ress with which you conducted
your attack upon the provision-vessel in the hands of the enemy.
The gallantry of your little party was deserving of the success
which attended it; and I send you my sincere thanks, together with
those of the army, for the important service you have rendered them
upon this occasion.

"JOHN BURGOYNE.

"N.B.--The vessel contained 500 barrels of provisions, of which
article the army was in great want."

A retreat to Fort Edward by a night march, the troops carrying their
provisions on their backs, now offered the only hope of safety; but
while preparations were being made for this, it was found that the enemy
had effectually provided against it, by throwing up entrenchments
opposite the fords, and securing the heights between Fort Edward and
Fort George. Secrecy was impossible, for the parties of the enemy were
everywhere so numerous, that not a movement could be concealed.

Still hoping to be relieved from New York, the army, now reduced to
3,500 effective men, of whom not 2,000 were British, lingered in their
camp, where they lay always under arms, with the grape and rifle shot of
the enemy falling continually around them. On the 13th they had only
three days' provision remaining. A council of war was therefore held, to
which General Burgoyne summoned all the principal officers. Mr. Pellew
attended, as commander of the brigade of seamen; and a more decisive
testimony to his merits and services could not be afforded, than the
unprecedented compliment of calling a midshipman, only twenty years of
age, to sit in council with generals.

Mr. Pellew, as the youngest officer present, was required to offer his
opinion the first. He pleaded earnestly that his own little party might
not be included in the proposed capitulation, but permitted to make the
best of their way back. He had never heard, he said, of sailors
capitulating, and was confident he could bring them off. It is very
possible that they might have escaped. Soldiers are accustomed to act
only in orderly masses; but sailors combine with discipline the energy
of individual enterprise. Mr. Pellew's party had acted as pioneers and
artificers to the army during its advance; and their knowledge, and
readiness at resources, would have given them great facilities in making
their way through a hostile country. But their escape would have cast a
very unde