tress abandoned. This happened at an early hour of the
morning. The British instantly marched into the deserted works, without
meeting with the least resistance. Ticonderoga's hundred cannon were
silent under the menace of two. Burgoyne was now free to march his
victorious battalions to the east, the west, or the south, whenever he
should give the order.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] FEEBLE PLANTATIONS. No permanent settlements were begun west of the
Green Mountains till after the conquest of Canada. After that, the
report of soldiers who had passed over the military road from
Charlestown on the Connecticut River, to Crown Point, brought a swarm of
settlers into what is now Bennington County. Settlement began in Rutland
County in 1771.

[18] GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, of Scotch birth, had been a lieutenant
with Wolfe at Quebec; he resigned and settled in Pennsylvania; served
with our army in Canada; made brigadier, August, 1776; major-general,
February, 1777.

[19] ABERCROMBY lost two thousand men in assaulting these lines in 1758.
Since then they had been greatly strengthened.

[20] THROUGH OLD PATHS. The Indians had passed this way centuries before
the fortress was thought of.

[21] ST. CLAIR seems to have waited just long enough for the defence to
become difficult, to admit its impossibility. He chose the part of
safety rather than that of glory.

IV.

HUBBARDTON.

(_July 7, 1777._)

Not doubting he would find Skenesborough still in our possession, St.
Clair was pushing for that place with all possible speed. He expected to
get there by land, before the enemy could do so by water; then, after
gathering up the men and stores saved from Ticonderoga, St. Clair meant
to fall back toward Fort Edward, where General Schuyler,[22] his
superior officer, lay with two thousand men.

This was plainly St Clair's true course. Indeed, there was nothing else
for him to do, unless he decided to abandon the direct route to Albany
altogether. So St. Clair did what a good general should. He resolved to
throw himself between Burgoyne and Schuyler, whose force, joined to his
own, would thus be able, even if not strong enough to risk a battle, at
least to keep up a bold front toward the enemy.

Though Burgoyne really knew nothing about Schuyler's force, he was
keenly alive to the importance of cutting off the garrison of
Ticonderoga from its line of retreat, and, if possible, of striking it a
disabling blow before it could take