CHAPTER IV

HE SAW “THE COUNTENANCE OF THE ENEMY”

THE STORY OF ARNOLD’S EXTRAORDINARY FIGHT AGAINST OVERWHELMING ODDS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN--A THOUSAND SAILORS, OF WHOM SEVEN-TENTHS WERE PICKED MEN, ARMED WITH THE HEAVIEST GUNS, WERE PITTED UNDER A COURAGEOUS LEADER AGAINST 700 YANKEES, CHIEFLY HAYMAKERS, POORLY ARMED AND WITH INSUFFICIENT AMMUNITION--SAVAGES WITH SCALPING KNIVES AIDED THE BRITISH--A DESPERATE STRUGGLE AT THE END--THE BEST ALL-AROUND FIGHTER UNDER WASHINGTON.

If the naval Lexington--the first battle of the Revolution afloat--was fought on the bar at Providence, Rhode Island, the naval Bunker Hill, a battle wherein glory and renown were gained in defeat, was fought on Lake Champlain. Not only was the moral effect of this battle quite as great in the courage it gave the Americans, and the pause for thought it gave the enemy; it served to head off a victorious invading British army bound for Albany and the subjugation of northern New York.

[Illustration: Burlington Bay on Lake Champlain.

_From an old engraving in the collection of Mr. W. C. Crane._]

The American troops had invaded Canada, some under Benedict Arnold going through the Maine woods, and some under Montgomery going by way of Lake Champlain. The two bodies had united under the walls of Quebec, and there Montgomery had died and Arnold had bled in vain. The terrors of the fierce Canadian winter and the distress of disease had aided the British forces in driving the Americans back, until at last, in the fall of 1776, Sir Guy Carleton, at the head of the British, was lodged at St. John’s, at the north end of Lake Champlain, while Crown Point was the advance post of the Americans.

It will be remembered that at this time the waves of this beautiful lake lapped the unbroken wilderness, no matter what the direction of the wind might be. St. John’s, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga were but military posts, and there was not even a woodsy road for wagons on either side of the lake north of Crown Point.

Sir Guy Carleton was confident in the belief that the revolted colonies would soon be subjugated, and he was full of ambition to have a part of the glory that would cover the British officers in their hour of triumph. His plan was to pass Lakes Champlain and George with the ample forces at his command, and then slash his way through the wilderness to Albany. Once there, the king’s ships could come to meet him, the American territory would be cut in two at the Hudson, and then the end would come.

There was, indeed, when he arrived at the north end of Lake Champlain, but one reason why he did not press on in this victorious career. He could not pass over the lake for want of boats. The Americans, in their retreat, had carried off or destroyed every boat on the lake.

[Illustration: Sir Guy Carleton.

_From an engraving by A. H. Ritchie._]

But Sir Guy Carleton was a man of energy as well as ambition. At his request three ships were sent over from England in such shape that they might be taken to pieces on reaching the outlet of Lake Champlain. This done, the parts were transported over the wilderness road to St. John’s, and there set up and launched in the lake. Meantime a British naval officer had been busy in superintending the building of a fleet of smaller vessels at St. John’s--a fleet on which not only the sailors from the king’s ships at Montreal worked, but the soldiers of the army; and even the farmers from the Canadian settlements were forced to turn to. Carleton himself was ever present to force on the work.

Fortunately, the task he had set was a long as well as a hard one. With all the men and means at his command, he could not get ready to sail until well on into the month of October. But when he was ready his was a fleet fit to terrify as well as astonish the farmers that, for the most part, composed the American forces, then under command of General Gates, at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The _Inflexible_, that carried the flag of the fleet, was a ship of 300 tons, and carried eighteen twelve-pounders. There was one schooner called the _Maria_, with fourteen guns, and another, the _Carleton_, of twelve guns. There was a huge scow very appropriately call the _Thunderer_, for she was armed with six twenty-four-pounders and twelve six-pounders, besides several brass howitzers. There was a gondola of seven guns. There were twenty gunboats with one carriage gun each, the guns varying in size from nine to twenty-four-pounders. In all, the British flotilla included twenty-five vessels, that were armed with eighty-nine first-class guns of that day, and abundantly supplied with ammunition.

[Illustration: General Arnold.

Drawn from Life at Philadelphia by Du Simitier.]

To Benedict Arnold was given the task of preparing a flotilla to stop the invasion of Sir Guy Carleton. Benedict Arnold was an army officer and in command, under Gates, of militia who were, as said, for the most part farmers. But Arnold was a man of infinite resource, energy, and courage. Some shipwrights and sailmakers were brought from the American coast, and with such materials as were at hand he set to work to build a navy for the defence of the lake. He had, fortunately, seen service at sea, and the task was not wholly beyond his experience.

When the month of October arrived Arnold was afloat with a fleet of fifteen vessels--the twelve-gun schooner _Royal Savage_, the ten-gun sloop _Enterprise_, the eight-gun schooner _Revenge_, the eight-gun galley _Trumbull_, the eight-gun galley _Congress_, the eight-gun galley _Washington_, the six-gun galley _Lee_, the five-gun gondola _Spitfire_, the five-gun gondola _Connecticut_, the three-gun gondola _New Haven_, the three-gun gondola _Providence_, the three-gun gondola _Philadelphia_, the three-gun gondola _Jersey_, the three-gun gondola _New York_, and the three-gun gondola _Boston_.

Two or three of the names of the vessels built for the impending strife may be worth noting. The British named one of their medium-sized vessels the _Loyal Convert_. Arnold named the largest of his the _Royal Savage_. Carleton named another for himself, but Arnold, less vain, went to the leaders of the American army and to the towns of the nation for the names of his ships.

[Illustration: The _Royal Savage_.]

On the whole, the American fleet mounted eighty-eight guns to the eighty-nine of the British fleet, but they were inferior in weight of metal thrown, the largest being eighteen-pounders to the British twenty-four-pounders, while they needed 811 men for a full complement, but had only 700. And these were, from a man-o’-warman’s point of view, “a miserable set; indeed, the men on board the fleet in general are not equal to half their number of good men.” It was not that they lacked good will or bravery; it was that they were landsmen and untrained in the work before them.

On the other hand, Sir Guy Carleton’s fleet was manned by a thousand men, among whom were “eight officers, nineteen petty officers and 670 picked seamen” from the British warships in the St. Lawrence, besides the soldiers of the expedition. The quotation is from Schomberg’s “History of the British Navy.” In addition to the regular crews, the British fleet was supported by a host of Iroquois Indians.

Just south of the present site of Plattsburg lies Valcour Island. The bay on the west side of which Plattsburg stands is enclosed by a long cape called Cumberland Head.

At daybreak on the morning of Wednesday, October 11, 1776, Benedict Arnold’s little fleet lay at anchor in a line across the north end of the strait between Valcour Island and the mainland. It was a clear, cold morning. A strong northerly wind was sweeping through this narrow valley between the Green Mountains and the ever-beautiful Adirondacks. It was just the kind of a day that Sir Guy Carleton wanted for his passage over the lake, and, soon after sunrise, his fleet came snoring along under full sail past Cumberland Head.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.]

Because Arnold’s little fleet lay well behind the forest on Valcour Island, Sir Guy and his fleet drove past without discovering that any one was there; but when they had opened out the view from the south between Valcour Island and the mainland, they saw that they were exposing their rear to the Americans. At this it was down helm and haul their tacks and get out oars on the smaller vessels, but the wind was so strong that it was not until after ten o’clock that the head of the fleet, which included the schooner _Carleton_ and the gunboats, arrived within the channel where the American fleet lay.

[Illustration: The Action of October 11, 1776.

A. Plan of action. B. _Congress_ galley and five gondolas.]

In the meantime Arnold had taken the gondola _Congress_ as his flagship--no doubt because she was furnished with oars, and, as a double-ender, could be easily handled--and with two other gondolas and the schooner _Royal Savage_, went down wind to meet the enemy. He reached them at eleven o’clock, and the battle opened with a broadside from the British schooner _Carleton_.

[Illustration: Fight on Lake Champlain, 1776:

A. American fleet. B. Gunboats. C. Schooner _Carleton_. D. Ship _Inflexible_. E. Anchorage of British fleet during the night. F. Radeau _Thunderer_. G. Gondola _Loyal Convert_. H. Schooner _Maria_, with Carleton on board. ]

In a brief time the whole of the British fleet of gunboats and gondolas got into line, and Arnold was obliged to beat back to the support of the remainder of his vessels. In making this retreat the schooner _Royal Savage_ was disabled by the shot of the enemy, and before repairs could be made she grounded hard and fast on Valcour Island. There she was fired, and then abandoned by her crew, who escaped to the woods on the island, where some of them met a worse fate than death in the fleet, for Sir Guy Carleton had sent his Indians into the woods on both sides of the narrow water where the action was held, and these, of course, tortured as well as killed such prisoners as happened to fall into their hands.

Giving little, if any, heed to the abandoned American schooner, the British squadron pressed into the narrow sound. The _Inflexible_, because she was a square-rigged vessel, could not be handled there, nor could the formidable scow, but the swarms of gondolas and gunboats were as easily managed as the American vessels.

By the time Arnold, with the _Congress_, had formed his line the British were “within musket shot”--they were but forty or fifty yards away, and were veering to and fro to bring, now this broadside and now that to bear on the American squadron, while the Americans, meeting turn with turn and manœuvre with manœuvre, fought back without yielding a boat’s length. The cannon, huge for the day and place, belched flame and smoke. The round shot bounded along the water to bury themselves in the soft-wood hulls of the ships or cut away the oars with which the hulls were managed, or flew wild to sink at last harmless. The grapeshot drove through the air in death-dealing squalls. The roar of the conflict filled the valley and was echoed back from the mountains. The smoke clouds drifted into the evergreen forests on both shores of the little sound. The breath of hell mingled with the fragrant odors of balsams and spruce and hemlock. The forest spit flames and lead back at the Americans. Cry answered to cry and the yell of defiance to the war-whoop of the savage. Arnold himself, on the deck of the _Congress_, led in the thickest of the fight, cheering to the men as they worked at the guns, and at frequent intervals stooping over a gun to aim and fire it with his own hands.

The region around the scene of that battle is in these days the health resort of thousands in the summer season. We who see it now can hardly realize that it was the chosen haunt of Death on that bleak October day of 1776.

There is a paragraph in a report by Lieutenant Hadden, of the British forces, that relates to one branch of the British forces, and is worth quoting. He says:

“These savages under Major Carleton moved with the fleet in their canoes which were very regularly ranged. On the day of the battle, the rebels having no land force, the savages took post on the mainland and on Valcour Island. Thus being upon both flanks they were able to annoy them in the working of their guns. This had the effect of now and then obliging the rebels to turn a gun that way, which danger the savages avoided by getting behind trees.”

[Illustration: The Fight on Lake Champlain, October 13, 1776.

1. (On right) Ship _Inflexible_. 2. Schooner _Carleton_. 3. Schooner _Maria_. 4. _Congress_ galley run ashore, with other vessels blowing up. 5. _Washington_ galley striking. 6. Gunboat coming up.

_From an English engraving published December 22, 1776._]

And as for the result of the day’s work, the quaint words of Arnold himself shall tell it:

“At half past 12 the engagement became general and very warm. Some of the enemy’s ships and all their gondolas beat and rowed up within musket shot of us. They continued a very hot fire with round and grapeshot until 5 o’clock when they thought proper to retire to about six or seven hundred yards distance, and continued the fire till dark.”

The fleet of the enemy, though manned by picked men--by men known not only for their bravery, but for their skill in handling the guns--was obliged to draw off to get beyond the range of the smaller guns on the American fleet.

The _Congress_, Arnold’s flagship, was hulled by the British round shot no less than twelve times during the afternoon, and seven of these projectiles passed through her at the water-line. But the crew, farmers though they were, plugged her up and fought on as before. General Waterbury, who was on the _Washington_, fought her until he was the only officer left on deck--her captain, lieutenant, and master having all been killed. The _Washington_, like the _Congress_, was full of holes when the fight ended. The _Philadelphia_, Captain Grant, sank within an hour after firing ceased.

On the whole, the American loss for the day was reported at “about sixty,” while that of the British was less than forty. Two of the British gunboats were sunk and one was blown up.

The Americans had checked the enemy in his advance along the lake, and had damaged him materially, but they had suffered more than he had, and, what was worse, had used up nearly all their ammunition. “Being sensible that with his inferior and crippled force all resistance would be unavailing” on the morrow if they remained where they were, Arnold determined to slip away to the shelter of the American post either at Crown Point or at Ticonderoga.

The night came on dark and stormy and with a northerly gale driving over the lake. So the fleet up anchor, and “one following a [shaded] light on the stern of the other,” they slipped through the enemy’s line that lay across the south end of the channel, with Arnold on the _Congress_ bringing up the rear, because that was the post of danger, and at daylight on the morning of Thursday, October 12th, they were ten miles away and under the lee of Schuyler Island.

[Illustration: A View on Lake Champlain Showing the Fight of 1776.

_From Hinton’s History of the United States._]

At this point the fleet came to anchor and began to make such repairs as were possible. Two gondolas were sunk because they were past remedy, and when the patching of the rest had been carried far enough to enable them to float without too much pumping, the fleet started on. Meantime, however, the wind shifted to the south, and the progress, depending on the oars, was necessarily slow.

But, although the wind retarded the American fleet, it had retarded the British as much, if not more. The British had discovered that the Americans were gone as soon as daylight came on Thursday morning, but so slow was the progress of the square-rigged _Inflexible_ against the head-wind that it was not until Friday that the British were able to overtake the Americans.

The Americans were at this time just south of the narrow water at Split Rock. Arnold, with the _Congress_ and the _Washington_ and four smaller (three-gun) boats, was guarding the rear, and until noon there was an anxious race to escape to the shelter of Crown Point--anxious because the choice of the British fleet--the uninjured _Inflexible_, with the schooners _Carleton_ and _Maria_--were in the van of the chase, and Arnold’s rowboats were together no match for the least of these.

But at noon, while yet some leagues from Crown Point, the tired crews of the flying boats had to drop their sweeps and take to the guns, for the British ships were upon them. The wind had shifted to the north once more, and the British vessels, of course, got it first.

No more desperate conflict is recorded in naval annals than that of Arnold that day.

At the first broadside of the enemy the shattered _Washington_ was so injured that surrender was unavoidable. Nevertheless Arnold ranged up within musket-shot of the big _Inflexible_ and continued to fight while the farmer crews of the four gondolas stood to their guns and faced the storm of shot and grape from the twelve-gun and fourteen-gun schooners--faced the storm unflinchingly until one-third of Arnold’s crew had been killed, his boat reduced to a wreck, and resistance could no longer damage the enemy.

But, though beaten, the indomitable Americans were not conquered. They would never give up the ships. By Arnold’s order the small galleys were run ashore in a creek near by and there fired, Arnold, in the _Congress_, covering their retreat until their crews were safe on shore, when he ran the _Congress_ ashore also, and then stood guard while his crew fired her, “remaining on board of her until she was in flames, lest the enemy should get possession and strike his flag, which was kept flying to the last.”

When the _Congress_ was so well on fire that she could not be saved, Arnold himself leaped overboard, waded ashore, formed his men in an orderly line, and marched away over a woodsy trail. He escaped the savages that were sent ashore seeking scalps, and safely reached Crown Point.

The best all-around fighter under George Washington was Benedict Arnold. As a leader in actual combat he was simply unequalled. Words cannot now be found to adequately express the pity of it when it is remembered that injustice and disappointment at the last drove him mad.

Although this fight on Lake Champlain was ordered on the American side by an army officer, and the crews were chiefly landsmen, it was unquestionably an exhibit of the early sea power of the United States, for the ships were built at the national expense and the crews were in the national service.

[Illustration:

_A Description of the Engagement on Lake_ CHAMPLAIN.

Copy _of a_ LETTER _from General Sir_ GUY CARLETON _to Lord_ GEORGE GERMAIN, _Principal Secretary of State for the_ American _Department_.

_On board the Maria off Crown-Point, October 14, 1776._

My Lord,

The rebel fleet upon Lake Champlain has been entirely defeated in two

## actions; the first on the 11th instant, between the island of Valcour

and the main; and the second on the 13th, within a few leagues of Crown-Point.

We have taken Mr. Waterburg, the second in command, one of their brigadier-generals, with two of their vessels, and ten others have been burnt and destroyed; only three of fifteen sail, a list of which I transmit, having escaped. For further particulars I refer your Lordship to Lieutenant Dacres, who will be the bearer of this letter, and had a share in both actions, particularly the first, where his gallant behaviour in the Carleton schooner, which he commanded, distinguished him so much as to merit great commendation: and I beg to recommend him to your Lordship’s notice and favour: at the same time I cannot omit taking notice to your Lordship of the good service done, in the first

## action, by the spirited conduit of a number of officers and men of the

corps of artillery, who served the gun-boats, which, together with the Carleton, sustained for many hours the whole fire of the enemy’s fleet, the rest of our vessels not being able to work up near enough to join effectually in the engagement.

The rebels, upon the news reaching them of the defeat of their naval force, set fire to all the buildings and houses in and near Crown-Point, and retired to Ticonderoga.

The season is so far advanced, that I cannot yet pretend to inform your Lordship whether any thing farther can be done this year.

I am, &c.

GUY CARLETON.

_List of the Rebel Vessels on_ Lake Champlain, _before their Defeat_.

_Schooners_ Royal Savage, 8 six-pounders and 4 four-pounders--Went on shore, was set fire to, and blown up. Revenge, 4 six-pounders and 4 four-pounders--Escaped.

A sloop, 10 four-pounders----Escaped.

_Row-Gallies_ Congress, 2 eighteen-pounders in the bow, 2 twelve and 2 two-pounders in stern, and 6 six-pounders in the sides-- Blew up. Washington, same force----Taken. Trumble, ditto----Escaped.

The Lee, a cutter, 1 nine-pounder in the bow, 1 twelve-pounder in the stern, and 4 six-pounders in sides----Run into a bay, and not known whether destroyed.

_Gondolas_ Boston, 1 eighteen-pounder in the bow, 2 twelve-pounders in sides----Sunk. Jersey, ditto----Taken. One, name unknown, same force----Run on shore. Five ditto, ditto----Blown up.

_Other Vessels not in the Action._

A schooner, 8 four-pounders--Sent from their fleet for provisions.

A galley, said to be of greater force than those mentioned above----Fitting out at Ticonderoga.

G. C. ]

[Illustration:

[_Over_]

COPY _of a_ LETTER _from Captain_ DOUGLAS, _of the Isis_, _to Mr._ STEPHENS, _Secretary to the Admiralty._

_Quebec, 21st October, 1776._

Having for the space of six weeks attended the naval equipment for the important expedition on Lake Champlain, I on the 4th instant saw, with unspeakable joy, the re-constructed ship, now called the Inflexible, and commanded by Lieutenant Schank, her rebuilder, sail from St. John’s, twenty-eight days after her keel was laid, towards the place of rendezvous; taking in her 18 twelve-pounders beyond the shoal which is on this side the Isle aux Noix, in her way up.

The prodigies of labour which have been effected since the rebels were driven out of Canada, in creating, re-creating, and equipping a fleet of above thirty fighting vessels of different sorts and sizes, and all carrying cannon, since the beginning of July, together with the transporting over land, and afterwards dragging up the two rapids of St. Terese and St. John’s, thirty long-boats, the flat bottomed boats, a gondola weighing about thirty tons, and above four hundred batteaus, almost exceed belief. His Excellency the Commander in Chief of the army, and all the other generals, are of the opinion, that the sailors of his Majesty’s ships and transports have (far beyond the usual limits of their duty) exerted themselves to the utmost on this great and toilsome occasion; nor has a man of that profession uttered a single word expressive of discontent, amidst all the hardships they have undergone, so truly patriotic are the motives by which they are actuated.--To crown the whole, above two hundred prime seamen of the transports, impelled by a due sense of their country’s wrongs, did most generously engage themselves to serve in our armed vessels during the expedition, and embarked accordingly. Such having then been our unremitting toils, I am happy beyond expression in hereby acquainting my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the destruction of almost the whole of the rebel fleet, in two several battles on the eleventh and thirteenth instant, is our reward. I have recived a letter from Captain Pringle, of the Lord Howe armed ship, who commands the officers and seamen on the Lake, and who bestows the highest encomiums on their behaviour in both engagements. The rebels did by no means believe it possible for us to get upon Lake Champlain this year; were much surprized at the first fight of the van of our force; but ran into immediate and utter confusion the moment a three-masted ship made her appearance, being a phenomenon, they never so much as dreamt of. Thus have his Majesty’s faithful subjects here, (contrary to a crude but prevailing idea) by straining every nerve in their country’s cause, out-done them in working as much as in fighting. The ship Inflexible, with the Maria and Carleton schooners, all reconstructions, did the whole of the second day’s business, the flat-bottomed radeau called the Thunderer, and the gondola called the Loyal Convert, with the gun-boats, not having been able to keep up with them. The said gondola was taken from the rebels the day the siege of Quebec was raised.--The loss we have sustained, considering the great superiority of the insurgents, is very small, consisting of between thirty and forty men killed and wounded, seamen, soldiers, artillery-men, and all; eight whereof were killed outright, and six wounded, on board of the Carleton.--As to farther particulars, I must refer you to Lieutenant Dacres, who, in justice due to his merit, for the part he bore in destroying the rebel fleet, I am happy in sending upon this occasion to their Lordships in the Stag transport, as also in thereby complying with the General’s desire, who, for the same reason, is pleased to honour him with the conveyance of his dispatches.

Printed for R. SAYER and J. BENNETT, Map, Chart, aj

_Facsimile of a copy of the original broadside at the Lenox Library._]

[Illustration:

_A List of his Majesty’s Naval Force on_ Lake Champlain.

Ship Inflexible, Lieutenant Schank, 18 twelve-pounders.

Schooner Maria, Lieutenant Starke, 14 six-pounders.

Schooner Carleton, Lieutenant Dacres, 12 six-pounders.

Radeau Thunderer, Lieutenant Scott; 6 twenty-four, 6 twelve-pounders; 2 howitzers.

Gondola Loyal Convert, Lieutenant Longcroft, 7 nine-pounders.

Twenty gun-boats, each a brass field-piece, some twenty-fours to nines, some with howitzers.

Four long-boats, with each a carriage-gun, serving as armed tenders.

Twenty-four long-boats with provisions.

_A List of the Seamen detached from his Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in the River St. Lawrence, to serve on Lake Champlain._

_Seamen._ Isis 100 Blonde 70 Triton 60 Garland 30 Canceaux 40 Magdalen 18 Brunswick 18 Gaspee 18 Treasury arm’d Briggs 90 Fell 30 } _Province armed _Lately wreck’d_ Charlotte 9 } Vessels_ Voluntiers from no ship 9 Do. from the Transports 214 --- _Total_ 670

_Exclusive of 8 officers, and 19 petty officers._

COPY _of a_ LETTER _from Captain_ THOMAS PRINGLE.

_On board the Maria, off Crown-Point, the 15th of October, 1776._

It is with the greatest pleasure that I embrace this opportunity of congratulating their Lordships upon the victory compleated the 13th of this month, by his Majesty’s fleet under my command, upon Lake Champlain.

Upon the 11th I came up with the rebel fleet commanded by Benedict Arnold: they were at anchor under the island of Valicour, and formed a strong line extending from the island to the West side of the continent. The wind was so unfavourable, that for a considerable time nothing could be brought into action with them but the gun-boats; the Carleton schooner, commanded by Mr. Dacres, (who brings their Lordships this,) by much perseverance at last got to their assistance; but as none of the other vessels of the fleet could then get up, I did not think it by any means adviseable to continue so partial and unequal a combat; consequently, with the approbation of his Excellency General Carleton, who did

Print Seller, No. 53, FLEET-STREET. Price ONE SHILLING.]

[Illustration:

me the honor of being on board the Maria, I called off the Carleton and gun-boats, and brought the whole fleet to anchor in a line as near as possible to the rebels, that their retreat might be cut off; which purpose was, however, frustrated by the extreme obscurity of the night; and in the morning the rebels had got a considerable distance from us up the Lake.

Upon the 13th I again saw eleven sail of their fleet making off to Crown-Point, who, after a chace of seven hours, I came up with in the Maria, having the Carleton and Inflexible a small distance a-stern; the rest of the fleet almost out of sight. The action began at twelve o’clock, and lasted two hours; at which time Arnold, in the Congress galley, and five gondolas, ran on shore, and were directly abandoned and blown up by the enemy; a circumstance they were greatly favoured in, by the wind being off shore, and the narrowness of the Lake. The Washington galley struck during the action, and the rest made their escape to Ticonderoga.

The killed and wounded in his Majesty’s fleet, including the artillery in the gun-boats, do not amount to forty; but, from every information I have yet got, the loss of the enemy must indeed be very considerable.

Many particulars which their Lordships may wish to know, I must, at present, take the liberty of referring you to Mr. Dacres for; but as I am well convinced his modesty will not permit him to say how great a share he had in this victory, give me leave to assure you, that during both actions nothing could be more pointedly good than his conduct. I must also do the justice the officers and seamen of this fleet merit, by saying that every person under my command exerted themselves to act up to the character of British seamen.

_A circumstantial and authentic Account of the_ ROADS _and_ DISTANCES _from_ NEW-YORK, _to_ CROWN-POINT.

Miles. From New-York to King’s Bridge 15 King’s Bridge to Conklin’s 22 Conklin’s to Croton’s River 12 Croton’s River to Peekskill 10 Peekskill to Rogers in Highlands 9 Rogers in Highlands to Fishskills 11 Fishskills to Poughkeepsie 14 Poughkeepsie to Staatsborough 11 Staatsborough to Rhynbeck 6 Rhynbeck to Ryer Shermerhorns 10 Ryer Shermerhorns to Rininston’s Manor 14 Rininston’s Manor to Claverack 7 Claverack to Kenderhook 14 Kenderhook to Halfway-house 10 Halfway-house to Albany 10 Albany to Saratoga 36 Saratoga to Fort Edward 20 Fort Edward to Lake George 14 Lake George to Ticonderoga 30 Ticonderoga to Crown Point 15 --- In all 290 ]

Of the results of the fight a few words must be written, because their value to the Americans was well-nigh inestimable under the circumstances. The American fleet had fought to the last gasp. It was well-nigh exterminated, but it had not suffered in vain. It taught the British that the Americans were not only willing, but they were able fighters. In spite of the tremendous odds against them, at the last they had proved themselves as unyielding as the rocks that echoed back the roar of the conflict. Their stubborn wills bade the ambitious Carleton pause and consider. If, with a shattered hulk, they had kept the three best British vessels on the lake at bay until the gondolas were aground and on fire, and if they were then still able to make such a murderous fight as enabled them to fire and burn the last ship with its flag flying till burned away, what would they not do in resisting the British were an attack made on Ticonderoga?

The thought was cooling to the ardor of even Carleton. Worse yet, should he succeed in taking Ticonderoga, these unyielding Yankees would contest every rod of the long wilderness route with a skill that excelled that of Carleton’s best men. And that settled the question that had arisen in Carleton’s mind--the question of the advisability of continuing on his course. As a most excellent account of this fight, which appeared in Dodsley’s (London) “Annual Register” says, “the strength of the works, the difficulty of approach, the countenance of the enemy, and the ignorance of their number, with other cogent reason, prevented this design from taking place.”

Having looked upon “the countenance of the enemy,” Sir Guy Carleton changed his mind. He decided to return to Canada. The most glorious defeat in the annals of the American navy had saved the nation from an invasion that would have severed it in twain, and probably whelmed its forces in utter defeat.

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