XXXVI. Ticonderoga, but to advance thence upon Albany, and, CHAPTER with the co-operation of the troops at New-York, to get possession also of the posts in the Highlands. The Brit- 1777. ish would then command the Hudson through its whole extent, and New England, the head of the rebellion, would be completely cut off from the middle and southern colonies. Burgoyne started on this expedition with a brilliant army of eight thousand men, partly British and partly Germans, besides a large number of Canadian boatmen, laborers, and skirmishers. On the western shore of Lake Champlain, near Crown Point, he met the Six Nations in council, and, after a feast and a speech, some four hundred of their warriors joined his army. His next step was to issue a proclamation, in a very gran- June 29. diloquent style, setting forth his own and the British power, painting in vivid colors the rage and fury of the Indians, so difficult to be restrained, and threatening with all the extremities of war all who should presume to resist his arms. Two days after the issue of this proclamation, Bur- July 1. goyne appeared before Ticonderoga. He occupied a steep hill which overlooked the fort, and which the Americans had neglected because they thought it inaccessible to artillery. Preparations for attack were rapidly making, and St. Clair saw there was no chance for his troops except in instant retreat. The baggage and stores, placed in bateaux, under convoy of five armed galleys, the last remains of the American flotilla, were dispatched up the July 6. narrow southern extremity of the lake to Skenesborough, now Whitehall, toward which point the troops retired by land, in a southeasterly direction, through the New Hampshire grants. While General Fraser pursued the retreating troops, CHAPTER followed by General Reidesel with a corps of Germans, XXXVI. Burgoyne forced the obstructions opposite Ticonderoga, 1777. and, embarking several regiments, pursued and overtook the American stores and baggage, all of which fell into his hands. The garrison of Skenesborough, informed of Burgoyne's approach, set fire to the works, and retreated up Wood Creek to Fort Anne, a post about half way to the Hudson. They had a sharp skirmish with a British regiment which followed them; but other troops coming up, they set fire to the buildings at Fort Anne, and retired to Fort Edward. The van of St. Clair's troops, at the end of their first day's march, had reached Castleton, a distance of thirty miles from Ticonderoga; but the rear, which included many stragglers, and amounted to twelve hundred men, contrary to St. Clair's express orders, stopped short at Hubberton, six miles behind, where they were overtaken July 7. the next morning, and attacked by Fraser. One of the regiments fled disgracefully, leaving most of their officers to be taken prisoners. The other two regiments, under Francis and Warner, made a stout resistance; but when Reidesel came up with his Germans, they too gave way. Francis was killed, and many with him; some two hundred were taken prisoners. Those who escaped were so completely dispersed, that when Warner joined St. July 9. Clair two days after, he had with him less than ninety men. Having heard of the fall of Skenesborough, and fearing to be cut off by the enemy, St. Clair retired upon Rutland; his whereabouts was for some time unknown, July 13. but, after a seven days' march, he joined Schuyler at Fort Edward, on the Hudson. Here was assembled the whole force of the northern army, amounting to about XXXVI. five thousand men; but a considerable part were mi- CHAPTER litia hastily called in; many were without arms; there. was a great deficiency of ammunition and provisions; 1777. and the whole force was quite disorganized. The region between Skenesborough and the Hudson was an almost unbroken wilderness. Wood Creek was navigable as far as Fort Anne; from Fort Anne to the Hudson, over an exceedingly rough country, covered with thick woods, and intersected by numerous streams and morasses, extended a single military road. While Burgoyne halted a few days at Skenesborough to put his forces in order, and to bring up the necessary supplies, Schuyler hastened to destroy the navigation of Wood Creek by sinking impediments in its channel, and to break up the bridges and causeways, of which there were fifty or more on the road from Fort Anne to Fort Edward. At all those points where the construction of a side passage would be difficult, he ordered trees to be felled across the road with their branches interlocking. All the stock in the neighborhood was driven off, and the militia of New England was summoned to the rescue. The loss of Ticonderoga with its numerous artillery, and the subsequent rapid disasters, came like a thunderbolt on Congress and the northern states. "We shall never be able to defend a post," wrote John Adams, president of the Board of War, in a private letter, "till we shoot a general." Disasters, the unavoidable result of weakness, were ascribed to the incapacity or cowardice of the officers. Suggestions of treachery even were whispered; and the prejudices of the New Englanders against Schuyler broke out with new violence. In the anger and vexation of the moment, all the northern generals were recalled, and an inquiry was ordered into their Aug. 1. conduct; but the execution of this order was suspended XXXVI. CHAPTER on the representation of Washington that the northern army could not be left without officers. Washington 1777. shared the general surprise and vexation; but he had confidence in Schuyler, and he did all in his power to re-enforce the northern army. Two brigades from the Highlands, Morgan with his rifle corps, the impetuous Arnold, and Lincoln, a great favorite with the Massachusetts militia, were ordered to the northern department. Washington declined the selection of a new commander Aug. 4. tendered to him by Congress, and that selection, guided by the New England members, fell upon Gates. Burgoyne meanwhile issued a new proclamation for a convention of ten deputies from each township, to assemble at Castleton, to confer with Governor Skene, and to take measures for the re-establishment of the royal authority. Schuyler, in a counter-proclamation, threatened the utmost rigor of the law of treason against all who complied with Burgoyne's propositions. Subsequently to the Declaration of Independence, the inhabitants of Vermont had organized themselves into an independent state, had adopted a Constitution, and had applied to Congress for admission into the Union. A Continental regiment had been raised and officered in Vermont, of which Warner had been commissioned as colonel. But Congress, through the influence of New York, disclaimed any intention to countenance the pretensions of Vermont to independence; and the Vermont petition for admission into the Union had been lately dismissed with some asperity. If Burgoyne, however, founded any hopes of defection upon this circumstance, he found himself quite mistaken. The advance from Skenesborough cost the British infinite labor and fatigue; but beyond breaking up the roads and placing obstacles in their way, Schuyler was not strong enough to annoy them. These impediments CHAPTER XXXVI. were at length overcome; and Burgoyne, with his troops, artillery, and baggage, presently appeared on the banks 1777. of the Hudson. The British army hailed with enthusiasm the sight of that river, object of their toil, which July 29. they had reached with great efforts indeed, but with an uninterrupted career of success, and a loss of not above two hundred men. It now only remained for the British to force their way to Albany; nor did it seem likely that Schuyler could offer any serious resistance. His army, not yet materially increased, was principally composed of militia without discipline, and the men from the eastward very little inclined to serve under his orders, and constantly deserting. Fort Edward was untenable. As the British approached, the Americans crossed the river, and retired, first to Saratoga, and then to Stillwater, a short distance above the mouth of the Mohawk. Hardly had Schuyler taken up this position, when news arrived of another disaster and a new danger. While moving up Lake Champlain, Burgoyne had detached Colonel St. Leger, with two hundred regulars, Sir John Johnson's Royal Greens, some Canadian Rangers, and a body of Indians under Brant, to harass the New York frontier from the west. St. Leger laid siege to Aug 3 Fort Schuyler, late Fort Stanwix, near the head of the Mohawk, then the extreme western post of the State of New York. General Herkimer raised the militia of Tryon county, and advanced to the relief of this important post, which was held by Gansevoort and Willett, with two New York regiments. About six miles from the fort, owing to want of proper precaution, Herkimer Aug. 6. fell into an ambush. Mortally wounded, he supported himself against a stump, and encouraged his men to the |