Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656


USA > New York > Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I > Part 7


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).


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Philip's son, Colonel Pieter Schuyler, in- herited The Flatts, and he lived there twelve years, when he leased it to his son Philip, who inherited it in turn ; but, having no chil- dren, by his will, dated June 28, 1748, he gave the "Great Island" to his brother Jeremy, and to his brother Pieter he left The Flatts. In the latter's will, drawn April 27, 1771, he left it to his grandson, Stephen Schuyler, and in 1910 it was occupied by the widow of Rich- ard Philip Schuyler (Susan Drake), because


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he was the son of Stephen R. Schuyler and Catherine Elizabeth Schuyler, who was the son of Peter S. Schuyler and Catherine Cuyler, who was in turn the son of Stephen Schuyler and Engeltie Van Vechten, whose parents were Pieter Schuyler, Jun., and Catherine Groesbeck, and his father was Mayor Pieter Schuyler. In 1910, in the hallway of The Flatts, hangs the old oil por- trait of "Quidor," the Indian name for Pieter Schuyler, meaning the "Indians' Friend," and in the brick mansion standing on the brow of the hill, west of the Troy road, hangs the seven-foot oil portrait of Pieter Schuyler, first mayor of Albany, painted in England in 1710, by order of Queen Anne, and now owned by the children of John Cuyler Schuyler, uncle of the late Richard P. Schuyler.


It is interesting to learn a few facts about this old mansion, as described by Mrs. Grant more than a century ago in her famous "Me- moirs of an American Lady," wherein she writes :


"It was a large brick house of two, or rather three stories (for there were excellent attics), be- sides a sunk story, finished with exactest neatness. The lower floor had two spacious rooms, with large, light closets; on the first there were three rooms, and in the upper one four. Through the middle of the house was a wide passage, with opposite front and back doors, which in summer admitted a stream ·of air peculiarly grateful to the languid senses. It was furnished with chairs and pictures like a sum- mer parlor. Here the family usually sat in hot weather, when there were no ceremonious strangers.


* * * One room, I should have said. in the great- er house only, was opened for the reception of com- pany ; all the rest were bedchambers for their accom- modation, while the domestic friends of the family occupied neat little bedrooms in the attics or the winter-house. This house contained no drawing- room-that was an unheard-of luxury; the winter rooms had carpets ; the lobby had oilcloth painted in lozenges, to imitate 'blue and white marble. The best bedroom was hung with family portraits, some of which were admirably executed; and in the eating- room, which, by the by, was rarely used for that purpose, were some Scriptural paintings. * The house fronted the river, on the brink of which, un- der shades of elm and sycamore, ran the great road toward Saratoga, Stillwater, and the northern lakes; a little simple avenue of morella cherry trees, en- closed with a white rail, led to the road and river, not three hundred yards distant."


The place may be reached by taking a drive four miles to the north of Albany, or about one mile beyond the Rural Cemetery, then turning abruptly to the east, crossing the canal by the "Schuyler's Bridge," and con- tinuing a fourth of a mile towards the Hud- son. The road passes between rows of elms evidently a century old, and the low, brick house stands to the right, facing the river, while across the road is the old family burial- ·ground, contaming some sixty graves, whose


rows of invariable brown sandstone, some tot- tering to the right or left, look weirdly like a decrepit army, for thus have they stood during two centuries, bearing testimony in verse to the exalted memory of many a soldier Schuyler.


This head of the Schuyler line was a man much esteemed by his acquaintances and by representatives of the Dutch government. He was the first man in the colony to receive the commission of captain. He died at The Flatts, May 9, 1683, and was buried in the old Dutch church which then stood at the intersection of Broadway and State street, Albany.


Philip Pieterse Schuyler married, at Rens- selaerswyck, December 12, 1650, Margarita Van Slechtenhorst, in the presence of the of- ficers of Fort Orange, Antoni de Hooges, sec- retary of the colony, officiating. She was horn at Nykerck, Holland, in 1628; died at Rensselaerswyck in 1711, and was


the daughter of Brant Arentse Van Slechtenhorst, who came to Rensselaerswyck in 1648, acting as an official for Van Rensselaer. Children :


I. Gysbert, born at Rensselaerswyck, July 2, 1652 ; died young.


(2) Geertruj, born at Rensselaerswyck, February 4, 1654; died about 1719; married, Rensselaerswyck, September 10, 1671, Ste- phanus Van Cortlandt, who was born May 7, 1643, died November 25, 1700, and was the son of Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt and An- neke Loockermans.


3. Alida, born at Rensselaerswyck, Febrt- ary 28, 1656; married (first) Rensselaers- wyck, February 10, 1675, Rev. Nicholaas Van Rensselaer, who was born in Amsterdam, Hol- land, in 1636, died November, 1678, and was the son of first Patroon Kiliaen Van Rensse- laer and Anna Van Wely; married (second) July 9, 1679, Robert Livingston, (q. v.), sec- retary of Albany from 1675 to 1721, who was born abroad and was buried in the Dutch church at Albany, April 21, 1725.


4. Pieter, born at Rensselaerswyck, Septem- ber 17, 1657; first mayor of Albany, officia- ting from date of the charter. July 22, 1686, to October 13, 1694 ; died at Rensselaerswyck, February 19, 1724; married (first) Rensse- laerswyck, in 1681, Engeltie (Angelica) Van Schaick, who was born at Rensselaerswyck, in 1659, died there, in 1689, daughter of Captain Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick and Annatje Lievens; by whom : Margarita, born Novem- ber, 1682, married, August 26, 1697, Robert Livingston, Jun .; Philip, baptized October, 1684, died young ; Anna, baptized September 12, 1686, died aged twelve years; Gertrude, baptized August 17, 1689, died young ; he mar-


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ried ( second) Rensselaerswyck, September 14, 1691, Maria Van Rensselaer, born at Rens- selaerswyck, October 25. 1672, daughter of Colonel Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the third Patroon, and Maria Van Cortlandt ; by whom : Maria, baptized May, 1692 ; Gertrude, baptized February II, 1694, married, June 13, 1714, Johannes Lansing: Philip, baptized January 15, 1696, died in 1758, without issue, mar- ried, December 29, 1720, Margarita Schuyler ; Pieter, Jr., baptized January 12, 1698, mar- ried December 29, 1722, Catherine Groesbeck ; Jeremiah (twin), baptized January 12, 1698, buried at The Flatts, December 10, 1753. married Susanna


5. Brandt, born at Rensselaerswyck, De- cember 18, 1659; resided on Broad street, New York, in 1686; died August 15, 1752; married, July 12, 1682, Cornelia Van Cort- landt, baptized November 28, 1655, daughter of Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt and Anneke Loockermans, by whom: Philip, baptized No- vember 6, 1683, married August 28, 1713, Ann Elizabeth Staats, who was baptized De- cember 21, 1690; Olof, born December 12, 1686, died without issue ; John, baptized Janu- ary 15, 1690, died without issue.


6. Arent, born at Rensselaerswyck, June 25, 1662, died at Belleville, New Jersey, Novem- ber 26, 1730, was a trader; created freeman of New York City in 1695 ; settled before 1725 on the Passaic river, near Belleville, New Jer- sey ; married (first) November 26, 1684. Jen- neke Teller, who died in 1700, daughter of Willem Teller (who arrived in Fort Orange in 1639) and Margaret Donchesen ; by whom : Margareta, baptized Albany, September 27, 1685, married (license) November 7, 1704, Charles Oliver : Philip, baptized Albany, Sep- tember 11, 1687, married Hester Kingsland ; Maria, baptized Albany, October 6, 1689, died young; Judik, baptized Albany, March II, 1692, died young ; Casparus, baptized New York, May 5, 1695, died April 13, 1754, mar- ried Jane (second) Mary -; William, baptized June 2, 1700, died young. Arent Schuyler married (second) January 2, 1703, Swantje Van Duyckhuysen ; by whom : John, married Anne Van Rensselaer ; Pieter, married (first) Hester Walter, (second) Mary - -; Adoniah, born 1717, died 1763, married Gertrude Van Rensselaer ; Eve, mar- ried Peter Bayard; Cornelia, married Pierre De Peyster.


7. Sybilla, born at Rensselaerswyck, No- vember 12, 1664; died December, 1664.


8. Philip, born at Rensselaerswyck, Febru- ary 8, 1666; died May 24, 1724; married (first) New York, New York, July 25, 1687, Elizabeth De Meyer, who died, and he mar-


ried (second) Albany, May 19, 1719, (Mrs.) Catherine Schierph, widow of Ritsiert Brou- wer. By his first wife he had: Nicholas, born in New York, New York, September 11, 1691, died July 3, 1748; married (first) December 2, 1714, Elsie Wendell, who died April 8, 1744: married (second) Mary Stephenson, who survived him. By his second wife Philip had no child.


9. Johannes, born at Rensselaerswyck, April 5, 1668; died February 27, 1747; married, in 1695, Elizabeth Staats, widow of Johannes. Wendell, who died June 3, 1737, (see for- ward).


IO. Margaret, born at Rensselaerswyck, January 2, 1672; died May 15, 1748; mar- ried (first) September 8, 1691, Jacobus Ver Planck, son of Isaac Ver Planck and Abigail Uytenbogart, who died in 1700; married (sec- ond) November 2, 1701, Lieut. John Collins, who died April 13, 1728, his wife surviving. By her first husband: Jannetje, baptized Al- bany, April 13, 1693, and Philip, baptized in New York, June 3, 1695. By her second hus- band: Edward, baptized July 30, 1704, mar- ried Margarita Bleecker, and was buried in the Dutch Church, March 29, 1753.


(II) Johannes Schuyler, tenth mayor of Albany, son of Philip Pieterse Schuyler and Margarita Van Slechtenhorst, was born at The Flatts, Rensselaerswyck, April 5, 1668, died July 25, 1747, and was buried in the Dutch Church at Albany.


He was only five years old when his father died, and at an early age developed great in- terest in public affairs. In 1689, when twenty- one, he joined the convention which assumed the government of Albany and its dependen- cies in opposition to Leisler. The next year he was a volunteer in General Winthrop's army for the invasion of Canada. When the others of greater age and experience than he held back, he volunteered to lead a company into the enemy's country, and he was commissioned a captain in 1690. Twenty-nine whites and one hundred and twenty Indians volunteered to go under his lead. Hle left camp August 13, 1690, going by way of Wood Creek, and two days later was within three miles of Crown Point. Marching across the country in the direction of La Prarie, he made a num- ber of prisoners, and arrived back at Albany on August 30th.


In the spring of 1691 he made another in- vasion into Canada, and in January. 1693, having been appointed lieutenant of cavalry, he drove the French from the Mohawk coun- try when on their raids. A gratuity was voted to him on the suggestion of Lord Bello- mont "in consideration of his extraordinary


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diligence and his wise observations while in Canada." Later he was made a colonel, and because of having greater influence with the Indians than any other man in the colony, he was invariably a delegate to conventions for consideration of treaties.


He was appointed the tenth mayor of Al- bany by Colonial Governor Edward Hyde, serving from 1703 to 1706. He was Indian commissioner, 1705-1723 ; member of colonial assembly, September 1, 1710 to March 3, 1713 ; alderman of First Ward, 1738 and 1739. He was a trader, dealing largely in beaver and other skins, and engaged extensively in river transportation by sloops. His land transac- tions were considerable. He bought 2,000 acres on the south side of the Mohawk, east of Schenectady, named Rosendale; was one of the company procuring a land patent in the Schoharie valley, named Huntersfield ; owned half of a tract of 2,000 acres on the east side of the Hudson, and in 1702 made his important purchase from Abraham Wen- dell of a portion of the vast Saratoga patent. Fish creek, the outlet of Saratoga lake flow- ing eastward for twelve miles into the Hud- son river and forming the northern boundary of his tract, afforded fine waterpower for the mills which he erected in the vicinity of Schuylerville, while on the southern bank, close to the falls and not much more than a quarter mile from the river, he built his resi- dence, which was to be transmitted from father to son, until possessed by his grandson, General Philip Schuyler, who turned it over to his son. His house in Albany, in 1712, was at the southeast corner of State and Pearl streets, with grounds running back to the Rutten kill.


Captain Johannes Schuyler, the tenth mayor, married at Albany, April 25, 1694, Elizabeth Staats, widow of Captain Johannes Wendell. Elizabeth Staats was the daughter of Dr. Abraham Staats, who came to Bevers- wyck in 1642 with Dominie Megapolensis, and she died June 3, and was buried in the Dutch Church, June 5, 1737. Her mother was Ca- trina Jochemse Wesselse. Children :


I. Philip, baptized at Albany, December 25, 1695 ; shot by the French marauders while in his house at Schuylerville, and died November 17, 1745.


2. Johannes, baptized at Albany, October 31, 1697 ; buried at The Flatts, November 6, 1741 ; married in New York City, October 18, 1723, Cornelia Van Cortlandt, daughter of Stephanus van Cortlandt and Gertrude Schuyler, (see forward).


3. Margarita, (known as "The American Lady," see Mrs. Grant's "Memoirs,") bap-


tized at Albany, January 12, 1701; died at The Flatts, August 28, 1782 ; married, Albany, December 29, 1720, Philip Schuyler, who was baptized at Albany, January 15, 1696, died in 1758, and was the son of Mayor Pieter Schuy- ler and Maria Van Rensselaer ; no issue.


4. Catalyntje (Catherine), baptized at Al- bany, March 5, 1704; married at Albany, De- cember 9, 1726, the twentieth mayor of Al- bany, Cornelis Cuyler, who was baptized in New York, New York, February 14, 1697; died at Albany, March 14, 1765; officiating as mayor from October 14, 1742, to September 28, 1746, and was the son of the fourteenth mayor of Albany, Johannes Cuyler and Elsie Ten Broeck ; by whom: Jo- hannes, baptized January 29, 1729; Elizabeth, baptized August 8, 1731 ; Philip, baptized Au- gust 29, 1733 ; Hendrick, baptized August 22, 1735; Elsie, baptized April 10, 1737, buried in Dutch Church, July 2, 1752; Margarita, baptized December 10, 1738; Cornelis, born October 31, 1740; Colonel Abraham Cornelis, twenty-sixth mayor of Albany, born April II, 1742, died at Yorkfield, Canada, February 5, 1810; Dirck, baptized May 12, 1745.


(III) Johannes Schuyler, Jun., nineteenth mayor of Albany, son of Johannes Schuyler and Elizabeth Staats, was born at The Flatts, in Watervliet, Albany county; was baptized at Albany, October 31, 1697, and was interred in the family burial-ground at The Flatts, No- vember 6, 1741.


He died in the prime of life, when his ac- complishments indicated that he was abun- dantly able to continue a career of great pub- lic usefulness. He succeeded his father in the mercantile business about 1733, and that year was appointed, with Johannes De Peyster, a commissioner to furnish supplies to the forts at Oswego. He was elected alderman of the First Ward in 1738 and again in 1739. In December of the latter year he took a seat in the Board for Indian Affairs. He was ap- pointed nineteenth mayor of Albany by Lieu- tenant-Governor George Clarke, and took the oath October 31, 1740, serving until Novem- ber 22, 1741. He began to invest in land so soon as he had acquired surplus capital. In December, 1722, he bought of Philip Living- ston, trustee, a portion of the Saratoga Patent, lying on the east side of the Hudson river and bounded on the north by the Batten kill. On August 10, 1738, the land commissioners issued to him, Jacob Glen and Arent Bradt, a certificate of survey for a tract which they had purchased by license of the Indians, sit- uated on the north side of the Mohawk river, beginning below Little Falls, extending west to Canada creek, thence northerly along that


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creek for thirty miles, thence easterly twelve miles, and to the place of beginning. In 1740 he and five others procured a title from the Province for 12,000 acres lying on the east side of the Hudson river above the Saratoga Patent, of which he had an equal share.


Mayor Johannes Schuyler, Jun., married, in New York City, October 18. 1723. Cornelia Van Cortlandt. She was born at Van Cort- landt Manor, February 30, 1698; her will proved November 24, 1762; she was the youngest daughter of Stephanus Van Cort- landt and Gertrude Schuyler. Children :


I. Gertrude, born at Albany, August 18, 1724; married (first) Pieter Schuyler (bap- tized February 20, 1723 ; buried at The Flatts, September 2, 1753), son of Pieter Schuyler and Catherine Groesbeck; by whom: Pieter, who married Gertrude Lansing, January 17, 1767, died January 4, 1792, and Cornelia, bap- tized July 26, 1746, married Walter Living- ston. Gertrude Schuyler married (second) December 4, 1760, Dr. John Cochran, who died April, 1807.


2. Johannes, born at Albany, December 30, 1725 ; died without issue, and was buried in the Dutch Church, November 7, 1746.


3. Stephanus, born at Albany, September 30, 1727 ; died young.


4. Catherine, baptized at Albany, July 14, 1728; died young.


5. Stephanus, born at Albany, December 20, 1729 ; died young.


6. Philip, baptized at Albany, October 17, 1731 ; died young.


7. General Philip, born at Albany, Novem- ber 22, 1733; died in the Schuyler Mansion, Albany, November 18, 1804; married, at Cla- verack, Columbia county, New York, Septem- ber 17, 1755, Catherine Van Rensselaer, (see forward).


8. Cortlandt, baptized at Albany, July 9, 1735 ; married Barbara -, and had John Cortlandt, who married Angelica Van Rens- sclaer, and died without issue, December, 1793.


9. Stephanus, baptized at Albany, August 14, 1737 ; died young.


10. Elizabeth, baptized at Albany, October 8, 1738; died young.


II. Oliver, baptized at Albany, February 22, 1741 ; died young.


(1V) General Philip Schuyler, son of Mayor Johannes Schuyler, Jun., and Cornelia Van Cortlandt, was born in his father's house on the southeast corner of State and Pearl streets, Albany, New York, November 22, 1733, and died in the Schuyler Mansion, Al- hany, November 18, 1804.


his veins. There was absolutely no line of de- scent in America at that time of which any- one could be more justly proud. Both his father and grandfather had been mayors of Albany. His grandfather's brother, Pieter Schuyler, had been appointed the first mayor of the city, and two of that dignitary's cous- ins, David Davidse Schuyler and Myndert Schuyler : had served respectively as the elev- enth and thirteenth mayors. Probably no other family in America has experienced such a record in civic administration, and appoint- ments in those days were because of promi- nence or proficiency. In regard to military valor, the major portion of all the males in his family had acquired some sort of title or had participated in one or more of the almost constant colonial conflicts or struggle for su- premacy against the savage.


His was a life filled with eminent services to his country, and his fame will ever remain so well established that no eulogistic phrase in this biography can better its brilliancy. There are other volumes devoted exclusively to his life; but for the benefit of the person who seeks it here, a resume is presented, which is purposely of a local nature because this life sketch is pertinent to Albany, and for that reason it may seem that space devoted to family matters outweighs what might have been employed in recounting deeds of national importance.


He was fourth in descent from Philip Pie- terse Schuyler, progenitor of the family, and was eight years old when his honored father died. However, he was brought up by his cultured mother with unusual diligence to train him to be a youth who should make his mark as those before him had done. Living sometimes at her house in Albany and at other seasons at The Flatts, a model and moral household, where "Aunt Schuyler" was wont to entertain the most prominent visitors com- ing into the colony, he received a certain pol- ish which proved useful to him, and all those things moulded his character.


A Huguenot tutor instructed him until he was fifteen years of age, and then he was sent to New Rochelle, a locality of many Huguenot refugees, and placed in charge of the Rev. Mr. Stouppe, pastor of the French Protes- tant church. He remained there three years, learned to speak the language fluently, and became especially proficient in mathematics, thus inculcating system, orderly habits and ac- curate thinking, essential habits for a credi- table military career. It is curious to look upon the mathematical drawings and calcula- tions made then, of canal locks, and figures


Philip Schuyler had only Dutch blood in having to do with the public debt. The place,


th. Johnylon


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however, had its serious disadvantages, for with the snow forcing its way through the chinks of his bedroom walls, he contracted a form of rheumatic gout which confined him to the house for a year, and at important stages of his after life it bore its more serious aspects, by affecting him when in the northern military camps. In his youth he paid many visits to New York, mingling with society which brought about many intimacies that were to be of importance later on, when he was one of those engaged in shaping the des- tiny of the new nation.


One of his first experiences in active battle conflict was during the celebrated engagement with the French in the late summer of 1755, when he was only twenty-two years of age and a captain by commission. The French Baron, Ludwig August Dieskan, was proceed- ing southward by the route of Lakes Cham- plain and George. Colonel William Johnson and Colonel Ephraim Williams, both men famed in American history, took regiments to the head of Lake George in order to thwart the attempt to turn the province over to the French, which was to be accomplished first by an attack made on Albany. Young Schuyler was in the party as a participant, and when General Dieskau was wounded in the encoun- ter of September 8, held prisoner in Sir Wil- liam Johnson's tent, an angry horde of savage allies pressed about the spot where he lay and demanded that he be given over as a vic- tim for their right to torture; but Colonel Johnson ordered Schuyler to convey him safe- ly to Albany. This he did, and he showed him all the courtesy due to an honored guest, and so appreciated was this act that the for- eign general never failed thereafter to speak of the nobility of Americans.


Philip Schuyler was one of the officers who went north. with General Abercrombie, leaving Albany in the latter part of June, 1758, to block the French attack at Fort Ticonderoga. On the morning of July 6th, soon after making the landing of the army at the northern end of Lake George, and while walking ahead of his men near Trout Brook, about a mile south of the present village of Ticonderoga, Lord Howe was mortally wounded. It was but a week before that he had drilled his men in the "pasture" at Albany, and had ridden on horseback early nearly every morning to breakfast at the Schuyler Flatts, where he had become as one of the family and was dearly loved by all. Schuyler brought the body of his friend to Albany, as is verified by contem- poraneous publication of despatches in the newspapers. although this incident has been a matter of dispute between inhabitants of Ti-


conderoga and Albany. It is said that the body was placed first in the Schuyler family vault, until the interment took place in old St. Peter's Episcopal church, on September 5, 1758, and is authentically established by the entry in the "Church Book," there preserved with care to this day, and examined by the writer of this sketch, for this very reason.


General Schuyler was a member of the Pro- vincial Assembly, 1768-1774; delegate to the Continental Congress, taking his seat May 15, 1775; member of the New York State Sen- ate, 1780-1790; Commissioner of Indian Af- fairs, 1775-1797 ; surveyor-general, 1782-1788; president of the Northern Inland Lock Navi- gation Company, and of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, in 1792, projects enlisting his closest interest; the first United States senator from New York, 1790-1792; re-elected, 1792-1797.


He was appointed major-general, command- ing the Army of the Northern Department, in 1775, a most important position in the Rev- olution, as one of the gravest dangers of the entire conflict was the advance of the British forces under General Burgoyne coming from Canada by way of the Adirondack lakes and the valley of the Hudson. With the greatest skill and consummate system he both planned and developed all the necessary preparations to meet the powerful foe-in fact, with such ability that defeat of the enemy was finally brought about in October, 1777. He had found an insurmountable difficulty in acquir- ing men to form an army of sufficient num- bers and adequately equipped as would guar- antee victory. The writer of this sketch has time and again come across manuscript let- ters of General Schuyler in which he made most urgent appeals to General Washington to grant him more men, and even the windows in the houses of friends in Albany were stripped of the metal in order to furnish ma- terial for bullets. His army, in August of that fateful year, numbered not more than two thousand men, and it was known that Burgoyne was marching southward with eight thousand, and camp luggage which even in- cluded numerous cases of champagne. Sol- diers from adjacent states were loth to come into another and fight under its generals for credit which would not redound to the state whence they came. A sad and serious spirit of jealousy was plainly manifest ; but by the appointment of Horatio Gates of Massachu- setts to the command. brought about by con- nivance, this impediment was overcome, so that an army of proportions was the result. It required several severe conflicts to overthrow Burgoyne, the principal onslaughts being the




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