The mystery was soon solved. We have already noticed the appeal of General Sehuyler to his troops at the mouth of the Mohawk, and the readiness with whieh Arnold and several hundred men volunteered to march to the relief of Gansevoort. These troops consisted chiefly of the Massachusetts brigade of General Learned. They marched immediately, under the general command of Arnold, and were joined by the first New York regiment, under Colonel Livingston. On the 20th, Arnold and a portion of the troops arrived at Fort Dayton, where he intended to wait for the remainder, under Learned, to arrive; but, hearing of the near approaches of St. Leger to Fort Sehuyler, he resolved to push forward, and hazard a battle before it should be too late. He knew that his small force was too inconsiderable to warrant a regular engagement, and he conceived several stratagems to supply his deficiency of strength. One, whieh proved successful, was adopted. Among the Tory prisoners who were taken with Walter Butler was a coarse, unlettered, half idiot named Hon-
* Letter of St. Leger to Burgoyne, dated Oswego, August 27th, 1777.
** Walter N. Butler, a son of Colonel John Butler, and afterward one of the most brutal of the Tory leaders, with fourteen white soldiers and the same number of Indians, appeared at the German Flats, at the house of a Tory named Shoemaker. Colonel Wesson was then in command of a small fortification there, called Fort Dayton, and he sent a party to arrest Butler and his associates. They succeeded, and Butler was tried and condemned as a spy, but was afterward sent a prisoner to Albany, under a reprieve.
Hon-Yost Schuyler.—His successful Mission to St Léger's Camp.—Arnold's Proclamation.—Alarm of the Indians
Yost Schuyler, a nephew of General Herkimer, who, with his mother and brother, lived near Little Falls. He was tried and condemned to death. His mother hastened to Fort Dayton and pleaded for his life. For a time Arnold was inexorable, but finally consented to spare him, on condition that he should go to Fort Schuyler and endeavor so to alarm St. Leger, by representations of the great number of Americans that were approaching, as to induce him to raise the siege. Hon-Yost readily agreed to perform the duty, for, in reality, his political creed was so chameleon-like, that it would assume any required hue, according to circumstances. His mother offered herself as a hostage for his faithfulness, but Arnold chose his brother Nicholas as security. The latter was placed in confinement, and Hon-Yost, with a friendly Oneida, who promised to aid him, departed for Fort Schuyler.
Arnold, having issued a proclamation from Fort Dayton to counteract the address of Johnson, Claus, and Butler, marched ten miles onward toward Fort Stanwix. There he received a communication from Colonel Gansevoort, announcing that the siege had suddenly been raised, and that the enemy had fled, in great haste, toward Wood Creek; why, he could not imagine. Arnold perceived that Hon-Yost had been faithful. He and the Indian had managed the affair adroitly, and the charge of idiotcy against Hon-Yost was wiped out forever. Before leaving Fort Dayton, he had several bullets shot through his coat, and, with these evidences of a "terrible engagement with the enemy," he appeared among the Indians of St. Leger's camp, many of whom knew him personally. He ran into their midst almost out of breath, and apparently much frightened. He told them that the Americans were approaching in great numbers, and that he had barely escaped with his life. His bullet-riddled coat confirmed the story. When they inquired the number of the Americans, he pointed to the leaves on the trees, and shook his head mysteriously. The Indians were greatly agitated. They had been decoyed into their present situation, and had been moody and uneasy since the battle of Oriskany. At the moment of Hon-Yost's arrival they were engaged in a religious observance—a consultation, through their prophet, of Manitou, or the Great Spirit, to supplicate his guidance and protection. The council of chiefs at the pow-wow at once resolved upon flight, and told St. Leger so. He sent for and questioned Hon-Yost, who told him that Arnold, with two thousand men, would be upon him in twenty-four hours. At that moment, according to arrangement, the friendly Oneida, who had taken a circuitous route, approached the camp from another direction, with a belt. On his way he met two or three straggling Indians of his tribe, who joined him, and they all confirmed the story of Hon-Yost. They pretended that a bird had brought them the news that the valley below was swarming with warriors. One said that the army of Burgoyne was cut to pieces, and another told St. Leger that Arnold had three thousand men near. They shook their heads mysteriously when questioned about numbers by the Indians, and pointed, like Hon-Yost, upward to the leaves. The savages, now thoroughly alarmed, prepared to flee. St. Leger tried every means, by offers of bribes and promises, to induce them to remain, but the panic, and suspicion of foul play, had determined them to go. He tried to make them drunk, but they refused to drink. He then besought them to take the rear of his army in retreating; this they refused, and indignantly said, "You mean to sacrifice us. When you marched down, you said there would be no fighting for us Indians; we might go down and smoke our pipes; whereas numbers of our warriors have been killed, and you mean
* The address of Arnold was well calculated to awe the timid and give courage to the wavering Whigs. The prestige of his name gave great weight to it. He prefaced it with a flourish of his title and position, as follows: "By the Honorable Benedict Arnold, Esq., general and commander-in-chief of the army of the United States of America on the Mohawk River." He denominated a certain Barry St. Leger "a leader of a banditti of robbers, murderers, and traitors, composed of savages of America and more savage Britons," and denounced him as a seducer of the ignorant and unthinking from the cause of freedom, and as threatening ruin and destruction to the people. He then offered a free pardon to all who had joined him or upheld him, "whether savages, Germans, Americans, or Britons," provided they laid down their arms and made oath of allegiance to the United States within three days. But if they persisted in their "wicked courses," and "were determined to draw on themselves the just vengeance of Heaven and their exasperated country, they must expect no mercy from either."
August 23, 1777
Flight of St. Leger's Forces to Oswego.—The Spoils.—Amusement of the Indians.—End of the Siege.—Captain Gregg
August 23, 1777 to sacrifice us also." * The council broke up, and the Indians fled. The panic was communicated to the rest of the camp, and in a few hours the beleaguering army were flying in terror toward their boats on Oneida Lake. Hon-Yost accompanied them in their flight as far as Wood Creek, where he managed to desert. He found his way back to the fort that night, and was the first to communicate to Colonel Gansevoort the intelligence of Arnold's approach. ** The Indians, it is said, made themselves merry at the precipitate flight of the whites, *** who threw away their arms and knapsacks, so that nothing should impede their progress. The savages also gratified their passion for murder and plunder by killing many of their retreating allies on the borders of the lake, and stripping them of every article of value. They also plundered them of their boats, and, according to St. Leger, "became more formidable than the enemy they had to expect." **** Half starved and naked, the whites of the scattered army made their way to Oswego, and, with St. Leger, went down Ontario to Canada..