oners had authorized their famishing
army to commandeer his supplies and pay him with their
worthless 'Continentals.'

From St Johns the worn-out Americans crawled homewards
in stray, exhausted parties, dropping fast by the way as
they went. 'I did not look into a hut or a tent,' wrote
a horrified observer, 'in which I did not find a dead or
dying man.' Disorganization became so complete that no
exact returns were ever made up. But it is known that
over ten thousand armed men crossed into Canada from
first to last and that not far short of half this total
either found their death beyond the line or brought it
back with them to Lake Champlain.

It was on what long afterwards became Dominion Day--the
1st of July--that the ruined American forces reassembled
at Crown Point, having abandoned all hope of making Canada
the Fourteenth Colony. Three days later the disappointed
Thirteen issued the Declaration of Independence which
virtually proclaimed that Canadians and Americans should
thenceforth live a separate life.

CHAPTER VII

THE COUNTERSTROKE
1776-1778

Six thousand British troops, commanded by Burgoyne, and
four thousand Germans, commanded by Baron Riedesel, had
arrived at Quebec before the battle of Three Rivers.
Quebec itself had then been left to the care of a German
garrison under a German commandant, 'that excellent man,
Colonel Baum,' while the great bulk of the army had
marched up the St Lawrence, as we have seen already. Such
a force as this new one of Carleton's was expected to
dismay the rebel colonies. And so, to a great extent, it
did. With a much larger force in the colonies themselves
the king was confidently expected to master his unruly
subjects, no matter how much they proclaimed their
independence. The Loyalists were encouraged. The trimmers
prepared to join them. Only those steadfast Americans
who held their cause dearer than life itself were still
determined to venture all. But they formed the one party
that really knew its own mind. This gave them a great
advantage over the king's party, which, hampered at every
turn by the opposition in the mother country, was never
quite sure whether it ought to strike hard or gently in
America.

On one point, however, everybody was agreed. The command
of Lake Champlain was essential to whichever side would
hold its own. The American forces at Crown Point might
be too weak for the time being. But Arnold knew that even
ten thousand British so