Early next day it became evident that General Burgoyne was preparing for some desperate move. Before night he had advanced his lines within two miles of the Continentals, and the skirmishing parties sent out from the entrenchments of the latter reported that the British forces were resting on their guns.
“It means that on the morrow he will attempt to force his way to Albany,” General Schuyler said to General Gates.
“Well, if you really think so,” the officer replied indifferently, “you may notify my subordinates to stand ready to stop him,” and at an early hour he sought his bed.
Not another officer closed his eyes that night, and when the memorable nineteenth day of September dawned it found the rival hosts confronting each other.
The main body of the Continentals was on the right under General Lincoln; the left under Poor; the center was mainly made up of Learned’s brigade. Morgan’s riflemen and Dearborn’s infantry stood under Arnold, who had returned from Fort Stanwix, on the heights, nearly a mile from the river.
At ten o’clock General Burgoyne advanced his army in three columns; the left consisting of artillery under General Phillips, and Hessians under General Riedesel; the center and right were commanded by Burgoyne himself, but covered by General Fraser and Colonel Breyman. The Canadians and Indians were sent forward to occupy the Continentals in front.
No order came from General Gates for his forces to advance, and Colonel Arnold, growing desperate, rode off to the commander’s tent urging him to allow the troops to engage the enemy, until he finally gave orders for the Indians to be driven back.
Taking this as permission for a general charge, the Continentals rushed like a mountain torrent upon the foe. Arnold, with Morgan’s assistance, held Fraser while he was endeavoring to reach the American rear. Here the fighting became desperate, but the patriots, encountering the British under Burgoyne, and played on by Phillips’s guns, were, at three o’clock, forced back into line. For four or five hours Colonel Arnold had maintained the fight with the choicest English regiments. A lull now occurred during which both armies drew breath.
“It’s been tough work, lieutenant,” Dan Cushing said to Philip Schuyler, as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Yes,” the lad replied, “an’ our comrades are all right. When the fightin’ ceased they went down into the ravine for a drink of water. They’ll be back ’fore the lull is over.”