joy of seeing him again with us on the 18th, and spending with him three happy weeks in the greatest tranquility. A few days after my arrival, news came that we were cut off from Canada. If, therefore, I had not taken advantage of this fortunate opportunity, I would have been obliged to remain behind in Canada, three long years without my husband. The sole circumstance,

which led to this as it proved for us - fortunate determination, was as follows: Upon the arrival of milady Ackland at the army, General Burgoyne said to my husband, "General, you shall have your your wife here also!" Whereupon he immediately dispatched Captain Willoe for me. We led, during these three weeks, a very pleasant life. The surrounding country was magnificent; and we were encircled by the encampments of the English and German troops. We lived in a building called the Red House.* I had only one room for my husband, myself and my children, in which my husband also slept, and had besides all his writing materials. My women servants slept in a kind of hall. When it was beautiful weather we took our meals under the trees, but if not, in a barn, upon boards, which were laid upon casks and served as a table. It was at this place

*"The Red House, or Burgoyne's head-quarters, was built before the revolutionary war, by Doctor James Smyth, who fled to Canada, but, subsequently, sold the Red House to Captain Ezekiel Baldwin, who occupied it as a tavern until he built and removed to the tavern owned, subsequently, by Major Sproll. The Red House stood on an open, unfenced space. I recollect having seen it in that condition. When it was taken down I do not know; but two years ago, I found its chimney foundation, over which a new street has since been opened. The fort of 1709 was on the Red House site, where Colonel Lydius, after having been expelled from Montreal, built a kind of block-house residence, which the French called Fort Lydius, and burned in 1745. On its foundation, Doctor Smyth erected the Red House, which, after Smyth left for Canada, was occupied by Peter Treal, a tory."Letter from the Hon. Judge Hay, of Saratoga Springs (long a resident of Glens Falls and Fort Edward), to the translator, December 1st, 1866.

After the French war, the fortification at Fort Edward became so dilapidated, that it was seldom occupied by any of the troops that were stationed there. Canada being now conquered, it was supposed there would be no further use for it; and, accordingly, just before the revolutionary war, Dr. Smyth erected from the debris of the fort, the Red House for his own dwelling. Burgoyne very naturally, therefore, took this house for his head-quarters. The order which designated the "Red House as Head-quarters," is dated July 29, 1777.

that I eat bear's flesh for the first time, and found it of capital flavor. We were often put to it to get any thing to eat; notwithstanding this, however, I was very happy and content, for I was with my children, and beloved by those by whom I was surrounded. There were, if I remember rightly, four or five adjutants staying with us. The evening was spent by the gentlemen in playing cards, and by myself in putting my children to bed.

THE AMERICAN CAMPAIGN.

1777.*

From the beginning of the campaign of the year 1777, General Riedesel was neither admitted into the war councils of the English generals respecting the movements of the Expedition, nor were the instructions, which General Burgoyne had received from the British ministry upon the manner in which the campaign should be conducted, ever imparted to him. General Riedesel continually sought and begged, either the command of the advanced guard of the army, or, at least, as far as circumstances would admit, of a particular corps, which last request was from time to time granted. At the same time, the general made it his greatest endeavor to follow out most punctiliously the orders of General Burgoyne; to preserve the discipline and morale of those troops placed under him; to promote a good understanding between the English and German troops; and to see to it that the German soldiers received all that belonged to them, both by the subsidy treaty, and by their rank, namely: the enjoyment of the same advantages as the English national troops.

Although, indeed,† slight differences occurred now and then

*This is an abstract of the Military Memoir, written by General Riedesel, and published in full, in his Life and Writings, edited by Max Von Eelking at Leipsig, in 1856.

These good offices of General Riedesel are corroborated by General Burgoyne in his State of the Expedition, 2d edition, page 132.

"The mode of war in which they [the German troops] were engaged, was entirely new to them; temptations to desert were in themselves great, and had been en

among the privates, growing out of their not understanding each other's language, yet they were soon settled, especially when General Riedesel was present.

It was under these circumstances that the army moved out of winter-quarters on the 3d of June. On the 6th of July, the Americans abandoned Ticonderoga. On the very same day, General Riedesel was detached with three German battalions to support Brigadier Frazer, who was pursuing the retreating enemy toward Huberton. While, on the 7th, he was only about an hour's distance from Brigadier Frazer, the latter had, without waiting for him, already engaged the enemy. The fire was hot, and the situation critical, until General Riedesel came up with his advanced guard, and made with it a fresh attack upon the right flank of the enemy, which changed the complexion of affairs so much, that the enemy were beaten with considerable loss; and Brigadier Frazer, as well as all the officers of his corps, expressed to the general their most lively gratitude.*

After this affair, General Burgoyne gathered his army to

hanced and circulated among them by emissaries of the enemy with much art and industry. Jealousy of predilection in the allotment of posts and separate commands, ever subsists among troops of different states; and a solid preference of judgment in the commander in chief, often appears a narrow national partiality.

"I confess, I was much assisted in maintaining cordiality in an army thus composed, by the frank, spirited, and honorable character I had to deal with, in Major General Riedesel:- a character which was very early impressed upon my mind, and which no trials of intricacy, danger and distress, have since effaced; but address was still requisite to second his zeal, and diffuse it through the German ranks, and I studied to throw them into situations that might give them confidence in themselves, credit with their prince, and alacrity in the pursuit of an enterprise, which, when its difficulties were considered, in fact required enthusiasm."

"*After the battle, Frazer, while expressing his thanks for this timely rescue, shook hands with his old friend and companion in arms [Riedesel], with whom he had already fought in the Seven Years' war, in Germany, with great valor."— History of the German Auxiliaries in America.

66

General Burgoyne in his official report of this action, does only partial justice to German valor on this occasion. 'Major General Riedesel," he says, "and the troops under his command wished to partake of the honor, and they came at the right time to get it." He fails, however, to mention the fact, that it was the Germans who turned the scales and assisted the British out of their strait.

gether at Skeensborough. On the 12th of July, General Riedesel was detached with six battalions, with orders to post himself in the vicinity of Castle Town,* in order to create in the mind of the enemy a suspicion that his object was a demonstration upon the Connecticut river. In the meanwhile, General Burgoyne had the roads repaired,† and began to advance upon Fort Edward, by way of Fort Anne.‡ At the same time, and while he was marching upon Fort Edward, General Riedesel received orders to follow the English in that direction, which he did, and united himself again with the army on the 3d of August.

While at this place, General Burgoyne determined to detach a corps under Lieutenant Colonel Baum to Bennington, for the purpose of seizing a considerable magazine of stores in that town; an expedition that General Riedesel thought very unadvisable, and against which he emphatically contended. Notwithstanding this, however, it was undertaken, and as it was thought that Lieutenant Colonel Baum had too small a force to contend with the enemy, Lieutenant Colonel Breymann - also contrary to the judgment of General Riedesel was sent to support him This affair, on the 16th, at Bennington, turned out very unluckily. The enemy was four or five times stronger than the troops sent against him. The distance prevented Lieutenant Colonel Breymann from coming up early enough;

* Castle Town-the present Castleton, Vt.,-is described as being, at this period, "a wretched place, consisting of only twenty miserable dwelling houses, the owners of which were for the most part patriots."

+ General Burgoyne not only had to repair the roads, but to cut a road through a primeval forest-and the worst kind of a forest, full of swamps and wind-falls. During his march to Fort Edward alone, he had to build forty bridges, and lay corduroy roads of logs across the swamps, one of which was two miles in length. Fort St. Anne, at this time, existed only in name. It consisted of a square, formed by palisades, with loop-holes between them. Inside of the enclosure were a wretched barrack and a store-house built of wood. The Americans_set it on fire when they evacuated the place; but a violent shower having set in and extinguished the flames, the work of destruction was only partially accomplished. The bricks of the foundations that were still standing were used by the Germans, on taking possession, to build ovens.