The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for IndependenceLossing, Benson John
History
The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence
Lossing, Benson John
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
"I stand up in the name of all the nations present, to assure our father
that we have attentively listened to his discourse. We receive you as
our father, because when you speak we hear the voice of our great father
beyond the great lake. We rejoice in the approbation you have expressed
of our behavior. We have been tried and tempted by the Bostonians,1 but
we loved our father, and our hatchets have been sharpened upon our
affections. In proof of the sincerity of our professions, our whole
villages able to go to war are come forth. The old and infirm, our
infants and wives, alone remain at home. With one common assent we
promise a constant obedience to all you have ordered and all you shall
order; and may the Father of Days give you many and success." **
These promises were all very fine, and Burgoyne, to his sorrow, had the
credulity to rely upon them. At first the Indians were docile, but as
soon as the scent of blood touched their nostrils their ferocious
natures were aroused, and the restraints imposed by the British
commander were too irksome to be borne. Their faithfulness disappeared;
and in the hour of his greatest need they deserted him, as we have seen,
by hundreds, and returned home.
As the lake widened and the evening advanced, the breeze freshened
almost to a gale, and, blowing upon our larboard quarter, it rolled up
such swells on our track that the vessel rocked half the passengers into
silent contemplation of the probability of casting their supper to the
fishes. The beacon upon Juniper Island was hailed with delight, for the
Burlington break-water was just ahead. We entered the harbor between
nine and ten in the evening,
* The old chief spoke truly. They had been "tempted by the Bostonians,"
but not by the Boston patriots. General Gage, then governor of
Massachusetts, and other loyalists in Boston, sent emissaries among the
Indians in various ways, and these were the tempters which the old chief
confounded with the enemies of the crown. I shall have occasion
hereafter to speak of Connelly, one of Gage's 'emissaries, who went to
Virginia, and, under the auspices of Lord Dunmore, carried promises and
money to the Indians on the frontier, to instigate them to fall upon the
defenseless republicans of that stanch Whig state.
** So interpreted by Burgoyne in his "State of the Expedition," &c.
Sabbath Morning in Burlington.--Visit to the Grave of Ethan Allen.--Ira
Allen
161and were soon in comfortable quarters at the American, fronting the
pleasant square in the center of the village.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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