Americans, without a single blow having been struck in its defense.
The rumors were conflicting, but there could be no doubt as to the truth of the fall of the fort, and that the troops were scattered, and were retreating before the host that with increasing confidence apparently was sweeping away all opposition on its onward march. At Skenesborough (Whitehall) Burgoyne next made his stand, and then it was soon reported that he had pushed on as far as Fort Anne, and by the first of August had penetrated as far as Fort Edward.
The complaints of the New England men against General Philip Schuyler, the failure of Congress to act and even to provide the necessary means of carrying on the war, the loud threats of Barry St. Leger as to what would befall the people of the Mohawk Valley if they failed to provide for his wants and to rally to the standard of King George, all found eager listeners in the little army under Washington, that was still striving to do its utmost for the cause of the contending colonies.
The desperate determination, however, to do their work did not fail them. Many of the New Jersey people, hopeless now of the
