and tear, and grin, and roar
And drench their moccasins in gore:...
I swear, by St. George and St. Paul,
I will exterminate you all.

Such seed, falling on soil prepared by the hate of war, brought forth
its deadly fruit. The Americans believed that there was no brutality
from which British officers would shrink. Burgoyne had told his Indian
allies that they must not kill except in actual fighting and that there
must be no slaughter of non-combatants and no scalping of any but the
dead. The warning delivered him into the hands of his enemies for it
showed that he half expected outrage. Members of the British House of
Commons were no whit behind the Americans in attacking him. Burke amused
the House by his satire on Burgoyne's words: "My gentle lions, my humane
bears, my tenderhearted hyenas, go forth! But I exhort you, as you are
Christians and members of civilized society, to take care not to hurt
any man, woman, or child." Burke's great speech lasted for three and
a half hours and Sir George Savile called it "the greatest triumph of
eloquence within memory." British officers disliked their dirty, greasy,
noisy allies and Burgoyne found his use of savages, with the futile
order to be merciful, a potent factor in his defeat.

A horrifying incident had occurred while he was fighting his way to
the Hudson. As the Americans were preparing to leave Fort Edward some
marauding Indians saw a chance of plunder and outrage. They burst into a
house and carried off two ladies, both of them British in sympathy--Mrs.
McNeil, a cousin of one of Burgoyne's chief officers, General Fraser,
and Miss Jeannie McCrae, whose betrothed, a Mr. Jones, and whose brother
were serving with Burgoyne. In a short time Mrs. McNeil was handed over
unhurt to Burgoyne's advancing army. Miss McCrae was never again seen
alive by her friends. Her body was found and a Wyandot chief, known as
the Panther, showed her scalp as a trophy. Burgoyne would have been a
poor creature had he not shown anger at such a crime, even if committed
against the enemy. This crime, however, was committed against his own
friends. He pressed the charge against the chief and was prepared to
hang him and only relaxed when it was urged that the execution would
cause all his Indians to leave him and to commit further outrages. The
incident was appealing in its tragedy and stirred the deep anger of the
population of the surrounding country among whose descendants to thi