Late in the fall of 1745, an expedition consisting of more than 500 French and Indians and a few disaffected warriors of the Six Nations, led by
M. Marin, an active French officer, invaded the upper valley of the Hudson, and by their operations spread alarm as far south as the
Hudson Highlands.
They came down from
Montreal, and reached
Crown Point on Nov. 28, intending to penetrate the
valley of the Connecticut.
At the suggestion of
Father Piquet, the
French Prefet Apostolique to
Canada, who met the expedition at
Crown Point,
Marin determined to lead his party towards
Albany and cut off the advancing English settlements.
They passed up
[
68]
Lake Champlain, crossed over to the
Hudson River, destroyed a lumber-yard on the site of
Fort Edward, and approached the thriving settlement of
Saratoga, at the junction of
Fish Creek and the
Hudson.
It was a scattered little village, composed mostly of the tenants of
Philip Schuyler, who owned mills and a large landed estate there.
Accompanied by
Father Piquet,
Marin, having laid waste nearly 50 miles of English settlements, fell upon the sleeping villagers at
Saratoga at midnight (Nov. 28), plundered everything of value, murdered
Mr. Schuyler, burned a small ungarrisoned fort near by and most of the dwellings, and made 109 men, women, and children captives.
The next morning, after chanting the
Te Deum in the midst of the desolation, the marauders turned their faces towards
Canada with their prisoners.
The fort was rebuilt, garrisoned, and called
Fort Clinton; but late in 1747, unable to defend it against the
French and
Indians, it was burned by the
English.
For an account of the battles of Sept. 19, 1777, and Oct. 7, 1777, which led to the surrender of
Burgoyne, see
Bemis's Heights, battles of;
Burgoyne, Sir John. 
