Chapter 57

Sir John Burgoyne's Campaign--His Bombastic Proclamation--The Tragic Story of Jane McCrea--Her Name a Rallying Cry--Washington Prevents Rowe from Aiding Burgoyne--The Battle of Brandywine--Burgoyne Routed at Saratoga--He Surrenders with All His Army--Articles of Confederation Submitted to the Several States--Effect of the Surrender of Burgoyne --Franklin the Washington of Diplomacy--Attitude of France--France Concludes to Assist the United States--Treaties of Commerce and Alliance --King George Prepares for War with France--The Winter at Valley Forge --Conspiracy to Depose Washington Defeated--General Howe Superseded by Sir Henry Clinton--The Battle of Monmouth--General Charles Lee's Treachery--Awful Massacre of Settlers in the Wyoming Valley--General Sullivan Defeats the Six Nations--Brilliant Campaign of George Rogers Clark--Failure of the Attempt to Drive the British from Rhode Island.

The disastrous campaign of General Sir John Burgoyne in the summer of 1777, against northern New York, was the turning point of the war. The object of the invasion was to seize the Hudson River, and divide the colonies by a continuous British line from Canada to the city of New York. Had the plan succeeded it would have been an almost fatal blow to the cause of independence. Its failure was not due to the courage or skill of any one American commander, but to the indomitable resolution with which every step of the invading army was resisted by Americans of every rank. The whole country rose as one man to oppose and harass the enemy, and it seemed as if every militiaman understood that the fate of his country depended on the repulse or destruction of the foe.

Burgoyne's plan of campaign, as concerted with the British ministry, was to march to Albany with a large force by way of Lakes Champlain and George, while another force under Sir Henry Clinton advanced up the Hudson. At the same time Colonel Barry St. Leger was to make a diversion by way of Oswego, on the Mohawk River. Burgoyne began his advance in June, with about eight thousand men. Proceeding up Lake Champlain he compelled the Americans to evacuate Crown Point, Ticonderoga and Fort Anne. His first blunder was in failing to avail himself of the water carriage of Lake George, at the head of which there was a direct road to Fort Edward. Instead of taking this course he spent three weeks in cutting a road through the woods, and building bridges over swamps. This gave time for General Schuyler to gather the yeomanry in arms, and for Washington to send troops from the southern department to reinforce Schuyler. Burgoyne also lost valuable time in a disastrous attack on Bennington.

Burgoyne issued a proclamation in most bombastic style. In the preamble he stated, besides his military and other distinctions, that he was "author of a celebrated tragic comedy called the 'Blockade of Boston.'" He accused the patriots of enormities "unprecedented in the inquisitions of the Romish Church," and offered to give encouragement, employment and assistance to all who would aid the side of the king. "I have but to give stretch," he concluded, "to the Indian forces under my direction--and they amount to thousands--to overtake the hardened enemies of Great Britain and America. I consider them the same wherever they lurk. If notwithstanding these endeavors and sincere inclination to assist them the frenzy of hostility should remain, I trust I shall stand acquitted in the eyes of God and of men in denouncing and executing the vengeance of the State against the willful outcasts. The messengers of justice and of wrath await them in the field, and devastation, famine, and every concomitant horror that a reluctant but indispensable prosecution of military duty must occasion will bar the way to their return."

While Burgoyne's array was lying near Fort Edward occurred the tragic death of Jane McCrea, celebrated in song and story. Jane was the second daughter of the Reverend James McCrea, a Presbyterian clergyman of Scottish descent, and she made her home with her brother, John, at Fort Edward, New York. John McCrea was a patriot, but Jane had for her lover an officer in Burgoyne's army named David Jones, to whom she was betrothed. Between John McCrea and David Jones an estrangement had arisen on account of their opposite political sympathies, but Jane clung to her affianced. "My dear Jenny," wrote Jones, under date of July 11, 1777, "these are sad times, but I think the war will end this year, as the rebels cannot hold out, and will see their error. By the blessing of Providence I trust we shall yet pass many years together in peace. * * * No more at present, but believe me yours affectionately till death." How faithfully he kept that promise!

Jane McCrea well deserved her lover's devotion. She is described as a young woman of rare accomplishments, great personal attractions, and of a remarkable sweetness of disposition.[1] She was of medium stature, finely formed, of a delicate blonde complexion. Her hair was of a golden brown and silken lustre, and when unbound trailed upon the ground. Her father was devoted to literary pursuits, and she thus had acquired a taste for reading, unusual in one of her age--about twenty-four years--in those early times.

[1] See "The Burgoyne Ballads," by William L. Stone, from whose narrative this sketch is taken.

When Burgoyne's army was about four miles from Fort Edward, David Jones sent a party of Indians, under Duluth, a half-breed, to escort his betrothed to the British camp, where they were to be married at once by Chaplain Brudenell, Lady Harriet Acland and Madame Riedesel, wife of General Riedesel, in command of the Brunswick contingent, having consented to be present at the wedding. It had been arranged that Duluth should halt in the woods about a quarter of a mile from the house of a Mrs. McNeil where Jane was waiting to join him at the appointed time. Meanwhile it happened that a fierce Wyandotte chief named Le Loup, with a band of marauding Indians from the British camp, drove in a scouting party of Americans, and stopping on their return from the pursuit at Mrs. McNeil's house, took her and Jane captive, with the intention of taking them to the British camp. On their way back Le Loup and his followers encountered Duluth and his party. The half-breed stated his errand, and demanded that Jane be given up to him. Le Loup insisted on escorting her. Angry words followed and Le Loup, in violent passion, shot Jane through the heart. Then the savage tore the scalp from his victim and carried it to the British camp. Mrs. McNeil had arrived at the camp a little in advance, having been separated from Jane before the tragedy. She at once recognized the beautiful tresses. David Jones never recovered from the shock. It is said that he was so crushed by the terrible blow, and disgusted with the apathy of Burgoyne in refusing to punish the miscreant who brought the scalp of Jane McCrea to the camp as a trophy, claiming the bounty offered for such prizes by the British, that he asked for a discharge and upon this being refused deserted, having first rescued the precious relic of his beloved from the savages. Jones retired to the Canadian wilderness, and spent the remainder of his life unmarried, a silent and melancholy man.

The murder of Jane McCrea fired New York. From every farm, from every village, from every cabin in the woods the men of America thronged to avenge her death. Her name was a rallying cry along the banks of the Hudson and in the mountains of Vermont, and "her death contributed in no slight degree to Burgoyne's defeat, which became a precursor and principal cause of American independence."[2]

[2] Stone, "The Burgoyne Ballads."

The force of about two thousand men, whom Colonel Barry St. Leger led into the forests of what is now Oneida County, met stout resistance, and but for the Indian allies of the British, led by the great Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant, St. Leger's troops would probably have been destroyed or made captive. The fierce battle of Oriskany, in which the brave General Herkimer received a fatal wound, was a patriot victory, but it gave St. Leger a respite. When he heard that Benedict Arnold was approaching with troops sent by General Schuyler, to give him battle, he retreated to Lake Ontario, shattering Burgoyne's hopes of aid from the Tories of the Mohawk Valley. Meanwhile Congress had relieved General Schuyler from command in the North, and appointed Horatio Gates in his place. Gates was not a man of ability, but he was ably seconded in his operations against Burgoyne by Benedict Arnold.

General Howe had intended to take Philadelphia and then co-operate with Burgoyne in inflicting a final and crushing blow on the Americans, but the Fabian strategy of Washington again proved too much for the British. Howe being prevented by Washington from crossing New Jersey with his army, undertook an expedition by sea. He sailed up Chesapeake Bay, marched northward with 18,000 men to Brandywine Creek, and there met Washington with 11,000, on the eleventh of September. The British held the field, but Washington retreated slowly, disputing every foot of ground, and it was not until the twenty-sixth of September that Howe entered Philadelphia. Washington attacked the British encampment at Germantown at daybreak on the fourth of October, and attempted to drive the British into the Schuyikill River. One American battalion fired into another by mistake, and this unhappy accident probably saved the British from another Trenton on a larger scale. Howe was unable to send any assistance to Burgoyne until it was too late to save that commander.

Burgoyne found his progress stopped by the intrenchments of the Americans under General Gates, at Bemis Heights, nine miles south of Saratoga, and he endeavored to extricate himself from his perilous position by fighting. Two battles were fought on nearly the same ground, on September 19, and October 7. The first was indecisive; the second resulted in so complete a rout for the British that, leaving his sick and wounded to the compassion of Gates, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga. There finding his provisions giving out, and that there was no chance for escape, he capitulated with his entire army, October 17, 1777.

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The Congress had, by common consent, represented national sovereignty from the beginning of the war, but it was not until November 15, 1777, that articles of confederation were approved by the Congress, and submitted to the States. This compact, entitled "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," was but little more than a treaty of mutual friendship on the part of the several States, and was not sanctioned by all of them until near the close of the Revolution. It was too weak to be effective in time of peace, and hardly necessary in time of war, when the common danger gave sufficient assurance of fidelity to the common cause. However, the Articles of Confederation undoubtedly promoted confidence in the stability of the government where that confidence was most needed, in the European cabinets adverse to British dominion in America.

The surrender of Burgoyne gave to the American cause a status which it had lacked abroad, and it brought into full and effectual exercise the diplomatic side of the struggle for independence. It was then that Franklin showed himself another Washington. "On the great question of the foreign relations of the United States," says Wharton, "it made no matter whether he was alone or surrounded by unfriendly colleagues; it was only through him that negotiations could be carried on with France, for to him alone could the French government commit itself with the consciousness that the enormous confidences reposed in him would be honorably guarded." France, chiefly through the influence of Franklin, had given covert assistance to the colonies from the beginning of the struggle, but the French ministry hesitated to take a decisive step. Fear that the Americans would succumb, and leave France to bear the weight of British hostility, and apprehension that England might grant the demands of the colonists and then turn her forces against European foes, deterred the French government from avowed support of the American cause. The news from Saratoga gave assurance that America would prove a steadfast as well as a powerful ally, and that with the aid of the United States the British empire might be dismembered, and France avenged for her losses and humiliations on the American continent. Nor was revenge the only motive which led France to cast her lot with the revolted colonies. England was already stretching forth to establish her power in India, and France felt that with North America and India, both subject to the British, the maritime and commercial superiority of England would be a menace to other powers.

France did not act without long and careful premeditation on the part of the French crown and its ministers, for the relations between England and her American colonies had been carefully and acutely considered by the statesmen of Versailles long before the point of open revolt was reached. Even when France concluded to throw her resources into the scale on the side of the United States she did not altogether abandon her cautious attitude. The French government acknowledged the United States as a sovereign and treaty-making power; but while the treaty of commerce of February 6, 1778, was absolute and immediate in its effects, the treaty of alliance of the same date was contingent on war taking place between Great Britain and France. It is interesting to note that Benjamin Franklin was the subject of invective by Arthur Lee and others because at the suggestion of Silas Deane, of Connecticut, he procured a clause in the commercial treaty providing for the exportation of molasses to the United States, free of duty, from the French colonies--the molasses being used to manufacture New England rum. Owing to the objection of Lee this clause was afterward abrogated, and the infant industry of making New England rum had to survive without special protection.

Upon receiving formal notice of the treaties Lord North immediately recalled the British ambassador from Paris, and George III. stated, in bad English, to Lord North (the king spelled "Pennsylvania" "Pensilvania," and "wharfs" "warfs") that a corps must be drawn from the army in America sufficient to attack the French islands. There was a state of partial war without a declaration of war. The naval forces of England and France came into unauthorized collision, and actual war was the result.

* * *

Pending the negotiations with France Washington and his heroic army spent a winter of painful hardship at Valley Forge, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. Half-naked and half-fed, they shivered in the rude huts which they erected, while their commander, if better housed, showed by actions more than words that he felt every pang of his soldiers. Washington's anxiety at this critical period was greatly aggravated by the conspiracy known as "Conway's Cabal," to depose him from the command, and put in his place the pretentious but incapable Gates. This conspiracy was narrowly defeated by the patriotic firmness of the supporters of Washington in Congress, one of whom--William Duer, of New York, an Englishman by birth--had himself carried in a litter to the floor of Congress, at the risk of his life, to give his vote for Washington. Never on the battlefield did he who is justly called the Father of Our Country show such heroism, such fortitude, such devotion to duty as in face of this combination of deluded men to effect his ruin.

* * *

The French alliance was hailed with delight in the United States. George III., who personally controlled military operations, stated his conclusion about a month after the French treaties, and on the day they were formally announced, to act on the defensive, holding New York and Rhode Island, but abandoning Pennsylvania. General William Howe was superseded in command of the British troops by Sir Henry Clinton, who evacuated Philadelphia, departing from that city before dawn of June 18, and starting for New York with about 17,000 effective men. Upon being informed of this movement, Washington hastened after the British. He followed Clinton in a parallel line, ready to strike him at the first favorable opportunity.

When the British were encamped near the courthouse in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, June 27, Washington made arrangements for an attack on the following morning, should Clinton move. General Charles Lee, who had recently been a prisoner in the hands of the British, was in command of the advance corps. He showed such incapacity and folly in his directions to subordinate and far more competent generals as nearly to wreck the army. His confused and perplexing instructions promoted disorder, chilled the ardor of the troops, and gave the enemy opportunities they never could have gained without this assistance from Lee. As an apparently conclusive blow to the side he pretended to serve Lee ordered a retreat, and the British, from being on the defensive, were speedily in pursuit. Washington's anger, on perceiving the condition of affairs, was terrible. He rebuked Lee with scathing severity, quickly rallied his troops, and checked the pursuing enemy. The Americans, once more in array, confronted their foes. A real battle then followed, with both sides doing their best. Americans and British fought with stubborn courage, the latter at length making a bayonet charge on which depended the fate of the day. They were repulsed with terrible slaughter. The British then retreated a short distance, and both armies rested, the Americans expecting that the conflict would be renewed with dawn. Clinton drew his men off silently under cover of darkness, and was far on his way to New York when the Americans, in the morning, saw his deserted camp. The British lost four officers and 245 non-commissioned officers and privates, besides taking many of the wounded with them. They also lost about 1000 men by desertion while passing through New Jersey. The American loss in the battle of Monmouth was 228 killed, wounded and missing. Many of the missing, who had fled when Lee ordered a retreat, returned to their commands. Lee was superseded and afterward dismissed from the army. It did not come to light until about seventy-five years later, from a document among Sir William Howe's papers, that while a prisoner with the British Lee had suggested to Sir William Howe a plan for subjugating the Americans. This fact throws a flood of light on Lee's conduct at Monmouth.

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A few days after the battle of Monmouth occurred the awful massacre of Wyoming. Tories and Indians, led by Colonel John Butler, descended into the happy valley, inhabited by settlers from Butler's native Connecticut, and spread fire, bloodshed and desolation. Hundreds of men, women and children perished, many of them by torture, and the survivors made their way back through the wilderness to Connecticut. Among the victims of this massacre was Anderson Dana, a direct ancestor of Charles Anderson Dana, the well-known editor. Everywhere throughout the borders Tories and Indians carried fire and death, the British sparing no effort to stir up the tribes to hostility. The patriots suffered terribly, but the ferocity of the savages and of their hardly less savage associates made Americans all the more resolute in resisting and overcoming the foes of American independence. General Sullivan invaded the country of the Six Nations, and inflicted upon them a crushing defeat. In the southwest, the frontiersmen, not content with resisting the enemy, followed them into their wilds, and laid the foundations of new States. In the northwest, Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, who was more responsible, perhaps, than any other British officer for inciting the Indians to deeds of barbarity, was defeated and captured by George Rogers Clark, and the whole country north of the Ohio River, from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, became subject to the United States.

The British still held New York and Newport, and Washington planned to capture the former place with the assistance of a fleet which had arrived from France. Some of the vessels drew too much water, however, to cross the bar, and the scheme was abandoned. The French fleet proceeded to Newport, and compelled the British to burn or sink six frigates in that harbor. An American force of about 10,000 men had been fathered under command of General Sullivan to drive the British out of Rhode Island, and it was expected that the troops, numbering 4000, on board the French fleet, would assist in the undertaking. The French admiral, D'Estaing, failed to support Sullivan, and the latter, with a force reduced by the wholesale desertion of the militia to 6000 men, fought a gallant but losing action with the British, and withdrew to the mainland.