On October 7th, 1777, a British force clashed with the American revolutionaries at Saratoga, New York. That evening, Lady Harriet Acland asked General Burgoyne to let her go to her wounded husband, held prisoner in the American camp. In some astonishment, Burgoyne scribbled a letter of introduction and gave her a boat to take her down the Hudson River.

Harriet, accompanied by her husband’s valet and her own maid, rowed down the river to the American position, where she was challenged by the sentries and held at gunpoint until dawn. At last she was taken in by the Americans, treated with courtesy by their commander, General Gates, and allowed to see her wounded husband.

113 words