Brigadier-General Fraser, who commanded at the post of _Trois Rivières_, gave the foe a ready reception, with such men as he could collect, and, being soon supported from the cantonments and the transports, put the Americans to the rout. The troops pursued the fugitives along the shore, while the shipping sailed up the river and intercepted their flight. Major-General Thompson, the American General, with many officers, and two hundred men, were taken prisoners. On the 14th of June the flotillas and the force on shore reached Sorel, which the colonists had evacuated a few hours before; Major-General Burgoyne continued the pursuit as far as St. John’s, where the troops from the transports under Major-General Phillips joined him, and soon afterwards an additional reinforcement under Brigadier-General Fraser. All hope of accommodation now failed; on the 4th of July the American Congress issued their Declaration of Independence, and abjured their allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain. By this Declaration the name of _colonies_ was abolished, and the _thirteen_ provinces, namely, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, were constituted the _United States_ of America. The whole of Major-General Burgoyne’s army was assembled by the end of July at St. John’s, where it remained encamped during the naval operations on Lake Champlain. After the defeat of the American fleet, on the 11th of October, the weather becoming too severe for further operations in the field, the troops returned to Canada. The posts occupied by the THIRTY-FIRST regiment during the winter were Sorel, St. Charles, St. Denis, St. Anthony, and St. Ours. [Sidenote: 1777] Major-General Burgoyne, who had proceeded to England to submit to the Government a plan for the ensuing campaign, arrived in Canada in May, 1777, empowered to carry it out. An army, composed of British, Dutch, and Colonial Corps, with the _flank_ companies of the regiments left to garrison Quebec (among which was the THIRTY-FIRST regiment), amounting to nearly eight thousand men, was equipped and in the field by the 1st of July. The flank companies of the THIRTY-FIRST, commanded by Captains Cotton and Simpson, formed, with the other flank companies and the twenty-fourth regiment, the advance of the army under Brigadier-General Fraser. _Ticonderago_ was first attacked, and the Provincials were forced to evacuate that post.