History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 15

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 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Meanwhile the American forces were pouring in ever increasing masses upon the British line, and the contest became a hand-to-hand struggle; bayonets were crossed again and again ; guns were taken and retaken; but our men were falling fast under the withering fire of the riffe- men, and there were no reserves to fill the big gaps in their ranks. A desperate struggle ensued in the attempt to recover one of our guns,-finally it was turned against us. Again Arnold, at the head of a fresh column of troops, charged upon the centre, carrying all before him. Thrown into inextricable disorder, Burgoyne's column regained their camp, leaving ten guns and hundreds of their dead and wounded on the field.

But the warlike rage of Arnold was not yet appeased, and before the English had completely regained their lines he was again upon them. Repelled in the centre by a

desperate fire of grape-shot, he flung himself upon the German reserves on the right with irresistible fury, and crashing through their intrenchments, although himself severely wounded, gained an opening upon the rear of the British camp. Col. Breymann gallantly resisted the charge, but fell, shot through the heart ; when the Germans, who had hitherto borne themselves well, broke and fled, or surrendered.

The abrupt darkness of an American autumn evening now fell upon the blood-stained field, and mercifully inter- posed its shadows between the combatants.

There was nothing now left for Burgoyne but to retreat. During the night of the 7th he changed his position, and huddled his whole army down on the bank of the river, at and above Wilbur's Basin. The Americans also advanced, and posted a large force on the plain below the British camp to watch their motions. Burgoyne remained at Wil- bur's Basin all day of the 8th, and at sunset buried Gen. Fraser in the great redoubt on one of the river hills, and at nine o'clock on the evening of the 8th took his line of march up the river to the heights of Saratoga, where, on the 17th of October, he surrendered his whole army pris- oners of war to the victorious Gates.

V .- EPISODES AND ROMANCE OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.

Now that a century has passed since these battles were fought, and all feelings of resentment are buried with the buried dead, the prominent persons who took part in them begin to appear to us not unlike the figures of some grand historical drama as they flit across the stage.

But the strong men who figured on either side were not the only interesting persons who took part in the campaign, and braved its hardships and dangers. Among the women of Burgoyne's compaign were two, alike 'conspicuous for their noble birth, their beauty, and modest worth. We refer to the Baroness Riedesel, wife of Gen. Riedesel, and the lady Harriet Ackland, wife, of Maj. Ackland, com- mander of the British grenadiers.

The Baroness Riedesel upon her return published an account of life in America, and her account of the incidents of the battles near Bemns Heights is so interesting that we cannot refrain from copying a part of it for the reader. " But severe trials awaited us, and on the 7th of October our misfortunes began. 1 was at breakfast with my husband, and heard that something was intended. On the same day I expected Gens. Burgoyne, Phillips, and Fraser to dine with me. I saw a great movement among the troops, and inquired the cause. My husband told me it was merely a reconnaissance, which gave me no concern, as it often happened. I walked out of the house and met several Indians in their war-dresses, with guns in their hands. When I asked them where they were going, they cried out ' War! War" (meaning they were going to battle). This filled me with apprehension, and I scarcely got home before I heard reports of cannon and musketry, which grew louder by degrees till at last the noise became excessive. About four o'clock in the afternoon, instead of the guests whom I had expected, Gen. Fraser was brought on a litter mortally wounded. The table, which was already set, was instantly removed and a bed placed in its stead for

HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

the wounded general. I sat trembling in a corner ; the noise grew louder and the alarm increased; the thought that my husband might perhaps be brought in wounded in the same way was terrible to me, and distressed me exceed- ingly. Gen. Fraser said to the surgeon, 'Tell me if my wound is mortal; do not flatter me.' The ball had passed through his body, and unhappily for the general, he had caten a very hearty breakfast by which the stomach was distended, and the ball, as the surgeon said, had passed through it. I heard him often exclaim with a sigh, 'Oh, fatal ambition ! Poor Gen. Burgoyne. Oh, my wife !' Ile was asked if he had any request to make; to which he replied that, if Gen. Burgoyne would permit it, he should like to be buried at six o'clock in the evening on the top of a hill on a redoubt which had been built there. I did not know which way to turn, all the other rooms were full of the sick. Toward evening I saw my husband coming; then I forgot all my sorrows, and thanked God that he was spared to me. He ate in great haste with me and his aid- de-camp behind the house. I had been told that they had the advantage of the enemy, but the sorrowful faces I beheld told a different tale, and before my husband went away he took me one side and said everything was going bad; that I must keep myself in readiness to leave the place, but not to mention it to any one. I made the pre- tense that I would move the next morning into my new house, and had everything packed up ready. Lady Harriet Ackland had a tent not far from my house; in this I slept, and the rest of the day I was in camp.

" All of a sudden a man came to tell her that her husband was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. On hearing this she became very miserable. I comforted her by telling her that the wound was only slight, and at the same time advised her to go over to her husband, to do which I cer- tainly could obtain permission, and then she could attend to him herself. She was a charming woman, and very fond of him. I spent much of the night in comforting her, and then went again to her children, whom I had put to bed. I could not go to sleep as I had Gen. Fraser and all the other wounded gentlemen in my room, and I was sadly afraid my children would awake, and by their crying dis- turb the dying man in his last moments, who often addressed me, and apologized for the trouble he gave me. About. three o'clock in the morning I was told he could not hold out much longer ; I had desired to be informed of the near approach of this sad erisis, and I wrapped up my children in their clothes and went with them into the room below. About eight o'clock in the morning he died. After he was laid out, and his corpse wrapped up in a sheet, I came again into the room, and had this sorrowful sight before me the whole day, and, to add to this melancholy scene, almost every moment some officer of my acquaintance was brought in wounded. The cannonade commeneed again ; a retreat was spoken of, but not the smallest motion was made towards it. About four o'clock in the afternoon I saw the house which had just been built for me in flames, and the enemy was not far off. They knew that Gen. Burgoyne would not refuse the last request of Gen. Fraser, though by his acceding an unnecessary delay was occasioned, by which the inconvenience of the army was much increased. At

about six o'clock the corpse was brought out, and I saw all the generals attend it to the hill ; the chaplain, Mr. Brude- nell, performed the funeral services, rendered unusually solemn and awful from its being accompanied by constant peals from the American artillery. Many cannon-balls flew close by me, where my husband was standing amid the fire of the Americans, and, of course, I could not think of my own danger. Gen. Gates afterwards said that if he had known it had been a funeral he would not have permitted it to be fired on."

Of equal interest was the experience of Lady Harriet Ackland, who was a niece of the first Lord Holland. In his statement Gen. Burgoyne, in his graceful style, says this of the Lady Harriet :

" From the date of that action [the 19th September] to the 7th of October, Lady Harriet, with her usual serenity, stood prepared for new trials; and it was her lot that their severity increased with their numbers. She was again ex- posed to the hearing of the whole action, and at last received the shock of her individual misfortune, mixed with the intelligence of the general calamity ; the troops were defeated and Major Ackland, desperately wounded, was a prisoner.

" The day of the 8th was passed by Lady Harriet and her companions in common anxiety; not a tent nor a shed being standing, except what belonged to the hospital, their refuge was among the wounded and the dying.

" When the army was upon the point of moving, I received a message from Lady Harriet, submitting to my decision a proposal (and expressing an earnest solicitude to execute it, if not interfering with my designs) of passing to the camp of the enemy, and requesting Gen. Gates' permission to attend her husband.

" The assistance I was enabled to give was small indeed ; E had not even a cup of wine to offer her; but I was told she had found, from some kind and fortunate hand, a little rum and dirty water. All I could furnish to her was an open boat and a few lines, written upon dirty and wet paper, to Gen. Gates, recommending her to his protection.

" Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain to the artillery (the same gentleman who had officiated so signally at Gen. Fraser's funeral), readily undertook to accompany her, and with one female servant, and the major's valet-de-chambre (who had a ball, which he had received in the late action, then in his shoukler), she rowed down the river to meet the enemy. But her distresses were not yet to end. The night was advanced before the boat reached the enemy's outposts, and the sentinel would not let it pass, nor even come to shore. In vain Mr. Brudenell offered the flag of truce and represented the state of the extraordinary passenger. The guard, apprehensive of treachery, and punctilious to their orders, threatened to fire into the boat if it stirred before daylight. Her anxiety and suffering was thus pro- tracted through seven or eight dark and cold hours, and her reflections upon that first reception could not give her very encouraging ideas of the treatment she was afterwards to expect. But it is due at the elose of this adventure to say, that she was received and accommodated by Gen. Gates with all the humanity and respect that her rank, her merits, and her fortunes deserved.

3).

一

Hlasfine ·

HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Let such as are affected by these circumstances of alarm , hardship, and danger recollect, that the subject of them was a woman, of the most tender and delicate frame, of the gentlest manners, habituated to all the soft elegancies and refined enjoyments that attend high birth and fortune, and far advanced in a state in which the tender cares always due to the sex become indispensably necessary. IIer mind alone was formed for such trials."

Such are a few of the interesting episodes of the Saratoga battle-fields, in the language of the very persons who par- ticipated in the stirring scenes of the campaign.

VI .- THE RETREAT OF BURGOYNE TO SARATOGA.

The reader will remember that Gen. Fraser was mortally wounded in the battle of the 7th of October, and carried from the field to the Smith house, near the British hospi- tal on the bank of the river, where he lingered in great agony until eight o'clock on the morning of the 8th, when he died. Before his death Gen. Fraser sent, with the " kindest expression of his affection for Gen. Burgoyne, a request that he might be carried without parade by the soldiers of his corps at sunset to the great redoubt and buried there." This last dying request of his favorite general Burgoyne would not refuse, so all through the desolate day of the 8th the British army waited for the burial, amid continual alarms, exposed to the fire of the Americans, and in momentary expectation that another general engagement would be brought on.

At length the weary hours passed away, and in the dark- ening gloom of the autumnal evening, which was intensified by the lowering clouds of the coming tempest, the funeral cortege marched to the burial place. In his statement made afterwards, Burgoyne gives this eloquent delineation of the seene :

" The incessant cannonade during the solemnity ; the steady attitude and unaltered voice with which the clergy- man officiated, though frequently covered with dust which the shot threw up on all sides of him; the mute but ex- pressive mixture of sensibility and indignation upon every countenance ; these objects will remain to the last of life upon the mind of every man who was present. The grow- ing duskiness added to the scenery, and the whole marked a characteristic of that juncture that would make one of the finest subjects for the pencil of a master that the field ever exhibited. To the canvas, and to the page of a more important historian, gallant friend, I consign thy memory. There may thy talents, thy manly virtues, their progress and their period, find due distinction ; and long may they survive-long after the frail record of my pen shall be forgotten."

The Americans, seeing a collection of people, without knowing the occasion, at first cannonaded the procession, and their shot covered it with dust, but as soon as they saw it was a funeral train they ceased throwing shot at it, and began firing minute-guns in honor of the distinguished dead. The soldier who shot Gen. Fraser was Timothy Murphy, a native of Virginia, and a member of Morgan's rifle corps. After the surrender of Burgoyne, the company to which Murphy belonged was seut to Schoharie and Cherry Valley, where Murphy became distinguished in the 9

border warfare of the period. A romantic incident in his life at Schoharie was his marriage to the girl of his choice, who ran away from her father's house, and braved the dangers of the Indian war-trail, on foot and alone, in her journey from one fort to another to meet. her lover.

After the burial of Fraser, at nine o'clock in the evening, the retreat of the British army began, Maj .- Gen. Riedesel commanding the van-guard, and Maj .- Gen. Phillips the rear. The wounded and dying who fell in the previous battles were abandoned by the British and left in their hospitals, with a recommendation to the mercy and kind treatment of the Americans couched in touching language by Gen. Burgoyne. On the morning of the 9th the British army arrived at Dovegat, now Coveville, where the rear-guard was attacked by the Americans, but a pouring rain pre- vented much damage from the encounter.

On the evening of the 9th the British army reached the Fishkill, and, crossing the ford, took possession of the heights of Saratoga. They had been twenty-four hours in marching a distance of eight miles in a pitiless rain-storm, and, scarcely able to stand from cold and exposure, bi- vouacked in the darkness on the sodden ground, without food and without camp-fires, till the morning of the 10th. The Fishkill was swollen by the abundant rains, and poured a turbid torrent down the declivity of the hills through its narrow channel. The artillery was not taken across the dangerous ford till daylight on the morning of the 10th. When the van-guard of the British reached Saratoga, Gen. Fellows was eneamped on the west side of the Iludson, with a small body of Americans, his main force being posted on the hills on the east side of the Hud- son, upon the site of old Fort Clinton of the colonial period. Upon the approach of Burgoyne, Gen. Fellows retired with his detachment to this strong position on the hills on the east side of the river, to cut off the retreat of the British in that direction. A strong detachment of American troops had also been sent by Gen. Gates to take possession of the roads and bridges above Saratoga, in the direction of Fort Edward, and the British army was already most effectually hemmed in and surrounded on every side by the victorious Americans.

On account of the pouring rain and the almost impassa- ble condition of the roads, Gen. Gates did not reach the south bank of the Fishkill, with the main body of his army, until four o'clock in the afternoon of the 10th. Upon his arrival there he encamped his army along the heights bordering Fish creek on the south, and supposing that Gen. Burgoyne would continue his retreat, ordered an advance across the creek at daybreak in the morning. On the morning of the 11th, in pursuance of this order, Col. Morgan crossed the Fishkill, and, to his surprise, found the enemy's pickets in position, indicating that the main body was close at hand. Gen. Nixon, with his brigade, also crossed the Fishkill, and surprised the British pickets at Fort IIardy. Gen. Learned, at the head of two more brigades, crossed the creek and advanced to the support of Col. Morgan.

During all this time a thick fog prevailed, through which nothing could be seen at the distance of twenty yards. Gen. Learned advanced, and had arrived within two hun-

IHISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

dred yards of Burgoyne's strongest post, when the fog suddenly cleared up and revealed to the astonished Ameri- eans the whole British army in their camp under arms. The Americans beat a hasty retreat in considerable disorder across the Fishkill, under a heavy fire from the British artillery and small arms, and soon regained their camp on the heights along the south bank of the stream.

The British army was now in a most critical position. The main body of the line under Gen. Burgoyne was en- camped on the heights north of the Fishkill. The Hessians under Riedesel were located on the ridge extending north- erly towards the Marshall House, and the artillery was on the elevated plain extending between the Hessians and the river flats. In this exposed position the British army was completely surrounded by the American forees. There was not a spot anywhere throughout the whole British eneamp- ment which was not exposed to the fire of the American batteries posted on the heights around.

VII .- THE " CONVENTION" OF SARATOGA.

On the 12th of October, Gen. Burgoyne called a council of war, which assembled on the heights of Saratoga. 'There were present Lieut .- Gen. Burgoyne, Maj .- Gen. Phillips, Maj .- Gen. Riedesel, and Brig .- Gen. Hamilton. To this council Gen. Burgoyne stated the situation of affairs to be as follows :

" The enemy in force, according to the best intelligence he can obtain, to the amount of upwards of fourteen thousand men and a considerable quantity of artillery, are on this side the Fishkill, and threaten an attack. On the other side of the Hudson's river, between this army and Fort Edward, is another army of the enemy, the number un- known, but one corps, which there has been an opportunity of' observing, is reported to be fifteen hundred men. 'They have likewise cannon on the other side the Hudson's river, and they have a bridge below Saratoga church, by which the two armies can communicate. The bateaux of the army have been destroyed and no means appear of making a bridge over the Hudson's river, were it even practicable, from the position of the enemy. The only means of retreat, therefore, are by the ford at Fort Edward, or taking the mountains in order to pass the river higher up by rafts or by any other ford, which is reported to be practicable with difficulty, or by keeping the mountains to pass the head of Hudson's river, and continue to the westward of Lake George all the way to Ticonderoga. It is true this last passage was never made but by the Indians or very small bodies of men. In order to pass cannon or any wheel carriages from henee to Fort Edward, some bridges must be repaired under fire of the enemy from the opposite side of the river, and the principal bridge will be a work of four- teen or fifteen hours ; there is no good position for the army to take to sustain that work, and if there were, the time stated as necessary would give the enemy on the other side of the Hudson's river an opportunity to take post on the strong ground above Fort Edward, or to dispute the ford while Gen. Gates' army followed in the rear.

" The intelligence from the lower part of Hudson's river is founded upon the concurrent reports of prisoners and de-

serters, who say it was the news in the enemy's eauip that Fort Montgomery was taken; and one man, a friend to the government, who arrived yesterday, mentions some particu- lars of the manner in which it was taken.

" The provisions of the army may hold out to the 20th ; there is neither rum nor spruce beer.

" Having committed this state of facts to the consideration of the council, the general requests their sentiments on the following propositions :

" First-To wait in the present position an attack from the enemy, or the chance of favorable events.

" Second-To attack the enemy.

"Third-To retreat, repairing the bridges as the army moves for the artillery, in order to force the passage of the fort.

" Fourth-To retreat by night, leaving the artillery and the baggage ; and should it be found impracticable to force the passage with musketry, to attempt the upper ford, or the passage round Lake George.

" Fifth-In case the enemy, by extending to their left, leave their rear open, to march rapidly for Albany.

" Upon the first proposition, resolved that the provision now in store is not more than sufficient for the retreat should impediments intervene, or a circuit of the country become necessary ; and, as the enemy did not attack when the ground was unfortified, it is not probable they will do it now, as they have a better game to play.

" The second unadvisable and desperate, there being no possibility of recounoitering the enemy's position, and his great superiority of numbers known.

" The third impracticable.

" The fifth thought worthy of consideration by the lieu- tenant-general, Maj .- Gen. Phillips, and Brig .- Gen. Hamil- ton, but the position of the enemy yet gives no opening for it.

" Resolved, That the fourth proposition is the only re- source ; and that, to effect it, the utmost secrecy and silence is to be observed; and the troops are to be put in motion from the right, in the still part of the night, without any change in the situation."

It was soon ascertained by Gen. Burgoyne, who sent out a scouting-party for the purpose, that owing to the strength of the American detachment along the Hudson above Sara- toga the last proposition was also utterly impracticable, and it was therefore likewise abandoned.

On the 13th Gen. Burgoyne called another council of war. It was composed of general officers, field officers, and captains commanding corps. As this body of officers was deliberating on the heights at the headquarters of the com- mander, cannon-balls from the American guns crossed the table around which they sat. The following is copied from the minutes :

" The lieutenant-general having explained the situation of affairs as in the preceding council, with the additional intelligence that the enemy was intrenched at the ferds of Fort Edward, and likewise occupied the strong position on the pine plains between Fort George and Fort Edward, expressed his readiness to undertake, at their head, any enterprise of difficulty or hazard that should appear to theun within the compass of their strength or spirit. He added

Scale of Funds

100

200

600

.. .

Infantry

Corps of Kiftemen under Col! Morgan

Enemy

Jagers. Canadians

IPS

Germur; Berners Grrathers Battalion

"Ther the ArowyGuessed in their Ronte frman. Fort Edward to Stillwater

Brødile

Road From Albany.

SARATOGA

Two. Guns !

... The Fishkill

of the Tark

Fart Hory

HUDSON'S

RIFER

Ford

Two Gunst

3000 of the Eneway under Gon' Fellows

PLAN OF THE POSITION which the ARMY under LF GEN BURGOYNEtook at SARATOGA on the 10 thof October: 7777 and in which it remained till THE CONVENTION was fiened. Engraved byH™ Faden

Body

Brit.AGrenadier

Road to Fort Miller.

8'00 M Barracks Specht Birdiesel. which were afterwards Barned.

IHISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

that he had reason to believe a capitulation had been in the contemplation of some, perhaps of all who knew the real situation of things ; that upon a circumstance of such eon- sequence to national and personal honor, he thought it a duty to his country and to himself to extend his council beyond the usual limits, that the assembly present might justly be esteemed a full representation of the army, and that he should think himself unjustifiable in taking any step in so serious a matter without such a concurrence of sentiment as should make a treaty the act of the army as well as that of the general.

" The first question, therefore, he desired them to decide was, whether an army of 3500 fighting men and well pro- vided with artillery were justifiable upon the principles of national dignity and military honor iu capitulating in any possible situation ?

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 15

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