Visits to the Saratoga Battle-Grounds, 1780-1880, etc

Front matter

fpxm&elTs historical juries, gar. 23. VISITS TO THE Saratoga Battle - Grounds i 780-1880. With an Introduction and Notes. By William l. stone, AUTHOR OF " THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON, BART., "j" REVO- LUTIONARY LETTERS," PAUSCH'S JOURNAL," " BURGOYNE'S CAMPAIGN AND ST. LEGER'S EXPEDITION," " MEMOIRS OF MRS. AND GEN. RIEDESEL," " HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY," "LIFE AND WRITINGS OF COL.WM. L. STONE," " REMINISCENCES OF SARATOGA AND BALLSTON," " THE STONE GENEALOGY," " THE STARIN GENE- ALOGY," etc., etc. " There is a charm in footing slow, " Across a silent plain, ' Where patriot battle has been fought. " Where glory had the gain." — Keats. ALBANY, N. Y. JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, PUBLISHERS 1895. ®o the gon. gonn Hmj, of Washington, §.(&., and the gon. Willis £. gaine, ot leur Itoth Ctttu, Shins uwfe iis affertionately defeated hjj theit brother in ©.

A X, £ftje &uthov. DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPH WHICH FORMS THE FRONTISPIECE OF THIS VOLUME. The frontispiece represents the ground on which the battles of September 19th and October 7th were fought, as seen from the door-yard of the house now (1895) owned and occupied by Mr. James Walker, one mile and a-half from the Hudson river look ing East. On the left, is " Breymann's Hill," on which was the redoubt at the extreme right wing of the British army, before the last battle. The little white speck seen on it is the tablet erected by Gen. J. Watts de Peyster on the spot where Arnold was wounded in his desperate but successful attack on that position. The line of trees toward the right is the spot where Burgoyne formed his line on the brow of the elevated plain previous to the battle of the 19th of September.

Beyond the gap and between the line of woods, the narrow line of mist is the Hudson river; while the table-mountain seen in the distance, is " Willard's Mountain," so called, from an American scout of that name, who was detailed to watch from its summit the movements of the British army — displaying signals at night by different colored lights.* About fifteen rods south from where the observer is supposed to stand and in what was then, and is now, a meadow, is the place where Gen. Fraser was mortally wounded by the sharp-shooter Murphy. It is on the west side of the Quaker Springs road running north and south, while some sixty rods south-east, is the knoll on which occurred the hottest of the fight of October 7th, between the British Grenadiers and the American troops under Dearborn, Morgan, Learned, Poor and Cilly, so graphically described by Gen. Wilkinson in his " Memoirs." * See, on this point, as well as for much valuable information about Schuyler and Gates, Gen. Ed. F. Bullard's admirable Centennial Address at Schuylerville, N. Y., in 1876.

Introduction

. VISITS OF THE DIFFERENT PERSONAGES GIVEN IN THIS WORK: Chastellux, .... '780 Mrs. Dwight, . . . • • J79T Liancourt, . !795 Timothy Dwight, .... 1799 Silliman, . . . . • 1 8 19 Theodore Dwight, .... 1820 Wirt, ..... 1821 Stansbury, . . . • .1821 Hoyt, ..... 1825 Woodruff, . ... • • 1827 Stuart, . . . . - 1828 Mattoon, . . . . .1835 Mrs. Spurgeon, .... 1879 De Peyster, ...... 1880 APPENDIX: I. Schuyler's Faithful Spy. II. Gates' Scouts, Bryan, Hardin's Adventure, etc. III. Anecdotes of Burgoyne's Campaign. IV. Present Appearance of the Saratoga Battle-Grounds. V. Mrs. Walworth's Letter. VI. The Tablets on the Saratoga Battlegrounds. VII. Sketch of Jotham Bemus. VIII. Giles B. Slocum's Letter.