Reign of George III. (Continued.) page 14

Thus was another glorious chance of the utter dispersion of the American army thrown away on this most incompetent commander; and, as Washington saw that he had nothing to fear during the winter, except from the elements, he determined to encamp himself, so as to keep the British in constant anxiety about him. He selected a strong piece of ground at a place called Valley Forge, covered with wood. He set his soldiers to fell trees and make log-huts, the interstices of which they stopped with moss, and daubed up with clay. As they had plenty of fuel, they could thus pass the winter in some degree of comfort. A great number of his men were on the verge of the expiration of their term, and were impatient to return home; but he persuaded many to remain, and he employed them in throwing up entrenchments on the right of his camp, which was open towards the plain. His left was defended by the Schuylkill, and his rear by a steep precipice descending to the Valley Creek. He began two redoubts, but he soon saw that there was no fear of Howe moving so long as the winter lasted, and he left them unfinished. And thus the winter went over, Howe lying snugly at Philadelphia, enjoying his wine and his cards, and apparently forgetful that there was any such place as Valley Forge within five-and-twenty miles of him.

Whilst these movements had been progressing, very different ones had been in development in the north. The British government, with the fatality which distinguished nearly all its counsels in this war, had thought proper to take the command of the army destined to operate by way of Canada on the northern colonies from Sir Guy Carleton, and to confer it on general Burgoyne. Carleton had now acquired, by long residence and various expeditions, not only a knowledge of the country, but the confidence of the people. Burgoyne, on the other hand, a very brave officer, was ignorant of the nature of the ground over which he had to pass. The campaign had been planned - not by experienced military men on the spot, capable of estimating the difficulties of the enterprise, but in the cabinet at home, directed by defective maps, and still more defective information. It is asserted that the plan of the campaign had been drawn out almost entirely by the king, lord George Germaine, and Burgoyne himself, the two first heads certainly the most unfortunate ones that could have been engaged upon it. The only man who could have pointed out their dangers - as he had reiteratedly pointed out the very dangers they were about to rush upon - lord Barrington, was kept out of the scheme.

This scheme was to take Ticonderoga, and then to advance upon Albany. Whilst the army was marching to this point, the fleet, carrying another strong force, was to ascend the Hudson, and there meet Burgoyne, by which means the British could then command the Hudson through its whole extent; and New England, the head of the rebellion, would be entirely cut off from the middle and southern countries. The plan was excellent in itself, but demanded, for its successful accomplishment, not only commanders familiar with the country, but the most ardent spirit in them, and the most careful co-operation. Of the most essential ot these desiderata there was an entire absence.

Carleton justly felt great mortification at the management of the enterprise being taken out of his hands, and at once resigned his government of Canada; and, though he remained till his successor had arrived, it is not likely that he would take the same interest in the necessary preparations as if he had been intrusted with it. The force destined for this expedition consisted of upwards of seven thousand men, but nearly half of them were Germans. Besides these and the corps of artillery, there were nearly three thousand French Canadians, who were equipped to act as pioneers, scouts, and labourers, to clear the roads through the woods, to complete the fortifications on the Sorel, at Forts St. John and Chamble, and at the Isle aux Noix. They were, many of them, too, to act as conveyers of the baggage and ammunition with horses and carts. Last of all, according to the unchristian custom of this unnatural war, Burgoyne was attended by shoals of Indians of the neighbouring tribes, who were to scour the woods during march, to give early notice of the approach of an enemy, and to cut off stragglers or advanced posts,

Being conveyed to St. John, Burgoyne there disembarked, and on the 16th of June he commenced his march for Crown Point, the shipping following him by the lake. He had under his command several brave and experienced officers - major-general Philips, brigadier-general Frazer, brigadiers Powell and Hamilton, the Brunswick major- general Reisedel, and brigadier-general Specht. His first business was to take Ticonderoga; but, before advancing from Crown Point, he sent colonel St. Leger to make a diversion, with upwards of seven hundred men, on the side of the Mohawk river. He also there held a council with the Six Nations of Indians, of whom he chose from a crowd of applicants four hundred of their warriors to attend him. He made these warriors a speech, in which he informed them of the principles which guided Christians in making war, and exhorted them to lay aside their cruel practices, which were contrary to these principles. But all who knew anything of the red men knew that they would not pay the slightest regard to these injunctions; that they would pursue their practices of vengeance and scalping without compunction when once they were roused to action. And whilst Burgoyne preached this forbearance to the savages, he took care, in a proclamation, to terrify the colonists into submission by the terrors of the Indian ferocity. Several Indians belonging to these Six Nations had been presented years before to George II., and had excited great curiosity in England.

On the 1st of July, two days after the issue of this proclamation, Burgoyne appeared before Ticonderoga. The place required ten thousand troops effectually to defend it; but St. Clair, who commanded there, had only three thousand, very indifferently armed and equipped. St. Clair saw at once that he must retire, as the Americans had already done, at Crown Point; but he sought to do it unobserved. The British found that a hill, called Mount Independence, on the eastern shore of the lake, opposite to Ticonderoga, and connected with it by a bridge, was strongly fortified. But there was another hill, called Sugar Hill, commanding both Mount Independence and Ticonderoga, which the Americans had strangely overlooked, as well as a third, called Mount Hope. Major-general Philips the very next day took possession of Mount Hope, and on the 3rd Sugar Hill was occupied. The Americans had believed one of these hills inaccessible to cannon, but now saw these engines frowning from its crest. St. Clair made instant arrangements for evacuation. The only road open to them was to Skenesborough; the means to reach it was by the South River, the mouth of which, with the lake, was closed by immense frameworks of timber sunk in the water, and which were said to have cost the Americans nearly a year's labour. St. Clair ordered all the baggage to be put on board batteaux, under the guard of five armed galleys, the last remains of the American flotilla, and conveyed to Skenesborough, to which place the troops were to march by land. As the Americans had a most destructive and imprudent habit of setting fire to the houses as they passed, by which their own flight was readily traced, St. Clair issued the strictest orders that this should be refrained from, and that they should proceed in profound silence.

Accordingly, in the night of the 5th of July, the flight took place; but the general's orders were immediately disobeyed; the soldiers fired the house which had been occupied by general de Fermoy, and the English were at once apprised of the retreat. The sailors soon broke up the obstructions at the mouth of the river, and a fleet of gunboats was in instant pursuit. They overtook the Americans near the falls of Skenesborough, and quickly mastered the protecting galleys, and destroyed the batteaux. General Burgoyne followed with other gun-boats containing troops, and at the same time dispatched generals Frazer and Reisedel by land after St. Clair.

General Burgoyne, on approaching the falls of Skenesborough, was received by a sharp fire of artillery, but he rapidly landed, and the Americans soon set fire to their works, and retreated by Wood Creek to Fort St. Anne. From St. Anne, which they also burned, they fled to Fort Edward, nearly the whole of their baggage and artillery falling into the hands of Burgoyne.

St. Clair had marched with such celerity that he reached, before the next night, Castleton, thirty miles from Ticonderoga. But the rear division under colonel Warner halted at Hubberton, six miles short of Castleton. Early next morning, general Frazer found them on a hill. No sooner did they descry him, than one of the regiments turned and fled, leaving most of their officers to be taken prisoners. But the other two regiments, commanded by Warner and Francis, stood their ground stoutly. Frazer had with him only about eight hundred men, and the Americans were from one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred strong. But Frazer advanced up the hill and attacked them briskly. The Americans were protected by a sort of breastwork formed of logs and trees, and they gave Frazer a smart reception. But, calculating on the approach of Reisedel and the Germans, he fought on; and Reisedel soon after marching up with a full band of music, the Americans imagined that the whole body of the Germans was there, and fled on to Castleton as fast as they could. They suffered a terrible loss. Colonel Francis and several other officers were killed, with two hundred men; one colonel, seven captains, ten subalterns, and two hundred and ten privates, were taken prisoners, whilst six hundred wounded dispersed themselves in the woods - many of them to perish there. When Warner joined St. Clair two days afterwards, he had only ninety men remaining with him.

Having heard of the fall of Skenesborough, and fearing to be cut off, St. Clair retired to Rutland, and his route remained unknown for some days; but after seven days' march he joined Schuyler at Fort Edward, on the Hudson.

General Schuyler was hastening to support Ticonderoga, when, on reaching Saratoga, he was met by the news of this succession of defeats. He had, when joined by St. Clair and Long, who had been left to defend St. John in vain, about five thousand men, the whole now of the northern army, but many of these were militia hastily called together - many of them without arms - more, destitute of ammunition, and still more, of discipline. But Schuyler depended much more on the nature of the country which the British would have to traverse from this point than on his men. The whole region betwixt 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. Whilst Burgoyne halted a few days at Skenesborough to bring up the necessary supplies, Schuyler seized the opportunity to destroy the navigation of Wood Creek, by sinking impediments on its channel, and breaking 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 not be difficult, he ordered trees to be felled across the road, with their heads interlocking, drove off all the cattle, and summoned the New England militia to the rescue.

Up to this point nothing could be more brilliant than the progress of general Burgoyne; nothing so appalling to the American congress, as the news of the successive falls of Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and the other forts. " We shall never be able to defend a post," exclaimed John Adams, " till we shoot a general! " So long as the British troops manoeuvred in a country where they could take advantage of their discipline and momentum, they were irresistible; but they were now come to that region of woods and mountains, into which lord Barrington had so urgently and anxiously warned them against following American riflemen. There, discipline ceased to be of any use. Where some thousands of good marksmen could conceal themselves behind bashes, and rocks, and boles of trees, the English soldiers, accustomed to act in bodies, and with, ordinary muskets, became only a mark for death. On every occasion where army could fairly come face to face with army, the Americans were scattered like chaff before the wind. To such places only should the English have followed them. Taking steady possession of their towns, and blockading their ports, as Barrington and Barre had so repeatedly demonstrated, the result would have been certain; but to contend with our old muskets against rifles, with our troops almost wholly unaccustomed to rifle exercise, against men who concealed themselves behind trunks of trees, was certain defeat. That had now to be shown.

At this crisis, however, the indignation of the congress had very nearly liberated Burgoyne from all his dangers. They accused their officers of treachery; and the New Englanders, who hated Schuyler, were clamorous against him. Congress recalled all the northern generals, that their conduct might be inquired into. Had this rash order been carried into effect, that army must have been left destitute of adequate commanders, and would have been dispersed with ease by Burgoyne; but the wisdom of Washington stepped in to prevent this. He represented to congress the certain consequence. Mortified as he was by the defeat of the American troops, he never for a moment abated his confidence in Schuyler, and exerted himself to send him reinforcements. Two brigades from the highlands, Morgan with his rifle corps, the impetuous Arnold, and Lincoln, a great favourite with the people of Massachusetts, were ordered to the northern department, and general Gates was appointed to supersede Schuyler.

Burgoyne now issued a proclamation, calling for ten deputies from each township to assemble at Castleton, to confer with governor Skene on measures for the re-establishment of the British authority. Schuyler, on the other hand, issued a counter-proclamation, threatening with the utmost vengeance as traitors all who complied with Burgoyne's propositions. At the same time, Schuyler managed to allow intelligence to fall into Burgoyne's hands which should bewilder him, and make it uncertain whether he should retreat or advance.