[FN-2] Holmes.
On the morning of the 8th, before daybreak, the enemy left his position and defiled into the plain where his provisions were; but was obliged to halt until the evening, because his hospital could not be sooner removed. [FN-1] The Americans immediately moved forward, and took possession of the abandoned camp. Burgoyne having condensed his force upon some heights which were strong by nature, and covered in front by a ravine running parallel with the entrenchment of his late camp, a random fire of artillery and small arms was kept up through the day—particularly on the part of the enemy's sharpshooters and Provincials, who were stationed in coverts of the ravine, which rendered their fire annoying to every person crossing their line of vision. [FN-2] It was by a shot from one of these lurking parties, that General Lincoln, late in the day, received a severe wound in the leg while riding near the line.
[FN-1] Memoirs of the Baroness de Riedesel. Of this lady. General Wilkinson says—"I have more than once seen her charming blue eyes bedewed with tears at the recital of her sufferings. With two infant children she accompanied her husband, Major General the Baron de Riedesel from Germany to England, from England to Canada, and from the last place to the termination of General Burgoync's campaign, in which she suffered more than the horrors of the grave in their most frightful aspect." Her Memoirs were published in Berlin in 1800. They are full of interest. Some of the distressing scenes which attended the close of Burgoyne's campaign are so graphically told by the Baroness, and afford such striking illustrations of the horrors of war, that the author has ventured to transfer a few pages to the Appendix of the present volume. See Appendix, No. IX.
[FN-2] Memoirs of General Wilkinson.
The gallant Frazer, who had been mortally wounded the day before, died at 8 o'clock on the morning of the 8th. On the evening of his fall, when it was rendered certain that he could not recover, he sent for General Burgoyne, and requested that he might be buried at 6 o'clock the following evening, on the crest of a hill upon which a breastwork had been constructed. It was a subject of complaint against Burgoyne, that in order to comply with this request, he delayed his retreat, and thus contributed to the misfortunes of his army. Be that as it may, the dying soldier's request was observed to the letter. At the hour appointed the body was borne to the hill that had been indicated, attended by the Generals and their retinues; the funeral service was read by the Chaplain; and the corpse interred, while the balls of the American cannon were flying around and above the assembled mourners. [FN]
[FN] The Baroness Riedesel, from whose spirited Memoirs the circumstances of this funeral are drawn, states that General Gates protested afterward that had he known what was going on, he would have stopped the fire immediately. It must have been a solemn spectacle, and General Burgoyne himself described it with his usual eloquence and felicity of expression:—"The incessant cannonade during the solemnity; the steady attitude and unaltered voice with which the chaplain officiated, though frequently covered with dust, which the shot threw up on all sides of him; the mute but expressive mixture of sensibility and indignation upon every countenance; these objects will remain to the last of life upon the mind of every man who was present. The growing duskiness added to the scenery, and the whole marked a character of that juncture, that would make one of the finest subjects for the pencil of a master that the field ever exhibited. To the canvass, and to the faithful page of a more important historian, gallant friend! I consign thy memory. There may thy talents, thy manly virtues, their progress and their period, find due distinction; and long may they survive, long after the frail record of my pen shall be forgotten!"—State of the Expedition from Canada, &c. &c. p. 169.
It was evident from the movements in the enemy's camp, that he was preparing to retreat; but the American troops, having in the delirium of joy consequent upon their victory, neglected to draw and eat their rations—being withal not a little fatigued with the two days' exertions, fell back to their camp, which had been left standing in the morning. Retreat was, indeed, the only alternative remaining to the British commander, since it was now quite certain that he could not cut his way through the American army, and his supplies were reduced to a short allowance for five days. He accordingly commenced his retreat that night, but lingered by the way; so that on the 10th he was yet near Saratoga, where he took up a position. During this retreat he ordered the farm-houses to be burnt by the way, among which was the elegant mansion of General Schuyler, with its mills and out-buildings. This conduct on the part of the British commander was viewed as alike disreputable and unnecessary. [FN]