Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/158

 140 approach of General Amherst, who repaired the works. These were now held for nearly sixteen years by the British, unmolested, until the small garrison was surprised, and the fort seized, on the 10th of May, 1776, by a party of Americans under Ethan Allen, “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.” During the two years that the fort had been in American hands, great pains had been taken to strengthen it, and it was most liberally supplied with guns, ammunition, and provisions. A new fort had also been constructed on the east side of the lake, at Mount Independence. The Americans would seem to have overshot the mark in the greatness of their preparations. The works, two miles and a half in length, were much too large for the garrison. Moreover, the fort could be completely commanded by artillery on Mount Defiance, a hill which was not included in the lines.

The result of these errors was disastrous. On the 1st of July, 1777, Burgoyne's army appeared before the fortress. Riedesel, with the Germans, was on the east shore of the lake operating against Mount Independence. But little fighting took place. St. Clair, the American commander, seeing himself in danger of being surrounded, retreated, with the garrison of about thirty-three hundred men, leaving the forts with more than seventy cannon, two hundred head of cattle, and a great store of ammunition and provisions, to fall into the hands of the British army. The remnants of the American fleet, which fled in the direction of Whitehall, were presently followed by the British, who had only been delayed by the necessity of breaking through