XXII. 1777. thousand men were coming against them; another CHAP. followed, doubling the number; a third brought a rumor that three thousand men were close at hand; and, deaf to Saint Leger and to their superintendents, the wild warriors robbed the British officers of their clothes, plundered the boats, and made off with the booty. Saint Leger in a panic, though Arnold was not within forty miles, hurried after them before nightfall, leaving his tents standing, and abandoning most of his artillery and stores. It was "Herkimer who," in the opinion of Washington, "first reversed the gloomy scene" of the northern campaign. The hero of the Mohawk valley "served from love of country, not for reward. He did not want a continental command or money." Before congress had decided how to manifest the gratitude of his country, he died of his wound; and they decreed him a monument. Gansevoort was rewarded by a vote of thanks and a command; Willett by public praise and "an elegant sword.” The employment of Indian allies had failed. The king, the ministry, and, in due time, the British parliament, were informed officially that the wild red men "treacherously committed ravages upon their friends;" that "they could not be controlled;" that they killed their captives after the fashion of their tribes;" that "there was infinite difficulty searched for Herkimer's letter, but it could not be found. " 1 "It is his [Herkimer's] misfortune to want the powers of description, and we have a most lame and imperfect account of the great event." MS. letter of Duane, August, 1777, in the papers of R. R. Livingston. The secretary of state caused his department to be 2 Barry Saint Leger to Burgoyne, 27 August, 1777. 3 Baum to Burgoyne, 14 August, 1777. 4 Col. Butler in Almon's Parliamentary Debates, viii. 227. XXII. 1777. CHAP. to manage them;"1 "1 that "they grew more and more unreasonable and importunate."2 Could the government of a civilized state insist on courting their alliance? When the Seneca warriors, returning to their lodges, told the story of the slaughter of their chiefs, their villages rung with the howls of mourners, the yells of rage. We shall see interested British emissaries, acting under the orders of Germain and the king, make the life of these savages a succession of revenges, and lead them on to the wreaking of all their wrath in blood. Burgoyne, who on the thirtieth of July had his head-quarters on the banks of the Hudson, was proud of his management of the Indians, of whom he had detachments from seventeen nations. A Brunswick officer describes them as "tall, warlike, and enterprising, but fiendishly wicked, man-eaters, or certainly, in their fury, capable of unfleshing an enemy with their teeth." On the third of August they brought in twenty scalps and as many captives; and Burgoyne noticed with approval their incessant activity. To prevent desertions, it was announced in orders to each regiment, that the savages were enjoined to scalp every runaway. The Ottawas longed to go home; but on the fifth of August, nine days 4 XXII. after the murder of Jane MacCrea, Burgoyne took CHAP. from all his red warriors a pledge to stay through the campaign.1 On the sixth, he reported himself 1777. to General Howe as "well forward," "impatient to gain the mouth of the Mohawk," but not likely to "be in possession of Albany" before "the twentysecond or the twenty-third" of the month. To aid Saint Leger by a diversion, and fill his camp with draught cattle, horses, and provisions from the fabled magazines at Bennington, Burgoyne, on the eleventh of August, sent out an expedition on the left, commanded by Baum, a Brunswick lieutenant-colonel of dragoons, and composed of more than four hundred Brunswickers, Hanau artillerists with two cannon, the select corps of British marksmen, a party of French Canadians, a more numerous party of provincial royalists, and a horde of about one hundred and fifty2 Indians. The gen eral in his eagerness rode after Baum, and gave him verbal orders to march directly upon Bennington. After disposing of the stores at that place, he might cross the Green Mountains, descend the Connecticut river to Brattleboro', and enter Albany with Saint Leger and Burgoyne. The night of the thirteenth, he encamped about four miles from Bennington, on a hill that rises from the Walloomscoick, just within the state of New York. When, early on the morning of the fourteenth, a reconnoitring party of Americans was seen, he wrote in high spirits for more troops, and constructed strong intrench 1 Brunswick journal. MS. 2 La Corne Saint Luc to Burgoyne, Quebec, 23 October, 1778. 3 Riedesel's journal, of which I have his own draught, as well as a CHAP. ments. XXII. 1777. Burgoyne sent him orders to maintain his post; and at eight o'clock on the fifteenth, Breymann, a Brunswick lieutenant-colonel, marched with two Brunswick battalions and two cannon, in a constant rain, through thick woods, to his support. The supplicatory letter from Vermont to the New Hampshire committee of safety reached Exeter just after the session of the legislature; but its members came together again on the seventeenth of July, promptly resolved to coöperate "with the troops of the new state," and ordered Stark, with a brigade of militia, "to stop the progress of the enemy on their western frontier." Uprising at the call, the men of New Hampshire flew to his standard, which he set up at Charlestown on the Connecticut river. Taking no heed of Schuyler's orders to join the retreating army, for which disobedience Schuyler brought upon him the censure of congress, and having consulted with Seth Warner of Vermont, Stark made his bivouac on the fourteenth of August at the distance of a mile from the post of Baum, to whom he vainly offered battle. The regiment of Warner came down from Manchester during the rain of the fifteenth; and troops arrived from the westernmost county of Massachusetts, When the sun rose on the sixteenth, Stark concerted with his officers the plan for the day. Seeing small bands of men, in shirt-sleeves and carrying fowling-pieces without bayonets, steal behind his camp, Baum mistook them for friendly country people placing themselves where he could 1 Burgoyne to Baum, 14 August, seven at night. XXII. protect them; and so five hundred men under CHAP. Nichols and Herrick united in his rear. While his attention was arrested by a feint, two hundred 1777. more posted themselves on his right; and Stark, with two or three hundred, took the front. At three o'clock Baum was attacked on every side. The Indians dashed between two detachments, and fled, leaving their grand chief and others on the field. New England sharp-shooters ran up within eight yards of the loaded cannon, to pick off the cannoneers. When, after about two hours, the firing of the Brunswickers slackened from scarcity of powder, the Americans scaled the breastwork and fought them hand to hand. Baum ordered his infantry with the bayonet, his dragoons with their sabres, to force a way; but he fell mortally wounded, and his veteran troops surrendered. Just then the battalions of Breymann, having taken thirty hours to march twenty-four miles, came in sight. Warner now first brought up his regiment, of one hundred and fifty men, into action, and with their aid Stark began a new attack, using the cannon just taken. The fight raged till sunset, when Breymann, abandoning his artillery and most of his wounded men, ordered a retreat. The pursuit continued till night; those who escaped owed their safety to the darkness. During the day less than thirty of the Americans were killed, and about forty were wounded; the loss of their enemy was estimated at full twice as many, besides at least six hundred and ninety-two prisoners, of whom more than four hundred were Germans. |