“He didn’t bring them, though,” spoke up Fred quickly.
“Only as far as Saratoga,” laughed Grant. “If it hadn’t been for certain obstacles I guess he would have brought them all the way down the river.”
“I guess he would too,” laughed Fred scornfully, “but his ‘obstacles,’ as you call them, were General Gates, Philip Schuyler, Benedict Arnold and a few other continental soldiers that did not seem to be enthusiastic over allowing Johnnie Burgoyne to come any farther.”
“I was reading the other day,” said Grant, “that the Baroness de Reidesel was with her husband when the Hessians were captured. She had her children with her and to show them due honor Mrs. General Schuyler took the Baroness and her children into her own home. The Hessian lady did not know that Mrs. Schuyler understood German and she rudely carried on some conversation with her children in that language when Mrs. Schuyler was present. One time one of the children piped up and asked his mother, ‘Isn’t this the place that we are to have when our father is made a duke after he has whipped the Yankees?’ As the Baroness glanced up she was aware that Mrs. Schuyler had understood what the boy was saying. She tried to apologize but Mrs. Schuyler was a perfect lady and at once smoothed things out. They say she was a brave woman. There’s one story about her though that I never believed.”
“What was that?” asked John.
“Why they say that thirteen was a magical number for the Americans. The British reported that Martha Washington had a big cat with thirteen stripes around its tail and that she wouldn’t have any other kind. There were just thirteen of the colonies, you know, and that made it worse. And it was reported that General Phil. Schuyler had just thirteen hairs left in his bald pate and that Mrs. Catherine Schuyler very carefully oiled and brushed them every night for fear that the magic number might be changed.”
“She had better brush his hair than pull it,” suggested George.
“I can remember the time,” said John, “when my mother used to brush and pull my hair at the same time.”
“So can I,” said every one of the boys together.
“Well, the main thing is,” said Fred philosophically, “that George Washington had some headquarters and that it’s a good thing for the United States of America that he did. I wish we had some men now as great as he was.”