HISTORY OF VERMONT. 77 



J;hat the British were entering one end of Cham- 

 JDly, while the Americans were marching out a^ 

 the other. On the eighteenth general Burgoyne 

 arrived at St. Johns in the evening. The A- 

 mericans had taken away every thing that coul4 

 be transported, and set fire to the barracks and 

 forts : A major Bigelow remaining with about 

 forty men till the works were destroyed, at 

 dusk pushed ofF in his boats to Isle aux Noix, 

 to which place the American army had repaired. 

 From the Isle the army proceeded in safet}^, and 

 without any danger of a pursuit, to Crown 

 Point ; and remained masters of lake Champlain, 

 the British not having been able to bring any of 

 their vessels over the rapids and falls at Chambly. 

 A retreat had seldom been effected in more 

 disastrous circumstances, or in greater precipi- 

 tation ; and yet the loss of stores and men were 

 too inconsiderable to be detailed. When Sulli- 

 van took the command of the troops, he found 

 them reduced to the lowest state of distress by 

 defeat, the loss of their generals and men, sick- 

 ness, want of provision, cloathing and almost 

 every necessary of life. He labored incessantly 

 to relieve their wants, to restore their spirits, 

 ^nd to reduce them to order and discipline. And 

 by the assistance of Starks, Poor, Wayne, and 

 other excellent officers, had succeeded in making 

 a safe retreat before a far superior British army, 

 and bringing his army safe to Crown Point. 

 On June the seventeenth, Congress had appoint- 

 ed general Gates to take the command of the 

 army in Canada. When he arrived at Crown 

 Point, he found the army in a safe, but in a very 

 reduced situation. The number of troops whicK 



