments, to the verge of the river where the old fort stood, where the arms and artillery are to be left; the arms are to be piled by word of command from their own officers." IL " A free passage to be granted to the army under Lieutenant- General Burgoyne to Great Britain, on condition of not serving again in North America during the present contest ; and the port of Boston is assigned for the entry of transports to receive the troops whenever General Howe shall so order." HL " Should any cartel take place, by which the army under Gen- eral Burgoyne, or any part of it, may be exchanged, the forego- ing article to be void as far as such exchange shall be made." IV. " The army under Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, to march to Massachusetts Bay, by the easiest, most expeditious and con- venient route ; and to be quartered in, near, or as convenient as possible to Boston, that the march of the troops may not be delayed when transports arrive to receive them." V. " The troops to be supplied on their march, and during their being in quarters, with provisions by General Gates' orders at the same rate of rations as the troops of his own army; and if possible, the officers' horses and cattle are to be supplied with forage at the usual rates." THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 189 ELM TREE UNDER WHICH BURGOYNE SIGNED THE CONVENTION VI. " All officers to retain their carriages, batt-horses and other cattle, and no baggage to be molested or searched ; Lieutenant- General Burgoyne giving his honor that there are no public stores secreted therein. Major-General Gates will, of course, take the necessary measures for the due performance of this article. Should any carriages be wanted during the march for the transportation of officers' baggage, they are, if possible, to be supplied by the country at the usual rates." VII. "Upon the march, and during the time the army shall remain in quarters in Massachusetts Bay, the officers are not, as far as circumstances will admit, to be separated from their men. The officers are to be quartered according to rank, and are not to be hindered from assembling their men for roll call, and other necessary purposes of regularity." 190 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA VIII. " All corps whatever, of General Burgoyne's army, whether composed of sailors, bateaumen, artificers, drivers, independent companies, and followers of the army, of whatever country, shall be included in the fullest sense and utmost extent of the above articles, and comprehended in every respect as British subjects." IX. " All Canadians and persons belonging to the Canadian estab- lishment, consisting of sailors, bateaumen, artificers, drivers, in- dependent companies, and many other followers of the army, who come under no particular description, are to be permitted to return there ; they are to be conducted immediately by the shortest route to the first British post on Lake George, are to be supplied with provisions in the same manner as the other troops, and are to be bound by the same condition of not serving during the present contest in North America." X. " Passports to be immediately granted for three officers, not exceeding the rank of captain, who shall be appointed by Lieu- tenant-General Burgoyne, to carry dispatches to Sir William Howe, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Great Britain, by the way of New York; and Major-General Gates engages the public faith, that these despatches shall not be opened. These officers are to set out immediately after receiving their despatches, and are to travel the shortest and in the most expeditious manner." XL " During the stay of the troops in Massachusetts Bay the offi- cers are to be admitted on parole, and are to be allowed to wear their side arms." XII. " Should the army under Lieutenant-General Burgoyne find it necessary to send for their clothing and qther baggage to Can- ada, they are to be permitted to do it in the most convenient manner, and the necessary passports granted for that purpose." XIII. " These articles are to be mutually signed and exchanged to- morrow morning at nine o'clock, and the troops under Lieu- THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 191 tenant-General Burgoyne are to march out of their intrenchments at three o'clock in the afternoon." (Signed) "HORATIO GATES, Major-General. (Signed) "J. BURGOYNE, Lieutenant-General. " Saratoga, Oct. i6th, I777-" THE SURRENDER "All was decided here, and at this hour Our sun leaped up, though clouds still veiled its power. From Saratoga's hills we date the birth, — Our Nation's birth among the powers of earth. Not back to '76, New Yorkers' date: The mighty impulse launched our ' Ship of State ' 'Twas given here — where shines our rising sun Excelsior ! These hills saw victory won. This vale the cradle where the colonies Grew into States — despite all enemies, Yes, on this spot — Thanks to our gracious God Where last in conscious arrogance it trod, Defil'd as captives Burgoyne's conquered horde; Below their general yielded up his sword, There to our flag bowed England's, battle-torn. Where now we stand th' United States was born." • — /. Watts De Peyster.^ As the echoes of the svmrise gun reverberated through the valley, on that eventful morning of the 17th of October, it awoke within the breasts of the thirty thousand warriors encamped within and about the arena whereon Schuylerville now stands, emotions as diverse as the antipodes. On the one hand was the sense of utter defeat and humiliation, on the other was felt the very ecstasy of lofty achievement and success. This was a high day in liberty's history, a red-letter date in the annals of human progress, and, that there should be no lack of artistic setting worthy of the occa- ' From Ode read at the laying of the corner-stone of the Saratoga monu- ment, October 17, 1877. 192 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA sion, dame Nature had decked herself in her most gorgeous apparel. It was one of the rarest of those rare Autumnal days when all the elements seem to con- spire to give a witching charm to the calm landscapes of October. The progress of the month had been like the stately march of an Orient army, with all the splendor of blazing banners, and the wealth and pageantry of olden story. The forest primeval, then regnant here, looked as though the glories of the sunset had been distilled into it. Here and there were clusters of trees, decked with the glowing hues of crimson and scarlet and gold, that lighted up those ancient woods like pillars of fire. The scarlet uniform of the Briton and the blue and white of the Teuton, fitted admirably into this picture of beauty ; but neither showy uniforms nor their proud wearers had availed against the embattled farmers, in- nocent of all uniform save the uniformity of homespun, and zeal for liberty. But, alas ! to the vanquished this autumnal glory was only the glory of fading leaves, the hectic flush that presages a speedy dissolution, the approach of a barren and cheerless winter. And as the haughty Briton looked out upon the scene, from the heights of Saratoga, he could exclaim with the still more haughty Roman of old : " Sic transit gloria mundi." As fades these leaves, so fade the glory and prestige of British arms amid this people ; as fall the leaves, so this day must witness the fall of these puissant weapons from our grasp, and here comes on apace " The winter of our discontent." To the American, on the contrary, the scene was sug- gestive of far brighter things ; for recalling that every falling leaf leaves behind it a fully-developed bud which the coming spring will awaken to a larger life, so the fall of British power and pride here gave room and occasion for the rise of a nobler and broader civic life. 194 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA which the rising sun of freedom would surely quicken and nourish into a grandeur as yet undreamed. The Formal Surrender, In the early hours of that day Colonel Wilkinson had been dispatched by General Gates to the British camp, to wait upon General Bur- goyne and serve him in any way that courtesy might sug- gest. Burgoyne having arrayed himself in his most showy regimentals, mounted his horse and, together with Wilkinson, visited and inspected the ground where his army was to lay down their arms. From there they rode out to the bank of the river, which he surveyed attentively for a few moments, and then inquired if it was not ford- able there. ''Certainly, sir !" was the reply, "but do you observe the people on the opposite bank?" "Yes." replied he, "I have observed them too long." He then suggested that he be introduced to General Gates. At once they wheeled, retraced their steps and crossed the Fish creek at the ford. General Burgoyne in the lead with his staff, followed by General Phillips and the Baron de Riedesel, with the other General officers and their respective suites according to rank. Says Wilkinson : ** General Gates, advised of Bur- goyne's approach, met him at the head of his camp, Burgoyne in a rich royal uniform, and Gates in a plain blue frock. When they had approached nearly within sword's length they reined up and halted ; I then named the gentlemen and General Burgoyne, raising his hat most gracefully, said : ' The fortune of war. General Gates, has made me your prisoner,' to which the con- queror replied, ' I shall always be ready to bear testimony that it has not been through any fault of your excellency.' Major-General Phillips then advanced and he and Gen- eral Gates saluted and shook hands. Next the Baron Riedesel and the other officers were introduced in their THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 195 turn, and as soon as the ceremony was concluded I left the army and returned to the British camp." Gates' leading officers were now in their turn introduced. With them also appeared General Schuyler, in citizen's dress, who had come up from Albany to congratulate Gates on his success, and share in the delights, if not the honors, of the occasion. When Col. Morgan was presented Bur- goyne took his hand and said : " Sir, you command the finest regiment in the world." As to that matter Bur- goyne was just about then fully competent to judge. In the meantime General Riedesel had sent for his wife, who came over to the enemy's camp with much fear and trembling, but met with a reception which soon allayed her apprehensions and quite won her heart. Let her tell her own story, for she takes occasion to eulogize and exalt one whose memory Schuylerville especially delights to honor. Says she : " In our pas- sage through the American camp, I observed with great satisfaction that no one cast at us scornful glances. On the contrary, they all greeted me, even showing compas- sion on their countenances at seeing a mother with her little children in such a pHght. I confess I feared to come into the enemy's camp, as the thing was so entirely new to me. When I approached the tents a noble-looking man came toward me and took the children out of the wagon, embraced and kissed them, and then, with tears in his eyes, helped me also to alight. He then led me to the tent of General Gates, with whom I found Generals Burgoyne and Phillips. Presently, the man who had received me so kindly, came up and said to me : ' It may be embarrassing to you to dine with all these gentlemen ; come now with your children into my tent where I will give you, it is true, a frugal meal, but one that will be ac- companied with the best of wishes.' ' You are certainly,' answered I, ' a husband and a father, for you show me 196 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA so much kindness.' I then learned that he was the American General Schuyler." At eleven a. m. the British army left its camp, marched down the hill to the flat and piled their arms just to the east of the Champlain canal. General Matoon, who afterward inspected them, said that the piles reached from near the creek to the vicinity of the Marshall house. The only Americans present to witness this part of the program were Colonels Wilkinson and Morgan Lewis, who had been appointed by Gates for this purpose. It was with dread reluctance that those brave men parted with their weapons. Some, with tears in their eyes, kissed them as they gave them up ; some gnashed their teeth and slammed them down with vengeful oaths ; while others ruined their muskets or stamped in their drum heads. Lieutenant Digby, in his Journal of the Expedition (p. 320), describes the grief of heart exhibited by the officers on the eve of the surrender. In the last coun- cil of war Burgoyne could with difficulty control him- self sufficiently to speak. "As to my own feelings," says he, "I cannot express them. Tears (though unmanly) forced their way. I could have burst to give myself vent." After leaving " the field of the grounded arms," the captured army forded the creek, and at once passed between the lines of the American army, which had been drawn up on either side of the road. But no shout of exultation greeted them, neither taunting word nor scornful look wounded their feelings, at which they were greatly astonished, and for which they afterward con- fessed themselves as profoundly grateful. This was by the order of General Gates ; a most considerate and humane act, by which he greatly honored himself and his army. They were, however, met by an escort of THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 197 soldiers and a drum corps, which could not refrain from administering a small dose of poetic justice to these cap- tive Britons in the form of that good old martial tune, " Yankee Doodle." The words, and perhaps the tune, had been composed by a British humorist during the French and Indian war in mockery of the variegated and ludicrous costumes of the provincial troops and citizen- ship. It was sure to be played whenever a colonial regi- ment marched by on parade. It had been British prop- erty exclusively till Saratoga, and now the waggish drum-major thought it a good time to put " Yankee Doodle" on the other foot. It took so well with our people that it was immediately adopted as an American martial air. [See note.] In the volume, " Letters of Hessian Officers," we learn how their conquerors looked to them : " We passed the enemies' encampment in front of all their regiments. Not a man of them was regularly equipped. Each one had on the clothes he was accustomed to wear in the field, to the tavern, and in every day life. Few of the officers in Gen. Gates' army wore uniform, and those that were worn were evidently homemade, and of all Note. — During the Albany Bi-Centennial celebration "The Ar- gus " gave a brief sketch of the " Crailo," the old Van Rens- selaer homestead in Greenbush. In that sketch the writer says : " It was in the rear of this mansion that Yankee Doodle was composed. While Abercombie's army was encamped there [in 1758] by the old sweep well at the rear of the house, waiting for reinforcements, the country people came straggling in, in all manner of costumes and dress. Their ludicrous appearance so excited the humor of a British surgeon [Dr. R. Shuckburg] that he, while sitting by the bed, composed the original version of ' Yankee Doodle,' words and music both." It is worth noting in this connection that the above Dr. Shuckburg, in 1754, was a surgeon in Capt. (General) Horatio Gates' Independent Co. of New York. He was afterward nominated by Sir Wm. Johnson as Secretary of Indian Affairs for Northern New York. 198 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA colors. For example, brown coats with sea green fac- ings, white linings, and silver dragons, and gray coats with yellow buttons and straw facings, were to be seen in plenty. All the men who stood in array before us were so slender, fine looking, and sinewy, that it was a pleasure to look at them." It is also worthy of special note, that at the same time and place our American flag. Old Glory, was unfurled for the first time at army headquarters and also to grace a victory. It had been adopted by the Con- tinental Congress, June 14th, of that year. [See note.] After the meeting of the Generals, and their mutual introduction, dinner was served in the marquee, or tent, of General Gates, which he had had pitched nearer the advanced lines during the negotiations. It was not a -full course dinner, but, no doubt, those half-starved captives never afterward enjoyed anything more toothsome. Burgoyne magnanimously drank the health of Washing- ton, whereat Gates, not to be outdone, drank to King George. Dinner being over, they stepped outside, and for a Note. — Regarding this flag the following facts were communi- cated to the writer by Mr. E. R. Mann, of Ballston, N. Y., an enthusiastic student of American history. They were related to him by Mr. George Strover, in 1877, who got the story from his father, who was a resident in the neighborhood, at the time, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. "When it became apparent that Burgoyne must surrender, the ladies of the settle- ment and the wives of some of the American officers took their flannel petticoats, etc., of the required colors, and made them into a United States flag, having heard of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes, in the preceding June, by the Continental Congress. They presented it to General Gates, and when, on October 17th, Burgoyne approached Gates' marquee to make the formal surrender, that flag was hoisted to the top of the staff and the fifes and drums saluted it with ' Yankee Doodle.' " 200 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA time watched the royal army as it passed by toward Stillwater. Then at a pre-arranged signal, the two generals faced each other, when General Burgoyne drew his sword and presented it to General Gates, in view of the two armies. Gates received it with due courtesy, and in a few minutes returned it to Burgoyne. General Schuyler witnessed this ceremony, and no doubt felt that in all justice that sword should have been placed in his hands. On this occasion Schuyler showed his rare exaltation of character and magnanimity, when General Burgoyne expressed to him his regret at the great loss he had inflicted upon him in the destruction of his property, valued at $50,000. To which he replied : " Think no more of it. General, the occasion justified it according to the rules of war." And after all this, he opened his fine home in Albany to Burgoyne and a suite of twenty per- sons, and made him a welcome guest so long as he stayed in that city. The number of prisoners surrendered amounted to five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. Four of the eleven on General Burgoyne's staff were members of Parliament. Besides these our people already had eigh- teen hundred and fifty-six prisoners, including the sick and wounded, which had been abandoned to the Ameri- cans. The American force which, as we have already seen, had been rapidly augmenting during the last few weeks, at the time of the surrender was composed of nine thousand and ninety-three Continentals, or regular soldiers, and some sixteen thousand militia, in all about twenty-five thousand men. Hence there were assembled here in the wilderness, on that day of grace, over thirty thousand soldiers, besides the camp followers and civilian visitors, who had flocked hither to witness the last act in that heroic drama. It is also worthy of note THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 201 that the largest American army mustered during the Revolutionary war was assembled here at that time. [See note.] Saratoga a Decisive Battle — Why? Historians by common consent regard the battle of Saratoga as one of the few decisive battles in history. The average reader will naturally inquire: What is meant by a decisive battle, and what did Saratoga decide? Hallam, a great English historian, in his " Middle Ages " defines decisive battles as "those battles of which a contrary event would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes." Mr. E. S. Creasy, late professor of history in the University College of London, acting on this suggestion found only fif- teen among the thousands of battles that have been fought that answer to Hallam's standard; the first was Marathon, fought 490 B. C, the last was Waterloo, fought in 1815. The one preceding this in his list is Saratoga. Of it he says : " Nor can any military event be said to have exercised more important influence on the Note.— After the battle of Saratoga, Captain John VanPatten, of Col. Wemple's regiment, was publicly commended for his bravery, and as a further tribute to his worth was, on Oct. 17th, honored with the charge of conveying the official dispatches to Albany, announcing the surrender of Burgoyne. He died in 1809, and is buried in the town of Charlton, Saratoga Co., on the farm that was the home of his family at the time of the battle. It is veritable family history that here, huddled at their mother's knees, the children of Capt. VanPatten listened in fear to the booming of cannon to the eastward, telling with clamor- ous tongues of the battle in progress, in which their father and three uncles were taking an active part. The sword carried by Capt. VanPatten is now in the posses- sion of a great-great-grandson, Percy VanEpps, a prominent citizen of Glenville, Schenectady Co., N. Y., who gave the author the facts. 14 202 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA future fortunes of mankind than the complete defeat of Burgoyne's expedition in 1777." Take notice: that is the judgment of an Englishman! Momentous indeed were the results that followed upon Saratoga in which all the world is interested. But the skeptical might naturally ask: How could such a little, beggarly, affray as that, fought in the woods, and by so few men, ever be classed as a battle of such great moment to the world? Well, sure enough, in point of mere size or bulk, a matter of 3,000 men in each of the fighting lines, and a battle front of only half a mile, seems but a Liliputian compared with some of our modern battles, with their millions of men arrayed, and their hundreds of miles of battle front. But over against this we note the fact, that it is not always the event biggest in bulk and pageantry that fills the largest angle in history. Palestine, ancient Greece, and Latium, all insignificant in area, fill a vastly larger place in the thought of to-day than do those ancient world empires of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylonia, because their contribu- tions to the forces that make for civilization were far more numerous and valuable than all those of the latter put together. At Marathon the Greeks had arrayed only 10,000 men against the barbarous hordes of Asia, and only 192 Greeks were killed, but the outcome of that battle has remained as a benediction to the world in all the subsequent story of humane progress. First. It preserved to the cause of liberty in America the precious Hudson valley by which New England and the Southern colonies were linked together, and which was absolutely necessary to their unity and cooperation. Second. It taught the Americans that they could meet, and overthrow, in a fair contest, what they had been taught to believe were invincible troops; hence their hopes of success were amazingly strengthened, and from THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA 203 that day the leaders believed that our independence was assured. Third. The outcome of Saratoga convinced European nations that the Americans could organize, fight and win battles, and that their union possessed elements of stability ; hence France immediately thereafter acknowl- edged our independence and entered into an alliance with us. This naturally caused war between England and France, in which Spain was soon involved. As a con- sequence much of England's fighting strength was diverted from us to the defence of her own coasts. France sent us fleets, and armies, and much money, by whose aid we were able to give the finishing stroke to English power, over these colonies, at Yorktown. " Saratoga was the wand that 'smote the rock of the national resources.' It was the magic that revived the ' dead corpse of public credit.' "" Holland, after Saratoga, also gave most substantial aid, in supplying us with the sinews of war, in the shape of seven million guilders.^ Fourth. Having once seen that Saratoga not only made possible but probable our independence, anyone can see how after independence came naturally the estab- lishment of this glorious republic which has proved her- self a fount of all material, civil, and religious blessings, not only to her own citizens, but to the whole world. This is a much better world, and the average of human comfort and happiness has been vastly raised, because of the birth, the development, and example of this republic. "i/th. A day famous in the annals of American history." Lieut. Digby, of Burgoyne's army, uses the above as the opening words of his journal for October 17, 1777. 2 Hon. S. S. Cox, in the U. S. Senate, 1884. ' BoIIe's Financial History of the U. S. Vol. I., p. 258. 204 THE STORY OF OLD SARATOGA He packed far more of truth in that sentence than he dreamed. In the Fifteenth Century humanity cried for more room, and Christopher Columbus, by the grace of God, discovered a continent. In the Eighteenth Century humanity cried for greater civil liberty and the citizen soldiery of America, under the smile of the Almighty, won it at Saratoga. All hail thou morning of the 17th of October, 1777! Light from the four corners of heaven streams upon thee, making thee the brightest that had yet dawned upon this virgin continent. Farewell, ages of tyranny ; farewell, sceptred brutes and crowned despots ! The triumphant day here dawned which ultimately assured to every man the privilege of becom- ing equal to any other man, and which should see every man anointed a king and every woman a queen in her own right, and ushered in the era that should witness the realization of that dream of the poet : " The parlia- ment of man, the federation of the world." " The nation that forgets its Marathon Has lost the choicest glory it has won. Then let yon granite shaft of grace Forever be a rallying place For liberty and honor, till the day The stone is dust, the river dried away." • — C. H. Crandall. The reader will remember that this crushing defeat, inflicted on England, by no means ended the war, which dragged its slow length along through five more weary years, but the stroke at Saratoga tipped the scales in freedom's favor, it turned the tide which thenceforward set unfalteringly for victory and independence. The Fate of the Armies. The captured army marched south an