Supplementary Reading. Bret Harte's Caldwell of Springfield. Rev olutionary Ballad on Battle of Trenton, in Library American Literature, III. 349. For complete Articles of Confederation, see Old South Leaflets. The Battle of the Kegs, Library American Literature, III. 244.

11. THE THIRD YEAR OF THE WAR; BURGOYNE'S

INVASION.

Our affairs, it is said, are desperate! If this be our language, they are indeed. . . . But we are not driven to such narrow straits. . . . We have proclaimed to the world our determination "to die freemen, rather than to live slaves." We have appealed to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and in Heaven have we placed our trust. . . . Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven, while we act worthy of its aid. -SAMUEL ADAMS, after the British entered Philadelphia. 162

While Washington, Cornwallis, and Howe were fighting through the Jerseys southward, the British were planning for Burgoyne's Invasion. What this invasion was meant to do, and how it succeeded, is best told in the diary of Mr. Thacher, a surgeon in the American army:

June, [1777.]-Congress have appointed MAJOR GENERAL SCHUYLER to command in the northern department, including Albany, Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix...; the British government have appointed... Burgoyne commander-in-chief of their army in Canada.... `The plan is, that General Burgoyne's army shall take possession of Ticonderoga, and force his way through the country to Albany;... Colonel St. Leger is to march with a party of British, Germans, Canadians, and Indians, to the Mohawk River, and [take Fort Stanwix.]... The royal army at New York, under command of General Howe is to pass up the Hudson River, and . . . the three armies are to form a junction at Albany. . . . This being accomplished,... New England, as they suppose, may become an easy prey. . . .

[July] 5th.

It is with astonishment that we find the enemy have taken possession of an eminence . . . which . . . completely overlooks and commands all our works at Ticonderoga. . . .

...

14th.-... At about 12 o'clock, in the night of the 5th instant, I was urgently called from sleep, and informed that our army was in motion, and was instantly to abandon Ticonderoga. . . . General Schuyler . . . is making every possible exertion, by taking up bridges, throwing obstructions in the roads and passes, by fallen trees, etc., to impede the march of Burgoyne's army toward Albany...

[Meanwhile St. Leger has been repulsed from Fort Stanwix by General Herkimer and General Benedict Arnold;] thus have we clipped the right wing of General Burgoyne.

30th. Our army under General Schuyler have... [fallen] back to Stillwater, twenty-five miles above Albany.... General Burgoyne we learn, [finds] his march greatly impeded by the obstructions in the roads effected by order of General Schuyler. ... Finding himself in want of provisions, . . . and . . . being informed that a large quantity of stores, corn, cattle, &c., were deposited at Bennington,... he planned an expedition for the purpose of possessing himself of this treasure. . . . He despatched . . . a German officer, with a party of five hundred Hessians and Tories, and one hundred Indians.... [But they were met by General John Stark and the Green Mountain Boys and entirely routed.] Burgoyne must feel the clipping of another wing.

Major-General Horatio Gates has superseded General Schuyler as commander of the northern department. . . .

September... 18th, and 19th. Our army is advancing towards the enemy in three columns, under Generals Lincoln and Arnold, General Gates in the centre. [Two days after, the first battle of Saratoga was fought.]

October... 8th. A most severe engagement took place yesterday... at a place between Stillwater and Saratoga, called Bemis' Heights. It is supposed to have been the hardest fought battle, and the most honorable to our army, of any since the commencement

of [the war]. ... General Arnold, in consequence of a serious misunderstanding with General Gates, was not vested with any command, by which he was exceedingly. . . irritated. He entered the field, however, . . . flourishing his sword and animating the troops. In the heat of the action, ... he ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Brooks, at the head of his regiment, to face the German lines, which was instantly obeyed, and they boldly entered at the sally port together, where Arnold received a wound..., and his horse was killed under him. Nightfall put a stop to our brilliant career, though the victory is most decisive. . . .

14th.-... Burgoyne has this day made proposals to General Gates to . . . surrender his army. . . . The glorious event is about to be consummated.

[The terms of surrender allow Burgoyne's army to return to England and Germany on condition of not serving again in the present war.] The trophies which we have achieved by this great event, are, officers and soldiers, five thousand seven hundred and ninetyone.... The train of brass artillery . . . [is] immensely valuable, besides seven thousand muskets, . . . and an ample supply of shot, shells, &c. To these are added, clothing for seven thousand men, a large number of tents and other military stores. . . .163

...

Almost immediately after General Burgoyne's arrival in London, the following item appeared in a London paper:

It is said that General Burgoyne, who is lately arrived, has opened the eyes of the Ministry, both with respect to the personal courage of the Americans, and the number of well disciplined troops which our armies will have to beat, if this war is continued. But it is supposed that able Officer will remove the present [folly] of the Ministry, and convince them that peace and not war, with our colonies, is the true way to make them good subjects of Great Britain.164

STUDY ON II.

1. Take your outline map for the Revolution, and mark with red the British victories from the end of the siege of Boston till Burgoyne's surren

der. 2. Mark with blue the American victories during this same time. (See for these questions the List of Events and the Reference Map for this period.) 3. What places were the centres of war during this time? 4. What reason had the Americans to be encouraged at the time of the Declaration of Independence? 5. What reason had they to say their affairs were desperate, just after the British entered Philadelphia? 6. What four classes of fighters did Burgoyne command? 7. If Howe had joined Burgoyne at Albany, thus making a British line from New York to Canada, how would New England have thus become an easy prey? 8. What obstacles did General Burgoyne meet before he reached Saratoga? 9. What American generals should be remembered in connection with Burgoyne's invasion? 10. What did we gain by Burgoyne's defeat?

Supplementary Reading. — Bryant's Green Mountain Boys. The Fate. of John Burgoyne, Library American Literature, III. 350.

12. FOREIGN RELATIONS; FRANKLIN,
LAFAYETTE.

The moment I heard of America, I loved her; the moment I knew she was fighting for freedom, I burnt with a desire of bleeding for her; and the moment I shall be able to serve her at any time, or in any part of the world, will be the happiest one of my life.- LAFAYETTE, 165

Franklin's Reception in France. While Washington was at Valley Forge, Franklin was in France, sent there by Congress to try and get France to help us against England: in other words, to form a French Alliance. On his first arrival in Paris, he is thus described:

Doctor Franklin, who lately arrived. . . is very much run after, and fêted,... by all people who can get hold of him; ... this Quaker wears the full costume of his sect. He has an agreeable physiognomy. Spectacles always on his eyes; but little hair, a fur cap is always on his head. He wears no powder very white, a brown coat make his dress.

...

; linen

One of the most famous Frenchwomen of that time thus describes his reception, after he became our full minister to France:

Elegant fêtes were given to Dr. Franklin, who united the renown

FRANKLIN.

of one of the most skilful naturalists, with the patriotic virtues which had made him embrace the noble rôle of Apostle of Liberty. I was present at one of these fêtes, where the most beautiful of three hundred women was designated to go and place on the philosopher's white locks a crown of laurel, and to give the old man two kisses on his cheeks.166

In calling Franklin one of the "most skilful naturalists," this lady refers to the fact that Dr. Franklin was famous throughout Europe for his studies and discov

eries in electricity, and as the inventor of the lightning-rod. His works had already been published in England and France and his picture was in all the shops.

The French Alliance. Though Franklin was very popular in France, the French king was very slow to make an alliance with the Americans; but in early December of 1777, a carriage dashed into the courtyard of the house where Franklin and the American commissioners to the court of France were staying; and they all hastened down to know what news it was that came in such haste; "Sir, is Philadelphia taken?" cried Dr. Franklin. "It is, sir," replied the messenger, and the old man turned sadly away. "But, sir," continued the messenger, "I