HISTORY OF VERMONT. 131 



-were employed and paid by the British general, 

 of which he gives several instances. " Noth- 

 ing," says he, *' happened in the action at 

 Bennington but what is common, when works 

 are carried by assault. That the savages of 

 America should in their warfare mangle and 

 scalp the unhappy prisoners who fall into their 

 hands, is neither new nor extraordinary ; but 

 that the famous lieutenant general Burgoync, 

 in whom the fine gentleman is united with the 

 soldier and scholar, should hire the savages of 

 America to scalp Europeans, and the descend- 

 ants of Europeans, nay more, that he should 

 pay a price for each scalp so barbarously taken, 

 is more than will be believed in Europe, until 

 authenticated facts shall in every Gazette, con- 

 firm the truth of the horrid tale. 



' Miss M'Rea, a young lady, lovely to the 

 sight, of virtuous character, and amiable dis- 

 position, engaged to an officer of your army, 

 was, with other ^wromen and children, taken 

 out of a house near Fort Edward, carried into 

 the woods, and there scalped and mangled in a 

 most shocking manner. Two parents with 

 their six children were all treated with the 

 same inhumanity, while quietly residing in 

 their once happy dwelling. 



* The miserable fate of Miss M'Rea was 

 particularly aggravated by her being dressed 

 to receive her promised husband, but met her 

 murderers employed by you. Upwards of 

 one hundred men, women and children, have 

 perished by the hands of the ruffians, to whom 

 it is asserted, you have paid the price of blood. 



He adds, " The late colonel Baum's servant, 



