ABSTRACT
With General Sir John Burgoyne’s approval he had marched at full speed from Mount Independence at 5 a.m. in pursuit of the retreating garrison, which had taken the rough wagon-track to Hubbardton, and Castleton. Burgoyne had achieved his ostensible objective—the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, but the garrison had escaped, and might combine with the party that had escaped by boat to bar his path to Albany. In his despatch describing the week’s events, Burgoyne paid scant justice to the decisive intervention of von Riedesel in the battle, remarking only that ‘the Germans pressed for a share in the glory and they arrived in time to obtain it’. Von Riedesel deferred to Simon Fraser, whom he respected as an active regimental commander and as an experienced soldier who had campaigned for most of his life in North America. According to his promise, von Riedesel had set his troops in motion, forging ahead himself with 180 jagers and grenadiers.
