University of Virginia Library

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

few shots into the Patriots in the rear of Moon's, and then came
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.