2

Glorious, indeed, was this victory for the Americans. It gave them a fine train of brass artillery, five thousand muskets, and a vast amount of munitions of war. Its moral effect was of greater importance. All eyes had been anxiously turned to the army of the North, and Congress and the people listened eagerly for every breath of rumor from Saratoga. How electric was the effect when a shout of victory came from the camp of Gates!' It rolled over the land, and was echoed from furrows, workshops, marts of commerce, the halls of legislation, and from the shattered army of Washington at Whitemarsh. Toryism stood abashed; the bills of Congress rose twenty per cent. in value; private capital came from its hiding-places for public employment; the militia flocked to the standards of leaders, and the great patriot heart of America beat with strong pulsations of hope. The effect in Europe was also favorable to the Americans. The highest hopes of the British ministry rested on this expedition, and the generalship of Burgoyne justified their expectations. It was a most severe blow, and gave the opposition in Parliament the keenest weapons. Pitt, leaning upon his crutches, poured forth eloquent denunciations [December, 1777] of the mode of warfare pursued the employment of German hirelings and brutal savages." "If I were an American, as I am an Englishman," he exclaimed, "while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms-never, never, never!" In the Lower House,' Burke, Fox, and Barrè were equally severe upon the government. When, on the 3d of December, the news of Burgoyne's defeat reached London, the latter arose in his place in the Commons, and with a serene and solemn countenance, asked Lord George Germain, the Secretary of War, what news he had received by his last expresses from Quebec, and to say, upon his word of honor, what had become of Burgoyne and his brave army. The haughty secretary was irritated by the cool irony of the question, but was compelled to acknowledge that the unhappy intelligence of Burgoyne's surrender had reached him. He added, "The intelligence needs confirmation." That confirmation was not

slow in reaching the ministry.

8

Mightily did this victory weigh in favor of the Americans, at the French

them to Europe, but Congress thought it proper to retain them, and they were marched to the interior of Virginia. John Burgoyne was a natural son of Lord Bingley, and was quite eminent as a dramatic author. On his return to England, he resumed his seat as a member of Parliament, and opposed the war. He died in 1792.

1 General Gates was so elated with the victory, which had been prepared for him by General Schuyler, and won chiefly by the valor of Arnold and Morgan [page 331], that he neglected the courtesy due to the commander-in-chief, and instead of sending his dispatches to him, he sent his aid, Colonel Wilkinson, with a verbal message to Congress. That body also forgot its dignity in the hour of its joy, and the young officer was allowed to announce the victory himself, on the floor of Congress. In his subsequent dispatches, Gates did not even mention the names of Arnold and Morgan. History has vindicated their claims to the honor of the victory, and placed a just estimate upon the ungenerous conduct of their commander. Congress voted a gold medal to Gates. 2 Page 275. Note 1, page 231.

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Note 3, page 245.

4

Note 3, page 246.

A member justified the employment of the Indians, by saying that the British had a right to use the means "which God and nature had given them." Pitt scornfully repeated the passage, and said, "These abominable principles, and this most abominable avowal of them, demands most décisive indignation. I call upon that right reverend bench (pointing to the bishops), those holy ministers of the gospel, and pious pastors of the church-I conjure them to join in the holy work, and to vindicate the religion of their God." 7 Note 2, page 218. Note 2, page 218.

court.

Unaided by any foreign power, the Americans had defeated and captured a well-trained army of about six thousand men, led by experienced commanders. "Surely such a people possess the elements of success, and will achieve it. We may now safely strike England a severe blow,' by acknowledging the independence, and forming an alliance with her revolted colonies," argued the French government. And so it did. Intelligence of the surrender of Burgoyne reached Paris on the 4th of December, 1777. King Louis then cast off all disguise, and informed the American commissioners that the treaty of alliance and commerce, already negotiated, would be ratified, and "that it was decided to acknowledge the independence of the United States." Within a little more than a hundred days after Burgoyne laid down his arms at Saratoga, France had formed an alliance with the confederated States [Feb. 6, 1778], and publicly avowed it. The French king, in the mean while, wrote to his uncle, the king of Spain, urging his co-operation; for, according to the family compact of the Bourbons, made in 1761, the king of Spain was to be consulted before such a treaty could be ratified.

While these events were in progress at Saratoga, General Clinton was making hostile demonstrations upon the banks of the lower Hudson. He attempted the concerted co-operation with Burgoyne, but he was too late for success. He ascended the Hudson with a strong force, captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery, in the Highlands [October 6, 1777], and sent a marauding expedition above these mountain barriers, to devastate the country [October 13], and endeavor to draw off some of the patriot troops from Saratoga. These marauders burned Kingston, and penetrated as far as Livingston's Manor, in Columbia county. Informed of the surrender of Burgoyne, they hastily retreated, and Clinton and his army returned to New York. Some of Gates' troops now joined Washington at White Marsh,' and Howe made several attempts to entice the chief from his encampment, but without success. Finally

3

1 France rejoiced at the embarrassments of England, on account of her revolted colonies, and from the beginning secretly favored the latter. She thought it inexpedient to aid the colonies openly, until there appeared some chance for their success, yet arms and money were secretly provided [note 3, page 266], for a long time previous to the alliance. Her motives were not the benevolent ones to aid the patriots, so much as a selfish desire to injure England for her own benefit. The French king, in a letter to his uncle, of Spain, avowed the objects to be to "prevent the union of the colonies with the mother country," and to "form a beneficial alliance with them." A Bourbon (the family of French kings) was never known to be an honest advocate of free principles.

These forts were situated on opposite sides of a stream which forms the dividing line between Orange and Rockland counties. Fort Indpendence, near Peekskill, and Fort Constitution, opposite West Point, were abandoned on his approach. Fort Putnam, at West Point, was not yet erected.

3

While the garrison of the two forts (who escaped) were re-gathering, back of New Windsor, a man from the British army was arrested on suspicion of being a spy. He was seen to swallow something. An emetic brought it up, and it was discovered to be a hollow silver bullet, containing a dispatch from Clinton to Burgoyne, written on thin paper. That bullet is yet in the family of George Clinton, who was the first republican governor of New York. The dispatch was as follows: "Nous y voici [Here we are], and nothing between us and Gates. I sincerely hope this little success of ours will facilitate your operations. In answer to your letter of the 28th of September, by C. C., I shall only say, I can not presume to order, or even advise, for reasons obvious. I heartily wish you success. Faithfully yours, H. CLINTON." The prisoner was taken to Kingston, and there hanged as a spy. • Page 275. Howe marched out to attack Washington on the 4th of December, expecting to take him by surprise. A Quaker lady of Philadelphia, at whose house some British officers were quartered, had

Washington moved from that position [December 11], and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where he might easier afford protection to Congress at York, and his stores at Reading.'. The events of that encampment at Valley Forge afford some of the gloomiest as well as some of the most brilliant scenes in the records of American patriotism.

CHAPTER V.

FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. [1778.]

If there is a spot on the face of our broad land wherein patriotism should delight to pile its highest and most venerated monument, it should be in the bosom of that rugged gorge on the bank of the Schuylkill, twenty miles north

Tras Hopkinson

west from Philadelphia, known as Valley Forge, where the American army was encamped during the terrible winter of 1777-'78. In all the world's his

1

overheard them talking about this enterprise, gave Washington timely information, and he was too well prepared for Howe, to fear his menaces. After some skirmishes, in which several Americans were lost, Howe returned to Philadelphia. Page 274. That was a winter of severe and protracted cold. The waters of New York Bay were so firmly frozen, that the British took heavy cannons from the city to Staten Island, on the ice.

tory, we have no record of purer devotion, holier sincerity, or more pious selfimmolation, than was then and there exhibited in the camp of Washington. Many of the soldiers had marched thither from Whitemarsh, bare-footed, and left bloody foot-prints in the snow on their dreary journey.' There, in the midst of frost and snow, halfclad and scantily fed, they shivered in rude huts, while the British army was indulging in comforts and luxuries within a large city. Yet that freezing and starving army did not despair; nor did the commander-in-chief, who shared their privations and suffered injury at the hands of intriguing men,' lose confidence in the patriotism of the people or his troops, or doubt the wisdom of Providence. The winter wore away, and when the buds began to burst, a cheering ray of glad tidings came from Europe. The intelligence of the treaty of alliance with France,' was a hopeful assurance of success, and when the news spread through the camp, on the 1st of May [1778], shouts loud and long shook the forests which shrouded the hills around Valley Forge.

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ENCAMPMENT AT VALLEY FORGE

Nor was that a solitary gleam of hope. Light also emanated from the

1 Gordon, the historian, says, that while at Washington's table in 1784, the chief informed him that bloody foot-prints were everywhere visible in the course of their march of nineteen miles, from Whitemarsh to Valley Forge.

The power of the British army was much weakened by indulgence, during that winter. Profligacy begat disease, rime, and insubordination. The evil effects produced upon the army led Dr. Franklin to say, "Howe did not take Philadelphia-Philadelphia took Howe." General Howe took leave of the army in May, and the officers gave him a splendid farewell fête, which was called a Mischianza, signifying a medley. For a full description, see Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution. During their occupation of the city, the enemy were annoyed by the patriots in various ways. In January, some Whigs at Bordentown, where Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, resided, sent a number of kegs down the Delaware, which were filled with powder, and furnished with machinery, in such a manner, that on rubbing against any object in the stream, they would explode. These were the torpedoes invented by Bushnell of Connecticut, already mentioned on page 252. The British vessels, hauled into the docks to keep clear of the ice, escaped receiving any injury from these missiles. One of them exploded near the city, and produced intense alarm. Not a stick or a chip was seen floating, for twenty-four hours afterward, but it was fired at by the British. This circumstance afforded the theme for that remarkable poem from the pen of Hopkinson, entitled The Battle of the Kegs. Hopkinson [see page 284] was a native of Philadelphia and married and settled in Bordentown, New Jersey. He was an elegant writer, a great wit, a good musician, and a thorough-bred gentleman. He was a warm and active patriot, became eminent as a jurist after the war, and died in 1791, at the age of forty-seven years. His son, Joseph Hopkinson, was the author of our national song, Hail Columbia.

3

During this season a scheme was formed among a few officers of the army, and members of Congress, for depriving Washington of his command, and giving it to Gates or Lee. Both of these ambitious men sought the honor, and the former was fully identified with the clandestine movements toward that end. One of the chief actors in the plot, who was more the instrument of others than a voluntary and independent schemer, was General Conway, an Irishman, who belonged to the continental army. The plot was discovered and defeated, and Conway was led to make a most humble apology to Washington, for his conduct.

On one occasion, Isaac Potts, whose house was Washington's head-quarters at Valley Forge, discovered the chief in a retired place, pouring out his soul in prayer to his God. Potts went home to his wife, and said, with tears in his eyes, "If there is any one on this earth to whom the Lord will listen, it is George Washington" 8 Page 283. On the 7th day of May the army fired salutes in honor of the event, and by direction of the chief, they all shouted, "Huzza for the king of France !"

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British throne and Parliament. The capture of Burgoyne, and the general failure of the campaign of 1777, had made the English people, and a powerful minority in Parliament, clamorous for peace and reconciliation. Lord North, the prime-minister,' was compelled to listen. To the astonishment of every body, he proposed [Feb. 17] a repeal of all the acts of Parliament obnoxious to the Americans, which had been enacted since 1763; and in the course of his speech in favor of his conciliatory plan, he actually proposed to treat the Continental Congress as a legal body. Two bills, expressing these conciliatory measures, were passed after much opposition,' and received the signature of the king, on the 11th of March. Commissioners were appointed to proceed to America to negotiate for peace with Congress, and the British government seemed really anxious to offer the olive branch, without qualification. But the Americans had been too often deceived to accept any thing confidingly from that source, and as soon as these bills reached Congress [April 15], and it was found that they made no mention of the independence of the colonies, that body at once rejected them as deceptive. When the commissioners came [June 4], Congress refused to negotiate with them until Great Britain should withdraw her fleets and armies, or unequivocally acknowledge the independence of the United States. After unsuccessfully appealing to the American people, and one of them endeavoring to bribe members of Congress, the commissioners returned to England, and the war went on.

mate success.

The alliance with France gave the patriots greater confidence in their ultiIt was immediately productive of action. The first movement of the French government, in compliance with the requirements of that treaty, was to dispatch a squadron, consisting of twelve ships of the line, and four large frigates, under Count D'Estaing, to blockade the British fleet in the Delaware. When, a month before he sailed, the British ministry was officially informed [March 17, 1778] of the treaty, and it was considered equivalent to a declaration of war, a vessel was dispatched with a message to the British commanders, ordering them to evacuate Philadelphia and the Delaware, and to concentrate their forces at New York. Fortunately for Lord Howe, he had left

1 Page 224.

2

Note 2, page 253.

Pitt was favorable to these bills, but when a proposition was made to acknowledge the independence of the colonies, and thus dismember the British empire, he opposed the measure with all his might. He was in favor of reconciliation, not of separation. It was during his speech on this subject, that he was seized [April 7] with the illness which terminated his life a month afterward. Pitt was born in November, 1708, and died on the 11th of May, 1778, when almost seventy years of age.

The Earl of Carlisle, George Johnstone, formerly governor of Florida, and William Eden, a brother of Sir Robert Eden, the last royal governor of Maryland. Adam Ferguson, the eminent professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburg, accompanied them as secretary.

Among those who were approached was General Joseph Reed, a delegate from Pennsylvania. Mrs. Ferguson, wife of a relative to the secretary of the commissioners, then residing in Philadelphia, and who was intimate with Mr. Reed, was employed to sound him. Mr. Reed had been suspected by some of his compatriots of rather easy virtue as a republican, and the fact that he was approachable in this way, confirmed their suspicions. Mrs. Ferguson was authorized to offer him high official station and a large sum of money, if he would use his influence in favor of peace, according to the submissive terms offered by the commissioners. Her mission became known, and General Reed alleged that he said to her, "I am not worth purchasing; but such as I am, the king of England is not rich enough to do it."