the 3d of October, and at dawn of day next morning attacked the royal army. After a smart conflict he drove in the advanced guard, which was stationed at the head of the village, and, with his army divided into five columns, prosecuted the attack; but Lieutenant-Colonel Musgrave of the 40th regiment, which had been driven in, and who had been able to keep five companies of the regiment together, threw himself into a large stone house in the village, which stood in front of the main column of the Americans, and there almost a half of General Washington's army was detained for a considerable time. Instead of masking the house with a sufficient force, and advancing rapidly with their main body, the Americans attacked the house, which was obstinately defended. This saved the British army; for the critical moment was lost in fruitless attempts on the house; the royal troops had time to get under arms, and be in readiness to resist or attack as circumstances required. General Grey came to the assistance of Colonel Musgrave; the engagement for some time was general and warm; at length the Americans began to give way, and effected a retreat with all their artillery. The morning was very foggy, a circumstance which had prevented the Americans from combining and conducting their operations as they otherwise might have done, but which now favored their retreat by concealing their movements.

In this engagement the British had 600 men killed or wounded; among the slain were Brigadier-General Agnew and Colonel Bird, officers of distinguished reputation. The Americans lost an equal number in killed and wounded, besides 400 who were taken prisoners. General Nash, of North Carolina, was among those who were killed. After the battle General Washington returned to his encampment at Skippach Creek.

But although the British army had been successful in repulsing the Americans, yet their situation was not comfortable; nor could they easily maintain themselves in Pennsylvania unless the navigation of the Delaware were opened, and a free communication established between the fleet and army. The upper line of chevaux-de-frise was protected by a work named Fort Mifflin, erected on a marshy island in the Delaware called Mud Island, formed by an accumulation of sand and vegetable mould near the Pennsylvania bank of the river, and by a redoubt, called Redbank, on the Jersey side. At a small distance below Mud Island, and nearly in a line with it, are two others, named Province and Hog's islands; between these and the Pennsylvanian bank of the river was a narrow channel, of sufficient depth to admit ships of moderate draught of water. reduction of Forts Mifflin and Redbank, and the opening of the Delaware, were of essential importance to the British army in the occupation of Philadelphia. In order, therefore, that he might be able more conveniently to assist in those operations, General Howe, on the 19th of October, withdrew his army from Germantown, and encamped in the vicinity of Philadelphia.

The

He despatched Colonel Count Donop, a German officer, with three battalions of Hessian grenadiers, the regiment of Mirbach, and some light infantry, to reduce Redbank. This detachment crossed the Delaware at Philadelphia on the evening of the 21st of October, and next afternoon reached the place of its destination. Count Donop summoned the fort to surrender; but Colonel Christopher Greene, of Rhode Island, who commanded in the redoubt, answered that he would defend his post to the last extremity. Count Donop immediately led his troops to the assault, advancing under a close fire from the fort, and from the American vessels-of-war and floating-batteries on the river; he forced an extensive and unfinished outwork, but could make no impression on the redoubt. The count was mortally wounded; the second in command also was disabled; and, after a desperate conflict and severe loss, the assailants were compelled to re

treat under a fire similar to that which had met them in their advance. Colonel Donop was made prisoner, and soon died of his wounds.

The disaster did not terminate here. That part of the fleet which co-operated in the attack was equally unfortunate. The Augusta, Roebuck, Liverpool, Pearl, and Merlin, vessels-of-war, had passed through an opening in the lower line of chevaux-de-frise; and, on the commencement of Count Donop's attack, moved up the river with the flowing tide. But the artificial obstructions had altered the course of the channel, and raised sand-banks where none existed before. Hence the Augusta and Merlin grounded a little below the second row of chevaux-de-frise. At the return of the tide every exertion was made to get them off, but in vain. In the morning the Americans, perceiving their condition, began to fire upon them, and sent fire-ships against them. The Augusta caught fire; and, the flames spreading rapidly, it was with the utmost difficulty that the crew were got out of her. The second lieutenant, chaplain, gunner, and some seamen, perished in the flames; but the greater part of the crew was saved. The Merlin was abandoned and destroyed.

Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the operations requisite for reducing the forts on the river were carried on with great activity. Batteries were erected on the Pennsylvanian bank opposite Mud Island; but from the difficulty of constructing works on marshy ground, and of transporting heavy artillery through swamps, much time was consumed before they could be got ready to act with effect. The British also took possession of Province Island; and, although it was almost wholly overflowed, erected works upon it.

On the 15th of November, everything was ready for a grand attack on Fort Mifflin. The Vigilant armed ship and a hulk, both mounted with heavy cannon, passed up the strait between Hog and Province islands and the Pennsylvanian bank, in order to take their station opposite the weakest part of the fort. The Isis, Somerset, Roebuck, and several frigates, sailed up the main channel, as far as the second line of chevaux-de-frise would permit them, and placed themselves in front of the work.

The little garrison of Fort Mifflin, not exceeding 300 men, had greatly exerted themselves in opposing and retarding the operations of the British fleet and army against them; and in this desperate crisis their courage did not forsake them. A terrible cannonade against Fort Mifflin was begun and carried on by the British batteries and shipping; and was answered by the fort, by the American galleys and floating-batteries on the river, and by their works on the Jersey bank. In the course of the day, the fort was in a great measure demolished, and many of the guns dismounted. The garrison, finding their post no longer tenable, retired, by means of their shipping, during the night. Two days afterward, the post at Redbank was evacuated also. Lord Cornwallis marched against it; but the garrison retreated before his arrival.

The American shipping in the river, being now left unprotected, retired up the stream: part of it, by keeping close to the Jersey side, passed the batteries at Philadelphia during the night, and escaped; the rest was set on fire, and abandoned. Even the part of it, however, which escaped at this time, was afterward destroyed. Thus the navigation of the Delaware was opened, and a free communication established between the fleet and army; but the defence of the river was so obstinate, that a considerable part of the campaign was wasted in clearing it.

General Washington having received a reinforcement from the northern army, after the termination of the campaign in that quarter, left his strong camp at Skippach Creek, and, advancing nearer the British, occupied an advantageous position at White Marsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia. He had a valley

and rivulet in front, and his right was protected by an abattis, or fence of trees cut down, with their top branches pointed and turned outward.

Sir William Howe thinking that General Washington, encouraged by his rein forcements, would hazard a battle for the recovery of the capital of Pennsylvania, or that a successful attack might be made on his position, marched from Phila delphia on the evening of the 4th of December, and next morning took post on Chestnut Hill, in front of the right wing of the American army. During the two succeeding days, General Howe made several movements in front of the hostile encampment, and some skirmishing ensued. But General Washington remained within his lines; and Sir William Howe, deeming it unadvisable to attack him there, and seeing no probability of being able to provoke him to engage on more equal terms, returned with his army, on the 8th of December, to Philadelphia. At that time the two armies were nearly equal in point of numerical force, each consisting of upward of 14,000 men. Soon afterward General Washington quitted White Marsh, crossed the Schuylkill, and took post at Valley Forge, where he spent the winter, about twenty-six miles from Philadelphia.

During the active part of the campaign the British army was most numerous; and although, in the beginning of December, the numerical force of the two armies was nearly equal, yet there was a great difference in the quality and equipment of the troops. Those under Sir William Howe were veterans, accustomed to the most exact discipline and subordination, well armed, and abundantly supplied with military stores and other necessaries; but those under General Washington were for the most part raw levies, ill-disciplined, imperfectly armed, and strangers to military subordination; hence the Americans were unable to meet the royal troops on equal terms. General Washington was obliged to occupy strong positions, and to be wary in all his movements; and although Sir William Howe was successful in all his operations, yet he gained nothing by the campaign but good winter quarters in Philadelphia.

While the events now related were happening in the middle states, most important transactions were going on in the north, to which we shall now turn our attention.

We left the retreating American army, after its unsuccessful irruption into Canada, at Ticonderoga, in the month of November, 1776. That army was composed chiefly of soldiers enlisted for a short period only, and consequently it melted away during the winter, as the term of service for which the men were engaged expired.

The cantonments of the British northern army, extending from Isle aux Noix and Montreal to Quebec, were so distant from each other that they could not readily have afforded mutual support in case of an attack; but the Americans were in no condition to avail themselves of this circumstance. They could scarcely keep up even the appearance of garrisons in their forts, and were apprehensive of an attack on Ticonderoga, as soon as the ice was strong enough to afford an easy passage to troops over the lakes.

At the close of the preceding campaign General Gates had joined the army under General Washington; and the command of the army in the northern department, comprehending Albany, Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix, and their dependencies, remained in the hands of General Schuyler. The services of that meritorious officer had not been duly valued by congress, which was slow in discerning real and unostentatious merit. Disgusted at the injustice which he had experienced, he was restrained from leaving the army merely by the deep interest which he took in the arduous struggle in which his country was engaged; but after a full investigation of his conduct during the whole of his cominand, congress was at length convinced of the value of his services, and requested him to continue at the head of the army of the northern department. That

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army he found too weak for the services which it was expected to perform, and ill supplied with arms, clothes, and provisions. He made every exertion to organize and place it on a respectable footing for the ensuing campaign; but his means were scanty, and the new levies arrived slowly. General St. Clair, who had served under Gates, commanded at Ticonderoga, and, including militia, had nearly 3,000 men under him; but the works were extensive, and would have required 10,000 men to man them fully.

The British ministry had resolved to prosecute the war vigorously on the northern frontier of the United States, and appointed General Burgoyne, who had served under General Carleton in the preceding campaign, to command the royal army in that quarter.

General Burgoyne had visited England during the winter, concerted with ministry a plan of the campaign, and given an estimate of the force necessary for its successful execution. Besides a fine train of artillery and a suitable body of artillerymen, an army, consisting of more than 7,000 veteran troops, excellently equipped, and in a high state of discipline, was put under his command Besides this regular force, he had a great number of Canadians and savages.

General Burgoyne was assisted by a number of distinguished officers, among whom were Generals Philips, Frazer, Powel, Hamilton, Reidesel, and Specht. A suitable naval armament, under the orders of Commodore Lutwych, attended the expedition.

After detaching Colonel St. Leger with a body of light troops and Indians, amounting to about 800 men, by the way of Lake Oswego and the Mohawk river, to make a diversion in that quarter, and to join him when he advanced to the Hudson, General Burgoyne left St. John's on the 16th of June, and, preceded by his naval armament, sailed up Lake Champlain, and in a few days landed and encamped at Crown Point, earlier in the season than the Americans had thought it possible for him to reach that place.

He met his Indian allies, and, in imitation of a savage partisan, gave them a
war-feast, at which, with well meant but useless zeal, he made them a speech,
in order to inflame their courage and repress their barbarous cruelty. He next
issued a lofty proclamation, addressed to the inhabitants of the country, in which,
He talked of the ferocity
as if certain of victory, he threatened to punish with the utmost severity those
who refused to attach themselves to the royal cause.

of the Indians, and their eagerness to butcher the friends of independence, and
he graciously promised protection to those who should return to their duty.
The proclamation was so far from answering the general's intention that it was
derided by the people as a model of pomposity.

Having made the necessary arrangements, on the 30th of June General Bur-
goyne advanced cautiously on both sides of the narrow channel which connects
Lakes Champlain and George, the British on the west, and the German auxil-
iaries on the east, with the naval force in the centre, forming a communication
between the two divisions of the army; and on the 1st of July his van appeared
in sight of Ticonderoga.

The river Sorel issues from the north end of Lake Champlain, and throws its superfluous waters into the St. Lawrence. Lake Champlain is about eighty miles long from north to south, and about fourteen miles broad where it is widest. Crown Point stands at what may properly be considered the south end of the lake, although a narrow channel, which retains the name of the lake, proceeds southward, and forms a communication with South river and the waters of Lake George.

Ticonderoga is on the west side of the narrow channel, twelve miles south On the space from Crown Point. It is a rocky angle of land, washed on three sides by the water, and partly covered on the fourth side by a deep morass.