[FN] MS. of the original letter, among the Gansevoort papers,—Vide, also, Campbell's Annals.
The investment of the fort was made by Lieut. Bird forthwith—Brant arriving to his assistance at the same time. But the result of the siege that followed proved that the British commander had grievously miscalculated the spirit of the garrison of Fort Stanwix, in his anticipations of a speedy capitulation. Still, his prudential order, the object of which was to prevent an unnecessary sacrifice of life at the hands of his Indian allies, calculating, of course, upon an easy victory, was not the less commendable on that account.
The situation of Fort Stanwix itself—or rather Fort Schuyler, as it must now be called—next demands attention. At the beginning of the year, as we have already seen, the post was commanded by Colonel Elmore of the State service. The term of that officer expiring in April, Colonel Peter Gansevoort, also of the State troops, was designated as Colonel Elmore's successor, by an order from General Gates, dated the 26th of that month. Notwithstanding the labors of Colonel Drayton, in repairing the works, the preceding year, Colonel Gansevoort found them in such a state of dilapidation, that they were not only indefensible, but untenable. A brisk correspondence ensued between that officer and General Schuyler upon the subject, from which it is manifest that, to say nothing of the miserable condition of his defences, with the prospect of an invasion from the West before him, his situation was in other respects sufficiently deplorable. He had but a small number of men, and many of those were sick by reason of destitution. [FN-1] Added to all which was the responsibility of the Indian relations confided to him by special order of General Schuyler on the 9th of June. [FN-2]
[FN-1] Letters among the Gansevoort papers.
[FN-2] "You will keep up a friendly intercourse with the Indians, and suffer no speeches to be made to them by any person not employed in the Indian Department; and when you have occasion to speak to them, let your speech be written, and a copy transmitted to me, that the Commissioners may be informed of every transaction with those people."—Schuyler's letter to Colonel Gansevoort. Colonel G. lost no time in holding a council with such of the chiefs and warriors as yet remained friendly, and he seems to have fully acquired their confidence. He delivered a sensible speech on the occasion, but it contains nothing requiring farther note.
Colonel Marinus Willett was soon afterward directed to join the garrison at Fort Schuyler with his regiment, and most fortunate was the selection of such an officer as Willett to cooperate with such another as Gansevoort; since all the skill, and energy, and courage of both were necessary for the situation. The work itself was originally a square fort, with four bastions, surrounded by a ditch of considerable width and depth, with a covert way and glacis around three of its angles; the other being sufficiently secured by low, marshy ground. In front of the gate there had been a drawbridge, covered by a salient angle raised in front of it on the glacis. In the centre of the ditch a row of perpendicular pickets had been erected, with rows of horizontal pickets fixed around the ramparts under the embrasures. But since the conclusion of the French war, the fort had fallen into decay; the ditch was filled up, and the pickets had rotted and fallen down; [FN-1] nor had any suitable progress been made in its reparation. Immediate exertions, energetic and unremitting, were necessary to repair, or rather to renew and reconstruct, the works, and place them in a posture of defence, should the long anticipated invasion ensue from that quarter. A more correct idea of the wretched condition of the post, even down to the beginning of July, may be found from the annexed letter:—[FN-2]
[FN-1] Willett's Narrative.
[FN-2] MS. copy, preserved among General Gansevoort's papers.