Great Battles for Boys the American Revolution by Joe Giorello

Author:Joe Giorello
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Children’s, History
Publisher: Joe Giorello
Published: 2022-05-05T00:00:00+00:00

British General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne.

Albany was home to many Loyalists—the colonists who didn’t want America to become independent of Great Britain.

The Albany area was also home to Mohican and Mohawk Indians. During the French and Indian War, these tribes fought alongside the British. Burgoyne assumed the tribes would once again join the Redcoats, giving him a large military force to overpower the Patriots.

Burgoyne’s first military target was Fort Ticonderoga. It sat on the banks of Lake Champlain, a vast lake between Vermont’s rugged Green Mountains and New York’s Adirondack Mountains. At this time, the fort was held by the Americans.

After scouting the area, the British Army discovered an unoccupied mountain that overlooked the fort. Burgoyne ordered his men to haul cannons up the mountainside and hold the high ground as the colonists had done on the hills above Boston Harbor.

Inside Fort Ticonderoga, the rebel Americans watched the British soldiers moving guns to the high ground. Realizing the fort would soon become indefensible, they abandoned their position and fled into the nearby woods.

Burgoyne saw this retreat as a sign of victory. He wrote to an English noble in London:

“I have the honor to inform your Lordship that the enemy [were] dislodged from Ticonderoga and Mount Independent, on the 6th instant, and … left with the loss of 128 pieces of cannon, all their armed vessels and bateaux [boats], the greatest part of their baggage and ammunition, provision and military stores …”

While taking the fort sounded impressive, Burgoyne was about to make a horrible mistake.

The Americans were on the other side of Lake Champlain. Instead of using boats to cross the water for a surprise attack, Burgoyne tried to chase the rebels overland—with 7,500 men, forty-two cannons, and a supply train that included hundreds of horses and carts. The British struggled through thick woods, rocky roads, and hilly terrain.

Also, the colonial fighters found other ways to slow the Redcoats. They chopped down trees and used the trunks to block trails. They initiated skirmishes with Burgoyne’s vanguard—the lead soldiers—which held back the rest of the British forces.

Burgoyne’s progress slowed down to one mile a day.

Finally, his frustration growing, Burgoyne sent some Indians ahead to scout the territory.

The Indians reached a cabin. Two women were inside. One was an elderly widow named Mrs. McNeill. The other was a young girl named Jane McCrea. The Indians entered the cabin and started quarreling with each other over which woman to kidnap and use to demand a ransom—payment for her return.

Who would bring the most money—the old woman or the young girl?

The argument ended when one of the Indians impulsively shot then scalped Jane McCrea.

The Indians delivered the elderly Mrs. McNeil to Burgoyne at the British camp. Naturally, she was very upset. She also happened to be the cousin of a powerful British general—Simon Fraser—who was part of Burgoyne’s force.

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