* I must call on all friends to America to turn out and come to our assistance at Ticonderoga." The next day, September 22, he wrote that the field of operations was too large for the force at his disposal, and he requested that all the militia above Charlestown, N. H., and eastward march to his assistance, with horses, bringing flour and beef to last them. for one month, adding, "by which time I hope the whole of Genl. Burgoyne's army will be in our hands." He sent about one hundred prisoners to New Hampshire, and so short was his supply of food that he was obliged to request that provisions be sent out to meet the prisoners and their guards, about one hundred and fifty men in all “as far as one day's travel from hence, as we have none to spare." Some Vermont troops assisted General Gates in his campaign on the Hudson. As early as August 29, at the request of General Lincoln, the Council of Safety voted "That three hundred and twenty-five men of the militia of this State should be raised for the defence of this and the United States of America"; and fifty shillings per month were granted in addition to the Continental pay, because "the price of all kinds of provisions and clothing are raised to exorbitant prices." On September 22, the Council ordered Capt. Jonas Galusha with fifty men from Col. Moses Robinson's regiment, to repair to General Gates' headquarters. The Vermont records show that Col. Peter Olcott's regiment was in the service of the Northern department and Capt. Frye Bayley's company in that regiment captured on the Hudson River fifteen boats loaded with supplies for Bur goyne's army. Colonel Warner's Continental regiment also joined General Gates' army. The plans laid by Lord George Germaine, Secretary of State for the Colonies, provided that Burgoyne should advance as far as Albany. Orders were written directing Gen. William Howe, a brother of Lord Howe, killed near Lake George in the French and Indian War, and of Admiral Lord Howe, who succeedeed to the title, to go up the Hudson from New York and join Burgoyne at that place. After they were written his lordship went to Kent on a visit, and upon his return he forgot to sign the orders, which were pigeon-holed until May 18, 1777. They did not reach Howe until August 16, when he was gone on an expedition to Chesapeake Bay, and it was then too late to attempt a junction of forces at Albany. Schuyler was superseded as commander of the Northern American army by Gates, and General Lincoln was called to his aid. Burgoyne was soon hemmed in, his communications were cut, and his army was in imminent danger of starvation. His last dispatches were sent from Fort Edward during the first week in September. Reidesel and Fraser favored a retreat toward Lake George and Ticonderoga, but it was too late to retreat. The army that had advanced up Lake Champlain so proudly in the early summer, with music and banners, was now compelled to fight for its life, was defeated in a series of battles, and was obliged to surrender on October 17. George the Third had erred in his jubilant remark to his Queen regarding the victory on Lake Champlain. He had not "beaten all the Americans" when Ticonderoga was taken. Major Wait took possession of Mount Independence but found that the British had sunk their boats, spiked or broken forty cannon, and burned barracks, houses, and bridges. The Americans did not attempt to reoccupy Ticonderoga, and the British continued to control the lake. With Burgoyne's downfall, the British troops stationed on Lakes George and Champlain, with the exception of one or two small posts near the northern border, hastily retreated to Canada. Near the mouth of the Boquet River the rear guard was overtaken and attacked by Capt. Ebenezer Allen with fifty Rangers, who captured forty-nine men, a large amount of baggage and military stores, about one hundred horses and some cattle. Among Allen's prisoners was Dinah Mattis, a Negro slave, and her infant child. Allen gave her a written certificate of emancipation, which was recorded in the Town Clerk's office at Bennington, which reads as follows: "Head Quarters Pollet "28th of November, 1777 "To Whom it may Concern Know Ye Whereas Dinah Mattis, a negro woman with Nancey her Child of two months old was taken Prisoner on Lake Champlain, with the British Troops some where near Col. Gilliner's (Gilliland's) Patten the Twelth day of Instant November by a Scout under my Command, and according to a Resolve Past by the Honourable Continental Congress that all Prisses (prizes) belong to the Captivators thereof-therefore She and her Child became the just Property of the Captivators thereof-I being Conscihentious that it is not Right in the Sight of god to keep Slaves-I therefore obtaining leave of the Detachment under my Command to give her and her Child their freedom I do therefore give the said Dinah mattis and Nancy her Child there freedom to pass and Repass any where through the United States of America with her Behaving as becometh and to Trade and to Traffick for her Self and Child as tho' She was Born free without being Mollested by any Person or Persons. "In witness whereunto I have set my hand or subscribed by name. (Signed) EBEnez'r Allen, Capt." As an exercise in English the document hardly would be considered a notable success; but it stands, nevertheless, as a landmark in the progress of human freedom, for it contained a declaration against slavery at a time when involuntary servitude was everywhere permitted on the American Continent, the Vermont Constitution forbidding slavery not having gone into effect. |