t which had followed the victory at Trenton.

FOOTNOTES:

[34] BREYMAN'S RETREAT. The express from Baum arrived at headquarters at
5 A.M. of the fifteenth. Orders were immediately given Breyman to march.
News of Baum's defeat reached Burgoyne during the night of the
sixteenth. The 20th regiment, British, was immediately marched to
Breyman's support. Burgoyne's anxiety was so great, that he followed it
until Breyman's corps was met on the road.

[35] ECHELON, the French word for step-ladder, by adoption a universal
military term, well describes the posting of troops, belonging to one
army, at stated intervals apart, so as to be moved forward or backward
step by step, always keeping the same relative distances between the
separate bodies. In marking out such positions on the map, the columns
would look like the rounds of a ladder, hence the term.

X.

ST. LEGER'S EXPEDITION.

Burgoyne's hopes now chiefly turned upon the promised cooeperation of St.
Leger from Oswego, and of Sir William Howe from New York.

[Sidenote: Refer to "Plan of Campaign."]

Convinced that the enemy would shortly invade the Mohawk Valley,
Schuyler had sent Colonel Gansevoort[36] to put Fort Stanwix,[37] the
key to this valley, in a state of defence, before it should be attacked.

[Illustration: ST. LEGER'S ROUTE TO FORT STANWIX.]

St. Leger's force was the counterpart of Burgoyne's, in that it
consisted of regular troops, loyalists, and Indians. Many of the
loyalists, and most of the Indians, had lived in this valley, so that
St. Leger had no want of guides, who knew every foot of ground, or of
spies acquainted with the sentiments of every settler.

[Sidenote: Aug. 3.]

A scanty supply of provisions had just been brought into the fort when
St. Leger's scouts opened fire upon it. The garrison shut the gates and
returned the fire. Instead of finding Fort Stanwix defenceless, St.
Leger was compelled to lay siege to it.

The news of St. Leger's appearance in the valley roused the settlers in
arms. Near a thousand men, all brave, but without discipline, promptly
marched, under General Herkimer,[38] to the relief of Fort Stanwix.
Gansevoort was notified, and was to aid the movement by making a sortie
from the fort, at the proper moment.

St. Leger's spies soon discovered Herkimer's men coming. All the
rangers, and most of the Indians, went out to waylay them in the thick
forests. Not far from Oriskany, Brant,[39] the Mohawk chief,