The Surrender of Burgoyne

The story of Burgoyne's expedition we have already partly told, in the fate of its detachment against Fort Schuyler. The main army we have traced in its course as far as Fort Edward. So far it had met with uniform success. It was now destined to encounter irreparable misfortunes. Its commander, General Burgoyne, had gained a degree of celebrity by dashing exploits in Portugal during the late war in that region. Personally he was distinguished for courage, was an admirable tactician, and was intellectually a very able man. Among his officers were Generals Phillips and Fraser, both able and experienced soldiers. His army was a fine one, well-appointed, and reinforced by a large force of Canadians and Indians whom he had called to his aid. General Schuyler, who commanded against him, was removed before the two armies came to blows, and replaced by General Gates. Meanwhile, Sir Henry Clinton was ascending the Hudson, with the purpose of making connection with Burgoyne, and thus assuring the success of the important enterprise. The succeeding events we select from the admirable "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World", by Sir Edward Creasy.

THE war which rent away the North American colonies from England is, of all subjects in history, the most painful for an Englishman to dwell on. It was commenced and carried on by the British ministry in iniquity and folly, and it was concluded in disaster and shame. But the contemplation of it cannot be evaded by the historian, however much it may be abhorred. Nor can any military event be said to have exercised more important influence on the future fortunes of mankind than the complete defeat of Burgoyne's expedition in 1777,-a defeat which rescued the revolted colonists from certain subjection, and which, by inducing the courts of France and Spain to attack England in their behalf, insured the independence of the United States, and the formation of that trans-Atlantic power which not only America but both Europe and Asia now see and feel.

Seven thousand veterans were sent out from England for this expedition, which was accompanied by two or three thousand Canadians and a large body of Indians, whom Burgoyne had induced to join his army.

It was intended that the force thus collected should march southward by the line of the lakes, and thence along the banks of the Hudson River. The British army from New York (or a large detachment of it) was to make a simultaneous movement northward, up the line of the Hudson, and the two expeditions were to unite at Albany, a town on that river. By these operations, all communication between the Northern colonies and those of the centre and South would be cut off. An irresistible force would be concentrated, so as to crush all further opposition in New England; and when this was done, it was believed that the other colonies would speedily submit. The Americans had no troops in the field that seemed able to baffle these movements. Their principal army, under Washington, was occupied in watching over Pennsylvania and the South. At any rate, it was believed that, in order to oppose the plan intended for the new campaign, the insurgents must risk a pitched battle, in which the superiority of the royalists, in numbers, in discipline, and in equipment, seemed to promise to the latter a crowning victory. Without question, the plan was ably formed; and had the success of the execution been equal to the ingenuity of the design, the reconquest or submission of the thirteen United States must in all probability have followed, and the independence which they proclaimed in 1776 would have been extinguished before it existed a second year. No European power had as yet come forward to aid America. It is true that England was generally regarded with jealousy and ill will, and was thought to have acquire, at the treaty of Paris, a preponderance of dominion which was perilous to the balance of power; but, though many were willing to wound, none had yet ventured to strike; and America, if defeated in 1777, would have been suffered to fall unaided.

Burgoyne reached the left bank of the Hudson River on the 30th of July. Hitherto he had overcome every difficulty which the enemy and the nature of the country had placed in his way. His army was in excellent order and in the highest spirits, and the peril of the expedition seemed over when they were once on the bank of the river which was to be the channel of communication between them and the British army in the South.

The success of this march had been viewed by the Americans with the greatest alarm, and every effort was made to raise an army to repel the triumphant foe.

The local governments of the New England States, as well as the Congress, acted with vigor and firmness in their efforts to repel the enemy. General Gates was sent to take the command of the army at Saratoga; and Arnold, a favorite leader of the Americans, was despatched by Washington to act under him, with reinforcements of troops and guns from the main American army. Burgoyne's employment of the Indians now produced the worst possible effects. Though he had labored hard to check the atrocities which they were accustomed to commit, he could not prevent the occurrence of many barbarous outrages, repugnant both to the feelings of humanity and to the laws of civilized warfare. The American commanders took care that the reports of these excesses should be circulated far and wide, well knowing that they would make the stern New Englanders not droop, but rage.