1777.

Lieutenant colonels Livingston and Bruy'n, and CHAP. V. majors Logan and Hamilton, were among the prisoners. The loss sustained by the garrisons was about two hundred and fifty men. That of the enemy was supposed to be much more considerable, but sir Henry Clinton, in his official letter, states it at less than two hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. Among the former, were lieutenant colonel Campbell, who commanded in the attack on fort Montgomery, and two other field officers.

The boom and chains across the river were taken possession of with the forts, and the continental frigates and gallies were burnt to prevent them too from falling into the hands of the enemy.

together

Independence and Consti

As soon as governor Clinton joined general Peck's-Kill, Putnam, it was determined not to attempt the with forts defence of Peck's-Kill, but to remove as many tution, evacu of the stores as possible, and retire further up Americans. the river, until sufficient re-enforcements could be collected.

ated by the

Fort Independence and fort Constitution were October 8. evacuated the next day, and Putnam retreated to Fishkill. The same measures had been taken at fort Constitution, as at forts Clinton and Montgomery, by sinking impediments in the river, and by stretching chains across it to stop the vessels of the enemy; but they were abandoned without even an attempt to defend them, and fell into the hands of the British general.

1777.

CHAP. V. After burning Continental village, where stores to a considerable amount had been deposited, October 15. general Vaughan, with a strong detachment, proceeded up the river as far as Æsopus, which he also destroyed.

General Putnam, whose army was by this time increased by the militia of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, to six thousand men, detached general Parsons with two thousand, to repossess themselves of Peck's-Kill, and the passes in the highlands, while with the residue, he watched the progress of the enemy. up the river. The want of heavy artillery, which had been sent for to the camp of Gates, and for which he waited, prevented his annoying their ships in the Hudson.

On the first intelligence of the capitulation of Burgoyne, expresses had been dispatched by Putnam to Gates, pressing for re-enforcements of continental troops, and near five thousand men from that army hastened to his aid. Before their arrival, general Vaughan had proceeded from Esopus down the river, and having reduced to ashes the forts Montgomery and Clinton, returned to New York, from whence a re-enforcement was then about to sail for general Howe.

The military stores which this expedition threw into the hands of the enemy were very considerable. The highlands having been always considered as a position which, more than any.

other, united the advantages of convenience CHAP. V. and security, magazines to a large amount had 1777. been collected there. Some of these were re

moved, but by far the greater part of them were lost. Much labour and money had been expended on the forts, and on the works in the river which had been demolished.

Though the injury sustained by the United States was considerable, very little benefit occurred to the enemy from this enterprise. It was undertaken at too late a period to save Burgoyne, and though they acquired the passes in the highlands, they were, in the present state of the armies, totally unable to hold them. They had reduced to ashes every village and almost every private house within their power; but this wanton and useless destruction served to irritate without tending to subdue. A keenness was given to the resentment it excited, which perhaps outlasted the contest between the two nations.

The destruction of Burgoyne was in a great measure decided by the battle of the 19th of September, and could only have been prevented' by his immediate retreat. The issue of that day had demonstrated to both armies, that the continental troops under the command of general Gates, were more than equal to him in the field; and it was not difficult to predict that New England, more populous, more united, more zealous in the contest, and better armed

CHAP. V. than the middle states, would pour forth such 1777. auxiliary strength as would be irresistible.

That he did not immediately relinquish the enterprise as desperate, and return to the lakes, or their neighbourhood, is perhaps the only error committed by the British general. In the affair of Bennington, there was more of fortune than of ill judgment. The presence of Starke with the New Hampshire militia was purely adventitious. This circumstance, which prevented the success of the expedition against the magazines of that place, and destroyed the , party, was prepared by no previous arrangement. Without it, colonel Warner, who commanded about three hundred continental troops, would have been too weak to have defeated Baum, or prevented the execution of his designs at that place. It seems unjust to attribute to a commanding officer the ill success of an enterprise, of which the force was proportioned to the resistance that could reasonably have been expected, and which was defeated by one of those casualties that could neither be foreseen nor prevented. But the perseverance manifested in pursuing his object, after the battle of the 19th had fully disclosed the impracticability of attaining it without the co-operation of other armies, if not to be ascribed to positive orders, must have been occasioned either by that sanguine temper which trusts to fortune against all reasonable calculation, rather

than forego brilliant prospects on which the 'CHAP. V. imagination had dwelt with delight, or by a 1777. fear of censure from the ill informed. This is a consideration which should weigh in the mind of a general, as dust in the balance.

Burgoyne states his effective force when he capitulated, at three thousand five hundred fighting men.' The whole number which surrendered, according to the American computation, amounted to five thousand seven hundred and fifty-two. The one estimate probably excludes persons of every description, other than rank and file fit for duty; while the other, comprehends all persons belonging to the camp. This army was calculated, on marching from Ticonderoga, at a total of nine thousand men. In addition to this very great military force, the British lost, and the Americans acquired, a fine train of artillery, seven thousand stand of excellent arms, clothing for seven thousand recruits intended to be inlisted in the country; with tents, and other military stores, to a very considerable amount.

The capture of an entire army is one of those splendid achievements which always makes on the human mind a much stronger impression than the deduction of the same number of men from a larger army, the remnant of which is still preserved.

The joy which this event produced in America was extreme. The contest was believed