1

5

whelmed me, and I had scarcely got back to my quarters,* when I heard skirmishing, and firing, which by degrees, became constantly heavier, until, finally, the noises became frightful. It was a terrible cannonade, and I was more dead than alive. About three o'clock in the afternoon, in place of the guests who were to have dined with me, they brought in to me, upon a litter, poor General Frazer (one of my expected guests), mortally wounded. Our dining table, which was already spread, was taken away, and in its place they fixed up a bed for the general. I sat in a corner of the room trembling and quaking. The noises grew continually louder. The thought that they might bring in my husband in the same manner was to me dreadful, and tormented me incessantly. The general said to the surgeon, "Do not conceal any thing from me. Must I die?" The ball had gone through his bowels, precisely as in the case of Major Harnage. Unfortunately, however, the general had eaten a hearty breakfast, by reason of which the intestines were distended, and the ball, so the surgeon said, had not gone, as in the case of Major Harnage, between the intestines, but through them. I heard him often, amidst his groans, exclaim, "Oh, fatal ambition! Poor General Burgoyne! My poor wife!" Prayers were read to him. He then sent a message to General Burgoyne, begging that he would have him buried the following day at six o'clock in the evening, on the

*The quarters which Mrs. Riedesel then occupied, and in which General Frazer died, has since been known as the Smith House, and must not be confounded (as has sometimes been done) with the head-quarters of Burgoyne, in which the baroness had that morning taken breakfast with her husband. It was situated three miles and a half south of Fish creek, and, at the time of the battle, stood by the roadside, on the west margin of the intervales, at the foot of the rising ground. When, some years afterward, the present turnpike road was constructed, running twenty or thirty rods east of the old road, the latter was discontinued, and Mr. Smith drew the house to the west side of the turnpike, and turned it into a tavern. The late Theodore Dwight (who was killed on the New Jersey rail road, in October of last year, 1866), visited the spot in 1820, and made a drawing of the house, which was then still standing. Through his kindness, I received from him, but three days before his death, his original draft, from which the engraving, on the opposite page, has been taken.

top of a hill, which was a sort of a redoubt.* I knew no longer which way to turn. The whole entry and the other rooms were filled with the sick, who were suffering with the camp-sickness, a kind of dysentery. Finally, toward evening, I saw my husband coming, upon which I forgot all my sufferings, and thanked God that he had spared him to me. He ate in great haste with me and his adjutant, behind the house. We had been told that we had gained an advantage over the enemy, but the sorrowful and down-cast faces which I beheld, bore witness to the contrary, and before my husband again went away, he drew me one side and told me that every thing might go † very badly, and that I must keep myself in constant readiness for departure, but by no means to give any one the least inkling of what I was doing. I therefore pretended that I wished to move into my new house the next morning, and had every thing packed up. My lady Ackland occupied a tent not far from our house. In this she slept, but during the day was in the camp. Suddenly one came to tell her that her husband was mortally wounded, and had been taken prisoner. At this she became very wretched. We comforted her by saying that it was only a slight wound, but as no one could nurse him as well as herself, we counseled her to go at once to him, to do which she could certainly obtain permission. She loved him very much, although he was a plain, rough man, and was almost daily intoxicated; with this exception, however, he was an excellent officer. She was the loveliest of women. I spent the night in this manner at one time comforting her, and at another looking after my children, whom I had put to bed. As for myself, I could not go to sleep, as I had General Frazer and all the other gentlemen in my room, and was constantly afraid that my

*In his State of the Expedition, Burgoyne speaks of it as the Great Redoubt.

+ The tense used in the original answers to our imperfect potential (as in the text), and not the imperfect indicative ("went ") as in the previous English translation. This is not so unimportant as might at first appear; since it shows how extremely cautious General Riedesel was-even when speaking to his wife of saying any thing, that by any possibility might injure the cause, before the action was ended.

ap

children would wake up and cry, and thus disturb the poor dying man, who often sent to beg my pardon for making me so much trouble. About three o'clock in the morning, they told me that he could not last much longer. I had desired to be prised of the approach of this moment. I, accordingly, wrapped up the children in the bed coverings, and went with them into the entry. Early in the morning, at eight o'clock, he expired.* After they had washed the corpse, they wrapped it in a sheet, and laid it on a bedstead. We then again came into the room, and had this sad sight before us the whole day. At every instant, also, wounded officers of my acquaintance arrived, and the cannonade again began. A retreat was spoken of, but there was not the least movement made toward it. About four o'clock in the afternoon, I saw the new house which had been built for me, in flames: the enemy, therefore, were not far from us. We learned that General Burgoyne intended to fulfill the last wish of General Frazer, and to have him buried at six o'clock, in the place designated by him. This occasioned an unnecessary delay, to which a part of the misfortunes of the army was owing. Precisely at six o'clock the corpse was brought out, and we saw the entire body of generals with their retinues on the hill assisting at the obsequies. The English chaplain, Mr. Brudenel, performed the funeral services. The cannon balls flew continually around and over the party. The American general, Gates, afterward said, that if he had known. that it was a burial he would not have allowed any firing in that direction. Many cannon balls also flew not far from me, but I had my eyes fixed upon the hill, where I distinctly saw

*"Never more shall he chase the red deer through the heather of Strath Evrick, or guide the skiff across the fathomless lake of central Scotland, or muse over the ruin of the Stuarts on the moor of Drum-mossie, or dream of glory beside the crystal waters of the Ness. Death in itself is not terrible; but he came to America for selfish advancement, and though bravely true as a soldier, he died unconsoled."- Bancroft's Relation of the Death of Frazer, Vol. IX, p. 419.

The height occupied by Burgoyne on the 18th, which ran parallel with the river until it approached General Gates's camp.