iu NATURAL AND CIVIL 



tninatiOn to hold his present position until the 

 twelfth of October, beyond which his provisions' 

 tv'ould not hold out. 



In the mean time the British were employ^ 

 in fortifying their camp, and guarding agamst 

 any surprise from the Americans. Gates had 

 already rendered the American camp inacces- 

 sible and impregnable to. the British, and waS 

 every day receiving new supplies. From the 

 twentieth of September to the seventh of Octo- 

 ber, the armies were so near to each other that 

 not a night passed without firing, and sometimes' 

 concerted attacks were made on the British 

 piquets. No foraging parties could be made by 

 the royal army, without great detachments to 

 cover them. The object of the American gen- 

 erals was to harrass the British troops by con- 

 stant alarms and attacks. In the mean time, 

 general , Lincoln hc\d marched towards Gates' 

 camp ; and on September the twenty ninth, 

 joined him with two thousand militia. 



General Burgoyne was now much appre- 

 hensive of increasing difficulties and dangers ;. 

 his own provisions were rapidly decreasing, and 

 large additions were every day made to the A- 

 merican army. In the beginning of October, he 

 I'entured on a measure which could no longer 

 be avoided, a diminution of the soldier's rations 

 of provisions ; disagreeable as such a measure 

 always is to an array, it was submitted to with- 

 out murmurs. Things remained in this situ- 

 ation till the seventh of October, and no intelli- 

 gence arrived of the expected assistance or co- 

 operation of general Clinton ; and the time was 

 nearly expired, in which it was possible for the 



