and building bridges over swamps. This gave time for Schuyler to gather the yeomanry together, and for Washington to re-enforce that general with troops, under Morgan, from the southern de- partment. Burgoyne also lost valuable time and received a fatal check by his disastrous attack on Bennington. At length, finding his progress stopped by the intrenchments of Gates at Bemus's heights, nine miles south of Saratoga (Schuyler- ville), he endeavored to extricate himself from his perilous position by fighting. Two battles were fought, on nearly the same ground, on 19 September and 7 October. The first was indecisive ; the sec- ond resulted in so complete a rout for the British that, leaving his sick and wounded to the compas- sion of Gates, Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga. Here, finding that his provisions were giving out. Stark in his rear, and that there was no chance of escape, he capitulated with his entire army, 17 Oct., 1777. This event was the turning-point in the American revolution. It secured the French alli- ance, and lifted the clouds of moral and financial gloom that had settled upon the hearts of the lead- ers, even the hopeful Washington. Burgoyne, until his unfortunate campaign, stood very high in his profession. He had made a brilliant record on the banks of the Tagus for dash under that master in the art of war, the famous Count Schaumberg-Lippe. He also added to a prepos- sessing exterior the polished manners and keen sagacity of a courtier. He was likewise witty and brave. But he was hasty and self-willed. Desirous to do everything himself, he rarely consulted with others ; yet he never knew how to keep a plan se- cret. While in a subordinate position, he was continually carping at his military superiors, yet, when given a separate command, he was guilty of the same faults that he had reprehended in others. His boastful ways drew up( m him the nicknames of " Sir Jack Brag " and " Chrononhotonthologos," a character in a burlesque play by Henry Carey. Being a Sybarite, he often neglected the duties of a general, and while he was enjoying his wines and choice food, his army suffered the keenest want. Early in 1778 he returned to England, and justly threw the failure of the expedition upon the min- istry, since, in arranging the campaign, he had in- sisted that success depended upon Howe's co-opera- tion. Had he been properly supported he would, despite mistakes, have reached Albany, as Gates would not have been at Bemus's heights to oppose him. On his arrival in England he was received very coldly by the court and people, the king re- fusing to see him. Having in vain demanded a court-martial, he succeeded in obtaining a hearing on the floor of parliament; and in 1780 published a narrative of the campaign and a vindication of himself in a work entitled " A State of the Expe- dition." Joining the opposition, he resigned, in 1779, all his offices. Upon a change in the minis- try he regained somewhat of his popularity, and in 1782 was restored to his rank in the army and appointed prize-councillor and commander-in-chief in Ireland. In 1784 he retired from public life, and, possessing considerable literary ability, amused himself in writing numerous comedies and poems, which were published (2 vols., 1808). He was one of the managers of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, but did not live to see the result of that trial. By his wife he had but one daughter, who died in childhood ; but by Miss Susan Caulfield, after his wife's death, he had four children, of whom the late Sir John Burgoyne, of Crimean fame, was the eldest. His descendants have filled many honorable positions in the British army and navy, and several of them are still (1886) living. For an exhaustive sketch of Burgoyne and an an- alysis of his campaigns, see " Hadden's Journal," edited by Gen. Horatio Rogers. — His son. Sir John Fox, British soldier, b. in London, 24 July, 1782 ; d. 7 Oct., 1871. He was educated at Eton and Woolwich, and entered the royal engineers as sec- ond lieutenant in 1798. He acted as commanding engineer under Gen. Frazer at the siege of Rosetta and the assault on Alexandria, Egypt, in 1807 ; un- der Sir John Moore in his Portuguese campaign in 1808, and in the peninsular war. He served dur- ing the war between the United States and Great Britain in 1812-'5, and, as commanding engineer under Gen. Pakenham, was present at the battle of New Orleans, 8 Jan., 1815, and also at the capture of Fort Bowers (Mobile Point) on 11 February. In 1845 he was appointed inspector-general of fortifi- cations. In the Crimean war he rendered distin- guished services at the battles of the Alma, Bala- klava, and Inkerman, and at the siege of Sebasto- pol. On his recall from the Crimea he received a baronetcy and was made a general and resumed his position at the war-office as inspector-general of fortifications, retiring in 1868 with the rank of field-marshal. The " Military Opinions of Sir John Fox Burgoyne," edited by G. Wrottesley, was pub- lished in London in 1859. He was also the author of a " Treatise on the Blasting and Quarrying of Stone " (London, 1852).
BURK, John Daly, historian, b. in Ireland ;
d. near Campbell's Bridge, Va., 11 April, 1808. He
was of the same family as Ednuind Burke, the
orator. While in Trinity college, Dublin, he pub-
lished articles in the Dublin " Evening Post," which
caused his expulsion on a charge of deism and
republicanism. He afterward made himself ob-
noxious to the government, and fied to this country
about 1796. In October of that year he established
a daily paper in Boston, called the " Polar Star,"
which met with little success, and was discontinued
in 1797. He afterward edited another paper in
New York city, where he was arrested under the
sedition law for publishing a libel. He then re-
moved to Petersburg, Va., and devoted himself to
the practice of law and to literature. He was killed
in a duel with Felix Coquebert, in consequence of
a political dispute. Burk was at one time master
of ceremonies at the Boston theatre. He published
" Bunker Hill," a tragedy ; " Bethlem Gabor," an
historical drama (1803); " History of the Late War
in Ireland " (Philadelphia, 1799) ; and a " History of
Virginia from its First Settlement to 1804 " (3 vols.,
Petersburg, 1804). An additional volume, by Messrs.
Jones and Girardin, was published in 1816. Burk's
"Bunker Hill" was for some time performed peri-
odically at the Boston theatre, to please patriotic
audiences. It was hastily written, and had little
merit. President Adams said it represented War-
ren as a "bully and a blackguard." — Burk's son,
John Jnnins, b. in Virginia in 1800; d. in Baton
Rouge, La., 17 July, 1866, was educated at William
and Mary college, went to Louisiana, where he
studied law, and was for many years a prominent
lawyer there, and judge of the state court. See a
meiiioir of Burk, by Charles Campbell (Albany, 1868).
BURKE, Ædahus, jurist, b. in Galway, Ireland, 16 June, 1743 ; d. in Charleston, S. C, 30 March, 1802. He was educated as a priest at the college of St, Omer, in France, visited the West Indies, and came thence to South Carolina near the beginning of the revolution. He volunteered in the patriot army,
was chosen a judge of the state supreme court in 1778, and, when the British overran that part of the country, left the bench and again joined the
