Mount Independence, on the opposite side of the lake, was a small fortification and a weak garrison.' These composed the entire force, except some feeble detachments of militia, to oppose the invaders. On the approach of Burgoyne, St. Clair left his outworks, gathered his forces near the fortress, and prepared for an assault; but when, on the evening of the 5th, he saw the scarlet uniforms of the British on the top of Mount Defiance,' and a battery of heavy guns planted there,' more than five hundred feet above the fort, he knew resistance would be vain. That evening he sent his ammunition and stores up the lake to Skenesborough,' and under cover of the darkness, silently crossed over to Mount Independence, and commenced a retreat to Fort Edward, the headquarters of General Schuyler, who was then in command of the northern army.

The retreating army would have been beyond the reach of pursuers by dawn, had not their exit been discovered. Contrary to express orders, a building was fired on Mount Independence, and by its light their flight was discovered by the enemy, and a strong party, consisting of the brigade of General Fraser, and two Hessian corps under Riedesel, was immediately sent in pursuit. At dawn, the British flag was waving over Ticonderoga; and a little after sunrise [July 7, 1777], the rear division of the flying Americans, under Colonel Seth Warner,' were overtaken in Hubbardton, Vermont, and a severe engageinent followed. The patriots were defeated and dispersed, and the victors returned to Ticonderoga. Before sunset the same evening, a flotilla of British vessels had overtaken and destroyed the Americans' stores which St. Clair had sent up the lake, and also a large quantity at Skenesborough. The fragments of St. Clair's army reached Fort Edward on the 12th, thoroughly dispirited. Disaster had followed disaster in quick succession. Within a week, the Americans had lost almost two hundred pieces of artillery, and a large amount of provisions and military stores.

During the previous years, the Americans constructed a picketed fort, or stockade [note 2, page 183], on that eminence, built about three hundred huts or barracks, dug several wells, and placed batteries at different points. The remains of these are now [1856] everywhere visible on Mount Independence. That eminence received this name because the troops took possession of it on the 4th of July, 1776. Page 250.

2 Arthur St. Clair was a native of Scotland, and came to America with Admiral Boscawen, early in May, 1755. He served under Wolfe [page 201]; and when the Revolution broke out, he ontered the American army. He served during the war, and afterward commanded an expedition against the Indians in Ohio, where he was unsuccessful. He died in 1818, at the age of eighty-four years.

This is a hill about 750 feet in height, situated on the south-west side of the outlet of Lake George, opposite Ticonderoga.

With immense labor, Burgoyne opened a road up the northern slope of Mount Defiance, and dragged heavy artillery to the summit. From that point, every ball might be hurled within the fort below without difficulty. The position of that road may yet [1856] be traced by the second growth of trees on its line up the mountain.

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5 Now Whitehall. It was named after Philip Skene, who settled there in 1764. The narrow part of Lake Champlain, from Ticonderoga to Whitehall, was formerly called Wood Creek (the name of the stream that enters the lake at Whitehall), and also South River. Page 188. Page 232. The Americans lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, a little more than three hundred; the British reported their loss at one hundred and eighty-three.

The force under General Schuyler was very small, and even with this reinforcement by the fugitives from the lake, he had only about four thousand effective men-a number totally inadequate to combat with those of Burgoyne. He therefore sent a strong party toward Skenesborough to fell huge trees across the roads, and to destroy all the bridges, so as to obstruct the march of the invaders, while he slowly retreated down the Hudson valley to the mouth of the Mohawk, and there established a fortified camp. His call for aid was nobly responded to, for the whole country was thoroughly aroused to a sense of peril. Detachments were sent from the regular- army to strengthen him; and soon General Lincoln came with a large body of New England militia. When General Gates arrived, to take the chief command,' he found an army of thirteen thousand men, ready to meet the invader.

The progress of Burgoyne was slow, and he did not reach Fort Edward until the 30th of July. The obstructions ordered by Schuyler, and the destruction of the bridges, were great hinderances. His army was also worn down by fatigue, and his provisions were almost exhausted. To replenish his stores, he sent five hundred Germans, Canadians, and Tories, and one hundred Indians, under Colonel Baume, to seize provisions and cattle which the Americans had collected at Bennington, thirty-five miles distant. Colonel John Stark had called out the New Hampshire militia; and near Hoosick, within five miles of Bennington, they met [Aug. 16] and defeated the marauders. And toward evening, when another German party, under Colonel Breyman, approached, they also were defeated by a continental force under Colonel Seth Warner." Many of the enemy were killed, and a large number were made prisoners. Burgoyne's entire loss, in this expedition, was almost a thousand men. The Americans had one hundred killed, and as many wounded. This defeat was fatal to Burgoyne's future operations-this victory was a day-star of hope to the

Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish refugee, who came with Lafay ette [page 273], was now attached to Schuyler's army, as engineer. Under his direction, the intrenchments at the mouth of the Mohawk River, were constructed; also, those at Stillwater and Saratoga. The camp at the mouth of the Mohawk was upon islands just below the Great, or Cohoes' Falls.

2 General Schuyler had superseded Gates in June, and had been skillfully confronting Burgoyne. But Gates, seeing a chance for gaining laurels, and having a strong party of friends in Congress, sought the chief command of the northern army. It was ungenerously taken from Schuyler at the moment when, by great exertions and through great hardships, he had a force prepared to confront Burgoyne, with some prospect of success.

3

KOSCIUSZKO.

It was while Burgoyne was approaching that point, that Jane M'Crea, the betrothed of a young Tory in the British army, was shot, while being conveyed by a party of Indians from Fort Edward to the British camp. Her death was untruly charged upon the Indians, and it was made the subject of the most bitter denunciations of the British ministers, for employing such cruel instrumentalities. The place of her death is a short distance from the village of Fort Edward. The pine-tree which marked the spot, decayed a few years since, and in 1853, it was cut down, and converted into canes and boxes for the curious.

4

Burgoyne was obliged to construct forty bridges on the way, and to remove the many trees which lay across the roads. To estimate the amount of fatigue which the troops must have endured during that hot month, it must be remembered that each soldier bore a weight of sixty pounds, in arms, accoutrements, and supplies. Pages 234 and 240. "It dispirited his troops, who were worn down with the fatigue of the obstructed march from Skenesborough to Fort Edward. It also caused a delay of a month at that place, and in the mean

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Americans. Applause of the New Hampshire militia rang through the land, and Stark was made a brigadier in the continental army. During Burgoyne's approach, the Mohawk valley had become a scene of great confusion and alarm. Colonel St. Leger and his savages, joined by the Mohawk Indians, under Brant,' and a body of Tories, under Johnson' and Butler, had arrived from Oswego, and invested Fort Stanwix, on the 3d of August [1777]. The garrison was commanded by Colonel Gansevoort, and made a spirited defense. General Herkimer rallied the militia of his neighborhood; and while marching to the assistance of Gansevoort, he fell into an Indian ambuscade [Aug. 6] at Oriskany.' His party was totally defeated, after a bloody conflict, and himself was mortally wounded. On the same day, a corps of the garrison, under Colonel Willet, made a successful sortie, and broke the power of the besiegers. Arnold, who had been sent by Schuyler to the relief of the fort, soon afterward approached, when the besiegers fled [Aug. 22], and quiet was restored to the Mohawk valley.

JOSEPH BRANT.

The disastrous events at Bennington and Fort Stanwix, and the straitened condition of his commissariat, greatly perplexed Burgoyne. To retreat, advance, or remain inactive, seemed equally perilous. With little hope of reaching Albany, where he had boasted he would eat his Christmas dinner, he crossed the Hudson and formed a fortified camp on the hills and plains of Saratoga, now the site of Schuylerville. General Gates advanced to Bemis's Heights, about four miles north of

GENERAL BURGOYNE.

while their provisions were rapidly diminishing. While at Fort Edward, Burgoyne received intelligence of the defeat of St. Leger at Fort Stanwix.

1

Joseph Brant was a Mohawk Indian, and a great favorite of Sir William Johnson. He adhered to the British, and went to Canada after the war, where he died in 1807, aged sixty-five years.

Sir William Johnson [page 190] (then dead) had been a sort of autocrat among the Indians and Tories in the Mohawk valley. He flattered the chiefs in various ways, and through them he obtained almost unbounded influence over the tribes, especially that of the Mohawks. He was in the habit of giving those chiefs who pleased him, a diploma, certifying their good character, and faithfulness to his majesty. These contained a picture, representing a treaty council, of which the annexed engraving is a copy. His family were the worst enemies of the Americans during the war, in that region. His son, John, raised a regiment of Tories, called the Johnson Greens (those who joined St. Leger); and John Butler, a cruel leader, was at the head of another band, called Butler's Rangers. These co-operated with Brant, the great Mohawk sachem, and for years they made the Mohawk valley and vicinity truly a "dark and bloody ground." These men were the allies of St. Leger on the occasion in question.

A TREATY.

The place of the battle is about half way between Utica and Rome. The latter village is upon the site of Fort Stanwix, built by Bradstreet and his troops in 1758 [page 197]. It was repaired and garrisoned in 1776, and its name was changed to Fort Schuyler. Another Fort Schuyler was built during the French and Indian War, where Utica now stands. 4 Note 7, page 241.