Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/171

 number. The latter retained possession of the ground, and may, therefore, fairly claim a victory; but it was a barren victory, which they were never able to follow up. On the 20th, Burgoyne began to intrench his position. His chance of success henceforth lay in co-operation from the southward—a help which never came.

The Germans rendered most important services to Burgoyne in the course of this day. Breymann, with the grenadiers and light infantry, distinguished himself early in the afternoon, by coming to the relief of an English regiment which was falling back. Captain Pausch of the Hanau artillery, with his two six-pounders, and Riedesel with his seven companies, finally turned the tide of battle. Both Breymann and Pausch were publicly thanked by Burgoyne.

Meanwhile the rear of the army had been seriously threatened. Colonel Brown, acting under the orders of General Lincoln, had taken some of the outer works of Ticonderoga, with nearly three hundred prisoners, but had been repulsed from the main fortress.

Baroness Riedesel had accompanied the army on its march. She had been encouraged, she says, when they crossed the Hudson, at hearing General Burgoyne say that Englishmen never retreat. Her distrust had been excited, however, by finding that the officers' wives with the army knew of all expeditions which were planned, and she remembered that in Prince Ferdinand's army, in the Seven Years' War, everything was kept very secret. But now the Americans knew all plans beforehand, and expected the English wherever they went.