Washington had some time before sent two of his best officers--Arnold, who as a fighter in pitched battles was unsurpassed, and Morgan, who came with five hundred sharpshooters, each man of whom, it was said, could hit a squirrel with his rifle at a distance of three hundred yards. [Illustration: THE BATTLE MONUMENT AT BENNINGTON, VT.] Congress, misinformed, now set aside the noble General Schuyler and sent Gates, a schemer and intriguer, to supersede him. Schuyler's wise forethought and steadfast courage had already begun to show results. By a stupid blunder of the British government, orders for Sir William Howe to march north to aid Burgoyne had been delayed. General Lincoln had moved with two thousand men to the rear of the British army. The outposts of Ticonderoga had been retaken, and the road to Canada was thus closed for help or retreat. =195. The Hard-fought Battle near Saratoga.=--Burgoyne soon found that he must do something. About the middle of September he crossed to the west bank of the Hudson and came within two miles of the American camp at Bemis Heights. Here took place, on September 18, a hotly contested battle known as that of Freeman's Farm. If Gates had been an able general, probably the British army would have been crushed and the Burgoyne campaign ended then and there. As it was, the deadly fire of the riflemen inflicted a severe blow. Gates did not follow up his advantage. The two armies glared at each other. There was no rest for either side. There was sharp skirmishing all along the lines. The nights were made hideous by the howls of large packs of wolves that were attracted by the partially buried bodies of those slain in the battle. At last, on October 7, Burgoyne came out from his entrenched camp with fifteen hundred picked men and ten cannon. A bloody hand-to-hand battle was fought. Gates had removed Arnold from his command. Angry and desperate, this impetuous but hard fighter placed himself at the head of a detachment of the Continental troops, and under a terrific fire led the men to battle. Mounted on a dark-brown horse, he rode at full gallop over the field. He was greeted with wild cheers. "Call that fellow back," said Gates, "or he will do something rash." With mad fury his men charged and drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet. In the final retreat a wounded Hessian, lying on the ground, took aim and fired at Arnold. The bullet killed his horse and wounded the general in the same leg that had been hit by a musket ball nearly two years before, at the storming of Quebec. A thousand times better would it have been had the bullet gone through his heart! As Arnold fell, one of his men rushed up and was just going to bayonet the soldier who had shot his beloved general; but Arnold cried, "In Heaven's name, don't kill him! He is a fine fellow!" This was the moment when the general whom Washington so much admired for his rash bravery should have died.