History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 14

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 780

USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. > Part 14

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men to Preymaan with s raymest for bims . decash &m

:he - mil at St. Cork." ss the Americans were so wing signs of aframing on it. Instead of the foote asked fuc. Breymuon son: forward Copa Gloirenberg with the irance gaard mosisting of sixty greoudiony and chasseurs and monty FAgers. Bmipmson himself with the rest of his the advance-grani in undistarted possession and soil co- amanked by the enemy.

C.L. Skene, whowas as the mill when Breymans umired. inthemood him thus Bamm was on'y two miles distant. bes i'be kopy of the fact that Baum was Liverdy defeated and the real state of the esse, he would non bure siskel the en- gagement that flowed. Brepesso, deeming it best :o basten firwird v: meet Baums corps. add Scene being of :ile same pinico, boch marebed over the bridge in codes :.

sorely dir hamirel poers Kom the bridge, when theragh

whom were bionses and some jaskcs." were seen Lascering towards an eminente in Breymano i left Bank. Brefmana immediately called Skene's attention to the circumstance. and received from kim the reply that these men were mir- alisci. Bar when Sheme mode my : ward them ani called to Chem the matter was soon explained fiz. instead of recusa- ing an answer. they fred on Breymind's soldiers. There- upon Brepmana codered Barmer's Canaliio to move :: wards the height, while the pagers and grenudiory advanced boo the right Then i: was that the second tarde began. which hasted znali nearly eight c'eltek in the evening. The can-

by some Americans, whence they were forced oo retire, and as they came out they were regmised ve all sides. although reinforcements amivel to support them. After Brermunn's ammunition wris all expended and his arullery had censed Esing. be, in anticipation of the meperril of the ansck. 1 :- tempted it take away the cannon. Br this m vemen: moss dead or in a condition which prevented them from ut ving from the spot. Net Haring we take any further risks, sol being unable to return the enemy's fre, he retrusted on the argentch of darkness, desce pel the bridge at - St Cy's. bezugh: thither as many of the wounded as possible röst they might not be eapcared. and after the lapse me half an hour, in company with Col. Skeme, parsgei his marsh :o Cambridge, which place he raschel a Mudie telire midnight

Aberche banie of Bennington aching of great importance occurred to Burgoyne til his fos! ervesing of the Huisva river, on the 13th and 14th daysof August, cised the second period of his campaign.

During al this time he had been engaged in che tediom: ccczpasion of drawing his supplies from Lake George to the Hairva at Fort Eivind

HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE THIRD PERIOD OF THE BURGOYNE CAMPAIGN.

I .- THE RAPIDLY-INCREASING AMERICAN ARMY.

As early as the 13th of August, the British army com- menced active operations with the view of soon erossing the Hudson river. An advance was made down the east bank of the Hudson to the mouth of the Battenkill, and the army eneamped nearly opposite what is now Schuylerville, -then called Saratoga.

After the heavy detachment under Lieut .- Col. Baum was sent off through the woods to Bennington, of which a full account is given in the last chapter, a bridge of rafts was flung across the Hudson, over which, on the 14th of August, Gen. Fraser erossed with the advance corps of the army and encamped on the heights of Saratoga to await the return of Baum. But neither Baum nor his soldiers ever came back ; and after the defeat of Baum at Benning- ton, on the 16th of August, Gen. Fraser led his troops back again to the east side of the Hudson, where the whole British army remained eneamped till the final advance made in September. Meanwhile the Americans under Schuyler had left Stillwater and taken their stand on the islands at the mouth of the Mohawk, where, throwing up intrenchments, they awaited the approach of the enemy.

On the 19th of August Gen. Schuyler, New York's favorite general, was superseded in the command of the Continental forces by Gen. Horatio Gates. Gen. Sehuyler was removed in consequence of the clamor raised over the surrender of Ticonderoga, for which it has been seen Gen. Schuyler was in nowise to blame. But nothing short of his removal from the head of the army would satisfy the disaffected, and the victory he had organized was snatched from his grasp and thrown to the hands of another just as he was on the point of receiving it.

The fortunes of war were now turning decidedly in favor of the Americans. The defeat of Baum and the retreat of St. Leger had aroused the sinking hopes of the colonists, and, already flushed with victory, they flocked in crowds to the American camp. On the 23d of August, Col. Mor- gan's regiment of riflemen arrived in the American camp from Virginia. On the 8th of September, Gen. Gates left his encampment at the mouth of the Mohawk, and once more the Continental forces, now consisting of about six thousand men, marched up the Hudson to mect the invad- ing foe. Gen. Gates stopped in the first place near the present village of Stillwater-where old Fort Ingoldsby had been built by Col. Sehuyler in 1709, and Fort Winslow in the place of it by Gen. Winslow in 1756-and began to throw up intrenchments. But not satisfied with the ground at Stillwater, Gen. Gates abandoned it in a day or two, and, marching two miles up the Hudson, took possession of the much stronger position of Bemus Heights.

At Bemus Heights the river-hills crowd down quite ab- ruptly to the west bank of the Hudson, leaving there only a narrow defile between them and the river-bank, through which what was then the King's highway ran up and down the river from Albany to Saratoga. By the side of the

highway at the foot of the hills and near the bank of the Hudson, at the period of the Revolution, was a somewhat famous tavern-stand owned and kept by one J. Bemus. This tavern had for some time been celebrated as one of the best stopping-places on the river-road. Bemus then owned the land in the rear of the tavern, and his farm extended up over the hills, and the hills were consequently known as Bemus Heights.

Gen. Gates took possession of the narrow defile at the tavern-stand of Bemus, and extending his line westerly for a mile from the river, over the heights, began to throw up intrenchments, and there awaited the approach of Bur- goyne. He did not wait long.

I .- THE PASSAGE OF THE ItUDSON.

On the 13th and 14th of September, Burgoyne crossed to the west side of the Hudson with his whole army and encamped on the heights of Saratoga. On the 15th he marched his army slowly down five miles to Dovegat, now called Coveville. The British army, in full dress, with drums beating and colors flying, set off on this march on a lovely autumn day, " reminding one," says an eye-witness, "of a grand parade in the midst of peace." At Dovegat Burgoyne halted two days for the purpose of repairing the roads and bridges in his advance, and of sending out scouts to reconnoitre the enemy. But, strange to say, no enemy was discovered. Burgoyne at this time seemed to know nothing about the position or the numbers of the Continental forces, but went on marching blindly through the woods in search of an enemy supposed to be somewhere in the forest before him. On the morning of the 17th, Burgoyne him- self headed a scouting-party, and proceeded as far as "Sword's house," which was within four miles of the American lines, eneamped his whole army there during the 18th, and until the morning of the 19th, the day of the first great battle.

In the mean time the Americans had been busy strength- ening their position at Bemus Heights. Under the direction of Kosciusko their line of intrenchments ran from the river half a mile westwardly over the hills to what is now called the " Neilson house." The right wing occupied the hill- side near the river, protected in front by a marshy ravine, and in the rear by an abatis. The left wing, in command of Gen. Arnold, occupied the heights to the west. Gen. Gates' headquarters were near the centre, a little south of the " Neilson farm." Thus were the two armies situated about four miles apart on the morning of the battle.

III .- THE BATTLE OF THE 19TH OF SEPTEMBER.

Between the two hostile armics thus sleeping on that pleasant autumn morning, one hundred years ago, stretched four miles of the primeval forest, in which there were four or five little clearings of a dozen acres in extent, in the centre of which was to be seen the deserted log cabin of the settler. Down the slope of the hills ran several small brooks into the river, each having worn a deep ravine through the woods in its passage. Such were the difficulties in the way of the passage of Burgoyne's army. On the opposite side of the river, a few miles to the eastward of the armies, rosc a mountain peak sinee known as Willard's

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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

mountain. From the top of this mountain the American scouts had full view of both armies. On the morning of the 19th of September there was unusual commotion in the British camp. Gen. Burgoyne was preparing to make another " reconnaissance in force," and attack the Ameri- eans in their intrenchments. About ten o'clock the whole British army moved out of its camp at " Sword's house," in three divisions. The left wing, under Gens. Phillips and Riedesel, took the river-road down the flats. The centre, under Burgoyne in person, took the middle route across the ravines, going in a zig-zag course about a mile from the river, while the right wing, under Gen. Fraser, took a cir- cuitous route a half-mile farther back from the river than Burgoyne's, towards the extreme American left. It was agreed that upon the junction of the two divisions under Burgoyne and Fraser, about a mile from the enemy, three minute-guns should be fired to notify the left wing on the river-road, and that then the three divisions should in eon- cert make their combined attacks upon the American camp. About a mile north of the centre of the American camp was a little clearing which had been made by one Freeman, containing some fourteen acres of land, near the centre of which stood a log house on a slight elevation. This little clearing, then and since called " Freeman's farm," lay directly in the route of the centre division of the army advancing under Burgoyne, and in and around this elearing was fought the famous battle of the 19th of September as well as that in part of the 7th of October following.

On the morning of the 19th the American scouts on Willard mountain had seen the forward movement of the British, and had lost no time in informing Gen. Gates of the intentions of the enemy. It was the intention of Gen. Gates to remain quietly in his intrenched camp and await the attack of the British, but Arnold was impatient to meet the enemy in the woods half-way. Ile said if they were defeated in that encounter they would still have their works to fall back on, and thus stand a double chance of victory. The importunity of Arnold prevailed, and a part of the infantry and Morgan's rifle eorps were sent off, headed by Arnold, to meet the advancing British. A de- tachment of Morgan's riflemen was stationed in the log house and behind the fences of " Freeman's farm." About one o'clock in the afternoon the advanced party of Gen. Burgoyne's division, consisting of the pickets of the centre column under command of Major Forbes, fell in with Mor- gan's men at the log house, and after considerable firing were driven back by them. Upon reaching the main body of the British division, Morgan's men were driven back in terror, and sought shelter in the surrounding forest, await- ing reinforcements. About this time Gen. Fraser, with his grenadiers and light infantry, reached an elevated position about three hundred yards westerly of " Freeman's farnı," and was met there by Arnold at the head of a heavy body of troops, each trying to cut the other off from reinforcing the troops at " Freeman's farm." There, in the open woods, a most sanguinary engagement took place between the troops under Arnold and Fraser, which lasted for an hour with great fury. At some places on the field, it is stated, the blood was ankle-deep, such was the carnage. At length Fraser was reinforced, and Arnold retired from the field.

In the mean time the British troops of Burgoyne's divi- sion were formed in order of battle on the field of " Free- man's farm," and a large body of Americans advanced to the attack. At three o'clock the action became general, close, and bloody. The struggle of the combatants was for the possession of the clearing. The Twentieth, Twenty- first, and Sixty-second Regiments of British, under Brig .- Gen. Hamilton, were headed by Burgoyne in person, and drawn up in regular order of battle across the field. For six times in succession that bloody afternoon were detach- ments of the Continental troops hurled against the British columns, and as many times driven back by them into the protection of the surrounding forest. The Continentals would rally in the edge of the forest on their side and drive the British in disorder back into and across the clear- ing. The British would then rally in the clearing, and, reforming in line, in turn drive the Continentals back again into the woods. Thus the battle swayed back and forth across the bloody field, like the waves of a stormy sea, until darkness put an end to the contest. In the early part of the action, Gen. Phillips, hearing the firing, made his way with much difficulty through the woods, accompanied by Maj. Williams, with four pieces of artillery, and throwing himself at the head of the Twentieth Regiment, charged the Continentals in time to save Burgoyne from eertain defeat. At this juncture, Gen. Arnold, seeing the British reinforcements, rode his gray horse back to Gen. Gates, and addressed him: "General, the British are reinforced ; we must have more men." " You shall have them, sir," replied Gen. Gates, and at once ordered out Gen. Learned's brigade. Arnold, in full gallop, hurried baek to the battle, and the men followed after in double-quick time. Again the battle raged until sunset, when the British, who were about being driven from the field, were further reinforced by the Germans, under Gen. Riedesel. The timely arrival of Riedesel and his men saved the army of Burgoyne from utter rout. The British cannon were already silenced, there being no more ammunition for them, and out of forty-eight artillerymen thirty-six, including the captain, were lying dead or wounded on the field. The three British regiments had lost half their men, and now formed a small band in one corner of the clearing, surrounded with heaps of dead and dying. The Americans were already rushing on once more, when they were met by Riedcsel and his fresh German troops, and again turned back. The , advantage thus gained by Gen. Riedesel was about being followed up by Gen. Fraser, when Burgoyne counter- manded his movement. But the swift-falling darkness of our American autumn evenings soon covered the bloody field like a shadowy pall, and put an end to the con- fliet.

Never on a thousand battle-fields had British valor been put to a more severe test. Said the Earl of Balcarras, " The Americans behaved with great obstinacy and courage." The British forces of Burgoyne's central division were eleven hundred strong when they went into the battle. At its close more than five hundred of these were among the dead, the wounded, and the dying. The American loss was between three hundred and four hundred, including Cols. Adams and Coburn.

HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

As the darkness set in the Americans withdrew within their lines. The British bivouacked on the field.

Both parties claimed the victory. But it is easily seen that the advantage was decidedly with the Americans. It was the intention of the British not to hold their ground, but to advance. This intention to advance was completely frustrated by this battle. It was the desire of the Americans not to advance, but to hold their ground. They held it then, and have held it ever since. The victory was ours.

On the morning of the 20th the Americans expected another attack. Had it been made, Burgoyne would have doubtless achieved an easy victory. The left wing of the Americans under Arnold had expended all their ammuni- tion in the battle of the 19th. The terrible secret was, it seems, known only to Gen. Gates. A supply from Albany was at once sent for, which arrived the next day, and the anxiety of Gen. Gates was relieved.

But the British army was too much shattered by the action of the 19th to make another attempt so soon to turn the American intrenchments on Bemus Heights, and so Burgoyue determined simply to hold his position at " Free- man's farm," and await some future day before he made another advance. This was Burgoyne's fatal error. During his long delay of eighteen days, until the 7th of October, when he made his last abortive struggle, the American army was reinforced by thousands, and was then altogether too formidable a body of troops to be resisted by any force under Burgoyne's command.

So Burgoyne remained on the field and threw up a line of intrenchments about three-fourths of a mile in length, extending from the river at what is now ealled Wilbur's Bisin westerly to and surrounding the field of " Freeman's farm," and the small knolls near it, and the large one about three hundred yards to the northwest of it. These intrenchments of the British corresponded in shape and position to the American intrenehments; the two armies thus lying not quite a mile apart and within easy eannon- shot of each other. But a dense forest, broken by two deep impassable ravines, lay stretched between them, hiding each from the other's view. Thus the two armies lay at bay, continually harassing each other and both in con- tiuual alarm, for a period of eighteen days, until the morn- ing of the 7th of October. The situation of the army of Burgoyne each day grew more critical. On the 3d of October it was placed on short rations. Around them on every hand stretched the interminable forests of the old wilderness, broken here and there by little settlements and small scattered clearings. They could go neither to the right hand nor the left. To retreat was quite impossible. To advance was to meet a formidable army, whose pulse they had already felt to their sorrow in the action of the 19th of September. But to advance was the only alterna- tive. The order of Burgoyue was still imperative, "This army must not retreat."

IV .- THE BATTLE OF THE 7TH OF OCTOBER, 1777.

Gen. Burgoyne, with the centre division of his army, consisting mainly of the regiments engaged in the action of the 19th of September, was encamped on the plain about half-way between " Freeman's farm" and Wilbur's Basin,

on the river. The right wing, under Gen. Fraser, consist- ing of grenadiers under Major Ackland and light infantry in command of Earl Balearras, was encamped on " Free- man's farm." Breymann's corps, also of Fraser's com- mand, was located on the elevation about three hundred yards north of "Freeman's cottage." The left wing, under Phillips and Riedesel, was encamped on the river at Wilbur's Basin, to protect the hospital located there and to guard the bateaux of provisions on the river.

The Americans had not changed the order of their en- campment since the last battle. A disagreement, how- ever, had sprung up between Gates, Wilkinson, and Arnold, and Arnold was suspended from his command for the time being.

On the evening of the 5th of October, Gen. Burgoyne had called a council of war. His army had rations only for sixteen days longer. He had heard nothing from Gen. Clinton, whom he expected to meet at Albany. As the British officers sat around the council-board, the gloom of the occasion was heightened by the frequent firing of the American pickets harassing the British lines, and by the dismal howling of the large packs of wolves that had come out of the wilderness to feast on the flesh of the dead. Riedesel and Fraser advised an immediate falling back to the old position on the east side of the Hudson, above the Battenkill. Phillips declined giving an opinion. Burgoyne thus had the casting vote, and he reserved his decision, he said, " until he could make a reconnaissance in force, to gather forage and ascertain definitely the position of the enemy, and whether it would be advisable to attack him." Should an attack be proper he would then advance the next day with his whole army; but if not he would retreat to the Battenhill.

On the 7th of October, 1777, the morning dawned cheery and bright in the old wilderness of the upper Hudson, but the autumn was swiftly advancing, and already the forests had put on their golden and crimson glories. At ten o'clock ou this bright morning Burgoyne left his eamp on his "re- connaissance in force." He took with him fifteen hundred men, eight cannon, and two howitzers. He was accom- panied by Gens. Phillips, Reidesel, and Fraser. Burgoyne marehed his troops in a southwesterly direction about half a mile from " Freeman's farm," and deployed in line on the slope of the rise of ground just north of the middle ravine. The highway now running northerly from the " Neilson house" erosses the centre of this possession. After the British troops formed in line of battle they sat down, and Burgoyne's foragers began to cut a field of grain in their rear. Burgoyne then sent forward towards the American eamp on the heights Capt. Fraser's rangers, with a body of Canadian Indians. This seouting-party under Capt. Fraser reached the front of the American intrench- ments near the Neilson house, and after a smart engagement of a quarter of an hour retired from the field. This was the only fighting done near the American lines at Bemus Heights in either action.

In Burgoyne's line of battle the grenadiers under Maj. Ackland occupied the left, nearest the " Freeman farm," the artillery under Maj. Williams the centre, and the extreme right was covered by Lord Balcarras' light infantry under

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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Fraser. The Americans soon discovered the movement of the British, and again, as on the 19th of September, marched ont to meet them. At half-past two o'clock in the afternoon the New York and the New Hampshire troops, under Gen. Poor, marched across the middle ravine and up the slope towards the British grenadiers under Ack- land. The British artillery and grenadiers opened fire upon them ; the Americans rushed forward with great fury, and were soon at a hand-to-hand conflict with the British grenadiers. Thus the battle lasted for thirty minutes, when, Maj. Ackland being badly wounded, the grenadiers broke and fled, leaving their dead upon the ground as thick as sheaves upon the harvest field. In the mean time Morgan had fallen upon and driven in the British extreme right, and Fraser fell back in the rear, and soon came to the as- sistance of the retreating grenadiers. Under Fraser the attack of the Americans was repelled, and the British again advanced with a loud cheer. " It was at this moment," says De Fonblanque, " that Arnold appeared on the field. He had remained in the eamp after being deprived of his com- mand and stripped of all authority ; and when the Ameri- cans prepared for battle he asked permission to serve as a volunteer in the ranks. Gates refused his request, and now his restless spirit chafed as he saw others advancing upon the enemy at the head of those troops which he had formed and led. Eagerly gazing to the front, he listened to the din of battle until, unable to curb his instincts longer, he sprang upon his charger and rushed into the field. In vain did Gates dispatch messengers to recall him. The ad- jutant-general, who attempted in person to cheek his pro- gress, was warned aside by a decisive wave of his sword, and, calling upon the soldiers, by whom he was known and trusted, to follow him, he then himself fell upon the ad- vancing line of British with the reckless fury of a man maddened with thirst for blood and carnage. Gen. Fraser's quick eye saw the danger. Conspicuous wherever the fight was thickest, his commanding figure had already become the mark of the American riffemen, and, as he rode forward to sustain the staggering column, Col. Morgan, their com- mander, called one of his best marksmen, and, pointing to the English general, said, ' That is a gallant officer, but he must die. Take post in that clump of bushes and do your duty.' The order was but too well obeyed. Fraser fell mortally wounded."

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History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 14

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894 Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 780

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 780