British and Mohawks (November, 1778). The Six Nations ($24 and Note) had been friendly with the colonists until the preceding year, when the influence of the Johnson family 15 had made them allies of the British. For his victory at Lake George ($182), Sir William Johnson had received an immense estate on the Mohawk, and reigned like a king over his tenants and the neighboring Indians. It is said that the old knight died of apoplexy, occasioned by the mental struggle between loyalty to his king and love of his country. His sons were not troubled by the latter feeling, but let loose all the horrors of savage warfare against their countrymen.

276. In the summer of 1779 a stern vengeance was inflicted for these outrages. The towns and villages, orchards and corn-fields of the Six Nations were ravaged, and their chiefs, Red Jacket, Brandt, and Cornplanter 16 were signally defeated. Finding that Great Britain was unable to protect them, they ceased from their ravages and remained neutral during the war.

277. Colonel Clark in the North-west.—Virginia was now the most extensive and powerful of the colonies. All the territory north of the Ohio, south of the Great Lakes, and east of the Mississippi was within her chartered limits. Late in 1776 she had organized the settlements west of the Alleghanies (see §243) as the "County of Kentucky." In 1778 her governor, Patrick Henry, fitted out an expedition, of which he entrusted the command to the representative from that colony, Colonel George Rogers Clark, to capture the British posts north of the Ohio River. Hamilton, the British governor at Detroit, was sending out parties of savages through all that region, offering a reward for every white scalp; and his cruel emissaries spared neither women nor babes.

278. The County of Illinois.-Clark surprised Kaskaskia and Cahokia, whose inhabitants gladly declared them

After a spirited

forced by Hamilton, offered resistance. fight it was taken, Hamilton himself and all his garrison becoming prisoners of war. A convoy of supplies from Detroit was also taken with forty prisoners. Virginia pub

licly thanked Colonel Clark and his brave officers and men for having gained possession for the state of all the important posts on the Illinois and Wabash, and established republican government in place of the British dominion. Every soldier in the expedition was presented with two hundred acres of land. The whole territory north of the Ohio was organized as the "County of Illinois."

279. Fort Jefferson was built on the Mississippi, five miles below the mouth of the Ohio. Natchez and other British settlements on the lower Mississippi were gained by the United States during the summer of 1778, and the great central valley was now held only by Spain and the new Republic, in more or less declared rivalry with the Shawnees, Miamis, and other savages.

Trace on Map No. 4, the main points in Burgoyne's campaign. The scenes of the Indian massacres. The western campaign of Colonel Clark.

NOTES.

1. Within a few days after the battle of Princeton, the New Jersey militia successfully attacked small parties of the enemy at Springfield and Somerset Court-house, capturing a number of prisoners and much valuable plunder. A little later the British made a raid upon Peekskill, on the Hudson, where General McDougall, with about 250 men, was in charge of army stores. In April General Tryon, with 2,000 soldiers, attacked Danbury, Conn., and destroyed a great many tents and other American supplies; but on his retreat to the Sound his forces were so vigorously pressed by the troops under generals Arnold, Wooster, and Silliman that they were glad to escape to their boats. General Wooster lost his life, and Arnold had a horse shot under him. The losses in killed and wounded were about equally divided. In May Colonel Meigs made a sudden descent on Long Island from New Haven, and destroyed twelve British vessels and many stores at Sag Harbor. In July Colonel Barton, with a body of the Rhode Island militia, surprised the English General Prescott in camp near Newport, and took him prisoner. He was afterwards exchanged for General Charles Lee (2257).

2. In the battle of Brandywine, September 11th, Washington lost 800 in killed and wounded, besides 10 cannon; the British loss was about 600. La Fayette received a severe wound in the leg, which kept him from the field for two months.

One week later a midnight massacre occurred near Paoli, Penn., in which General Wayne's outposts were surprised and cut to pieces by three regiments of Gray's English infantry. Nearly 200 were killed.

3. Washington's night march to Germantown, and the simultaneous attack on the front and flanks of the enemy at sunrise, October 4th, were skillfully and boldly planned. He hoped to win a decisive victory before General Howe could send reinforcements from Philadelphia; and but for

three things-a dense fog, a drunken officer, and the delay caused by the storming of the "Chew-house "-he would have succeeded. General Wayne was in actual possession of the English camp when his forces were fired upon from the rear by another division of the Americans, who mistook them for the enemy. The two bodies fought each other in the fog for some time before the terrible mistake was discovered. It came to light afterwards that the general who was responsible for the blunder was drunk, and he was dismissed the service. The "Chewhouse was a strong stone building, which six companies of British troops occupied and barricaded, so that they were able to resist all attacks for over an hour. This delay and the carnage at this point proved fatal. Washington ordered a retreat. His losses were 1,000 men; that of the English about 500.

4. Though Howe held the city of Philadelphia, his communications both by land and sea were cut off by Washington's wise disposition of his forces. The land army intercepted British supplies from the country, and the little garrisons of brave men in forts Mifflin and Mercer, on the Delaware, prevented the ascent of ships. Colonel Donop, with a force of 1,200 Hessians, attacked Fort Mercer, and in less than an hour's time lost his own life and 400 men. An attack on Fort Mifflin by the English fleet, November 19th, was more successful. A gallant resistance was made by the garrison, but after losing more than half their number in killed and wounded, the remainder crossed the river to Fort Mercer. In a short time the Americans were obliged to evacuate this post also; thus, at the close of 1777, General Howe had undisputed possession of the Delaware from Philadelphia to the sea.

5. On the retreat from Fort Ticonderoga to Fort Edward, a body of General St. Clair's forces was repulsed at Hubbardton with a loss of between 300 and 400 men. He was compelled to make a circuit of a hundred miles to avoid another unequal contest with the enemy.

6. This expedition was under the command of Colonel St. Leger; the Mohawk Indians, 1,000 in number, were led by their chief, Joseph Brandt. At Oriskany, August 5th, they encountered the veteran, General Nicholas Herkimer, with 800 militiamen, and a furious battle followed. Herkimer received a mortal wound, but directed the movements of his men until the fight was over. Relief came to the Americans at length from Fort Schuyler, which was not far distant, and St. Leger, with his savage allies, was put to flight. The losses on each side were about 200 killed and wounded.

7. General John Stark, of Dunbarton, N. H., had distinguished himself for bravery at Bunker Hill and Trenton, and his neighboring farmers rallied by hundreds at his call to resist this invasion of the British. At the first sight of the enemy he is said to have exclaimed, "See there, my men! there are the red-coats! Before night they 're ours, or Molly Stark's a widow! This story has been disputed on the apparently plausible ground that Mrs. Stark was named Elizabeth; but a paper recently discovered proves that the General had his own preference-in which historians need not oppose him-for calling her Molly. The story, therefore, rests on stronger evidence than before.

8. General Horatio Gates had been in command before General Schuyler, and was superseded by him. Schuyler's loss of Forts Ticonderoga and Edward was the cause of Gates being reinstated. Both were brave soldiers: they had served with honor in the "French and Indian War." Indiscreet friends of General Gates afterwards attempted to secure his promotion above General Washington, and his own correspondence shows that he was covetous of the chief command; but, happily, that change was never made.

9. This is variously called the first battle of Saratoga, battle of Bemus's Heights, Stillwater, and Freeman's Farm. It was a hotly contested fight, lasting from noon until dark. The British lost 650 men, the Americans 325.

The losses in the second battle (October 7) on the same field were 150 in General Gates's army and 400 in General Burgoyne's. The death of General Frazer on that day was a severe blow to the British. Arnold was promoted to the rank of major-general for his bravery in this fight. The

two battles of Saratoga rank among the decisive battles of history; for they forced the surrender of Burgoyne's army, which, up to that time, was to the Americans the most brilliant victory of the war.

10. The most serious plot against Washington, at this time, is known as the "Conway Cabal." Conway was an Irishman by birth, but had come to America with the French allies, and gained rapid promotion. He was at the head of the movement to depose Washington from the chief command of the army, and to appoint General Gates in his stead. When the intrigue became generally known the people condemned it loudly, and suspicion ever afterwards attached to all who were found to have been in any way connected with the plot.

11. Baron Steuben was born in a Prussian fortress, A. D, 1730, passed his childhood in the camps of soldiers, and entered the army at the age of fourteen. He received wounds at Prague and Kunersdorf, was taken prisoner in Poland, and was the hero of many European battle-fields. He displaced Conway as inspector-general of the American army, and by his superior tactics soon converted the raw recruits into efficient, well drilled soldiers. Steuben served to the close of the Revolution, received a pension and tracts of land from the government, settled in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1789, and died there in 1794.

12. Frederic II. of Prussia was the greatest general of his age. He well knew what it was to fight under tremendous difficulties, for at one time all Europe_was_combined against him. He said of Washington's movements in New Jersey, at the end of 1776, that they were the most brilliant in the annals of war. Of the American soldiers he said, "I like those brave fellows, and can not help secretly hoping for their success.' "The British Parliament," said Frederic, "have acted like an infuriated fool in the American business."

13. Arthur Lee (b. 1740, d. 1792) rendered important service to his country not only at the court of France, but also in those of Spain, Prussia, and Holland. He was the efficient agent of the Massachusetts colony at London for a time; and afterwards of his native state, Virginia, at Paris, for the negotiation of loans and the obtaining of arms. He proved a skillful diplomatist. Attractive in person and energetic in action, Arthur Lee has been truly called "the scholar, the writer, the philosopher, and negotiator." In all these capacities he won distinction.

14. During the fury of this battle a young cannoneer was shot down, and his piece was about to be taken by the enemy when his wife-Molly Pitcher-who had been carrying water to the soldiers, bravely seized the rammer, reloaded the cannon, and fired it with fatal effect upon the advancing foe. Washington gave her a sergeant's commission for her heroic conduct. She afterwards went by the name of "Captain Molly."

15. The Johnsons were leading Tories in the region where they lived. The secret of their influence over the Indians was that a sister of Joseph Brandt, the most powerful chief of the Six Nations, was the Indian wife of Sir William Johnson.

16. Red Jacket and Cornplanter were chiefs of the Seneca tribe.