[84] After General Herkimer was wounded, he had himself placed at the foot of a tree, where he continued to issue commands with stentorian voice. At the close of the battle he was taken to his house, about thirty-five miles away, and died after an unskillful operation. A tall granite obelisk was erected to his memory, near the site of this battle. [85] The repulse of St. Leger and the relief of Fort Stanwix possess peculiar interest from the fact that on that spot and on that day (August 6, 1777) the American flag, substantially as we now know it, was first raised. Congress had adopted the national flag in June, 1777. After a sortie which had been successful in driving back the besieging force of St. Leger, Colonel Willett, the patriot in command, hoisted a captured British flag, and put over it a rude banner of stars and stripes hastily patched together from a white shirt, a blue jacket, and a red flannel petticoat of a soldier’s wife. [86] While the state of the country and the roads made it impossible for the British divisions to support, or even communicate with, each other, the Americans, working from within, could strike in either direction, wherever the blow would be the most effective. As the bodies of British troops were to work from without, toward a common center, it was of the highest importance to them that each should be under specific orders when and how to move. This was understood by the British ministry, but for some reason long unaccountable, Howe received no specific orders whatever. Such an order was really made, but when it had been prepared for the signature of the British minister of war, Lord George Germain, he petulantly objected to the clerical work, and ordered that a fair copy should be made. That night the minister went to his country seat, and the copy was placed in a pigeonhole to await his return. It was forgotten until long after Burgoyne surrendered. The delayed order directed Howe to ascend the Hudson and coöperate with Burgoyne. [87] Stephen, whose brigade fired upon that of Wayne, was tried by court-martial and dismissed from the service. CHAPTER IX. =THE FRENCH ALLIANCE AND THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1778 AND 1779.= A WINTER OF DISCOURAGEMENT. =188. Change in the Commissariat of the Army.=—Nearly a year before the close of the campaigns just described, Congress had very unwisely determined to make a change in the control of the commissariat of the army. Up to this time it had been a part of the military service and had been successfully managed by Colonel Trumbull; but it was now decided to appoint two officers,—one for procuring the supplies, and another for distributing them. This system of divided responsibility caused the greatest discomfort to the army.