Part 32

On the 13th, gen. Burgoyne finding that the troops had only three days provision in store, on short allowance, and no apparent means of retreat remaining, called into council all the generals, field-officers, and captains commanding corps. There was not a spot of ground in the whole camp for holding the council of war, but what was exposed to cannon or rifle shot. While the council was deliberating, an eighteen pound ball crossed the table. By the unanimous advice and concurrence of the council, the general was induced to open a treaty with gen. Gates. The first proposals of the latter were rejected, and the sixth article with disdain, wherein it was required that the British army should lay down their arms in the entrenchments. Burgoyne’s counter-proposals were unanimously approved; and being sent to Gates, were agreed to on the 5th, without any material alteration. The proposals not being signed by either party, and captain Campbell returning in the night of 16th to Burgoyne, with the news of the reduction of Fort Montgomery and other intelligence, the general submitted it to consideration, whether it was consistent with public faith, and if so, expedient to suspend the execution of the treaty, and trust to events. The opinion of different officers was asked, in regard to the condition of their respective corps, and what might be expected from them severally in desperate cases. Some entertained doubts of part of the troops, if the negociation ceased; and others of a greater part for want of bodily strength, if desperate enterprises were to be afterward undertaken. The majority of the council determined, that the public faith was _bona fide_ plighted.[76] Burgoyne, from the intelligence brought in the night by Campbell, entertained a slight hope of remote relief, and accordingly gave his voice against the majority; but the majority having determined differently, the concurrence for signing the treaty was unanimous.[77] Gates, jealous lest the signing would be unnecessarily delayed, and fearful of the consequences which might follow, should gen. Vaughan, with his troops, come up in time to Burgoyne’s assistance, determined upon bringing the matter to an immediate issue. On the morning of the 17th, he got every thing in readiness for attacking the royal army. This done, he took out his watch, the time agreed upon for signing being come; sent col. Greaton, on horseback, to Burgoyne, with a message, requiring their general to sign; and allowed him no more than ten minutes to go and return. He was back in time. The treaty was signed: all hostile appearances ceased; and the Americans marched into their lines, to the tune of Yankee Doodle. They were kept there until the royal army had marched out of their lines, and deposited their arms at the place appointed by the treaty.

The delicacy with which this business was conducted, reflects the highest honor upon the American general. It intimated, that he was sensible of the mortification attending a reverse of fortune; and that he was unwilling to aggravate the painful feelings of the royal troops, by admitting the American soldiery to be eye-witnesses to the degrading spectacle of piling their arms. His humanity and politeness are the more praise-worthy, as some late, as well as former circumstances, had highly enraged the militia. The extraordinary and severe measures pursued upon the North-River by the British, and to be related below, might also have afforded too much colour for a different mode of conduct.

When the arms was deposited agreeable to treaty, the royal troops were served with bread by the Americans, as they had neither any left nor flour to make it. They had only one day’s salt meat remaining.

The treaty is stiled—_A convention between lieutenant-general Burgoyne and major-general Gates_. The articles follow:——1. The troops under lieut. gen. Burgoyne, to march out of their camp with the honors of war, and the artillery of the intrenchments to the verge of the river where the old fort stood, where the arms and artillery are to be left.—The arms to be piled by word of command from their own officers:—2. A free passage to be granted to the army under lieut. gen. Burgoyne to Great-Britain, upon condition of not serving again in North-America during the present contest; and the port of Boston to be assigned for the entry of transports, to receive the troops, whenever gen. Howe shall so order:—3. Should any cartel take place, by which the army under lieut. gen. Burgoyne, or any part of it, may be exchanged, the foregoing article to be void, as far as such exchange shall be made:—4. The army under lieut. gen. Burgoyne is to march to Massachusetts-Bay, by the easiest and most expeditious and convenient route; and to be quartered in, near, or as convenient as possible to Boston, that the march of the troops may not be delayed when transports arrive to receive them:—5. The troops to be supplied on the march, and during their being in quarters, with provisions, by major-general Gates’s orders, at the same rate of rations as the troops of his own army; and if possible, the officers horses and cattle are to be supplied with forage at the usual rates:—6. All officers, to retain their carriages, bat-horses, and other cattle, and no baggage to be molested or searched; lieut. gen. Burgoyne giving his honor, that there are no public stores contained therein. Major-gen. Gates will of course take the necessary measures for the due performance of this article: should any carriages be wanted during the march, for the transportation of officers baggage, they are, if possible, to be supplied by the country at the usual rates:—7. Upon the march, and during the time the army shall remain in quarters, in the Massachusetts-Bay, the officers are not, as far as circumstances will admit, to be separated from their men. The officers are to be quartered according to their rank, and are not to be hindred from assembling their men for roll-callings, and other necessary purposes of regularity:—8. All corps whatever of lieut. gen. Burgoyne’s army, whether composed of sailors, batteaux men, artificers, drivers, independent companies, and fowlers of the army, of whatever country, shall be included in the fullest sense and utmost extent of the above articles, and comprehended in every respect as British subjects:—9. All Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian establishment, consisting of sailors, batteaux-men, artificers, drivers, independent companies, and many other followers of the army, who come under no particular description, are to be permitted to return there: they are to be conducted immediately, by the shortest route to the first British post on Lake George, are to be supplied with provisions in the same manner as the other troops, and to be bound by the same condition of not serving during the present contest in North-America:—10. Passports to be immediately granted for three officers, not exceeding the rank of captains, who shall be appointed by lieut. gen. Burgoyne, to carry dispatches to Sir Wm. Howe, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Great-Britain by the way of New-York; and major-general Gates engages the public faith, that these dispatches shall not be opened. These officers are to set out immediately after receiving their dispatches, and are to travel by the shortest route, and in the most expeditious manner:—11. During the stay of the troops in the Massachusetts-Bay, the officers are to be admitted on parole, and are to be permitted to wear their side arms:—12. Should the army under lieut. gen. Burgoyne find it necessary to send for their clothing and other baggage from Canada, they are to be permitted to do it in the most convenient manner, and necessary passports to be granted for that purpose:—13. These articles are to be mutually signed and exchange to-morrow morning at nine o’clock; and the troops under lieut. gen. Burgoyne, are to march out of their entrenchments at three o’clock in the afternoon. Camp at Saratoga, October 16, 1777.

HORATIA GATES, _Major General_.

To prevent any doubts that might arise from lieut. gen. Burgoyne’s name not being mentioned in the above treaty, major-general Gates hereby declares, that he is understood to be comprehended in it as fully as if his name had been specifically mentioned.

HORATIA GATES.

Such was the impatience of some of the militia to return home before the royal army had been brought to surrender, and so little their concern to be spectators of the event, that one of the Northampton regiments went off the day before the flag came out from Burgoyne. Another regiment took itself away while the treaty was in agitation. But the fate of the army will confirm the truth of what its commander wrote to lord George Germain, “August the 20th, the great bulk of the country is undoubtedly with the congress in principle and zeal.” When after the convention the officers went into the American camp, they were surprised; and some of them said, that of all the camps they had ever seen in Germany or elsewhere, they never saw any better disposed and secured.

The return signed by gen. Burgoyne, of the foreigners at the time of the convention, amounted to 2412. The British consisted according to him of 10 officers present—145 commissioned—the staff 26—sergeants and drummers 297—rank and file 2901—in all 3379: this added to the Germans, makes 5791. The American account, to show what was the sum total of the royal army acting in the northern department against the country, goes on to reckon, the sick taken 928—the wounded 528—prisoners of war before the convention 400—deserters 300—lost at Bennington 1220—killed between the 17th November to the 18th of October 600—taken at Tyconderoga 413—killed in gen. Herkimer’s battle about 300—making in all 4689. According to this way of reckoning, the royal force was 10480. It was probably full 10000 strong, including Canadians and provincials and exclusive of Indians, drivers, suttlers, &c. Among the prisoners taken were six members of parliament.

The train of brass artillery was a fine acquisition; it consisted of 2 twenty-four pounders—4 twelves—20 sixes—6 threes—2 eight inch howitzers—5 five and a half royal ditto—and 3 five and a half inch royal mortars—in all, 42 pieces of ordnance.—There were 4647 muskets—6000 dozen of cartridges, beside shot, carcasses, cases, shells, &c.

Burgoyne was desirous of a general return of the army commanded by Gates at the time of the convention. The latter understood him, and was careful not to lessen the return by suppressing a single man. The continentals, all ranks included, were 9093: the militia 4129, in all, 13222; but of the former, the sick on furlough were 2103; and of the latter, 562. The number of the militia was continually varying; and many of them were at a considerable distance from the camp.

We now enter upon the retaliation of the measures pursued by the British below Albany. You have been told what were the sentiments of gen. Putnam, on the 9th, as to their sailing up to within sixteen miles of the American camp, before removed from the neighborhood of Stillwater. Sir H. Clinton, however, instead of pushing up the river, intrusted the business to Sir James Wallace and gen. Vaughan. The latter had under him 3600 men. Sir James commanded a flying squadron of light frigates, accompanied with the necessary appendage of barges, batteaux and boats, for landing the troops, and all other movements. By the 13th they reached Kingston alias Æsopus, a fine village, as you would call it; but on this side the Atlantic, a good town. Upon Vaughan’s landing the troops, the Americans, being too weak to make resistance, abandoned their battery of three guns, after spiking them. They left the town immediately for their own safety, without firing from the houses upon the British. Vaughan, however, was told that Burgoyne had actually surrendered;[78] and the town was doomed to the flames. The whole was reduced to ashes, and not a house left standing. The American governor Clinton was a tame spectator of the barbarity, but only for want of a sufficient force to attack the enemy. This seemingly revengeful devastation was productive of a pathetic but severe letter from gen. Gates (then in the height of victory) to gen. Vaughan. The latter with a flood tide might have reached Albany in four hours: there was no force to have hindered him. When he burnt Livingston’s upper mills, had he proceeded to Albany and burnt the American stores, Gates, as he himself has declared, must have retreated into New-England. The royalists may justly remark upon the occasion—“Why a delay was made of seven days after Clinton had taken the forts we are ignorant of. The highland forts were taken the 6th of October; Æsopus was burnt the 13th; Burgoyne’s convention was signed the 17th. There was no force to oppose even open boats on the river; why then did not the boats proceed immediately to Albany? Had Clinton gone forward, Burgoyne’s army had been saved. Putnam could not have crossed to Albany. The army amused themselves with burning Æsopus, and the houses of individuals on the river’s bank.”[79] While the British were manœuvreing in and about the North-River, doing mischief to individuals, without serving their own cause in the least, gen. Gates had express upon express, urging him to send down troops to oppose the enemy. On the 14th he wrote to governor Clinton, “I have ordered the commanding officer at Fort Scuyler to send Van Schaak’s regiment without delay to Albany—desired brigadier-general Gansevoort to repair to that city, and take the command of all the troops that may assemble there—and have sent down the two Æsopus regiments, the Tryon county militia, and most of the militia of Albany county.” But he would not weaken his hold of Burgoyne by any detachment of continentals from his own army or of New-England militia. The New-York state militia, that repaired to the governor to assist the inhabitants, did as much mischief as the enemy, the burning of houses and other buildings excepted. It is too much the case of all militia, that when they march to the assistance of their countrymen against a common enemy they do the former a great deal of damage. The laxness of their discipline, and their unreasonable claims, of indulgences from those whom they are to protect, made them expensive and disageeable guests.

When the convention troops began their march to Boston, the Americans lined the hill and road on each side. They expected to have met with many insults while passing through the centre of them, supposed to be between 11 and 12 thousand; but to their great surprise, not even the least gesture was made us of by way of insult. When they had marched on, Gates pushed the army forward, with the utmost expedition, to stop the cruel career of the British up the North-River. Upon the approach of the Americans Vaughan and Wallace retired to New-York.

It will be some days, before the vessel for France with the news of Burgoyne’s fate, can sail; which admits of my adding to the present letter, destined to go by that conveyance, some other matters proper for insertion.

The Rev. Mr. Duche, formerly the chaplain of congress, made an attempt, by writing, on the patriotism of gen. Washington; nothing more need be said of the transaction than what the general has done, in a letter of October the 16th,——“To Mr. Duche’s ridiculous illiberal performance I made a very short reply by desiring the bearer, Mrs. Ferguson of Graham-park, if she should hereafter, by any accident, meet with Mr. Duche, to tell him, I should have returned it unopened, if I had had any ideas of the contents.”

Some persons in congress have been and are manœuvreing to get gen. Conway promoted, which occasioned the commander in chief’s writing the next day to a confidential friend—“I ask why the youngest brigadier in the service (for I believe Conway is so) should be put over the heads of the eldest? I am assured they will not serve under him, I have been a slave to the service; I have undergone more than most men are aware of, to harmonize so many discordant parts; but it will be impossible for me to be of any further service, if such inseperable difficulties are thrown in my way.”

Before the last year’s Massachusetts general court expired, they passed an act to support and enfore the regulating act, made in January, under the title of an act to prevent monopoly and oppression. By this new act, committees were vested with most extraordinary powers, “which,” as the act says, “can only be justified in cases wherein the very existance of the community is depending.” The vanity and folly however of regulating acts has been so seen and felt, that they have been repealed by the new general court, within these five days.

Boston and Marblehead have been under great difficulties for want of flour and Indian corn; and must have suffered much had it not been for the state importations. On the 15th of August there was not flour in the capital sufficient for the inhabitants longer than the next day, except what belonged to the state. The sea-ports and neighboring towns of this state have been used to receive their supplies of flour mostly by water, and from the places now in the hands of the British; they are therefore liable to be distressed by the operations of the war, though happily exempted from being the seat of it, since the evacuation of Boston.

A secret expedition has been carrying on against Newport, without gen. Washington’s having ever been consulted upon it, or knowing from whence or whom it originated. Gen. Spencer was stationed at Providence, and of course conducted it.—The states of Rhode-Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts furnished almost the whole of the troops. The militia who were called out opon the occasion, readily engaged in the service, for they were filled with the expectations of success, and the hopes of plunder. Every thing went on well for some time, without the British troops knowing that preparations were making for passing over to Rhode-Island, and attacking them. At length a half-witted fellow, without seeing consequences, of his own head carried over in his boat to the island a Jew, whom he landed, and who was to go to Newport, and the neighbourhood, and procure all the intelligence he could and then to return with his information to gen. Spencer. The Jew went to the enemy and acquainted them with the expedition that was going forward. Upon this the British immediately took proper measures for their security. Gen. Spencer however, perfected his preparations. The time and manner for carrying the militia over was settled. Brigadier Palmer, who headed those from the Massachusetts, had his orders given him, but instead of executing them with life and spirit, he neglected and disobeyed them. His conduct occasioned a failure of the expedition. Spencer’s courage would have led him to have attempted carrying the island, after this disappointment, and with a smaller body of troops than were originally to have been employed; but others would not consent to it. The employing of the Connecticut militia in this service, contributed greatly to, if not wholly caused that weakness in the American force stationed on the North-River, which occasioned the loss of the forts Montgomery and Clinton.

A long letter for doct. Fothergill goes by the present opportunity. The writer mentions that the Americans are determined not to part with their independence, and proposes that there should be an immediate acknowledgment of it, on the part of Breat-Britain, and an entering upon a commercial alliance with the United States, before any foreign power interferes.—Numbers have been for some time dissatisfied with the French, because of their not affording more speedy, open, and important assistance. They flatter themselves that the capture of Burgoyne’s army will produce a change in the politics of France. An adoption of the above proposal will be the best expedient for over-reaching her in any design of injuring our native country.

LETTER IX.

_Roxbury, January 29, 1778._

MY DEAR SIR,

The military operations in Pennsylvania, are to be the subjects of our immediate attention. About a fortnight after the German-town battle on the 19th of October the royal army under the command of Sir William Howe, removed to Philadelphia.

Measures being concerted between the general and admiral for clearing the Delaware of its obstructions, the former ordered batteries to be erected on the western or Pennsylvania shore, to assist in dislodging the Americans from Mud-Island. He also detached a strong body of Hessians across the river, who were to march down and reduce the fort at Red-bank, while the ships and batteries on the other side were to attack Mud-Island.—Count Donop commanded the detachment, consisting of three battalions of grenadiers and the regiment of Mirback, beside, light-infantry and chasseurs. The Americans were about four hundred under col. Christopher Greene of Rhode-Island. [Oct. 22.] When near enough, the count sent a flag and demanded a surrender of the fort in the most peremptory terms. The colonel concealed the greatest part of his men, so that the officer with the flag thought the garrison very small. Greene answered—“I shall defend the fort to the last extremity.” Donop attacked the intrenchments, after a sharp action carried an extensive outwork, not half completed; but in the body of the redoubt, which afforded a better covering, the defence was equally vigorous and far more successful. Here indeed the Americans meant to risk the fate of the fort, as they would have the greater advantage of the assailants. The Count was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. Several of the best officers were killed or disabled; and the Hessians, after a desparate engagement, were repulsed. The second in command being also dangerously wounded, the detachment was brought off by lieut. col. Linsing. It suffered not only in the assault but in the approach to and retreat from the fort by the fire of the American gallies and floating batteries. The whole loss was probably not less than 4 or 500 men. Congress have since resolved to present col. Greene with an elegent sword. The men of war and frigates destined for the attack of Mud-Island, alias Fort Mifflin, were equally unfortunate. The ships could not bring their fire to bear with any great effect upon the works. The extraordinary defences with which the free course of the river had been intercepted, had affected its bed, and altered its known and natural channel. By this mean the Augusta man of war and Merlin sloop were grounded so fast, that there was no possibility of getting them off. The Augusta while engaged took fire, and the Merlin was hastily evacuated. The greater part of the officers and crew of the Augusta were saved: but the second lieutenant, chaplain, gunner, and no inconsiderable number of the cammon men perished.—Notwithstanding this ill success, the British commanders prosecuted with vigor the business of opening the navigation.——Nor were the Americans idle; for they left nothing undone to strenghten their defences.