No. 112.] 705 



a large number of American prisoners released, several hundred 

 of the enemy captured, with an armed vessel and more than two 

 hundred batteaux. 



After the surrender of the British army at Saratoga, the garri- 

 sons upon Lake Champlain evacuated and dismantled the various 

 posts and withdrew their entire forces into Canada. 



Bands of tories, more ruthless than their savage allies, fleeing 

 from the disorganized array of Burgoyne, with passions inflamed 

 and vindictive, left a track of desolation in their retreat. Tradi- 

 tion avers that not a dwelling in thd whole Gilliland settlement, 

 from Splitrock to theBoquet, escaped the torch. 



No further belligerent mov ments of interest occurred during 

 the war upon the shores of Lake Champlain. 



Gen. Haldimand advanced in 1780 to Ticonderoga, and again 

 occupied the fort, rather apparently in a diplomatic, than a mili- 

 tary attitude. 



The armistice established by him and the Vermont authorities, 

 which extended to the Hudson liver, was probably regarded as 

 embracing the Champlain valley. 



Ticonderoga, in this interval, was the scene of those undefined 

 negotiations between Vermont and England, the character and pur- 

 poses of which have excited so much discussion, and which ar« 

 still enveloped in such profound obscurity. 



Whether the intentions of Vermont were disloyal to the au 

 thority of Congress, or dictated by a consummate diplomatic 

 sagacity, the direct effect of this armistice was most auspiriuus to 

 the interests of the country. It threw an eflfectual shield over 

 the wh< le northern frontier, and fur a long period arrested the 

 action of ten thousand Britisli troops. 



The fields which hud been cleared and cultivated on the Bo- 



quet with so much labor, had been abandoned from '76 to '84, 



and wlion peace reftored tran(piility and security, and the .'^ettlei'S 



returned, they found that nature had almost ^e-establi^^hed her 



[As- Tr. '53,J UU 



