The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [92]
Even the weary men on Arnold’s ill-fated expedition to Canada found the wilderness they crossed on their way through Maine and the lower section of Canada lovely. Many told friends back home about the roaring whitewater rapids and the deep, jagged rock gorges they traveled through, and they described in great detail the many cascading waterfalls they passed. One soldier remembered walking along the Chaudière River one chilly morning: “The marching this day better than we have had. The river grows wider and runs very quick, and some places very shallow. We passed this day several small islands—the weather this day exceedingly fine, clear and as warm as ever I saw it in New England.”4
Several of the men on General John Sullivan’s campaign against the Indians in 1779 remembered the quiet beauty of the lands where the Indians lived in western New York, recalling them lovingly to their friends when they returned home. “We crossed a large brook near the town, then entered into a most beautiful and extensive plain, which afforded an unbounded prospect; here was almost a perfect level and nothing to obstruct the sight but a few spreading oaks beautifully interspersed and plenty of grass that grew spontaneous on every part and full six feet high,” wrote Robert Parker of a meadow near Genesee, New York.5
Soldiers often braved bad weather to reach the tops of the mountains to gain a view. In the autumn of 1777, Dan Granger, fifteen, who had replaced his sick older brother in the army camp at Boston, led a group of soldiers to the top of Crow Mountain, a precipice that overlooked the Hudson near West Point.
We set out and accomplished the task. On the way up, oil nuts lay in the crevasses of the rocks in bushels, which had fallen from the trees growing on the declivity of the mountain. We feasted [on the nuts] and then went to the summit. While on the summit, there was a thundercloud of great volume and density that came over us, rushing over with the most tremendous lightening and rain. We had to stay and take it. We could see but a very short distance and were wet as rain could make us. The thunder was tremendous and lightening vivid about us, running along on the ground as attracted by the rocks. The dense cloud passed over and fell below the mountain and spread over the plain, covering it entirely from our view. The sun shining upon it, presented a spectacle truly sublime and terrific, not easily described.6
The soldiers saw architectural and mechanical wonders that amazed their young minds: the rapid construction of naval vessels to engage the British navy on Lake Champlain, the mammoth iron gates of Crown Point, the thick iron chain across the Hudson, army wagons turned into sleighs for winter attacks, canoes turned into gunships as blunderbusses were attached to their bows. Several soldiers who traveled through the Hudson River Valley with Wild remarked on an inventive farmer who had constructed a large wooden barn with a retractable roof.7
“Gentleman Johnny” and the British at Saratoga
John Burgoyne was given his nickname of “Gentleman Johnny” by his troops, who admired him for treating them humanely in an era when British soldiers were treated badly by their officers and often flogged for minor offenses. The flashy Burgoyne, a graduate of Westminster, one of England’s finest schools, had eloped with the daughter of a wealthy lord. Upon his return to England and the army, Burgoyne earned a seat in Parliament and later rose quickly in the military ranks.
During a second term in Parliament, he was offered membership in several of London’s most fashionable clubs. There, in addition to witty conversation and political savvy, he became infamous