Chapter XIII.
STILLWATER, SEPTEMBER 19TH AND OCTOBER 7TH.
For nearly a month after his defeat at Bennington
Burgoyne remained in the neighborhood of Fort
Edward and behind the line of the Battenkill. The time
was employed in bringing up stores and in transporting
boats from Lake Champlain and Lake George.
On the 13th of September, 1777, the army crossed the
Hudson at Schuylerville, and abandoned its line of
communications to make a bold stroke for Albany
and a junction with Sir William Howe. One hundred
and eighty boats, which had been hauled across the
carries, attended the march of the army, whose left
flank rested on the Hudson. These boats carried one
month's provisions. “Now we went to work again at
our dear salt pork and flour,” writes a German officer.
“Dear friends, do not despise these royal dishes, which
really cost a royal price then and there, for the
transportation from England must have been not a little
expensive. Pork at noon, pork at night, pork cold,
pork warm. Friends! although with your green peas
and crabs' tails you would have looked with loathing
at our pork, yet pork was to us a lordly dish, without
which we should have starved; and had we afterwards
had pork enough, our ill-luck might not have brought
7*