Gen. J. Watts de Peyster's Visit in 1880

Gen. de Peyster set out from Tivoli, Dutchess County, N. Y., in August, 1880, in his carriage, to visit Saratoga Springs and the battle grounds. After leaving that village he continues as follows:

After crossing the long toll-bridge over Saratoga Lake, where it begins to, contract, the country becomes very tame until, reaching the summit at Bemis's Heights, whence it descends into the luxuriant valley of the Hudson, Between the lake and the river, the road through Ketchum's Corners is, in some places, little better than a track through the woods, which is rather surprising for a route through so old a country. just as you commence to descend to the river, an old willow tree in an open field indicates the site of the headquarters of Gates and the American hospitals during the series of battles which has rendered this district memorable forever.

The battle ground proper is some two miles to the north-north-west, and the conflict raged upon and around a property then known as Freeman's Farm, near the dwelling still owned by a proprietor of the same name.

All the titles given to these battles, Stillwater, Bemis's Heights, Saratoga, etc., except Freeman's Farm, are misnomers. The fluctuations of the contest never flowed as far south as Bemis's Heights. There Gates, as stated, had his headquarters, and below these, to the east by south, was his bridge of boats across the Hudson, to which, it is said, he cast an anxious eye while Fraser was trying to turn his left, and Arnold and Morgan were arresting Fraser on the 7th October. He even, for several of the ensuing days, threw glances over his right shoulder towards that bridge where Clinton, having captured the key of the Highlands, could, by any display of energy, have appeared in the American rear by the 9th, to co-operate with Burgoyne, who was anxious to offer battle again to Gates on the 8th October, 1777

The Marquis de Chastellux, who visited the scenes of the fighting in 1780, three years after they occurred--although piloted by those perfectly conversant with the locality--stated that it was very difficult to recognize the different points of interest even at that recent date. The country, it is true, was all covered with woods, but then the woods were still exactly the same as when Burgoyne and Balcarras, Riedesel and Breyman, Fraser and Acland encountered Arnold, who was the hero of both days, 19th September and 7th October, for which Gates got the credit.

The British officer, in whom centres the interest of the 7th October battle, was Fraser. Bancroft, who seems to have no sympathy with magnanimity of spirit, indulges in a word-flourish of triumph over the fall of this brave Scotchman, which, in its coldblooded exultation, is not manly. It is sad to think that Fraser did not fall in fair fight, but was picked off by a rifleman especially detailed by Morgan for the murderous purpose. Such a homicide is considered all fair in war, but to say the least of it, it is savagery.

The aide-de-camp into whose arms Fraser fell from his horse when mortally wounded was Capt. Bibby, who afterward married a rich lady of New York, a relation of the writer's ancestors, and settled in that city. He was the head of a family who were remarkable for their musical gifts inherited from their common ancestor. He was a noted performer on the violin, as well as a vocalist. To such an extent was he proficient that it is especially alluded to in the records of the Convention troops, held prisoners for so many dreary years by Congress, in violation of the articles of their surrender.

From the location of Gates's headquarters the road follows the line of the Whitehall canal along the western bank of the Hudson some ten miles to Schuylerville, the scene of Burgoyne's surrender, the "Field of the Grounded Arms."

The Hudson is a noble stream between Stillwater and the town above mentioned, flowing calm, and full some thousand feet across for nearly twenty miles from Stillwater to Fort Miller. The former place takes its name from this long extent of still-water, uninterrupted by rapids -- one noble sheet unobstructed for nearly thirteen miles by islands or any other obstacle. If such it is, over 150 miles from its mouth, it is no wonder that the Aborigines and original settlers recognized it as "the Great River of the North," or the Great River of the Mountains, for it issues from the Adirondacks, flows in sight of the Green Mountains, and cleaves its way through two successive chains, the Catskills and Taghkames at the Highlands before it enlarges itself into the broad expanse of Haverstraw Bay and Tappan Zee on its way to the ocean. .

From Bemis's Heights, where the road from Saratoga Springs across the lake -- (Saratoga Lake is still famous for its crisp fried potatoes, sold in paper cornucopiac like candy, and Moon is still the provider, par excellence, of that dainty) - strikes the point near the river at the remotest verge which vibrated to the effects of the battle, to Schuylerville is about ten miles. This distance the route continues northward upon the alluvial flat along the Hudson-here in summer from 1-6 to 1- 5 of a mile wide. The expanse of the Hudson is unbroken by island for nearly thirteen miles. The first island in the distance is just below the mouth of the Fishkill, by which it is overflowed whenever freshets occur. To the left and west, driving north, is the elevated plateau, so styled, on which all the maneuvring and fighting were done. Although called a plateau it is not so by any means. The ground is a succession of rolls, separated by ravines, once the beds of considerable brooks. How troops, in regular formation, traversed this broken country when it was almost entirely covered by forests is very hard to understand.

It was just the place for riflemen to "bushwhack on a big scale," and Morgan's riflemen had more to do with winning the victories than any other quantity in the equation, except the valor and example of Arnold. Why Burgoyne did not follow the river road, laid out almost as at present and much traveled in 1777, is incomprehensible, unless it is true, Fala obstant.

"The fates are opposed," "The fates lead him who is willing and drag him who is unwilling." He might have directed a strong column along the crest above, but his main body could have followed the river road. Riedesel did avail himself of it at first, but he soon had to leave it and wheel to the right to conform to Burgoyne's own movements and save his superior, on the 19th of September, from premature defeat.

By the way, the battle did not take place in the township of Saratoga, but of Stillwater, which is, perhaps, the reason why the latter name is sometimes applied to it. The battle ground, as laid down on the map, is an irregular, oblong area, north-east to South-west, about two miles north-north-west of the present Bemis's Heights post-office. Signboards, set up either by private or public enterprise, indicate a great many of the most interesting spots.

About three miles below Schuylerville, at Coveville, is the curious, semi-circular indentation of the river called the Do-ve-gat, Dov-gat, or Dovegate, the significance of which puzzled a great many writers on the affairs of 1777. The writer believes he is the first one that translated it properly. Its meaning is equivalent to the term known among streets as a "blind-alley."

From the river it looks like an arm of the stream running round an island, whereas it is merely a deep cove of very eccentric disposition. Doubtless, centuries ago, it was a side- channel, gradually filled at the upper entrance by deposits brought down by the river.

Burgoyne delivered up his sword to Gates on a little level spot overlooking the river road, about a mile south of Schuylerville, and the British laid down their arms about the site of old Fort Hardy, just north of the Fishkill and east of Schuylerville, across the stream from Schuyler's mansion, which Burgoyne burned, after his last carouse in it the previous night. That Burgoyne spent the very hours which afforded him his last opportunities for escape enjoying "a dainty supper" with "some merry companions," and near him his mistress, the wife of an English commissary, was not generally known until Win. L. Stone translated from German into English the Memoirs of the Baroness Riedesel; then other testimony to much the same effect has been published.

Without considering the matter from a moral standpoint, it is almost impossible to conceive how a general in the circumstances of Burgoyne, with such a responsibility upon his soul, could have been so dead to the sufferings of his inferiors and his duties to his king. Perhaps there was some excuse in the sensual indulgences tolerated at the time. Lossing tells us that Burgoyne passed the night prior to his last battle on the 7th of October, passing the flagon or playing cards with the Earl of Balcarras (Lossing, F. B. A. R., 1. 44). Generals, in those days, with rare exceptions, seemed to think that pretty much their whole duty was confined to brilliancy and bravery on the battlefield proper.

This is no place to fight the battle over again, and, therefore, with these remarks, the attention of the reader is directed to the site of the Saratoga Battlefield Monument and the structure itself. Schuylerville, originally Saratoga or Saratog, lies on the north side of the Fishkill, which, with devious course, constitutes the outlet of Saratoga Lake, issuing from the lower, or north end. The high ridge, rising southward from this stream and extending on in the same direction for many miles, attains its highest elevation about a mile south of the village. There, an extensive cemetery has been laid out. It already contains many expensive memorials. just east of this, villageward, the site was purchased for the Saratoga Monument. An acre has been paid for and actuallv deeded, totally inadequate, although a contract has been entered into for three acres.

The original foundation, in which the corner stone was placed in 1877, at the centennial celebration of the surrender, having been condemned by the architect, J. C. Markham, of Jersey City, a new foundation is now being laid, just west of the first. The material is of the hard limestone quarried at Glens Falls. The superstructure is to be of granite. It will be 154 feet high, and from the summit a visitor will command a view of the whole country upon which the contending armies operated, manceuvred and fought, and also of the spot where the British surrendered.

Mr. Markham's original plan was much more elaborate or ornate, but the parsimony of the General and State Governments compelled modifications which are to be sincerely regretted. Cannon, trophies of the victories of 1777, mounted on facsimiles of the original carriages, are to stand at each corner of the platform, and, in the various chambers of the obelisk, it is hoped that memorials will be collected and exhibited. In the wall of one of these little museums a tablet is to be inserted, inscribed with the names of those who came forward with their money, to save the site, which had been sold under foreclosure, and thus secure the appropriation of Congress, whose payment was made on the proviso that the Association had obtained the absolute possession of the site.

Perhaps, after all, on the whole, this is the best location for the monument, on account of the comprehensiveness of the view which it commands, taking in, as it does, the whole area of the important action. Renan justly observes that "those who are incapable of becoming great citizens (were, in fact, destructive agents), nevertheless, did their part toward progress (as instruments of fate), and were deeper than sensible, people in their insight into the secrets of destiny" (Ante-Christ, 544).

Honest judgment would doubtless have selected as the site of this monument the very spot - a beautiful one - where Burgoyne actually gave up his sword, or the great redoubt, whose capture, through the audacity of Arnold, determined the result of the fighting. Interested motives, regarding the benefits that Schuylerville might derive from a constant pilgrimage to such a shrine, doubtless determined the position. The result may be happy, but the towering obelisk will stand on a location which has no claims to the honor, and in itself possesses no historic interest.*

(* Gen. de Peyster, usually so accurate in his statements, is here in error. The monument marks the very spot on which the chief portion of Burgoyne's beleaguered army were encamped.)

In the pediment, or whatever the architects style it, before the shaft or main body of the obelisk starts, are four niches for statues, one on each side. Three of these effigies are decided on. Schuyler, justly and undoubtedly, first; Gates, necessarily but undeservedly, second; and Morgan, third. The fourth is still undetermined. The architect desires that the void shall be filled with Arnold. He is honestly and mainly correct. When Arnold won the battles of Saratoga, the first, 19th of September, and the second, 7th of October, in favor of the revolted Colonies, he was as faithful a servant of Congress as it had. His treason was all along subsequent to these events, and it is but just to say that the injustice of Congress had as much to do with making him a traitor as his own passions, stimulated by one very near to him. " It needs must be that offenses come", said Christ, the great philosopher, humanly speaking, "but woe be to that man by whom the offense cometh." This applies forcibly to Congress. It was very little ; it was mean ; it was very unjust. It was the most unjust to the least deserving of such treatment, to Schuyler, to Starke, and as yet in 1777, to Arnold.

But there is no need of any defense of Arnold here. His defense has been well made and himself vindicated by his namesake, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, President of the Chicago, Illinois, Historical Society. Still, if it is settled that Arnold is not to be admitted to his appropriate place, who is to fill it? None other than he is deserving to be associated with the three already selected. No lesser man has a right to appear in their company or occupy the fourth niche. Let it then remain vacant. The vacancy will speak more eloquently than words. Every one will ask why the void is there? The answer covers the whole ground and explains everything. The statue of Arnold belongs by right in the unassigned niche; Americans claim that he was a traitor. Therefore, his statue cannot be set up in it. Still, as he deserves the place and no other can adequately serve as his substitute, it is left as it is without a figure, to indicate that the Association is just; and while admitting the full value of Arnold's services, and while deciding that no other can commensurately occupy the position due to him, it resolves that the niche his statue should fill shall remain void in the same manner that there is a veiled and empty frame among the series of portraits of the Venetian Doges. This should have been filled with the portrait of Mariano Faliero.

Others state that the space for the painting is simply empty, with an in. scription instead, setting forth the reason. There is a somewhat similar inscription at Genoa, or in some other old Italian republican capital, which the writer observed without noting the place. The most pertinent instance, however, is that of Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, accused, unjustly, of betraying Napoleon in 1814, whose portrait was omitted from the series of French marshals.

After the termination of the "Slaveholder's Rebellion" a dinner was given at Saratoga Springs by a prominent political official, who, after the wine cup had circulated freely, rose and proposed a health or sentiment, which a witty guest pronounced the most "moving toast" he had ever heard.

It was this: "Here's to Gen. Rawlins; if there had never been a Rawlins there would never have been a Grant." Gen. _____ said he called this a "moving toast" because it occasioned a general movement to get away from the table and proximity to such a dangerous speaker as soon as possible, for fear Grant, (who was then President) might not regard the sentiment affectionately, and "spot" those who were present and endorsed it by drinking it.

Justly, a similar idea might find expression in regard to this monument. If there never had been a William L. Stone there never would have been a "Saratoga Battlefield Monument." This gentleman, one of the clearest historians of the Burgoyne campaign, is not only an able historian himself, but shines with the inherited lustre of his father and namesake, author of several valuable works connected with revolutionary and ante-revolutionary history. If it had not been for his son's energy Schuylerville would not be honored with a grand memorial of the decisive triumph of the American First War for Independence.

Before quitting Schuylerville there are two objects of interest which cannot be passed over without special notice. Down on the flat, in the angle between the mouth of the Fishkill and the Hudson River, stands the mansion of Maj.- Gen. Philip Schuyler, which he rebuilt in sixty days -Stone says fifteen-after the Burgoyne surrender, to replace the dwelling which had been burned by order of the British general. Some forty years ago the descendant and representative of a patriot second in common sense and ability to Washington alone this is high praise, because he was a bitter enemy of the writer's people and one of the chief causes of their ruin, was compelled to sacrifice the ancestral homestead and with it a tract of 2,500 acres extending up and along the Fishkill, and embracing within its limits a succession for a mile of falls and rapids, which now supply water-power to the mills or factories which constitute the wealth of the village.

Facts are often stranger than fiction. Fate decreed that this ancestral homestead should become the property, by purchase, of an individual who had been the coachman of the hereditary owner and had become comparatively wealthy. If there is a book that abounds in common sense and is true to nature, it is the Bible, and, if the incident above related is actually so, does it not realize the sad remark of Solomon in Ecclesiastes X.7, "I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth."

On a projecting rock, not far distant, stands a very artistic stone church looking down upon the pineembowered old Schuyler mansion. From the eligibility and prominence of the site and the large gilt cross which crowns the spire, the majority decided that it must be a Roman Catholic place of worship, because Romanism, from interested motives, if no others, always selects the most conspicuous position for its edifices. It is moved there unto by that assertiveness which would arrogate to itself the pre-eminence in everything, whereas it only has eminence in one thing, its power over ignorance, to use it for its own purposes. It is the biggest property-accumulating machine in the world. It grasps the babe while in process of being born, and never relaxes its hold, not even with death, for it accompanies the corpse to the grave, always making money out of it, and out of the survivors if they continue to take interest in the future of the deceased.

The Episcopal Church, of dark, blue-gray limestone, the ruling stone of this region, is very effective in mass, and without pretending to any knowledge of architecture, we agreed that few buildings more than this seem to realize the beneficial influences.

From Schuylerville, through Grangerville, to Saratoga Springs is a thirteen miles ride. AtGrangerville theywere rebuilding a dam. In DutchessCounty such a structure would have been considered a profligate waste of materials. The upright timbers proper were enormous, and in place of the ordinary horizontal planking, timbers were used of dimensions sufficient for heavy house beams. The explanation must either be that lumber is cheap in this region, or else that future durability is the sole object without regard to present expense.

From this point, on westward, the country seems to be exceedingly poor, and there are no signs of the prosperity evident more immediately along the river. For instance, the fences were either not kept up at all or very dilapidated. Sometimes, for long spaces, they were constructed of roots, a pretty sure sign of a country recently cleared; an idea borne out by seeing crops of winter grain sown in fields thickly studded with stumps.

Nevertheless the cornstalks were very tall, the buckwheat, already in shock, the finest we had ever seen, and potatoes very abundant. Our party were boasting of the fruit-growing properties of our own and the adjoining townships in Dutchess and Columbia Counties, when our driver broke in with the remark that Saratoga County was very productive of fruit. We were surprised, having seen few orchards and little evidence of fruit-growing communities. "What kind?"

"That kind, there," pointing to a huge heap of potatoes. Yes, Saratoga County, indeed, is famous for its potatoes; its light, sandy soil is adapted to them.

Few fine groves or woods were noticed. Almost all the trees in these spindle. The only verdure is at the top, like the tuft at the end of a shaggy dog's tail when the rest has been sheared. These remarks do not apply to the growth along the river. Within a short distance of the Hudson everything is luxuriant, and in the interior we were struck here and there with single, noble specimens of willows and of elms worthy of New England.

Right glad were we, as night closed in, to get back to the United States Hotel at Saratoga Springs. The last ten miles of our drive had been exceedingly tedious. We had been nine hours on the road, and our route described something like an equilateral triangle, of which the Hudson river constituted the base.

"Jordan must have been a hard road to travel," when Burgoyne plunged into this wilderness, 104 years ago. The roads are heavy, as a rule, not seldom rough, and difficult even to-day, with stumps left sometimes in dangerous proximity to the wheels. What must they have been when the district was sparsely populated, when the bottoms were marshy and so large a portion of it was covered with dense forests?

It is true that we saw everything under great disadvantages. A drought had prevailed for over two months, and much of the foliage was turned as if by a frost, and, again, when not discolored, shriveled by the excessive heat, unredeemed by moisture. Again, the distant landscape appeared to be shrouded in fog and the sky obscured. Our driver told us that this was attributable to smoke from enormous fires in the forests on the nearest mountains. The view is bounded on the north by the southermost spurs or tiers of the Adirondacks, of which the higher ranges were entirely hidden. The effects of the smoke were plainly visible to the eye and apparently, in degree, to the sense of smell.

Perhaps under a clear sky and on a bright, sunny day, after refreshing rains-for water is the life given to every vegetable growth -Saratoga County may present a much more inviting and cheerful aspect, even to one whose house is upon the Hudson, and in full sight of the glorious Kaatskills.*

(* With this account, by Gen. de Peyster, the most interesting visits to the battle grounds close. It would be easy to mention those of others more or less known. Enough, however, has been given to show the great interest that the site on which one of the "thirteen decisive battles of the world, from Marathon to Waterloo," has always excited in the breasts of travelers, great thinkers, statesmen and scholars.

The following extract, however, from the Schuylerville Standard of October 14, 1885, is in point:

"Last week Clements R. Markham, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Eng., and a grandson of Archbishop Markham, who was a member of the cabinet of George III., and whose likeness is given in one of the reliefs which adorn the interior of the Saratoga Monument, visited the Monument and expressed himself very greatly pleased.

In a letter to his relative, Mr. J. C. Markham, the architect, Secretary Markham writes: 'I went up to the top and made out the surrounding sites very clearly. As a composition I am very much impressed by the design of the obelisk. The rough stone and the buttresses at the lower part, give an effect of strength and dignity, without detracting from the grace of the general effect. I also thought that the details of the doors, and windows, and string courses were admirably managed. Mr. William L. Stone's book is excellent, and appears to be nearly exhaustive. It was a great help to me in making out the places from the top of the obelisk."')