The easier route by way of Lake
George was open but Burgoyne hoped to destroy his enemy by direct
pursuit through the forest. It took him twenty days to hew his
way twenty miles, to the upper waters of the Hudson near Fort
Edward. When there on the 30th of July he had communications open
from the Hudson to the St. Lawrence.
Fortune seemed to smile on Burgoyne. He had taken many guns and
he had proved the fighting quality of his men. But his cheerful
elation had, in truth, no sound basis. Never during the two and a
half months of bitter struggle which followed was he able to
advance more than twenty-five miles from Fort Edward. The moment
he needed transport by land he found himself almost helpless.
Sometimes his men were without food and equipment because he had
not the horses and carts to bring supplies from the head of water
at Fort Anne or Fort George, a score of miles away. Sometimes he
had no food to transport. He was dependent on his communications
for every form of supplies. Even hay had to be brought from
Canada, since, in the forest country, there was little food for
his horses. The perennial problem for the British in all
operations was this one of food. The inland regions were too
sparsely populated to make it possible for more than a few
soldiers to live on local supplies.
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