Behold Burgoyne then, on the 17th of June, embarking on Lake
Champlain the army which, ever since his arrival in Canada on the
6th of May, he had been preparing for this advance. He had rather
more than seven thousand men, of whom nearly one-half were
Germans under the competent General Riedesel. In the force of
Burgoyne we find the ominous presence of some hundreds of Indian
allies. They had been attached to one side or the other in every
war fought in those regions during the previous one hundred and
fifty years. In the war which ended in 1763 Montcalm had used
them and so had his opponent Amherst. The regiments from the New
England and other colonies had fought in alliance with the
painted and befeathered savages and had made no protest. Now
either times had changed, or there was something in a civil war
which made the use of savages seem hideous. One thing is certain.
Amherst had held his savages in stern restraint and could say
proudly that they had not committed a single outrage. Burgoyne
was not so happy.
In nearly every war the professional soldier shows distrust, if
not contempt, for civilian levies. Burgoyne had been in America
before the day of Bunker Hill and knew a great deal about the
country.
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