Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 389, March 1848
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
After the surrender, the Baroness Reidesel went to join her husband in
the American camp. Seated in a calash with her children, she drove
through the American lines, presenting such a touching picture of
female virtue, as awed even the common soldiers, and moved them to
tears as she passed along. She was met by a gentleman who had once
enjoyed the command of the army in which she thus became a guest; one
whose patriotism no injury from his country could disaffect, and whose
gallantry and politeness no severity from his foes could disarm.
Taking the children from the calash, he affectionately kissed them,
and presenting his hand to their mother, said pleasantly,--"You
tremble, madam! I beg you not to be afraid." She replied,--"Sir, your
manner emboldens me; I am sure _you must be a husband and a father_!"
She soon found that it was General Schuyler: and he afterwards had the
happiness of entertaining both her and General Reidesel, with Lady
Ackland, her husband, and Burgoyne himself, at his hospitable mansion
in Albany, "not as enemies," says the Baroness, "but as friends."
While thus entertained, Burgoyne said one day to his host,--"You show
me much kindness, though I have done you much harm." "It was the
fortune of war," answered Schuyler; "let us say no more on the
subject." The author of "Hochelaga" adds the following painful story,
with reference to Colonel Ackland. On a public occasion in England, he
heard a person speaking of the Americans as cowards. "He indignantly
rebuked the libeller of his gallant captors; a duel ensued the next
morning, and the noble and grateful soldier was carried home a
corpse."
Of poor General Burgoyne, we have partially anticipated the subsequent
history. His military career closed with this defeat; and though, on
his return to England, he took a seat in parliament, his chief
business, as a senator, appears to have been his own defence against
repeated assaults from his enemies. Though he is said to have carried
to his grave the appearance of a discouraged and broken man, he amused
himself with literary pursuits, and in 1786 was the popular author of
a successful play, entitled "The Heiress." About six years later, he
was privately committed to his grave, in Westminster Abbey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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