anded that Jane be given up to him. Le Loup insisted on escorting her.
Angry words followed and Le Loup, in violent passion, shot Jane through
the heart. Then the savage tore the scalp from his victim and carried it
to the British camp. Mrs. McNeil had arrived at the camp a little in
advance, having been separated from Jane before the tragedy. She at once
recognized the beautiful tresses. David Jones never recovered from the
shock. It is said that he was so crushed by the terrible blow, and
disgusted with the apathy of Burgoyne in refusing to punish the miscreant
who brought the scalp of Jane McCrea to the camp as a trophy, claiming
the bounty offered for such prizes by the British, that he asked for a
discharge and upon this being refused deserted, having first rescued the
precious relic of his beloved from the savages. Jones retired to the
Canadian wilderness, and spent the remainder of his life unmarried, a
silent and melancholy man.

The murder of Jane McCrea fired New York. From every farm, from every
village, from every cabin in the woods the men of America thronged to
avenge her death. Her name was a rallying cry along the banks of the
Hudson and in the mountains of Vermont, and "her death contributed in no
slight degree to Burgoyne's defeat, which became a precursor and
principal cause of American independence."[2]

[2] Stone, "The Burgoyne Ballads."

The force of about two thousand men, whom Colonel Barry St. Leger led
into the forests of what is now Oneida County, met stout resistance, and
but for the Indian allies of the British, led by the great Mohawk chief,
Joseph Brant, St. Leger's troops would probably have been destroyed or
made captive. The fierce battle of Oriskany, in which the brave General
Herkimer received a fatal wound, was a patriot victory, but it gave St.
Leger a respite. When he heard that Benedict Arnold was approaching with
troops sent by General Schuyler, to give him battle, he retreated to Lake
Ontario, shattering Burgoyne's hopes of aid from the Tories of the Mohawk
Valley. Meanwhile Congress had relieved General Schuyler from command in
the North, and appointed Horatio Gates in his place. Gates was not a man
of ability, but he was ably seconded in his operations against Burgoyne
by Benedict Arnold.

General Howe had intended to take Philadelphia and then co-operate with
Burgoyne in inflicting a final and crushing blow on the Americans, but
the Fabian strategy of Washington agai