nishment. "The fortress has been sold!" they cried. Some of the
officers, who had been present, wrote home that the place could have
held out against Burgoyne for weeks, or until help could have arrived.
This was sure to find ready believers, and so added to the volume of
denunciation cast upon the head of the unlucky St. Clair.

But these passionate outbursts of feeling were soon quenched by the
necessity all saw for prompt action. Once passion and prejudice had
burned out, our people nobly rose to the demands of the situation. But
confidence in the generals of the Northern army was gone forever. The
men of New England would not sit long in the shadow of defeat, but they
said they would no more be sacrificed to the incompetency of leaders who
had been tried and found wanting. Congress had to pay heed to this
feeling. Washington had to admit the force of it, because he knew that
New England must be chiefly looked to in this crisis, to make head
against Burgoyne. If she failed, all else would fail.

[Sidenote: P. Van Cortlandt's letters.]

If we turn now to New York, what do we see? Five counties in the enemy's
hands. Three more, so divided against themselves as to be without order
or government. Of the remaining six, the resources of Orange, Ulster,
and Dutchess were already heavily taxed with the duty of defending the
passes of the Hudson; Westchester was being overrun by the enemy, at
will; only Tryon and Albany remained, and in Tryon, every able-bodied
citizen, not a loyalist, was arming to repel the invasion of St. Leger,
now imminent.

We have thus briefly glanced at the dangers resulting from the fall of
Ticonderoga, at the resources of the sections which Burgoyne was now
threatening to lay waste with fire and sword, and at the attitude of the
people toward those generals who had so grievously disappointed them in
the conduct of the campaign, up to this time.

[Sidenote: John Marshall.]

In the words of one distinguished writer, "The evacuation of Ticonderoga
was a shock for which no part of the United States was prepared." In the
language of another, "No event throughout the whole war produced such
consternation, nothing could have been more unexpected."

It was not so much the loss of the fortress itself,--as costly as it was
to the impoverished colonies, that could have been borne,--but the
people had been led to believe, and did believe, it was next to
impregnable; nor could they understand why those wh