On October 7, 1777, in the second and conclusive action of what has become the American Revolution’s Battle of Saratoga, one of England’s bravest and considered the most experienced officer of wilderness warfare fell mortally wounded. At the height of the battle, when American General Daniel Morgan’s riflemen, like a ‘hoard of wildmen,’ fell upon the British right, threatening Commanding Lt. General Burgoyne’s entire line, General Simon Fraser, like the fleet footed Hermes of Greek lore, was everywhere. Racing from one end of the battlefield to the other, he reformed his men and personally directed attack after attack against superior numbers. In doing so, he was able to thwart all American efforts to cave in the British right flank and enfilade General Burgoyne’s position. At that critical moment, when staunch hearted regulars, the light infantry and grenadiers, among the best England had to throw against her enemies, stood firm in the face of a hellish fire, General Fraser cried out and slumped against his horse’s mane, gut shot from a rebel riflemen. And if the legend is true, the fatal shot was directed by General Benedict Arnold and General Morgan. The British resistance soon collapsed with history claiming the death throes of Burgoyne’s Army and what proved to be the turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

But for Brigadier General Simon Fraser’s last campaign against the Americans at Saratoga, which is well documented, history gives us only brief clippings of his life. Besides a list of regiments in which he served, battles fought, and postings to garrison duty, questions remain as to his travels, events that occurred during his thirty year military career, and what transpired in his personal life, including affections towards family and friends. He appears in the annuals of history as a prominent Scotsman’s son who enlisted in the military as a teenager. For the next twenty two years he is married to the army, advancing in rank until taking a wife. Prior to his death at age forty eight, he and his wife had no children during their seven years of marriage in which two years were spent campaigning overseas. It is apparent that he cared for his wife dearly for recorded testimony claimed he cried out to her during his final hours and in his will he left everything to ‘my loving wife Margaretta Henrietta Fraser,’ who was her own executrix.[1] What history does show of the man’s character was a detailed, committed officer who was efficient in all matters military; a courageous man for whom a commanding general could count on for tactical advice and when needed, decisive action. Succinctly put, when called upon, he got the job done.

Early History

Simon Fraser of Balnain, Invernesshire, Scotland, (May 26, 1729 – Oct. 8, 1777) was born to a fighting culture. A Scottish Highlander, he was ushered into a rich heritage of Scottish warriors and the extensive Fraser clan that dated back to Anglo Saxon times. He was the tenth son of Alexander Fraser, 2^nd of Balnain (d. 1749) and the second son by Alexander’s second wife, Jean Mackintosh of Kyllachy (d. 1742). The Fraser family of Balnain had supported Bonnie Prince Charles and, like many Highland families, suffered heavily after the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in 1746[2]. After that conclusive battle, many of Prince Charles supporters were dealt with severely; several were executed and countless had their houses destroyed and their estates confiscated.

For decades prior to and even after the Jacobite Rebellion, the British had Scottish regiments within its ranks, such as the 64^th Highlanders. Many Scots also sought mercenary service with the Dutch by enlisting in Holland’s Scottish Brigades. At age 18, in 1747, Simon did so, entering the newly formed Fourth Scottish Brigade under the Earl of Drumlanrig.[3] He soon found himself embroiled in the final years of the Austrian War of Succession (1740-1748).

History of Scottish Regiments of Holland

In the mid 16^th century, predominantly protestant countries, mainly Scotland, England, and Switzerland, enlisted men in the Dutch army’s war against catholic Spain. They varied in number, but became an official fighting force after the Treaty of Nonsuch[4]. An Anglo-Dutch Brigade was formed by the Earl of Leicester in 1586, comprising three English and three Scottish regiments. The Scottish Brigades existed in various forms until their dissolution in 1782. During this span, both King James I and his son Charles allowed the Dutch to recruit from Scotland to provide a pool of trained military professionals when needed. In one respect the Scots Brigade was peculiarly Scottish in which members of the same families were constantly employed for generations. The officers entered into the service very early and were trained under their fathers and grandfathers who had grown old in the service. During the numerous conflicts in Europe, the Scots Brigades served mainly in garrison duty. Therefore when Simon Fraser enlisted, he found himself guarding an important border fortress that would come under French attack; Bergen-op-Zoom. It would also be his first time under fire in which he was wounded.

The War of Ascension

The assault of the Dutch border fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom[5] by the French would help bring the combating countries, which also included England and Prussia, to the peace table. In this main final action of the war, the French army protracted a siege of attrition culminating with a fierce attack.  In the early hours of Sept. 18, 1747, the French swarmed over the parapets and stormed the gates, surging down the city’s streets. In an ironic twist, Highlander Simon Fraser (among the Dutch Scottish Brigade) fought alongside those who just the previous year, had killed many of his countrymen and destroyed and pillaged his family’s estates; these were Loudoun’s Highlanders, the 64^th Highlander Regiment. During the Jacobite Rebellion, the 64th had remained loyal to the British and fought against their fellow highlanders at Culloden. They now were employed by England in support of the Dutch. As the city was sacked, the Earl of Loudoun’s[6] Highlanders made a firm and heroic stand within the city’s market. They were joined by the Dutch Scottish Brigade. Two thirds of the 64^th’s  men were casualties; over a thousand of the nearly fifteen hundred! Fraser was wounded as the Dutch Scots Brigade counterattacked several times until forced to withdraw to the nearby fortification at Steenbergen, which they successfully defended in the days to come. By then only 200 remained fit for duty of the Dutch Scots’ Brigade original 800 man force.

After the War of Ascension, the Dutch Republic declined as a major European power and did not participate in the next global conflict; the Seven Years War (1756-1763) – in America known as the French and Indian War. The Dutch Scots Brigade remained as a unit within the Dutch Army, however the regiment was reduced from four battalions to one in 1749. Most of the men were therefore released or ‘pensioned’ as their service to the Dutch was terminated. Referring to the War Department at The Hague for this period, Simon’s name appears in the Staten van Oorlag (war budgets) of 1750 – 1757 as a pensioned subaltern (ensign or second lieutenant) of the Earl of Drumlanrig’s (Henry Douglas’) regiment. Raised as a fourth regiment in the Dutch Scots Brigade in 1747, it was disbanded in 1753.

Royal American Regiment of Foot

In 1756, Fraser ended his pension service with the Dutch and joined the British army, enlisting in the 62^nd Royal American Regiment of Foot. The 62^nd Regiment of Foot, renumbered the 60^th in February 1757, was better known under its later name, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps. The Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, necessitated new battle tactics for British forces in America. Early in the war, British General Edward Braddock’s army was overwhelmed and defeated on July 9, 1755, in the Pennsylvania wilderness by French and Native American forces. European style warfare, battle lines that moved forward in perfect syncopation and fired one or more volleys prior to a bayonet charge, proved ineffective in the tight and close wilderness forests in America. In November of that same year, Parliament voted the sum of £ 81,000 for the purpose of raising a regiment of four battalions, each one a thousand strong for service in North America.[7] They realized a special corps was needed to conduct a wilderness campaign. However parliamentary delays meant that it was not until March 4, 1756, before a special act of parliament created the four battalions, each to include foreigners for service in the Americas.

The Earl of Loudoun, as commander-in-chief of the Forces in North America, was appointed colonel of the Royal American Regiment of Foot.[8] The idea for creating this unique force was proposed by Jacques Prevost[9], a Swiss soldier and adventurer who was a friend of the Duke of Cumberland (William Augustus, the third and youngest son of King George II). Prevost recognized the need for soldiers who understood forest warfare, unlike the regulars who were trained and fought in the tactics of massed troops over open ground. The regiment was intended to combine the characteristics of a colonial corps with those of a foreign legion. Swiss and German forest fighting experts (huntsmen using more accurate rifles), American colonists, and volunteers from British regiments were recruited. The battalions resembled an international corps of English, Scots, Irish, Dutch, Swiss, German, and Americans. Lt. Colonel Henry Bouquet[10] (Swiss soldier who enlisted in the Royal Americas and commanded its 1^st Battalion), was highly influential in introducing wilderness battle tactics. This included the use of the rifle and organizing more efficient wilderness ‘battle-dress’ troops labeled light infantry. A company of light infantry would soon become universal in British Army Regiments, and later entire Light Infantry Battalions were introduced by General William Howe during the American Revolution.  Also Frederick Haldimand,[11] another Swiss military tactician who emphasized the skills required for forest warfare, was requited as Lt. Colonel of the 2^nd Battalion. The battalions were raised on Governors Island in New York and by March of 1757, they were in action from South Carolina to Canada.[12]

Simon Transfers to the 63^rd Highlanders (Later the 78^th)

Simon served with the Royal Americans for only ten months. His name appeared in an order dated March 23, 1756, wherein he was described as a second lieutenant from the Dutch service which directed the newly appointed officers to repair to their posts at New York and Philadelphia without delay. However, in January of 1757, he transferred to a newly formed regiment of Highlanders, 63^rd Highlander Regiment of Foot commanded by his cousin Lord Lovat, also named Simon Fraser. This new unit of highlanders was called Fraser’s Regiment and had many of the Fraser clan within its ranks, no doubt luring Simon Fraser’s desire to transfer. Research does not confirm if Simon journeyed to America during the ten months he was active with the Royal Americans, only to leave the Americas in early 1757 to return to England. The 63^rd Regiment, later renamed the 78^th Highlander Regiment of Foot in June of 1758, quickly filled its roster with new recruits and in April, 1757, set sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia for active duty in the French and Indian War. Did Ensign Simon Fraser travel to America to serve briefly with the Royal Americans where he first learned wilderness fighting tactics? His name appears in the regiment’s roster. However, did he ship back to England after he transferred in January of 1757, only to leave a few months later for a return trip back to the colonies? Or did he remain in America and wait until his new unit arrived in Halifax in early June? This writer’s research was unable to unearth the answer to this short period of Simon’s life and welcomes reader’s response to help clear this up.

The 63^rd Highlanders, later the 78^th Highland Regiment of Foot, was commanded by Simon Fraser’s cousin, Lt. Colonel Simon Fraser, who was the 19^th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat. Lovat’s father, the 11^th Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat, who was also named Simon Fraser, was a Jocobite and subsequently executed after Culloden.[13]  King George II reinstated the lands of Lord Lovat to Colonel Simon Fraser in 1757 with the understanding he would raise a regiment of Highlanders which were labeled ‘Fraser’s Highlanders’. The Scottish name of Simon Fraser was quite common and the 78^th Highlanders not only had a Lt. Colonel Simon Fraser as its commanding officer, but so too a captain, a lieutenant, and an ensign, the subject of this article. The younger Simon Fraser was known as Lieutenant Simon Fraser Junior, being the youngest subaltern by that name and was listed in the regiment’s 1757 return as Ensign Simon Fraser.[14]

Fraser’s Highlanders

Fraser’s Highlanders wintered in America in Connecticut prior to joining forces readying to assault the French stronghold at Louisbourg. Ensign Fraser was present at the Siege of Louisbourg and the July 27, 1758 capitulation, opening the St. Lawrence Seaway to future British attack on Quebec. After the fall of Louisbourg, the 63^rd, renamed the 78^th in June of that year, moved to New York where they were to pass the 1758-1759 winter. After the British disaster and failed attempt to take Ticonderoga,[15] the 78th was sent onto Boston and later to Albany. In the spring of 1759, Ensign Fraser’s regiment joined General Wolfe’s forces gathering for the assault on Quebec.[16]

Simon Fraser was a Common Name

Because of the frequent use of the name Simon Fraser in military rosters, there has been much confusion and misinformation pertaining to the Simon Fraser of this article who would ultimately serve in the American Revolution under Lt. General John Burgoyne. Several accounts claim Simon was a captain in the 78^th Regiment at the Battle of Quebec in 1759. However casualty reports of British afterwards list a Lieutenant Simon Fraser as wounded and a Captain Simon Fraser as killed in action.[17] Since Fraser was not a casualty in this action, he must have remained a subaltern during the battle. Simon Fraser enlisted in the regiment as an ensign[18] and was most likely a subaltern at the siege and capture of Louisbourg in 1758. Fraser may have been promoted to lieutenant by the time of Quebec, leaving two lieutenants named Simon Fraser within the unit’s ranks; one having been wounded during this action. However the chances of Simon being promoted to captain over the other more senior lieutenant Fraser in the regiment would have been highly unlikely. Further evidence of this can be found in records of the assault on the Plains of Abraham.

Confusion of similar Simon Fraser at Quebec

During the assault of Quebec, just prior to British General Wolfe’s infamous scaling of the cliffs onto the Plains of Abraham that won the day for the British, research notes Lieutenant Simon Fraser for his quick response to a French sentry. The incident had been incorrectly recorded in The Clan Fraser in Canada, “The French had posted sentries along shore to challenge boats and vessels and give the alarm occasionally. A captain of Fraser’s regiment, who had served in Holland, and who was perfectly well acquainted with the French language…answered without hesitation…”[19] A Captain Simon Fraser was later killed in the battle[20], which casts doubt on this citation when examining other documented accounts. Clarity can be found in The Fraser Highlanders, by Colonel J. R. Harper. He wrote: “In the leading boat with General Wolfe sat Captain Simon Fraser… a French speaking officer with other staff officers… it was not Captain Simon Fraser of Balnain who replied to the sentry.” Though a Captain Simon Fraser may have been in the boat, according to the Life and Letters of Wolfe, it was the younger Simon Fraser who spoke excellent French and had the exchange with [the French sentry] before being permitted to pass.” After the Battle of Quebec, the 78^th regiment remained in Quebec on garrison duty during the cold winter months of 1759-1760. It is during this time that Lt. Simon Fraser had most likely received a commission as captain.

Fraser’s Service in Germany while in the 24^th Regiment of Foot

Perhaps an opportunity for quicker promotion to major, a desire for action instead of garrison duty, the extreme Canadian cold, or a need to return to Europe, but by 1760, now Captain Simon Fraser sought a transfer from his cousin Fraser’s Highlanders to the 24th Regiment of Foot. He must have set sail in the early spring of 1760 for he was present in England when his new regiment was ordered to Germany. This regiment was commanded by Colonel Edward Cornwallis[21], uncle to the later General Charles Cornwallis who was active throughout the American Revolution, surrendering the British Army at Yorktown in 1781. Edward Cornwallis had already made his mark among the Scots as a brutal and ruthless officer who purged the highlands after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Simon may or may not have had any reservations to serve under Cornwallis, who had been responsible for destroying many former Jacobite landholdings, including those of the Frasers. In May, 1760, the British troops under the Marquis of Granby,[22] who served with the Allied Army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick,[23] which was employed in defending Hanover, received a considerable reinforcement. The 24^th embarked for Germany along with the 5^th, 8^th, 11^th, 33^rd,[24] and the 50^th. “Six of our best regiments,” wrote the Duke of Newcastle to Granby.[25] Most historical accounts state that Simon Fraser was at this time a major on Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick’s staff; however these claims have not been backed up with primary documentation. In all probability, Fraser obtained his commission as major during his service in Germany while in Granby’s corps.

Major Simon Fraser had extensive battle experience during this period. On July 1, 1760, the 24^th fought at Corbach in which there were minimal casualties. Granby spoke in high terms of Cornwallis’ conduct as the regiment’s commander. Later that month, at the Battle of Warburg, where Prince Ferdinand routed the French, the 24^th was in General Waldegrave’s brigade of Lord Granby’s corps. They had several casualties including a captain killed.[26] In October of that year, King George the II died and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. In February of 1761, the 24^th marched to Hesse Cassel and that winter and spring took part in various operations which drove the French back upon Frankfort-on-Main. In July the 24^th of Granby’s corps, under Prince Ferdinand, was engaged at the Battle of Vellinghausen in which the allies separately defeated two French armies.

Prince Ferdinand called the “indescribable bravery” of the British [who the French] failed to dislodge.[27] The 24^th suffered the loss of Lt. Colonel Cook and twenty other rank and file killed, including a lieutenant and fifty others wounded with twenty-seven rank and file missing. On June 24^th, 1762, the 24^th, during the Battle of Wilhelmsthal, cut off the French rear-guard. They were also heavily engaged at the defense of the Fulda, during the siege of Cassel in the same year; at one point holding back 2,000 assaulting Frenchmen until they were reinforced.

An excerpt from Colonel Patton’s text on the history of the 24^th best describes the constant use of highlander troops in active service. “It should be observed that during the campaigns of 1760 – 62, the Grenadier company of the 24^th, like those of other British foot, was attached to one of the two Grenadier battalions, which with the Highland regiments, formed the advanced guard of the army, and were repeatedly engaged with the enemy… Their conspicuous gallantry was recorded again and again…”[28]

Garrison Duty and Marriage

From 1763 to 1769, Simon Fraser and the 24^th were stationed at Gibraltar. The return of 1768 listed thirty two officers, forty seven non commissioned officers, and four hundred and fifty eight privates. Simon was recorded as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment.[29] Sometime between 1768 and ’69, Colonel Simon Fraser met his future wife. On October 14, 1769, at Gotha, Germany, he married Margarita Hendrika Beck Grant (1745-1823), the daughter of a prosperous merchant, Johan Zachanas Beck who had extensive business dealings in Cape Good Hope, South Africa. Margarita must have had a fancy for Scotts for she would eventually marry three, two soldiers and lastly a baron, outliving all of them. The first had fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, arriving in South Africa where he eventually became an officer in the British Army. Major Alexander Grant of Sheuglie (1725-1768) probably met Margarita while she was either living or traveling with her father. They were married in 1765 at Cape Good Hope, South Africa. It was a short marriage as Major Grant died three years later while serving in India. He was 42. Margarita did not waste time finding a new husband. How Simon and she met remains a question. She may have been traveling back to Germany through Gibraltar and met the highlander officer. A budding romance may have prospered through letters and perhaps other visits. Soon after their marriage, the couple left for Ireland where Lt. Colonel Simon Fraser’s regiment was posted. They were to have no children in a marriage that also ended with Simon’s death during the Battle of Saratoga at age 48.

Ireland & First Campaign in the American Revolution

The 24^th left the garrison at Gibraltar in 1769 and was stationed in Ireland, remaining there until the outbreak of the American Revolution. According to author Colonel Patton, “Lieutenant Colonel Simon Fraser was a very talented and distinguished officer, was first and principal aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant Lord Townshend, and in 1771 was appointed quartermaster general in Ireland, replacing Colonel Gisborne. The Light Company was formed at this period.”[30] It was during this time that Colonel Simon Fraser impressed and befriended General John Burgoyne who would command General Simon Fraser as Burgoyne led an army against American forces. On January 14, 1776, Major General Taylor was appointed the regiment’s colonel after Colonel Edward Cornwallis’ death. Fraser was to assume command when the 24^th left for Canada later that year.

On the night of December 31 1775, during a blizzard, the rebellious Americans failed in their attack on the fortress at Quebec, resulting in the death of American General Richard Montgomery and wounding Colonel Benedict Arnold; Colonel Daniel Morgan, leader of the infamous rifle brigade, was taken prisoner. This left a bizarre scenario as from January 1, 1776 and for the next several months, a small force of bedraggled Americans with scant artillery, led by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold (newly promoted after Quebec), laid siege to an impressive citadel in Quebec manned by a large force of fresh, well supplied professional troops along with over a thousand supportive Canadians, including 148 pieces of artillery. This siege endured as General Carleton, Commander of British forces in Canada, refused to leave Quebec to counter the rag tag remains of Arnold’s and former Montgomery’s command. The American Congress began to send reinforcements, however they were few and arrived with little or no provisions. Added to the American misery was an outbreak of deadly small pox in epidemic proportions.

Campaign to Drive Americans from Canada & First Invasion 1775 – 1776

Carleton sent word to England for additional men to push the Americans back and set in plans to press south as far as possible, hopefully achieving Albany, New York. In April, 1776, the 24^th regiment, with Colonel Simon Fraser now at its head, embarked at Cork with other reinforcements for Canada. According to a letter to Royal Governor William Tryon of New York, discovered on a small boat that had been captured in New York City’s harbor, the reinforcements, commanded by General John Burgoyne[31], were the 19^th, 20^th, 21^st, 24^th, 31^st, 34^th, 53^rd, and the 62^nd. The 29^th and the 47^th regiments were present in Canada; however they were not listed as having shipped with the main force from England. General John Thomas, commanding the American army in Canada, reported that on May 5^th, fifteen enemy ships were sighted forty leagues below Quebec, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence and making up the river. He penned that early the next morning; five ships had arrived before Quebec.

Colonel Fraser’s regiment was not part of the first ships to disembark at Quebec as General Carleton later wrote to Lord Germain, Secretary of State for America, that the 29^th along with a contingency of marines (in all about 200) landed and they, “with the greatest part of the garrison, about 800 men, marched out…they found that they [Americans]… very busy in their preparations for a retreat. A few shots being exchanged, the line marched forward and the plains were soon cleared of those plunderers; all their artillery, military stores… were abandoned… The rebels have halted at Deschambault”[32] Point Deschambault was near the village of Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres) about halfway between Quebec and Montreal. The American retreat was nothing but a confused and desperate rout. Stores, provisions, weapons, artillery, all were abandoned, including many of the sick who rose from their beds and wandered aimlessly in the woods. Over two hundred Americans were captured and the rest fled. General Thomas was able to assemble his ‘rabble’ at Pt. Deschambault, but was planning to press further up river to avoid the British advance.

American Army & Small Pox

General Thomas’s small pox worsened and he removed himself to the hospital at Chambly on the Richelieu River. General John Sullivan, sent north to ultimately take command from the sickly Thomas, resumed command on June 1^st; Gen. Thomas died the next day. He, along with Brigadier General William Thompson had arrived with over two thousand fresh reinforcements. With all the confidence of those with little military experience, but possessed with the self assurance of their inherent expertise, they immediately planned to thwart the British advance. They convinced themselves that the numbers of enemy previously reported was less than what they faced. Thompson proposed, with Sullivan’s approval, to split their force of nearly 2,000 men into five columns. A detailed night attack was planned which ultimately depended on the ability, and sincerity, of a Canadian to guide[33] them to the point of attack – a British outpost at the town of Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres)[34]. Thompson believed the garrison was manned by no more than 800 men.

Battle of Three Rivers (Trois Rivieres)

The Americans would be shelled by British ships and turn from the river before marching all night through horrid swamps. When they emerged, scattered and disorganized, still four miles from their objective, they would do so before a well led and dug in force of over 3,000 British soldiers. This advance guard of British troops was commanded by Colonel Simon Fraser, under a temporary commission as Brigadier to command several regiments during this push up the St. Lawrence. American General Thompson, along with Colonel Arthur St. Clair and Colonel “Mad” Anthony Wayne made a concerted effort to organize their men, however their efforts were for naught for within a half hour or less, the Americans were in a complete rout, most racing back into the swamps in full retreat. Wayne, with the aid of Colonel Thomas Hartley, were able to organize a rear guard which ultimately gathered other units. .”

Brigadier Fraser successfully sent a force up river, the 29^th , to cut the Americans off and capture their bateaux from which they had disembarked to attack Three Rivers. After a couple of days of trudging through the thick quagmire and “the most horrendous swamps known to nature,” the American survivors made their way back to Sorel, exhausted, famished, and “totally broken as a fighting force.” General Thompson along with Colonel William Irvine was captured. The American casualties including 25 killed, 140 wounded, 236 captured and a substantial number never to be heard of again, lost to the swamps. General Fraser’s losses were about two dozen killed and wounded. The Americans, as a fighting force, were not to recover from this action suffering the destruction of the “flower of their army”. General Sullivan ordered a complete evacuation of Canada, burning all forts along their route back to Fort Ticonderoga on the southern part of Lake Champlain.

Permanently Promotion

After the Battle of Trois Rivieres, Fraser’s promotion to Brigadier General became permanent. He would obtain leadership over the advance guard of British forces, following close on the heels of the American forces as they withdrew from Canada. They would occupy each village or fort the day of or the next day as the rebels pulled back; such as Chambly, which was vacated by the Americans on June 17 and taken over by the British on the 18^th. The Americans would refurbish Fort Ticonderoga while they licked their wounds and prepared to repel the British. General Carleton became cautious in his movements down Lake Champlain. He had an army of around nine thousand men against a fraction of Americans to oppose him. However, he needed transport and the ships of war to protect his army as they made their way south. To fill this need, his large frigates and sloops had to be taken apart and reassembled beyond the rapids of Lake Richelieu at Chambly. Also additional bateau and gunboats had to be built, including refurbishing those partially destroyed and captured from the Americans. This took time, over three months, and enabled a very resilient General Arnold to assemble a gathering of shipbuilders and supplies to construct a small flotilla of rebel gunships. When General Carleton’s preparations were complete and his large armada moved south down Lake Champlain, General Arnold’s small fleet was waiting.

Battle of Valcour Island

The Battle of Valcour Island, about thirty miles south of the Canadian border, was fought on October 11, 1776. During the two day battle, most of the American ships were either destroyed or scuttled. However Arnold’s stouthearted defense of the lake convinced General Carleton that the season was too late to continue any further south and he postponed what he considered would be a long siege of Fort Ticonderoga until next year, pulling back all his forces to Canada. He even relinquished Crown Point (just north of Ticonderoga and abandoned by the Americans) as a staging off center for next year’s planned invasion.  This inflamed Generals Burgoyne, Fraser, and most of the British and German officers. They believed a scant American force faced them at Ticonderoga, with little to oppose them all the way to Albany. In many respects they were correct.

By mid November, all of Carleton’s forces had pulled back to the forts and outposts within Canada. The British prepared for winter. Waterways froze over and the roads became impassable and the British army soon wrapped itself within a silent cocoon of winter. Brigadier Johann Specht noted from mid-November 1776 until May 6, 1777 (with the arrival of General Burgoyne), they were “completely cut off not only from every communication with Europe, but also with the rest of our neighboring providences.”[35]

British & German Army’s Winter Quarters & Fraser Remained in Canada

General John Burgoyne returned to London that winter of 1776-77 and penned a detailed plan of operation for taking Albany the following year. He was most persuasive in promoting it to politicians in high places, including King George the III. It was decided that an invasion force would try again next summer, 1777, to siege Fort Ticonderoga and ultimately capture Albany. Burgoyne convinced London that he, and not General Carleton, should command this force. The goal was to hook up with General William Howe in Albany, who was to bring his army north up the Hudson and cut New England off from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne was to inform General Carleton upon arrival in Quebec. General Simon Fraser wrote about his friend Burgoyne’s task of informing Carleton he was relieved of overall command: “…to do business with a proud, austere, narrow-minded man, disappointed in all his views of ambition, environed by flatterers, dependants, and sycophants, possessing for some time a degree of power not far inferior to that anciently given to a Roman dictator. ..” Fraser was no great fan of his soon to be old commanding general.

British and German forces had retired to St. Johns, Montreal, Quebec (where General Carleton retained his headquarters), and villages and forts along the St. Lawrence and Richelieu River. Major General Friedrich Adolph Baron von Riedesel commanded a strong force of German soldiers called Brunswickers, from Braunschweig – anglicized to Brunswick. Most of the Germans who campaigned in Canada in 1776 & 1777 were Brunswickers, often mistakenly called Hessians. Only Colonel von Gall’s Hesse-Hanau regiment that was present in Canada was from Hesse; these troops were known as Hessians. All others were from Brunswick except for a few who were mercenaries from Hessel-Cassel. Hessel-Cassel provided the most foreign troops to the British – over 20,000 to fight in America. Therefore all Germans were given the generic term by Americans as Hessians. During the 1776-77 winter, the German forces were garrisoned at Trois-Rivieres on the St. Lawrence.

General ‘Johnny’ Burgoyne to Lead a New Offensive

Though this researcher has not found a document that definitely places Fraser in Canada during the winter of 1776-77, there is a strong inference that he did so recorded in a letter from Burgoyne to Fraser. Upon arrival in Quebec on May 6, 1777, Burgoyne immediately contacted his friend informing him that he had a large parcel of letters from Fraser’s family and friends that he would deliver personally. Fraser was not in Quebec. That spring, he was dispatched as an advance guard so most likely had wintered at St. Johns on the Richelieu or in Montreal.

Brigadier Fraser’s Advance Corps

Fraser was much respected by those generals he served under during the 1776 campaign. Burgoyne thought highly of Fraser. He wrote to the Scotsman that no one stood higher in his esteem. He indicated that he was held in England in the same regard: “in the [King’s] Closet and with his ministers.” Fraser also got on famously with Major General William Phillips[36] who was considered among the finest officers of the British army – having commanded throughout the Seven Years War and served successfully during the Prussian campaigns. Both officers had fought alongside Prince Ferdinand’s German forces against the French.

During Fraser’s previous experience in Canada under General Wolfe, and in 1776, leading an advance guard under Burgoyne, he had learned a great deal about American scouting parties; how best to cope with them as well as using Canadian and Native Americans as guides and trackers. He eventually developed a corps of one hundred marksmen for each regiment in his brigade – men “chosen for their strength, activity, and being expert at firing ball.”[37] Each one of these men had practiced diligently and carried a tomahawk – innovative for wilderness fighting. Fraser also learned to use the Native Americans as one would use cavalry to screen the army’s advance and serve as the eyes and ears.

Burgoyne was to divide his army into three units: a right wing to be made of all British regiments, a left wing of all German forces, and an Advance Corps commanded by Brigadier Simon Fraser. Fraser’s advance corps consisted of: his own 24^th regiment (Maj. Robert Grant commanding), a grenadier battalion[38] under Major John Acland, a light infantry battalion under Alexander Lindsay – 6^th Earl of Balcarres, 150 Canadian woodsmen, Ebenezer Jessup’s Kings Loyal Americans, Queen’s Loyal Rangers under John Peters, and a company of Canadian rangers led by Fraser’s nephew, Captain Alexander Fraser. The grenadier and light infantry battalions were among the finest troops in Burgoyne’s army; this array of approximately two thousand men constituted the best ‘strike force’ the British had to forge against any initial rebel resistance.

The rest of Burgoyne’s force consisted of a British right wing commanded by Major General William Phillips – First Brigade under Brigadier General Henry Watson Powell consisted of the 9^th, 47^th, and 53^rd regiments, the Second Brigade was led by Brigadier General James Inglis Hamilton and was made up of the 20, 21, and 62^nd regiments. The left wing was all German and was commanded by General Riedesel – First Brigade was under Brigadier General Johann Specht, with the von Rhetz, von Riedesel, and Specht Regiments; the Second Brigade was led by Brigadier General W. von Gall, who commanded the Prinz Friedrich and Hesse-Hanau regiments, plus an advanced corps under Lt. Colonel Heinrich Breymann, made up of jagers (riflemen) under Mqajor von Barner, horseless dragoons under Lt. Colonel Baum, and grenadiers also under Breymann.

To this array of forces was added 138 pieces of artillery from twenty four pounders to 4.4 inch mortars. General Phillips had overall command of the train of artillery which consisted of 250 British and 100 Hessian gunners plus an additional 150 British recruits as cannon cockers.[39]  Burgoyne had a total of 3,981 British troops and 3,116 Germans earmarked for his invasion down Lake Champlain. To guard and transport these many troops, including the Native American and Canadian forces, required a large flotilla of vessels. The largest was the Royal George, a 384 ton frigate with 26 cannon. The Inflexible was a three-masted man of war with 22 guns. There were the schooners; fourteen gun Maria (named for General Carleton’s wife) and the twelve gun Carleton. The Thunderer, a name usually reserved for bomb ketches[40], was a radeau, a blunt and armored floating battery whose purpose was similar to a bomb ketch in which it was planned to pound Fort Ticonderoga to submission. Also added to the British weight of metal was the gondola Loyal Convert of seven guns. Also there were several newly constructed gunboats including those refurbished and captured from the Americans during the Battle of Valcour Island the previous year: the Washington, Lee, and Jersey. Over a hundred bateaux were put into use, rowed or fixed with one mast to take advantage of the wind. They were each capable of carrying thirty five soldiers who were ferried down the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain.

Fraser’s Advance Corps spearheaded the Invasion

Even before Burgoyne arrived, Major General Phillips ordered Fraser’s advance corps to sweep the area between St. Lawrence and St. Johns to be certain that no American patrols would spot the main army’s movements. On June 13^th, Fraser’s advance guard had reached Pointe au Fer on the southern part of the Richelieu. He proceeded south to the Bouquet River where it emptied into Lake Champlain. He had camped by “the falls on Gilliland’s Creek [Bouquet River].” Word was sent out among the Native Americans to gather at that place for Burgoyne was to arrive within a week to make a speech at a “Council of Indians.” Fraser’s men had arrived thoroughly worn out from their excursions sweeping the forests north to the St. Lawrence of rebel patrols. Fraser called the camp “a pleasant and safe position… the most pleasant camp I ever was in…”[41]

While waiting for Burgoyne, he’d sent a patrol of Native Americans south to capture prisoners for interrogation. Ironically, they returned a few days later with a former British soldier who had served under Fraser in the Highlander 78^th Regiment of Foot – a James MacIntosh. More important, MacIntosh had retired from the army and settled around Ticonderoga and had been stationed in the garrison at the fort. Fraser described his former subordinate as being a “very sensible, cunning, sagacious highlander.” MacIntosh willingly indulged every detail of the fort’s design, improvements made by the Americans, and lay of the land surrounding the fort including strengths and weaknesses. He openly discussed number of troops, workmen, and wagoneers (approximately 4,000 men in all), ships (2 galleys mounting twelve six pounders each) a gondola with two nine pound guns, and over 30 usable bateaux. He informed Fraser of every aspect of the fort including gun placements, troop dispersal, outer-work construction and breastworks, (mainly along the old defenses the French had built to oppose the British in 1758), batteries, abatis, etc. This was a windfall of information for the British; however what was to ultimately prove most devastating to the Americans was a section of the rebel defenses, southward and facing west, which MacIntosh described as being absent of cannon. It skirted Mt. Hope which was the road to Lake George, but also was near Sugar Hill, a vacant hill top that had a clear view of both Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Independence newly built across the river.[42] Fraser would discover that this piece of real estate would hold the key to capturing Ticonderoga, forcing American General St. Clair to abandon the fort.

Also of importance, and what would lead to the first major battle between the British and American forces, was MacIntosh’s answer when questioned about which direction did reinforcements and supplies arrive. He said they came from the east, from Fort No. 4 (just south of present day White River Junction, Vermont) on the Connecticut River. The road then cut west to Castle Town (present Castleton, Vermont). From there one could head south to Manchester and Skenesboro (present day Whitehall, New York), or north to Crown Point, with another road heading west to Fort Independence and Ticonderoga. This route would prove to be the exact road General St. Clair would take his army when he ultimately evacuated Ticonderoga.

Fraser saw clearly that by laying siege to the fort, cutting off the road to Lake George and moving south, severing all supplies, while another force shot south along the east side of Lake Champlain and captured the roads leading to Castle Town, they could not only capture the fort, but the entire rebel army. Fraser had a drawing made of Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Independence, and all environs. When Burgoyne arrived, he urged his commander that no time should be lost in moving against the rebels, laying siege to the fort and immediately pressing to cut off all escape routes.

British army Advances South Along Lake Champlain

By June 20^th, all was ready and the rest of the British armada and transports departed St. Johns for Lake Champlain. As stated, Fraser had led the way earlier and proceeded to Cumberland Bay, called Pointe au Sable, where the entire army would reassemble. Fraser’s men camped at Isle la Motte, a small island across from Cumberland Bay, to wait for the rest of the army. The area was wrought with mosquitoes, biting flies, and no-see-ems, as called by the local natives. The soldiers were miserable and when the order to set sail was given on the 24th, all were grateful to once more board the transports south. Troops boarded their bateaux and rowed out of Cumberland Bay as the sun was coming up. “As they approached the widest part of the lake, the bright, clear water suddenly mirrored the entire army, spread out in a grand cortage of boats. Out in front were the Indians, forty of them in each birchbark canoe, their brilliant war paint contrasting with the white and black of their graceful canoes. Then Fraser’s advance corps – regulars in scarlet coats, white breeches and waistcoats; light infantry in black leather caps and red waistcoats, grenadiers distinguished by their heavy black bearskins hats, and Canadians, painted and dressed in skins of the first nation fashion. In their wake, the Royal George and Inflexible moved ponderously through the water. Astern were the dark hulled Maria and Carleton followed by the First British Brigade – scarlet coats faced with bright yellow, reds, or pure whites. The three cutters were next in line, each bearing a general – Burgoyne, Phillips, and Riedesel. The Second British Brigade followed, oars flashing rhythmically with the Germans close behind – fitted with tall, conical caps with brilliant metal plates. Lastly, bringing up the rear, came the sutlers and camp followers.”[43]  Within a week, this powerful force would anchor and prepare to annihilate any rebellious Americans daring to halt their progress to Albany.

American Preparations at Fort Ticonderoga

By mid June, at the time Fraser’s advance corps was entering Lake Champlain, Major General Arthur St. Clair had returned to the Northern Army (as Colonel St. Clair, he had led a regiment during the previous years’ battle at Three Rivers), and given the command at Ticonderoga.[44] When the Americans retreated to Ticonderoga in June of 1776, Colonel Anthony Wayne was left in charge of the fort when it became certain that General Carleton had abandoned his invasion south. Wayne and the troops stationed at and around the fort sustained themselves through a very harsh winter. Hardly a day passed without a fatality caused by sickness, exposure to the weather, and the primitive conditions of camp.

In March, 1777, Wayne wrote to state and federal authorities. He warned of the imminent threat of attack by growing forces in Montreal and St. Johns and sought provisions and reinforcements: “For God’s sake, rouze your field and other officers from their lethargy… There is not one moment to spare.”[45] By May of the new year, reinforces had been dribbling in. Because General Washington did not know if and when British General William Howe would strike out from New York, he could not spare the men Wayne so desperately needed. Also, with the Danbury Connecticut Raid in late April, states were reluctant to send their militia north, opting to keep them home for protection against raiding British parties. By the time Wayne was replaced, the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga had shrunk to 2,200 men. Wayne had written about the instability of the “sunshine” soldier, “at least one third of the troops now on the ground are composed of negroes and Indians…”[46]

In June, 1776, Congress had assigned General Horatio Gates to command the army in Canada. He traveled north, assuming that he was to take over command of the Northern Army from the unpopular General Philip Schuyler. Schuyler immediately informed Gates that his commission specifically stated the army in Canada. Since there was no longer an American army in Canada, he had no command. This created a huge row between the two commanders. John Hancock, president of the second Congress only muddied the waters when he wrote that both gentlemen were to share the command. Eventually this feud worsened and intensified after the eventful loss of Ticonderoga. General Schuyler was blamed for fort’s evacuation and the man with the most influence over Congress, Horatio Gates, prevailed and was made supreme commander of the Northern Army as Burgoyne’s forces drew closer to Albany.

Fraser and British Forces Arrive at Crown Point just North of Fort Ticonderoga

On June 30^th, the main body of British and Germans was established eleven miles north of Ticonderoga at Crown Point. The wind shifted to the south and for over a week, the British fleet was held up. This did not stop the land forces from initiating plans to begin a siege and possibly cut off all supply and escape routes. Burgoyne split his army into two wings; General Riedesel and the Germans advanced up the east shore toward Mount Independence to capture the road that led to Castle Town to the east and flank the Americans south to trap any and all rebel forces at the fort that was still under construction. Meanwhile, General Fraser, who was already at Three Mile Point, three miles distant below Crown Point, proceeded up the west bank toward Fort Ticonderoga to be followed by General Phillips. Fraser would act upon the information MacIntosh had given him. He would fan out to the west to capture the road through Mt. Hope which led to Lake George, then swing south of the fort to seal off any and all escape routes in that direction.

Fraser’s Opinion of German Soldiers

Interestingly, when Burgoyne had said that he was ordering a corps of Germans forward to cut off the road from Mt. Independence to the east and thereby thwart an American escape in that direction, Fraser had disagreed. He said that the Germans were “a helpless kind of troops in woods;” this from one who had long experience campaigning with Prussian troops in Europe, having witnessed Riedesel’s men during the previous years’ campaign against the retreating Americans, and also married a German. Fraser cautioned that the extensive swamps just north of Mt. Independence would hinder the German advance, forcing them to make a sixteen mile detour and alerting the Americans to the threat from that direction. Later during the campaign, after the disastrous defeat of the German forces at the Battle of Bennington, Fraser told Burgoyne’s aide, Lt. Colonel Kingston, that he regarded the Germans as “not a very active people.”[47]

Fraser Moves His Corps to the West of the Fort

The British advancing along the west shore of Lake Champlain moved forward to a point where they could see the rebel defenders behind their breastworks. When Burgoyne asked Fraser’s opinion as how to proceed, Fraser and General Phillips concurred; after viewing the terrain, they believed they had too few troops to enact a prolonged siege while cutting off all the American supply and escape routes. Instead, Fraser asked permission to reconnoiter the west side of the fort in person; to walk the grounds described by his former subordinate, MacIntosh, and see if there was any critical ‘discoveries’ to be made. While General Phillips and Burgoyne prepared to bring up the artillery and begin entrenchments to enact a siege of Fort Ticonderoga, on July 2^nd, Fraser sent his nephew, Capt. Fraser, with the Canadians and Native Americans, including six hundred of his corps, to move west and cut around the American left – towards Mt. Hope and sever the supply line to Lake George. They quickly captured the defenses on Mt. Hope; however, according to historian Richard Ketchum, the Native Americans had discovered a cache of liquor. In a drunken state, they attacked the defenses at the old French breastworks. This led to a heated skirmish in which Fraser was hard put to disengage his native allies. Fraser found himself in a strong position on the British right, within fifteen hundred yards of the old French Lines. He also discovered that MacIntosh’s information was correct as there were no rebel defenses in the region to the south of Mt. Hope. Fraser was soon supported by the 20^th regiment and personally thanked by Burgoyne “in the handsomest manner for the events of the day.”[48]

Fraser discovers Fort Ticonderoga’s weakness – Sugar Hill

The same day Fraser’s men established their position to the west of the fort, he surveyed his position and discovered the possible importance of occupying what his maps labeled Sugar Hill[49] and which the rebels called Mt. Defiance. That afternoon, he dispatched Captain Craig with forty light infantry and Native American scouts to reconnoiter. By midnight, Craig was back; his report was most promising. The next day, July 3^rd, around noon, Fraser and Lt. William Twiss, engineering officer, hiked up the mountain in “abominable hot” conditions. He saw that the position commanded both Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence, guessing at a range of 1,400 yards and 1,500 yards respectively, within range of their cannon which could sweep the entire yards of both forts. Upon return to his headquarters, around 2 PM, Fraser ordered axemen to hack an abatis on the summit and begin carving a road to the top. Burgoyne and Phillips agreed “to use every possible expedition to get cannon to the top.” A road sixteen feet wide and three leagues long (a league is approximately three miles) was built to bring cannon to the hill, then to the summit. It was an incredible feat as the uphill climb was “almost a perpendicular ascent.”

While the road was being built and cannon moved to the summit of Sugar Hill, the British forces continued their advance east and south in the hope of cutting off all escape routes from the forts; thereby entrapping the rebel army before they could realize the threat from Sugar Hill and enact an escape. Four hundred men and, according to British Lt. William Digby, “most of the cattle belonging to the army” labored on the road all day, July 4^th in incredible heat, slowly inching two twelve pound cannon towards the hill, then summit. By noon on July 5^th, the job was done, a battery was constructed at the top, and the men received as a reward “a refreshment of rum.”  However, the Americans had been alerted before the trap could be sprung.

General St. Clair Evacuates Ticonderoga

Before the British had completed the road and battery, a plume of smoke and what were obviously scarlet coats moving through the trees was detected about the heights of Mt. Defiance (Sugar Hill). The Americans realized that a battery was being constructed on the summit and indeed cannon were being hauled up the steep incline. Too late, St. Clair realized that artillery on Mt. Defiance could be capable of raking both Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence, resulting in both positions untenable. The writing was on the wall. Both forts would ultimately be cannoned to oblivion. The garrison at Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence consisted of 2,089 rank and file fit for duty, 900 militia, 124 unarmed artificers (cannon cockers), and the sick and invalids numbered in the hundreds. Including the ships’ crews, and there were approximately 4,000 rebels who faced the British force of over 7,000 well armed professionals, most fit for duty. Immediate evacuation was the only choice if the Americans wished to salvage their army and any supplies before all escape routes were severed. By noon on July 5^th, St. Clair ordered a full retreat. The ships and bateaux would be loaded with all the supplies that could be hauled in one day, including the sick and invalids, and sent up the lake to Skenesboro (present day Whitehall, NY), hoping that the booms and chain strewn across the lake would halt the British ships long enough for the rebel vessels to make their escape. The army would cross the bridge to Mt. Independence and take the road to Castle Town in the “Grants” (present day Vermont) [50] before heading overland to Skenesboro and Fort Edwards.

Americans Escape

The rebel army made their hasty retreat the night of July 5^th. The road selected for the army’s escape led from Mt. Independence, into the “Grants,” and to a small settlement at Hubbardton; then through Castle Town before cutting back southwest to Skenesborough. Clutching the pathetically few belongings they had managed to grab before setting off in the darkness, the soldiers stumbled along, fearful of attack in the rear, but unable to move any faster than those in front on the narrow road.[51] The morning sun on July 6^th promised another brutally hot day. By six o’clock that morning, four separate bodies of rebel troops were heading along the road as fast as they could. In the front was Colonel Enoch Poor’s Continentals, behind which the main body of St. Clair’s army, along with militia regiments tucked between the Continentals. Frenchman General Fermoy’s Continentals came next, spread out across the landscape in disorder.

Colonel Ebenezer Francis of Massachusetts’ 450 man regiment, among the finest troops St. Clair had in his command, along with Colonel Nathan Hale’s 2^nd New Hampshire regiment[52], constituted a rear guard and had remained at the forts to the last, sweeping through the encampments and rounding up straggles along the road who could not keep up with the main army. Many strategists agree, had the Americans not been forewarned of the British cannon on Sugar Hill (Mt. Defiance), they may have hesitated their retreat, giving General Riedesel the time to forge through the swamps and cut off the road to Hubbardton and Castle Town and forcing St. Clair to surrender his army.

General Fraser Pursues St. Clair’s Army

Three or four miles in the rear of Colonel Francis’ rearguard, General Fraser led the charge, hot on the heels of the retreating Americans. He drove his grenadier and light infantry battalions relentlessly, along with two companies from the 24^th. Some distance behind him came General Riedesel who, in his haste, collected a company of Jager (riflemen) and eighty men from Breymann’s corps, leaving order for the rest of his regiment to follow along as soon as they could.

It was close to 1PM, July 6^th, when the first footsore Americans reached the tiny settlement of Hubbardton.[53] St. Clair knew his men needed a rest for they had been trudging along the road all night, nine hours in sweltering heat, covering over 20 miles. He waited at Hubbardton for Colonel Francis’ rearguard to catch-up, not knowing the Colonel was delayed by the large number of sick stragglers hindering his progress. Finally, St. Clair could wait no longer and pushed on to Castle Town, six miles distant, sending back word to Colonel Francis to come up and camp a couple miles from the main army at Castle Town.

To aid the rear guard, he left Colonel Seth Warner with 150 Green Mountain Boys. By 4 PM, the rear guard, along with the hundreds of stragglers, arrived at Hubbardton, totally exhausted. Hale, Francis, and Warner – who as senior, assumed command, assembled their men, numbering over a thousand strong, and held council. Warner[54] decided, without objection from Hale or Francis, their men were too fatigued to continue on that day as ordered by St. Clair. They would stay the night and leave for Castle Town in the morning. Fraser was about to face the biggest test during his campaigning in the Americas. This array of troops remaining at Hubbardton was by far among the best in St. Clair’s army. All battle tested, many having fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and included the Green Mountain Boys who mostly carried rifle, deadly accurate at over two hundred yards.

Fraser and Riedesel Approach Americans

The Americans constituting the rear guard drifted off to a troubled night’s sleep, not knowing a stubborn Scott and crack troops lay on their arms just three miles from their camp. By 5 AM the previous day, Fraser, after having discovered the Americans had evacuated both Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence, sent word to Burgoyne that he was setting out after the rebels and that he was “resolved to attack any body of the rebels that I could come up with.” He had then led his men on a punishing march in scorching temperatures. At 4 PM, at the time Warner was deciding to spend the night at Hubbardton, General Riedesel, on horseback, caught up to Fraser’s corps. As senior, he took command and stated that his men, who were following behind, could go no further and needed to rest. Fraser received permission to move his command three miles closer to Hubbardton before bivouacking for the night. Both generals agreed to resume the pursuit at 3 AM the next morning.

Battle of Hubbardton

Fraser marched his troops at 3 AM on the 7^th. His progress proved to be slow on account of darkness. At sunup, there were shots fired to the front of his column; rebel pickets opened up on his Tory and Native American scouts. He halted and waited for additional scouts to report. Word came back that the Americans were up ahead in considerable force. Fraser had to decide to wait for the Germans to come up, or attack without them. Perhaps he remembered his short and heated battle with the Americans the previous year at Three Rivers in which his troops thoroughly routed the American forces. Or maybe it was over confidence, for he was convinced that his seasoned, disciplined troops could overpower what must be a demoralized rabble running from their pursuers. For whatever reason, he chose not to wait for the Germans and ordered an immediate attack. The two companies of the 24^th led the assault (approximately 140 men), followed by ten companies of light infantry and ten companies of grenadier acting as reserve and bringing up the rear.

The Americans were caught unawares, the camp just coming to life as fires were lit to cook breakfast. At about 7AM (accounts differ on either end of the hour), a shout carried across the camp, “the enemy’s upon us.” The initial shock of foot soldiers and light infantry drove the Americans back, however when the attack fell upon the camp, Colonel Francis had already assembled his men. They were marching on the road toward Castle Town when Fraser’s men struck. He coolly positioned his men behind a stone wall and fallen trees. When the British Light Infantry emerged from the woods, winded and disorganized from their trek uphill, his men volleyed. It was a devastating volley that killed Major Grant, Fraser’s good friend, and sent the light infantry back down the hill. At this early stage of the battle, Fraser, having been at the forefront of his light infantry, might have thought he should have waited for the Germans. His flank was in danger of being turned by Colonel Francis’ determined stance and his 24^th Foot, with a score of killed and wounded, had been stopped in their tracks by the Green Mountain Boys’ stiff resistance. However Fraser, cool and composed and as a skilled tactician, decided to commit his reserves of grenadiers rather than lose the momentum of the initial surprise. He decided to take a huge risk – ordering much of his command to swing to the right to cut off the Americans and drive in their flank while preventing them from escaping down the road to Castle Town. This gravely weakened his command in the center. He knew his only hope of holding the Americans from caving in his center was the arrival of Riedesel’s Germans.

General Riedesel had been three miles behind Fraser when his men assembled to march by 4 AM. Around 8 AM, he observed the action at Hubbardton from a nearby hill. He ordered the Jaeger forward to support Fraser’s center and his grenadiers to his left to attack the rebel right wing.  Meanwhile, the battle raged on with Warner’s command stubbornly holding the line, until they saw Fraser’s reserve grenadiers coming down the slope with the intent of turning his left flank. Both Warner and Francis began to draw their men back from one protective position to another. At this stage the battle had been raging for over an hour. Despite fatigue and the demands of the long action, Francis’ men, many who had been at Bunker Hill, began moving forward, toward the British left flank. Fraser realized his wing was in jeopardy of being rolled up when suddenly trumpets were heard blaring with the shrill pitch of fifes. Added to this was the unmistakable singing of psalms as the German grenadiers advanced. The Brunswickers had arrived and the Americans had run out of time. The Jaegers and Brunswickers pressed into the attack, pushing the Americans back. A devastating volley caught Colonel Francis, killing him instantly. Without their colonel to rally them, his regiment broke and ran, taking the Green Mountain Boys with them. Colonel Hale’s men had continued to resist, but over a hundred were surrounded and he and many of his men were forced to surrender.

Instead of leaving a detachment to handle the wounded and prisoners then set off in pursuit of the Americans, Frazer became enraged by General Riedesel’s decision to immediately return to General Burgoyne’s main army. Fraser remained, contemplating continuing the pursuit, however the stiff resistance by the American rear guard, and the condition of his men, added to the chore of attending to the wounded and herding the prisoners, on July 9^th, he too turned and followed after Burgoyne’s main army to Skenesboro.  American General St. Clair learned that Skenesboro had been taken and marched his army south to Bennington, before turning west towards Fort Edward.

British March to Albany is Stalled & Battle of Bennington

Burgoyne’s army was only a six day march from Albany when Ticonderoga fell on July 6^th, however it would prove to be a march that lasted more than three months and was never to get more than half that distance. After Burgoyne’s rapid taking of Fort Ticonderoga, his progress south moved at a snail’s pace. General Schuyler proved a master in delaying tactics, initiating a ‘scorched earth’ policy. He destroyed every bridge, tore up roads, felled trees, devastated the countryside so there could be no provisions or forage found, and did everything possible to hamper the British army’s march south. In August, Burgoyne had to stay fourteen days at Fort Edward, waiting for supplies to ferry down from Canada because of General Schuyler’s scorched earth policy. The Battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, was fought by German forces on a foraging mission against General Starks’s New Hampshire and Colonel Warner’s Green Mountain Boys. The American attack was perfectly coordinated and devastated a significant portion of Burgoyne’s German forces. Burgoyne’s army began lacking everything necessary to sustain itself and was desperate to press on to Albany before winter set in. What was at first a superior British force against a hard pressed American army, became reversed as the American army’s ranks swelled with daily reinforcements, while the British continued to lose men to sickness and desertion.

On August 10^th, Schuyler was removed from command of the Northern Army and faced court martial charges for the evacuation of Ticonderoga. General Gates resumed command on August 19^th. As if adding insult to injury, the reinforcements General Schuyler had been requesting for months, but were never sent, began arriving just before and right after Schuyler was relieved of duty. By the time Gates arrived to assume command, Congress had sent all the forces Gates had requested north; 7,750 men, nearly half from Massachusetts, who were waiting to greet him. By mid September, the two opposing armies were close to each other in the vicinity of Saratoga, New York along the Hudson River. Burgoyne’s road south was blocked by the American Army in a strong defensive position on Bemis Heights[55]. It was a thickly wooded plateau higher than others in the immediate area and offered an unobstructed view for miles in almost every direction. The defensive network’s construction was overseen by Polish engineer  Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko and was finished by September 15^th. If British General Burgoyne was to take Albany, he had to force his way past these defenses or draw the Americans out from behind their position in the hopes of routing their army.

Battle of Freeman Farm, September 19, 1777

Sunrise on September 19^th proved to be cold and damp as the two opposing camps blanketed beneath a dense, low-lying fog. They were close enough so that each side’s drums could be heard by the other. When the fog lifted, the American scouts spotted activity in the British camp that could only mean one thing, the British were advancing to attack. When this information was relayed to General Horatio Gates, he did nothing, confident in his defensive position. He had over 9,000 men fit for duty. His right wing under General Benjamin Lincoln (in whose absence Gates commanded) consisted of Continental Brigades commanded by generals John Glover, John Nixon, and John Paterson. Major General Benedict Arnold commanded the left and had Brigadier Generals Ebenezer Learned and Enoch Poor’s continentals including Daniel Morgan’s riflemen and Major Henry Dearborn’s light infantry. Added to this number were supplemental militia units which Gates had little confidence.

Arnold argued that they should not sit behind their defenses and allow the enemy to seize the initiative. If the British moved into the woods and not along the road, they could be in a position to outflank the army. He cautioned that they could take advantage of cleared fields and use their cannon to blast holes in the American earthworks. He wanted to attack them as they pawed their way through the thick forests, where the British would be at a disadvantage – unable to form a line of battle. As the British pawed through the tight-knit forests, clambering up and down steep ravines – they would become disorganized and would not be able to mount a bayonet charge. Gates finally acquiesced, but only in allowing Morgan supported by Dearborn to move out and investigate any possible attack from the enemy on his left.

Burgoyne’s Plan of Attack – Fraser’s Role was critical to Success

Burgoyne knew the ridge of woods on the American left was the key to any chance of prying the rebels from their strong position and opening the road to Albany. General Simon Fraser would swing west onto the ridge far to the right of the main body to cover its advance, then turn the rebels exposed left flank and drive the defenders toward the Hudson. There, they would be surrounded and mopped up by the British and German forces in the center and on the British left as they swept forward. The tactic was risky as Burgoyne had to separate his command in the face of a superior force (something future Confederate General Robert E. Lee would do with repeated success), but he believed it was his best hand to play. Fraser, who Burgoyne had the greatest confidence, had the elite troops assigned to him: Major John Dyke Acland grenadiers, Major Alexander Lindsay, 6^th Earl of Balcarres’ light infantry battalions, and Fraser’s own 24^th Regiment, supported by two German regiments under Lt. Colonel Heinrich Breymann and out in front and on the flanks of Fraser’s division were Native Americans and Canadians plus loyalists under John Peters (Queen’s Loyal Rangers) and Ebenezer Jessup.

The British center, commanded by Brigadier James Hamilton consisted of the 9^th, 20^th, 21^st, and 62^nd regiments plus four field pieces. Burgoyne rode with these men and Hamilton was instructed to follow Fraser up the hill and turn south, marching parallel to Fraser, pushing toward the American center. General Riedesel commanded the left wing: the Specht, Riedesel, and Rhetz Regiments, flanking four British six pounders and the train of heavy artillery. They would head south along the road leaving the 47^th Regiment to guard the camp, bateaux, and hospital. The Hesse-Hanan troops formed the rear guard. Each wing each had about 3,000 men with 1,700 in the center for a total of 7,700 men.[56]

Fraser moved out on the British right and came upon what was called the Great Ravine, which Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham described as “one of the deepest I ever saw.” He was forced to travel further west to find a suitable crossing and ended up two miles from Burgoyne’s center. Hamilton, at the British center, came upon the Great Ravine further to the east than Fraser. His men struggled down the steep slope, crossed the river at the base, and with each carrying sixty pounds of ammunition and gear plus their fire locks, clawed up the formidable slope choked with stringy thick vegetation. At the top, they found themselves in the woods bordering Freeman’s Farm[57], a roughly cleared space of twelve acres or more, about 350 yards long, running east-west, the surface broken and obstructed with stumps and fallen timber.[58] Here Hamilton’s men waited in the woods, giving Fraser time to come abreast of them. Meanwhile, the Brunswick regiments had to rebuild bridges and remove debris from the road – tedious work, however attacked with a professionalism that brought them along with the center and ultimately with Fraser’s division. All units perfectly executed their assigned routes and were soon lined up as planned. At 2 o’clock, four hours after leaving camp, the signal guns were fired and a general advance began.

Battle of Freeman’s Farm

Hamilton had sent a heavy skirmishing line forward, one hundred pickets under Major Gordon Forbes, onto Freeman’s Farm to investigate the farm buildings. Unknown to Hamilton, Daniel Morgan’s riflemen had beat him to the farm and were concealed in the woods on the other side of the clearing. When Forbes’ men closed in on the buildings, Morgan’s men released a devastating fire that tore into the red coats. Seeing the British fleeing back toward the woods, Morgan’s men chased after them for the kill. They immediately ran headlong into the massed British line. At that moment, Captain Alexander Fraser’s light infantry companies burst into the clearing and with cannon, hit the unsuspecting rebels squarely on their left flank. Morgan was in tears as he called back his shattered men, thinking his corps was ruined.

Gates, back at his headquarters, ordered Brigadier Enoch Poor of New Hampshire to dispatch more men in support of Morgan. He sent two New Hampshire regiments forward, around 900 men, hoping to flank the enemy. They went straight ahead through the woods toward the clearing. Benedict Arnold was soon seen at the forefront, positioning men and sending others forward. So too the British continued to pour more men into the woods facing the farm’s clearing. The heavy skirmishing across the clearing between the two forces lasted about three quarters of an hour with the bodies of rebels and redcoats scattered all about, the pitiful cries of the wounded, calling out for help that could not arrive as anyone who dared go out into the clearing would have been shot.

For two hours men baked in a hot mid day sun as they continued to gather in the woods on either side of the farm’s clearing. But for the rustle of leaves by shadowy figures darting between trees, a surreal silence fell, only to be shattered by the cries of the wounded, begging for water or someone to put an end to their suffering. At three-forty, as recorded by Reverand Enos Hitchcock, the front exploded once more. General John Glover described the action in which “both armies seemed determined to conquer or die.”

Colonel Alexander Scammell described the crash of muskets and continual roar of cannon as “the hottest fire of cannon and musquetry that ever I heard in my life” Colonel Poor added, “the blaze from the artillery and small arms was incessant, and sounded like the roll of a drum.” Soldiers surged forward and fought hand to hand over the guns, taking and retaking fieldpieces.[59]

For two hellish hours the Americans, Colonel Alexander Scammell and his men fought alongside Morgan and Dearborn. General Poor arrived with the rest of his brigade followed by Learned’s command and Major William Hull’s Massachusetts men. And through all this mayhem, rode General Arnold. With his usual recklessness he “acted like a mad man,” directing units, pressing men forward, driving the men forward to take the enemy’s cannon. Fraser and Hamilton would send fresh units forward to recapture their guns, turning them back onto the Americans with grape at musket shot range. At one point a rumor flew that either General Burgoyne or General Fraser had been wounded and quite possibly killed. It proved to be Captain Charles Green, an aide-de-camp to General Phillips who was delivering a message to Burgoyne.

Battle Raged on for Three Hours

Major Hull, his men exhausted and out of ammunition, lost half of his command in killed or wounded. Throughout the fight, Burgoyne and Gates both worried about what the other might do next, that neither committed their entire armies. Gates would not support his men at Freeman’s Farm, fearing the Germans with artillery were still advancing up the road. Burgoyne in turn kept most of Fraser’s force in reserve up on the heights to the west, fearing a flank attack from that direction. Because of that, only a couple companies of the 24^th, the grenadiers and light infantry from Fraser’s force, saw major action. The result was that the entire battle was concentrated in the center. For three hours or more, the fight continued, soldiers shooting as fast as they could load until the air throbbed with the concussions. According to American Captain Benjamin Warren, “We beat them back three times and they reinforced and recovered their ground again, till after sunset, without any intermission, when both parties retired and left the field.” However at one point, towards dusk, the British 62^nd, having suffered nearly 200 killed or wounded, was overrun by rebels and the entire British center was under the threat of being rolled up. At that critical moment Major General Phillips arrived on the eastern edge of Freeman’s farm with the 20^th regiment of foot, just 100 yards from the surge of Americans. He kept the Americans at bay, allowing four heavy cannon to come up and blasted away, halting the rebel momentum. When General Riedesel finally arrived with 500 fresh German troops, Major Hull and the rest of the American forces retired from the field into the woods. The British held the farm and did not follow.[60]

Darkness Ended the Fight

The British were technically victors, left masters of the field, but at what cost; their losses were severe – 160 dead, 364 wounded, and 42 missing. Whereas the Americans loss was less and would easily regain their numbers through increasingly steady reinforcements. The British could not. With less than a month’s provisions left and the number of effective fighting men dwindling, Burgoyne’s army was in a desperate situation.

Aftermath of Freeman’s Farm

Though Generals Fraser and Phillips urged an immediate attack the next day, September 20^th, Burgoyne decided to wait a day. However a currier delivered a letter that caused him to postpone the attack on Bemis heights indefinitely. General Henry Clinton, commanding the troops in New York City while General William Howe took the bulk of the British army south to capture Philadelphia, informed Burgoyne that within ten days, he would make a push up the Hudson River with 2,000 men. This renewed Burgoyne’s hope that an army progressing up the Hudson from the south would draw off some of the rebels facing him, evening the odds. He decided to dig in and hold their new position at Freeman Farm and wait until Clinton’s push had the desired effect. Once he received further word of Clinton’s successful ascension of the Hudson, he would launch a full scale assault against Gate’s defenses. Burgoyne was a renowned gambling man; however this cast of the dice did not pay off. Clinton would ultimately capture two forts just north of New York City, only to immediately withdraw back to the city. Meanwhile rebel reinforcements continued to pour in until by early October, the odds of effective troops were nearly three to one in America’s favor.

British Army Desperate

Two weeks had passed since Burgoyne had received Clinton’s correspondence. Two weeks where Burgoyne expected within the hour to hear that help was on the way. During this period, due to dwindling stocks and the lengthy and harassed supply line that stretched all the way from Canada, he was forced to cut his army to half rations. By October 4^th, he could wait no longer. Burgoyne knew he must make their final move – retreat or attack. He called a Council of War, the first during the campaign. His most trusted general, Fraser was present as well as Generals Phillips and Riedesel. Burgoyne had decided to attack. He believed that the American right was too strong for an assault. They would leave 800 men to guard their supplies and hospital, including an escape route if needed. That would leave 4,000 effective troops to forge their way through the woods and overwhelm Gate’s left. Riedesel objected. He believed it would take too much time, days, to prepare for such a large scale attack. He recommended their only choice was to retreat to the Batten Kill on the east bank of the Hudson and wait to hear if Clinton had been successful. If help was not to arrive from the south, they would be in a position to return to Fort Ticonderoga and bolster the defenses against any rebel pursuit. Burgoyne, with an eye on the political fallout from such a move, looked upon a retreat as defeat and would have none of it. He argued that such a move would allow Gates’ army to protract a siege while much of his army would be free to join Washington. He would do all he could not to see that happen. They would attack.

The generals concurred to convince Burgoyne not to commit all his reserves in one last ditch effort to dislodge Gates. They should send a force forward to probe the enemy’s position and if practical, initiate a full scale attack. Burgoyne agreed, however he decided to make a reconnaissance in force – 1,700 regulars plus Canadians and Native Americans; a total of 1,900 men in all. They would press to determine the enemy’s strength and if deemed feasible, an immediate attack by the entire army would be made the next day. If not, Burgoyne would order a full retreat back to Ticonderoga. The movement was set for October 7^th. General Riedesel was beside himself. He had suggested a probe of the enemy, however, why send such a strong force to determine something they could learn from only 100 men? Such a large detachment would surely alarm the Americans who might bring out their entire army, leading to a full scale push by the rebels who greatly outnumbered them. Their only hope for success was to fight a flank attack on their terms with as much weight as they could place behind such an assault. Burgoyne’s decision had been made and the generals prepared their men.

Battle of Bemis Heights, October 7, 1777

Once more Burgoyne divided his men into three divisions. The right, commanded by Fraser, included his nephew’s advance party, Fraser’s own 24^th regiment, and Balcarres light infantry. The center was led by Riedesel with the Brunswick soldiers plus jaegers. The left consisted of British grenadiers commanded by Acland. Breymann was ordered to detach 300 Germans to join the Brunswickers in the center. The march was slow and ponderous and took all morning. Around 1:30 PM, the soldiers emerged from the woods and into the sunlight at Farmer Barber’s wheat field – about three quarters of a mile from the rebel lines. The soldiers sat down and waited for further orders. The clearing was about 300 yards from east to west with small buildings present. “A miserable position,” according to General Riedesel. Burgoyne, Riedesel, and Phillips climbed to the roof of the abandoned cabin and saw nothing – no American defense, no enemy movement, just deep and silent forests.

Unknown to the British, their movement had been closely watched. American scouts sent back word on their enemy’s progress from the time they advanced forward. When the British reached the Barber wheat field, American Colonel James Wilkinson reached a point in the woods where he could safely watch about 1,000 feet. He quickly returned to headquarters to report. Gates supposedly said “Well then, order on Morgan to begin the game.”

American Forces Advance & Opening Shots

Once more, Gates kept most of his troops within the Bemis Heights’ defenses. Arnold pressed for a full and immediate attack. He and Gates had reached an impasse with Gates ordering the combative general to his quarters. Only Morgan was sent out to probe the enemy’s strength. General Benjamin Lincoln, who was much more persuasive than Arnold, was to convince Gates to make a stronger show of force. Gates agreed to send Poor’s brigade to attack the British left while Morgan circled to their right. When the two hit the British from both sides, having moved quietly through the woods to position, Learned’s brigade was to attack their enemy’s center. The disparity in troop numbers was huge. Gates had about 12,000 effective troops (6,000 reliable and battle hardened Continentals) to throw against Burgoyne’s 1,900 man detachment. Soon, British pickets reported that Americans were spotted slipping through the trees on both their right and left. About 3:00 PM, a large body of Americans appeared in the woods on the British left – Poor’s brigade, and they were immediately shelled. However the balls were ineffective in the woods. The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd New Hampshire Continentals continued to move forward, determined to roll in the British left.

The British Left Gives Under Poor’s Charge

Major Acland’s grenadiers, who held a position on a rise above Poor’s Continentals, fired a volley, however their shots went high. Acland thought the rebel line had faltered and ordered a bayonet charge. Before they could do so, the Americans exploded from the woods, firing and charging, mowing down the grenadiers. Acland was hit in both legs and carried from the field, eventually to be captured by the rapidly advancing Americans. Rebels pursued the enemy with vigor, jumping over and around the dead and wounded. The grenadier continued to pull back towards their center. Morgan’s men heard the initial British volley on the British left, but they were not yet in position, their rout to the British right having been longer. Just as Poor’s men charged the grenadier, his men burst from their cover and “poured down like a torrent from the hill,” hitting Frasers’ division made up of Balcarres’ command on the front and right flank.

At that moment, Dearborn’s light infantry, who had supported Morgan, swept in from the rear. Balcarres’ men immediately broke and ran. They were hotly pursued by the Americans for three quarters of a mile. Fraser ignored the intense firing and rode among his men to rally them. The 24^th tried to bolster Balcarres men to reform, but Morgan and Dearborn’s forces charged like crazed lunatics. Fraser’s men could not hold them off, and headed back to their defensive line near Freeman’s Farm labeled Balcarres’ redoubt. So far from the first shots, fifty two minutes had elapsed.

Americans Press the Attack & Arnold Takes Command of the Battlefield

At that stage of the battle, Learned’s men assaulted the British center with Benedict Arnold at their lead. He had ignored Gates orders and hastened to the crash of arms. Arnold’s Connecticut men slammed against the enemy’s center; however the Germans had no intention of giving way. The rebels brought up cannon and blasted away with canisters as fast as they could be loaded, the whole line of battle was now enveloped in flame.[61] No matter how intense the American fire, the Brunswickers would not give. Only when Morgan and Dearborn drove back Balcarres’ troops, exposing the Germans tothe possibility of being surrounded, did Speth order his men to slowly withdraw.

General Simon Fraser is Mortally Wounded

Simon Fraser was conspicuously visible throughout the battle. Mounted on his grey horse, he rode back and forth across the field while calmly reassuring the light infantry and his own 24^th Regiment. By his dominating personality alone, he was rallying the fleeing troops to stop and regroup – reforming the British right into a new line that could possibly halt the American momentum. History recorded romantically that Arnold suggested to Morgan that one of his sharpshooters needed to get rid of the officer on the gray horse, even naming Fraser as the one to be targeted. Here is the recollection of Samuel Woodruff, a volunteer under Gates, in which the details of Fraser’s wounding is presented, rather glowingly, crediting Arnold: “…General Arnold, knowing the military character and efficiency of General Frazer, and observing his motions in leading and conducting the attack, said to Colonel Morgan, ‘That officer upon a grey horse is of himself a host, and must be disposed of – direct the attention of some of the sharp-shooters among your riflemen to him.’ Morgan nodding his assent to Arnold, repaired to his riflemen, and made known to them the hint given by Arnold. Immediately upon this, the crupper [strap looped under the tail] of the grey horse was cut off by a rifle bullet, and within the next minute another passed through the horse’s mane a little back of his ears. An aid of Frazer, noticing this, observed to him, ‘Sir, it is evident that you are marked out for particular aim; would it not be prudent for you to retire from this place?’ Frazer replied, ‘My duty forbids me to fly from danger,’ and immediately received a bullet through his body. [He was gut shot] A few grenadiers were detached to carry him to the Smith [Taylor] house.”[62]

Legend states that Tim Murphy, an experienced Indian fighter whose skill with the double-barreled rifle was well known, climbed a tree and took aim. He was suppose to have fired all three shots, the last finding its mark, doubling the Scotsman over. Morgan’s exact words to his riflemen is also of lore: “That gallant officer is General Fraser; I admire and respect him, but it is necessary that he should die take your stations in that wood and do your duty.”[63] The veracity of this lore has been exposed to recent scrutiny and remains in doubt. From the opening shots of the war at Bunker Hill, British officers were regularly targeted by American riflemen. It may have been Murphy who fired the fatal shot, or, as indicated by Samuel Woodruff, any number of riflemen in Morgan’s outfit.

Fraser Mortally Wounded, the Heart to Fight On Escapes General Burgoyne

Of all his officers, the Scot was the one on whom he relied the most, his close friend and confidant, and Lt. Digby sensed that the general knew at that moment that it was over. The loss of Fraser “helped to turn the fate of the day,” he said.[64] Burgoyne knew he needed to save what was left of his reconnaissance force. He sent word to Phillips and Riedesel to initiate a complete retreat. The battle continued as Arnold was not satisfied in allowing the British to slip away. He wanted a complete rout of British forces resulting in a total victory. He pressed the Americans against Balcarre’s redoubt and led charge after charge, driving the British and Germans back.

Riding behind the vacated redoubt and hot in pursuit of the withdrawing enemy, Arnold was shot in the leg. Historians concur that had not Arnold been wounded, his personal momentum may have driven the Americans forward. The British right and rear were dangerously exposed to attack and he might have swept them down on Burgoyne’s broken and discouraged army. So too, it may be argued that in the waning light, any further attack might have fallen apart with the British regrouping and fending off a rebel assault. No matter, for with Arnold’s injury, the matter was settled.

Lieutenant William Digby of the Shropshire Regiment said it succinctly “…General Burgoyne appeared greatly agitated as the danger to which the lines were exposed was of the most serious nature at that particular period… He said but little, well knowing we could defend the lines or fall in the attempt. Darkness interposed (I believe fortunately for us), which put an end to the action.”[65] The British pulled back to the river. As Lt. Digby related, “During the night we were employed in moving our cannon, baggage, etc., nearer to the river. It was done with silence, and fires were kept lighted to cause them not to suspect we had retired from our works where it was impossible for us to remain, as the German lines commanded them, and were then in possession of the enemy, who were bringing up cannon to bear on ours at day break. It may easily be supposed we had no thought for sleep, and some time before day we retreated nearer to the river. Our design of retreating to Ticonderoga then became public.[66]

British and German casualties were horrendous. The British had lost 184 killed, 264 wounded, and 183 taken prisoners for a total of 631, of whom 31 were officers. The Germans had 94 dead, 67 wounded, and 102 captured, which meant of the 1,700 men in the reconnaissance force, 894, more than half, had been lost. The Americans by contrast had an estimated 30 killed and 100 wounded.

Painful Death of General Simon Fraser

Simon Fraser lay in the Taylor House in incredible agony. The surgeon had broken the news that his wound was fatal; unfortunately the heavy breakfast he had eaten had swollen his intestines so that the bullet, which might have passed between them, had ripped open his bowels. Frederika Louise von Riedesel, wife of the general, shared her residence with the wounded, including Fraser. She wrote: “These pleasant anticipations [planning dinner after the officers return from battle] were supplanted by grief and terror, when, at about 2 o’clock, General Frazer was brought in on a litter, desperately wounded. The table, which had been spread for dinner, was hastily cleared to lay the general upon. The surgeon informed him truly of his condition, and when told he could live but a few hours, he exclaimed: “O, fatal ambition! Poor General Burgoyne! My poor wife![67] All night Frederika listened to Fraser’s moans and his apologies for the trouble he was causing her. At three in the morning, when she was told that the Scot was nearing the end, she wrapped her daughters in blankets and took them into the hall for what remained of the night.[68]

Lt. Digby wrote, “General Frazer was yet living, but not the least hopes of him. He that night asked if General Burgoyne’s army were not all cut to pieces, and being informed to the contrary, appeared for a moment pleased, but spoke no more.”[69] At eight o’clock the next morning, an hour after a large number of rebels were seen advancing along the river toward the British fortifications, Simon Fraser breathed his last. His body was washed, wrapped in a sheet, and put back on the bed, where it lay throughout the day.

At six o’clock that day, October 8^th, 1777, Simon Fraser’s last request of his general took place. With no one but the officers on Fraser’s personal staff in attendance, he asked to be interned on one of the hillside redoubts; however Burgoyne, along with Phillips and Riedesel, including their aides were in attendance. The procession of mourners filed up the hill to the gravesite, where the Reverend Edward Brunell read the Anglican burial service. The reverend’s voice never faltered even though, as noted by Burgoyne, cannonballs from rebel guns fell close enough to shower dust on the chaplain. The British were outraged that their enemies “with an inhumanity peculiar to Americans,” fired on the procession and the group of graveside mourners, but it seems likely that the rebels had no idea what was going on, that they merely saw a large group of men, all officers, and shot at them.[70]

“If Ole England is not by this lesson taught humility, then she is an obstinate old slut, bent upon her ruin.”

General Horatio Gates upon Burgoyne’s surrender

From Oct. 8^th to the 14^th, Burgoyne had been preparing his army to begin the long and dangerous trek back to Fort Ticonderoga. On Oct. 10^th, he had dispatched Lt. Colonel Nicholas Sutherland with two regiments up the west bank of the Hudson to assess the situation north of them. The idea, suggested by General Riedesel, was that the army would make a rapid retreat to Fort Edward by fording the Hudson near the rapids above Saratoga, and retreat toward Fort George.  Sutherland would come within an hour of Fort Edward and was infuriated when Burgoyne recalled him back to the main army. He had five hundred men with him facing only 100 rebels with the road clear behind him for the rest of Burgoyne’s army to follow. Burgoyne seemed to have lost his grasp of the situation. He became indecisive, discipline was deteriorating, and the army’s infrastructure, like its personnel, was collapsing. Troops were starving because the commissary did not issue rations. The rebel artillery barrages were increasing in intensity, the bateaux were under constant attack, and every day brought more skirmishes. Captives and desertions had increased tenfold; by the 13^th, the Americans had taken 120 prisoners and 160 deserters. And still, Burgoyne did nothing. At 10 PM on the 12^th, General Riedesel had enough of waiting and sent a letter to Burgoyne informing him that the rations were distributed and requesting marching orders. To the baron’s dismay, the reply came back and the retreat was postponed. By the following morning the army was completely surrounded. The northern escape corridor had been sealed off during the night by the hero of the Battle of Bennington, John Stark, who had suddenly appeared with more than a thousand New Hampshire militia. He had led them across the Hudson near the mouth of the Batten Kill and erected a battery on the west side. The end was upon them. A drummer, Major Griffith William’s fifteen year old nephew, George Williams[71], was sent to Gates’ lines with a message from General Burgoyne.[72]

General Burgoyne Gives up the Ghost and Surrenders

At first Gates demanded an unconditional surrender. When Burgoyne rejected that, Gates heard that a detachment under British General Vaughan, dispatched by General Henry Clinton, might reach Albany and try to affect a juncture with Burgoyne. Gates, without further investigation of the information regarding Vaughan’s detachment, foolishly consented to Burgoyne’s demands. The British forces were permitted to march out of camp with the honors of war, their arms “to be piled by word of command of their own officers.” This generous agreement was to allow the surrendered men to march directly to Boston and be housed and fed while they waited for the full passage of all troops to Great Britain “on condition of not serving again in North America during the present contest.”[73] His demand for a court-martial denied, “Gentleman Johnny” was never given another command. Gates would receive ridicule for his hasty approval of Burgoyne’s terms, however not enough to thwart Congress’ decision to grant Gates another command. After he had so successfully commanded the Army of the North, they sent him south at the head of the southern army. His experience leading the Americans against British General Cornwallis resulted in a complete opposite of what Gates and his supporters had hoped.

General Fraser’s Legacy

As noted earlier, General Fraser had no children during his rather short marriage. He left all his worldly belongings to his German widow who did not wait long after Fraser’s death to marry what would be her third Scotsman. Nineteenth Century historian Bancroft romantically describes the ‘flower of the British army’:

“Never more shall he chase the red deer through the heather of Strath Errick, or guide the skiff across the fathomless lake of central Scotland, or muse over the ruin of the Stuarts on the moor of Drum-mossie, or dream of glory beside the crystal waters of the Ness. Death in itself is not terrible; but he came to America for selfish advancement, and though bravely true as a soldier, he died uncounseled.”[74]

Fraser’s Remains

Nineteenth century author Ellen Walworth visited the battle site in1891 and recorded what she saw “…Near the roadside, not far from the Walker’s house, the spot is pointed out where General Frazer was wounded. This is the road which passes the Quaker Meeting House.  Of Fraser’s burial site she recorded “…On the second mound north of Wilbur’s Basin stood the great redoubt in which Fraser was buried. At the time a stake marked ‘Frazer buried,’ was near a tree on the top of the second hill north of Wilbur’s basin. At the base of the fourth mound is the site of the house in which he died, occupied at the time by Madam Riedesel and from which she witnessed his funeral. Nothing remains of it.”[75] Nearly 210 years after his death, members of The Old 78th Fraser Highlanders re-enactment group served as honor guard at the unveiling of a monument to the memory of Brigadier General Fraser at Saratoga. The exact place of burial in the Great Redoubt is in dispute.

As to who fired the shot that mortally wounded Fraser, Author Hugh Harrington contributed an excellent article in the one line publication ‘Journal of the American Revolution’ that refutes the legend of rifleman Murphy as the sole shooter. You can read a summary of the article that is footnoted here.[76

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RESOURCES

Arnold, Isaac Newton. Life of Benedict Arnold. 1880: Jansen, McClurg & Col, Chicago, IL.

Bancroft, George. History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Colony,
Vol. 8 Ninth Edition Revised. 1878: Little Brown & Company, Boston, MA.

Baxter, James Phinney. The British Invasion from the North; The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, 1776-1777, With the Journal of Lt. William Digby, of the 53^rd or Shropshire Regiment of Foot. 1887: Joel Munsell’s Sons, Albany, NY.

Commager, Henry Steele & Morris, Richard B. Editors. The Spirit of Seventy Six, The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants. 1995: Da Capo Press, New York, NY.

Douglas, Robert, Esq. The Peerage of Scotland: Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom… 1813: Published by George Ramsay. 2016: Reprinted by Forgotten Books Publishers, Leicester, UK.

Ferguson, James. Papers Illustrating the History of The Scots Brigade In the Service of the United Netherlands…  1899: Printed at the University Press by T. & A. Constable for the Scottish History Society, Edinburg, Scotland.

Force, Peter. American Archives Consisting of a Collection of Authentic Records…Volume IV, Series 6. 1844: Published by the author, Washington, DC.

Fraser, Alexander. The Clan Fraser in Canada: Souvenir of the First Annual Gathering, Toronto, May 5^th, 1894. 1895: Mail Job Printing Company, Toronto, Canada.

Ford, Worthington Chauncey. British Officers Serving in the American Revolution 1774-1783. 1897: Historical Printing Club, Brooklyn, NY.

Gordon, William.  The History of the Rise Progress and Establishment of the Independence of the United States Including an Account of the Late War and the Thirteen Colonies… In Three Volumes. 1801: Printed for Samuel Campbell, New York, NY.

Keltie, John S. F.S.A. (Scot). History of the Scotish Highlands: Highland Clans and Highland Regiments. 1876: Publ. William MacKenzie, London & Edinburg, UK.

Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War. 1997: Henry Holt & Company, New York, NY.

Neilson, Charles.  An Original, Compiled and Corrected Account of Burgoyne’s Campaign, and the Memoriable Battles of Bemis’ Heights, Sept. 19 – Oct. 7, 1777… 1844: J. Munsell, Albany, NY.

Stone, William L. Visits to the Saratoga Battleground 1780-1880. 1895: Joel Munsell’s Sons, Albany, New York.

Wallace, Nesbit Willoughby, Cpt. Of the 60^th Royal Rifles. A Regimental Chronicle and List of Officers of the 60^th, or the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, Formerly the 62^nd, or the Royal American Regiment of Foot. 1879: Harrison, Bookseller to the Queen and Prince of Wales, London, UK.

Walworth, Ellen Hardin.  Saratoga: The Battle-Battleground-Visitor’s Guide. 1877: Published by Ellen Hardin Walworth, New York, NY.

Walworth, Ellen Hardin. Battles of Saratoga 1777: The Saratoga Monument Association 1856-1891. 1891: Joel Munsells Sons, Publ., Albany, NY.

Web: Clans McFarlane and Associated Clans Genealogy: Brigadier General Simon Fraser and Younger of Balnain.

Web: Hugh Harrington – “The Myth of Rifleman Timothy Murphy” in Journal of the American Revolution.

FOOTNOTES

[1]  Web Site: Clans McFarlane and Associated Clans Genealogy. Brigadier General Simon Fraser and Younger of Balnain.

[2]  The Battle of Culloden was fought on April 16, 1746. The Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ – the son of exiled Prince of Wales James Frances Edward Stuart whose father was the ousted monarch King James II) were decisively defeated by British troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (third son of King George II), near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

[3]  Henry Douglas, Earl of Drumlanrig (Oct. 30, 1722 – Oct. 19, 1754). After finishing his studies at Oxford, he took to the military life, serving two campaigns under the Earl of Stair and three campaigns under the King of Sardinia. He afterwards received a commission as regimental Colonel of the Fourth Brigade of Highlanders, consisting of two battalions, in the service of Holland. He married lady Elizabeth Hope, daughter of John Earl of Hopelton. The marriage was short lived as he accidentally shot himself and his sickly brother, Charles (who passed away two years later), succeeded to his title.

[4]  The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed on August 19, 1585 by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch Rebels fighting against Spanish rule. It was the first international treaty signed by what would become the Dutch Republic, at Nonsuch Palace, Surrey, England.

[5]  The French army was under the command of Lowendal and the overall direction of Marshal Maurice de Saxe. The strategic Dutch fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom was on the border of Brabant and Zeeland. The fortress was defended by Dutch, Austrians, British, Hanoverians, and Hessians. This defeat by the French forced the British to seek a peace treaty to end hostilities the following year, 1748.

[6]  John Campbell, 4^th Earl of Loudoun (May 5, 1705 – April 27, 1782) was a Scottish nobleman and commanded British forces including the 78^th Highlander Regiment, 60^th Royal American Foot, and British North American Forces during the French and Indian War.

[7]  Wallace, pg. 1.

[8]  The following year in 1757, the 60^th Royal Americans of Foot was led by General James Abercromby and in 1758 by General Sir Jeffery Amherst.

[9]  Jacques Marcus Prevost (1736-1781) was a British Army officer of French-Swiss origin. He commanded troops in North America during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, he served briefly as the British governor of Georgia  after the British occupied Savannah in 1778. He died in Jamaica in 1781.

[10]  Henry Louis Bouquet (1719-1765) was born the son of a wealthy Swiss Roadhouse owner. He entered the military at age 17, serving with the Dutch and later as lieutenant colonel of the Swiss Guards. He enlisted with the British to serve as Lt. Colonel of the Royal American 60^th Regiment of Foot in 1756. He is credited for renaming the French Fort Duquesne to Fort Pitt, giving rise to later day Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  He served in America throughout the French and Indian War and later Pontiac’s War. He was promoted to Brigadier General and posted to Pensacola, Florida in 1765, dying suddenly from yellow fever on the second of September that same year.

[11]  Sir Frederick Haldiman (1718 – 1791) was Swiss and a military officer best known for his services in North America during the Seven Years’ War and the American Revolution. He was instrumental in founding the Royal American Corp that trained British, foreign, and American troops to fight a wilderness war prevalent in the colonies of America. From 1778 to 1786, he served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, during which time he oversaw military operations against the northern frontiers of the war, protracted mainly in guerrilla type operations against American outposts and settlements. During this period he was engaged in unsuccessful negotiations to establish the independent Vermont Republic as a new British province.

[12]  In March and April of 1757, five Companies, First Battalion, 60^th Royal American Regiment of Foot under Lord Loudoun, were employed in skirmishes with the Indians around Charlestown, S. Carolina and the back settlements. Five companies, First Battalion, under Colonel Stanwix, were employed in the back woods of Pennsylvania, and also in protecting the Canadian frontier. Wallace, pg. 9.

[13]  Simon Fraser, 11^th Lord Lovat (1667-1747), nicknamed ‘the Fox’, was a Scottish Jacobite and Chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat. He was known throughout his life for his feuding and changes of allegiance. He had been a supporter of the House of Hanover, but in 1745, he changed sides and supported the Stuart claim on the crown of England – favoring “Bonnie Prince Charlie”. He was among those defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. He was later conviced of treason against the Crown. He was caught the next year and sentenced to death. He became the last man in Britain to be executed by beheading – though beheading was not formally abolished in the United Kingdom by law until 1973.

[14]  Keltie, pg. 474.

[15]  British General James Abercromby suffered a defeat by French commander the Marquis de Montcalm on July 8, 1758. The British and American forces numbered over 15,000 against the estimated 3,500 French and Indians. The French were deployed behind strong entrenchments.  Wave after wave of British assaulted the French defenses only to be thrown back with horrendous losses. The British ultimately called off the attack leaving the French in possession of Fort Ticonderoga.

[16]  General James Wolfe (Jan. 2 1727 – Sept. 13 1759) Legendary British hero who died leading the English forces to victory on the Plains of Abraham at the Battle of Quebec, Sept. 13, 1759.

[17]  Keltie, pg. 479.

[18]  Ibid, pg. 474.

[19]  Clan Fraser in Canada.

[20]  Keltie, pg. 479.

[21] Edward Cornwallis (1713 – 1776). After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden in 1746, The Duke of Cumberland entrusted Cornwallis of leading a purge of Jacobite’s landholdings. He was responsible for burning and destroying the homes of those who had supported Bonnie Prince Charlie, including rounding up and imprisoning principal clansmen.  Afterwards, he was given the task of establishing a British settlement on Nova Scotia to counter the French coastal town of Louisbourg. In 1749, he arrived off the coast of Nova Scotia with a large fleet including 2,500 British settlers. He established the town of Halifax, named for George Montagu-Dunk, 2^nd Earl of Halifax who was President of the Board of Trade. Cornwallis, no doubt from his experiences in Scotland, believed in the threat of violence to maintain order among the ‘savages’ of North America. He brutally dealt with the local native Americans, offering high bounties for their scalps. Only recently, during the past few years, have statues and honorariums to his legacy been removed or names changed because of his inhumane acts during his two years as leader of Halifax.

[22]  Lt. General John Manners, Marquess of Granby (Jan. 2, 1721 – Oct. 18, 1770). He was the eldest son of the 3^rd Duke of Rutland. Since he did not outlive his father, he never inherited the dukedom and was known by his father’s subsidiary title, Marquess of Granby. General Granby eventually served in the Seven Years’ War as overall commander of the British troops on the battlefield and was subsequently rewarded with the post of Commander-in-Chief. Accredited as a great military leader, he was also popular with his troops and throughout England, demonstrating humane efforts towards the welfare of his soldiers.  Under his leadership, the character of British soldiering improved, and demonstrated that when properly led, the army was unbeatable in war. During the Seven Years’ War, he commanded British troops and allied victories at the Battle of Warburg and Emsdorf (July 1760), Battle of Villinghausen (July 1761), and the Battle of Wilhelmsthal (June 1762).

[23]  Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick-Luneburg (Jan. 12, 1721 – July 3, 1792). He was a German-Prussian Field Marshal (1758-1766) known for leading his armies in several major battles that repelled French attempts to occupy Hanover during the Seven Years’ War. Considered his greatest achievement was leading the allied army of Prussian and English forces at the Battle of Minden on Aug. 1, 1759.

[24]  The 33^rd would later be led by the nephew of Edward Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis. During all of Cornwallis’ commands in America during the Revolution, he maintained the title of Colonel of the 33^rd, however the daily affairs of the regiment including when going into battle was maintained by subordinates.

[25]  Paton, pg. 67.

[26]  Ibid.

[27]  Ibid, pg. 68.

[28]  Ibid, pg. 69.

[29]  Ibid.

[30]  Ibid pg. 70.

[31]  Burgoyne would be second to General Carlton. Carlton’s lethargic advance down Lake Champlain and his ultimate decision not to attack Ticonderoga infuriated Burgoyne and other officers within his command, including Fraser. This led Burgoyne to pen a perspective campaign against the Americans which would ultimately, with General Howe’s aid coming up from New York City, allow the British to capture the entire Hudson River Valley and cut the colonies in half, separating New England from the middle and southern regions. He returned to England during the winter of 1776-77 and was very persuasive in selling his plan (convincing King George the III). So much so, that he was returned to Canada in the early spring of 1777 at the head of an impressive force of British and Prussian soldiers. This time, he would not answer to General Carlton, but was commissioned to take his place as commander-in-chief of the operation. His final defeat and surrender in October of 1777, which aided American diplomats in France to convince the French to enter the war as their allies, has been pointed to as the turning point in the revolution, leading to the American’s final independence from England.

[32]  Force, Vol. IV, Ser. 6, pg. 455.

[33] The guide was a Point du Loc farmer named Autoine Gauthier who proved to be either a loyalist, incompetent, or both. Instead of landing four miles from their objective, they pulled onto shore nine miles from the garrison. Gauthier then led them on an all night, meandering path through thick swamps and a quagmire that separated the columns, including individual regiments. By daylight, only partial units of totally exhausted troops formed to confront an organized and well rested enemy. Afterwards, the American officers claimed that Gauthier intentionally led them astray. To this day, Canadians celebrate Gauthier as a local hero, dedicating a stone memorial to his memory.

[34]  Originally a fur trading town, at that time its function was to support river traffic. Francis Grant, an English gentleman traveling in Canada in 1767 noted: “Three Rivers is a small town on the North West bank of the River St. Lawrence, containing in all about 100 houses, most of which are small and mean…” Cubbison, pg. 110.

[35]  Ketchum pg. 101.

[36]  Thomas Jefferson would some years later refer to General Philips as the “proudest man of the proudest nation on earth.” Ketchum, pg. 135.

[37]  Ketchum, pp 113-135.

[38]  A grenadier battalion, like a light infantry battalion, was a new concept introduced after the Seven Years War prior to the American Revolution. General Howe organized these battalions while reassembling his troops at Halifax prior to his assault on New York City. A company of grenadier was ‘borrowed’ from existing regiments (each regiment consisted of one grenadier company, one light infantry, and on average 8 foot companies). Up to ten grenadier companies were pulled from existing regiments to form one battalion of all grenadier. As was done with light infantry battalions.

[39]  Cannon Cockers were employed as ‘grunts’ hauyling projectiles, luggiong cannon, and aiding the gunners during their limber and unlimbering of cannon.

[40]  Bomb ketches were unruly vessels, of shallower draft so they could move closer to shore, they carried massive mortars capable of lobbing shells far inland or to rain down on a fort or shore garrison. To make room for the large mortars mounted in the bow, the main mast was positioned farther astern than regular sailing vessels, making the ship difficult to handle.

[41]  Ketchum pg. 142.

[42]  St. Clair failed to set any defenses on Sugar Hill, which the British ultimately were able to haul canon to its summit, threatening to enfilade the Americans and forcing St. Clair to immediately abandon both forts. However, the Americans had thought of this threat a year earlier. Twenty year old Lt. Col. John Trumbull, Yale grad and son of Connecticut’s governor, in July of 1776, presented this flaw to Generals Phillip Schuyler and General Horatio Gates at Ticonderoga who were visiting and surveying the grounds. He said that the distance from the mountain known as Sugar Hill, just south of Ticonderoga, was such that guns there would command the fort and Rattlesnake Hill on the opposite shore [where Fort Independence would be built]. General Gates gave permission for guns to be fired on Sugar Hill from both the fort and Rattlesnake Hill. In each case, the shells landed close enough to the top to indicate that it was certainly possible to achieve the same result in reverse. To see if cannon could be dragged to the top, two other officers who were present, Colonel Anthony Wayne and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, climbed to the top of Sugar Hill and concurred that cannon could be drawn to its peak. But the warning went unheeded and no defenses were ever constructed.

[43]  Ketchum, pg. 140.

[44]  Brigadier General Benedict Arnold watched as junior officers, such as St. Clair, who was a colonel when Arnold received his brigadier commission, received the rank of major general while he, who so far was by far the most experienced and successful officer in the American army, remained a brigadier general. Arnold was to return to Connecticut during the winter of 1777 and sulk at his sister’s home while he pondered his future in the military. He was present in late April during the Danbury Connecticut Raid and succeeded in hurrying along the British raiding party. He soon afterwards returned to the Northern Army, only to feud with commanding General Horatio Gates.

[45]  Ketchum, pg. 43.

[46]  Ibid, pg. 44.

[47]  Ibid., pg. 323.

[48]  Ibid., pg. 166.

[49]  Named for the large quantity of maple trees which produced the ‘sugar’ or sap which was boiled down to a sweet syrup, or further boiled down to a brownish sugar, used as a substitute for molasses or sugar cane from the Indies.

[50]  The Grants was referred to the New Hampshire Grants, what is now presently Vermont. Both New Hampshire and New York claimed this land. New Hampshire offered grants to settlers willing to homestead in the region in the hopes of strengthening their claim to the region. The Green Mountain Boys, a very independent and organized militia force, viciously battled mainly New York surveyors and settlers who tried to lay claim to the “Grants”. This ready made force of experience fighters was on had to assist the rebellion including the taking of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, aiding the invasion of Canada in 177-76, and repelling Burgoyne’s forces in 1777, particularly the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington.

[51] Ketchum, pg. 186.

[52]  Not to be confused with the Connecticut native native Nathan Hale who was captain in Colonel Knowlton’s Rangers and ultimately hanged as a spy in September, 1776. Nathan Hale from New Hampshire had been part of Colonel Stark’s New Hampshire regiment who successfully beat back the British attack during the famous Battle of Bunker Hill. Many of his men as well as Francis’ men were present during that early in the war battle outside Boston.  He, including most of his men, had also served with Washington in New York and New Jersey.

[53]  Hubbardton was named for the grantee Thomas Hubbard, who settled the area in 1774. By 1777, there were nine settlements in the area, all vacated aftrer the previous days’ raid by Native Americans under Captain Fraser, General Fraser’s nephew. A few residents were captured while the rest fled south towards Castle Town and Manchester.

[54]  Colonel Seth Warner was a skilled huntsman and aggressive leader of the green mountain boys when they were battling New Yorkers who were trying to claim their land in the “Grants”.  When Ethan Allen was ousted as leader of the Green Mountain Boys, the men chose Warner to take his place. Tall, decisive, he was also like Colonel Stark of New Hampshire, pig headed and not one to take orders lightly from any one. It would be natural for him to disobey St. Clair’s order to join him at Castle Town that evening.

[55]  Named for Jotham Bemis, a farmer who kept a tavern nearby.

[56]  Ketchum, pg. 357.

[57]  Freeman’s farm, at the time of the battle, was owned by Isaac Leggett, a Quaker and a loyalist. John Freeman, settler and for whom the farm was named, had traveled north to join Burgoyne’s invasion army. Leggett had left the area prior to the armies clashing. The local residents continued to call the farm by its original owner: Freeman’s Farm.

[58]  Ketchum, pg. 354-355.

[59]  Ibid, pg. 363.

[60]  Ibid.

[61]  Ibid, 399.

[62]  Neilson, pp 254-257.

[63]  Stone, pg. 112.

[64]  Neilson, 400.

[65]  Baxter, pp. 287 – 292. Commager, pg. 598.

[66]  Ibid.

[67]  Walworth, pg. 28

[68]  Ketchum, pg. 405

[69]  Ibid.

[70]  Ibid, pg. 406.

[71]  The durmmer boy who signaled negotiations for surrender, George Williams, would be the last survivor of the battle, dying in 1850 at the age of 88.

[72]  Ketchum, pg. 418.

[73]  Though very generous, many in Congress were infuriated by this agreement. Though the officers were eventually pardoned to England, the rank and file spent the next several years in confinement marching from Boston to Virginia where by war’s end, many decided to remain in America rather than return to England.

[74]  Bancroft, pg. 419

[75]  Ibid, pg. 98.

[76]  The legend appears to stem from Jeptha R. Simms’ 1845 text entitled History of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York.  There is evidence that Simms interviewed Murphy’s son for his proof, perhaps ignoring the self-serving ‘portrayal’ of facts. Sixty eight years had elapsed since the battle, and twenty seven years since Timothy Murphy’s 1818 death in Schoharie County, New York.  This account, as far as can be determined, marks the first time the name Timothy Murphy is connected with the shooting of Fraser.  Simms writes that Daniel Morgan “selected a few of his best marksmen” and “instructed to make Fraser their especial mark… Timothy Murphy… was one of the riflemen selected.”  As Fraser came into range each had “a chance to fire, and some of them more than once, before a favorable opportunity presented for Murphy; but when it did, the effect was soon manifest.   Simms writes that “the fact that Murphy shot Gen. Fraser, was communicated to the writer by a son of the former.”  However, Simms does not supply the name of the son, when or how the son learned of the story, or any other information surrounding the event or Murphy’s retelling of it.  In 1853, a letter dated 28 November 1781, four years after the battle, written by British officer Joseph Graham (not to be confused with James Graham, a biographer of Daniel Morgan) was published in the Virginia Historical Register.  Joseph Graham had been taken prisoner by the Patriots and claims to have spoken with Morgan.  He wrote that Morgan described the shooting of Fraser, without mentioning any rifleman’s name. There is no mention of Murphy firing the deadly shot during Murphy’s lifetime (1751 b., died in 1818).  There is some question of Murphy’s presence at the battle based on his wife not mentioning his participation in the pension application. However this was Murphy’s second wife (married thirty years after the battle) and the possibility exists that he may have failed to tell her he was there.