Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/524

492 might have reached Ford Edward much more readily by way of Lake George; but he had judged it best to pursue the panic-stricken Americans, and despite the difficulties of the route, not to throw any discouragements in the way of his troops by a retrograde movement.

At Fort Edward General Burgoyne again found it necessary to pause in his career; for his carriages, which, in the hurry, had been made of unseasoned wood, were much broken down, and needed to be repaired. From the unavoidable difficulties of the case, not more than one-third of the draught horses contracted for in Canada had arrived; and General Schuyler had been careful to remove almost all the horses and draught cattle of the country out of his way. Boats for the navigation of the Hudson, provisions, stores, artillery, and other necessaries for the army, were all to be brought from Fort George; and although that place was only nine or ten miles from Fort Edward, yet such was the condition of the roads, rendered nearly impassable by the great quantities of rain that had fallen, that the labor of transporting necessaries was incredible. General Burgoyne had collected about one hundred oxen; but it was often necessary to employ ten or twelve of them in transporting a single boat. With his utmost exertions he had, on the 15th of August, conveyed only twelve boats into the Hudson, and provisions for the army for four days in advance. Matters began to assume a very serious aspect indeed; and as the further he removed from the lakes the more difficult it became to get supplies from that quarter, Burgoyne saw clearly that he must look elsewhere for sustenance for his army.

The British commander was not ignorant that the Americans had accumulated considerable stores, including live cattle, and vehicles of various kinds, at Bennington, about twenty-four miles east of the Hudson. Burgoyne, easily persuaded that the tories in that region would aid his efforts, and thinking that he could alarm the country as well as secure the supplies of which he began to stand in great need, determined to detach Colonel Baum, with a force of some six or eight hundred of Reidesel's dragoons, for the attack upon Bennington. His instructions to Baum were "to try the affections of the country to disconcert the counsels of the enemy, to mount Reidesel's dragoons, to complete Peter's corps, (of loyalists) and to obtain large supplies of cattle, horses. and carriages." Baum set off, on the 13th of August, on this expedition, which was to result so unfortunately to himself, and which proved in fact the ruin of Burgoyne's entire plans and purposes.

We have spoken of the consternation which filled the minds of men a short time before this, when Burgoyne seemed to be marching in triumph through the country. The alarm, how ever, subsided, and the New England states resolved to make most vigorous efforts to repel the attack of the enemy. John Langdon, a merchant of Ports mouth and speaker of the New Hampshire Assembly, roused the desponding minds of his fellow members to the