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quarters was called Valley Forge, on the west side of the river Schuylkill, about twenty miles from Philadelphia, in Chester county. It was a piece of wooded country; and when the troops arrived there, they had to cut down trees, clear the ground, and build their own huts. It was a dreary encampment, but Washington's own brave endurance set a noble example to his men. He laid their case as strongly as he could before Congress, and urged them for supplies. Mutiny was threatened amongst some of the troops, who had been for days without any meat; and Washington wrote to the President, "Unless more vigorous exertions and better regulations take place in that line immediately, the army must dissolve. Had a body of the enemy crossed the Schuylkill this morning, as I had reason to expect, the divisions which I ordered to march and meet them could not have moved."

Just at this time a complaint was made to Congress by the Council of Pennsylvania against Washington, for seeking winter quarters, instead of keeping on hostilities and remaining in open field. This caused the fierce temper, which was more quickly roused for the wrongs of others than for his own, to blaze out in an angry letter to Congress. Of the commissariat he wrote: Though I have been tender heretofore in giving any opinion, or lodging any complaints. yet, finding that the inactivity of the army, whether for want of provisions, clothes, or other essentials, is charged to my account, not only by the common vulgar, but by those in power, it is time to speak plain in exculpation of myself. With truth, then, I can declare that no man, in my opinion, ever had his measures more impeded than I have by every department of the army.. . . As a proof of the little benefit derived from a clothier-general, and as a

further proof of the inability of the army under the circumstances of this to perform the common duties of soldiers (besides a number of men confined to hospital for want of shoes, and others in farmers' houses on the same account), we have, by a field return this day made, no less than two thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight men now in camp unfit for duty, because they are barefoot or otherwise naked.

For want of blankets, numbers have been obliged, and still are, to sit up all night, instead of taking comfortable rest in a natural and common way. We find gentlemen, without knowing whether the army was really going into winter quarters or not reprobating the measure as much as if they thought soldiers were made of stocks or stones, and equally insensible of frost and snow. I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room, by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets. However, although they seem to have little feeling for the naked and distressed soldiers, I feel superabundantly for them, and from my soul I pity those miseries which it is neither in my power to relieve or prevent. There is as much to be done in preparing for a campaign as in the active part of it. Everything depends upon the preparation that is made in the several departments, and the success or misfortunes of the next campaign will more than "probably originate with our activity or supineness during this winter."

CHAPTER XV.

It will be well now to glance at the state of affairs in the North, though, as Washington was not personally concerned in that campaign, a detailed account of it is not necessary to the story of his life. As has been said before, part of the plan of the British campaign of this year was an attack to be made on the Northern States from Canada. The com-. mand of this enterprise was given to General Burgoyne, who set out for Ticonderoga from Crown Point at the end of June. His general orders were: "The army embarks tomorrow to approach the enemy. The services required of this particular expedition are critical and conspicuous. During our progress, occasions may occur in which nor difficulty, nor labour, nor life are to be regarded. This army must not retreat.”

The army was 7,000 strong, partly composed of Germans, and with them several hundreds of Indians. The Germans were commanded by General Riedesel, but General Burgoyne was the chief commander. "There was an excellent train of brass artillery provided." Sir Henry Clinton, in charge of the regiments at New York, was to bring aid to General Burgoyne, and co-operate with him if necessary.

The Americans drew off from Ticonderoga as the English army approached; but though some of them were able to join General Schuyler, a good many "were routed and cut to pieces in skirmishes at Huberton and Fort Anne."

General Burgoyne then set out for Fort Edward; but the route he took was very difficult, and had been made more so by the Americans, who had cut down large trees, and left them lying across the road. The English troops had to make forty bridges in the course of their march. When they reached Fort Edward, they found that this also had been deserted by the Americans, who had gone lower down the Hudson. General Burgoyne then secured the communications by Lake George, that he might receive supplies from Canada. At Fort Edward he made a bridge of rafts over the Hudson, and sent over a division of his army, under General Frazer, to take position on the heights of Saratoga. Another detachment of mixed troops, German, English, Indian, and Canadian, he sent to Bennington, under Colonel Baum, to seize some supplies which he heard the Americans had at that place. This expedition was completely frustrated, and the British defeated, by Colonel Stark; the loss of the Americans was small, and their gain in "hope and self-reliance" very considerable. The British lost 200 killed, and 700 prisoners.

Congress, meanwhile, had thought to give a more effectual leader to the northern army than the brave General Schuyler in the person of General Gates, whom they sent to supersede Schuyler.

"General Schuyler received him with the noble courtesy to which he had pledged himself;" told him what he had done, what he had meant to do; said that he had signified to Congress his intention of remaining with the army, and rendering what help he could; and begged that General Gates would call on him at any time for any advice he could give him. Gates seems to have treated him with a very small amount of deference. He had arrived in great spirits, and

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meant to hold for himself the credit of any victory that might be gained.

General Burgoyne had not been prepared for the way in which the inhabitants of the country, in the midst of which he found himself with his army, would rise to arms; it prevented his gaining any definite idea of the strength of his enemy. "Many a hardy yeoinan, hearing of the Britishers' advance, waited for no further summons; he took down his gun from the wall, he drew forth his horse from the stable, and rode off at once to the scene of danger." At last Burgoyne crossed the Hudson, with all his troops, to Saratoga. General Gates, with the Americans, had taken up his position in front of Stillwater, in an encampment which had been planned by the Pole, Kosciusko, under a low range of hills called Behmus's Heights. On the 19th of September there was a partially successful attack made by the British, though bravely withstood by General Arnold. On the 7th of October another attack was made; and, owing to the spirited conduct of General Arnold, who, without any special command, and in spite of a jealous desire by General Gates to keep him back from action, led on the troops, the Americans gained a victory. General Frazer was mortally wounded; and so great was the advantage gained by the Americans, that General Burgoyne was forced to retreat to Saratoga. Here he was surrounded by the American army; his further retreat was quite cut off, and all communication with Sir Henry Clinton's division became impossible. His men, having marched through drenching rain, were completely worn out, and nothing was left but to capitulate. He called a council of war, and decided upon doing this. General Gates proposed that all the British soldiers should become prisoners of war. This Burgoyne indignantly refused;