ADVANCE OF BURGOYNE.--BATTLE OF ORISKANY.--BATTLE OF BENNINGTON.
In a preceding chapter we left Burgoyne, early in July, at
Skenesborough, of which he had just gained possession. He remained
there nearly three weeks, awaiting the arrival of the residue of his
troops, with tents, baggage and provisions, and preparing for his
grand move towards the Hudson River. The progress of the army towards
the Hudson was slow and difficult, in consequence of the impediments
which Schuyler had multiplied in his way during his long halt at
Skenesborough. Bridges broken down had to be rebuilt; great trees to
be removed which had been felled across the roads and into Wood Creek,
which stream was completely choked. It was not until the latter part
of July that Burgoyne reached Fort Anne. At his approach, General
Schuyler retired from Fort Edward and took post at Fort Miller, a few
miles lower down the Hudson.
The Indian allies who had hitherto accompanied the British army, had
been more troublesome than useful. They were of the tribes of Lower
Canada, corrupted and debased by intercourse with white men. It had
been found difficult to draw them from the plunder of Ticonderoga, or
to restrain their murderous propensities. A party had recently arrived
of a different stamp--braves of the Ottawa and other tribes from the
upper country, painted and decorated with savage magnificence, and
bearing trophies of former triumphs. They were under the conduct of
two French leaders; one named Langlade, the other named St. Luc, is
described by Burgoyne as a Canadian gentleman of honor and abilities,
and one of the best partisans of the French in the war of 1756.
Burgoyne trusted to his newly-arrived Indians to give a check to the
operations of Schuyler, knowing the terror they inspired throughout
the country. He was naturally a humane man, and disliked Indian
allies, but these had hitherto served in company with civilized
troops, and he trusted to the influence possessed over them by St. Luc
and Langlade to keep them within the usages of war. A circumstance
occurred, however, which showed how little the "wild honor" of these
warriors of the tomahawk is to be depended upon.
In General Fraser's division was a young officer, Lieutenant David
Jones, an American loyalist. His family had their home in the vicinity
of Fort Edward before the Revolution. A mutual attachment had taken
place between the youth and a beautiful girl named Jane McCrea, who
resided with her brother on the banks of the Hudson, a few miles below
Fort Edward. The lovers were engaged to be married, when the breaking
out of the war severed families and disturbed all the relations of
life. The Joneses were royalists; the brother of Miss McCrea was a
stanch whig. The former removed to Canada, where he joined the royal
standard, and received a lieutenant's commission. The attachment
between the lovers continued, and it is probable that a correspondence
was kept up between them. Lieutenant Jones was now in Fraser's camp;
in his old neighborhood. Miss McCrea was on a visit to a widow lady,
Mrs. O'Niel, residing at Fort Edward. The approach of Burgoyne's army
had spread an alarm through the country; the inhabitants were flying
from their homes. The brother of Miss McCrea determined to remove to
Albany, and sent for his sister to return home and make ready to
accompany him. She prepared, reluctantly, to obey, and was to embark
in a large bateaux which was to convey several families down the
river. The very morning when the embarkation was to take place the
neighborhood was a scene of terror. A marauding party of Indians, sent
out by Burgoyne to annoy General Schuyler, were harassing the country.
Several of them burst into the house of Mrs. O'Niel, sacked and
plundered it, and carried off her and Miss McCrea prisoners. In her
fright the latter promised the savages a large reward if they would
spare her life and take her in safety to the British camp. It was a
fatal promise. Halting at a spring, a quarrel arose among the savages,
inflamed most probably with drink, as to whose prize she was, and who
was entitled to the reward. The dispute became furious, and one, in a
paroxysm of rage, killed her on the spot. He completed the savage act
by bearing off her scalp as a trophy.
General Burgoyne was struck with horror when he heard of this bloody
deed. He summoned a council of the Indian chiefs, in which he insisted
that the murderer of Miss McCrea should be given up to receive the
reward of his crime. The demand produced a violent agitation. The
culprit was a great warrior, a chief, and the "wild honor" of his
brother sachems was roused in his behalf. St. Luc took Burgoyne aside
and entreated him not to push the matter to extremities, assuring him
that from what was passing among the chiefs, he was sure they and
their warriors would all abandon the army should the delinquent be
executed. Burgoyne was thus reluctantly brought to spare the offender,
but thenceforth made it a rule that no party of Indians should be
permitted to go forth on a foray unless under the conduct of a British
officer, or some other competent person who should be responsible for
their behavior.{1}
{Footnote 1: [These restrictions led to ill-humor among the Indians
who soon announced their intention of returning home, unless the
restraints imposed by Burgoyne were withdrawn. Burgoyne was greatly
embarrassed. The Indian force was valuable and obtained at an immense
expense. But to his great credit he refused their demands, and the
result was that the greater part of his Indian allies deserted him.]}
The mischief to the British cause, however, had been effected. The
murder of Miss McCrea resounded throughout the land, counteracting all
the benefit anticipated from the terror of Indian hostilities. Those
people of the frontiers who had hitherto remained quiet, now flew to
arms to defend their families and firesides. In their exasperation
they looked beyond the savages to their employers. They abhorred an
army which, professing to be civilized, could league itself with such
barbarians; and they execrated a government which, pretending to
reclaim them as subjects, could let loose such fiends to desolate
their homes. The blood of this unfortunate girl, therefore, was not
shed in vain. Armies sprang up from it. Her name passed as a note of
alarm along the banks of the Hudson; it was a rallying word among the
Green Mountains of Vermont and brought down all their hardy yeomanry.
As Burgoyne advanced to Fort Edward, Schuyler fell still further back
and took post at Saratoga, or rather Stillwater, about thirty miles
from Albany. He had been joined by Major-general Lincoln, who,
according to Washington's directions, had hastened to his assistance.
In pursuance of Washington's plans, Lincoln proceeded to Manchester in
Vermont to take command of the militia forces collecting at that
point. His presence inspired new confidence in the country people, who
were abandoning their homes, leaving their crops ungathered, and
taking refuge with their families in the lower towns. He found about
five hundred militia assembled at Manchester, under Colonel Seth
Warner; others were coming on from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to
protect their uncovered frontier.
Burgoyne was now at Fort Edward where new difficulties beset him. The
horses which had been contracted for in Canada, for draught, burthen
and saddle, arrived slowly and scantily. Artillery and munitions, too,
of all kinds, had to be brought from Ticonderoga by the way of Lake
George. These, with a vast number of boats for freight, or to form
bridges, it was necessary to transport over the carrying places
between the lakes, and by land from Fort George to Fort Edward.
Unfortunately, the army had not the requisite supply of horses and
oxen. So far from being able to bring forward provisions for a march,
it was with difficulty enough could be furnished to feed the army from
day to day.
While thus situated, Burgoyne received intelligence that the part of
his army which he had detached from Canada under Colonel St. Leger, to
proceed by Lake Ontario and Oswego and make a diversion on the Mohawk,
had penetrated to that river, and were actually investing Fort
Stanwix, the stronghold of that part of the country.
To carry out the original plan of his campaign, it now behooved him to
make a rapid move down the Hudson, so as to be at hand to co-operate
with St. Leger on his approach to Albany. But how was he to do this,
deficient as he was in horses and vehicles for transportation? In this
dilemma he was informed that at Bennington, about twenty-four miles
east of the Hudson, the Americans had a great depot of horses,
carriages, and supplies of all kind, intended for their Northern army,
which might easily be surprised, being guarded by only a small militia
force. An expedition was immediately set on foot, not only to surprise
this place, but to scour the country, and bring off all horses fit for
the dragoons, or for battalion service, with as many saddles and
bridles as could be found.
Before relating the events of this expedition, we will turn to notice
those of the detachment under St. Leger, with which it was intended to
co-operate, and which was investing Fort Schuyler. This fort, built in
1756, on the site of an old French fortification, and formerly called
Fort Stanwix, from a British general of that name, was situated on the
right bank of the Mohawk River, at the head of its navigation, and
commanded the carrying-place between it and Wood Creek, whence the
boats passed to the Oneida Lake, the Oswego River, and Lake Ontario.
It was thus a key to the intercourse between Upper Canada and the
valley of the Mohawk. The fort was square, with four bastions, and was
originally a place of strength--having bombproof magazines, a deep
moat and drawbridge, a sally port and covered way. In the long
interval of peace subsequent to the French war, it had fallen to
decay. Recently it had been repaired by order of General Schuyler, and
had received his name. It was garrisoned by seven hundred and fifty
Continental troops from New York and Massachusetts, and was under the
command of Colonel Gansevoort of the New York line.
It was a motley force which appeared before it; British, Hessian,
Royalist, Canadian and Indian, about seventeen hundred in all. Among
them were St. Leger's rangers and Sir John Johnson's royalist corps,
called his greens. The Indians were led by the famous Brant. On the 3d
of August, St. Leger sent in a flag with a summons to surrender. It
was disregarded. He now set his troops to work to fortify his camp and
clear obstructions from Wood Creek and the roads for the
transportation of artillery and provisions, and sent out scouting
parties of Indians in all directions, to cut off all communication of
the garrison with the surrounding country.
On the 6th of August, three men made their way into the fort through a
swamp which the enemy had deemed impassable. They brought the cheering
intelligence that General Herkimer, the veteran commander of the
militia of Tryon County, was at Oriskany, about eight miles distant,
with upwards of eight hundred men. Herkimer requested Colonel
Gansevoort, through his two messengers, to fire three signal-guns on
receiving word of his vicinage, upon hearing which, he would endeavor
to force his way to the fort, depending upon the co-operation of the
garrison.
The messengers had been despatched by Herkimer on the evening of the
5th, and he had calculated that they would reach the fort at a very
early hour in the morning. Through some delay, they did not reach it
until between ten and eleven o'clock. Gansevoort instantly complied
with the message. Three signal-guns were fired, and Colonel Willet, of
the New York Continentals, with two hundred and fifty men and an iron
three-pounder was detached to make a diversion by attacking that part
of the enemy's camp occupied by Johnson and his royalists. The delay
of the messengers in the night, however, disconcerted the plan of
Herkimer. He marshalled his troops by daybreak and waited for the
signal-guns. Hour after hour elapsed, but no gun was heard. His
officers became impatient of delay, and urged an immediate march.
Colonels Cox and Paris were particularly urgent for an advance. Paris
was a prominent man in Tryon County, and member of the committee of
safety, and in compliance with the wishes of that committee,
accompanied Herkimer as his volunteer aide. Losing his temper in the
dispute, he accused the latter of being either a tory or a coward.
"No," replied the brave old man, "I feel toward you all as a father,
and will not lead you into a scrape from which I cannot extricate
you." His discretion, however, was overpowered by repeated taunts, and
he at length, about nine o'clock, gave the word to march.
The march was rather dogged and irregular. There was ill-humor between
the general and his officers. About ten o'clock they came to a place
where the road was carried on a causeway of logs across a deep marshy
ravine, between high level banks. The main division descended into the
ravine, followed by the baggage-wagons. They had scarcely crossed it,
when the enemies suddenly sprang up in front and on each side with
deadly volleys of musketry and deafening yells and war-whoops. In
fact, St. Leger, apprised by his scouts of their intended approach,
had sent a force [of Johnson's greens, rangers, and Indians] to waylay
them. The rear-guard, which had not entered the ravine, retreated. The
main body, though thrown into confusion, defended themselves bravely.
One of those severe conflicts ensued, common in Indian warfare, where
the combatants take post with their rifles behind rock and tree, or
come to deadly struggle with knife and tomahawk.
The veteran Herkimer was wounded early in the action. A musket ball
shattered his leg just below the knee, killing his horse at the same
time. He made his men place him on his saddle at the foot of a large
beech tree, against the trunk of which he leaned, continuing to give
his orders. The regulars attempted to charge with the bayonet, but the
Americans formed themselves in circles back to back, and repelled
them. A heavy storm of thunder and rain caused a temporary lull to the
fight, during which the patriots changed their ground. Some of them
stationed themselves in pairs behind trees, so that when one had fired
the other could cover him until he had reloaded, for the savages were
apt to rush up with knife and tomahawk the moment a man had discharged
his piece.
A confusion reigns over the accounts of this fight, in which every one
saw little but what occurred in his immediate vicinity. The Indians at
length, having lost many of their bravest warriors, gave the
retreating cry, Oonah! Oonah! and fled to the woods. The greens and
rangers, hearing a firing in the direction of the fort, feared an
attack upon their camp, and hastened to its defence, carrying off with
them many prisoners. The Americans did not pursue them, but placing
their wounded on litters made of branches of trees, returned to
Oriskany. Both parties have claimed the victory, but it does not
appear that either was entitled to it. The Americans had two hundred
killed, and a number wounded. Several of these were officers. The loss
of the enemy is thought to have been equally great as to numbers. We
may add that those who had been most urgent with General Herkimer for
this movement, were among the first to suffer from it. Colonel Cox was
shot down at the first fire, so was a son of Colonel Paris; the
colonel himself was taken prisoner, and fell beneath the tomahawk of
the famous Red Jacket. As to General Herkimer, he was conveyed to his
residence on the Mohawk River, and died nine days after the battle,
not so much from his wound as from bad surgery, sinking gradually
through loss of blood from an unskilful amputation.
The sortie of Colonel Willett had been spirited and successful. He
attacked the encampments of Sir John Johnson and the Indians which
were contiguous, and strong detachments of which were absent on the
ambuscade. Sir John and his men were driven to the river; the Indians
fled to the woods. Willett sacked their camps; loaded wagons with camp
equipage, clothing, blankets, and stores of all kinds, seized the
baggage and papers of Sir John and of several of his officers, and
retreated safely to the fort, just as St. Leger was up with a powerful
reinforcement. Five colors, which he had brought away with him as
trophies, were displayed under the flag of the fort, while his men
gave three cheers from the ramparts.
St. Leger now endeavored to operate on the fears of the garrison. His
prisoners, it is said, were compelled to write a letter, giving dismal
accounts of the affair of Oriskany, and of the impossibility of
getting any succor to the garrison; of the probability that Burgoyne
and his army were then before Albany, and advising surrender to
prevent inevitable destruction.
St. Leger accompanied the letter with warnings that, should the
garrison persist in resistance, he would not be able to restrain the
fury of the savages, who threatened, if further provoked, to revenge
the deaths of their warriors and chiefs by slaughtering the garrison,
and laying waste the whole valley of the Mohawk. All this failing to
shake the resolution of Gansevoort, St. Leger began to lose heart. The
fort proved more capable of defence than he had anticipated. His
artillery was too light, and the ramparts, being of sod, were not
easily battered. He was obliged, reluctantly, to resort to the slow
process of sapping and mining, and began to make regular approaches.
Gansevoort, seeing the siege was likely to be protracted, resolved to
send to General Schuyler for succor. Colonel Willett volunteered to
undertake the perilous errand. He was accompanied by Lieutenant
Stockwell, an excellent woodsman, who served as a guide. They left the
fort on the 10th after dark, by a sally port, passed by the British
sentinels and close by the Indian camp without being discovered, and
made their way through bog and morass and pathless forests and all
kinds of risks and hardships until they reached the German Flats on
the Mohawk. Here Willett procured a couple of horses, and by dint of
hoof arrived at the camp of General Schuyler at Stillwater.
Schuyler was in Albany in the early part of August, making stirring
appeals in every direction for reinforcements. Burgoyne was advancing
upon him; he had received news of the disastrous affair of Oriskany,
and the death of General Herkimer, and Tryon County was crying to him
for assistance. One of his appeals was to the veteran John Stark. He
had his farm in the Hampshire Grants, and his name was a tower of
strength among the Green Mountain Boys. But Stark was soured with
government and had retired from service, his name having been omitted
in the list of promotions. Hearing that he was on a visit to Lincoln's
camp at Manchester, Schuyler wrote to that general: "Assure General
Stark that I have acquainted Congress of his situation, and that I
trust and entreat he will in the present alarming crisis waive his
right; the greater the sacrifice he makes to his feelings, the greater
will be the honor due to him for not having suffered any consideration
whatever to come in competition with the weal of his country."
Schuyler had instant call to practise the very virtue he was
inculcating. He was about to mount his horse on the 10th to return to
the camp at Stillwater, when a despatch from Congress was put into his
hand containing the resolves which recalled him to attend a court of
inquiry about the affair of Ticonderoga.
Schuyler felt deeply the indignity of being thus recalled at a time
when an engagement was apparently at hand, but endeavored to console
himself with the certainty that a thorough investigation of his
conduct would prove how much he was entitled to the thanks of his
country. He intimated the same in his reply to Congress; in the
meantime he considered it his duty to remain at his post until his
successor should arrive, or some officer in the department be
nominated to the command. His first care was to send relief to
Gansevoort and his beleaguered garrison. Eight hundred men were all
that he could spare from his army in its present threatened state. A
spirited and effective officer was wanted to lead them. Arnold was in
camp; recently sent on as an efficient coadjutor by Washington. He
stepped promptly forward, and volunteered to lead the enterprise.
After the departure of this detachment, it was unanimously determined
in a council of war of Schuyler and his general officers, that the
post at Stillwater was altogether untenable with their actual force;
part of the army, therefore, retired to the islands at the fords on
the mouth of the Mohawk River, where it empties into the Hudson, and a
brigade was posted above the Falls of the Mohawk, called the Cohoes,
to prevent the enemy from crossing there. It was considered a strong
position, where they could not be attacked without great disadvantage
to the assailant.
We will now take a view of occurrences on the right and left of
Burgoyne, and show the effect of Schuyler's measures, poorly seconded
as they were in crippling and straitening the invading army. And first
we will treat of the expedition against Bennington. Generals Phillips
and Riedesel demurred strongly to the expedition, but their counsels
were outweighed by those of Colonel Skene [an influential and worthy
royalist, the founder of Skenesborough]. He knew, he said, all the
country thereabout. The inhabitants were as five to one in favor of
the royal cause, and would be prompt to turn out on the first
appearance of a protecting army. He was to accompany the expedition,
and much was expected from his personal influence and authority.
Lieutenant-colonel Baum was to command the detachment. He had under
him, according to Burgoyne, two hundred dismounted dragoons of the
regiment of Riedesel, Captain Fraser's marksmen, which were the only
British, all the Canadian volunteers, a party of the provincials who
perfectly knew the country, one hundred Indians, and two light pieces
of cannon. The whole detachment amounted to about five hundred men.
To be nearer at hand in case assistance should be required, Burgoyne
encamped on the east side of the Hudson, nearly opposite Saratoga,
throwing over a bridge of boats by which General Fraser, with the
advanced guard, crossed to that place. Colonel Baum set out from camp
at break of day on the 13th of August. He was too slow a man to take a
place by surprise. The people of Bennington heard of his approach and
were on the alert. The veteran Stark was there with eight or nine
hundred troops. During the late alarms the militia of the State had
been formed into two brigades, one to be commanded by General William
Whipple; Stark had with difficulty been prevailed upon to accept the
command of the other, upon the express condition that he should not be
obliged to join the main army but should be left to his own discretion
to make war in his own partisan style, hovering about the enemy in
their march through the country, and accountable to none but the
authorities of New Hampshire.
Having heard that Indians had appeared at Cambridge, twelve miles to
the north of Bennington, on the 13th, he sent out two hundred men
under Colonel Gregg in quest of them. In the course of the night he
learnt that they were mere scouts in advance of a force marching upon
Bennington. He immediately rallied his brigade, called out the militia
of the neighborhood, and sent off for Colonel Seth Warner and his
regiment of militia who were with General Lincoln at Manchester.
Lincoln instantly detached them, and Warner and his men marched all
night through drenching rain, arriving at Stark's camp in the morning,
dripping wet.
Stark left them at Bennington to dry and rest themselves and then to
follow on; in the meantime he pushed forward with his men to support
the party sent out the preceding day under Gregg, in quest of the
Indians. He met them about five miles off in full retreat, Baum and
his force a mile in their rear. He halted and prepared for action.
Baum also halted, posted himself on a high ground at a bend of the
little river Walloomscoick and began to intrench himself. Stark fell
back a mile to wait for reinforcements and draw down Baum from his
strong position. A skirmish took place between the advance guards;
thirty of Baum's men were killed and two Indian chiefs. An incessant
rain on the 15th prevented an attack on Baum's camp, but there was
continual skirmishing. The colonel strengthened his intrenchments, and
finding he had a larger force to contend with than he had anticipated,
sent off in all haste to Burgoyne for reinforcements. Colonel Breyman
marched off immediately with five hundred Hessian grenadiers and
infantry and two six-pounders, leaving behind him his tents, baggage,
and standards.
In the meantime the Americans had been mustering from all quarters to
Stark's assistance, with such weapons as they had at hand. During the
night of the 15th, Colonel Symonds arrived with a body of Berkshire
militia. On the following morning the sun shone bright, and Stark
prepared to attack Baum in his intrenchments; though he had no
artillery, and his men, for the most part, had only their ordinary
brown firelocks without bayonets. Two hundred of his men, under
Colonel Nichols, were detached to the rear of the enemy's left; three
hundred under Colonel Herrick, to the rear of his right; they were to
join their forces and attack him in the rear, while Colonels Hubbard
and Stickney, with two hundred men, diverted his attention in front.
At the first sound of fire-arms, Stark, who had remained with the main
body in camp, mounted his horse and gave the word, _forward!_ He had
promised his men the plunder of the British camp. The homely speech
made by him when in sight of the enemy, has often been cited. "Now, my
men! There are the red coats! Before night they must be ours, or Molly
Stark will be a widow!"
Baum soon found himself assailed on every side, but he defended his
works bravely. His two pieces of artillery, advantageously planted,
were very effective, and his troops, if slow in march, were steady in
action. Stark inspired his men with his own impetuosity. They drove
the royalist troops upon the Hessians, and pressing after them stormed
the works with irresistible fury. A Hessian eye-witness declares that
this time the rebels fought with desperation, pressing within eight
paces of the loaded cannon to take surer aim at the artillerists. The
latter were slain; the cannon captured. The royalists and Canadians
took to flight, and escaped to the woods. The Germans still kept their
ground and fought bravely, until there was not a cartridge left. Baum
and his dragoons then took to their broadswords, and the infantry to
their bayonets, and endeavored to cut their way to a road in the
woods, but in vain; many were killed, more wounded, Baum among the
number, and all who survived were taken prisoners.
The victors now dispersed, some to collect booty, some to attend to
the wounded, some to guard the prisoners, and some to seek
refreshment, being exhausted by hunger and fatigue. At this critical
juncture, Breyman's tardy reinforcement came, making its way heavily
and slowly to the scene of action, joined by many of the enemy who had
fled. Attempts were made to rally the militia; but they were in
complete confusion. Nothing would have saved them from defeat, had not
Colonel Seth Warner's corps fortunately arrived from Bennington, fresh
from repose, and advanced to meet the enemy, while the others regained
their ranks. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when this second
action commenced. It was fought from wood to wood and hill to hill,
for several miles, until sunset. The last stand of the enemy was at
Van Schaick's mill, where, having expended all their ammunition, of
which each man had forty rounds, they gave way, and retreated, under
favor of the night, leaving two field-pieces and all their baggage in
the hands of the Americans.
Four brass field-pieces, nine hundred dragoon swords, a thousand stand
of arms, and four ammunition wagons were the spoils of this victory.
Thirty-two officers, five hundred and sixty-four privates, including
Canadians and loyalists, were taken prisoners. The number of slain was
very considerable, but could not be ascertained; many having fallen in
the woods. The brave but unfortunate Baum did not long survive. The
Americans had one hundred killed and wounded.
Arnold's march to the relief of Fort Stanwix was slower than suited
his ardent and impatient spirit. He was detained in the valley of the
Mohawk by bad roads, by the necessity of waiting for baggage and
ammunition wagons, and for militia recruits who turned out
reluctantly. Conscious of the smallness of his force, he had resorted
to stratagem, sending emissaries ahead to spread exaggerated reports
of the number of his troops, so as to work on the fears of the enemy's
Indian allies and induce them to desert. The most important of these
emissaries was one Yan Yost Cuyler, an eccentric, half-witted fellow,
known throughout the country as a rank tory. He had been convicted as
a spy, and only spared from the halter on the condition that he would
go into St. Leger's camp, and spread alarming reports among the
Indians, by whom he was well known. To insure a faithful discharge of
his mission, Arnold detained his brother as a hostage.
On his way up the Mohawk Valley, Arnold was joined by a New York
regiment, under Colonel James Livingston, sent by Gates to reinforce
him. On arriving at the German Flats he received an express from
Colonel Gansevoort, informing him that he was still besieged, but in
high spirits and under no apprehensions.
All this while St. Leger was advancing his parallels and pressing the
siege; while provisions and ammunition were rapidly decreasing within
the fort. St Leger's Indian allies, however, were growing sullen and
intractable. This slow kind of warfare, this war with the spade, they
were unaccustomed to, and they by no means relished it. At this
juncture, scouts brought word that a force one thousand strong was
marching to the relief of the fort. Eager to put his savages in
action, St. Leger, in a council of war, offered to their chiefs to
place himself at their head, with three hundred of his best troops,
and meet the enemy as they advanced. It was agreed, and they sallied
forth together to choose a fighting ground. By this time rumors stole
into the camp doubling the number of the approaching enemy. Burgoyne's
whole army were said to have been defeated. Lastly came Yan Yost
Cuyler, with his coat full of bullet-holes, giving out that he had
escaped from the hands of the Americans, and had been fired upon by
them. His story was believed, for he was known to be a royalist.
Mingling among his old acquaintances, the Indians, he assured them
that the Americans were close at hand, and "numerous as the leaves on
the trees."
Arnold's stratagem succeeded. The Indians, fickle as the winds, began
to desert. Sir John Johnson and Colonels Claus and Butler endeavored
in vain to reassure and retain them. In a little while two hundred had
decamped, and the rest threatened to do so likewise, unless St. Leger
retreated. The unfortunate colonel found too late what little reliance
was to be placed upon Indian allies. He determined, on the 22d, to
send off his sick, his wounded, and his artillery by Wood Creek that
very night, and to protect them by the line of march. The Indians,
however, goaded on by Arnold's emissaries, insisted on instant
retreat. St. Leger still refused to depart before nightfall. The
savages now became ungovernable. They seized upon liquor of the
officers about to be embarked, and getting intoxicated behaved like
very fiends. In a word St. Leger was obliged to decamp about noon in
such hurry and confusion that he left his tents standing, and his
artillery, with most of his baggage, ammunition and stores, fell into
the hands of the Americans.
A detachment from the garrison pursued and harassed him for a time;
but his greatest annoyance was from his Indian allies, who plundered
the boats which conveyed such baggage as had been brought off;
murdered all stragglers who lagged in the rear, and amused themselves
by giving false alarms to keep up the panic of the soldiery, who would
throw away muskets, knapsacks, and everything that impeded their
flight. It was not until he reached Onondaga Falls, that St. Leger
discovered by a letter from Burgoyne, and floating reports brought by
the bearer, that he had been the dupe of a _ruse de guerre_, and that
at the time the advancing foe were reported to be close upon his
haunches, they were not within forty miles of him.
Such was the second blow to Burgoyne's invading army; but before the
news of it reached that doomed commander, he had already been half
paralyzed by the disaster at Bennington.
Means were now augmenting in Schuyler's hands. Colonels Livingston and
Pierre van Cortlandt, forwarded by Putnam, were arrived. Governor
Clinton was daily expected with New York militia from the Highlands.
The arrival of Arnold was anticipated with troops and artillery, and
Lincoln with the New England militia. At this propitious moment, when
everything was ready for the sickle to be put into the harvest,
General Gates arrived in the camp. Schuyler received him with the
noble courtesy to which he pledged himself. After acquainting him with
all the affairs of the department, the measures he had taken and those
he had projected, he informed him of his having signified to Congress
his intention to remain in that quarter for the present and render
every service in his power, and he entreated Gates to call upon him
for council and assistance whenever he thought proper.
Gates was in high spirits. His letters to Washington show how
completely he was aware that an easy path of victory had been opened
to him. But so far was he from responding to Schuyler's magnanimity,
and profiting by his nobly offered counsel and assistance, that he did
not even ask him to be present at his first council of war, although
he invited up General Ten Broeck of the militia from Albany to attend
it.