Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/90

82 long before they were officially given out in orders. This is confirmed by Mrs. General Riedesel in her valuable Letters from America. "I observe," she writes at this time, "that the wives of the officers (British) are beforehand informed of all the military plans. This the Americans anticipate all our movements, and expect us wherever we arrive; and this, of course, injures our affairs." Finally, a further advance was again ordered—an advance which prudence dictated should be made with the greatest caution. The army was now in the immediate vicinity of an alert and thoroughly aroused enemy, of whose strength they knew as little as of the country. Notwithstanding this, however, the army not only was divided into three columns, each marching several miles apart, but at ten o'clock in the morning, a cannon, fired as a signal for the advance, echoed through the still, green aisles of the primeval forest, informing the Americans of the position and the forward movement of the British. At length a sharp firing in the direction of the centre told the rear—delayed by a broken bridge—of the proximity of the enemy. After waiting for some time in vain for orders from his commander- in-chief, Riedesel ordered his men to push forward to the support of their comrades; but they had scarcely advanced six hundred paces when another bridge must be repaired. Finally, having removed this obstacle and beaten a path through the dense underbrush; they arrived at a cleared height, and beheld their comrades below in an open plain, engaged in a close contest with the Americans, who were themselves mostly concealed by a thick wood. The details of this action, known as the battle of Freeman's Farm, need not here be recapitulated. It is sufficient for the present purpose to say, that when Riedesel—whose timely arrival alone saved the army from a total rout—had for the moment repelled the Americans, and Frazer and Breyraan were preparing to follow up the advantage, he was recalled by Burgoyne and reluctantly forced to retreat. General Schuyler, referring to this in his diary, says: "Had it not been for this order of the British general, the Americans would have been—if not defeated—at least held in such check as to have made it a drawn battle, and an opportunity afforded the British to collect much provision, of which he stood sorely in need." The British officers also shared the same opinion. Frazer and Riedesel severely criticised the order, telling its author in plain terms, that "he did not understand how to avail himself of his advantages." Nor was this feeling confined to the officers. The privates gave vent to their dissatisfaction against their general, in loud expressions of scorn as he rode down the line. This reaction was the more striking, because they had placed the utmost confidence in his capacity at the beginning of the expedition. They were, also, still more confirmed in their dislike, by the general belief that he was addicted to drinking. Neither does this seem to have been owing to an unwillingness to