their report to Congress, in which they placed the character of that
officer higher than ever as an able and active commander and a zealous
and disinterested patriot. Schuyler made a memorial to Congress
explaining away or apologizing for the expressions in his letter of
the 4th of February which had given offence to the House, which was so
far satisfactory that Congress informed him that their sentiments
concerning him were now the same as those entertained before the
reception of his objectionable letter. Some warm discussions now
ensued in Congress relative to the northern command, in which it was
stated that General Gates misapprehended his position, and that in
sending him to Ticonderoga it was not the intention of Congress to
give him the same command formerly held by Schuyler. The friends of
Gates, on the other hand, pronounced it an absurdity that an officer
holding so important a post as Ticonderoga should be under the order
of another a hundred miles distant. The discussion terminated by
declaring Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix, and their defenders to be the
Northern department, over which Schuyler was to have supreme command.]

Schuyler was received with open arms at Albany on the 3d of June. "I
had the satisfaction," writes he, "to experience the finest feelings
which my country expressed on my arrival and re-appointment. The day
after my arrival, the whole county committee did me the honor, in
form, to congratulate me." Gates was still in Albany, delaying to
proceed with General Fermois to Ticonderoga until the garrison should
be sufficiently strengthened. Although the resolve of Congress did but
define his position, which had been misunderstood, he persisted in
considering himself degraded, declined serving under General Schuyler,
who would have given him the post at Ticonderoga in his absence, and
obtaining permission to leave the department, set out on the 9th for
Philadelphia to demand redress of Congress.

General St. Clair was sent to take command of the troops at
Ticonderoga, accompanied by General De Fermois. As the whole force in
the Northern department would not be sufficient to command the
extensive works there on both sides of the lake, St. Clair was
instructed to bestow his first attention in fortifying Mount
Independence on the east side, Schuyler considering it much the most
defensible, and that it might be made capable of sustaining a long and
vigorous siege. It would be imprudent, he thought,