Gates did not follow up his advantage. The two armies glared at each other. There was no rest for either side. There was sharp skirmishing all along the lines. The nights were made hideous by the howls of large packs of wolves that were attracted by the partially buried bodies of those slain in the battle.
At last, on October 7, Burgoyne came out from his entrenched camp with fifteen hundred picked men and ten cannon. A bloody hand-to-hand battle was fought.
Gates had removed Arnold from his command. Angry and desperate, this impetuous but hard fighter placed himself at the head of a detachment of the Continental troops, and under a terrific fire led the men to battle. Mounted on a dark-brown horse, he rode at full gallop over the field. He was greeted with wild cheers. "Call that fellow back," said Gates, "or he will do something rash." With mad fury his men charged and drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet.
In the final retreat a wounded Hessian, lying on the ground, took aim and fired at Arnold. The bullet killed his horse and wounded the general in the same leg that had been hit by a musket ball nearly two years before, at the storming of Quebec. A thousand times better would it have been had the bullet gone through his heart!
As Arnold fell, one of his men rushed up and was just going to bayonet the soldier who had shot his beloved general; but Arnold cried, "In Heaven's name, don't kill him! He is a fine fellow!" This was the moment when the general whom Washington so much admired for his rash bravery should have died.
In less than an hour the British were driven back and retreated behind their entrenchments.
Some time afterward, when Arnold had turned traitor and captured an American officer, he asked him, "What will your people do with me if they catch me?"
"If my countrymen catch you," replied the fearless patriot, "they will first cut off your lame leg, which was wounded at Quebec and Saratoga, and bury it with the honors of war, and afterwards hang the rest of your body on a gallows."
Darkness alone stopped the battle. General Morgan, as he saw a brave Scottish officer riding everywhere along the line, said to one of his best marksmen: "That is General Fraser. I admire and honor him, but it is necessary that he should die. Take your station in yonder bushes and do your duty." Shortly afterwards, this splendid Scotchman, who said to an aid when warned of his peril, "My duty forbids me to fly from danger," fell mortally wounded.
196. Effect of the Great Victory at Saratoga.—Such was the battle of Bemis Heights, or Saratoga. It was really fought within a very few rods of the place where the battle of Freeman's Farm occurred.