d advantage from a
victory gained over the fighting corps.

[Sidenote: Oct. 7.]

It was near one o'clock, on the afternoon of the seventh, when Burgoyne
marched out from his own right, toward the American left. He had reached
an eminence rising at the right of the late battle-ground, and not far
removed from Frazer's position on that day, when the pickets of Arnold's
division discovered his approach, and gave the alarm. Having gained a
favorable position for using his guns, Burgoyne halted, and formed his
line.

Upon hearing that the British had advanced to within half a mile of his
left, and were offering battle, Gates decided to accept the challenge,
as he now felt strong enough to do so without fear for the result, and
the behavior of his own troops in the previous battle had been such as
to put an end to his doubts about their ability to cope with British
soldiers. Morgan was therefore ordered to make a _detour_ through the
woods, and fall on the British right flank, while other troops were
attacking on its left.

These movements were gallantly executed. At three o'clock, Burgoyne's
artillery opened the battle; at four, the Americans charged the British
position under a heavy fire of cannon and musketry. Again and again,
the Continentals met the British bayonet without flinching. Never was a
battle more manfully fought. Burgoyne faced death like the meanest
soldier in the ranks. After some discharges, the British cannoneers were
shot down at their pieces, and the hill on which they stood was carried
at the point of the bayonet.

On his part, Morgan grappled with the British right, overthrew it after
a fierce struggle, and drove it back upon the centre. In vain Frazer[52]
tried to stem the tide of defeat by throwing himself into the thickest
of the fight. "That man," said Morgan, pointing him out to his marksmen,
"must die." A rifle bullet soon gave the gallant Scot his death wound,
and he was led from the field.

The combat had lasted scarce an hour. All Burgoyne's guns were taken. Of
the fifteen hundred soldiers he had led into action, four hundred lay
dead or dying around him. Frazer's fall had carried dismay among those
who were still stubbornly yielding the ground to the victorious
Americans. A retreat was sounded. The Americans followed on with loud
shouts. For a few moments a rearguard fight was kept up, then the
retreat became a rout, the rout a race, to see who should first reach
the British lines.