Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/177

 Rh and had the advantage of superior numbers, but were without a competent general. Neither Gates nor Lincoln appeared on the field. Benedict Arnold, who had no proper command, fought with his usual reckless courage, but had not the talent of a strategist. He was severely wounded in the capture of Breymann's redoubt. It would have been fortunate for him had the wound proved mortal.

Nothing was left for Burgoyne's army but to retreat. Promptitude might, perhaps, still have secured its escape, but on every side were disorder and delay. Early in the morning of the 8th of October, 1777, the British and Germans were drawn together on the heights that overlook the Hudson. Here, on the evening of that day, General Fraser was buried, in a spot which he had himself chosen as his last resting-place. He had been brought, mortally wounded, into the house occupied by Baroness Riedesel, with whose husband he had served in the Seven Years' War. The Baroness had expected to give a little dinner-party on the 7th. “General Fraser,” she says, “and, I believe, also Generals Burgoyne and Phillips, were to have dined with me on that day. I saw a great deal of movement among the troops. My husband told me that a reconnoissance was to be made, which did not astonish me, as this had often occurred. On my way home I met a great many Indians, in their war dress and carrying guns. I asked where they were going, and they shouted ‘War! War!’ which meant that they were going to battle; and this quite overcame me. I had hardly recovered when I heard skirmishing, and then the firing became heavier and heavier,