CHAP. XXVII.

SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE'S ARMY.

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General Fraser died on the morning after the battle, and his body was buried, at the evening twilight of the same day, within a redoubt upon a gentle eminence, which the hero had chosen for his place of sepulture. A very touching account of his death and his funeral is given in the published letters and memoirs of the Baroness de Riedesel, wife of the Brunswick general, who, with her children, accompanied her husband while he was in America. The body of Fraser was followed to the grave by Burgoyne and a large number of officers led by Mr. Brudenell, the faithful chaplain of the artillerists. As the funeral procession moved up the slope in the dim light, it appeared to Americans like a hostile movement, and they opened a cannonade upon it from the eastern side of the Hudson; but as soon as its solemn character was made known, the cannonade for destruction was changed to the firing of minute-guns in honor of the memory of the brave soldier.

The wife of Major Ackland (a daughter of the Earl of Ilchester), who accompanied her husband, and was with Madame Riedesel during the battle of the 7th of October, when she heard that her husband was wounded and a prisoner, resolved to go to the American camp in search of him. On a dark and stormy night she descended the Hudson in an open boat, accompanied by Chaplain Brudenell, and bearing a letter of introduction from Burgoyne to Gates. She found her husband at the headquarters of Arnold, now (1876) the residence of Mr. Neilson, on Bemis's Heights, where she was permitted to nurse him until he was able to travel to New York and sail for England.

On the night of the 8th, Burgoyne, with his shattered and dispirited army, retreated to the Heights of Saratoga, reaching there, after a wretched march in a heavy rainstorm, on the morning of the 10th. At the passage of the Fish Creek at Saratoga, they destroyed the mansion, mills, outbuildings, and other property belonging to General Schuyler, and valued at fifty thousand dollars. The main army of the Americans also moved northward. The brigade of General Fellows were posted on the hills eastward of the Hudson, within cannon-range of the British camp, which their batteries commanded. Burgoyne now despaired; and at a council of general officers, it was determined to open negotiations with Gates for a surrender on honorable terms. These were finally agreed upon, and at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 17th of October, 1777, the vanquished troops laid down their arms upon the plain near the Hudson River, in front of the present village of Schuylerville. Then Burgoyne rode toward the headquarters of Gates, with his staff. They met that officer on the road not far from the ruined mansion of General Schuyler, when Burgoyne, in the presence of that patriot

and many other American officers, and his own, surrendered his sword to the commander of the victorious republican army. Then they all returned to Gates's headquarters, and dined together.

The whole number of troops surrendered was five thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, of whom two thousand four hundred and twelve were

Brunswickers and Hessians. Besides these, there were eighteen hundred prisoners of war, including the sick and wounded abandoned to the Americans. The entire loss of the British army after they entered the province of New York, including those under St. Leger disabled or captured at Fort Schuyler and Oriskany, was almost ten thousand men. On Burgoyne's staff were six members of Parliament. Among the spoils of war that fell to the Americans were forty-two pieces of the best brass cannon then known; four thousand six hundred muskets, and a large quantity of munitions of war.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE TERMS OF BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER-THE DISPOSITION OF HIS TROOPS-SIR HENRY CLINTON'S STRATAGEM-CAPTURE OF FORTS IN THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS-MARAUDING EXPEDITION UP THE HUDSON-WASHINGTON CONFRONTING HOWE IN DELAWARE AND PENNSYLVANIA-BATTLE ON THE BRANDYWINE-MOVEMENTS OF THE BELLIGERENTS AFTERWARDS-WAYNE ATTACKED NEAR THE PAOLI-THE BRITISH IN POSSESSION OF PHILADELPHIA-OPERATIONS ON THE DELAWARE-BATTLE AT GERMANTOWN.

G

ENERAL GATES granted very generous terms to Burgoyne and his army. His troops were not held as prisoners of war, but allowed a free passage to Europe for those who wished to go there, and free permission for the Canadians to return to their homes, on the condition that none of the troops surrendered should serve against the Americans during the war. Arrangements were made for the march of the European captives, by the nearest route to the vicinity of Boston, there to be embarked as speedily as possible.

The vanquished army began their march for the seaboard on the day after their surrender. "It was solemn, sullen and silent," wrote a contemporary, but they were treated with such humanity and delicate respect for their feelings, that they were overwhelmed with astonishment and gratitude. The appearance of the German prisoners was extremely pitiful and ludicrous, according to eye-witnesses. Mrs. Dr. Winthrop of Cambridge, writing about the advent of these hirelings into Cambridge, remarked: “I never had the least idea that the creation produced such a sordid set of creatures in human figure-poor, dirty, emaciated men; great numbers of women, who seemed to be the beasts of burden, having bushel baskets on their heads, by which they were bent double. The contents seemed to be pots and kettles, various sorts of furniture, children peeping through gridirons. and other utensils; some very young infants who were born on the road; the women, barefooted, clothed in rags. Such effluvia filled the air while they were passing that, had they not been smoking all the time, I should. have been apprehensive of being contaminated."

The Congress ratified the generous terms made by Gates; but circumstances soon convinced them and Washington, that Burgoyne and his troops

intended to violate the agreement at the first opportunity. It was therefore resolved not to allow the "convention troops," as they were called, to leave the country until the British government should ratify the terms of the capitulation. Here was a dilemma. That government would not recognize the authority of Congress: so the troops remained idle in America four or five years.

The surrender of Burgoyne was, as we have observed, a turning-point in the war in favor of the Americans. Its salutary effects were immediately apparent. The credit of Congress was revived, and the work of the Commissioners abroad was made easier. New life was infused into every part of the public service, for the hopes of the people were buoyant. The militia of the country obeyed the summons to camp with alacrity, after the first check of Burgoyne on Bemis's Heights; and when the surrender took place,

CHAP. XXVIII.

CONGRESS FORGETS ITS DIGNITY.

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Gates had under his immediate command more than thirteen thousand troops, with almost twelve thousand more subject to his call. The tide of public opinion in Europe set strongly in favor of the Americans; and less than four months after Burgoyne gave up his sword to Gates, France had formed a treaty of alliance with the United States and acknowledged their independence, while other European powers were thinking kindly of the Americans.

The joy of the moment invested Gates with the character of a saviour of the republican cause. In the pride of his heart, that officer disdained to make a report of the affair in writing to anybody, but sent Wilkinson, his favorite aide-de-camp, with a verbal message directly to Congress, instead of to Washington, his superior officer. The Congress were so unmindful of their own dignity, that they admitted Wilkinson to their hall and upon its floor to announce in studied phrases the news tardily sent, of the great victory, with his own lips. They voted the thanks of the nation to Gates and his army, and gave a gold medal to the general. In a written report afterward made, that leader barely mentioned the names of Arnold and Morgan, with others. He seemed to fear that giving just praise to others, might diminish his own renown. In this he anticipated the correct verdict of posterity.

While Burgoyne was struggling with his foes on the Upper Hudson, Sir Henry Clinton, whom Howe had left in command at New York, was trying to make a diversion in his favor on the lower and middle waters of that stream. Among the Hudson Highlands were three forts with feeble garrisons. Fort Constitution was upon a rocky island opposite West Point. Forts Clinton and Montgomery were upon the west bank of the river, one on each side of a small stream with high rocky shores. From the latter the Americans had stretched a chain and boom across the Hudson to Anthony's Nose, to prevent the passage of vessels up the stream. These forts were under the supervision of General Israel Putnam, whose headquarters were at Peekskill, a little below the Highlands; and Forts Clinton and Montgomery were under the immediate command of Governor George Clinton and his brother General James Clinton. Putnam had injudiciously granted so many furloughs or permits to be absent, that his whole force at Peekskill and the Highland forts, did not exceed two thousand men, at the time we are considering. Tories had informed Sir Henry of the weakness of the Highland forts, and as soon as reinforcements from Europe, which had been floating on the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean for almost three months, arrived, he prepared vessels suitable for transporting troops and munitions of war up the river. Vigilant Whigs below had informed Putnam of these