While these events were passing on the left, the English generals resolved to drive the Americans from Fort Anne, situated higher up towards the sources of Wood Creek. Colonel Hill was detached for this purpose from Skeenesborough, and to facilitate his operations, the greatest exertions were made in carrying batteaux over the falls of that place; which enabled him to attack the fort also by water. Upon intelligence that the Americans had a numerous garrison there, brigadier Powell was sent with two regiments to the succour of colonel Hill. The American colonel Long, who with a great part of his corps had escaped the destruction of the boats at the falls, commanded the garrison of Fort Anne. Having heard that the enemy was approaching, he gallantly sallied out to receive him. The English defended themselves with courage, but the Americans had already nearly surrounded them. Colonel Hill finding himself too hard pressed, endeavored to take a stronger position. This movement was executed with as much order as intrepidity, amidst the reiterated and furious charges of the enemy. The combat had lasted for more than two hours, and victory was still doubtful, when all at once the Americans heard the horrible yells of the savages, who approached; and being informed at the same instant that the corps of Powell was about to fall upon them, they retired to Fort Anne. Not thinking themselves in safety even there, they set it on fire, and withdrew to Fort Edward on the river Hudson.

General Schuyler was already in this place, and St. Clair arrived there on the twelfth, with the remains of the garrison of Ticonderoga. It would be difficult to describe the hardships and misery which these troops had suffered, from the badness of the weather and the want. of covering and provisions, in their circuitous march through the woods, from Castletown to Fort Edward. After the arrival of these corps, and of the fugitives, who came in by companies, all the American troops amounted to little over four thousand men, including the militia. They were in want of all necessaries, and even of courage, by the effect of their recent reverses. The Americans lost in these different actions, no less than one hundred and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, with a prodigious quantity of warlike stores, baggage and provisions, particularly of flour, which they left in Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. To increase the calamity, the whole of the neighboring country was struck with terror by this torrent of disasters, and the inhabitants thought more of providing for their own safety, than of flying to the succour of their country in jeopardy.

In a conjuncture so alarming, general Schuyler neglected none of those cares which become an able commander, and an excellent citizen. Already, while the enemy was assembling at Skeenesborough, he had endeavored to interrupt, with all manner of obstacles, the navigation of Wood Creek, from that place to Fort Anne, where it

determined even for batteaux. The country between Fort Anne and Fort Edward (a distance of only sixteen miles) is excessively rough and savage; the ground is unequal, and broken with numerous creeks, and with wide and deep morasses.

General Schuyler neglected no means of adding by art to the difficulties with which nature seemed to have purposely interdicted this passage. Trenches were opened, the roads and paths obstructed, the bridges broken up; and in the only practicable defiles, immense trees were cut in such a manner, on both sides of the road, as to fall across and lengthwise, which, with their branches interwoven, presented an insurmountable barrier; in a word, this wilderness, of itself so horrible, was thus rendered almost absolutely impenetrable. Nor did the American general rest satisfied with these precautions; he directed the cattle to be removed to the most distant places, and the stores and baggage from Fort George to Fort Edward, that articles of such necessity for his troops, might not fall into the power of the enemy. He urgently demanded that all the regiments of regular troops found in the adjacent provinces, should be sent, without delay, to join him; he also made earnest and frequent calls upon the militia of New England and of New York. He likewise exerted his utmost endeavors to procure himself recruits in the vicinity of Fort Edward and the city of Albany; the great influence he enjoyed with the inhabitants, gave him, in this quarter, all the success he could desire. Finally, to retard the progress of the enemy, he resolved to threaten his left flank; accordingly he detached colonel Warner, with his regiment, into the state of Vermont, with orders to assemble the militia of the country, and to make incursions towards Ticonderoga. In brief, general Schuyler neglected no means that could tend to impede or defeat the projects of the enemy.

While he thus occupied himself with so much ardor, general Burgoyne was detained at Skeenesborough, as well by the difficulty of the ground he had to pass, as because he chose to wait for the arrival of tents, baggage, artillery and provisions, so absolutely necessary before plunging himself into these fearful solitudes. His army at this time was disposed in the following manner; the right occupied the heights of Skeenesborough, the German division of Reidesel forming its extremity; the left, composed of Brunswickers, extending into the plain, rested upon the river of Castletown, and the brigade of Frazer formed the centre. The regiment of Hessians, of Hanau, was posted at the source of East Creek, to protect the camp of Castletown, and the batteaux upon Wood Creek, against the incursions of Colonel Warner. In the meantime, indefatigable labor was exerted in removing all obstacles to the navigation of this stream, as also in clearing passages, and opening roads through the country about Fort Anne. The design of Burgoyne was, that the main body of the army should penetrate through the wilderness we have just

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described, to Fort Edward, while another column, embarking at Ticonderoga, should proceed up Lake George, reduce the fort of that name, situated at its extremity, and afterwards rejoin him at Fort Edward. Upon the acquisition of Fort George, the stores, provisions and necessaries were to be conveyed to the camp by way of the lake, the navigation of which is easier and more expeditious than that of Wood Creek, and there was, besides, a good wagon road between the two forts. Such were the efforts exerted by the two belligerents; the English believing themselves secure of victory; the Americans hardly venturing to hope for better fortune. Nothing could exceed the consternation and terror which the victory of Ticonderoga, and the subsequent successes of Burgoyne, spread throughout the American provinces, nor the joy and exultation they excited in England. The arrival of these glad tidings was celebrated by the most brilliant rejoicings at court, and welcomed with the same enthusiasm by all those who desired the unconditional reduction of America. They already announced the approaching termination of this glorious war; they openly declared it a thing impossible, that the rebels should ever recover from the shock of their recent losses, as well of men as of arms and of military stores; and especially that they should ever regain their courage and reputation, which, in war, contribute to success, as much, at least, as arms themselves. Even the ancient reproaches of cowardice were renewed against the Americans, and their own partisans abated much of the esteem they had borne them. They were more than half disposed to pronounce the colonists unworthy to defend that liberty, which they gloried in, with so much complacency. The ministers, pluming themselves upon their good fortune, marched through the court as if to exact the tribute of felicitation. No praises were refused them; their obstinacy was denominated constancy; their projects, which had appeared full of temerity, were now acknowledged to have been dictated by the profoundest sagacity; and their pertinacity in rejecting every proposition for accommodation, was pronounced to have been a noble zeal for the interests of the state. The military counsels of the ministers having resulted in such brilliant success, even those who had heretofore inclined for the ways of conciliation, welcomed with all sail this prosperous breeze of fortune, and appeared now rather to wish the reduction, than the voluntary reunion of the Americans.

But in America, the loss of the fortress and the lakes, which were considered as the keys of the United States, appeared the more alarming, as it was unexpected; for, the greater part of the inhabitants, as well as the Congress, and Washington himself, were impressed with a belief, that the British army in Canada was weaker, and that of general Schuyler stronger, than they were in effect. They entertained no doubt in particular, that the garrison left in

Ticonderoga was sufficient for its entire security. Malignity began to assail the reputation of the officers of the northern army; its envenomed shafts were especially aimed at St. Clair. Schuyler himself, that able general and devoted patriot, whose long services had only been repaid by long ingratitude, escaped not the serpent tongue of calumny. As the friend of the New Yorkers, he was no favorite with the inhabitants of New England, and the latter were those who aspersed him with the most bitterness. The Congress, for the honor of their arms, and to satisfy the people, decreed an an inquiry into the conduct of the officers, and that successors should be despatched to relieve them in command. The result of the investigation was favorable to them; by the intercession of Washington, the appointment of successors was waived. But what was not a little remarkable, is, that in the midst of all these disasters, no sort of disposition to submit appeared in any quarter. No public body discovered symptoms of dismay, and if a few individuals betrayed a want of firmness, they were chiefly persons without influence, and without character.

Meanwhile, the Congress apprehending that the news of these sinister events might operate to the prejudice of the negotiations opened with the court of France, and, as it too often happens, being more tender of their own interests than of the reputation of their generals, they hesitated not to disguise the truth of facts, by throwing upon St. Clair the imputation of imbecility and misconduct. Their agents were accordingly instructed to declare that all these reverses were to be attributed to those officers who, with a garrison of five thousand men, well armed and equipped, had wanted capacity to defend an almost impregnable fortress; that, as for the rest, the Americans, far from being discouraged, only waited for the occasion to avenge their defeats. Washington, who in this crisis as in all the preceding, manifested an unshaken constancy, was entirely occupied in providing means to confirm the tottering state of the republic; he exerted the utmost diligence in sending reenforcements and necessaries to the army of Schuyler. The artillery and warlike stores were expedited from Massachusetts. General Lincoln, a man of great influence in New England, was sent there to encourage the militia to enlist. Arnold, in like manner, repaired thither; it was thought his ardor might serve to inspirit the dejected troops. Colonel Morgan, an officer whose brilliant valor we have already had occasion to remark, was ordered to take the same direction with his troop of light horse. All these measures, conceived with prudence and executed with promptitude, produced the natural effect. The Americans recovered by degrees their former ardor, and their army increased from day to day.

During this interval, general Burgoyne exerted himself with extreme diligence in opening a passage from Fort Anne to Fort

Edward. But notwithstanding the ardor with which the whole army engaged in the work, their progress was exceedingly slow; so formidable were the obstacles which nature as well as art had thrown in their way. Besides having to remove the fallen trees with which the enemy had obstructed the roads, they had no less than forty bridges to construct, and many others to repair. Finally, the army encountered so many impediments in measuring this inconsiderable space, that it could not arrive upon the banks of the Hudson, near Fort Edward, until the thirtieth of July. The Americans, either because they were too feeble to oppose the enemy, or that Fort Edward was no better than a ruin, unsusceptible of defence, or finally, because they were apprehensive that colonel St. Leger, after the reduction of Fort Stanwix might descend by the left bank of the Mohawk to the Hudson, and thus intercept their retreat, retired lower down to Stillwater, where they threw up intrenchments. At the same time they evacuated Fort George, having previously burned their vessels upon the lake, and interrupted in various places the road which leads thence to Fort Edward. The route from Ticonderoga to this fortress by Lake George was thus left entirely open by the republicans. The English, upon their arrival on the Hudson river, which had been so long the object of their wishes, and which had been at length attained at the expense of so many toils and hardships, were seized with a delirium of joy, and persuaded themselves that victory could now no longer escape them. But ere it was long, their brilliant hopes were succeeded by anxiety and embarrassment. All the country around them was hostile, and they could obtain no provisions but what they drew from Ticonderoga. Accordingly, from the thirtieth of July to the fifteenth of August, the English army was continually employed in forwarding batteaux, provisions, and ammunition, from Fort George to the first navigable part of the Hudson, a distance of about eighteen miles. The toil was excessive in this operation, and the advantage gained by it in no degree an equivalent to the expense of labor and time. The roads were in some parts steep, and in others required great repairs. Of the horses that were expected from Canada, scarcely one third were yet arrived, and it was with difficulty that fifty pair of oxen had been procured. Heavy and continual rains added to these impediments; and notwithstanding all the efforts which had been used, it was found difficult to supply the army with provisions for its current consumption, and utterly impracticable in this mode to establish such a magazine as would enable it to prosecute the further operations of the campaign. On the fifteenth, there was not above four days' provision in store, nor above ten batteaux in the Hudson river.

General Burgoyne was severely censured, as well for having lost so much time by crossing the wilderness of Fort Anne, as for having exposed himself to want subsistence in his camp at Fort Edward.