Ballads and poems relating to the Burgoyne campaign

19 September and 7 October 1777

Battles of Saratoga

A VISION OF JUDGMENT.

* The Loyalists often taunted the Whigs because
some of their leaders were mechanics and tradesmen
(Greene was a blacksmith and Knox a bookseller).
In the temporary theatres established by the British
in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charlottes-
ville, Va., during the war, these taunts formed a staple
of the amusements. It was so even after the war.
Thus, on one occasion, a play was in course of per-
formance in a London theatre, in which American
officers were represented as mechanics of every kind.
In the midst of the hilarity which the play occasioned
on that account, an American sailor in the gallery
shouted, " Hurrah ! England whipped by cobblers and
tailors !" Thus, the tables were turned upon John
Bull.

f This has reference to the death of General Eraser
during the second battle of Saratoga, on October 7th,
1777. Dressed in full uniform, he made a conspicu-
ous mark. Colonel Daniel Morgan, the commander
of the Rifle Brigade, and who had been sent on by
Washington from the Southern department to aid
General Gates, perceiving that the fate of the day rest-
ed upon that officer (Eraser), took twelve of his sharp-
shooters aside, among whom was the celebrated marks-

V The Burgoyne Ballads. 19

A VISION OF JUDGMENT.

Tullalo, tullalo, tullalo-o-o-o, boys !

*" Burgoyne, more frequently than any other British
officer, was the butt of the Continental wits. His
verses were parodied, his amours celebrated in the
songs of the mess-table, and his boasts and the weaker
points in his nature caricatured in ballads and petite
comedies. We obtained a manuscript copy of the
song from which the above verses are quoted from an
octogenarian Vermonter, who, with feeble frame, shrill
voice and silvered locks of eighty-seven, would give the
echoing chorus with as much enthusiasm as when he
joined in it with his camp companions more than half
a century ago. The only clue to its authorship with
which we are acquainted is the signature, ' G. of H.'
It was probably written soon after its hero's defeat at
Saratoga." — Rufus W. Griswold, in the America^i
Supplement to Disraelis " Curiosities of Literature"

The Burgoyne Ballads.

THE FATE OF JOHN BURGOYNE.

36 The Burgoyne Ballads.

THE CAPTURE AT SARATOGA*

Here followeth the direful fate

DEFEAT.

They'll disappoint your trust, your hope is vain.

*This. again, is an unjust imputation against
Burgoyne, who, notwithstanding the threats in his
proclamation, did all he could to restrain Indian
atrocities. Indeed, it was to this fact, that before the
battles of Saratoga nearly all his savage allies deserted
him.

f Referring to rumors, even then prevalent, that