edge of the ground. At Bemis Heights, three miles above Stillwater, a strong position was selected, September 8th, and entrenchments begun under the direction of Kosciusko. The line of battle extended along the river edge and curved off to the west upon high ground to a dense wood. The point was protected for a good way by a ravine.

On the morning of the 19th the British started to advance, a reconnoitering party under Burgoyne leading. From accounts in diaries of the British officers and Madame Riedesel, the English seem to have had slight knowledge at any time of the position and strength of the enemy. Baroness Riedesel writes: "The very little that we know of the enemy is told at once to the officers and their wives, but the Americans seem to have a perfect knowledge of our movements." This is partly explained by the fact that a man named Willard, posted on the hill now called Willard's Mountain, commanded with a telescope a full view of the British movements and communicated them to General Gates.

Nevertheless Burgoyne fired a gun, announcing his start to the Americans as well as to his own troops, and advanced to develop the enemy, knowing nothing of the latter's numbers or position. Morgan's rifle-corps was stationed at the extreme left of the American line, protected by woods, while Benedict Arnold commanded the American left of nine regiments. The forces of these two principally fought the battle of the 19th for the American side, about 3,000 men withstanding most of the British forces. Known as the battle of Bemis Heights, it may be better distinguished as the battle of Freeman's Farm. This little clearing was the point fought for; the English with characteristic tactics and love for open ground forming on the field, while the Americans fought under shelter of the woods The battle was close and spirited and toward the close of the day favored the British, as General Riedesel, coming

considerably less than its original strength, perhaps as low as 7,000, when it entered the battle of Saratoga. The artillery used by the British included thirty-eight pieces of light artillery, six twenty-four pounders, six twelve-pounders and four howitzers. Major-General Phillips, of the artillery, and Brigadier-Generals Fraser and Hamilton, commanded the three brigades into which the army was divided. Colonel Breymann commanded the reserve corps of German troops, and Major-General Riedesel the Germans distributed in the

of his own accord from the left with fresh troops, made a determined and successful charge. While Fraser and Breymann were eager to follow up this advantage Burgoyne ordered a halt and return to the retrenchments, adding to his list of errors of judgment. The American, as well as his own officers, testified that but for this the contest would have been doubtful, if not indeed an advantage to the British. The comparative efficacy of aim and strength of position is partly indicated by the record of killed and wounded, estimated at 300 or 400 on the American side and 600 to 1,000 on the British.

For over two weeks the armies lay within hearing, if not within sight of each other. Burgoyne again lessened his chances of success by waiting for Sir Henry Clinton to join him, though his officers and troops were ready to fight again on the 21st. It was to him a deadly delay. His supplies ran low and his force decreased, while the Americans received constant reinforcements, enlarged and strengthened their entrenchments, and hemmed in the British.

The more interesting and decisive battle of Oct. 7th-the battle of Saratogaopened with an advance of 1,500 picked men of the British. They gained the American left, and, as the histories state, began cutting wheat in a field for forage. However, as wheat ripens in July, and would have fallen down before October, it is probable that the grain was Indian corn. Gates directed the American forces from a loghouse in the rear, and held himself in readiness to retreat with the supply wagons. The Americans took the offensive and in a series of charges and flank movements drove the British from a commanding position. In this stage of the fight Major Acland was shot through both legs. General Fraser, the animating spirit on the British side, and conspicuous on an iron-gray horse, was shot by an American sharp-shooter, the identity of whom is still in dispute.

three brigades. On the morning of the 19th of September, when the first battle was fought, Burgoyne and Hamilton ied the centre; Fraser, Acland and Balcarras, sustained by Breymann, the right wing; and Phillips and Riedesel the left wing, with the artillery under Major Williams. The site of the British encampment, after crossing the river on September 13, was on the plain between the barracks and Fishkill, the barracks standing where are now the red barns of Alonzo Welch.

Major Williams, Sir Francis Clarke and Captain Money also fell on the British side; and his troops were so disheartened that Burgoyne, who had been at the front,

GENERAL GATES.

ordered a retreat fifty-two minutes after the first shot was fired. The New York and New Hampshire troops, under Poor, Learned and Cilley, had borne the honors, assisted by Morgan's unerring sharpshooters on the flank. Lincoln, who commanded the American right, saw little fighting. Now, as Burgoyne retreated to the British "great redoubt," leaving nearly all his cannon on the field, General Ten Broeck threw three thousand

fresh New York militia into the American advance line.

Here the unrestrained ambition of General Arnold showed itself in a series

of daring achievements which touch the reader of history with admiration and pity. Refused a command in the morning by General Gates, he could no longer keep in the rear. Mounted on a fine, brown horse, he led first a brigade at the right and then one at the left in impetuous charges on the British position.

"I'll soon put an end to it," he cried, and the soldiers followed him with enthusiasm. Riding up to Col. Latimer's Connecticut regiment, he accosted them:

Ah! my old friends from New London and Norwich! Come on, boys; if the day is long enough we will have them all in hell before night!"

While charging over the rail breastworks on the British right Arnold received a wound in the same leg that had been struck at Quebec. As he fell under his horse, he shouted: "Go on, boys!"

66

They went on," capturing the key of the English position and killing Colonel Breymann. The spot is now known as Burgoyne's, or more properly Breymann's hill. The irony of fate gave Gates, in the rear, the laurels of victory, and destined Arnold, wounded, at the head of the American troops, to an infamous memory. Gates did not even mention Arnold in reporting the battle. Meanwhile, Schuyler, in contrast to Arnold, obeyed orders

and stood a silent spectator, subduing his resentment and waiting patiently for the vindication of the future.

Two incidents, one extreme in its sadness, the other a bright contrast in its picture of womanly devotion, illustrated the close of the battle. General Fraser, of noble family, languished in a house by the river all night, attended by the Baroness de Riedesel. As his life ebbed away, he moaned: "My poor wife!" "Poor General Burgoyne!" "Fatal am

Majesties

Sim. Fraser

3 General

Commanding the adsanced Corps of the Army

bition!" He was buried at 6 o'clock the next evening in the great redoubt, the place he had designated. In a rude box, wrapped in his martial cloak, with his sword and hat laid on the coffin, he was borne to his grave. As the gloom settled in the valley, the party of officers knelt around the bier. The Americans from the opposite shore, not knowing it was a burial, were throwing cannon-shot at the party, the balls sometimes casting up the dirt in their faces; still the Chaplain read in steady tones the burial service, and the gallant officer received a fitting soldier's burial.*

The accompanying autograph of General Fraser, from the original owned by Mr. Stone, is the only one extant. The certificate was rendered necessary, as British stragglers were apt to be roughly treated by the Americans when caught, if not hanged as spies.

The romantic adventure of Lady Acland, will doubtless be told to as late a day as the story of the battle itself. Her husband, Major John Dyke Acland, was badly wounded in the battle of the

As late as 1821, says an account printed in the Old Settler in 1851, a party came all the way from England to exhume the remains of an English officer buried between the Schuyler house and the river. It seems that a body servant had buried his master there and had carefully marked the place. For many years he had urged the relatives to send him to recover the remains. At last two grandsons of this officer came with the aged servant on the doleful mission. Applying to Mr. Barker, agent of Mr. Schuyler, they secured permission to dig, and so accurately did the old retainer designate the place that their first efforts were successful. This led to the report that General Fraser's remains had been taken to England.

7th and fell into the hands of the Americans. The plucky little English woman was so solicitous for her husband that she started down the river, although in delicate health, in an open boat, and during a driving storm, accompanied only by Mr. Brudenell, the Chaplain, her maid and her husband's valet. When she reached the American sentries, she waved a white kerchief and herself hailed the guard. Major Dearborn, commanding, gave up his room in a log cabin, to the fair visitor, having first prepared a good fire and a cup of tea. Before sunrise her bateau again dropped down the river to the headquarters of General Gates, who received her most respectfully and escorted her to her wounded husband.†

+ The notes of the two Generals respecting Lady Acland show that the two commanders were as determined to excel each other in gallantry as on the battle field:

GENERAL BURGOYNE TO GENERAL GATES:

Sir-Lady Harriet Acland, a lady of the first dis

tinction by family rank and by personal virtues, is husband, wounded and a prisoner in your hands, that under such concern on account of Major Acland, her I cannot refuse her request to commit her to your protection. Whatever general impropriety there may be in persons acting in your situation and mine to solicit favors, I cannot see the uncommon perseverance in every female grace and exaltation of character of this lady, and her very hard fortune, without testifying that your attentions to her will lay me under obligation. I am, sir, your obedient servant, Oct. 9, 1777. J. BURGOYNE. MAJ. GEN. GATES. GENERAL GATES TO GENERAL BURGOYNE:

SARATOGA, Oct. 11, 1777.

Sir-I have the honor to receive your Excellency's letter by Lady Acland. The respect due to her ladyship's rank, the tenderness due to her person and sex were alone sufficient securities to entitle her to my

WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION.

Slowly Burgoyne retreated up the river to Fish Creek, the Americans following on his rear and flank. On the night of the 9th, he gave a banquet to his officers and the ladies in the camp, and his headquarters rang with laughter and jingling glasses. But the laughter was of the hysterical kind. General Fellows, whom the British might have successfully struck when on the opposite heights, on the eastern shore, was now fortified at the mouth of the Batten Kill. Gates occupied commanding ground on the

A romantic tradition that Major Acland met his death in a duel, and that Lady Acland went insane and subsequently married the Chaplain Brude nell, her companion in the adventure on the Hudson, has had to meet the fate of many thrilling romances from William Tell and the apple incident down. Lady Acland lived for over thirty years a widow and died a widow. Her husband died from a cold, the effect of exposure. They were buried side by side in England, both greatly mourned. A contemporaneous journal substantiates these facts.

heights south and west of Schuylerville, and the forts to the north were strongly garrisoned by the Americans. The stage was set for the final scene.

On the day after Burgoyne's orgies the Schuyler mansion, barns and mills were burned, it is claimed, accidentally. The English then moved to the north side of Fish Creek. The British army was now constantly annoyed by random firing. It was necessary to send a soldier's wife to the river for water, as the American sharp-shooters picked off the

men.

A British council of war on the 12th decided on a retreat, leaving baggage and artillery. But Burgoyne countermanded it that evening when everything was in readiness to start. The next day the Americans fortified the rocky hill near the road on the west side of the river opposite Clark's mills, and the last avenue of escape was closed. The British now numbered 5,800 men. Another council on the 13th decided to treat with Gates for honorable surrender. Those negotiations lasted several days, and Burgoyne was at one time disposed to repudiate his proposal, on hearing of Sir Henry Clinton's advance up the lower Hudson. His officers, however, urged him to sign the articles, and Gates offered an additional incentive by drawing up his army, 23,000 strong, ready for battle at 9 A.M. on the 17th. At 11 A. M. the articles were signed. The British stacked their guns on the site of old Fort Hardy, near the mouth of the creek; the American commander courteously ordering his command out of sight at the time. Both being sticklers for etiquette, Gates entertained Burgoyne in his tent, and after a banquet, in which Washington and George III. were toasted, the pair stepped outside, and the British officer surrendered his SWord in full view of both armies. General Gates bowed and returned the sword.