on the 16th of June, for that purpose.
Having detached Colonel St. Leger, with about eight hundred men, to make
a diversion on the side of the Mohawk River. Burgoyne, preceded by the
shipping, began his course, having columns of Indians on his right
and left flank. At Crown Point there were a considerable number of
Americans, but they retired at the approach of the flotilla, and the
troops were safely landed. Here Burgoyne treated the Indians with a
war-feast, in order to whet their appetites for slaughter; though, at
the same time, he exhorted them to relinquish their old habits, and to
fight like civilized men. But he might as well have attempted to change
their natural colour by washing them with soap and water; and, moreover,
the effects of his precepts must have been set aside by the tenor of a
proclamation, which he issued immediately after, and which threatened
such of the insurgents as should continue in their obstinacy with
destruction. This proclamation was unheeded, and in a few days, after
erecting some magazines and slight defences at Crown Point, Burgoyne
proceeded to Ticonderago. The Americans had greatly strengthened their
works at this fort; but as they had not troops sufficient to man them,
General St. Clair, who held the command there, evacuated it, and putting
their baggage and provisions on board of batteaux, the Americans fled
to Skenesborough. The batteaux sailed along the South River, and being
pursued by a brigade of gun-boats, it was overtaken and captured, or
destroyed near the falls of Skenesborough. General Burgoyne followed
with one part of his army, in other gun-boats and two small frigates,
while Generals Frazer and Reidesel marched after St. Clair by land.
Skenesborough was captured with as much ease as Ticonderago; the
Americans who had occupied the place retiring hastily to Fort Anne, and
St. Clair marching with headlong haste to Castletown. The rear of the
retreating army was overtaken by General Frazer, and Colonel Francis,
with many officers, and two hundred men were slain, while a similar
number were taken prisoners, and about five hundred wounded crawled
away to perish in the woods, vainly hoping to escape to the inhabited
country. St. Clair continued his route from Castletown, and after a
fatiguing march arrived at Fort Edward, on the Hudson, where General
Schuyler, the American commander-in-chief, was stationed with about
4,400 men under his command. And here the reverses of the