USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 7
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1777.] PROPOSED CONSTITUTION ..
countenance nothing injurious to the rights of the communities it represented. They denied that the inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants could derive any countenance from the resolution quoted in Thomas Young's pamphlet ; and they declared that the contents of the letter of Thomas Young were derogatory to the honour of congress, and a gross misrepresen- tation of the resolution of congress therein referred to, and that they tended to deceive the people to whom they were addressed. The commission of Colonel Warner was explained, but not recalled.
While these proceedings were taking place in congress, the inhabitants of Vermont were proceeding in the organization of the new state. The same convention which passed the decla- ration of the independence of Vermont, met by adjournment at Windsor, on the first Wed- nesday in June, and appointed a committee to draft a constitution for the state. They also adopted a resolution recommending the several towns to appoint delegates to meet in convention at Windsor, on the 2d of July, to act on the draft of the constitution which would be there submitted. Pursuant to this recom- mendation the convention assembled.
While the new constitution was under discus- sion, news arrived of the evacuation of Ticon- deroga by the American troops, and of the con-
116
HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
sequent exposure of the whole western borders of Vermont to the enemy. Great alarm was felt at this intelligence, not only in Vermont, but in New York and Connecticut. The mem- bers of the convention partook of the feeling, and were for leaving Windsor, and repairing to the defence of their homes. Allen in his his- tory of Vermont relates that the adjournment was postponed by a severe thunder storm. The - members had time to reflect. Their attention was redirected to their work. The constitution was taken up and read the third time. Para- graph by paragraph was adopted. A committee of safety was appointed to act during the recess, and the convention adjourned in order. Quick upon the news of the loss of Ticonderoga, or simultaneously with it, came the intelligence of the dismissal of the petition by congress ; but gallant little Vermont was neither driven from resistance to the foreign force or the domestic opponents.
117
JEALOUSIES AND DISPUTES.
. 1777.]
CHAPTER IX.
Jealousies and disputes among the continental officers-Dislike of Schuyler by the New England troops-Schuyler tenders his resignation-Inquiry into his conduct-Honourable testi- monial -- Ordered to take command of the northern army- Carleton superseded by Burgoyne-Activity of Burgoyne- War feast with the Iroquois-Humane attempt of Burgoyne to restrain the barbarities of his Indian allies-Its futility- Manifesto to the Americans-Advance on Ticonderoga- Retreat of St. Clair-Death of Colonel Francis-Greenleaf's journal-Colonel Francis's watch restored to his mother- Concentration of American forces at Fort Edward-Bur- goyne's halt at Skeensboro-Murder of Jane McCrea-The modern narrative-The popular version-Letter of Gates to Burgoyne-Reply of the latter.
Nor the least difficulty in the management of hostilities is found in the jealousies and disputes among the officers ; the questions respecting prece- dence, and the sensitiveness of the military spirit to any thing like insult, oversight, or neglect. The safety of a country, or the efficiency of an army, cannot be sacrificed to the feelings of an officer, however meritorious. General Schuyler had the misfortune to be very unpopular with the New England troops ; and reinforcements under him came forward with less spirit than the exi- gences of the service demanded. His demean- our to the officers of the New England regiments, whether retaliatory for their dislike to him, or
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
the origin of that dislike, was a great disadvan- tage to the service. Probably prejudice against Schuyler as a New York officer had its effect. And the joint command of the operations of the war by Washington and the congress threw ad- ditional difficulties in the way. General Schuy- ler's head-quarters were, by a resolution of con- gress, March, 1776, fixed at Albany. This re- solution, though he was nominally in command, precluded him from active service. As soon as the spring of 1777 opened, and the fear of an attack upon Ticonderoga, by a march over the ice, was removed, General Schuyler waited upon congress with the intention of offering his re- signation. He demanded an inquiry into his conduct, which had been the subject of aspersion. A committee of one member from each state made the investigation, and the result was such as to show that the general's complaints of in- justice had too much foundation. His services appeared of a character and importance which had never been duly appreciated; and as a mea- sure of reparation the disagreeable resolution was rescinded, and General Schuyler was order- ed to take command of the northern army. But the compliment to one was an insult to an- other-or was so regarded. General Gates withdrew in displeasure.
Meanwhile, there had also been a change in the British army. General Burgoyne, who had
119
ACTIVITY OF BURGOYNE.
1777.]
served under Sir Guy Carleton, had repaired to England with a report of the proceedings of the campaign in which the American forces were compelled to retreat. A plan for the invasion of the states, by way of the lakes, was arranged in London, and General Burgoyne, upon whose reports, and by whose counsel it was arranged, came back with orders superseding Sir Guy in the command. What that officer, who had so much distinguished himself in repelling invasion, would have accomplished in offensive operations, can only be subject of supposition ; but the re- sult of General Burgoyne's expedition proved most fortunate to the American cause. He had under his command a splendidly appointed army of not less than eight thousand men, exclusive of the Indians and Canadians, who were ex- pected to join him, and for whom equipments were forwarded from England.
General Burgoyne entered upon his duty with a zeal and activity which indicated his confi- dence of success. On the 6th of May he landed at Quebec-on the 12th he proceeded to Mon- treal. On the 20th June he had already em- barked a portion of his forces, and on the 21st landed on the New York side of Lake Cham- plain. His movements were made with such celerity as to make his presence so near the American posts almost a surprise. At this point he met the Indians of the Six Nations in a grand
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1777.
council, and gave them a war feast. The em- ployment of such horrid allies is a disgrace to a Christian nation, and gives warfare, cruel enough at the best, additional features of atrocity. It is doubtless true that Burgoyne, while he urged the Indians to war, exhorted them to humanity; and while he put arms in their hands, endeavour- ed to teach them forbearance. words weigh little against savage propensities. The savages followed their fiendish mode of warfare; and the exasperation which their conduct produced contributed no little to the zeal with which an enemy employing such aid was met. General Burgoyne indeed enjoined upon the Indians that they were not to take scalps " from the wounded, or even from the dying," and professed to de- mand a strict account for those which were taken from the dead. But the weakness of making exceptions, while any scalps were suffered to be brought into his camp, is too apparent to need comment. Who was to answer the "strict in- quiries," which General Burgoyne professed to make respecting these savage trophies of the In- dians, which he admitted his inability to prevent them from taking !
After treating with his Indian allies, General Burgoyne commenced his operations with a mani- festo, in which the pompous announcement of his titles was waggishly said, by contemporary American writers, to be more than a match for
121
1777.] ADVANCE ON TICONDEROGA.
all the force of the United States. It was signed "By John Burgoyne, Esquire, Lieutenant-Go- vernor of His Majesty's forces in America, Colo- nel of the Queen's Regiment of Light Dragoons, Governor of Fort William in North Britain, one of the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament, and Commanding an Army and Fleet employed on an Expedition from Canada." In this pro- clamation he enormously extolled the British might and his own, and did not forget the In- dians. Of these men, whom, if we are to credit his assertions in a subsequent letter to General Gates "he had solemnly and peremptorily pro- hibited" from barbarity, he said, " I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my di- rection, and they amount to thousands, to over- take the hardened enemies of Great Britain and America. I consider them the same, wherever they may lurk." Unfortunately the Indians were not able or anxious always to distinguish « hard- ened enemies" from friends; and not a little damage was done to the royal cause from the insecurity of its provincial friends against Indian depredations.
Immediately upon the issue of his proclama- tion, General Burgoyne appeared before Ticon- deroga. General Schuyler was absent from the fort, having repaired to Fort Edward, to hasten forward reinforcements and provisions. Every effort, consistent with the shortness of the time,
11
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
had been made to strengthen the post, which was left in command of General St. Clair. On the 2d of July a skirmish took place with an Ame- rican picket-guard, in which the British drove them in. The pursuers advanced within two hundred yards of the American batteries, of the precise location of which they seemed unaware. A random fire of artillery, without orders, killed only one man, and the smoke covered the retreat of the rest.
The fortress at Ticonderoga was deemed almost impregnable, and additional works had been thrown up on Mount Independence, a hill on the east side of Lake Champlain. But the works were nevertheless overlooked by a high hill, called Sugar Hill, or Mount Defiance. This eminence had not been fortified, for the double . reason that it was considered impracticable, and that the Americans were not in force to man their present works properly. The garrison consisted of less than three thousand five hun- dred men. But to their surprise, on the 5th of July, they found the British erecting a battery on Sugar Hill, hoisting the cannon from tree to tree. This would command all the Ame- rican works; and to escape complete investment, a retreat was resolved upon by the garrison, and effected on the night following. The invalids, and such baggage as could be removed, were embarked on board the batteaux for Skeensboro,
123
RETREAT OF ST. CLAIR.
1777.]
now Whitehall. The main body proceeded by land, the rear-guard leaving Mount Independ- ence at four o'clock, on the morning of the 6th of July.
The retreat would have been without disaster, but for a disobedience of orders. General St. Clair had required that nothing should be set on fire ; but a French officer imprudently fired his house, and the flames illuminating the whole hill, showed the British the movements and designs of the Americans. General Burgoyne pur- sued the party by water, and Generals Frazer and Reidesel the main body by land. The Ame- rican rear was commanded by Colonel Ebenezer Francis, of Beverly, Massachusetts, whose un- timely death, in his thirty-fifth year, only pre- vented his winning a name as well known to the nation as it is dear to his descendants. We subjoin, from the "History of Beverly," by Mr. Stone, some particulars which will serve to show what material formed a portion of the Con- tinental army, and also exhibit the circumstances of the retreat in graphic language.
Colonel Francis marched at the head of his regiment from Massachusetts to Ticonderoga, in January, 1777. With that regard for religion which was the characteristic of his life, he as- sembled the regiment for religious services, in his own parish church, previous to his march. His pastor, who conducted the services, which
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
were of a most solemn and impressive character, accompanied the regiment as chaplain. Captain Greenleaf, whose private journal is preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical So- ciety, thus records the circumstances of the retreat :-
" 14th June, heard enemy's morning gun-In- dians and others near-skirmishes. 2d July, enemy advances with two frigates of twenty-eight guns, and fifty gun-boats-land troops about two miles from us. Saturday, July 5th, at twelve o'clock, spied British troops on the mount- ain overlooking Ticonderoga-at nine received the disagreeable news of leaving the ground. At two next morning left Ticonderoga-at four, Mount Independence ; after a most fatiguing march, arrived same day at Hubbardton, near White- hall, twenty-two miles from Mount Independence. Supped with Col. Francis-encamped in the woods, the main body going on about four miles. Monday, 7th July, breakfasted with Col. F. At seven, he came to me and desired me to parade the regiment, which I did. At a quarter past seven he came in haste to me, told me an express had arrived from General St. Clair, informing that we must march with the greatest expedition, or the enemy would be upon us, also that they had taken Skeensboro, with all our baggage- ordered me to march the regiment-immediately marched a part of it. At twenty minutes past
1
1777.] DEATH OF COLONEL FRANCIS. 125
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seven, the enemy appeared in gunshot of us ; we faced to the right and the firing began, which lasted till a quarter to nine without cessation. Numbers fell on both sides; among ours the brave and ever to be lamented Col. Francis, who fought bravely to the last. He first received a ball through his right arm, but still continued at the head of our troops, till he received a fatal wound through his body, entering his right breast; he dropped on his face. Our people being overpowered by numbers, were obliged to retreat over the mountains, enduring in their march great privations and sufferings."
Thus died Colonel Francis, of whom a British officer who was in the engagement thus speaks : " At the commencement of the action the enemy were everywhere thrown into the greatest confu- sion ; but being rallied by that brave officer, Colo- nel Francis, whose death, though an enemy, will ever be regretted by those who can feel for the loss of a gallant and brave man, the fight was renewed with the greatest degree of fierceness and obstinacy."
It is a curious fact that the officer who thus records the death of Colonel Francis, afterward met his mother, and was witness to a most af- fecting interview. He was a prisoner with Gene- ral Burgoyne, near Boston, on parole, and while walking with other British officers in the like case, stopped with them at a farm-house. An 11*
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
elderly woman who was sitting in the house, re- cognised them as British officers. " Just as we were quitting the house," says the narrator, " she got up, and bursting into tears, said, ' Gentlemen, will you let a poor distracted woman speak a word to you before you go?' We, as you must all naturally imagine, were all asto- nished ; and upon our inquiring what she wanted, with the most poignant grief, and sobbing as if her heart was breaking, she asked if any of us knew her son, a Colonel Francis, who was killed at the battle of Hubbardton. Several of us in- formed her that we had seen him after he was dead. She then inquired about his pocket-book, and if any of his papers were safe, as some re- lated to his estates, and if any of the soldiers had got his watch; if she could but obtain that in remembrance of her dear, dear son, she should be happy. Captain Ferguson, of our re- giment, who was of the party, told her, as to the colonel's papers and pocket-book, he was fearful they were either lost or destroyed ; but pulling a watch from his fob, he said, « There, good woman, if that can make you happy, take it, and God bless you !' We were all much surprised, as un- acquainted he had made a purchase of it from a drum boy. On seeing it, it is impossible to de- scribe the joy and grief that were depicted in her countenance. I never in all my life beheld such a strength of passion ; she kissed it, looked
1777.]
HALT AT FORT EDWARD.
127 .
unutterable gratitude at Captain Ferguson, then kissed it again ; her feelings were unexpressible ; she knew not how to express or to show them ; she would repay his kindness by kindness, but could only sob her thanks. Our feelings were lifted up to an unexpressible height. We pro- mised to search after the papers, and I believe at that moment could have hazarded life to pro- cure them."
Such strange incidents does war, that anomaly amid civilization, furnish !
Colonel Warner, with his Green Mountain re- giment, was with Colonel Francis. We need hardly say that this regiment stood their ground manfully. After the fall of Francis, Warner charged with such impetuosity that for a moment the British troops were thrown into confusion. But a reinforcement arriving, the Americans were completely overpowered. Two or three regiments, which should have been in the engage- ment, consulted their own safety by a retreat ; and the rout of the rest was complete. The loss of the Americans was very severe, amount- ing to between three and four hundred men, killed, wounded, and prisoners.
The retreating army collected at Fort Ed- ward, having lost all their baggage and stores. General Burgoyne destroyed in a few hours the water defences at Ticonderoga, and pushed on to Skeensboro, where the garrison attempted
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1777.
no stand, but setting fire to the mills and bat- teaux, retreated. They were pursued, but de- fended themselves with so much spirit that the pursuit was given over, and General Burgoyne halted a few days at Skeensboro, to refresh his men.
It was during the subsequent advance upon Fort Edward that the murder of Miss Jane McCrea roused the resentment of the Ameri- cans to the highest degree ; and, in the excite- ment of the times, covered General Burgoyne with unmerited obloquy. This tragical story belongs to the romance of the Revolutionary war; and, while the people were filled with hor- 0 ror and indignation, that narrative which re- flected the greatest dishonour upon the British commander and his savage allies was accepted as most likely to be the true one. Now, how- ever, when party feeling has subsided, a calmer investigation of the circumstances connected with that hapless affair has led to the belief that the popular version is incorrect in many important particulars.
Jane McCrea was the affianced bride of a Mr. Jones, a young American, of loyalist princi- ples, who had joined Burgoyne, and accepted a commission in the British army. Little doubt was entertained, at that period, of the eventual success of the royal cause. The progress of the invading force under Burgoyne had hitherto
129
JANE MCCREA.
1777.]
been a most triumphant one. When the British approached Fort Edward, Miss McCrea was the guest of Mrs. McNeil, whose house was at the foot of a hill, distant about eighty rods north- ward from the fort. " The hill-side was covered with bushes, while a quarter of a mile above, near the crest of the hill, a large pine tree shadowed a clear spring."
The brother with whom Jenny had previously lived, being a staunch Whig, was preparing to abandon his house, five miles below the fort, and retire to Albany. Apprehensive' of danger to his sister, he several times desired her to join him without delay. The hope of meeting her lover causing her still to linger, her brother be- came alarmed, and despatched so peremptory a message that she promised to return to his house the following day.
The next morning, the negro boy belonging to Mrs. McNeil hurriedly informed the family of the approach of a small party of Indian warriors, and then fled across the plain to the fort for pro- tection. Acting on the impulse of the moment, the whole family hastily sought refuge in the cel- lar of a kitchen detached from the house. While crouching here in the darkness, the colour of the servant woman shielded her from discovery, but Mrs. McNeil and Jenny were seized, and hurried off by different routes to Burgoyne's camp. In the mean time, a detachment had been sent out
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1777.
1 from Fort Edward to attempt a rescue; and when the party who were bearing off Jenny ap- proached the pine tree and the spring near the summit of the hill, they were suddenly fired upon by the American pursuers. During the brief skirmish that followed, Jenny was accidentally struck by a bullet, and fell from her horse mor- tally wounded. Her Indian captors, conscious that by her death they had lost the reward usually paid for prisoners, could not forego the barbarous temptation of bearing off her scalp as a trophy. It was taken, and carried by them openly displayed into camp, where the long glossy hair of Jenny was speedily recognised by Mrs. McNeil, who boldly taxed the Indians with the murder of her guest. They promptly denied it, and asserted that, she came by her death in the manner already described.
Information subsequently obtained tended to confirm the truth of this statement, notwithstand- ing a different version of the tragical story has usually prevailed. The latter narrative charges Lieutenant Jones with having bribed the Indians with a promise of rum to conduct his betrothed into the British lines; that as they returned with their fair captive, a quarrel arose respect- ing the division of the liquor, and, to end the dispute, one of the Indians despatched Jenny by shooting her through the breast. But Lieutenant Jones strenuously denied having engaged the
131
LETTER OF GATES.
1777.]
services of the Indians at all; nor is it probable he would do so, inasmuch as the British army was then advancing upon Fort Edward, with the certainty of its capture. The young officer could, therefore, have no desire for the presence of. Miss McCrea in camp, especially as, in a day or two, the possession of Fort Edward would have enabled him to visit her with greater com- fort and security at the house of their mutual friend, Mrs. McNeil.
Overcome with horror at her terrible fate, Jones tendered immediately a resignation of his commission. Burgoyne refusing to accept it, he deserted. Retiring to Canada, bearing with him the blood-stained tresses of his affianced bride, he lived there for many years. He never married, shunned all allusion to the War of Independence, kept rigidly the anniversary of Miss McCrea's death; and became, from the period of his be- reavement, a sad, thoughtful, and secluded man.
The popular version of this melancholy event, at the time of its occurrence, we may presume to have been something like the following, which we extract from a letter written to General Bur- goyne by General Gates, in answer to one in which General Burgoyne complained of certain alleged harsh treatment of prisoners. "Miss McCrea, a young lady lovely to the sight, of virtuous character and amiable disposition, en- gaged to an officer of your army, was, with other
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1777.
women and children, taken out of a house near Fort Edward, carried into the woods, and there scalped and mangled in the most shocking man- ner. Two parents with their six children were all treated with the same inhumanity, while quietly resting in their once peaceful and happy dwell- ing. The miserable fate of Miss McCrea was particularly aggravated by being dressed to re- ceive her promised husband, but met her murderer appointed by you. Upward of one hundred men, women, and children have perished by the hands of the ruffians to whom, it is asserted, you have paid the price of blood."
General Burgoyne, in his reply, inveighs against " the rhapsodies of fiction and calumny" which it had been, he alleged, the invariable policy of the Americans to propagate. But with all the elements of a fearfully tragic and romantic story, which the death of Miss Mc- Crea furnished, Americans must have been dif- ferent from all other people, if the narrative did not grow with the repetition. They must have been insensible to murder and cruelty, could they have weighed all the rumours and dispassionately
sifted out truth from error. The disgrace which the British allies entailed upon their employers was a part of the price of their service-nowhere better understood than by indignant statesmen at home, as the remonstrances of the opposition in Parliament testify.
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ACTION OF THE COUNCIL. -
1777.]
CHAPTER X.
Action of Vermont and New Hampshire upon the fall of Ti- conderoga-Orders of General Stark-Resolves in Congress -Schuyler's judicious measures-General Burgoyne's second proclamation-Vain appeal of Major Skeene-General Stark's insubordination-Resolution of censure in Congress- British attempt to secure the stores at Bennington-Battle of Bennington-Attack on Colonel Baum's entrenchments -Complete success of General 'Stark-Renewal of the en- gagement by Colonels Warner and Breyman-Defeat of the latter-Important effects upon the American cause-Extract from Burgoyne's instructions to Colonel Baum-General Burgoyne's opinion of the people of the New Hampshire grants-Appointment of Gates to supersede Schuyler-Ge- neral Gates arrives at Stillwater-Battle of Stillwater or Behmus Heights-Victory claimed by both parties, but the real advantage with the Americans-Battle of the 7th Octo- ber-General Burgoyne retreats to Saratoga-Capitulation of Burgoyne.
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