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without infinite labor and perseverance that on BOOK the 30th of July general Burgoyne fixed his headquarters at Fort Edward-the Americans having 1777. now retired to Saratoga. The joy with which the sight of the North River, so long the object of their hopes and wishes, inspired the army, seemed to be considered as an ample compensation for all their labors; and with unremitted ardor they now bent all their efforts to bring forward provisions and stores from Fort George, at the extremity of the lake of that name, sufficient to form a magazine for the subsistence of the troops in their march through the wild and uncultivated country they had yet to traverse. So ineffectual, however, were their utmost exertions, that on the 15th of August they had only four days' provisions in store; and the general understanding that a large magazine was collected at Bennington, twenty miles to the eastward of Hudson's River, for the use of the enemy, he detached colonel Baum at the head of about five hundred men to surprise the place: at the same time moving with the whole army up the eastern shore of Hudson's River, he encamped nearly opposite to Saratoga. The colonel, finding his destination discovered, and his force wholly insufficient to the purpose, took post at a small distance from Bennington, whence he communicated intelligence of his situation to

BOOK general Burgoyne, who dispatched colonel BreyXVIII. man with about an equal force to his assistance. The provincial general, Starke, who commanded the militia of the district, determined however to lose no time in attacking the first party before any reinforcement should arrive; and the provincials surrounding on every side the small corps of colonel Baum, forced their entrenchments, made themselves masters of their cannon; and after a brave resistance, in which many were killed or wounded, the rest surrendered themselves prisoners. Colonel Breyman, who had no suspicion of this event, arrived nearly at the same spot on the evening of the same day he was attacked with the same resolution, and with much difficulty effected a retreat, with the loss of his artillery, and with ranks dreadfully diminished. This was a heavy and unlookedfor stroke. In the mean time colonel St. Leger, who commanded a separate corps on the Mohawk River, and had, in conjunction with colonel Johnson and a great body of Indians who committed their accustomed horrid ravages, invested Fort Stanwix, was compelled by the governor, colonel Gansevort, to raise the siege, leaving behind him his artillery and stores.

At this period general Gates was appointed to supersede general Schuyler in the command of the northern army; and the spirits of the

provincials being much raised by their late suc- BOOK cesses and the long inaction of general Burgoyne,

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a formidable and increasing army was collected 1777. in the vicinity of Still Water, on the western bank of Hudson's River, some miles to the southward of Saratoga. Notwithstanding the present unpromising prospect, general Burgoyne, having now about thirty days' provision in store, resolved, without calling any council of war, to pass the river, which he effected about the middle of September, and encamped on the heights of Saratoga, the enemy not receding from their position at Still Water. In his public dispatches the general offers the following very extraordinary reasons for this determination: "The peremptory tenor of his orders, and the season of the year, admitted no alternative. The expedition, says he, which I commanded, was evidently meant at first to be hazarded-circumstances might require it should be devoted. A critical junction of Mr. Gate's force with Mr. Washington might possibly decide the fate of the war; the failure of my junction with sir Harry Clinton, or the loss of my retreat to Canada, could be only a partial misfortune." Notwithstanding this laboured apology, it is probable that the idea of devoting his own army, in order to save that of sir William Howe, did not occur to general Burgoyne, till, by a series of un

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BOOK looked-for disasters, it was actually and irretrievably devoted; nor is there just ground for the assertion, that it was meant to be hazarded in any peculiar or unusual sense. So sanguine in fact were the ideas of the court of St. James's, that the possibility of a failure was scarcely within the compass of their contemplation.

As the army advanced along the western bank of the river, towards the enemy, they found the country very impracticable, being covered with thick woods, and intersected with creeks, which made a continual repair of bridges necessary. At length, on the 19th of September, they were attacked near Still Water with unexpected vigor by the Americans; the action lasted from noon till sun-set, when the royal army were left in possession of the field. This was the sole advantage they could boast, nor could any difference be discerned in the behaviour of the provincial militia and the veteran troops of Britain on this hard and well-fought day. The royal army lay all night on their arms in the field of battle, and in the morning they took a position in front of the enemy's camp, fortifying their right wing, and extending their left to the banks of the river. At this crisis general Burgoyne received a letter in cypher from general Clinton, informing him of his design to make a diversion. in his favour, by an expedition up the North

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River, which, though far short of the aid he BOOK had once expected, he in reply urged general Clinton to the immediate performance of: declaring his intention, in hope of favourable events, to remain in his present position till the 12th of October.

Early in the month, general Clinton, at the head of about 4000 troops, proceeded up the North River to Forts Montgomery and Constitution, which they reduced. They afterwards broke an immense boom and chain extending from shore to shore, and burnt several ships and armed vessels lying in the river; without any apparent provocation or necessity, also destroying many delightful and elegant mansions on its banks, with the whole of the beautiful village of Esopus. This dreadful work of devastation, according to the striking description of a writer who was himself an actor in the scene, exhibited a most splendid and majestic spectacle. "The flames from the frigates and galleys suddenly bursting forth, as every sail was set, the vessels soon became magnificent pyramids of fire.. The reflection on the steep face of the opposite mountain, and the long train of ruddy light that shone upon the water for a prodigious distance, had a wonderful effect; whilst the ear was awfully filled with the continued echoes from the rocky shores as the flames gradually

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