prize of all; General Burgoyne had the cannon ranged and counted; this delay seemed to displease every body, for if we could only have made another good march, we should have been in safety. My husband, quite exhausted with fatigue, came into my calash, and slept for three hours. During that time, Captain Willoe brought me a bag full of bank notes, and Captain Grismar his elegant watch, a ring, and a purse full of money, which they requested me to take care of, and which I promised to do, to the utmost of my power. We again marched, but had scarcely proceeded an hour, before we halted, as the enemy was in sight; it proved to be only a reconnoitring party of two hundred men, who might easily have been made prisoners, if General Burgoyne had given proper orders on the occasion.

The Indians had now lost their courage, and were departing for their homes; these people appeared to droop much under adversity, and especially when they had no prospect of plunder. One of my waiting women was in a state of despair, which approached to madness; she cursed and tore her hair, and when I attempted to reason with her, and to pacify her, she asked me if I was not grieved at our situation, and on my saying, I was, she tore her cap off her head and let her hair drop over her face, saying to me "it is very easy for you to be composed and talk, you have your husband with you, I have none, and what remains to me but the prospect of perishing or losing all I have." I again bade her take comfort, and assured her I would make good whatever she might happen to lose, and I made the same promise to Ellen, my other waiting woman, who, though filled with apprehensions, made no complaints.

"About evening we arrived at Saratoga; my dress was wet through and through with rain, and in this state I had to remain the whole night, having no place to change it; I however got close to a large fire, and at last lay down on some straw. At this moment General Phillips come up to me, and I asked him why he had not continued our retreat, as my husband had promised to cover it and bring the army through? "Poor, dear woman," said he, "I wonder how, drenched as you are, you have the courage still to persevere and venture further in this kind of weather; I wish," continued he, "you was our commanding general, General Burgoyne is tired, and means to halt here to-night and give us our supper.

"On the morning of the 7th, at ten o'clock, General Burgoyne ordered the retreat to be continued, and caused the

handsome houses and mills of General Schuyler to be burnt; we marched, however, but a short distance, and then halted. The greatest misery at this time prevailed in the army, and more than thirty officers came to me, for whom tea and coffee was prepared, and with whom I shared all my provisions, with which my calash was in general well supplied, for I had a cook who was an excellent caterer, and who often in the night crossed small rivers and foraged on the inhabitants, bringing in with him, sheep, small pigs, and poultry, for which he very often forgot to pay, though he received good pay from me so long as I had any, and was ultimately handsomely rewarded. Our provisions now failed us for want of proper conduct in the commissary's department, and I began to despair. About two o'clock in the afternoon we again heard a firing of cannon and small arms; instantly all was alarm, and every thing in motion. My husband told me to go to a house not far off; I immediately seated myself in my calash, with my children, and drove off; but scarcely had we reached it before I discovered five or six armed men on the other side of the Hudson; instinctively I threw my children down in the calash, and then concealed myself with them; at this mo ment the fellows fired, and wounded an already wounded Eng. lish soldier, who was behind me; poor fellow I pitied him exceedingly, but at this moment had no means or power to relieve him. A terrible cannonade was commenced by the enemy, which was directed against the house in which I sought to obtain shelter for myself and children, under the mistaken idea that all the generals were in it. Alas! it contained none but wounded and women; we were at last obliged to resort to the cellar for refuge, and in one corner of this I remained the whole day, my children sleeping on the earth with their heads in my lap; and in the same situation I passed a sleepless night.-Eleven cannon balls passed through the house, and we could distinctly hear them roll away. One poor soldier who was lying on a table, for the purpose of having his leg amputated, was struck by a shot, which carried away his other; his comrades had left him, and when we went to his assistance we, found him in a corner of the room, into which he had crept, more dead than alive, scarcely breathing. My reflections on the danger to which my husband was exposed now agonized me exceedingly, and the thoughts of my children and the necessity of struggling for their preser vation alone sustained me.

"The ladies of the army who were with me, were Mrs. Harnage, a Mrs. Kennels, the widow of a lieutenant who was killed, and the lady of the commissary. Major Harnage, his wife, and Mrs. Kennels, made a little room in a corner with curtains to it, and wished to do the same for me, but I preferred being near the door, in case of fire. Not far off my women slept, and opposite to us three English officers, who, though wounded, were determined not to be left behind; one of them was Captain Green, an aid de camp to Major General Phillips, a very valuable officer and most agreeable man. They each made me a most sacred promise not to leave me behind, and in case of sudden retreat, that they would each of them take one of my children on his horse, and for myself, one of my husband's was in constant readi

ness.

"Our cook, whom I have before mentioned, procured us our meals, but we were in want of water, and I was often obliged to drink wine and to give it to my children. It was the only thing my husband took, which made our faithful hunter, Rockel, express one day his apprehensions, that, "the general was weary of his life, or fearful of being taken, as he drank so much wine." The constant danger which my husband was in, kept me in a state of wretchedness, and I asked myself, if it was possible, I should be the only happy one, and have my husband spared to me unhurt, exposed as he was to so many perils. He never entered his tent, but laid down whole nights by the watch fires; this alone was enough to have killed him, the cold was so intense.

"The want of water distressed us much; at length we found a soldier's wife who had courage enough to fetch us some from the river, an office nobody else would undertake, as the Americans shot at every person who approached it, but out of respect for her sex they never molested her.

"I now occupied myself through the day in attending the wounded; I made them tea and coffee, and often shared my dinner with them, for which they offered me a thousand expressions of gratitude. One day a Canadian officer came to our cellar, who had scarcely the power of holding himself upright, and we concluded he was dying for want of nourishment; I was happy in offering him my dinner, which strengthened him and procured me his friendship. I now undertook the care of Major Bloomfield, another aid de camp of General Phillips, he had received a musket ball through both cheeks, which in its course had knocked out several of his

teeth, and cut his tongue, he could hold nothing in his mouth, the matter which ran from his wound almost choked him, and he was not able to take any nourishment except a little soup, or something liquid; we had some Rhenish wine, and in the hope that the acidity of it would cleanse his wound, I gave him a bottle of it; he took a little now and then, and with such effect, that his cure soon followed; thus I added another to my stock of friends, and derived a satisfaction which in the midst of suffering, served to tranquillize me and diminish their acuteness.

"One day, General Phillips accompanied my husband, at the risk of their lives, on a visit to us, who, after having witnessed our situation, said to him, "I would not for ten thou sand guineas come again to this place, my heart is almost broken."

"In this horrid situation we remained six days; a cessation of hostilities was now spoken of, and eventually took place; a convention was afterwards agreed on; but one day a message was sent to my husband who had visited me, and was reposing in my bed, to attend a council of war, where it was proposed to break the convention, but to my great joy, the majority were for adhering to it; on the 16th, however, my husband had to repair to his post, and I to my cellar; this day fresh beef was served out to the officers, who till now had only had salt provi sions, which was very bad for their wounds. The good woman who brought us water, made us an excellent soup of the meat, but I had lost my appetite, and took nothing but crusts of bread dipped in wine. The wounded officers, my unfortunate companions, cut off the best bit and presented it to me on a plate. I declined eating any thing, but they contended that it was ne cessary for me to take nourishment, and declared they would not touch a morsel till I afforded them the pleasure of seeing me partake; I could no longer withstand their pressing invita tions, accompanied as they were by assurances of the happiness they had in offering me the first good thing they had in their power, and I partook of a repast rendered palatable by the kindness and good will of my fellow sufferers, forgetting for the moment the misery of our apartment, and the absence of almost every comfort.

"On the 17th of October, the convention was completed. General Burgoyne, and the other generals waited on the Amer ican General Gates; the troops laid down their arms, and gave themselves up prisoners of war! And now the good woman who had supplied us with water at the hazard of her life, re

ceived the reward of her services; each of us threw a handful of money into her apron and she got altogether about twenty guineas. At such a moment as this, how susceptible is the heart of feelings of gratitude!

"My husband sent a message to me to come over to him with my children. I seated myself once more in my dear calash, and then rode through the American camp. As I passed on, I observed, and this was a great consolation to me, that no one eyed me with looks of resentment, but that they all greeted us, and even showed compassion in their countenances at the sight of a woman with small children. I was, I confess, afraid to go over to the enemy, as it was quite a new situation to me. When I drew near the tents, a handsome man approached and met me, took my children from the calash, and hugged and kissed them, which affected me almost to tears. You tremble," said he, addressing himself to me, "be not afraid." "No," I answered, "you seem so kind and tender to my children, it inspires me with courage.' He now led me to the tent of General Gates, where I found Generals Burgoyne and Phillips, who were on a friendly footing with the former. Burgoyne said to me, "Never mind, your sorrows have now an end." I answered him," that I should be reprehensible to have any cares, as he had none;" and I was pleased to see him on such friendly footing with General Gates. All the generals remained to dine with General Gates.

"The same gentleman who received me so kindly, now came and said to me, "You will be very much embarrassed to eat with all these gentlemen; come with your children to my tent, where I will prepare for you a frugal dinner, and give it with a free will." I said, "You are certainly a husband and a father, you have shown me so much kindness." I now found that he was General Schuyler. He treated me with excellent smoked tongue, beefsteaks, potatoes, and good bread and butter! Never could I have wished to eat a better dinner; I was content: I saw all around me were so likewise; and what was better than all, my husband was out of danger. When we had dined, he told me his residence was at Albany, and that General Burgoyne intended to honor him as his guest, and invited myself and children to do so likewise. I asked my husband how I should act; he told me to accept the invitation. As it was two days' journey there, he advised me to go to a place which was about three hours' ride distant. General Schuyler had the politeness to send with me a French officer, a very agreeable man, who commanded the reconnoitring party, of