[Sidenote:  Battle of Bennington, 1777. Hero Tales, 59-67.]

150.  Bennington, 1777.—­Burgoyne had with him many cavalrymen.  But they had no horses.  The army, too, was sadly in need of food.  So Burgoyne sent a force of dismounted dragoons to Bennington in southern Vermont to seize horses and food.  It happened, however, that General Stark, with soldiers from New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Massachusetts, was nearer Bennington than Burgoyne supposed.  They killed or captured all the British soldiers.  They then drove back with great loss a second party which Burgoyne had sent to support the first one.

[Sidenote:  Battle of Oriskany, 1777.]

151.  Oriskany, 1777.—­Meantime St. Leger, with a large body of Indians and Canadian frontiersmen, was marching to join Burgoyne by the way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk Valley.  Near the site of the present city of Rome in New York was Fort Schuyler, garrisoned by an American force.  St. Leger stopped to besiege this fort.  The settlers on the Mohawk marched to relieve the garrison and St. Leger defeated them at Oriskany.  But his Indians now grew tired of the siege, especially when they heard that Arnold with a strong army was coming.  St. Leger marched back to Canada and left Burgoyne to his fate.

[Sidenote:  First battle of Freeman’s Farm, 1777.]

[Sidenote:  Second battle of Freeman’s Farm, 1777.]

[Sidenote:  Surrender of the British at Saratoga, 1777.]

152.  Saratoga, 1777.—­Marching southward, on the western side of the Hudson, Burgoyne and his army came upon the Americans in a forest clearing called Freeman’s Farm.  Led by Daniel Morgan and Benedict Arnold the Americans fought so hard that Burgoyne stopped where he was and fortified the position.  This was on September 19.  The American army posted itself near by on Bemis’ Heights.  For weeks the two armies faced each other.  Then, on October 7, the Americans attacked.  Again Arnold led his men to victory.  They captured a fort in the centre of the British line, and Burgoyne was obliged to retreat.  But when he reached the crossing place of the Hudson, to his dismay he found a strong body of New Englanders with artillery on the opposite bank.  Gates had followed the retiring British, and soon Burgoyne was practically surrounded.  His men were starving, and on October 17 he surrendered.

[Sidenote:  The Treaty of Alliance, 1778.]

153.  The French Alliance, 1778.—­Burgoyne’s defeat made the French think that the Americans would win their independence.  So Dr. Franklin, who was at Paris, was told that France would recognize the independence of the United States, would make treaties with the new nation, and give aid openly.  Great Britain at once declared war on France.  The French lent large sums of money to the United States.  They sent large armies and splendid fleets to America.  Their aid greatly shortened the struggle for independence.  But the Americans would probably have won without French aid.