The works in the Delaware now engaged the attention of the British and American generals. Lord Howe, by continued exertion, having overcome the obstructions which the Americans had placed in the river at Billingsport, a joint attack by sea and land was planned against Red Bank and Fort island. The Augusta, a sixty-four gun ship, the Merlin frigate, and several small armed vessels, moved up the Delaware to assault the works on Fort or Mud island. Count Donop crossed into New Jersey with twelve hundred Germans, and in the evening of the 22d appeared before fort Mercer, on Red Bank. His assault was highly spirited, and the defence intrepid and obstinate. Colonel Green, the commandant, whose garrison did not exceed five hundred men, was unable adequately to map the outworks; but he galled the Germans in their advance, and on their near approach he quitted them, and retired within the inner intrenchments. They pressed forward with undaunted bravery, and the Americans poured upon them a deadly fire. Count Donop was himself mortally wounded at the head of his gallant corps; the second in command soon after fell, and the third immediately drew off his forces. The assailants had four hundred men killed and wounded, while the garrison, fighting under cover, had only thirty. In the mean time, fort Mifflin was attacked by the shipping, and by batteries erected on the Pennsylvania shore. Incessant volleys of bombs and cannon-balls were discharged upon it. But at ebb tide the Augusta and Merlin grounded, and were burnt. The garrison supported this tremendous fire without material injury. The resistance of the forts on the Delaware far exceeding the expectations of the British commanders, they adopted measures to overcome it without the hazard of a second assault. They erected batteries upon Providence island, within five hundred yards of the American fort. They also brought up their shipping, gun-boats, &c., and from the 10th to the 16th of November, battered the American works. By this time the defences were entirely beaten down, every piece of cannon was dismounted, and one of the ships approached so near fort Mifflin as to throw hand-grenades from her tops into it, which killed the men upon the platform. The brave garrison received orders to quit the post. Red Bank being no longer useful, its garrison and stores were also withdrawn on the approach of lord Cornwallis with five thousand men to invest it.
While these inauspicious operations were carried on in the south, the northern portion of the country was a theatre of events that more than counterbalanced them. A principal object of the British in the campaignof this year, was to open a free communication between New York and Canada. The British ministry were sanguine in their hopes, that, by effecting this object, New England, which they considered as the soul of the confederacy, might be severed from the neighboring states, and compelled to submission. In prosecution of this design, an army of British and German troops, amounting to upwards of seven thousand men, exclusive of artillery, was put under the command of lieutenant-general Burgoyne, an enterprising and able officer. The plan of operations consisted of two parts. General Burgoyne with the main body was to advance by way of lake Champlain, and force his way to Albany, or, at least, so far as to effect a junction with the royal army from New York; and lieutenant-colonel St. Leger, with about two hundred British, a regiment of New York loyalists, raised and commanded by Sir John Johnson, and a large body of Indians, was to ascend the St. Lawrence to lake Ontario, and from that quarter to penetrate toward Albany by the way of the Mohawk river.
General Burgoyne arrived at Quebec in May. In the latter end of June he advanced with his army to Crown Point, and from thence proceeded to invest Ticonderoga, which was soon abandoned by the Americans, under general St. Clair, who, after a distressing march, joined general Schuyler at fort Edward, on the river Hudson. General Burgoyne, having with incredible labor and fatigue conducted his army through the wilderness from Skenesborough, reached fort Edward on the 30th of July. As he approached that place, general Schuyler, whose forces, even since the junction of St. Clair, did not exceed four thousand four hundred men, retired over the Hudson to Saratoga. Early in August St. Leger invested fort Schuyler, and at first obtained some advantages over the Americans;but, by stratagem,[120] the Indians were induced to desert him,and finding himself abandoned by seven or eight hundred of these important auxiliaries,[121] he decamped in great confusion, and returned to Montreal, leaving his tents, with most of his artillery and stores, in the field. While St. Leger was thus unsuccessful at fort Schuyler,a detachment under colonel Baum, despatched to seize a large depot in New Hampshire grants, was also defeated by a body of militia under general Stark.[122] Meanwhile,general Burgoyne, having collected about thirty days’ provision, and thrown a bridge of boats over the Hudson, crossed that river on the 13th and 14th of September, and encamped on the heights and plains of Saratoga. General Gates, who had recently taken the chief command of the northern department of the American army, advanced toward the British, and encamped three miles above Stillwater.
On the night of the 17th, Burgoyne encamped within four miles of the American army; and about noon on the 19th advanced in full force against it. The right wing was commanded by general Burgoyne, and covered by general Frazer and colonel Breyman with the grenadiers and light infantry, who were posted along some high grounds on the right. The front and flanks were covered by Indians, provincials, and Canadians. The left wing and artillery were commanded by major-generals Phillips and Reidesel, who proceeded along the great road. Colonel Morgan, who was detached to observe their motions, and to harass them as they advanced, soon fell in with their pickets in front of their right wing, attacked them sharply, and drove them in. A strong corps was brought up to support them, and, after a severe encounter, Morgan was compelled to give way; but a regiment was ordered to assist him, and the action became more general. The commanders on both sides supported and reinforced their respective parties; and about four o’clock, Arnold, with nine continental regiments and Morgan’s corps, was completely engaged with the whole right wing of the British army. The engagement began at three o’clock in the afternoon, and continued till after sunset, when the Americans thought proper to retire, and leave the British masters of the field of battle. The loss on each side was nearly equal, six hundred being killed and wounded on the part of the British, and the same number on the side of the Americans. No advantages resulted to the British troops from this encounter; while the conduct of the Americans fully convinced every one ‘that they were able to sustain an attack in open plains with the intrepidity, the spirit, and the coolness of veterans. For four hours they maintained a contest hand to hand; and when they retired, it was not because they were conquered, but because the approach of night made a retreat to their camp absolutely necessary.’
Both armies lay some time in sight of each other, each fortifying its camp in the strongest manner possible. Meanwhile, the difficulties of the British general were daily increasing; his auxiliary Indians deserted him soon after the battle of Stillwater; and his army, reduced to little more than five thousand men, was limited to half the usual allowance of provisions; the stock of forage also was entirely exhausted, and his horses were perishing in great numbers; the American army had become so augmented as to render him diffident of making good his retreat; and, to aggravate his distress, no intelligence had yet been received of the approach of general Clinton, or of any diversion in his favor from New York. In this exigency, general Burgoyne resolved to examine the possibility of dislodging the Americans from their posts on the left, by which means he would be enabled to retreat to the lakes. For this purpose he drew out fifteen hundred men, which he headed himself, attended by generals Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer. This detachment had scarcely formed, within less than half a mile of the American intrenchments, when a furious attack was made, which, though bravely resisted, was decidedly to the advantage of the assailants. General Burgoyne now became convinced that it was impossible to conduct any further offensive operations, and endeavored to make good his retreat to fort George.
Artificers were accordingly despatched, under a strong escort, to repair the bridges, and open the roads, but they were compelled to make a precipitate retreat. The situation of general Burgoyne becoming every hour more hazardous, he resolved to attempt a retreat by night to fort Edward; but even this retrograde movement was rendered impracticable. While the army was preparing to march, intelligence was received that the Americans had already possessed themselves of the fort, and that they were well provided with artillery. No avenue to escape now appeared. Incessant toil and continual engagements had worn down the British army; its provisions were nearly exhausted, and there were no means of procuring a supply; while the American army, which was daily increasing, was already much greater than the British in point of numbers, and almost encircled them. In this extremity, the British general called a council of war; and it was unanimously resolved to enter into a convention with general Gates. Preliminaries were soon settled, and the royal army, to the number of five thousand seven hundred and fifty, surrendered prisoners of war.
The capture of an entire army was justly viewed as an event that must essentially affect the contest between Great Britain and America; and while it excited the highest joy among the Americans, it could not but have a most auspicious influence on their affairs in the cabinet and in the field. The thanks of congress were voted to general Gates and his army; and a medal of gold, in commemoration of this splendid achievement, was ordered to be struck, to be presented to him by the president, in the name of the United States.
Surrender at Saratoga.
General Burgoyne’s surrender is certainly, in a considerable degree, to be attributed to the want of co-operation both on the part of general Carleton, in Canada, and of Sir Henry Clinton, at New York. The latter, indeed, performed a service, which, if effected a little earlier, might possibly have relieved Burgoyne. With nearly three thousand men, convoyed by some ships of war under commodore Hotham, he conducted an expedition upHudson’s river, in October, against the forts Montgomery and Clinton. When arrived within a mile of the place of destination, the troops separated into two columns; the one, consisting of nine hundred men, under lieutenant Campbell, was destined for the attack on fort Montgomery; the other, under the immediate command of Sir Henry Clinton, was to storm the stronger post of fort Clinton. The garrison, when summoned, having refused to surrender, the assault was made on both forts at the same instant. These fortresses, which were separated from each other by a creek only, were commanded by governor Clinton, a brave and intelligent officer, who made a gallant resistance from four in the afternoon, when the attack began, until dark; but, the post having been designed principally to prevent the passing of ships, the works on the land side were incomplete and untenable, and the assailants entered them with fixed bayonets. Most of the garrison, however, effected their escape, undercover of the thick smoke and darkness.