five hundred men, under Lieutenant-colonel Breyman, were sent to his
assistance. Breyman, however, was as slow in his movements as Baum had
been, and, before he could arrive, the first detachment of Germans were
completely surrounded by a body of more than 1,500 Americans. Colonel
Baum sustained the attack with great bravery; but he was at length slain
by a rifle-shot, and then the Germans retreated into some woods in the
direction of Fort Edward. It was at this critical moment that Breyman
came up, and having succeeded in putting the fugitives of Baum's
detachment into some order, he fought his way back to Burgoyne's
encampment. Instead of taking Bennington and the military stores,
Burgoyne lost five hundred men in killed and wounded in this expedition.
in the meantime St. Leger was prosecuting the siege of Stanwix Fort.
As he lay before this fort, he discovered that General Harkimer was
advancing to its relief with 1000 men under his command. He had with him
several tribes of savages, and St. Leger detached these, with a party
of regulars under Sir John Johnson, into the woods to lie in ambush.
Harkimer fell into the snare, and nearly four hundred of his men were
either killed or wounded, while the rest fled back to the Hudson. Still
Fort Stanwix held out, and the savages, growing weary of the siege, and
being falsely informed by some Americans that Burgoyne's army had been
cut to pieces, insisted upon retiring. Many deserted, and St. Leger,
hearing that Arnold was approaching with 2000 men, and ten pieces of
artillery, he was compelled to raise the siege and to retreat. These
defeats, and the failure of St. Leger, contributed greatly to the ruin
of Burgoyne's expedition. It has been seen, that on the arrival of that
general near Fort Edward, the Americans under Schuyler had retreated
across the Hudson. They had taken up their position at Saratoga, lower
down the river, and soon after, General Gates, an Englishman by birth
and education, took the chief command, and he was subsequently joined
by General Arnold. On his arrival, Gates removed the troops to an island
near the confluence of the Mohawk with the Hudson, about eight
miles below Albany, and called "Still Water." Here he had a strong
star-redoubt and other defences; and against him, as he lay in this
position, Burgoyne having passed the Hudson by a bridge of boats, led
his forces. About the middle of September Burgoyne encamped on the
heights of Saratoga, in the