"The
British now planned to subdue the colonies in
a single campaign, by concerted action; and great preparations were going
on during the winter and spring for its accomplishment. If they could
but gain complete control of the Champlain-Hudson Valley, establishing
a line of forts from the St.Lawrence River to New York Bay, and thus preventing
New England, the head of the rebellion, from joining her forces with those
beyond the Hudson, they felt that victory would be theirs. Burgoyne
was confident that this could be done, and the plan decided on was this:
Burgoyne
was to advance up Lake Champlain, take
Ticonderoga, and then press forward
to the Hudson, with the expectation that General Howe's army would meet
him there, having accomplished a similar work on the Hudson. At the same
time another British expedition, consisting partly of Iroquois Indians,
was to start out from Oswego and unite with Burgoyne on the Hudson, having
opened the way to a fertile section of New York from which Burgoyne hoped
to gain vast quantities of supplies for his forces. The plan was an admirable
one, but did it work?
"Through some delay Howe failed to receive his instructions,
until about the time that the British were being defeated at Bennington,
and he was then about to enter Chesapeake Bay and far from the scene of
conflict; the Oswego expedition failed utterly to accomplish its mission;
and of Burgoyne we are about to hear.
"Late in June (1777) Burgoyne, with an aggregate number
of 10,000 strong, neared Ticonderoga; and, on the first day of July, came
to anchor just out of range of its guns. Perceiving the designs of the
British, some efforts were made to strengthen Ticonderoga, which position
had been connected with Mt.Independence by means of a floating bridge,
consisting of twenty-two sunken piers joined by floats, the lake at this
point being scarcely more than a half mile wide. This bridge was to have
been protected by a boom of huge timbers, fastened together by bolts and
chains; but this was not completed when
Burgoyne made his advance.
"Towering above and within easy range of both Ticonderoga
and
Mt.Independence was Mt. Defiance, from whose summit every approach
by land or water was plainly visible. The desirability of fortifying this
point was now discussed by the Americans, but was given up on account of
the difficulty of raising the necessary ordnance up the steep and rugged
mountain sides, and because of the fact that General St. Clair, who had
superseded General Gates, to garrison the entire works, had little more
than 3,000 effective men, and could ill afford to spare the men for the
purpose. St.Clair's one hope was that the over-confident Burgoyne might
choose to assault rather than besiege the position; an assault he thought
he might be able to withstand, but he well knew that he would not be able
to sustain a regular siege. What course Burgoyne would pursue was a question
whose answer was anxiously awaited by the garrison. |
