XXIV. 1777. Sept. thousand effectives, most of them husbandmen and CHAP. freeholders, or the sons of freeholders, well armed, except that but three soldiers in ten had bayonets, conscious of superior strength, eager for action. They kindled with anger and scorn at the horrid barbarities threatened by Burgoyne; above all, they were enthusiasts for the freedom of mankind and the independence of their country, now to be secured by their deeds. As they looked one into the countenance of another, they saw the common determination to win the victory. Gates had no fitness for command, and wanted personal courage; the removal of Schuyler was passionately resented by a few New Yorkers; and Arnold, who assumed the part of Schuyler's friend, was quarrelsome and insubordinate: but the patriotism of the army was so deep and universal, that it gave no heed to doubts or altercations. After the toils of five weeks, a hundred and eighty boats were hauled by relays of horses over the two portages between Lake George and the river at Saratoga, and laden with one month's provisions for the army of Burgoyne. And now he was confronted by the question, what he should do. He had been greatly weakened, and Howe refused him aid; but he remembered that Germain had censured Carleton because he would "hazard nothing with the troops;" so, consulting no one of his officers, reading over his instructions a hundred times, and reserving the excuse for failure that his orders were peremptory, he called in all his men, gave up his connections, and with less than six thousand rank and file thought to force his XXIV. CHAP way to Albany. On the thirteenth of September his army with its splendid train of artillery crossed the Hudson at Schuylerville by a bridge of boats. 1777. Sept. At once Lincoln, from Manchester, carrying out a plan concerted with Gates, sent five hundred light troops without artillery, under Colonel John Brown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to distress the British in their rear. In the morning twilight of the eighteenth Brown surprised the outposts of Ticonderoga, including Mount Defiance; and with the loss of not more than nine killed and wounded, he set free one hundred American prisoners, captured four companies of regulars and others who guarded the newly made portage between Lake Champlain and Lake George, in all two hundred and ninety-three men with arms equal to their number and five cannon, and destroyed one hundred and fifty boats below the falls of Lake George and fifty above them, including gunboats and an armed sloop. Not being strong enough to carry Fort Independence, or Ticonderoga, or Diamond isl and in Lake George, the party with their trophies rejoined Lincoln. Meantime, the army of Burgoyne, stopping to rebuild bridges and repair roads, advanced scarcely four miles in as many days. By this time the well-chosen camp of the Americans had been made very strong; their right touched the Hudson and could not be assailed; their left was a high ridge of hills; their lines were protected by a breastwork. Burgoyne must dislodge them if he would get forward. His army moved on the nineteenth, as on former days, in three columns: the artillery, XXIV. 1777. Sept. protected by Riedesel and Brunswick troops, took CHAP. the road through the meadows near the river; the general in person led the centre across a deep ravine to a field on Freeman's farm; while Fraser, with the right, made a circuit upon the ridge to occupy heights from which the left of the Americans could be assailed. Indians, Canadians, and tories hovered on the front and flanks of the several columns. In concurrence with the advice of Arnold, Gates ordered out Morgan's riflemen and the light infantry. They put a picket to flight at a quarter past one, but retired before the division of Burgoyne. Leading his force unobserved through the woods, and securing his own right by thickets and ravines, Morgan next fell unexpectedly upon the left of the British central division. To support him, Gates, at two o'clock, sent out three New Hampshire battalions, of which that of Scammel met the enemy in front, that of Cilley took them in flank. In a warm engagement, Morgan had his horse shot under him, and with his riflemen captured a cannon, but could not carry it off. From half-past two there was a lull of a half-hour, during which Phillips brought more artillery against the Americans, and Gates ordered out two regiments of Connecticut militia under Cook. At three the battle became general, and it raged till after sundown. Fraser sent to the aid of Burgoyne such detachments as he could spare without endangering his own position, which was the object of the day. At four Gates ordered out the New York regiment of Cortlandt, followed in a half-hour by that of Henry Livingston. The 1777. CHAP. battle was marked by the obstinate courage of tne XXIV. Americans, but by no manoeuvre; man fought against Sept. man, regiment against regiment. A party would drive the British from the cannon which had been taken, and they would rally and recover it by their superiority with the bayonet; but when they advanced it was only to fall back before the deadly fire from the wood. The Americans used no artillery; the British employed several fieldpieces and with effect; but Jones, who commanded the principal battery, was killed, and some of his officers, and thirty-six out of forty-eight matrosses were killed or wounded. At five, all too late in the day, Brigadier Learned was ordered with all his brigade and a Massachusetts regiment to the enemy's rear. Before the sun went down Burgoyne was in danger of a rout; the troops about him wavered, when Riedesel, with more than a single regiment and two cannon, struggling through the thickets, across a ravine, climbed the hill, and charged the Americans on their right flank. Evening was at hand; those of the Americans who had been engaged for more than three hours had nearly exhausted their ammunition; and they quietly withdrew within their lines, taking with them their wounded and a hundred captives. On the British side three major-generals came on the field; on the American side not one, nor a brigadier till near its close. The glory of the day was due to 1 Arnold was not on the field. So witnesses Wilkinson, whom Marshall knew personally and believed. So said the informers of Gordon: History, ii. 551. Letters of Arnold and Gates admit of no other inter pretation. "General Arnold not being present in the battle of the 19th of September." R. R. Livingston to Washington, 14 January, 1778. XXIV. 1777. Sept. the several regiments, which fought in unison, and CHAP. needed only an able general to have utterly routed Burgoyne's division. Of the Americans, praise justly fell upon Morgan of Virginia and Scammel of New Hampshire; none offered their lives more freely than the continental regiment of Cilley and the Connecticut militia of Cook. The American loss, including the wounded and missing, proved less than three hundred and twenty; among the dead was the brave and meritorious Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Colburn of New Hampshire. This accidental battle crippled the British force irretrievably. Their loss exceeded six hundred. Of the sixtysecond regiment, which left Canada five hundred strong, there remained less than sixty men and four or five officers. "Tell my uncle I died like a soldier," were the last words of Hervey, one of its lieutenants, a boy of sixteen, who was mortally wounded. A shot from a rifle, meant for Burgoyne, struck an officer at his side. The separated divisions of the British army passed the night in bivouac under arms; that of Burgoyne on the field of battle. Morning revealed to them their desperate condition; to all former difficulties was added the encumbrance of their wounded. Their dead were buried promiscuously, except that officers were thrown into holes by themselves, in one pit three of the twentieth regiment, of whom the oldest was not more than seventeen. An attack upon the remains of Burgoyne's division while it was still disconnected and without intrenchments was urged by Arnold with all the chances of a victory; but such a movement did not |