Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-02-26
NUMBER \ 1866
THEINTEELIGENCER
The Surrender Of Burgovns

/
we recently had the pleasure of perusiup
&c ,e''et written by the venerable Samuel Cody of
vernon Centre, now in his 93d year, in which he
"escrloes many of the incidents connected viii
Sne surrender OF Burgoyne, on the 18th of octohe,
iu.' OF which he was an eyewitness. The
"iiuhs Is even and regular-tsplain as print,,-
''ii Tue INES so compact that sixty-two are written
upou page OF common letter paper. Congress
iiuu ordered the deficiencies in the Continental
leglnenIs 70 be made up by drafts, .but, saws the
a NY iather SAID he would take the place of one
Su: SLiu shouid that OF another. This was in III
Spring OF 1777, and our term of csI;na % III INC
expire January 10, 1778. We were nI.csJ =;
CaPL heep,s company, Col Shepherds Tegimsn+ -
anu anu ueH. Siovers brigade. We marched to CaIve,
est Ut ."e 1uuson, where we endured the great
eSt sunenng from disease, want of provis;ons
Glothing, &C. We soon learned that Gen, Scbn,
ler was Tetreating before The British. We ,raya
SlueIea NoIthward and Joined Gen. SCHUYLER near
n;nIt me Indians picked off our sentries at
hlsht, and great dissatisfaction existed nntiI Gen
eral Gates took command, when new snir;ts ,,ar.
lIsuileu INTO our soldiers, our rations became
auPle ana good, with gill of New England nm
.,. man per day Gates says "Ny boys, we will
now go Dack and meet them-no more retreot;,,, >,
Amen, said every heart. We re-croSsed 81
sPouI Sstrean) and met the British near StillIata
told them by our Notifications tbey would oo,
no further. lucy "ouiu come
here they were strongly fortified, but mu st
M nav &c hiio"n they were i'll bad situation I sun
pose they thought of Bennington, and that AZ
Sleen S Nlountaln boys would be at their hacks
ooon they chose to risk battle, and attac[eJ fha
iieht wing OF our army. This was bloody half
uay unll oark at night, and our forces Law on the
ground ready for the event of the moTn;ns 20 IT. NJ
british returned 10 their quarters rested s,yb;Is
and then attacked again on the same ground
uS IN tne lormer engagement Arnold had
Skill OF couras e IN this battle, and wonld sgve
the devil his tiue' The enemy fell back and we
LOOK some prisoners and several pieces of artillery
we lay upon our arms that night and were On
near the BRUSH that we could hear the Hessians
reheve their guards. a grea. noise was kent nm
| IN lhelr camp all night
At Daylight we marched fer the camp but
when we gotwhere they were, they were not There
except wounded, sick, and the doctors to attend
| them, wheTe they were uuartered in the iaTas
tehts. we pursued the main body, passing dead
norSeS, The wrecks of wagons, and other things
burned on thelr retreat, and came up with them
| at Saratoga, upon high hill north of Saratoga
creek whese they had planted their artillery.-
Ihey compimented with balls and shells for
perhaps two hours, without benefit to themselves
or delrment 10 us except to one poor fellow, who
was Killed We were under steep hill and
saw the balls and shells pass over us but we Law
as easy and quiet as chickens under hens WINGS
we fortified hill on the opposite side ofthe creek
nearly as high as that occupied by the British and
frequently went to drive parties from the creek
where they cnme for wafer, as it was scarce in
lneir camp. As we were aboutto open fire, flag
OF truce arrived, attended by six very tall richly
dressed men, with very tall caps, the tops of which
were, l judged, seven feet high.
An armstice of three days, with a view to sur
render, was asked. Six of the tallest men in our
army with the best clothes we could procure, and
with caps SO high had to look twice TO see Their
tops, were selected 10 meet the flag. Terms Of
surrender were finally concluded. Our brigade
was ordered to march down the hill aud parade on
cenire pa4Rg s9nfR wl56 all the @ Reade in the
Just paTaded when the British General, officers and
stan, and Gen. Gates and staff met close nv ,vber
Stocu IN the ranks, and so near that could beo-
all that was said. An American officer sard. Ger
Burgoyne-Gen. Gates Your servant. sir,
Your servant, sir,'-passed around. Gen. Bur-
goyne then said, Through the misfortune of war.
Gen. Gates, am your prisoner It is not through
az Slly misconduct OF yours, Gen. BuTgoyne,' reptile
GateS. Then came the British troops in columns.
rs fichly dressed clean and Sizeable men as ever
saw. saw not a smile on the face of Americans
or British.
Next came the Hessians-and how shall de
scribe the most miserable, filthy iIl-looking beings
ever saw in human form? But the fag end was
the women, suppose. Many of them led horses,
upon the back of which were thrown large obIonr
bags sewed up at the ends. These bags contained
PROVISIONS blankets, Clothing, utensils &c., and
IN many cases, were the heads of children sticking
out up above the horses backs, through holes in
lhe bags. Sometimes there were two smaller chill.
uren on the other side 10 balance Our orders were
10 maintain respectful silence, but this last was
loo much! One ventured suppressed laugh-his
neIghbor took the disease in more violent fo-m,
until IN lew moments the whole American lines
were convulSed with the most uproarious laughter,
ND all at the expense of the poor Hessians their
women, children and equipage.
'AS soon as they had all passed, we marched
south lew miles and halted for the night, but by
'nnrlse the next morning we were on our way to
Albany, and marching all day and night, the next
morning found us upon the East of the river op-
'oSite Albany, where the bare ground was an easy
'ed for short time. The reason of this forced
march was that the enemy were ascending the riy-
T TO join Burgoync, but hearing of his defeat,
hey returned to New York. In a few days we
vent down the river several miles in Sloops-
anded on the West side-cToSSed the Jerseys
0lned Washington in Pennsylvania, (the British
eng IN possession of PhilaGelphia,) and arrived
Valley Forge in the later part of December,
III. Some time previously we had lost our tents
ooking utensils, &c, and as we did not draw bread
'e kneaded our flou- in knapSack, kept clean
" the purpose, and baked it by the fire or in hot
nberS, if we had any. One of my mess had
nall copper tea kettle, which suppose he stole.
,e made bush hu's, and afttrward those of logs.
iter sleeping during the night on the ground,
Yakeu IN the morning and found myself covered
18th snow, but did MT suffer mucn from cold.
"Nyterm of enlistment soon expired, and L was
scharged 800 miles from home, without money,
Government had none to pay u.s.. Washington
mt an offer to draw rations from the country
oreS on Il e route. After narrow escape from
owning in crossing the North river, in twelve
US We arrived at our homes in Connecticut"