MINOR TOPICS CRITICAL NOTES ON THE LOUISIANA BOUNDARIES Attached to Vol. II. of Mr. McMaster's History is a very interesting map, showing land acquired by the United States from 1783 to 1885; but it would be interesting to know by what supposed facts the author was guided in drawing the northern part of the west boundary of the Louisiana purchase. This boundary is made to leave the continental divide at Henry's Lake and run northwesterly, until it crosses the 49th parallel more than two hundred miles west of the divide, including within the Louisiana purchase all of Pacific Montana and northern Idaho. Only two positions seem possible: either the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains on the Pacific Ocean formed the west boundary of Louisiana, as purchased from France, north of the 42d parallel. Its extension to the Pacific coast was never seriously insisted upon. According to Mr. H. H. Bancroft, Jefferson objected to the wording of a (never ratified) treaty with England in 1807, which fixed our northern boundary on the parallel of 49°, as far westward as the possessions of the respective parties might extend, but not to the territory claimed by either beyond the Rocky Mountains, because the last condition was intimation to Spain that the claims of the United States extend to the Pacific Ocean." But even if such a claim was put forth, it was surrendered by the treaty with England, October 20, 1818, of which Article 3 states: "It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall . . . be free and open for the term of ten years to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers." No historian can be found now-a-days who rests the title to Oregon on the Louisiana purchase, and even Mr. McMasters himself does not consider such a claim tenable. Whence, then, does he get the data on which he has based his map? It may be noted that the legend on Oregon reads as follows: It will be interesting to see, in the author's future volumes, whether he will take the position that the claims he enumerates constituted so perfect a title to the Oregon territory, that the treaty of 1846, settling the claims of England, need not even be put upon record! P. KOCH BOZEMAN, MONTANA, August 1, 1885. In the Magazine of American History for October appears an exceedingly suggestive article, entitled, "A Revolutionary Relic," in the sentiments of which every true lover of American history will heartily concur. The writer, however, is not quite accurate when, in the course of his paper, he makes this statement: "There is nothing left, where the battles of Bennington and Saratoga were fought, to distinguish the places where our patriot fathers gained memorable victories. The trenches have been filled, the breast works obliterated, and the whole battle-ground turned into cultivated fields and luxuriant pastures, where flocks and herds are quietly grazing; and we are now obliged to turn to Rutland for a lasting memorial of a conquered army." In regard to Bennington I cannot speak, but I can assert most positively that the Saratoga battle-field is perhaps the only Revolutionary one yet retaining numerous relics to recall the memories of the stirring scenes enacted on its site. Among these may be mentioned the following: First. The breast works which surrounded Riedesel's Brunswickers, and at the south-eastern extremity of which the Hanau artillery, under Captain Pausch, was placed (enclosing an area of, perhaps, twenty acres), are yet easily traced, being still two, and, in some places, five feet high. In the center of this space, and in the midst of a dense wood, is seen the old camp-well used by this portion of Burgoyne's army.* Second. The traces of Breymann's intrenchments are yet to be seen very plainly. The place is considerably elevated by nature, and is known among the farmers in the vicinity as Burgoyne's Hill. Properly, it should be Breymann's Hill. It was at the north-east corner of this eminence that Arnold was wounded. Third. The stump of the bass-wood tree, with another large tree grown out of its top, under which General Fraser was seated on his horse when mortally wounded by Morgan's sharp-shooter, Pat Murphy, yet stands by the side of the road. Fourth. The house which was the head-quarters of Generals Arnold, Learned, and Poor, before, during, and after the two actions, is still standing in excellent preservation. Fifth. The barn which served as a hospital for the wounded Americans remains to mark the spot where so many gallant men suffered and died, the timbers of which are as solid as when first put in. Sixth. The foundations and cellar of the house in which General Fraser died while being ministered to by Madam Riedesel, are yet clearly seen by the river bank. Seventh. The "Ensign House," which received a portion of Burgoyne's wounded, * A large portion of the British camp. after the action of the 19th, was on the site of that battle. together with the tall Dutch clock which ticked off the numbered minutes of the dying, still remain. Eighth. The sleepers of the bridge which Burgoyne threw across the "great Ravine," just before he crossed it to fall in with the scouting party of Morgan on the afternoon of the 19th, are perfectly sound. Ninth. Numerous trees, which were standing at the time of the battles, still keep in their trunks the bullets fired from the guns of Cilley's New Hampshire troops.* * Tenth. Not a season passes that cannon-balls, grape-shot, skeletons, stone and iron tomahawks, short carbines used by the German yägers, and similar relics, are not plowed up by the husbandman. Indeed, I myself, a few summers ago, picked up a gilt button of the 32d Highlanders, and a silver buckle, on the site of the bloody fight of that regiment, which Wilkinson has in mind when he writes: "In a square space of twelve or fifteen yards lay eighteen grenadiers in the agonies of death, and three officers were propped up against stumps of trees, two of them mortally wounded, bleeding and almost speechless." Leaving now the battle-grounds proper, and following the river-road along the line of the retreat and pursuit from Wilkin's Basin to Saratoga (now Schuylerville), the traveler is confronted by many souvenirs of a similar character. Chief among these may be mentioned, first, the "Lovegat House" at Coreville, in which Burgoyne and his staff rested for one night, both on the advance and on the retreat, and which is rendered additionally interesting from its having been the starting point of Lady Ackland, when, accompanied by Parson Brudevell, she set out in a frail boat, and in the midst of darkness and a cold autumnal storm, to rejoin her husband then lying wounded in the American camp. The house remains exactly as it was at the time of Burgoyne's visit, and with the same old poplars standing in its door-yard; and secondly, "Sword's House," the cellar bricks of which still are visible, around which the British army encamped on the evening previous to the action of the 19th. Arrived at Schuylerville, the tourist of to-day may see the high breastworks of Gates's intrenched army, whence was thrown the cannon-ball which took off the leg of mutton from the table around which Burgoyne and his officers were seated. A little way from this, at the north side of Fish-Creek, Morgan's intrenchments, several feet in height, are easily traced. The breastworks, also, of General Fellows, on the north side of the Battenkill and the east bank of the Hudson, are nearly as high at the present time as when they contained the cannon from which was thrown the ball which took off the leg of the British surgeon, Jones (see Madam Riedesel's Memoirs). Again, on the north the plow has not yet leveled the intrenchments hastily thrown up by Stark, who thus made the investiture of the British army complete-catching it, as it were, like a mouse in a trap; and finally, the cellar in which Mrs. Riedesel took refuge with her children * While at Saratoga, this last summer, a farmer brought in a load of wood cut on the battlefield. One of the sticks had embedded in it twelve grape-shot. during the cannonade from Fellows' batteries, which is kept in excellent condition by Mrs. Marshall, who lives in the house and takes patriotic pride in its possession. Surely these various objects of interest all lying within comparative stone's-throw of the actual surrender ground, furnish-even more than those on the immediate battle-field-"lasting memorials of a conquered army." In this connection, I would mention another fact, which may furnish our Worcester friend with a useful hint, viz.: Through the zealous and patriotic efforts of Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth of Saratoga,* a trustee of the Saratoga Monument Association, granite tablets have already been placed on several of the above mentioned historic spots on the battle-field-each of which bears appropriate inscriptions, telling the passer-by what it commemorates, together with the name of the donor. As it is peculiarly the province of the Magazine of American History to crystallize such facts as the above, succeeding generations will know from this statement just what remains in the year of grace, 1885, to tell of an action which has justly been styled "one of the seven decisive battles of the world." WILLIAM L. STONE JERSEY CITY, October, 1885. THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE The annual reunion of the Army of the Tennessee took place at Chicago, September 9 and 10. It was an unusually large and most interesting meeting, the chief feature of which was General Sherman's eloquent eulogy on his friend and former chief, General Grant. The oration, which was to have been delivered by the late ex-President and General of the Army, was pronounced by General J. B. Sanborn, of Minnesota. Other speakers and prominent persons at the reunion were Generals Logan and Oglesby, of Illinois; General John M. Scofield, U. S. A.; General W. W. Belknap, of Iowa; General W. Q. Gresham, of Indiana; Generals Grant Wilson and Schuyler Hamilton, of New York; Colonel Fred D. Grant, and Colonel Vilas, of Wisconsin, the Postmaster-General. The next annual meeting of the Society will be held at Rock Island, Illinois. General W. T. Sherman was re-elected President; General A. Hickenlooper, Corresponding Secretary; Colonel L. M. Dayton, Recording Secretary; and General M. F. Force, Treasurer of the Society. At the grand dinner which concluded the meeting, the pleasant feature was introduced of inviting ladies, a custom which is hereafter to be continued by the Society. * Mrs. Walworth's great-grandfather, Colonel John Hardin, was in the actions of September 19 and October 7. ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS An unpublished Autograph Letter of Richard Varick From the Collection of Hon. T. Romeyn Beek, M.D., of Albany, now in possession of Mrs. Pierre Van Cortlandt. My dear Sir Poughkeepsie May 18. 1783. Last evening on my return from the New City in Orange County, where I have attended the Court of Common Pleas & from whence I paid my friends in Hackensack a 12 Hour visit & repd from thence to this place by the way of Head Quarters. I found in my Office your favor of the 14th addressed to me by Major Shirtliff & agreeable to the Wishes of M John Glen & yourself, I have this day waited on His Excellency Governor Clinton, & obtained from him the Passport you request which I with pleasure do myself the Honor of enclosing, thro' inadvertance I disfurnished it of one half the paper. I heartily wish you a very agreeable party of it, and a happy Sight of your Friends in Canada; and a safe return to your own County, Be pleased to make my Compliments to Jacob & to such other of my acquaintances in that quarter as may not deem the tender officious and impertinent, As you hint a wish to be in Some Measure informed of the late Interview between their Excellencies Gen! Washington, Sir Guy Carlton, the Gov! & others, I will give you a short Detail of such particulars as do not interfere with the Duties of my Situation with the Commander in Chief & Gov! Clinton, the last of whom I attended in Quality of an Aid-de Camp in the room of L Coll. Rob Benson. On Saturday the 3d inst. His Excellency the Commander in chief & the Governor attended by John Morin Scott Esquire Lt Colns. Trumbull, Cobb, Humphreys & Varick went down in a barge from Head Quarters dined with M. Gen1 Knox, command of West Point, lodged at Peekskill & arrived at Tappan Sloat on Sunday abt 10 o clock, where Major Fish had arrived with a command of four Companies of Light Infantry of the Line of the Army the night preceding, the Company after taking a small repast at the Sloat, which was there prepared by M Sam! Francis (commonly called Black Sam) who came up from N. Y. to superintend the Entertainment on the part of the American Commander in Chief, the Gen! Gov! & Co proceeded to Orange Town where a Dinner was prepared, Sir Guy embarked on Board of the Perseverance Frigate a 36 Gun Ship one of the new construction & |