 | Saratoga in 1901 |  |
THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA,
Saratoga, Aug. 25.
To-day, in company
with a party of marriageable
Clarendon ladies, I
visited the old battle
ground of Saratoga. Some
went in a sportive way,
and others, alas! went to
see the last resting place of
patriot sires.
Almost every lady had
an ancestor or two killed in this memorable battle. One lost a
grandfather, but she found him afterward—hid away in the cellar;
others lost grandmothers and aunts, and one venerable old lady
said she lost a beautiful daughter; she eloped with a British
officer. I asked her when the battle occurred. She said, alas!
her memory tottered, but she thought it was previous to
McDowell's capture of Washington after the first Bull Run.
We spent some time between Moon's and Meyers' looking for
the battle field, but we could not find it. It seems the place has
been moved over toward Stillwater and Mechanicsville. I don't
see how Burgoyne ever found the place at all. They must have
hunted for that memorable battle ground for months. After
searching for a long time we found a venerable guide. He said
he knew just where to look for it. He assisted Burgoyne in
finding the place. He was full of statistics and knew all about
the battle. He stood close by General McClellan when he and
General Gates made that heavy charge with the colored troops.
“Alas!” he sighed, “the colored troops are still charging down
at Congress Hall. It runs in their blood.”
THE BATTLE.
General Burgoyne was a British officer. He was a foreigner
—a “blarsted” Englishman. He was sent over here to subjugate
America and to find this battle field. No one knew of the
place but Burgonye. He had spent the summer of 1755
with Charles Leland at the Clarendon. All the time he was
not drinking Congress water he spent looking for this place.
At last he found it, and went back and told Oliver Goldsmith.
Oliver told Lord Palmerston, and he told George III. Mr.
Seward was our St. James Minister then. He found out the
secret, telegraphed it to Mr. Fish, and it was stolen from the
State Department that same night, by some remorseless correspondent.
General Burgoyne sailed down from Plattsburg on the
Champlain Canal. He brought 8,000 men. They were picked
men—picked off by Federal sharpshooters. General Gates and
General McClellan came up by way of the Hudson River steamboats—People's
line. Burgoyne put up at Meyers' Cedar Bluff
Hotel, and Gates and McClellan occupied rooms at Moon's.
Moon was then a mere lad. He cherished the Republic,
supported the Continental Congress, and went on selling his
fried potatoes. Just before the battle, and while Burgoyne's
cannon were booming in the distance, Mrs. Moon consecrated
herself to her great patriotic work—frying potatoes. Generals
Gates and McClellan were burning with patriotic ardor—Mrs.
Moon with her patriotic larder. The booming cannon inspired
them to deeds of lofty heroism.
The battle was about to commence. Burgoyne moved up with
the Turcos and Landwehr from Stillwater. The Uhlans were in
front. Then came a delay. He had lost the battle field—taken
the wrong road. General Beauregard and General Sheridan now
galloped up. They were accompanied by Mr. Bergh and Josh
Billings.
“Hast thou found the memorable spot on which this sanguinary
action is to occur?” asked Burgoyne in a tone of agitation.
F. Sheridan said he had. M. Beauregard also nodded assent.
Sheridan said they searched for a long time, but their researches
were finally rewarded. They found the place—they knew it was
the place by the monument. The monument said on it thus:
1775.
Sacred to the Memory
of
HORACE BURGOYNE, F. SHERIDAN,
And Others who Surrendered
to
U. S. GATES, GENERAL McCLELLAN,
MRS. MOON AND MRS. MEYERS,
NEAR
Saratoga, where the Clarendon, Union,
and Congress Hall Hotels are always
happy to accommodate guests at $5 per
day. Liberal discount made on weekly
bills.
J. MORRISSEY,
Secretary.
The eagle eye of General Burgoyne caught the superscription,
and he said, “Let the gods rejoice—it is found.”
McClellan's men now moved up from Moon's.
THE COLORED TROOPS,
as usual, were in front, then came the Franc-Tireurs, lastly, the
patriots.
My uncle, Consider Perkins, occupied posts of danger—hitching
posts—with the patriots. They boldly sang, “Rally Round
the Flag, Boys,” and then returned to Moon's several times to
rally around it. My uncle said he loved to “shout the battle cry
of freedom,” but he was of actual service in the battle only as
far as the moral influence of his name went. He always defended
the flanks of the army.
THE GUN-BOATS
now anchored opposite Bemus Heights on the Stillwater, right in
had supplied the British troops with black bass and stewed
potatoes. She said her patriotism must find vent some way.
When they wanted to pay her money, she said, “No, give it to
the poor, send it to President Grant.” She was a Perkins, and
the Perkins blood always tells. In after-years the patriotic
Meyers got a claim through Congress for $13,000 “damages
done to garden and liquors drank at bar by British officers.”
General Nye got it through. Nye afterward made a speech in
favor of “bridging the Potomac” with the carcasses of dead
Secessionists.” But the wiser counsels of General McClellan
prevailed. Lincoln told him it would be wrong.
THE BATTLE RAGES.
The Patriots from Saratoga County fight behind the colored
troops. They occupy dangerous places behind empty barrels,
and eat paper after paper of fried potatoes, while the battle rages
wildly about them.
The balls go by them thick and fast—in wagons. The colored
troops from Congress Hall made charge after charge. Amid the
groans of the wounded and the shrieks of the dying, they gather
behind the monument—a forlorn hope. Where is Fitz John
Porter? His command left Saratoga at daylight. They marched
around by Ballston Spa and Schenectady. Alas, too late!
General Butler now moves up with a fresh regiment of colored
troops. Butler steals a march on Burgoyne and joins the gunboats
in the rear of his commissary department. His men consume
everything in their reach. The entire British army is left
without rations. The Uhlans surrender—the Saratogians cease
to carry water to the British, and Burgoyne sends General
Trochu forward with a white flag. General Burgoyne receives
General Gates with a haughty air. “Lift up your head, O ye
Gates,” he says, in a commanding voice. Gates accepts the
situation meekly, and Burgoyne permits him to return to Congress
Hall. Fitz John Porter now hove in sight. He fired a
forward and fell into McClellan's arms. It was an affecting
sight. Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Meyers and Wm. Leland agreed to
the terms of surrender. The British officers were imprisoned at
the Clarendon. Many of them married fortunes. Burgoyne
himself, as I wrote before, occupied a position in the New York
Custom House, and became a staunch supporter of Gen. Grant.
Many patriotic Saratogians were lost in the battle, but they were
generally found in cellars and behind barrels the next day.
Young ladies who eloped with British officers had large families
of children and lived happy lives.
| Saratoga in 1901 | |