up a new position. St. Clair counted
on stealing a march before his retreat could be interfered with. He
also depended on the strength of the obstructions at the bridge[23] of
Ticonderoga to delay the enemy's fleet until his own could get safely to
Skenesborough. In both expectations, St. Clair was disappointed.

[Sidenote: July 6.]

In the first place, Burgoyne had sent Frazer out in pursuit of him, as
soon as the evacuation was discovered; in the second, Burgoyne's
gunboats had hewed their way through the obstructions by nine in the
morning, and were presently crowding all sail after the American
flotilla, under command of Burgoyne himself.

Riedesel's camp, we remember, lay on the Vermont side, and so nearest to
Mount Independence, and St. Clair's line of retreat. Burgoyne,
therefore, ordered Riedesel to fall in behind Frazer, who had just
marched, and give that officer any support he might be in want of.

Thus, most of the hostile forces were in active movement, either by land
or water, at an early hour of the sixth. Let us first follow Frazer, in
his effort to strike the American rear.

Frazer had with him eight hundred and fifty men of his own corps. He
pushed on so eagerly that the slow-moving Germans were far in the rear
when the British halted for the night, near Hubbardton. The day had been
sultry, the march fatiguing. Frazer's men threw themselves on the
ground, and slept on their arms.

St. Clair had reached Hubbardton the same afternoon, in great disorder.
He halted only long enough for the rearguard to come up, and then
hastened on, six miles farther, to Castleton, leaving Warner,[24] with
three regiments, to cover his retreat. Instead of keeping within
supporting distance of the main body, Warner foolishly decided to halt
for the night where he was, because his men were tired, thus putting a
gap of six miles between his commander and himself.

Warner did not neglect, however, to fell some trees in front of his
camp, and this simple precaution, perhaps, proved the salvation of his
command the next day.

[Sidenote: July 7.]

At five in the morning, Frazer's scouts fell upon Warner's pickets while
they were cooking their breakfasts, unsuspicious of danger. The surprise
was complete. With their usual dash, Frazer's men rushed on to the
assault, but soon found themselves entangled among the felled trees and
brushwood, behind which the Americans were hurriedly endeavoring to
form. At the moment of a