For the defence of Philadelphia the militia of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Northern Virginia were called out. Washington with his troops marched through the city, and established his headquarters at Wilmington, at the confluence of the Brandywine and Christiana Creek. There were many tories in Philadelphia. Washington wished to make such a display of his military power as to overawe them.
He rode at the head of the army accompanied by a numerous staff. Lafayette was by his side. They marched, with as imposing array as possible, down Front and up Chestnut street.
“The long column of the army, broken into divisions and brigades, the pioneers, with their axes, the squadrons of horse, the extended train of artillery, the tramp of steed, the bray of trumpet, and the spirit-stirring sound of drum and fife, all had an imposing effect on a peaceful city, unused to the sight of marshaled armies.”[153]
While Philadelphia was thus imperiled, General Burgoyne was advancing upon the Hudson from Canada, with a strong and well-conditioned army.[154] The tories were flocking to his standard. A large band of northern Indians accompanied him. There was a very beautiful girl, Jane McCrea, the daughter of a New Jersey clergyman, who was visiting a family on the upper waters of the Hudson.
Her lover, to whom she was engaged to be married, was a tory, and was in the British army. Under these circumstances she felt no anxiety, in reference to her personal safety, from the approach of Burgoyne’s troops. Still, at the urgent solicitation of some of her friends, she decided to embark in a large bateau, with several other families, to descend the river to Albany.
On the morning of the intended embarkation, suddenly the hideous yell of the savage was heard. A demoniac band surrounded the house, and Miss McCrea was seized as a captive. A quarrel arose among the savages as to who was entitled to the prize. In the fray an Indian, maddened probably with rum as well as rage, buried his tomahawk in her brain. He then stripped off her scalp, and her gory body was left unburied.
Burgoyne was naturally a humane man. He was horror-stricken in view of this deed. But the murderer was a renowned chief and warrior. At any attempt to punish him, all the Indians would desert his camp. Consequently the crime was unpunished. The manifest displeasure of Burgoyne exasperated the Indians, and they soon all disappeared, carrying with them all the plunder they could obtain.[155]
The British troops were rendezvoused at Fort Edward, not far from Crown Point. The British had large forces in this region. They were able to detach seventeen hundred men to besiege Fort Schuyler, formerly called Fort Stanwix, on the right bank of the Mohawk River, at the head of navigation. Colonel St. Leger had command of this force. He had gathered a large band of savages. From behind the forest trees they kept up a constant fire upon any of the garrison who exposed themselves to repair the parapets when injured by shot or shell. At night the woods were filled with their fiend-like yells and howlings.
A party of eight hundred men was sent to the rescue of the garrison. One of the most desperate and bloody battles of the Revolution took place. Both parties suffered terribly. Each side lost about four hundred in killed and wounded. Still the loss was by no means equal. The British regulars were generally the offscouring of the cities of Europe. But the Americans who fell were among the most worthy and intelligent of husbands and sons in the farm-houses of the valley of the Mohawk. Neither party admitted a defeat, and neither claimed a victory. The Americans still held the fort.[156]
The German troops were very reluctant to recognize the Indians as their allies. One of the Hessian officers wrote: