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Show 0:2 DELAYs mm? ~7va qfl'sovxsrous. George, where they had no flrength, no defence, nor any prearation that indicated an intention of a moment's reliftance. gefides the total abfurdity of fuch a fuppofition, you know per- fectly well that in point of fact there was not the fmalleft foun~ dation for it ; for on the I 1th of July you write to Lord George Germain, in your private letter, that the enemy, f0 far from His letters and preparing to make a {land at Fort George, were even then la- tvidenccs in 0p- bouring to remove their magazines both from thence and from l‘omwn- Fort Edward. Yet, in direct contradiction to this, you and your friends now ferioufly affure the committee, that you expected to find the rebels in force at the firft of thofe places, and that your march by Skcneiborough was occaiioned chiefly by that expectation. Army halts a At lail, Sir, when the feafon was half fpent you arrived at month» the banks ofthe Hudfon's River, where you thought proper to make a dead halt of one entire month. If Mr. Gates himfelf had direEted your operations he could not pofiibly have planned meafures more favourable to his own views. The flight from Ticonderoga had made fuch an impreflion on the fpirits of the would wear off, unlefs it were continued or renewed by the ra‘ clear military principle, you fent out 600 of your worlt troops, at a diilance from your army, into the heart 0t an enemy's coun- to meet, or it ihould have had orders to retreat the moment that Inftead of proceeding on this that they at lafl got an army to affemble~it is rather furprizing try, and ordered them to keep their ground at all events-«even though the whole country lhould rife againft them. _A detachment thus circumllanced was not only hazarded ; it was that they were without one f0 long. Clearly and infallibly devoted; for the enemy mufl have want- the whole of the months of Augufl: and September. If it had ed common fenfe, if they did not reduce its dellruction to an abfolute certaint . . ' When you cdfmmunicated your intentions to Brigadier Fra- Gaciiiitiiiafcr 1‘ fer, he expreifed his moft pofitive dilapprobation, not only ofg anfwered your purpofe, I make no doubt but it would have fending Germans, but of fending fuch a oetachment of any been procured and produced. troops, for any pui‘pofe whatever. But it would have appeared too clearly from thence that during the whole of the firft month, and the greatefl part of the fecond, they had no force that could enter into competition with yours, and that nothing but your monftrous delays, joined to the misfortune at Bennington, created that formidable army which appeared againll you in the month of 0ct()ber. "(WM therefore perfeétly clear, that you could not afford to rifk de- it was threatened with an attack. ‘ of the rebel force not only on the 7th of Oélober, but during Ow mm of pro- cumllance, that 1171" "Me/5f} invariably originated from ifomethednt‘vimlicat- previous blunder or omiilion of your own. The delay in this "‘5 mil-conduacafe, you prove to have been unavoidable, forgetting to inform us that it became f0, only by the unaccountable whim of departing from the route which any other man would have taken. I come now to the unhappy affair at Bennington, which be- Expedition to ing the commencement, and in a great meafure, the caufe ostnningtonall your misfortunes, it will be necellhry to {late at fume length. Your army, far from being too numerous, you fay was not even adequate to the cnterprize you were fent upon. It is rebels, that it was impoflible immediately to collect an army, ginning of SC» dential communications With Mr. Gates, had obtained a return umber, to open and repair from Fort George. In the whole of the evidence you have produced, the method is, to flate a neceflity for every one of your meafures, contriving to fink this trifilingr Cir-Ingenious m . or to infpire them with that confidence which is neceflhi‘y to in~ fure fuccefs : but it was certain that in time that impreffion I .wifn your friend, Colonel Kingfton, in fome ofhis confi. . . . But your excufc for thofe delays is the want of provifions ; and to account for this want, the roads from Lake George are {aid to have been out of repair. This is one of the blefled con- fequences of the march by the way of Skenefbru-ough. Had the army come by Lake George, they would of courfe have repaired the roads as they came along. But you contrived jug: to double both the fatigue and the dela ' 5 for they had firft one road' I43 road to make from Skenefborough, and then they had another tachments from it, for the execution of any collateral purpofe whatever. But fuppofing an object had prefented itfelf, of fuf- ficient magnitude, to juilify a deviation from this rule, the de~ tachment employed {hould either have been ftrong enough to maintain itfelf againlt any oppofition that it could be expected pid movements of the King's troops. When, infiead of fuch movements, they faw thofc troops waiting days, weeks, and months Without making the fmalleit progrefs, it is no wonder Rebel,weak in Ax .. muil and bL.- FRASER again/2 BENNINGTON EXPEDI TION. ‘ ‘ . He thought the pomt of it) great confequence, that he did not confine himfelf merely to a verbal dilapprobationf-he remonflrated againft the meafure in writing, and predicted the fatal confequeuces that it might be expected to produce. This you know to be true. It was the common report of the camp, that this freedom of his difplcafed you fo much, that you de- G. Burgoync's clared with fome warmth, that " you {hould learn_ for"the fu« reply. " ture to be more peremptory and lets communicative. Certain it is that you difregarded liis_ remonftrances, and proceeded to execute this very {h'ange plan in an equally ftrange manner. Had you fought through all the various deicriptions of men who then received the King's pay, you could not pollibly have found a corps f0 totally unfit for this kind of fervrce and. ' ' 'ivnnfs i " that hedvuflif t of dragoons. Beliaes 's regimen as Reidefel ' ' :rv'fli- 1¢%.‘_:*‘bw ‘u 1.1.... 1U... beaten and difpcrfed as they were, would make a Rand at Fort |
