The Mohawk, its principal tributary, flows into the Hudson just above
Troy, and each, being a mountain torrent, has brought down large
alluvial deposits making extensive flats between the hills, so that
their junction is marked by fertile islands and low shores, backed by
picturesque ridges bordering broad valleys. Here are Green Island,
Adam's Island and Van Schaick's Island, making an extensive delta. The
Mohawk, after flowing from central New York nearly one hundred and
forty miles in a rich agricultural section, pours down the falls at
Cohoes, and enters the Hudson through four separate channels formed by
these islands. The Mohawk Valley is largely a pastoral region, its
dairies and cheeses having much fame, and in the lower valley
hop-growing and broom-making are important industries, chiefly
controlled by the Shakers. At one of their settlements, about six
miles northwest of Albany, their foundress, "Mother Ann," who died in
1784, is buried. The Hudson flows to its confluence with the Mohawk,
with generally rapid current, bordered by rich plains, as it is
ascended to Stillwater, and thirteen miles beyond, to Schuylerville,
where Fish Creek comes in, the outlet of Saratoga Lake.
Here is a region of great historic interest, for through it marched
Sir John Burgoyne's army in 1777 to disastrous defeat. At and above
Stillwater, and Bemis's Heights beyond, was the scene of his closing
conflict, while Schuylerville stands upon the site of his camp at the
time of his final surrender. General Schuyler, from whom the village
is named, was then the owner of the entire domain of Saratoga.
Burgoyne had come south from Canada to meet another British force
thought to be advancing up the Hudson from New York, the design being
to cut the rebellious colonies in two and defeat them in detail. The
rebels hung upon Burgoyne's flanks, and at Bennington, Vermont,
Stark's bold movement in August captured a large force of Hessians.
Schuyler sent Arnold up the Mohawk, who cut off another detachment
under St. Leger, who had come over from Oswego, intending to make a
detour to Albany. In September, Burgoyne came to Saratoga, and had his
first contest south of the springs, with the Americans under Gates.
Afterwards, each army encamped within cannon-shot of the other until
October 7th, Burgoyne all the while hoping for some diversion from the
lower Hudson. The British camp was on the river below Schuylerville,
and on that day they marched out to give battle, Burgoyne's chief
lieutenant, General Fraser, directing the movements. Fraser was in
full uniform, mounted upon an iron-gray steed, and became a most
conspicuous object. Colonel Morgan, who had a force of Virginia
sharpshooters, perceived this, and calling a number of his best men
around him, pointed to the British right wing, which was making a
victorious advance under Fraser's inspiration, and said: "That gallant
officer is General Fraser; I admire and honor him, but it is necessary
he should die; victory for the enemy depends on him; take your
stations in that clump of bushes and do your duty." Within five
minutes afterwards he was mortally wounded. His aid, recognizing that
he was a conspicuous mark, had just observed: "Would it not be prudent
for you to retire from this place?" and he had scarcely got the reply
out of his mouth, "My duty forbids me to fly from danger," when he was
shot. He survived throughout the night, and asked to be buried in a
redoubt he had built on a hill near the Hudson. He died next day, and
at sunset a funeral procession moved towards the redoubt. The
Americans saw it, and, ignorant of what it meant, cannonaded, but
desisted on learning the mournful object; and then a single cannon,
fired at intervals, reverberated along the Hudson; an American
minute-gun in memory of a brave soldier.
Fraser's fall caused the British defeat, and they afterwards abandoned
guns and baggage trains and retreated north to Schuylerville.
Burgoyne's provisions gave out, many auxiliaries deserted him, the
camp was incessantly cannonaded, and finally, with his forces reduced
below six thousand men, on October 17th, he surrendered. It was said
at the time, in the British Parliament, that the campaign thus ended
"had left the country stripped of nearly every evidence of civilized
occupation," and in its result it was declared to be "one of the
fifteen decisive battles of the world." There were six members of
Parliament among the captive officers, and Burgoyne gave up forty-two
brass cannon. His army was held in captivity nearly five years, till
the end of the war, at first near Boston, and later in Virginia. This
victory was the turning-point of the Revolution. Among its results
were, an appreciation of twenty per cent. in Continental money; the
bold stand of Lord Chatham and Edmund Burke in Parliament, denouncing
the method of conducting the war; the sending of cheering words to
the struggling colonies by Spain, Holland, Russia and the Vatican; and
the paving of the way for France to acknowledge the independence of
the United States--all the result, under Providence, of Fraser's
indiscreet devotion to duty. In the neighborhood is the great
Methodist camp-meeting ground of Round Lake, and farther on Ballston
Spa, where the Kayaderosseras Creek winds through a beautifully shaded
valley and flows into Saratoga Lake. In the early part of the
nineteenth century this was the greatest watering-place in America,
its waters being chemically similar to those of Saratoga. Its Sans
Souci Hotel, opened in 1804, was then the grandest in the country, and
here were hatched most of the political schemes of the days of
Presidents Madison, Monroe and Jackson, the "Albany Regency" in its
palmiest days flourishing throughout the summer time on its lawns and
porches. But much of Ballston's glory has departed, eclipsed by the
newer radiance of its great neighbor, six miles away. The Saratoga
Lake is three miles east of Ballston, an oval-shaped lake eight miles
long, from which Fish Creek meanders off to the Hudson at
Schuylerville. As the fishes thus ascended from the river into the
lake, the Indians named it Saraghoga, or "the place of the herrings."