ugh, and another
on the west side of the lake to cut off Fort George. Claims for
assistance came hurrying on from other quarters. A large force (St.
Leger's) was said to be arrived at Oswego, and Sir John Johnson with
his myrmidons on his way to attack Fort Schuyler, the garrison of
which was weak and poorly supplied with cannon.

Schuyler bestirs himself with his usual zeal amid the thickening
alarms. He writes urgent letters to the committee of safety of New
York, to General Putnam at Peekskill, to the Governor of Connecticut,
to the President of Massachusetts, to the committee of Berkshire, and
lastly to Washington, stating the impending dangers and imploring
reinforcements. He exhorts General Herkimer to keep the militia of
Tryon County in readiness to protect the western frontier and to check
the inroad of Sir John Johnson, and he assures St. Clair that he will
move to his aid with the militia of New York as soon as he can collect
them.

Dangers accumulate at Ticonderoga according to advices from St. Clair
(28th). Seven of the enemy's vessels are lying at Crown Point; the
rest of their fleet is probably but a little lower down. Morning guns
are heard distinctly at various places. Some troops have debarked and
encamped at Chimney Point. There is no prospect, he says, of being
able to defend Ticonderoga unless militia come in, and he has thought
of calling in those from Berkshire. "Should the enemy invest and
blockade us," writes he, "we are infallibly ruined; we shall be
obliged to abandon this side (of the lake), and then they will soon
force the other from us, nor do I see that a retreat will in any shape
be practicable."

The enemy came advancing up the lake on the 30th, their main body
under Burgoyne on the west side, the German reserve under Baron
Riedesel on the east; communication being maintained by frigates and
gunboats, which, in a manner, kept pace between them. On the 1st of
July, Burgoyne encamped four miles north of Ticonderoga, and began to
intrench and to throw a boom across the lake. His advanced guard under
General Fraser took post at Three Mile Point, and the ships anchored
just out of gunshot of the fort.

General St. Clair was a gallant Scotchman who had seen service in the
old French war as well as in this, and beheld the force arrayed
against him without dismay. It is true his garrison was not numerous,
not exceeding three thousand five hundred men, of whom nine hundred
were militia. The