Reign of George III. (Continued.) page 15

Had Burgoyne been well informed, he would have fallen back on Ticonderoga, have embarked on Lake George, and proceeded to Fort George, whence there was a wagon-road to Fort Edward, the place he was aiming at. Instead of this, he determined on separating himself from his baggage and artillery, sending these, under general Phillips, to Fort George, and proceeding with the main portion of the army across the rugged country that lay betwixt himself and Fort Edward. On this route they had not only to contend with swamps swarming with mosquitoes, deep gullies, ravines, and rivulets, but to make temporary bridges to supply the place of those destroyed by Schuyler, and remove the trees felled by him. The weather, to add to their stupendous labour, was intensely hot; yet, surmounting everything, on the 30th of July Burgoyne and his army hailed with enthusiasm the sight of the Hudson, which they had thus reached through a series of brilliant successes.

There only needed now one thing to render the whole expedition triumphant, and place the Hudson from Albany to New York in the absolute power of the British army - that general Howe should have been prepared to keep the appointment there with a proper fleet and armed force. But Howe was engaged in the campaign of Philadelphia, and seems to have been utterly incapable of conducting two such operations as watching Washington and supporting Burgoyne. It was not necessary that he should be in two places at once; but there were forces lying still at New York, and sufficient vessels there to carry them up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne when he reached that river, as, indeed, was attempted when too late. Burgoyne had bravely done his part; but here he was miserably betrayed. As soon as Burgoyne discovered this fatal want of co-operation on the part of Howe, he ought to have retreated to the lakes, but he still determined to advance; and before doing so, he only awaited the coming up of the artillery and baggage under general Philips and of colonel St. Leger, who, had been dispatched by the course of the Oswego, the Oneida Lake, and Wood Creek, and thence by the Mohawk river, which falls into the Hudson between Saratoga and Albany. St. Leger had two hundred regulars - Sir John Johnson's royal queen's and Canadian rangers - with him, and a body of Indians under Brandt. St. Leger, on his way, had laid siege to Fort Schuyler, late Fort Stanwix, near the head of the Mohawk. General Herkimer raised the militia of Tryon county, and advanced to the relief of the place, which was held by Gansevoort and Willett, with two New York regiments.

On hearing this, Burgoyne dispatched colonel Baum with two pieces of artillery and eight hundred men - dismounted German dragoons and British marksmen - with a body of Canadians and Indians, and colonel Skene and a party of loyalists for guides to seize cattle, carts, and pioneers in the settlements to the east. They were to surprise Bennington, a place about twenty miles to the east of the Hudson, where the Americans had collected their stores from New England, and, having secured these, to return and carry them to St. Leger. But, of all soldiers, dismounted German troopers were the least fitted for expeditions which required dispatch. They were completely oppressed by the ponderous weight of their equipments in that hot season. The worst British regiment would have marched twice the distance in a day. There were not one-third men enough for the enterprise; and, on the very first day, Baum, ignorant of the language and the character of the people, acting under the advice of colonel Skene, liberated a considerable number of American prisoners whom he took, on condition that they should go home, and not serve against England again. They at once marched to Bennington, gave the alarm, and entered the ranks against their liberators. Baum soon found himself menaced by a superior force from that place, and, halting, sent to Burgoyne for fresh reinforcements. These were sent to the amount of five hundred men, another German detachment under colonel Breyman. Baum, however, found himself surrounded by generals Starke and Warner at St. Corick's Mill, on Walloon Creek, six miles from Bennington, before Breyman came up. They had one thousand two hundred men. Baum immediately began to entrench himself. It was now the 14th of August; and, heavy rains setting in, the enemies lay still for two days, each expecting reinforcements. On the 16th Starke, a man who had risen from the ranks, being joined by some militia under colonel Simmons, drew out his troops, and led them against Baum's lines. " There they are! " exclaimed the rustic general; " we beat to-day, or Sally Starke's a widow!"

For two hours a fierce attack was kept up on Baum's entrenchments on all sides by the Americans with muskets and rifles. Baum made a most gallant defence, and three times drove them from some high ground which they occupied above his camp. Breyman was now advancing to his aid; and, had he advanced at ordinary speed, he would have been in time, and turned the scale of battle. But he had been twenty-four hours in marching sixteen miles, and came just too late! Baum was picked off by a rifleman and fell mortally wounded. His German troops retreated into the woods, in the direction of Fort Edward, and were there met by Breyman. He re-organised the fugitives, and commenced his retreat, hotly pursued by Starke and Warner; he made his way back to Burgoyne, but not until he had fired nearly his last cartridge; and the loss of Baum and himself amounted to about five hundred men killed and wounded.

During this time St. Leger had been investing Fort Schuyler. The whole of his miscellaneous force did not exceed six hundred, exclusive of Indians; and on the 5th of August he learned that general Herkimer was advancing to the relief of Ganzevoort and Willett, with one thousand men. He instantly dispatched Sir John Johnson with a party of regulars and a number of Indians to waylay him. Herkimer fell into the ambush, and was himself mortally wounded. He supported himself against a stump, and encouraged his men to fight; but they were surrounded and cut to pieces, and mercilessly tomahawked by the Indians. A successful volley on the part of Willett enabled the prisoners to escape; but they left behind them four hundred killed and wounded. St. Leger, finding that his light artillery made no impression on the walls of Fort Schuyler, and hearing a false rumour that Burgoyne was defeated, raised the siege, leaving behind him his artillery, tents, and stores. His precipitation was occasioned by the more certain news of the approach of Arnold with ten pieces of artillery and two thousand men, who, indeed, reached Fort Schuyler two days after his retreat.

Burgoyne was now in a condition which demanded all the talents of a great general. His forces were greatly reduced, those of the enemy greatly increased, and he was precisely in that situation, amongst bogs and wildernesses, which Barrington and Barre had from the first declared would be fatal to any army. He had sent express after express to Howe to urge a movement in co-operation, but no news of it arrived, and every day he was becoming more and more cut off from advance or retreat. The skirmish in which Stark had defeated Baum was, with the American gasconade, sounded abroad as a great victory; and the militia, previously as timid as sheep, were running in from all quarters; the woods swarmed with them. Besides the valour of American troops, the cruelties of the Indians were dilated on and exaggerated, to rouse the indignation of the soldiers; there was a case of one Jenny Macrea, which was made much use of. It was, indeed, an atrocious affair; but it was perpetrated by Burgoyne's Indian allies - not on the American republicans, but on his own friends, Her family were loyalists; she herself was engaged to be married to a loyalist officer, yet she was killed by the Indians. Gates sent a fiery remonstrance to Burgoyne, stating, that when this young lady was dressed to receive her lover, a band of Indians burst into the house, carried off the whole family into the woods, and there murdered, scalped, and mangled them in a most frightful manner. But Burgoyne sent him in return a very different version of the story: that the murder was committed by two Indians, sent by her lover to guard her safely to the British camp. They quarrelled on their way respecting the division of the promised reward, and settled the dispute by killing the girl. Even in this shape, the story was bad enough; but, as circulated in the version of Gates through the settlements, it was calculated to produce the deepest detestation of such allies of the English. A scathed tree still marks the spot where, according to tradition, the unfortunate girl was killed.

Whilst these circumstances were operating against him, Burgoyne collected his artillery and provisions for about a month, and, forming a bridge of boats, passed his army, on the 13th and 14th of September, over the Hudson, and encamped on the heights and plains of Saratoga. With advanced parties in front, to repair the roads and bridges, he slowly descended the Hudson; the Germans advanced on the left by a road close along the river; the British, covered by light infantry, provincials, and Indians, by the high ground on the right. Gates had fixed his camp on some heights called Behmus's Heights. These formed the segment of a circle, the convex towards the British, connected with the river by a deep entrenchment, covered by strong batteries. The right was also covered by a sharp ravine descending to the river, and thickly wooded. From the head of this ravine, towards the left, which was defended by a breastwork of I logs, the ground was level and partially cleared, some trees being felled and others girdled. On the extreme left, at a distance of three-quarters of a mile from the river, was a knoll, a little in the rear, crowned by strong batteries. Gates also lay strongly defended by a star redoubt in the centre. Between the armies lay deep ravines, full of woods, and swamps, and shallow waters, thence called Still-water.

Just at this juncture Schuyler had been superseded by his successor Gates, yet he himself remained to give his assistance in the campaign. The day after Gates assumed the command, Morgan had marched in with his rifle corps, five hundred strong, and major Dearborn with two hundred and fifty other picked men. Arnold, too, had returned from pursuit of St. Leger, with two thousand men. The Americans numbered, with militia continually flocking in, little less than eight thousand, whilst Burgoyne's did not exceed half that number. To approach the Americans, it was necessary to cross the low ground, seamed with water courses and rugged with scrub and stones, and to lay down bridges and causeways. This being completed, on the 19th the British army took position in front of the American left, the right wing, consisting in part of Hessians, being commanded by Burgoyne himself, and supported by general Frazer with the grenadiers and light infantry, the front and flank covered by Canadians and Indians. On the left stood generals Reidesel and Philips, across the only good road there was - that running near the river.

Gates, who had the stimulating presence of Arnold, commenced the attack by sending out a detachment to turn Burgoyne's right flank, but they soon perceived the covering division of Frazer, and made a retreat. Gates then put Arnold at the head of a still stronger detachment to fall directly on Burgoyne's position, and a severe fight commenced about three o'clock in the afternoon, which lasted until sunset. Arnold made the most impetuous assaults on the British line to break it, but everywhere in vain, although the whole weight of the attack fell on three or four of our regiments, the rest being posted on some hills, and the Germans on the left at a greater distance. The British had four field pieces; the ground occupied by the Americans - a thick wood - did not allow the use of artillery, but enabled them as usual from behind trees to pick off the English wherever they advanced. The British on the opposite side of this field occupied a thin pine wood. Whenever they advanced into the open field, the fire of the American marksmen from their concealment drove them back in disorder; but whenever the Americans ventured out, the British rushed forward and committed havoc amongst them; so the contest continued till night. Every time that Arnold was beaten back, Gates sent him fresh reinforcements from Behmus's Heights, but late in the afternoon the British engaged were reinforced from the German columns, and general Learned was ordered by Gates to lead forward five regiments to support Arnold. A fierce struggle would probably have now taken place, but it was too late - the night parted them. The British remained in the field and claimed the victory; but it was a victory severely won, and far from decisive. The losses on both sides had been from five hundred to six hundred killed and wounded.

The English lay all night on their arms, and, as day dawned, began to entrench their position. If ever a general needed to push on his advantage it was now. Every day was consuming Burgoyne's stores; every day was augmenting the forces of the enemy. The country was closed to Burgoyne; it was open with all its resources to the Americans. A bold push might have driven the Americans at this moment from their ground; there were circumstances at work in the American camp which favoured the British. Gates, dissatisfied that Arnold had not broken the British lines, took the command of the left wing from him and headed it himself. The command of the right was given to general Lincoln. Stark just now marched in with his detachment flushed with triumph, but the term of the men being up, spite of all endeavours to detain them, they had marched off home on the very morning of the battle. Besides all this, ammunition was falling very short, and, from a recent change in the commissariat, even provisions were deficient. All these circumstances were unknown to Burgoyne, but he knew that every day was ominously consuming his supplies, and yet he lay there, as if paralysed, from the 20th of September to the 7th of October. The reason of this fatal delay is said to have been that Burgoyne had received a letter from general Sir Henry Clinton at New York, informing him that he must expect no cooperation from general Howe, but that he himself would take the responsibility of making a diversion in his favour by attacking the forts Montgomery and Clinton, on the lower part of the Hudson. Burgoyne, on receiving this intelligence, sent Clinton word that he would remain where he was till the 12th of October - a fatal resolve, as not only a calculation of his stores should have shown him, but which the acts of the Americans were certain to render calamitous. Elated at being able to stand their ground in some degree, this novel and almost sole success in the war, had raised their spirits as by a miracle. They sent all over the country the most boastful tidings of their wonderful victory on Behmus's Heights. The militia, before timid as hares, became now bold as bull-dogs. They poured in on all sides, and Arnold, ever ready in resources, suggested to Gates an enterprise to be effected while Burgoyne was lying still and consuming his own vitals.