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1777.]

EVACUATION OF TICONDEROGA,

of the campaign. The army placed at his disposal consisted of more than seven thousand regulars (English and German), together with a great number of Canadians and Indians. The operations of this army were to be aided by the division under Clinton, which had for some time been stationed at New York, but which was now to advance in a northerly direction. Moreover, a naval armament, under Commodore Lutwych, was to accompany the expedition of Burgoyne.

It was the 16th of June when Burgoyne, having sent forward a detachment which was to make a diversion towards Lake Oswego and the Mohawk River, quitted St. John's, and sailed up Lake Champlain. A few days later, he landed and encamped at Crown Point, where he met his Indian allies, gave them a war-feast, and, in a grandiloquent speech, sought at once to excite their courage and curb their disposition to ferocity. Burgoyne and Carleton had both doubted the propriety of employing these barbarians; but it was part of the Ministerial scheme that their assistance should be sought. Many incidents of the ensuing campaign showed how deeply criminal, in effect if not in motive, was the use of savage warriors in a contest between two branches of a civilised race. But both sides had been eager to obtain the discreditable alliance, and it can only be said that the English were more energetic than the Americans in carrying out their intentions. Burgoyne also issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of the country, in which he threatened vengeance against the people if they opposed the Royal troops, and alluded to the fury of the Indians, who were ready to butcher the friends of independence. The General was very confident as to the results of his campaign, or at least affected to be. In an order of the day addressed to the army, he said :-"The services required of this particular expedition are critical and conspicuous. During our progress, occasions may occur in which nor difficulty, nor labour, nor life are to be regarded. This army must not retreat." It did more than retreat; it surrendered.

The army started from Crown Point on the 30th of June, and advanced along the channel which connects Lakes Champlain and George, but which by the Americans is generally held to be a portion of the former lake-the English on the western shore, the Germans on the east, and the naval squadron in the centre. Ticonderoga was reached on the 1st of July, and it was then perceived that the original lines of the French had been strengthened by the Americans, who had fortified Mount Independence, a high circular hill situated on the east side of the channel between

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the lakes, which is there from three to four hundred yards wide. The garrison had here erected a number of very formidable works, and had connected the two sides of the stream by a wooden bridge, supported by two-and-twenty strong pillars, the spaces between which were filled up by floats, fastened to each other, and to the pillars, by chains and rivets. The side of this bridge next to Lake Champlain was defended by a boom formed of large pieces of timber, bolted and bound together by double iron chains. The defenders of the position could in this way pass between Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and at the same time the passage of vessels up the strait was prevented. Burgoyne had not expected to find such formidable obstructions to his progress; but it was not long ere he discovered the weak points in the enemy's position. A little to the south of Ticonderoga, a sharp angle of land is formed by the confluence of the waters pouring from Lake George with a stream called at that point the South River, and higher up (that is to say, farther south) Wood Creek. Out of the angle rises a steep and rugged height, denominated Sugar Hill- an elevation which commands both Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. This hill had not been overlooked by the Americans; but General St. Clair, the commandant, regarded his forces as insufficient to occupy the ground, and, moreover, believed that the difficulty of the ascent would preclude any endeavour to gain possession of it. He therefore took no precautions against its falling into his adversary's hands. The number of men under St. Clair did not quite reach three thousand; but, although these were inadequate to active operations, the American General felt secure within his entrenchments, and, taking it for granted that Burgoyne would try to carry the fort by assault, conceived that he should have no difficulty in maintaining his position. The English commander, however, adopted a much more cautious method. He proceeded to invest the stronghold of his antagonist, and, on the 5th of July, took possession of Sugar Hill. The besieged did not feel strong enough to interrupt these operations; and when the fort was nearly surrounded, it appeared both to St. Clair and his officers that they had no alternative but to surrender, or to evacuate the whole line of works. Only the route by the South River remained open to them; and even this would be closed ere long. During the night between the 5th and 6th of July, the garrison escaped in a southerly direction towards Skeenesborough.

The retreat was discovered while it was yet in course of execution, owing to the imprudence of

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1777.]

PURSUIT OF THE AMERICANS.

some of the Americans, who set fire to a house. Burgoyne instantly determined on pursuit. Commodore Lutwych began to remove the obstructions in the stream, and so energetic was his action that the channel was clear by nine o'clock in the morning. A number of gun-boats which were sent up the South River overtook a body of the fugitives near the Falls of Skeenesborough, and inflicted on their small fleet very serious losses. This particular detachment then continued its retreat to Fort Anne, on Wood Creek. St. Clair, with the major

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vigorous movements, Burgoyne had in a few days gained possession of the strong forts on the lakes, destroyed a number of the enemy's vessels, and taken a hundred and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, besides a large quantity of provisions, stores, and materials of war. His success spread the utmost alarm throughout the northern part of the Republican Union, and, in the same degree, raised sanguine hopes in England that the rebellion was about to be crushed.

But Burgoyne had an arduous task before him,

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LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

portion of his army, succeeded, by a forced march of thirty miles, in reaching Castletown before the close of the day; but his rear-guard was overtaken near Hubbardtown, on the 7th, and defeated after a sanguinary engagement, in which some of the American troops behaved with signal gallantry, whilst others basely deserted their comrades. Alarmed at his position, St. Clair threw himself into the woods, and, after a harassing march, in which his men suffered much from want of food, joined Schuyler at Fort Edward on the 12th of July. The same position was also reached, shortly afterwards, by the detachment which had for awhile paused at Fort Anne. By these rapid and 79-VOL. II.

and the result proved that he was not equa! to it. He determined to push on to Fort Edward, near the upper part of the Hudson, and to approach this point by a march across the country, instead of proceeding by water along Lake George. It was an unfortunate choice. The natural difficulties of the route were considerable, for the land was so broken by streams and swamps that the English army had to construct on their march as many as forty bridges, one of which a causeway rather than a bridgewas thrown over a morass two miles in length. To these obstructions were added many which the Americans had themselves contrived. Large trees were found to have been felled on both sides of the track, so as to fall across it with their branches mingled; and at every turn some new obstacle was discovered, which could only be surmounted with great loss of time. This had been done by order of General Schuyler, who also directed that the horses and cattle of the district should be driven out of reach of the Royal army. Schuyler,

indeed, exhibited praiseworthy energy in preparing for the defence. He solicited reinforcements of regular troops, and called on the militia of New England to join the army. New England furnished a body of irregulars, under the command of General Lincoln; and Congress made every effort to increase the army in that quarter. The harassing nature of Burgoyne's march gave time for these preparations. The Royal army was compelled to halt for some time at Skeenesborough, to obtain a little rest, and to enable the General to re-assemble the scattered divisions of his force, which had been disordered by the rapidity of his movements. It was likewise necessary for him to re-victual, to provide himself with tents, and to bring forward his artillery and baggage.

The weather was very hot; the labours of the army were extremely trying; and the swarms of mosquitoes which had proved such a trouble to the great navigator, Hudson, when he ascended. the river that now bears his name, added to the sufferings of the soldiers. They were in the best of spirits, however, because of their late success, and, after a brief rest at Skeenesborough, resumed their march towards Fort Edward, which was reached on the 30th of July. It was found that Schuyler had evacuated the position a few days before, and had fallen back to the vicinity of Stillwater, lower down the Hudson. Another pause at Fort Edward became necessary, for Burgoyne began to find himself very much in want of draught-horses for his guns, of boats for the navigation of the Hudson, of provisions, stores, artillery, and other necessaries, which he could only obtain from Fort George, across nine or ten miles of difficult country, now rendered almost impassable by violent floods of rain. For his provisions he was obliged to reckon chiefly on the stores of salt meat brought from England into the St. Lawrence, and thence conveyed across Lake Champlain. He also found that he was to receive no assistance from the auxiliary expedition which he had sent out, under Colonel St. Leger, to operate against Fort Stanwix (called by the Americans Fort Schuyler), on the Mohawk River. St. Leger, St. Leger, who, after reducing the fort, was to join the Commander-in-Chief, met with so firm a resistance on the part of the garrison that he was unable to make any progress with his design. Another source of trouble was the bad conduct of the Indians. Even as early as the 11th of July, Burgoyne had written to the Colonial Secretary (Lord George Germaine) that the savages were only to be managed by indulging them in all the caprices and humours of spoiled children, yet that, if they were not in some respects

restrained, they would commit enormities too horrid to think of, and involve the guilty and the innocent, women and children, in a common fate. As soldiers, these sanguinary barbarians were worthless. They simply encumbered the army by superfluous numbers, and disgraced the cause for which they pretended to fight.

General

The situation of Burgoyne was embarrassing. His left flank and rear were threatened by General Lincoln, who was endeavouring to cut off his com munications with Lake George, and who even contemplated an attempt to recover Ticonderoga. Th failure in the supply of provisions grew every day more serious; and at length the English General conceived the idea of procuring what he wanted by a sudden raid. The American forces were at that time receiving live cattle from New England. These were collected at Bennington, twenty-four miles east of the Hudson, and within the borders of Vermont, where large stores of other necessaries had also been deposited. Burgoyne therefore move down the east side of the Hudson, encamped nearly opposite Saratoga, sent his van across the river by a bridge of rafts, and, in the opposite direction.. despatched Colonel Baum, a German officer, to sur prise Bennington. Baum found himself opposed by a much larger force than his own. Stark, the officer in command of the Americans, who consisted in great part of New Hampshire militia, lost no time in taking advantage of his superiority. The German, on seeing how much he was overmatched, sent an express to Burgoyne for reinforcements, and, drawing up his small body of men, fortified his position as well as he could. But on the 14th of August he was threatened by the advance of the militia under Stark, and it was determined by the Americans to make a vigorous attack next day. The 15th proved to be rainy, and the assault was therefore postponed to the 16th. On that day, a prolonged and desperate engagement took place, ending in the complete rout of Baum's small division, and of some reinforcements, under another German officer, sent by Burgoyne to the assistance of the first. Together with a large number of arms, seven hundred prisoners were taken by the Americans; among them, Baum himself, mor tally wounded, and not far from death.

It was at this period that the command of th northern American army was taken from General Schuyler, who had acted as a lieutenant of Washington, and placed in the hands of General Gates, who, as we have seen, was set up rather as a counterpoise to the great Virginian than as a subordinate. Schuyler had recently shown much ability in the conduct of military affairs; but he

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had never been popular with the New Englanders, nor yet with Congress, where the genius of the Adamses prevailed. The heads of the War Office condemned the surrender of Ticonderoga, and the retreat of the American army down the Hudson. A subsequent inquiry proved that St. Clair was not to blame, and he and the other Northern officers were honourably acquitted; but in the meanwhile Schuyler had been superseded by Gates. The latter General arrived at the camp near Stillwater on the 19th of August. Three days after, St. Leger was compelled to raise the siege of Fort Stanwix, retiring with so much precipitation that he left his tents standing, abandoned his artillery, and suffered a great part of his baggage, ammunition, and provisions to fall into the hands of the garrison, a detachment from which pursued his discomfited soldiers. The credit of this American success is due to the fortitude and courage of the defenders, and to the excellent arrangements of Schuyler, who despatched Arnold with a body of regular troops to relieve the fort. A great deal of fighting took place before the walls; but the final retreat of St. Leger, on the 22nd of August, was to a large extent caused by desertions from among the Indians who formed a considerable element in the attacking force.

Shortly after Gates had assumed the command, several communications of an angry character were exchanged between him and Burgoyne. On the 30th of August, the latter wrote to his adversary, complaining of the harsh treatment of loyalists by the insurgents, and hinting at retaliation. Gates replied on the 2nd of September, and enlarged with much vehemence on the atrocities that had been committed by Indian allies of the Royal troops. He dwelt in particular on the case of Miss McCrea, the daughter of a gentleman attached to the Royal cause who resided near Fort Edward. This young lady was engaged to be married to an officer in the British provincial troops, who, the better to secure her safety, as he thought, engaged some Indians, of two different tribes, to escort her from her home to the British camp, where the marriage was to take place. An ancient Greek dramatist could have desired no better instance of the way in which mortals, in their blindness, abet the unseen purposes of Fate. The very means which the young officer had taken to protect his betrothed, proved the occasion and the means of her death. He had promised the person who should bring her safely to him a keg of rum. On the way, two of the Indians quarrelled as to which of them should present the lady to her bridegroom, and so receive the promised reward. At length, one of them, roused to fury,

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struck Miss McCrea on the head with his tomahawk, and killed her on the spot; being resolved that, if he could not obtain the rum, neither should his companion. General Gates, in writing to Burgoyne on the subject, alleged that Miss McCrea 'was, with other women and children, taken out of a house near Fort Edward, carried into the woods, and then scalped and mangled in a most shocking manner. Two parents, with their six children, were all treated with the same inhumanity while quietly residing in their once happy dwelling. The miserable fate of Miss McCrea was particularly aggravated by her being dressed to meet her promised husband; but she met her murderers employed by you. Upwards of one hundred men, women, and children have perished by the hands of the ruffians to whom, it is asserted, you have paid the price of blood." Burgoyne, in responding to this letter, indignantly denied that he had paid a price for scalps. his first regulations was that Indians should receive compensation for prisoners, because it would prevent cruelty, and that a strict account should be demanded when scalps were produced. The practice of scalping was strictly prohibited, and the persons of aged men, of women, children, and prisoners, were pronounced sacred, even in assaults.

One of

The case of Miss McCrea was bad enough, without any additions; but Gates appears to have exaggerated the facts, though perhaps more from ignorance than from design. That women and children were taken out of a house together with Miss McCrea, and murdered at the same time, with accompanying mutilations, seems not to have been the truth.* It was also an absurdity, as well as an injustice, to fasten any guilt on Burgoyne in connection with the slaughter of that unhappy young lady, since she and her lover were both adherents of the Royal cause. But the tragical incident, if correctly related, was another proof of the impropriety of employing savages. Burgoyne unquestionably did all he could to restrain the ferocity of the tribes-to such an extent, indeed, as to lose their good-will, and ultimately their services. Yet it is clear that he did not entirely succeed, though he may not have failed to the extent that partisan writers set forth. As regards Miss McCrea, Burgoyne compelled the Indians to deliver up her murderer, and would have hanged him, had not his

*The statement, persistently made by the Indians, that Miss McCrea was accidentally killed by a stray bullet when they were fired upon by their pursuers, is accepted by some modern investigators, and has at any rate two strong points in its favour, viz., that they did succeed in getting her mother, a very large woman, safely into camp, and that it would have been far more to their interest to save her life than to destroy it.

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