Burgoyne availed himself of the water transportation of Lake George for most of his artillery and stores; but, for the march of his army from Skenesborough, a trackless wilderness confronted him, through which he had to remove countless obstacles, cut a new pathway, and build no less than forty bridges, one of which, over a swamp, was two miles long. Wood Creek had also to be opened for his bateaux. In these laborious undertakings his army was exhausted with overwork, and suffered terribly with midsummer heat and innumerable insects. Consequently, with his utmost efforts, he did not reach Fort Edward till July 30th, or twenty-four days after leaving Lake Champlain, a distance of only twenty-six miles. Burgoyne remained at Fort Edward till August 15th, awaiting the transportation across the portage from Lake George of the necessary artillery, ammunition, provisions, and bateaux for his descent of the Hudson.
During this enforced delay important events were occurring elsewhere, on the Mohawk and near Bennington. General Lincoln at the same time was recruiting troops in New England, with which to attempt the recapture of Ticonderoga and cut off the British retreat to Canada.
Fort Stanwix, or Fort Schuyler as it was subsequently called, on the head-waters of the Mohawk, near the present Rome, N. Y., was built in 1758, and in April, 1777, was put under command of Colonel Gansevoort, who, with Colonel Marinus Willet, placed it in a better condition of defence. The garrison of the work was 750 Continental troops, before which St. Leger, accompanied by the loyalist Sir John Johnson, and Joseph Brant the great Mohawk chief, appeared, August 2, and the next day summoned it to surrender. Gansevoort paying no attention to this, the British colonel prepared for a regular siege, and sent out detachments to cut off all succor.
The inhabitants of Tryon County were panic-stricken, but the aged General Herkimer by great efforts collected 800 militia and marched to Oriskany, within eight miles of the fort, to which he sent a messenger with a request that upon the messenger's arrival three guns should be fired and a sortie made to facilitate the advance of the succoring party through the besiegers. The signal was delayed, and, unfortunately, Herkimer's better judgment was overruled by his younger officers, who were impatient of delay. This led to his moving forward and to his being ambushed in a valley, the head of which was held by loyalists, while Indian allies under Brant occupied the sides. Here a desperate hand-to-hand fight of five hours ensued, early in which the brave Herkimer was mortally wounded; but seated upon his saddle, and propped against a tree, he calmly continued to give his orders and animate his men with his own heroism till the end of the battle.
At length the long-expected signal guns were heard, when Colonel Willet with 250 men made a sudden dash upon a weak part of the besiegers' camp. Though he failed to reach Herkimer, he destroyed two sections of the enemy's intrenchments, and captured the British camp equipage, Sir John Johnson's papers, five flags, and some prisoners.
The Indians, who had lost many of their braves at Oriskany, hearing the sound of Willet's musketry in their rear, quickly retreated, and were soon followed by the loyalists, leaving Herkimer in possession of the field. St. Leger still continued the siege of the fort, where now floated for the first time the American flag, just adopted by Congress, made of alternate stripes of a soldier's white shirt and a camp-woman's red petticoat, the field being cut out of an old blue overcoat. Beneath this were hung the five captured British standards.
St. Leger on the 7th again demanded the surrender of the fort, threatening Indian vengeance, and falsely stating that Burgoyne was in possession of Albany. Gansevoort returned an indignant refusal to this disgraceful threat. Soon came rumors of the approach of the intrepid Arnold to raise the siege. Statements sent forward of his numbers, purposely exaggerated, caused the flight of the panic-stricken Indians, and St. Leger, August 22, abandoned his trenches, some artillery and camp equipage, and fled to Canada. The right wing of the invaders being thus paralyzed, Arnold returned in triumph to join Schuyler.
Burgoyne's difficulties increased. His Indian allies were insubordinate, and the patriots swelled the American ranks. Finding that his scanty supplies had to be replenished from his distant base in Canada, or rather from England, he decided to make a raid upon Bennington, to secure horses, cattle, and provisions from the depot there. He hoped also that this move would strike terror among the unfriendly inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, who hung "like a gathering storm upon his left", and also would elevate the flagging spirits of his army, by a victory which he supposed would be easy. Accordingly, Lieutenant-Colonel Baum was dispatched with a select corps of 550 British, German, and loyalist troops and 150 Indians. Colonel Breyman, with 642 heavy dismounted Brunswick chasseurs, was sent on the 15th as a support. To oppose this expedition, General John Stark hastily collected 1,400 trained militia.
JOHN STARK.