When it had come to be July of this year, there was some fighting in the North, for the British General Burgoyne came down from Canada. He intended to meet the army under Howe which was marching northward, and the two armies were to sweep everything before them. Burgoyne defeated the Americans led by General Philip Schuyler, in several battles. Just at this time General Schuyler's command was given to General Gates. Now Gates followed the plans that had been made by Schuyler, with the result that Burgoyne and his entire force of 6,000 men surrendered at Saratoga. This settled one branch of the British army. The other branch, under General Howe, took possession of Philadelphia, but the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga put an end to their hopes of sweeping everything before them.
In the last month of the year, Washington and his army took up winter quarters at Valley Forge so as to keep a close watch upon the British in Philadelphia.
CHAPTER XXIX
NEW YORK a PRISON-HOUSE
The winter passed, and when the spring came the British army moved from Philadelphia to New York City, but not without great trouble, for Washington's army fought them every step of the way across New Jersey.
The city was now quite different from the flourishing town it had been before the war. Held possession of by the British, it was a military camp. No improvements were made. Many of the citizens who were loyal to the American cause had fled. Those who were too poor to leave pretended to favor the British, but as little business could be done, they could find no work, and their condition became worse daily. Thousands of American prisoners were brought here, making it a British prison-house, and every building of any size was a guard-house, every cellar a dungeon.
