The British army was at Saratoga, ill-supplied with provisions, and unable to advance or retreat. Without hope of relief, on the 13th of October Burgoyne made overtures to General Gates which resulted on the 17th in the surrender of his entire army, reduced since its departure from Canada to less than 6,500 men, including more than 500 sick and wounded.
When the news reached Ticonderoga, the troops stationed there at once prepared to retreat to Canada. The barracks and houses there and at Mount Independence were burned. All the boats not needed for the embarkation of the troops were sunk with their cargoes, and the cannon spiked or broken. It was gloomy autumnal weather when, in a few open boats, the garrison slunk back through the "Gate of the Country." The present plight of the poor remnant of Burgoyne's splendid army was a sorry contrast to the proud advance of the gallant host that had passed these portals in the brightness of summer. No beat of drum nor strain of martial music now marked their passage, but in silent haste they pursued their way, in constant fear of attack whenever they approached the shores, that now were as sombre in their scant and faded leafage as the dreary November sky that overhung them.
The doughty and aggressive Captain Ebenezer Allen harassed their rear whenever opportunity was given for striking a blow. With a little force of fifty men of Herrick's Rangers, he took forty-nine prisoners, more than a hundred horses, twelve yokes of oxen, three boats, and a considerable quantity of stores.
Among the chattels taken by him were a slave woman, Dinah Mattis, and her child. Faithful to his convictions of the injustice of slavery, he set them free, having first obtained the consent of his Green Mountain Boys, among whom all captured property was to be divided.
Herrick's regiment was dismissed with the thanks of the council for "good services to this and the United States," and warm acknowledgment of its services from General Gates. Warner and his Continental regiment were on the Hudson with Gates's army, and Vermont was again without an armed force.
Ticonderoga, during the abortive planning of a Canadian invasion, was occupied for a time by a small garrison under Colonel Udney Hay. Otherwise the dismantled fortress remained for months in the desolation of ruin and desertion.
No longer menaced by the presence of the enemy, the inhabitants of Vermont, who had fled on Burgoyne's approach, returned to their homes, and made a late harvest of such crops as had not been destroyed, gathering, in almost winter weather, the scant remnants of their corn and hay.
The people who had been driven from their homes were so destitute of grain, both for food and for seed, that the council prohibited, under heavy penalties, the transportation of any wheat, rye, Indian corn, flour, or meal out of the State without a permit, excepting Continental stores.
Suffering privations that can now be scarcely understood, these people struggled through the long and bitter winter, never losing hope nor courage, though the gaunt wolf of hunger was often at their doors, and the future was as vague as the storm-veiled border of the encircling forest.
The Council of Safety was kept busily employed in providing for the defense of the frontier; in passing judgment upon Tories who were imprisoned, banished, or fined; in issuing orders for the disposal of their property, and permits to persons under suspicion to remain on their farms, or to visit certain points and return,—to some who had taken "the Oath of Fidellity," the liberty of the town, or a permit to pass to another place, they "to Behave as Becometh." "Comfort Canfield is permitted to go to Arlington to see his sick wife and return in thirty hours;" another is to go and "take care of his children and to return within six days;" Henry Batterman, a German soldier, is allowed to go to Colonel Simonds till further orders; Henry Bulls, who had joined the enemy in "Infamous Captain Samuel Adams's company," is permitted, on taking the oath of allegiance to the States of America, to pass to his farm in Manchester, there to remain, "he behaving as becometh a friend to his Country." There are orders to procure sides of leather from "Marshes Fratts;"[78] to transport "berrils of flour" to Colonel Herrick's regiment; to the Commissioners of Sequestration to seize the property of "Enimical Persons," and sell the same at vendue. Mary Reynolds is permitted to send for her "Gray horse and keep him till further orders." The wives of Captain Adams and Captain Sherwood are allowed to pass to their husbands at Ticonderoga, "necessary clothing and beds" allowed. Captain Nathan Smith is to "march to Pawlet on horseback with the men under his command and there receive a horse Load of Flours to Each man and horse;" and Captain Wood is ordered to take charge of the same, and "without one minute's loss of time" proceed to Pawlet and thence to Colonel Warner. When he returns he is to take "especial Care that the Horses and Bags be returned to their proper owners." It appears that two of the men did not return the horses, and were apprehended for horse-stealing, and were sentenced by the council to be made a public example of, "to Deter people from such vicious practices," each to receive thirty-nine lashes on the naked back, at the liberty pole. This sentence was revoked and a fine substituted upon their making restitution. Five teams are dispatched to bring off the plunder secured by Colonel Brown. Colonel Herrick receives the thanks of the council for his spirited behavior in "his late noble enterprise," and in the same letter is informed there are thirty pairs of shoes ready for him at Shaftsbury. One order directs Benjamin Fassett to repair to Pownal, and bring from some of the Tories who had gone to the enemy, or otherwise proved themselves enemies of the country, "a Load of Saus for the use of the Hundred prisoners" at Bennington. He is "to leave sufficient for their families," and it appears that the Tories were generally treated with quite as much leniency as they deserved. Among the many curious orders is one issued in January, 1778, on application of General Stark to Captain Samuel Robinson, Overseer of Tories, "to detail ten effective men under proper officers, to march in Two Distinct files from this place through the Green Mountains to Col. Wm. Williams Dwelling-house in Draper Alias Wilmington within this State who are to March & Tread the Snow in s^d Road to suitable width for a Sleigh or Sleighs with a Span of Horses on Each Sleigh, and order them to return Marching in the Same manner to this place with all convenient Speed."[79]