s me of a scene I
witnessed at Saratoga, which I may as well tell you about, as young
Mr. Harmar seems anxious to hear anything relating to the war of
independence. You know there was an unconscionable number of tories up
there in New York State about the time of Burgoyne's invasion. Some of
them were honest, good sort of men, who didn't happen to think just as
we did: they kept at home, and did not lift their arms against us during
the war, though some of them were pretty hardly used by their whig
neighbors. Another set of the tories, however, acted upon the maxim that
'might makes right.' They were whigs when the royal power was weak, and
tories when they found it strong. Though raised in the same neighborhood
with the staunch whigs, these men turned robbers and murderers, and lost
all virtuous and manly feelings. Colonel Tom Lovelace was one of this
class: He was born and raised in the Saratoga district, and yet his old
neighbors dreaded him almost as much as if he had been one of the fierce
Senecas. When the war commenced, Lovelace went to Canada, and there
confederated with five men from his own district, to come down to
Saratoga, and kill, rob, or betray his old neighbors and friends.
There's no denying Lovelace was a bold, wary, and cunning fellow, and
he made the worst use of his qualities. He fixed his quarters in a
large swamp, about five miles from the residence of Colonel Van Vechten,
at Dovegat, and very cunningly concealed them.

"Soon after, the robberies and captures around that neighborhood became
frequent. General Schuyler's house was robbed, and an attempt was made,
by Lovelace and his companions, to carry off Colonel Van Vechten. But
General Stark, who was in command of the barracks north of Fish Creek,
was too wide awake for him. He got wind of the scheme, and gave the
Colonel a strong guard, and so Lovelace was balked, and compelled to
give up his design. Captain Dunham, who commanded a company of militia
in the neighborhood, found out the tory colonel's place of concealment,
and he determined to attempt his capture. Accordingly, he summoned his
lieutenant, ensign, orderly, and one private, to his house; and, about
dusk, they started for the swamp, which was two miles distant. Having
separated to reconnoitre, two of them, named Green and Guiles, got lost;
but the other three kept together, and, about dawn, discovered Lovelace
and his party, in a hut covered over with boughs, just drawing on their
s