Visit of James Stuart, an English Traveller, in the Autumn of 1828

James Stuart was born in Duncarn, Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1776, and died at his residence at Nottinghill, London, Eng., on the 3d of November, 1849. He was the son of Charles Stuart, who was descended from the third Earl of Moray. Being an ardent supporter of the Whigs, the Tories heaped all sorts of abuse on him. Discovering that Sir Alexander Boswell, Bart., the eldest son of Dr. Johnson's biographer, was one of his chief traducers, Stuart called on him to apologize for a pasquinade which he had written in a Glasgow newspaper.

Upon Boswell refusing to do so Stuart challenged him to a duel, which was fought near Auchtertool, in Fife, on the 26th of March, 1822, where Sir Alexander Boswell was mortally wounded. Stuart was tried in consequence for murder, but acquitted, his conduct on the occasion of the duel being proved to have been highly creditable. The expenses of his trial, however, and unfortunate speculations, caused him to retreat to the United States.

After his return to Scotland he obtained a discharge from his creditors and published an account of his travels in the United States in 1828, under the title of "Three Years in North America," from which his "Visit to the Saratoga Battle Grounds" is taken. This work, calling forth several adverse criticisms from those of the English reviews that were unfriendly to republican institutions, elicited a reply from him in a work entitled, "Refutations of Aspersions on Stuart's Three Years in North America," London, 1834. He edited for several years the London Courier.

The violent partisan attitude he assumed in politics called forth chastisement frequently in the pages of Blackwood, especially from John Wilson in his Noctes Ambrosiano, where he figures under the name of "Stot" (anolice "Steer"). Stuart was noted for his taste in art and his social qualities, although his adherence to principles often led him into serious difficulties. His account of his visit to the Saratoga battle grounds is admirable, especially his description of their topographical features.

Account

The field of Gen. Burgoyne's chief battles and of his surrender is on the Hudson, about ten or twelve miles from Saratoga Springs. Most people devote a day to survey it. On the 27th of October we hired a conveyance from Mr. Samuel Burtis at Saratoga Springs, who is a most useful and obliging person, as horse and carriage hirer, and setting off early in the morning, spent most of the day on those parts of the banks of the Hudson, rendered memorable by the disasters, sufferings and, ultimately, by the surrender of a great British army, which, in its consequences, led to the separation of the American colonies from Great Britain.

Circumstantial details of these battles have been published, which make it not very difficult to understand on the spot, -- Bemis's Heights and Freeman's Farm, which we visited-the relative positions of the armies, even without the assistance of Mr. Ezra Buel, whom we saw, now a very old man, who was the guide of the American army, and wounded in one of these battles.

Anything like a history of this important, though short, campaign would be out of place here -- my object merely being to give such information as may prevent travelers from passing through this part of the country without being aware of the interest attached to it, or knowing how easy it is to having pointed out to them, in the course of a few hours, and still with perfect precision, some of the leading circumstances of the greatest military event which has occurred in America- the stations of the opposing armiesthe houses which were the headquarters on each side -the spots where Gen. Fraser and some of the most eminent officers were killed -- where Fraser was buried - and the field in which were piled the arms and stores of the capitulating army.

In the battle of the 19th, Gen. Burgoyne himself was aimed at, but the aide-de-camp of Gen. Phillips received the ball through his arm while delivering a message to Burgoyne, the mistake being occasioned by his having his saddle trappings of rich lace, which induced the marksman to suppose him the commander.

The spot where Gen. Fraser was wounded in the battle of the 7th of October, is in a meadow, close to a blacksmith shop, on a bit of elevated ground.*

(* This spot, where yet (1894) stands the stump of the original tree under which Fraser was shot, is now marked by a tablet, placed there by the exertions of Mrs. E. H. Walworth, the indefatigable trustee of the Saratoga Monument Association. The blacksmith shop here referred to, and which now belongs to Walker, and which is mentioned in Gen. Hoyt's letter (See ante), has long since been torn down.)

The place of his interment is now hardly distinguishable; no monument or tablet of any kind has been erected over the grave of this brave and meritorious officer. (Mrs. Walworth has also had erected a tablet marking the spot where Fraser is buried.)

We returned from the battle grounds to the country hotel [the tavern at Stillwater], about half a mile from the house where the Baroness de Riedesel spent the miserably anxious day (the 7th of October, 1777) very ready for the dinner set out for us, beefsteaks, potatoes, vegetables, and apple pie. In passing through the ante-room, on our way to dinner, we saw another edition of precisely the same dinner placed in it for our driver. This is an example, and one of the most common, every day kind, of the equality existing in this country. The drivers not unfrequently dine at the stage hotels with the passengers; but they would not submit to have an inferior dinner, nor one served up after the others. All pay, and, if industrious and sober, are able to pay alike.