Episode 148 Murder of Jane McCrea

Over the last few episodes, we went through how Burgoyne’s army came down from Canada and took Fort Ticonderoga without even a fight. Many had called the fort the Gibraltar of North America because they had considered it invincible.  British and German forces then chased the Americans out to Fort Ann and Hubbardton where clashes once again left the British victorious and the Americans running for their lives.

Britain Celebrates Ticonderoga

For the British, their plans seemed to be going amazingly well so far.  When King George received word that Ticonderoga had fallen, he rushed to tell his wife, “I have beat them, beat all the Americans!”  General Burgoyne became the toast of London, promoted to Lieutenant General and offered the Order of the Bath.  For many officials and others in London, the fall of Fort Ticonderoga was supposed to be the hardest part of the campaign.  All that was left was the victory march to Albany and then linking up with New York City.

The Death of Jane McCrea,Vanderlyn 1804
(from Wikimedia)

For Burgoyne and his army in the field though, there was still a long way to go, through rough wilderness and with many unknowns about how the enemy would respond.  Burgoyne began to realize just how much he was on his own.  Burgoyne had left about ten percent of his force to occupy Fort Ticonderoga.  He sent word to General Carleton in Canada to request an occupation force from Carleton’s forces, so that Burgoyne’s Ticonderoga garrison could rejoin the main column in its march south.  Carleton refused.  He said he was under strict orders from Lord Germain to keep his Canadian force in Canada for the defense of Canada. Ticonderoga was in New York and would have to be defended with Burgoyne’s forces.  As Burgoyne moved south, he had to dispatch more of his soldiers to garrison places like Skenesborough, Fort Ann, Fort George, and other key locations between his army and Canada.  The further his army marched, the more of his soldiers had to be deployed and the longer the lines stretched.

Even so, Burgoyne was optimistic.  The capture of Ticonderoga would certainly be a blow to American morale.  The Americans seemed to be scattering and deserting.  Hopefully loyalist volunteers would turn out in greater numbers, as they had when Cornwallis took New Jersey a year earlier.  Burgoyne’s local Tory advisor, Philip Skene, who had happily recovered his home at Skenesboro, assured Burgoyne that the population of upstate New York supported the King by about five to one.

Following the Battle of Hubbardton, General Burgoyne halted the British advance as he regrouped his forces at Skenesboro.  This was at the bottom point where his larger ships would have to stop.  Only smaller bateaux could navigate the creeks that flowed further south.  Much of his army’s supplies, including most of his field artillery, were still at Fort Ticonderoga and needed to be brought to the army before they could continue.

John Burgoyne
(from Britannica)

Years later, Burgoyne would lament that he was under strict orders to travel down the Hudson Valley to Albany and then New York City.  He said that he would have preferred to march into New England and link up with the British forces in Providence, Rhode Island.  It could be, though, that this option seemed better in hindsight after what happened to the campaign.

Burgoyne also considered the option of moving his army back up to Ticonderoga so that they could move down Lake George to Fort George.  This would have allowed his army to have a shorter overland march to Fort Edward on the Hudson River, where the Americans were, by this time, congregating and organizing their resistance.  There was also already a road between Fort George and Fort Edward, unlike the miles of wilderness between Skenesboro and Fort Edward.  But Burgoyne believed that moving his entire force back north to Ticonderoga to then move down Lake George would have meant too much backtracking.  Instead, he prepared his army for the overland march from Skenesborough to Fort Edward.  It would take him more than two weeks to reorganize his army and collect the necessary supplies before he left Skenesboro.  Once the British began moving, the column could move sometimes only a mile each day as  soldiers had to cut a trail through the forest and drag cannons over mountains and across streams and swamps.

Americans in Disarray

During that same time, the American forces had scattered.  General Philip Schuyler, who still had overall command of the theater for the Continentals, had already left Albany near the beginning of July to assume command at Fort Ticonderoga.  When he received word that the fort had fallen, he directed the Americans to meet at Fort Edward, a small fort about fifty miles south of Fort Ticonderoga, and about 23 miles south of the British forces at Skenesboro.

It took General St. Clair nearly a week to get to Fort Edward with the 1500 men who had escaped Fort Ticonderoga and stayed with the army during the march.  This, when combined with Schuyler’s army of nearly 2500, created an army of nearly 4000.  Even so, that was not nearly enough to challenge Burgoyne’s army, estimated to be twice that size.  Schuyler called on General Washington to send reinforcements.  Washington, however, was still preparing to defend against whatever General Howe was going to do once he left New York City.  He did not want to spare anyone.  He only sent General Nixon from Peekskill with another 600 Continentals.  He also sent Generals Benedict Arnold and Benjamin Lincoln in hopes that the popular New England officers would encourage militia volunteers to turn out.

Philip Schuyler
(from Wikimedia)

The loss of Ticonderoga, however, was a blow to American morale.  Desertion became a major problem.  More soldiers were leaving than were arriving.  There was nowhere around Fort Edward to house all of the soldiers. Schuyler had to deploy units for miles around in the sparsely populated area, making it difficult to keep control of the men.  On July 27, General Schuyler wrote to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull, pleading for more troops.  Schuyler noted that he had only about 2700 continental soldiers who were “indifferently armed, ragged, and without blankets.”  One third of them were “aged men, boys or negroes.”

The militia forces were fading even faster.  Thousands of militia had answered the call, but by the time of Schuyler’s July 27 letter, the General noted that of the Connecticut militia, all but seven officers and eleven men had deserted.  Only 200 of 1200 militia from Berkshire County Massachusetts remained.  Half of the 2100 Albany militia who had accompanied Schuyler less than a month earlier had already abandoned the army.  A mere ten or twelve New Hampshire militiamen remained with the army around Fort Edward.  When newly promoted General John Glover arrived in early August with a small brigade of Continentals, he described the army as “weak & shatter’d” with less than three thousand men, powerless to make a stand against an enemy advance.

Jane McCrea

The greatest source of concern for many locals was not the British or even the Germans.  Those they feared most were the Indian allies.  For several weeks, warriors had been all through the forest, attacking remote homes and villages, killing and scalping anyone they found.  Many American soldiers wanted to be home to protect their families from such attacks.  For the British, these Indian allies assured them that no Americans would be able to sneak up on them through the woods to set up an ambush.  It allowed the regulars to cut a path through the wilderness without fear of attack.  By July 26, General Burgoyne reached Fort Ann, about twelve miles from Fort Edward.

That evening, an Indian scouting party returned to the fort with several scalps.  One of them was the long dark hair of a woman.  Loyalists immediately recognized the scalp as that of Jane McCrea, a young woman in her early twenties who was the fiance of Lieutenant David Jones, an officer in the loyalist militia.

McCrea had been born in New Jersey, but had been living with her brother on a farm near Saratoga for some time.  Her brothers were in the patriot militia, but as with the divisions in many families, Jane was engaged to a Tory officer.  The Joneses and McCreas had been neighbors in New Jersey.  The Jones family remained loyalist while the McCreas generally supported the patriots.  Jane, however, still wanted the man she had known all her life and was not going to be dissuaded by the ideological differences between their families.

David Jones had fled to Quebec after being threatened for his Tory leanings.  He had taken commission in a loyalist regiment and was now returning with Burgoyne’s army to retake his home for King and country.  Jane had traveled north to meet up with Burgoyne’s army and reconnect with her fiance.

She had been staying at a cabin with an older woman named Sarah McNeil, who was a cousin of British General Simon Fraser.  The apparent idea was that from there she would be able to get to the British Army, and reconnect with the love of her life.  That was her apparent reason for remaining in this dangerous territory and away from her patriot family.

Currier & Ives Print, 1846
(from Britannica)

The actual events leading to her death are a matter of dispute.  The generally accepted story is that earlier that day, two Indians had raided a nearby cabin with two women, McCrea and McNeil.  In other versions, McCrea and McNeil were already on the road when the Indians captured them. The captors were Wyandot Indians from Canada who had joined with Burgoyne’s invasion and were among the hundreds of Indians wreaking havoc all over the region. By other accounts, these were scouts who had been hired by Lieutenant Jones to retrieve his fiance and bring her to camp for her own safety.

The Indians, who did not speak English, captured both women and were in the process of bringing them back to the British camp.  They got into an argument.  The details of the dispute are in question.  By some accounts it was over which of them would get to keep McCrea for themselves.  In other accounts, it was over which of them would collect a reward for taking her to the British camp.

As the dispute got heated, one of the warriors shot and killed the young woman.  He then scalped her, stripped her, and, by some accounts, mutilated her body.  The Indian accused of this act reported that she had been shot by Americans and he simply took the scalp from her dead body.  But it does not appear that anyone believed that story.  Jane and Sarah had been separated at the time of Jane’s death.  One warrior had carried Jane away on his horse while Sarah had been forced to walk.

This was not the first Indian massacre of innocents.  Since the campaign had begun weeks earlier reports from all over, as far north as the Canadian border, down to Albany, and even in western Massachusetts, Indian raids had struck, killing men, women, and children while also burning and looting property.  There were also stories of rape and torture.

As bad as things got, they could have been worse.  Most of the Indian raiders were a few hundred men from Canada, mostly members of the Ottawa, Wyandot, and other Algonquin tribes.  The thousands of Iroquois living in upstate New York remained neutral thanks to the efforts of Indian agents sent by the Continental Congress, and through negotiation with General Schuyler.  Most of the Iroquois who had joined the British were not out on their own, but were marching with Barry St. Leger’s army, a topic I’ll address in a couple of weeks. Two tribes, the Oneida and Tuscarora, which were part of the Iroquois Confederation, supported the patriots.  So raiding parties, as terrifying as they were, usually remained rather small and could be defensible if the locals were organized and prepared for them.

This latest threat of Indian attacks had a long tradition going back through several wars when the French unleashed Indian allies on the colonial frontier.  Older colonists had lived through these previous attacks.  Younger ones had heard the horror stories.

Many frightened locals abandoned their homes and left for larger towns to stay with friends or family.  In other cases, small communities all slept in one defensible home so that they could fight together if a night raid came.  Farmers worked in the fields with a gun strapped to their backs.  Women were left with firearms and knew how to use them.  Local towns built lookout towers and used guard dogs as early warning systems against raiders.  What became known as the Wilderness War of 1777 totaled dozens, if not hundreds of small raids and attacks.  It is likely that patriot papers exaggerated some of the atrocities and their numbers, but there is no doubt it was happening and that Burgoyne knew about it and did nothing.

The defenses that locals had organized were not just for Indians.  British and German foraging parties also had to secure food since supply lines back to Canada were becoming increasingly long and difficult. Many locals hid their food and prepared to defend whatever they had.  Some foraging parties not only came back empty, but also with wagons full of casualties, the result of firefights with locals.  The region was both armed and hostile to the invading army.  This meant that Burgoyne relied on his Indian allies to keep the locals from organizing against the British.  He could also pay for horses and other items of value that Indian raiders brought back to camp.

Jane McCrea, 1912 (from JSTOR)

Burgoyne had lectured the native warriors fighting with his army to avoid killing women and children, especially not to kill loyalist allies in the region. By British accounts, the Indians had largely shown restraint, with only a few isolated incidences.  Likely British officers ignored the occasional violations of orders against the massacre of civilians.  But the murder of a beautiful young woman Jane McCrea, who was the fiancee of one of his officers was too much to ignore.

Burgoyne held an inquest into McCrea’s murder.  The British determined that the Wyandot had murdered McCrea and that he should be punished accordingly.  Bugoyne summoned the chiefs and ordered that the murderer be given up for punishment.  After considerable discussion, Indian agents warned that punishing the killer would result in a mass desertion of Indians.

In the end, Burgoyne relented on trying to punish the killer and instead ordered that a British officer accompany all raiding parties going forward.

The native warriors responded to the incident with a common response: screw you guys, I’m going home!  Over the next couple of days, most of the native allies deserted the army and returned to Canada.  Most of them already had more booty than they could carry.  Additional restrictions and other limitations on their movements meant this was a good time as any to call it quits and return home.  In addition, several loyalist officers, including McCrea’s fiancee, also attempted to resign their commissions, and when refused, also deserted.

McCrea’s death also became a rallying cry for the Americans.  Newspapers up and down the continent carried exaggerated stories about her death.  It played into the story that the British were unleashing savages who were killing anyone, loyalist and patriot alike, as part of the British plan to crush the spirit of the people.  American General Horatio Gates would later write a letter to Burgoyne complaining about her murder, to which Burgoyne responded.  The letters were published across the continent in newspapers, spreading the story of how the British unleashed savages on the Americans, killing anyone who fell into their hands.  While some of these stories were certainly one sided and often exaggerated, they had the intended effect of increasing public support against the British invaders.

Meanwhile locals began hunting down Tories and native warriors in the woods and shooting them down.  For years afterward people would find these bodies, left to rot where they fell.  In some cases, the killers left a note attached to the body saying something to the effect of in memory of Jane Mccrea.

British Advance

About this same time, Burgoyne finally received word from General Howe in New York City.  Burgoyne expected some of Howe’s army to be pushing up the Hudson Valley to meet up with Burgoyne.  Instead, Howe informed Burgoyne that he intended to take his army south to take Philadelphia.  Howe expected Burgoyne to defeat the Americans in New York on his own.

Despite the loss of his Indian allies, and despite the fact that Howe had apparently abandoned the northern army to fight on its own, Burgoyne pushed forward.  The British found that the Americans had felled large trees and redirected creeks and rivers to make the route even more difficult.  But such measures only slowed the British progress.  They could not stop it.

Burgoyne's March (from Rev War US)

The British had to build about forty bridges, clear hundreds of trees, as well as the rotting corpses of dead horses and oxen left in their path by the Americans.  Flooded forests left them with little good land to camp during the night.  As food became harder to obtain, smaller rations led to hunger.  Scurvy, dysentery, and other diseases began to take a toll on the army.  Mosquitos and other biting insects were another constant nuisance for the men both day and night.

By July 29th Fraser’s advance force reached Fort Edward, or at least the burned out remains of where Fort Edward once stood.  The Americans had completely destroyed the fort before abandoning it.  They were camped about four miles further south at a place called Moses Kill.  The British confirmed the American position, but were in no condition to attack until they had consolidated their forces and had time to rest.

The British had reached the Hudson River and planned to continue down river toward Albany and eventually New York City.  That was the goal anyway.  But reaching the river did not make marching any easier.  The British could not carry their ships from Lake Champlain.  They would still have to march through hostile land that was mostly wilderness.

General Burgoyne found himself in a situation that should have been more of a concern. He was mostly cut off from his supply lines.  General Howe had abandoned him.  He had lost most of his Indian auxiliaries.  He had failed to recruit many loyalists.  He faced another fifty miles of wilderness marching before he reached Albany. He had failed to capture significant prisoners or discourage the growing militia armies preparing to meet him. 

Despite these concerns, Burgoyne believed that his mission was a success so far.  His army was advancing and the rebels had shown no ability to stop him.  He would continue his advance toward Albany.

Next week: a young and idealistic teenager arrives from France to participate in the American cause, the Marquis de Lafayette.

- - -

Next Episode 149 Lafayette in America

Previous Episode 147 Kidnapping General Prescott

Click here to donate

American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account.

You may also donate via Venmo, Zelle, or popmoney (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option for people who want to make monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.

An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar.  For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.

Click here to go to my SubscribeStar Page


Further Reading

Websites

Edgerton, Samuel Y. “The Murder of Jane McCrea: The Tragedy of an American Tableau D'Histoire.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 47, no. 4, 1965, pp. 481–492. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3048306

Engels, Jeremy, and Greg Goodale. “‘Our Battle Cry Will Be: Remember Jenny McCrea!" A Précis on the Rhetoric of Revenge.” American Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 1, 2009, pp. 93–112. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27734977

Holden, James Austin. “INFLUENCE OF DEATH OF JANE McCREA ON BURGOYNE CAMPAIGN.” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, vol. 12, 1913, pp. 249–310. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27734977

Stites, Karen A. “Murder Most Foul” in the North Country: The Legend of Jane McCrea
https://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/ncl-magazine/%E2%80%9Cmurder-most-foul%E2%80%9D%C2%A0in-the-north-country-%C2%A0the-legend-of-jane-

Letter from Gates to Burgoyne re: McCrea, and Burgoyne's reply.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KkK2TxZRQdVQvDEvPlLiQ9xApKH6V8H3zkGLKMJs5yI

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Anbury, Thomas Travel through Various Parts of North America, Vol. 1, William Lane, 1789.

Bird, Harrison March To Saratoga General Burgoyne And The American Campaign 1777,
Oxford Univ. Press, 1963

Brandow, John H. The Story of Old Saratoga; the Burgoyne Campaign, to which is added New York's share in the revolution, Brandow Printing, 1919.

Clay, Steven E. Staff Ride Handbook for the Saratoga Campaign, 13 June to 8 November 1777, Combat Studies Institute Press, 2018 (US Army Website):

Digby, William The British Invasion from the North: The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1887.

Eelking, Max von, (translated by Stone, William L.) Memoirs of Major General Riedesel, Vol. 1, J. Munsell, 1868.

Hadden, James Hadden's Journal and Orderly Books, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1884.

Hudleston, Francis J. Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne: Misadventures of an English General in the Revolution, Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1927.

Luzader, John Decision on the Hudson, National Park Service, 1975.

Nickerson, Hoffman The Turning Point of the Revolution; or, Burgoyne in America, (Houghton-Mifflin Co. 1928 (Hathitrust.org).

Riedesel, Friederike Charlotte Luise, Freifrau von Letters and journals relating to the war of the American Revolution, and the capture of the German troops at Saratoga, Joel Munsell, 1867.

Stone, William Leete, The Campaign of Lieut. Gen. John Burgoyne  and the expedition of Lieut. Col. Barry St. Leger, Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1877.

Walworth, Ellen H. Battles of Saratoga, 1777; the Saratoga Monument Association, 1856-1891, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1891.

Wilson, David The Life of Jane McCrea: With an Account of Burgoyne's Expedition in 1777, Baker, Godwin & Co. 1853.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Furneaux, Rupert The Battle of Saratoga, Stein and Day 1971.

Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga, Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War, Henry Holt & Co, 1997.

Logusz, Michael O. With Musket and Tomahawk, The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777, Casemate Publishing, 2010.

Luzader, John F. Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution, Casemate Publishers, 2008

Mintz, Max M. The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne and Horatio Gates, Yale Univ. Press, 1990.

Taylor, Alan The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006 (book recommendation of the week).

Troiani, Don and Schnitzer, Eric Campaign to Saratoga - 1777: The Turning Point of the Revolutionary War in Paintings, Artifacts, and Historical Narrative, Stackpole Books, 2019.

Ventor, Bruce M. The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action That Saved America, Arcadia Publishing, 2015.

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Episode 147 Kidnapping General Prescott

This week, I’m stepping away from the events in upstate New York to take a look at some other events happening at the same time.

Back in Episode 119, I talked about how the British seized Newport, Rhode Island in late 1776.  General William Howe wanted a salt water port for his brother Admiral Richard Howe’s naval fleet.  They were concerned that New York Harbor might freeze over the winter and lock in some of the  ships.  By moving much of the fleet to Newport, they would be assured of continued access by water over the winter.

Howe assigned his second in command General Henry Clinton to capture Newport.  At the time Howe and Clinton were fighting constantly over strategic and tactical decisions regarding the campaign to push Washington and the Continentals out of the New York City area.  Clinton had been requesting an independent command for months.  Howe saw this as an excuse to push Clinton aside.

Clinton took command of the army that would capture Newport and General Cornwallis got command of the army that chased Washington across New Jersey.  Clinton, of course, saw this for what it was, a chance to push him aside.  Clinton was already paranoid that everyone blamed him for his failure to capture Fort Sullivan in Charleston, South Carolina before the New York campaign began (See Episode 96).  Clinton desperately wanted an important command like that given to his junior, Lord Cornwallis.

Howe was not going to give him that.  Instead once Clinton took Newport without any real opposition, Howe started sending him letters asking why he was not using his army more actively to take more of Rhode Island.  Of course, Howe knew why.  He had not given Clinton nearly enough soldiers to capture larger areas of land without putting his outposts at risk.  New England was considered the most hostile region in America.  Setting up isolated outposts would only invite attack.  But Clinton had been chiding Howe for months for not being aggressive enough.  Howe saw this as a chance for some payback.

Clinton, saw this assignment as a career dead-end.  He was stuck in an unimportant outpost while other generals were engaging with the enemy and capturing New Jersey.  His boss, General Howe, was creating a paper trail to show that Clinton was a “do nothing” general who just sat around in Newport.  If Clinton did try to get more aggressive and lost a major outpost he would be savaged for being careless with his soldiers and only justify General Howe’s caution in the New York campaign.

In response to all this, Clinton simply packed up and went home.  A few months after taking Newport, Clinton boarded a ship for London and went back to resign his commission.

Command of Newport then fell to his second in command, Lieutenant General Lord Percy.  You may recall that General Percy had rescued the British column marching back from Concord in 1775.  Percy had distinguished himself in the New York Campaign, but as a Clinton ally, General Howe was pleased to push him off with Clinton into the Newport backwater where his career would also be stifled.  So, a few months after taking command from Clinton, and receiving letters from General Howe needling him for doing nothing in Newport, General Percy also boarded a ship for London and went back to resign his command.

Richard Prescott

Percy’s departure in the spring of 1777 left Brigadier General Richard Prescott in charge of the army at Newport.  Prescott is of no relation to William and Oliver Prescott, two patriot leaders in Massachusetts, nor does he appear to be of any close relation to British General Robert Prescott, who was serving as a colonel under Lord Howe at this time.

General Richard Prescott
(from Newport Restoration)

When he took command in Newport, Prescott was already in his fifties.  Although he would eventually rise to the rank of Lieutenant General, I cannot find much information about his early years.  Most summaries of his life start off when he was 31 years old and already a major in the army.  Given his rise through the ranks, he must have been considered a capable officer, and since his rise was not particularly speedy, he probably did not come from a family of great wealth or social prominence.

Prescott did have a reputation for being bad tempered and was definitely not one of those British leaders who secretly sympathized with the American cause.  After the British captured Ethan Allen in late 1775, Prescott took custody of the prisoner.  He did not treat Allen as a captured enemy officer but rather at a criminal, guilty of rebellion against the King. He slapped Allen in chains and shipped him off to London for trial.

A couple of months later, Prescott was serving under General Guy Carleton in Canada when the Americans invaded under General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold.  You may recall a story I told back in Episode 78. I described an incident where the Americans captured most of the British Army while it was attempting to retreat from Montreal back to Quebec.  The commander, General Guy Carleton managed to escape from the command ship in disguise and made his way back to Quebec, leaving his army to be captured.

Command of that army, once Carleton left, fell to none other than General Richard Prescott.  The man who had such disdain for captured American officers now found himself a prisoner of those American rebels.  The Americans were well aware of Prescott’s treatment of Ethan Allen and were happy to return the favor by clapping the general in irons and throwing him into a jail cell. They held Prescott as a prisoner for about ten months.  In September 1776, they exchanged him for General John Sullivan, who the British had captured at the Battle of Long Island.

A few months after his return to duty, Prescott joined General Clinton’s expedition to capture Newport, Rhode Island.  After Generals Clinton and Percy left for London, General Prescott found himself in command of the army beginning around May 1777.

Prescott’s time as an American prisoner had done nothing to endear him to the local population.  Part of Prescott’s responsibilities was to obtain supplies for both his own army and for General Howe’s army in New York.  Prescott established quotas for area farms to come up with needed goods, and exacted draconian punishments for those who failed to meet their quotas.  He demanded locals show him and his men the respect accorded British officers, going so far as to force local Quakers to salute his officers, even though it violated their religious beliefs to do so.  There is one story of his ordering a civilian to receive 300 lashes for refusing to help soldiers to move a cannon.

Occupied Newport

The British chose the town of Newport, Rhode Island to become a naval port not only because of its good defenses and salt water ports, but also because it was thought to be one of the least hostile areas on New England.  Large parts of the population were Quakers who tended to submit to British rule.  But even if local hostility did not rise to the levels it might in Connecticut or Massachusetts, there was a large and active patriot militia movement in Rhode Island that was not happy about the British occupation.

Overing House (from Small State Big History)

With perhaps 10,000 soldiers and sailors occupying the area around Newport, including numerous warships in the harbor, the locals had no realistic chance of expelling the British occupiers.  The town of Newport sits on Aquidneck Island, which protected the British garrison from a land attack.  The waters around the island were filled with British warships, which deterred any type attack by sea.

Although the patriots still controlled the rest of Rhode Island, the British occupation of Newport seemed secure.  Rhode Island patriots raised and trained militia units to be ready for an opportunity to present itself, but there seemed to be no chance of doing anything as long as the Continental Army did not make the liberation of Newport a priority.

General Prescott felt so secure that he opted to move out of downtown Newport and requisitioned the country farmhouse of a Quaker named Henry John Overing who lived a few miles north of town.  The house was still on Aquidneck Island, the same island as Newport, and well within the control of the British occupation force.  It was in between the town of Newport where Prescott worked each day, and the military camp on the northern tip of the island where the army kept on alert for attack from the American mainland.

Prescott kept guard of ten soldiers who occupied the house next door and who maintained a single guard at his front door.  Prescott also kept a squad of dragoons in the house next door on the other side to use as messengers.  As the Overing farm was a large one, both neighboring houses were several hundred yards away.

Rhode Island Patriots

Because the British only occupied a few islands around Newport, the patriots maintained control of most of the state.  The patriots deployed a 6000 man army, comprised of both Rhode Island and Massachusetts soldiers, to deter the British from launching an attack against the rest of the state.  Most were militia, but Rhode Island also had its own state army of longer term soldiers.  These were similar to the Continentals, but were completely under the authority of the Rhode Island state government.  After a few months, most of the militia went home as it did not appear that the British planned any further invasions.  Further, General Howe recalled nearly 3000 British soldiers from Rhode Island to reinforce his armies elsewhere.

The militia and state soldiers satisfied themselves with launching occasional small raids against the British, sometimes capturing or killing a few guards along the coast.  Rhode Island offered rewards for the capture of any enemies, depending on rank, ranging from $20 for a private to $1000 for a general.  These raids served as reminders to the British that they still faced an actively hostile population and had to remain on guard.

Barton’s Raid

Among the patriot soldiers manning the front lines was Lieutenant Colonel William Barton.  A hatter by trade, Barton had joined the army in 1775 as a corporal, but quickly became an officer and rose through the ranks.  Barton was in the Rhode Island Army, not the militia.  He was stationed in Tiverton, just across the Sakonnet Channel from the British garrison at the northern tip of Aquidneck Island.

William Barton
(from Wikimedia)

Like many Americans, Barton was disheartened to learn about the British Capture of General Charles Lee in December 1776.  Lee had visited Rhode Island and was regarded as the best officer in the Continental Army.  Over the next few months, Barton developed a plan to kidnap General Prescott, in hopes of exchanging the major general for Lee.

In June, 1777 Barton received intelligence from a slave who had escaped from Aquidneck Island that Prescott slept at the Overing House each night.  A few days later, a British deserter confirmed the information.  Barton was familiar with the location of the Overing house.  Before the British invasion, he had been stationed near the House.

Barton proposed a small squad of whaleboats would row across the bay at night, grab Prescott and return with his prisoner before the British were alerted.  It was an extremely high-risk plan. The British maintained many patrols both on land and in the surrounding waters at night.  If even one person spotted them and sounded an alarm they would almost certainly be killed or captured.

Barton knew secrecy was key to his plan.  He told his commanding officer.  A few other select leaders were informed, including the Governor of Rhode Island, but largely the plan remained on a need to know basis.

He asked five of his regimental officers to volunteer for what he described as a dangerous mission, but would give no details.  The officers obtained the five necessary whaleboats for the mission.  Shortly before the raid, he asked for forty volunteers from his regiment, again saying it was for a dangerous mission with no details.  Every man in the regiment stepped forward to volunteer, so Barton had to select forty men that he knew to be fit and experienced rowers.  At least four were former Aquidneck residents who would serve as guides.

Since most of the earlier raids had taken place on the eastern side of Aquidneck Island and because the Overing house was closer to the western side, Barton opted to launch his raid from the west.  On the night of July 4th as the Rhode Islanders distracted the British with an independence day celebration of cannon fire, Barton’s five whaleboats made their way to Bristol and then over to Hog Island, just northwest of Aquidneck.  It was only then that he informed the officers and men of his plan.

Barton Raid (from Zillian Blog)

With too many British ships in Narragansett Bay, Barton moved his whaleboats further west to Warwick on the night of July 6th.  Instead of a short row across to Aquidneck, the team would make a longer trip along the west coast of Prudence Island.  This was a much longer route, but would keep them more than a mile from any British warships and would allow them to use the island as a screen from any British lookouts.  Continued planning and poor weather left the team waiting until July 10.  During that time, Barton tracked the patterns of the British patrol boats in the bay.

Barton gave his final instructions to his men, strictly follow orders, keep quiet at all times, don’t bring any liquor, and refrain from any looting.  The boats had to row ten miles in the dark, Barton put a pole with a white rag at the top so that the other boats could identify the lead boat.  The men used muffled oars and benefited from a cloudy night.  As they moved through the water, they could hear British patrols shouting all’s well to each other across the bay.

By about 11:30 PM, the boats landed at Aquidneck Island.  The team left five men, one with each of the boats, and then proceeded to make the one mile march to the Overing House in about twenty minutes.  At the house, the unit divided into five groups as planned.  Three of the teams would surround three sides of the house, while a fourth commanded by Barton would enter through the front door.  The fifth group acted as a reserve in case needed anywhere.

As Barton approached the front door, just before midnight the sentry called out for him to identify himself.  Barton eventually shouted out that they were friends.  The sentry then asked for the countersign, in other words the password to identify whether they were really British soldiers.  Barton, still approaching, said that they did not have it but asked if he had seen any deserters that night.  By that time Barton’s team was close enough to grab the sentry’s musket and threaten him with death if he made a sound.

Next, the group found the front door to be locked.  According to legend, one of the soldiers, an African American, rushed forward and bashed down the door with his head.  Inside, the team quickly found Overing and his son, but could not locate General Prescott.  When Barton threatened to burn down the house, a voice called out.  The soldiers rushed to the room, finding a man sitting on the bed, still groggy and in his night clothes.  Barton asked if he was General Prescott, he responded “yes, sir” Barton said “you are my prisoner” and Prescott replied, “I acknowledge it.”

Capture of Prescott (from Tiverton History)

Barton’s aide, Lieutenant William Barrington heard the noise and attempted to slip out his bedroom  window.  Barrington had been taken prisoner with Barton back in 1775 and had no desire to repeat the experience.  Unfortunately for Barrington, one of Barton’s teams was waiting outside that window and took him prisoner anyway.

The teams collected Prescott, Barrington, and the sentry.  They attempted to take Overing and his son as well, but when the two put up a struggle they decided they were not worth the hassle and left the Tories behind.  They were focused on getting Prescott back to the boats.  Prescott and Barrington were still in their nightclothes and barefoot.  When Prescott complained that his feet were hurt while walking over the rough ground, the team simply picked him up and carried him. The entire time inside the house had taken only about seven minutes.  It was still about midnight when the time began its march back to the boats.

Back at the Overing House an undetected dragoon who had been sleeping at the house dashed a quarter of a mile to the guard house to alert the guards.  But when challenged, he thought the sentry who was challenging him was an American and he ran back to the Overing House without giving the news.  Shortly after, a slave from the Overing house alerted the guard.  The guard then jumped on a horse and galloped two miles to the British camp to the north where he raised the alarm.

The British first assumed the raiders had come from the east, where most earlier raids had originated.  They searched along the east coast of Aquidneck Island and found nothing.  It wasn’t until around 2:00 AM that they considered the raiders may have escaped across Narragansett Bay to the west.  They fired alarm rockets to alert the navy ships.  But the navy officers did not know what the alarm was about. By the time they launched a boat to go to Aquidneck Island, learn of the kidnapping, and return to the ship, it was already 4:00 AM and the raiders were already back in Warwick.  The entire raid had taken about 6 ½ hours.

Aftermath

General Prescott’s kidnapping surprised everyone.  Americans were delighted, while the British were shocked.  Colonel Barton became an instant hero.  The Continental Congress sent him congratulations and a ceremonial sword, one of only three issued to officers outside the Continental Army during the war.  Several months later, Congress commissioned Barton as a full colonel in the Continental Army.

Barton’s team received a reward of $1120 from the Rhode Island legislature: $1000 for the general, $100 for Lt. Barrington, and $20 for the sentry.  Barrington was also the nephew of British Secretary of War Lord Barrington, making him a particularly valuable prize.

The British sentry had attempted to desert several times prior, and apparently took this opportunity to leave the British army and start a new life in America. He was locked up for a time and exchanged for another prisoner.  However, during the exchange, he simply disappeared and never showed up in the British camp.

Prescott and Barrington were moved to Providence.  Prescott accepted his situation as a prisoner and signed a parole agreement not to try to escape.  Later, the Americans moved him to Lebanon, Connecticut where it would be harder for the British to launch a raid to recapture him. At first, the Americans planned to give him free reign of the town as they did other officers.  General Washington, however, ordered that Prescott be kept locked up.  This was in retaliation for the way the British kept General Lee locked up and refused to allow him free reign as a prisoner in New York.

Almost immediately, General Washington reached out to General Howe to discuss exchanging Prescott for Lee.  But, Howe was in no hurry.  He thought Lee was a more valuable prisoner, that it was not clear if the Americans would honor the exchange, and he was still unclear if London considered Lee a prisoner of war or a deserter.

General Robert Pigot
(from Wikimedia)

By December 1777, Howe received word from London that he could treat Lee as a prisoner of War.  Lee was given parole to move about New York City.  Prescott then received the same privileges in Connecticut.  It would take nearly a year before the two sides agreed to exchange prisoners. Prescott and Lee would both rejoin their respective armies in the spring of 1778.

In Newport, Brigadier General Francis Smith took command of the British army there.  He immediately increased security to prevent further raids.  A short time later, Howe sent Major General Robert Pigot to take command of this unpopular post.

In London’ Prescott became the butt of jokes.  This was the second time he had been taken prisoner by the Americans.  Rumors circulated that he had been caught in bed with the farmer’s daughter and had been carried away naked.  This was of course not true, but such rumors die hard. More significant was the charge that he had been negligent in taking quarters away from the army and was prone to attack.

Prescott faced a court martial upon his return to the army.  His fellow officers agreed that he was more unlucky than negligent.  His choice of housing on a secure island between his two armed military camps was a reasonable decision, one similar to those made by commanders before and after him.  He was acquitted and returned to duty.  During his captivity, London promoted him to major general. Before that he had only held the temporary rank of major general in America.

General Lee would return to Continental duty as well.  That, of course, is the topic for a future episode.

Next week, we return to upstate New York where General Burgoyne must contend with the murder of Jane McCrae.

- - -

Next Episode 147 Murder of Jane McCrae (Available May 10, 2020)

Previous Episode 145 Retreat from Ticonderoga

Click here to donate

American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account.

You may also donate via Venmo, Zelle, or popmoney (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option for people who want to make monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.

An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar.  For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.

Click here to go to my SubscribeStar Page



Further Reading

Websites

"William Barton Goes From Hero to Deadbeat and Back" New England Historical Society:
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/william-barton-goes-hero-deadbeat-back

Barton's Raid: https://tivertonhistory.wordpress.com/american-revolution/lt-colonel-william-barton

Carbone, Gerald Colonel Barton's Raid http://sakonnethistorical.org/items/show/2

Schenawolf, Harry “Jack ‘Prince’ Sisson – Black Soldier in the Revolutionary War & The Capture of British Brigadier General Richard Prescott” Revolutionary War Journal, March 28, 2013: https://www.revolutionarywarjournal.com/jack-prince-sisson/#more-128

Falkner, Leonard “Captor Of The Barefoot General” American Heritage Magazine, August 1960, Vol. 11, Issue 5: https://www.americanheritage.com/captor-barefoot-general

Welsch, William M. "Trading Generals" Journal of the American Revolution, March 17, 2020: https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/03/trading-generals

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Defense Technical Information Center Hearts and Minds: The Political and Military Effectiveness of the Rhode Island Militia in the American Revolution, 1992.

Diman, J. Lewis The Capture of General Richard Prescott by Lt.-Col. William Barton: An address delivered at the centennial of the Exploit, Sidney S. Rider, 1877 (Hathitrust).

Field, Edward Revolutionary defences in Rhode Island; an historical account of the fortifications and beacons erected during the American revolution, with muster rolls of the companies stationed along the shores of Narragansett bay, Providence, R.I., Preston and Rounds, 1896.

Paul, Edward J. The part borne by Sergeant John White Paul, of Col. John Topham's regiment of the Rhode Island Brigade, in the capture of Brigadier General Richard Prescott, commander of the British forces, near Newport, R.I., in 1777, Milwaukee: Swain, & Tate, 1887

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Crane, Elain F. A Dependent People: Newport, Rhode Island, in the Revolutionary Era, Fordham Univ. Press, 1985.

McBurney, Christian M. Kidnapping the Enemy, The Special Operations to Capture General Charles Lee and Richard Prescott,  Westholme Publishing, 2014. (book recommendation of the week).

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Episode 146 The Battle of Hubbardton

Last week, we followed the British down Lake Champlain as they captured the remaining American fleet at Skenesborough and forced the Americans to abandon Fort Ann.  At the same time that was happening, the main American force from Ticonderoga was retreating through the woods toward Castleton.

St. Clair Retreats

General Arthur St. Clair marched his main column of about 2000 men away from Fort Ticonderoga in the early pre-dawn hours of July 6, 1777.  His soldiers traveled down the Hubbardton Road, which was little more than a stump-filled path cut through the woods, leading away from the fort.  The men stumbled through the dark.  Remember many of the soldiers had panicked and run into the woods after General Mattias de Fermoy set his house on fire atop Mount Independence, thus alerting the enemy to the American retreat.  Many of those men joined up with the column along the way.

St. Clair attempted to organize the column with Continentals in front, militia units in the middle and more Continental units in the rear.  He kept the militia in the middle because he feared they might break and run.  Several company commanders had informed St. Clair the day before, that their enlistments were over and that they felt no compunction to remain with the army as it retreated.  Since they expected a British pursuit, St. Clair put some of his most capable units in the rear of the column to form a rear guard.

The Rear Guard

Colonel Seth Warner commanded the Green Mountain Boys, who were mostly local to this area and were defending their homes.  Warner and many of his men had been with the force that originally captured Ticonderoga in 1775 under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold.  When the regiment joined the Continental Army a few months later, they voted Warner as their commander, and ousted Ethan Allen.  These men had participated in the invasion of Quebec, and the subsequent retreat, before ending up back at Fort Ticonderoga.  Warner had brought 800 militia to the fort from the self proclaimed independent Republic of Vermont just days before the decision to abandon the fort.  Most of his militia had dispersed.  In the rearguard, he commanded a regiment of less than 200 men.

British and native allies at Ticonderoga
(from British Battles)

The head of St. Clair’s column reached the small town of Hubbardton, actually just a few farm houses, in the afternoon of July 6.  The men had about a 17 mile march from Mount Independence, after spending the previous night preparing to abandon the fort.  The men were exhausted and demoralized.  St. Clair gave his men a few hours rest at Hubbardton.  But after learning that enemy Indian warriors had passed through the area before they had arrived, St. Clair determined that his force should continue on to Castleton, about seven miles further to the south.  He left Colonel Warner’s regiment in Hubbardton to await the arrival of the rear guard that was still marching there.

To supplement Warner's force, St. Clair also left the Second New Hampshire Regiment, commanded by Colonel Nathan Hale, no relation to the captain of the same name who had already given his one life for his country.  Hale had been with the army since the Battle of Lexington.  He was a veteran of Bunker Hill.  His regiment had also participated in the Quebec campaign and retreat, then marched south in time to participate in the battles of Trenton and Princeton before moving back north to Ticonderoga.  His regiment of 360 soldiers was highly experienced and battle hardened.

These two regiments awaited the rearguard regiment, the 11th Massachusetts, commanded by Ebenezer Francis.  Francis was an up and coming officer who had served with distinction during the Siege of Boston.  It was only a few months earlier that he had received his promotion to colonel and led the 11th Massachusetts to Fort Ticonderoga.  His large regiment of 420 Continentals formed the bulk of the rearguard once they arrived in Hubbardton.

Seth Warner
(from Wikimedia)

Although Warner commanded the smallest of the three regiments, he was the most senior colonel among the leaders, which put him in overall command.  St. Clair left Warner with orders to wait for Colonel Francis and then march immediately to Castleton to catch up with the main column.  Instead, when Francis’ regiment arrived in late afternoon, Warner decided to rest for the night, and leave at dawn the following morning.

It’s not entirely clear what Warner’s motives were in disobeying orders to march.  It could be that he was still awaiting some stragglers that he expected to march in overnight.  It could also be that he feared losing men in a nighttime march.  Most of these men had been awake for the last 36 hours and had been hard at work loading equipment and marching that whole time.  A night march would mean that men would almost certainly fall out of line in the dark and fall asleep, making them easy prey for the advancing enemy or for the Indians prowling the woods.

Instead, Warner deployed his three regiments in a defensive position in case the enemy approached before they were ready to leave in the morning.  Knowing the enemy was in the area, he set out pickets and placed his thousand or so men in defensive lines where they could sleep, but then if needed, wake and be in a position to fight in a moment’s notice.

British Pursuit

Only a few miles away, General Simon Fraser had led his British regulars along with Indian and loyalist scouts totaling about 850 in pursuit of the Americans.  Fraser had marched his troops across the footbridge across Lake Champlain the only hours after the last Americans had left on July 6.  Although his force was smaller than the American column, he was confident that he could capture the retreating and demoralized garrison if he could catch up with them.

Simon Fraser
(from Fandom)

Fraser also wanted to stay ahead of General Friedrich Von Riedesel who commanded a force of over one thousand German troops.  This was the division that had been too slow to cut off the American retreat, but was now also in pursuit of the retreating column.  Riedesel outranked Fraser and could take command of the entire operation if the two forces combined.

Riedesel got frustrated with the slow pace of his own column.  He took a small division of Jaegers and rode ahead to find Fraser.  By early evening, he caught up with Fraser’s column.  Although Riedesel was the senior officer, he did not try to take command.  Instead, he said only that he was there to assist.  Riedesel said that his soldiers were exhausted and needed to rest for the night.  However, he allowed Fraser to take his regulars a few miles closer to the rearguard at Hubbardton before they also camped for the night.  As aggressive as Fraser was, he was not read to lead his exhausted men into a night raid in unknown territory.

At the same time, he did not want the American column to escape. After a few hours of rest, Fraser roused his men from sleep in the middle of the night, and had them ready to march by 3:00 AM.  The first few hours of marching in the dark were slow and difficult.  But by dawn, Fraser’s Indian and Tory scouts encountered Continental pickets near Hubbardton.

Battle of Hubbardton

Fraser knew that his German reinforcements under Riedesel were at least a few hours behind him.  He could have waited for the reinforcements to arrive.  Charging in without reinforcements was a dangerous move.  There were hills all through the area which the Americans could use to ambush the regulars.  Despite the risks, Fraser opted to charge the Americans and engage them.

Americans at Hubbardton (from Rev War)

Although alerted by the pickets, the Americans were still in camp when the British attacked.  Pickets engaged the enemy, who exchanged volleys as both sides attempted to form their lines.  The Americans only hoped to delay the British assault as they continued to pull back.  Both sides stood their ground and fired, leading to dozens of casualties on each side.

About the same time fighting began, Colonel Warner received a message from General St. Clair telling him that the British had captured the American baggage and wounded at Skenesborough, and that Warner should bring his men immediately to Rutland, further to the east.  From there, the column would move south through the woods to link up with General Philip Schuyler’s forces.

With the British attacking though, the Americans could not simply march away.  Colonel Francis formed the main line behind a stone wall.  His men repelled several British charges with devastating volleys.  General Fraser personally led a company of light infantry in an attempt to break the American line, but the American lines held.

Next, Fraser sent his grenadiers against the American left flank.  This would have cut off the American line of retreat.  However, deploying these reinforcements against the American left also weakened his own left flank and risked his own army being surrounded.  The Americans advanced on the British left and threatened to break the British lines.

By this time General Riedesel was only a few miles away and was able to observe the firefight from a nearby hill.  He rushed a few companies of jaegers on the double to the scene of the battle in hopes of shoring up the British left flank and preventing the Americans from breaking the enemy line.

Much of this battle took place in heavy woods, meaning that it was almost impossible to know what was happening in other parts of the battlefield.  Colonel Hale’s regiment had taken the brunt of the first British assault and was mostly gone by now.  Some had been captured, many had fled into the woods and were in hiding as the British overwhelmed the area.

Friedrich von Riedesel
(from Wikimedia)

According to British sources, at one point about 60 patriot soldiers approached a British line with their muskets clubbed.  That is when a soldier holds his weapon so that the stock is pointing up and the barrel to the ground.  This was understood at the time as meaning the soldier was surrendering.  The British allowed the soldiers to advance to within about thirty feet.  Then suddenly, the Americans turned their muskets toward the enemy, fired, and then ran back into the woods.

The actions grew fierce as the grenadiers pushed on the American left flank.  The Americans refused to pull back, engaging in hand to hand combat with the enemy.  Warner’s Green Mountain Boys pulled back across a field to a low stone wall. From there, they dared the grenadiers to charge, knowing they would take heavy losses in doing so.

As the American left flank pulled back, the right flank under Colonel Francis advanced against the weakened British line on that side of the battle.  For a time, it appeared that the Americans might surround the British regulars and force a surrender. But then events took a different turn.

The arrival of Riedesel’s jaegers provided the British with the necessary reinforcements to hold up the American advance.  Around this same time, as Colonel Francis attempted to rally the Americans, a British volley struck him down, killing him.  With the loss of Francis and the arrival of the German reinforcements, the American lines began to falter.

Colonel Hale found himself in between British and German forces.  His force began to scatter.  Hale and about 70 of his men were taken prisoner.  More of Riedesel’s soldiers were arriving at the battle scene giving the British the support they needed.

Map of Hubbardton (from British Battles)

Colonel Warner, the only American commander still fighting on the field, observed another group of Germans working their way behind his lines in an attempt to cut off retreat and surround his remaining men.  He yelled out to the remaining forces “meet me in Manchester” by which he meant it was time to flee as best they could and regroup back in the town of Manchester.  The remaining Green Mountain Boys, along with the remnants of the second New Hampshire and Eleventh Massachusetts scattered into the woods, each man attempting to evade the enemy and escape as best he could.  By 9:00 AM, the battle of Hubbardton was over.  The British and Germans held the field.

About an hour later, the British and Germans were still regrouping and surveying the battlefield.  They came across the body of Colonel Francis and began going through his papers.  Suddenly, a rifle shot rang out.  An American sniper had taken a long distance shot at the group of officers and then disappeared into the woods.  A British captain, John Shrimpton fell wounded, the final casualty of the Battle of Hubbardton.

Estimates of American casualties vary greatly.  Estimates of battle death range from around 40 to over 150.  Wounded estimates range from about 100 to over 450.  Somewhere between 230 and 290 became prisoners of war.  That is a pretty substantial casualty rate for an American force of less than 1000 men.  The British and Germans had suffered losses of just under 200 killed or wounded, the bulk coming from Fraser’s smaller force that had engaged the enemy first.  The Germans only reported ten killed and fourteen wounded.

British Do Not Pursue

The British had taken the field that day, which is to say they forced the Americans to retreat from the field.  But the Americans had never intended to hold the field.  It only meant to delay the much larger British and German force in order to prevent them from catching up with St. Clair’s main column of retreating Americans.  In that, the American rear guard action succeeded.  The ground on which they fought was itself meaningless.  Neither side intended to remain there and it had no strategic value.

British General Fraser and German General Von Riedesel both agreed that they should not pursue the enemy any further.  They were quickly becoming detached from the main force still at Ticonderoga and had no idea what might be awaiting them down the road.  It did not help that an afternoon rain soon turned into a downpour.

The army remained in Hubbardton for the rest of the day.  Soldiers spent some time searching through the woods, still rounding up hiding enemy, but mostly finding wounded and dead on the field.  Despite the enemy having fled, the woods were still dangerous.  One British officer reported an American straggler had jumped out from behind a tree and pointed a musket at his head.  The British officer was faster and shot the soldier.  He then ran over to the fallen many to say he hoped he was not hurt too badly, only to realize the shot had killed the man instantly.

Of course, looting bodies was always a good source of supplies.  There is a story of a British soldier stripping the shoes off the body of a sixteen year old fifer.  It turns out the young man had been shot in the back but was only playing dead.  He decided he would rather be taken prisoner than lose his shoes.  He opened his eyes and startled the British soldier by letting him know he was not dead and that he surrendered.  An officer with the soldier ordered him to return the shoes to the boy and bring him back to camp where doctors could attend to his wounds.  Young Ebenezer Fletcher would become one of the American prisoners taken back to Fort Ticonderoga.  After a few weeks, he escaped his captivity and returned home to New Hampshire.  He eventually recovered from his wounds and returned to service.

After spending most of the day and night in Hubbardton, the British and German forces planned to move back to catch up with Burgoyne’s forces at Skenesborough while sending a smaller detachment with prisoners back to Fort Ticonderoga.  However, continuing torrential rains the following day forced them to remain in camp another day.  The force finally departed on the morning of July 9.  After a miserable day-long march, they reached Skenesborough that evening.

The British and Germans left behind a group of wounded soldiers who were considered too hurt to travel.  There were no stretchers to carry them anywhere and no wagons could get through the woods.  They had to await stretchers sent from Fort Ticonderoga to carry back the wounded.  At least some of the wounded had to linger in the woods for nearly three weeks.

The British buried their own dead, and gave Colonel Francis the honor of being buried with them.  Most of the American casualties, however, were left in the woods to rot and be eaten by wolves.  Some of their bones were still being found by locals a decade later.

St. Clair Escapes

General St. Clair, with the main American column heard the battle in the distance and dispatched officers to find out what was happening and return back.  By the time his aides got near the battle, the shooting was over and retreating soldiers told them the American rear guard was now fleeing for their lives.

Arthur St. Clair
(from Wikimedia)

By this time St. Clair also knew that the other smaller force with the baggage had been captured or destroyed at Skenesborough, so marching to the rendezvous point at Castleton did not make much sense.  Instead St. Clair took his remaining forces to Rutland, further to the east and away from enemy forces. The next day, before even reaching Rutland, he rerouted again to Dorset, which was 25 miles further south.

The American column arrived in Dorset on July 9.  There, St. Clair gave his men time to rest, and spent a few hours writing reports for General Schuyler and others to explain why he had abandoned Fort Ticonderoga without putting up a fight.  Many of the men who were feared lost from desertion or capture, eventually found their way back to the army in Dorset as men had used the cover of the woods to escape but were still ready to rejoin the army for its next fight.

The battle of Hubbardton succeeded in preventing the British from catching the main column that had left Fort Ticonderoga.  But the fleeing Americans were demoralized and isolated as they marched through the woods, still not entirely sure of their destination.  Meanwhile the British consolidated their gains and took control of the region.

- - -

Next Episode 147 Kidnapping General Prescott

Previous Episode 145 Retreat from Ticonderoga

Click here to donate

American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account.

You may also donate via Venmo, Zelle, or popmoney (send to mtroy1@yahoo.com)

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option for people who want to make monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.

An alternative to Patreon is SubscribeStar.  For anyone who has problems with Patreon, you can get the same benefits by subscribing at SubscribeStar.

Click here to go to my SubscribeStar Page



Further Reading

Websites

Hubbardton: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/hubbardton

Hubbardton Battlefield: https://historicsites.vermont.gov/hubbardton-battlefield

Battle of Hubbardton: https://www.britishbattles.com/war-of-the-revolution-1775-to-1783/battle-of-hubbardton

Battle of Hubbardton, Animated Map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCdykHbP4s

Barbieri, Michael “Ti’s Evacuation and the Battle of Hubbardton” Journal of the American Revolution, July 24, 2014: https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/07/tis-evacuation-and-the-battle-of-hubbardton

Schenawolf, Harry “A Desperate Affair: The Battle of Hubbardton July 7, 1777” Revolutionary War Journal, Dec. 18, 2018: http://www.revolutionarywarjournal.com/battle-of-hubbardton-july-7-1777

Duling, Ennis “Thomas Anburey at the Battle of Hubbardton, How a Fraudulent
Source Misled Historians” Vermont History Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter/Spring 2010): 1–14:
https://vermonthistory.org/journal/78/VHS780101_1-14.pdf

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Anbury, Thomas Travel through Various Parts of North America, Vol. 1, William Lane, 1789.

Bird, Harrison March To Saratoga General Burgoyne And The American Campaign 1777,
Oxford Univ. Press, 1963

Brandow, John H. The Story of Old Saratoga; the Burgoyne Campaign, to Which is Added New York's Share in the Revolution, Brandow Printing, 1919.

Clay, Steven E. Staff Ride Handbook for the Saratoga Campaign, 13 June to 8 November 1777, Combat Studies Institute Press, 2018 (US Army Website):.

Digby, William The British Invasion from the North: The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1887.

Eelking, Max von, (translated by Stone, William L.) Memoirs of Major General Riedesel, Vol. 1, J. Munsell, 1868.

Fletcher, Ebenezer The Narrative of Ebenezer Fletcher: A Soldier of the Revolution, New York: Private Printing, 1866.

Hadden, James Hadden's Journal and Orderly Books, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1884.

Hudleston, Francis J. Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne: Misadventures of an English General in the Revolution, Bobbs-Merrill Co. 1927.

Luzader, John Decision on the Hudson, National Park Service, 1975.

Nickerson, Hoffman The Turning Point of the Revolution; or, Burgoyne in America, (Houghton-Mifflin Co. 1928 (Hathitrust.org).

Riedesel, Friederike Charlotte Luise, Freifrau von Letters and journals relating to the war of the American Revolution, and the capture of the German troops at Saratoga, Joel Munsell, 1867.

Smith, William Henry (ed) The St. Clair Papers: The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair, Vol. 1, Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co, 1882.

Stone, William Leete, The Campaign of Lieut. Gen. John Burgoyne  and the expedition of Lieut. Col. Barry St. Leger, Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1877.

Walworth, Ellen H. Battles of Saratoga, 1777; the Saratoga Monument Association, 1856-1891, Joel Munsell’s Sons, 1891.

Chipman, Daniel Memoir of Seth Warner, Middlebury: L.W. Clark, 1848 (Also in this same volume is The Life of Ethan Allen, by Jared Sparks).

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Davis, Robert P. Where a Man Can Go: Major General William Phillips, British Royal Artillery, 1731-1781, Praeger, 1999.

Furneaux, Rupert The Battle of Saratoga, Stein and Day 1971.

Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga, Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War, Henry Holt & Co, 1997.

Logusz, Michael O. With Musket and Tomahawk, The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777, Casemate Publishing, 2010.

Luzader, John F. Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution, Casemate Publishers, 2008

Mintz, Max M. The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne and Horatio Gates, Yale Univ. Press, 1990.

Ventnor, Bruce M. The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action That Saved America, Arcadia Publishing, 2015 (book recommendation of the week).

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.