received a special commission as colonel commandant of fort Schuyler.

"It happens, that colonel Gansevoort being junior to colonels Van Schaick and Cortlandt, has been obliged to retire on the new arrangement, but he conceives that a general regulation of this kind does not vacate a commission granted by special authority for a particular reason: he, therefore, still considers himself as an officer in service.

"I shall be happy to know the sense of congress on this point as soon as may be convenient.

"I have the honour to be, with perfect respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
GEO: WASHINGTON.

His Excellency, Samuel Huntington, Esq.
President of Congress, Philadelphia.

By the United States, in Congress assembled, March 6th, 1782. Resolved, That colonel Gansevoort be informed, that although Congress have a high sense of his military abilities and courage, particularly displayed in the defence of fort Schuyler, in 1777, yet it is impracticable with the present arrangement of the army to reinstate him therein, without manifest injury to other officers; he having been deranged as a junior colonel of that line, and his regiment incorporated agreeably to the principles prescribed in the resolution of congress, of the sd and 21st of October, 1780.

CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary. In the mean time the state of New York having appointed him a Brigadier General, he marched against the Vermont insurgents; after which he was appointed a Major General. At the close of the war, he retired to Northumberland, in the county of Saratoga, and devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, until the year 1790, when he was appointed Sheriff of the then extensive county of Albany, which office he resigned in October, 1792.

He afterwards was appointed one of the commissioners for fortifying the northern and western frontiers of the state of New York, and to hold treaties with the Indians, on the part of the United States. In May, 1802, he was appointed by president Jefferson, military agent of the northern department of the United States, which he resigned in February, 1809, when he was appointed by president Madison, a brigadier general in the army of the United States, in which service he continued until his death, which took place on the 2d of July, 1812. The preceding year, he presided at the court martial which convened at Fredericktown, in Virginia, for the trial of general Wilkinson; in returning from which place, in the winter of 1812, he was seized with a cold, which terminated

his life, in the sixty-third year of his age. He descended to the grave, regretting that he could not be spared to serve his country in the second war of its independence. Fort Gansevoort, erected in 1812-13, in the harbour of New York, was named in honour of him.

In general Gansevoort were united most of those excellent qualities, which dignify and adorn the human character. His person was noble and majestic, (his height being six feet, three inches.) His mind fearless, magnanimous and ener getic; his disposition amiable and indulgent; his manners easy and engaging. He was regardless of wealth, and plain and unostentatious in his habits of life: as a republican, he was firm in principle, and inflexible in practice; maintaining through life, the most pure and unimpeachable moral and political integrity. Above all, general Gansevoort was a christian.

GATES, HORATIO, was a native of England, and was born in 1728. The condition of his family, the incident and prospects of his youth, and his education, we are not able to communicate any particulars. There is reason to believe that he entered the army very early, and began his career as an ensign or lieutenant; yet, we are told, that he obtained, by merit merely, the rank of major, and was aid-de-camp to the British officer who commanded at the capture of Martinico. At the conclusion of the war in 1748, he was stationed some time at Halifax, in Nova Scotia. At that period, if the date of his birth be accurate, his age did not exceed twenty years.

He continued in the army, and, probably, in some American garrison, during the ensuing seven years of peace. A new war then broke out in Germany, and North America, and Mr. Gates, in quality of captain of foot, attracts our notice in the earliest and most conspicuous scene of that war. He was in the army which accompanied the unfortunate Braddock, in the expedition against Fort du Quesne, and, together with the illustrious Washington, was among the few officers, who, on that occasion, escaped with life. He did not escape, howe ver, without a very dangerous wound, which for a time, shut him out from the bloody and perilous scenes of that long and diversified contest. He remained in America to the peace of 1763, and then returned to his native country with a full earned reputation for activity, enterprise, and courage.

At the opening of the American war we find him settled on a farm in Virginia. At what time he laid down the military life, and returned to spend the rest of his days in the new world, we are not informed; but his conduct evinced so perfect an attachment to his new country, and his military reputation was so high, that he was immediately appointed by con

gress, adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier-general, in the new army. General Washington was well acquainted with his merits in his military character, and warmly recommended him to congress on this occasion. They had been fellow-soldiers and sufferers under Braddock.

From this period, he took a very active part in most of the transactions of the war, and his abilities and good fortune placed him in a rank inferior only to Washington, and above any other general. He accompanied the commander in chief to Massachusetts, in July, 1775, and was employed for some time in a subordinate, but highly useful capacity.

In 1776, general Gates was appointed to the chief command of the forces destined against Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

In the spring of 1777, he was appointed, with Schuyler, from a subordinate, to the chief command on the northern frontier. In May, of the same year, he was superseded by Schuyler, nor was it, until after Burgoyne, with his well ap pointed legions had reached Ticonderoga, that he resumed the command. This place commanded by Sinclair, was evacuated without a siege, on the 5th of July. The retreating army under Sinclair, was hotly pursued, overtaken, and defeated. Fort Ann and Skeensborough were occupied by the enemy, and all attempts to check his further progress appear. ed wholly desperate.

At this crisis a small delay in the advance of Burgoyne, from Skeensborough, rendered necessary by the natural difficulties of the country, was diligently employed by general Schuyler. That meritorious officer contrived to raise the most formidable impediments to the further progress of Burgoyne, by breaking down the bridges, obstructing the navigation of Wood-creek, choking up the roads or pathways through the forest, by felled trees, and by driving off all the cattle of the neighbouring country. These obstructions were so formidable that Burgoyne did not arrive at fort Edward, on the upper branches of the Hudson, till twenty-five days after his pause at Skeensborough. Here, a painful, unseasonable, and dangerous pause, was again necessary, in order to procure provisions from the posts in the rear, and to collect the boats and other vessels necessary for the navigation of the Hudson.

The progress of Burgoyne was arrested at the very point where it should seem all obstacles, of any moment, where fully surmounted. He had reached the Hudson, by a most painful and laborious march through the forest, and a detachment of his army under St. Leger, who had been directed to approach the Hudson by another road, had nearly effected this

purpose. St. Leger had gained a battle, and was now be sieging fort Schuyler, the surrender of which was necessary to the further co-operation of the British generals, and was confidently anticipated. The tide of events, however, now suddenly took a new direction.

Fort Schuyler refused to surrender, and the assault of the besiegers made very little impression on the works. The Indians, who composed a large part of St. Leger's army, began to display their useful fickleness and treachery, and after many efforts made by the British general to detain them, finally resolved to withdraw. This created an absolute necessity for raising the siege, which was done with great precipitation. and with the loss of all their camp equipage and stores. On the other side, the strenuous exertions of general Schuyler had deprived Burgoyne of all those resources which the neighboring country might have afforded him. After a fortnight's labor, he had been able to collect only twelve boats, and five day's provision for his army. An attempt to obtain possession of a depository of provisions at Bennington, had failed, and two detachments, sent on that service, had been defeated. The militia of the eastern and lower country were rapidly collecting, and threatened to raise obstacles still more formidable than those of nature.

Gates was now appointed to succeed Schuyler, and arrived at the scene of action on the 21st of August, 1777.

It was fortunate for general Gates, that the retreat from Ticonderoga had been conducted under other auspices than his, and that he took the command when the indefatigable but unrequited labors of Schuyler, and the courage of Starke and his mountaineers had already insured the ultimate defeat of Burgoyne, who, notwithstanding his unfavorable prospects, would not think of saving his army by a timely retreat, was highly propitious to the new American commander.

After collecting thirty days provision, Burgoyne passed the Hudson and encamped at Saratoga. Gates, with numbers already equal, and daily increasing, began to advance towards him with a resolution to oppose his progress at the risk of a battle. He encamped at Slillwater, and Burgoyne hastened forward to open the way with his sword. On the 17th of September, the two armies were within four miles of each other. Two days after, skirmishes between advanced parties terminated in an engagement almost general, in which the utmost efforts of the British merely enabled them to maintain the footing of the preceding day.

Burgoyne, unassisted by the British forces under Clinton at New York, found himself unable to pursue his march down the river, and in the hope of this assistance, was content to

remain in his camp, and stand on the defensive. His army was likewise diminished by the desertion of the Indians and Canadian militia, to less than one half of its original number. Gates, finding his forces largely increasing, being plentifully supplied with provisions, and knowing that Burgoyne had only a limited store, which was rapidly lessening, and could not be recruited, was not without hopes that victory would come, in time, even without a battle. His troops were so numerous, and his fortified position so strong, that he was able to take measures for preventing the retreat of the enemy, by occupying the strong posts in his rear. Accordingly, nineteen days passed without any further operations, a delay as ruinous to one party, as it was advantageous to the other. At the end of this period, the British general found his prospects of assistance as remote as ever, and the consumption of his stores so alarming, that retreat or victory became unavoidable alternatives,

On the 8th of October a warm action ensued, in which the British were every where repulsed, and a part of their lines occupied by their enemies. Burgoyne's loss was very considerable in killed, wounded and prisoners, while the favorable situation of Gate's army made its losses in the battle of no moment. Burgoyne retired in the night to a stronger camp, but the measures immediately taken by Gates to cut off his retreat, compelled him without delay to regain his former camp at Saratoga. There he arrived with little molestation from his adversary. His provisions being now reduced to the supply of a few days, the transport of artillery and baggage, towards Canada, being rendered impracticable by the judicious measures of his adversary, the British general resolved upon a rapid retreat, merely with what the soldiers could carry. On a careful scrutiny, however, it was found that they were deprived even of this resource, as the passes through which their route lay, were so strongly guarded, that nothing but artillery could clear them. In this desperate situation a parley took place, and on the 16th of October, the whole army surrendered to Gates. The prize obtained consisted of more than five thousand prisoners, some fine artillery, seven thousand muskets, clothing for seven hundred men, with a great quantity of tents, and other military stores. All the frontier fortresses were immediately abandoned to the victors.

It is not easy to overrate the importance of this success. It may be considered as deciding the war of the revolution, as from that period the British cause began rapidly to decline. The capture of Cornwallis was hardly of equal importance to that of Burgoyne, and was, in itself, an event of much less splendor, and productive of less exultation.