scent upon them from Oswego might be expected. As early as June, a man from Canada, arrested as a spy, had disclosed the fact that a detachment of British troops, Canadians and Indians, was to penetrate the country by way of Oswego and the Mohawk, to join Burgoyne when he should reach Albany. This intelligence was soon after confirmed by Thomas Spencer, a friendly Oneida half-breed sachem, who was sent to Canada a secret emissary for information. He was present at a council where Colonel Claus, * a brother-in-law of Sir John Johnson, presided, and there he became acquainted with the general plans of Burgoyne. The Oneida further informed the inhabitants that Sir John Johnson and Colonel Claus, with their families, were then at Oswego in command of seven hundred Indians and four hundred regular troops; that there were six hundred Tories at Oswegatchio (Ogdensburgh) ready to join them; and that Colonel John Butler was to arrive at Oswego on the 14th of July, from Niagara, with Tories and Indians.
This information, instead of arousing the Whigs of the Mohawk Valley to prompt and efficient action, seemed to paralyze them with alarm. The timid were backward in preparing for the field, and the wavering, considering the patriot cause almost hopeless, became Loyalists, or, at best, passive Whigs.
Fort Schuyler was still unfinished, and feebly garrisoned, and certain discomfiture seemed to await the patriots in that region. Colonel Gansevoort, however, was vigilant, active, and hopeful. He wrote spirited letters to General Schuyler, imploring aid, and that officer as urgently laid the condition of Tryon county before the Provincial Congress of New York, and also the General Congress. But u was then too late to expect succor from a distance, and the people of the Mohawk Valley were thrown upon their own feeble resources for defense. St. Leger and his Rangers, with the forces of Johnson, Claus, Butler, and Brant, mentioned by the Oneida chief, were already in motion, and on the 1st of August the enemy, one thousand seven hundred strong, came up Oneida Lake, and near the ruins of old Fort Newport prepared to invest Fort Schuyler. The Indians were led by Brant, and the whole beleaguering force, at the beginning of the march at Oswego Falls, was disposed in admirable order for the journey through the forest. The main body was led by the Indians, under Brant, in five columns, four hundred and sixty paces in front of the advanced guard. The Indians marched in single file, at large distances apart.
Between the five columns and the rear-guard a file of Indians, ten paces apart, formed a line of communication. The advanced guard was one hundred paces in front of the main column, which was disposed in Indian file, the right and left flanks covered by a file of savages. The rear-guard was formed of regular troops. The advanced guard was composed of sixty marksmen, selected from the corps of Johnson's Royal Greens, and led by Captain Watts, a brother-
* Daniel Claus married the daughter of Sir William Johnson, and was a man of considerable influence. Brant entertained for him sentiments of the strongest personal hostility, although both were engaged in the same cause. His wife died in Canada in 1801, and Brant, in the name of the Five Nations, made a speech of condolence on her death. William Claus, deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, was his son.—Sabine's Lives of Ike Loyalists.
* This diagram, representing the order of march of the besieging force, is a reduced copy of an engraving in Stone's Life of Brant. The original drawing, beautifully colored, was found in the writing-desk of St. Leger, which he left behind when he fled from his camp before Fort Schuyler. The following is an explanation of the diagram: aaaaa, five columns of Indians in front, flanking the British flag; 6, advanced guard; n, line of communication between the advanced guard and Indian columns; cc, dd, the left and right wings of the eighth and thirty-fourth regiments (the thirty-fourth on the left side); e, rear-guard, Indians on the right and left flanks; i i, line of communication.
Investiture of Fort Schuyler.—A curious Flag.—Arrival of St Leger.—His pompous Manifesto