THE NORTHERN INVASION.--FALL OF THE HIGHLAND FORTS.--DEFEAT AND
SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE.
The checks which Burgoyne had received on right and left, and, in a
great measure, through the spontaneous rising of the country, had
opened his eyes to the difficulties of his situation, and the errors
as to public feeling into which he had been led by his tory
counsellors. He declared that had he any latitude in his orders, he
would remain where he was, or perhaps fall back to Fort Edward, where
his communication with Lake George would be secure, and wait for some
event that might assist his movement forward; his orders, however,
were positive to force a junction with Sir William Howe. He did not
feel at liberty, therefore, to remain inactive longer than would be
necessary to receive the reinforcements of the additional companies,
the German drafts and recruits actually on Lake Champlain, and to
collect provisions enough for twenty-five days. These reinforcements
were indispensable, because, from the hour he should pass the Hudson
River and proceed towards Albany, all safety of communication would
cease.
A feature of peculiar interest is given to this wild and rugged
expedition, by the presence of two ladies of rank and refinement,
involved in its perils and hardships. One was Lady Harriet Ackland,
daughter of the Earl of Ilchester, and wife of Major Ackland of the
grenadiers; the other was the Baroness De Riedesel, wife of the
Hessian major-general. Both of these ladies had been left behind in
Canada. Lady Harriet, however, on hearing that her husband was wounded
in the affair at Hubbardton, instantly set out to rejoin him,
regardless of danger, and of her being in a condition before long to
become a mother. Crossing the whole length of Lake Champlain, she
found him in a sick bed at Skenesborough. After his recovery she
refused to leave him, but had continued with the army ever since. Her
example had been imitated by the Baroness De Riedesel, who had joined
the army at Fort Edward, bringing with her her three small children.
The friendship and sympathy of these two ladies in all scenes of trial
and suffering, and their devoted attachment to their husbands, afford
touching episodes in the story of the campaign.
The American army had received various reinforcements. It was now
about ten thousand strong. Schuyler, finding himself and his proffered
services slighted by Gates, had returned to Albany. His patriotism was
superior to personal resentments. He still continued to promote the
success of the campaign, exerting his influence over the Indian tribes
to win them from the enemy. At Albany he held talks and war feasts
with deputations of Oneida, Tuscarora, and Onondaga warriors; and
procured scouting parties of them, which he sent to the camp, and
which proved of great service.
The dense forests which covered the country between the hostile armies
concealed their movements, and as Gates threw out no harassing
parties, his information concerning the enemy was vague. Burgoyne,
however, was diligently collecting all his forces from Skenesborough,
Fort Anne and Fort George, and collecting provisions. So stood matters
on the 11th of September, when a report was circulated in the American
camp that Burgoyne was in motion, and that he had made a speech to his
soldiers, telling them that the fleet had returned to Canada, and
their only safety was to fight their way to New York.
As General Gates was to _receive_ an attack, it was thought he ought
to choose the ground where to receive it. Arnold, therefore, in
company with Kosciuszko, the Polish engineer, reconnoitred the
neighborhood in quest of a good camping-ground, and at length fixed
upon a ridge of hills called Bemis's Heights, which Kosciuszko
proceeded to fortify. In the meantime Colonel Colburn was sent off
with a small party to ascend the high hills on the east side of the
Hudson, and watch the movements of the enemy with glasses from their
summits, or from the tops of the trees. For three days he kept thus on
the look-out, sending word from time to time to camp of all that he
espied.
On the 11th there were the first signs of movement among Burgoyne's
troops. On the 13th and 14th they slowly passed over a bridge of
boats, which they had thrown across the Hudson, and encamped near Fish
Creek. On the 15th, both English and Hessian camps struck their tents,
and loaded their baggage wagons. By twelve o'clock both began to
march. Colburn neglected to notice the route taken by the Hessians;
his attention was absorbed by the British, who made their way slowly
and laboriously down the western side of the river, along a wretched
road intersected by brooks and rivulets, the bridges over which
Schuyler had broken down. The division had with it eighty-five baggage
wagons and a great train of artillery; with two unwieldy
twenty-four-pounders, acting like drag anchors. Having seen the army
advance two miles on its march, Colburn descended from the heights,
and hastened to the American camp to make his report. A British
prisoner, brought in soon afterwards, stated that Burgoyne had come to
a halt about four miles distant.
On the following morning the army was under arms at daylight; the
enemy, however, remained encamped, repairing bridges in front, and
sending down guard-boats to reconnoitre. The Americans, therefore,
went on to fortify their position. The ridge of hills called Bemis's
Heights, rises abruptly from the narrow flat bordering the west side
of the river. Kosciuszko had fortified the camp with intrenchments
three-quarters of a mile in extent, having redoubts and batteries,
which commanded the valley and even the hills on the opposite side of
the river, for the Hudson, in this upper part, is comparatively a
narrow stream. From the foot of the height an intrenchment extended to
the river, ending with a battery at the water edge, commanding a
floating bridge.
The right wing of the army, under the immediate command of Gates, and
composed of Glover's, Nixon's, and Patterson's brigades, occupied the
brow of the hill nearest to the river, with the flats below. The left
wing, commanded by Arnold, was on the side of the camp farthest from
the river, and distant from the latter about three-quarters of a mile.
It was composed of the New Hampshire brigade of General Poor, Pierre
Van Courtlandt's and James Livingston's regiments of New York militia,
the Connecticut militia, Morgan's riflemen, and Dearborn's infantry.
The centre was composed of Massachusetts and New York troops.
Burgoyne gradually drew nearer to the camp, throwing out large parties
of pioneers and workmen. The Americans disputed every step. A Hessian
officer observes: "The enemy bristled up his hair, as we attempted to
repair more bridges. At last we had to do him the honor of sending out
whole regiments to protect our workmen."
Burgoyne now encamped about two miles from General Gates, disposing
his army in two lines; the left on the river, the right extending at
right angles to it, about six hundred yards across the low grounds to
a range of steep and rocky hills, occupied by the _élite_; a ravine
formed by a rivulet from the hills passed in front of the camp. The
low ground between the armies was cultivated; the hills were covered
with woods, excepting three or four small openings and deserted farms.
Beside the ravines which fronted each camp, there was a third one,
midway between them, also at right angles to the river.
On the morning of the 19th, General Gates received intelligence that
the enemy were advancing in great force on his left. It was in fact
their right wing, composed of the British line and led by Burgoyne in
person. It was covered by the grenadiers and light-infantry under
General Fraser and Colonel Breyman, who kept along the high grounds on
the right; while they, in turn, were covered in front and on the
flanks by Indians, provincial royalists and Canadians. The left wing
and artillery were advancing at the same time, under Major-general
Phillips and Riedesel, along the great road and meadows by the river
side, but they were retarded by the necessity of repairing broken
bridges. It was the plan of Burgoyne that the Canadians and Indians
should attack the central outposts of the Americans, and draw their
attention in that direction, while he and Fraser, making a circuit
through the woods, should join forces and fall upon the rear of the
American camp. As the dense forests hid them from each other, signal
guns were to regulate their movements. Three, fired in succession,
were to denote that all was ready, and be the signal for an attack in
front, flank and rear.
The American pickets, stationed along the ravine of Mill Creek, sent
repeated accounts to General Gates of the movements of the enemy; but
he remained quiet in his camp as if determined to await an attack. The
American officers grew impatient. Arnold especially, impetuous by
nature, urged repeatedly that a detachment should be sent forth to
check the enemy in their advance, and drive the Indians out of the
woods. At length he succeeded in getting permission, about noon, to
detach Morgan with his riflemen and Dearborn with his infantry from
his division. They soon fell in with the Canadians and Indians, which
formed the advance guard of the enemy's right, and attacking them with
spirit, drove them in, or rather dispersed them. Morgan's riflemen,
following up their advantage with too much eagerness, became likewise
scattered, and a strong reinforcement of royalists arriving on the
scene of action, the Americans, in their turn, were obliged to give
way.
Other detachments now arrived from the American camp, led by Arnold,
who attacked Fraser on his right, to check his attempt to get in the
rear of the camp. Finding the position of Fraser too strong to be
forced, he sent to head-quarters for reinforcements, but they were
refused by Gates, who declared that no more should go. The reason he
gave was that it might be attacked by the enemy's left wing. Arnold
now made a rapid countermarch, and his movement being masked by the
woods, suddenly attempted to turn Fraser's left. Here he came in full
conflict with the British line, and threw himself upon it with a
boldness and impetuosity that for a time threatened to break it, and
cut the wings of the army asunder. The grenadiers and Breyman's
riflemen hastened to its support. General Phillips broke his way
through the woods with four pieces of artillery, and Riedesel came on
with his heavy dragoons. Reinforcements came likewise to Arnold's
assistance; his force, however, never exceeded three thousand men, and
with these, for nearly four hours, he kept up a conflict almost hand
to hand, with the whole right wing of the British army.
Night alone put an end to the conflict. Both parties claimed the
victory. But, though the British remained on the field of battle,
where they lay all night upon their arms, they had failed in their
object; they had been assailed instead of being the assailants, while
the American troops had accomplished the purpose for which they had
sallied forth, had checked the advance of the enemy, frustrated their
plan of attack, and returned exulting to their camp. Their loss, in
killed and wounded, was between three and four hundred, including
several officers; that of the enemy upwards of five hundred.
Burgoyne now strengthened his position with intrenchments and
batteries, part of them across the meadows which bordered the river,
part on the brow of the heights which commanded them. The Americans
likewise extended and strengthened their line of breastworks on the
left of the camp; the right was already unassailable. The camps were
within gunshot, but with ravines and woods between them.
The situation of Burgoyne was growing more and more critical. On the
21st he heard shouts in the American camp, and in a little while their
cannon thundered a _feu de joie_. News had been received from General
Lincoln, that a detachment of New England troops under Colonel Brown
had surprised the carrying-place, mills, and French lines at
Ticonderoga, captured an armed sloop, gunboats and bateaux, made three
hundred prisoners, beside releasing one hundred American captives, and
were laying siege to Fort Independence.
Fortunately for Burgoyne, while affairs were darkening in the North, a
ray of hope dawned from the South. While the shouts from the American
camp were yet ringing in his ears, came a letter in cipher from Sir
Henry Clinton, dated the 12th of September, announcing his intention
in about ten days to attack the forts in the Highlands of the Hudson.
Burgoyne sent back the messenger the same night, and despatched,
moreover, two officers in disguise, by different routes, all bearing
messages informing Sir Henry of his perilous situation. [Arnold had
been excessively indignant at Gates withholding the reinforcements he
had asked for in the recent action, which he attributed to pique or
jealousy. Gates, indeed, in the report to Congress made no mention of
Arnold. He also withdrew from Arnold's division Morgan's rifle corps
and Dearborn's light-infantry, its main reliance. Arnold called on
Gates to remonstrate. High words passed between them. Gates in his
heat told Arnold that General Lincoln would arrive in a day or two,
and then he would have no further occasion for him. Arnold returned to
his quarters in a rage, but he determined to remain in camp and abide
the anticipated battle.]
Lincoln, in the meantime, arrived in advance of his troops, which soon
followed to the amount of two thousand. Part of the troops, detached
by him under Colonel Brown, were besieging Ticonderoga and Fort
Independence. Colonel Brown himself, with part of his detachment, had
embarked on Lake George in an armed schooner and a squadron of
captured gunboats and bateaux, and was threatening the enemy's deposit
of baggage and heavy artillery at Diamond Island. The toils so
skilfully spread were encompassing Burgoyne more and more; the gates
of Canada were closing behind him.
We will now cast a look toward New York, and ascertain the cause of
Sir Henry's delay in the anxiously expected operations on the Hudson.
The expedition of Sir Henry Clinton had awaited the arrival of
reinforcements from Europe, which were slowly crossing the ocean in
Dutch bottoms. At length they arrived, after a three months' voyage,
and now there was a stir of warlike preparation at New York.
The defences of the Highlands, on which the security of the Hudson
depended, were at this time weakly garrisoned; some of the troops
having been sent off to reinforce the armies on the Delaware and in
the North. Putnam, who had the general command of the Highlands, had
but eleven hundred continental and four hundred militia troops with
him at Peekskill, his head-quarters. There was a feeble garrison at
Fort Independence, in the vicinity of Peekskill, to guard the public
stores and workshops at Continental Village. The Highland forts,
Clinton, Montgomery and Constitution, situated among the mountains and
forming their main defence, were no better garrisoned, and George
Clinton, who had the command of them, and who was in a manner the
champion of the Highlands, was absent from his post, attending the
State Legislature at Kingston (Esopus), in Ulster County, in his
capacity of governor.
There were patriot eyes in New York to watch the course of events, and
patriot boats on the river to act as swift messengers. [General Putnam
in September received intelligence on which he could depend of the
arrival of reinforcements in New York, and of preparations by the
enemy for a movement. Surmising his object to be the forts of the
Highlands, he wrote at once to Governor Clinton, conveying his
intelligence and asking for reinforcements of militia.] The governor
forthwith hastened to his post in the Highlands with such militia
force as he could collect. We have heretofore spoken of his Highland
citadel, Fort Montgomery, and of the obstructions of chain, boom, and
chevaux-de-frise between it and the opposite promontory of Anthony's
Nose, with which it had been hoped to barricade the Hudson. Fort
Clinton had subsequently been erected within rifle shot of Fort
Montgomery to occupy ground which commanded it. A deep ravine and
stream called Peploep's Kill intervened between the two forts, across
which there was a bridge. The governor had his head-quarters in Fort
Montgomery, which was the northern and largest fort, but its works
were unfinished. His brother James had charge of Fort Clinton, which
was complete. The whole force to garrison the associate forts did not
exceed six hundred men, chiefly militia, but they had the veteran,
Colonel Lamb of the artillery, with them, and a company of his
artillerists was distributed in the two forts.
The armament of Sir Henry Clinton, which had been waiting for a wind,
set sail in the course of a day or two and stood up the Hudson, dogged
by American swift-rowing whale-boats. Late at night of the 4th of
October came a barge across the river, from Peekskill to Fort
Montgomery, bearing a letter from Putnam to the governor. "This
morning," writes he, "we had information from our guard-boats that
there were two ships of war, three tenders, and a large number of
flatbottomed boats coming up the river. They proceeded up as far as
Tarrytown where they landed their men. This evening they were followed
by one large man-of-war, five topsail vessels, and a large number of
small craft."
The landing of troops at Tarrytown was a mere feint on the part of Sir
Henry to distract the attention of the Americans; after marching a few
miles into the country, they returned and re-embarked; the armament
continued across the Tappan Sea and Haverstraw Bay to Verplanck's
Point, where, on the 5th, Sir Henry landed with three thousand men,
about eight miles below Peekskill. Putnam drew back to the hills in
the rear of the village to prepare for the expected attack, and sent
off to Governor Clinton for all the troops he could spare. So far the
manoeuvres of Sir Henry Clinton had been successful. It was his plan
to threaten an attack on Peekskill and Fort Independence, and, when he
had drawn the attention of the American commanders to that quarter, to
land troops on the western shore of the Hudson, below the Dunderberg
(Thunder Hill), make a rapid march through the defiles behind that
mountain to the rear of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, come down on
them by surprise and carry them by a _coup de main_.
Accordingly at an early hour of the following morning taking advantage
of a thick fog, he crossed with two thousand men to Stony Point on the
west shore of the river, leaving about a thousand men, chiefly
royalists, at Verplanck's Point to keep up a threatening aspect
towards Peekskill. Three frigates, also, were to stand up what is
called the Devil's Horse Race into Peekskill Bay, and station
themselves within cannon shot of Fort Independence. Having
accomplished his landing, Sir Henry, conducted by a tory guide, set
out on a forced and circuitous march of several miles by rugged
defiles, round the western base of the Dunderberg. At the entrance of
the pass he left a small force to guard it and keep up his
communication with the ships. By eight o'clock in the morning he had
effected his march round the Dunderberg, and halted on the northern
side in a ravine, between it and a conical mount called Bear Hill. The
possibility of an enemy's approach by this pass had been noticed by
Washington in reconnoitring the Highlands, and he had mentioned it in
his instructions to Generals Greene and Knox, when they were sent to
make their military survey, but they considered it impracticable from
the extreme difficulty of the mountain passes.
In this ravine Sir Henry divided his forces. One division, nine
hundred strong, led by Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, was to make a
circuit through the forest round the western side of Bear Hill, so as
to gain the rear of Fort Montgomery. After Sir Henry had allowed
sufficient time for them to make the circuit, he was to proceed with
the other division down the ravine, towards the river, turn to the
left along a narrow strip of land between the Hudson and a small lake
called Sinipink Pond, which lay at the foot of Bear Hill, and advance
upon Fort Clinton. Both forts were to be attacked at the same time.
The detachment under Campbell set off in high spirits; it was composed
partly of royalists, led by Colonel Beverly Robinson of New York,
partly of Emerick's chasseurs, and partly of grenadiers, under Lord
Rawdon. With him went Count Gabrouski, a Polish nobleman, aide-de-camp
to Sir Henry Clinton. Everything thus far had been conducted with
celerity and apparent secrecy, and complete surprise of both forts was
anticipated. Sir Henry had indeed outwitted one of the guardians of
the Highlands, but the other was aware of his designs. Governor
Clinton, on receiving intelligence of ships of war coming up the
Hudson, had sent scouts beyond the Dunderberg to watch their
movements. Early on the present morning, word had been brought him
that forty boats were landing a large force at Stony Point. He now, in
his turn, apprehended an attack, and sent to Putnam for
reinforcements, preparing, in the meantime, to make such defence as
his scanty means afforded.
A lieutenant was sent out with thirty men from Fort Clinton, to
proceed along the river-road and reconnoitre. He fell in with the
advance guard of Sir Henry Clinton's division, and retreated
skirmishing to the fort. A larger detachment was sent out to check the
approach of the enemy on this side; while sixty men, afterwards
increased to a hundred, took post with a brass field-piece in the Bear
Hill defile, a narrow and rugged pass, bordered by shagged forests. As
Campbell and his division came pressing forward, they were checked by
the discharge of fire-arms and of the brass field-piece, which swept
the steep defile. The British troops then filed off on each side into
the woods, to surround the Americans. The latter, finding it
impossible to extricate their field-piece in the rugged pass, spiked
it, and retreated into the fort.
Sir Henry Clinton had met with equally obstinate opposition in his
approach to Fort Clinton; the narrow strip of land between Lake
Sinipink and the Hudson, along which he advanced, being fortified by
an abatis. By four o'clock the Americans were driven within their
works, and both forts were assailed. The defence was desperate; for
Governor Clinton was a hard fighter, and he was still in hopes of
reinforcements from Putnam; not knowing that the messenger he sent to
him had turned traitor, and deserted to the enemy.
About five o'clock, he was summoned to surrender in five minutes, to
prevent the effusion of blood: the reply was a refusal. About ten
minutes afterwards, there was a general attack upon both forts. It was
resisted with obstinate spirit. The action continued until dusk. The
ships under Commodore Hotham approached near enough to open an
irregular fire upon the forts, and upon the vessels anchored above the
chevaux-de-frise. The latter returned the fire, and the flash and roar
of their cannonry in the gathering darkness and among the echoes of
the mountains increased the terrors of the strife. The works, however,
were too extensive to be manned by the scanty garrisons; they were
entered by different places and carried at the point of the bayonet;
the Americans fought desperately from one redoubt to another--some
were slain, some taken prisoners, and some escaped under cover of the
night to the river or the mountains. "The garrison," writes Clinton,
significantly, "had to fight their way out as many as could, as we
determined not to surrender."
His brother James was saved from a deadly thrust of a bayonet by a
garrison orderly-book in his pocket; but he received a flesh wound in
the thigh. He slid down a precipice, one hundred feet high, into the
ravine between the forts, and escaped to the woods. The governor
leaped down the rocks to the river side, where a boat was putting off
with a number of the fugitives. The boat crossed the Hudson in safety,
and before midnight the governor was with Putnam, at Continental
Village, concerting further measures.
Putnam had been completely outmanoeuvred by Sir Henry Clinton. He had
continued until late in the morning in the belief that Peekskill and
Fort Independence were to be the objects of attack. In the course of
the morning he sallied forth with Brigadier-general Parsons, to
reconnoitre the ground near the enemy. After their return they were
alarmed, he says, by "a very heavy and hot firing both of small arms
and cannon, at Fort Montgomery." Aware of the real point of danger, he
immediately detached five hundred men to reinforce the garrison. They
had six miles to march along the eastern shore, and then to cross the
river; before they could do so the fate of the forts was decided.
British historians acknowledge that the valor and resolution displayed
by the Americans in the defence of these forts were in no instance
exceeded during the war; their loss in killed, wounded and missing,
was stated at two hundred and fifty, a large proportion of the number
engaged. [Colonel Campbell, who commanded the enemy's detachment,
Major Grant of the New York volunteers, and Count Gabrouski, Sir
Henry's Polish aide-de-camp, were slain in the assault; their fall
exasperated the assailants, who revenged their loss with considerable
slaughter.]
On the capture of the forts, the American frigates and galleys
stationed for the protection of the chevaux-de-frise slipped their
cables, made all sail, and endeavored to escape up the river. The
wind, however, proved adverse; there was danger of their falling into
the hands of the enemy; the crews, therefore, set them on fire and
abandoned them. On the following morning, the chevaux-de-frise and
other obstructions between Fort Montgomery and Anthony's Nose were
cleared away: the Americans evacuated Forts Independence and
Constitution, and a free passage up the Hudson was open for the
British ships. Sir Henry Clinton proceeded no further in person, but
left the rest of the enterprise to be accomplished by Sir James
Wallace and General Vaughan, with a flying squadron of light frigates,
and a considerable detachment of troops.
Putnam had retreated to a pass in the mountains, on the east side of
the river, near Fishkill, having removed as much of the stores and
baggage as possible from the post he had abandoned. In a letter to
Washington (Oct. 8th), he writes: "Governor Clinton is exerting
himself in collecting the militia of this State. Brigadier-general
Parsons I have sent off to forward in the Connecticut militia, which
are now arriving in great numbers. I therefore hope and trust, that in
the course of a few days, I shall be able to oppose the progress of
the enemy."
He had concerted with Governor Clinton that they should move to the
northward with their forces along the opposite shores of the Hudson,
endeavoring to keep pace with the enemy's ships and cover the country
from their attacks. The enemy's light-armed vessels were now making
their way up the river; landing marauding parties occasionally to make
depredations.
As soon as the governor could collect a little force, he pressed
forward to protect Kingston (Esopus), the seat of the State
Legislature. The enemy in the meantime landed from their ships, routed
about one hundred and fifty militia collected to oppose them, marched
to the village, set fire to it in every part, consuming great
quantities of stores collected there, and then retreated to their
ships. Having laid Kingston in ashes, the enemy proceeded in their
ravages, destroying the residences of conspicuous patriots at
Rhinebeck, Livingston, Manor, and elsewhere, and among others the
mansion of the widow of the brave General Montgomery--trusting to
close their desolating career by a triumphant junction with Burgoyne
at Albany.
While Sir Henry Clinton had been thundering in the Highlands, Burgoyne
and his army had been wearing out hope within their intrenchments,
vigilantly watched but unassailed by the Americans. On the 7th of
October Burgoyne determined to make a grand movement on the left of
the American camp, to discover whether he could force a passage should
it be necessary to advance, or dislodge it from its position should he
have to retreat. Another object was to cover a forage of the army
which was suffering from the great scarcity. For this purpose fifteen
hundred of his best troops, with two twelve-pounders, two howitzers
and six six-pounders, were to be led by himself, seconded by
Major-generals Phillips and Riedesel and Brigadier-general Fraser. On
leaving his camp he committed the guard of it on the high grounds to
Brigadier-generals Hamilton and Specht, and of the redoubts on the low
grounds near the river, to Brigadier-general Gall.
Forming his troops within three-quarters of a mile of the left of the
Americans, though covered from their sight by the forest, he sent out
a corps of rangers, provincials and Indians to skulk through the
woods, get in their rear, and give them an alarm at the time the
attack took place in front. The movement, though carried on behind the
screen of forests, was discovered. In the afternoon the advanced guard
of the American centre beat to arms; the alarm was repeated throughout
the line. Gates ordered his officers to their alarm posts, and sent
forth Wilkinson, the adjutant-general, to inquire the cause. From a
rising ground in an open place he descried the enemy in force.
Returning to the camp he reported the position and movements of the
enemy; that their front was open, their flanks rested on woods, under
cover of which they might be attacked, and their right was skirted by
a height; that they were reconnoitring the left, and he thought
offered battle.
A plan of attack was soon arranged. Morgan with his riflemen and a
body of infantry was sent to make a circuit through the woods and get
possession of the heights on the right of the enemy, while General
Poor with his brigade of New York and New Hampshire troops, and a part
of Leonard's brigade, were to advance against the enemy's left. Morgan
was to make an attack on the heights as soon as he should hear the
fire opened below.
Burgoyne now drew out his troops in battle array. The grenadiers,
under Major Ackland, with the artillery, under Major Williams, formed
his left, and were stationed on a rising ground, with a rivulet called
Mill Creek in front. Next to them were the Hessians, under Riedesel,
and British, under Phillips, forming the centre. The light-infantry,
under Lord Balcarras, formed the extreme right; having in the advance
a detachment of five hundred picked men, under General Fraser, ready
to flank the Americans as soon as they should be attacked in front.
He had scarce made these arrangements, when he was astonished and
confounded by a thundering of artillery on his left, and a rattling
fire of rifles on the woody heights on his right. The troops under
Poor advanced steadily up the ascent where Ackland's grenadiers and
Williams' artillery were stationed; received their fire and then
rushed forward. Ackland's grenadiers received the first brunt, but it
extended along the line as detachment after detachment arrived, and
was carried on with inconceivable fury. The artillery was repeatedly
taken and retaken, and at length remained in possession of the
Americans, who turned it upon its former owners. Major Ackland was
wounded in both legs, and taken prisoner. Major Williams of the
artillery was also captured. The headlong impetuosity of the attack
confounded the regular tacticians. Much of this has been ascribed to
the presence and example of Arnold. That daring officer, who had
lingered in the camp in expectation of a fight, was exasperated at
having no command assigned him. On hearing the din of battle, he could
restrain no longer his warlike impulse, but threw himself on his horse
and sallied forth. Putting spurs to his horse, he dashed into the
scene of action, and was received with acclamation. Being the superior
officer in the field his orders were obeyed of course. Putting himself
at the head of the troops of Learned's brigade, he attacked the
Hessians in the enemy's centre, and broke them with repeated charges.
Indeed, for a time his actions seemed to partake of frenzy; riding
hither and thither, brandishing his sword, and cheering on the men to
acts of desperation.
Morgan, in the meantime, was harassing the enemy's right wing with an
incessant fire of small-arms, and preventing it from sending any
assistance to the centre. General Fraser with his chosen corps, for
some time rendered great protection to this wing. Mounted on an
iron-gray charger, his uniform of a field officer made him a
conspicuous object for Morgan's sharpshooters. One bullet cut the
crupper of his horse, another grazed his mane. A moment afterwards he
was shot down by a marksman posted in a tree. Two grenadiers bore him
to the camp. His fall was as a deathblow to his corps. The arrival on
the field of a large reinforcement of New York troops under General
Ten Broeck, completed the confusion. Burgoyne saw that the field was
lost, and now only thought of saving his camp. The troops nearest to
the lines were ordered to throw themselves within them, while Generals
Phillips and Riedesel covered the retreat of the main body, which was
in danger of being cut off. The artillery was abandoned, all the
horses, and most of the men who had so bravely defended it having been
killed. The troops, though hard pressed, retired in good order.
Scarcely had they entered the camp when it was stormed with great
fury; the Americans, with Arnold at their head, rushing to the lines
under a severe discharge of grape-shot and small-arms. Lord Balcarras
defended the intrenchments bravely; the action was fierce, and well
sustained on both sides. After an ineffectual attempt to make his way
into the camp in this quarter at the point of the bayonet, Arnold
spurred his horse toward the right flank of the camp occupied by the
German reserve, where Lieutenant-colonel Brooks was making a general
attack with a Massachusetts regiment. Here, with a part of a platoon,
he forced his way into a sallyport, but a shot from the retreating
Hessians killed his horse, and wounded him in the same leg which had
received a wound before Quebec. He was borne off from the field, but
not until the victory was complete; for the Germans retreated from the
works, leaving on the field their brave defender, Lieutenant-colonel
Breyman, mortally wounded.
The night was now closing in. The victory of the Americans was
decisive. They had routed the enemy, killed and wounded a great
number, made many prisoners, taken their field-artillery and gained
possession of a part of their works which laid open the right and the
rear of their camp. They lay all night on their arms, within half a
mile of the scene of action, prepared to renew the assault upon the
camp in the morning. Affecting scenes had occurred in the enemy's camp
during this deadly conflict.
In the morning previous to the battle, the Baroness De Riedesel had
breakfasted with her husband in the camp. Generals Burgoyne, Phillips,
and Fraser were to dine with her husband and herself in a house in the
neighborhood, where she and her children were quartered. She observed
much movement in the camp, but was quieted by the assurance that it
was to be a mere reconnaissance. On her way home she met a number of
Indians, painted and decorated and armed with guns, and shouting war!
war! Her fears were awakened, and scarce had she reached home when she
heard the rattling of fire-arms and the thundering of artillery. About
one o'clock came one of the generals who were to have dined with
her--poor General Fraser--brought upon a handbarrow, mortally wounded.
The general said to the surgeon: 'Tell me the truth, is there no
hope?' There was none. Prayers were read, after which he desired that
General Burgoyne should be requested to have him buried on the next
day at six o'clock in the evening on a hill where a breastwork had
been constructed.
Lady Harriet Ackland was in a tent near by. News came to her that her
husband was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. She was in an agony
of distress.{1} The baroness divided the night between soothing
attentions to Lady Harriet, and watchful care of her children who were
asleep, but who she feared might disturb the poor dying general.
Towards morning, thinking his agony approaching, she wrapped them in
blankets and retired with them into the entrance hall. Courteous even
in death, the general sent her several messages to beg her pardon for
the trouble he thought he was giving her. At eight o'clock in the
morning he expired.
{Footnote 1: [Lady Ackland afterward applied to General Burgoyne for
permission to pass to the American camp, and obtain General Gates'
consent to join her husband. It was granted, and the American general,
according to Burgoyne, received her "with all the humanity and respect
that her rank, her merits, and her fortune deserved."]}
Burgoyne had shifted his position during the night to heights about a
mile to the north, close to the river, and covered in front by a
ravine. Early in the morning the Americans took possession of the camp
which he had abandoned. A random fire of artillery and small-arms was
kept up on both sides during the day. The British sharpshooters
stationed in the ravine did some execution, and General Lincoln was
wounded in the leg while reconnoitring. Gates, however, did not think
it advisable to force a desperate enemy when in a strong position, at
the expense of a prodigal waste of blood. He took all measures to cut
off his retreat and insure a surrender. General Fellows, with 1,400
men, had already been sent to occupy the high ground east of the
Hudson opposite Saratoga Ford. Other detachments were sent higher up
the river in the direction of Lake George.
Burgoyne saw that nothing was left for him but a prompt and rapid
retreat to Saratoga, yet in this he was delayed by a melancholy duty
of friendship; it was to attend the obsequies of the gallant Fraser,
who, according to his dying request, was to be interred at six o'clock
in the evening, within a redoubt which had been constructed on a hill.
Between sunset and dark, his body was borne to the appointed place by
grenadiers of his division, followed by the generals and their staffs.
The Americans seeing indistinctly what, in the twilight, appeared to
be a movement of troops up the hill and in the redoubt, pointed their
artillery in that direction. General Gates protested afterwards that
had he known what was going on, he would have stopped the fire
immediately.
Preparations had been made to decamp immediately after the funeral,
and at nine o'clock at night the retreat commenced. Large fires had
been lighted, and many tents were left standing to conceal the
movement. It was a dismal retreat. The rain fell in torrents; the
roads were deep and broken, and the horses weak and half-starved from
want of forage. At daybreak there was a halt to refresh the troops and
give time for the bateaux laden with provisions to come abreast. In
three hours the march was resumed, but before long there was another
halt, to guard against an American reconnoitring party which appeared
in sight.
It rained terribly through the residue of the 9th, and in consequence
of repeated halts, they did not reach Saratoga until evening. A
detachment of Americans had arrived there before them, and were
throwing up intrenchments on a commanding height at Fishkill. They
abandoned their work, forded the Hudson, and joined a force under
General Fellows, posted on the hills east of the river. The bridge
over the Fishkill had been destroyed; the artillery could not cross
until the ford was examined. Exhausted by fatigue, the men for the
most part had not strength nor inclination to cut wood nor make fire,
but threw themselves upon the wet ground in their wet clothes, and
slept under the continuing rain.
At daylight on the 10th, the artillery and the last of the troops
passed the fords of the Fishkill, and took a position upon the
heights, and in the redoubts formerly constructed there. To protect
the troops from being attacked in passing the ford by the Americans,
who were approaching, Burgoyne ordered fire to be set to the
farm-houses and other buildings on the south side of the Fishkill.
Amongst the rest, the noble mansion of General Schuyler, with
store-houses, granaries, mills and the other appurtenances of a great
rural establishment, was entirely consumed. The measure was condemned
by friend as well as foe, but he justified it on the principles of
self-preservation.
The force under General Fellows, posted on the opposite hills of the
Hudson, now opened a fire from a battery commanding the ford of that
river. Thus prevented from crossing, Burgoyne thought to retreat along
the west side as far as Fort George, on the way to Canada, and sent
out workmen under a strong escort to repair the bridges, and open the
road toward Fort Edward. The escort was soon recalled and the work
abandoned, for the Americans under Gates appeared in great force on
the heights south of the Fishkill, and seemed preparing to cross and
bring on an engagement. The opposite shores of the Hudson were now
lined with detachments of Americans. Bateaux laden with provisions,
which had attended the movements of the army, were fired upon, many
taken, some retaken with loss of life. It was necessary to land the
provisions from such as remained, and bring them up the hill into the
camp, which was done under a heavy fire from the American artillery.
Burgoyne called now a general council of war, in which it was
resolved, since the bridges could not be repaired, to abandon the
artillery and baggage, let the troops carry a supply of provisions
upon their backs, push forward in the night, and force their way
across the fords at or near Fort Edward. Before the plan could be put
into execution, scouts brought word that the Americans were intrenched
opposite those fords, and encamped in force with cannon on the high
ground between Fort Edward and Fort George. In fact by this time the
American army, augmented by militia and volunteers from all quarters,
had posted itself in strong positions on both sides of the Hudson, so
as to extend three-fourths of a circle round the enemy.
Giving up all further attempt at retreat, Burgoyne now fortified his
camp on the heights to the north of Fishkill, still hoping that succor
might arrive from Sir Henry Clinton, or that an attack upon his
trenches might give him some chance of cutting his way through. In
this situation his troops lay continually on their arms. His camp was
subjected to cannonading from Fellows' batteries on the opposite side
of the Hudson, Gates' batteries on the south of Fishkill, and a
galling fire from Morgan's riflemen, stationed on heights in the rear.
The Baroness De Riedesel and her helpless little ones were exposed to
the dangers and horrors of this long turmoil. On the morning when the
attack was opened, General De Riedesel sent them to take refuge in a
house in the vicinity. The baroness succeeded in getting to the house.
Some women and crippled soldiers had already taken refuge there. It
was mistaken for head-quarters and cannonaded. The baroness retreated
into the cellar, laid herself in a corner near the door with her
children's heads upon her knees, and passed a sleepless night of
mental anguish. In the morning the cannonade began anew. Cannon balls
passed through the house repeatedly with a tremendous noise. A poor
soldier who was about to have a leg amputated, lost the other by one
of these balls. The day was passed among such horrors. For six days,
she and her children remained in this dismal place of refuge.
Burgoyne was now reduced to despair. His forces were diminished by
losses, by the desertion of Canadians and royalists, and the total
defection of the Indians; and on inspection it was found that the
provisions on hand, even upon short allowance, would not suffice for
more than three days. A council of war, therefore, was called of all
the generals, field-officers and captains commanding troops. The
deliberations were brief. All concurred in the necessity of opening a
treaty with General Gates, for a surrender on honorable terms.
Negotiations were accordingly opened on the 13th, under sanction of a
flag. Lieutenant Kingston, Burgoyne's adjutant-general, was the bearer
of a note, proposing a cessation of hostilities until terms could be
adjusted. The first terms offered by Gates were that the enemy should
lay down their arms within their intrenchments, and surrender
themselves prisoners of war. These were indignantly rejected, with an
intimation that, if persisted in, hostilities must recommence.
Counter proposals were then made by General Burgoyne, and finally
accepted by General Gates. According to these the British troops were
to march out of the camp with artillery and all the honors of war, to
a fixed place, where they were to pile their arms at a word of command
from their own officers. They were to be allowed a free passage to
Europe upon condition of not serving again in America, during the
present war. The officers were to be on parole, and to wear their
side-arms. All private property to be sacred; no baggage to be
searched or molested. The capitulation was signed on the 17th of
October.
The British army, at the time of the surrender, was reduced by
capture, death and desertion, from nine thousand to five thousand
seven hundred and fifty-two men. That of Gates, regulars and militia,
amounted to ten thousand five hundred and fifty-four men on duty;
between two and three thousand being on the sick list or absent on
furlough. By this capitulation, the Americans gained a fine train of
artillery, seven thousand stand of arms, and a great quantity of
clothing, tents, and military stores of all kinds.
When the British troops marched forth to deposit their arms at the
appointed place, Colonel Wilkinson, the adjutant-general, was the only
American soldier to be seen. Gates had ordered his troops to keep
rigidly within their lines, that they might not add by their presence
to the humiliation of a brave enemy. In fact, throughout all his
conduct during the campaign, British writers and Burgoyne himself give
him credit for acting with great humanity and forbearance.
The surrender of Burgoyne was soon followed by the evacuation of
Ticonderoga and Fort Independence, the garrisons retiring to the Isle
aux Noix and St. Johns. As to the armament on the Hudson, the
commanders whom Sir Henry Clinton had left in charge of it, received,
in the midst of their desolating career the astounding intelligence of
the capture of the army with which they had come to co-operate.
Nothing remained for them, therefore, but to drop down the river and
return to New York. The fortresses in the Highlands could not be
maintained, and were evacuated and destroyed.