Alertness of Governor Clinton's Men Defeated
the Stratagem of a British
Courier on His Way to Burgoyne.
One of the strangest incidents of the American Revolution is the story of
a silver bullet.
The year was 1777. Burgoyne, pushing down from the north, was expecting to
effect a junction with Sir Henry Clinton at Albany. The field of Saratoga
was still before him. Clinton was pressing up the Hudson Valley from New
York. After taking Fort Montgomery, in the Highlands, he sent a letter to
Burgoyne with news of his movements.
As the message had to pass through the American lines, the letter was
enclosed in a silver bullet, coated with lead, and the spy who carried it
placed it in his pocket with a few real bullets.
In Dutchess County the spy was captured. His captors found nothing
incriminating, and were about to release him, when one of them happened on
the bullets, and noticed that one bullet was lighter than the others.
"Why," he exclaimed, "this can never be a bullet; it is too light!"
At this moment the spy snatched the bullet and swallowed it. The incident
was promptly reported to Governor George Clinton, commander of the
Revolutionary force, and by his direction a surgeon recovered the bullet.
In it was found Sir Henry Clinton's letter, which read as follows: