1. On 1 Aug. the congress ordered Schuyler to return to headquarters and directed Washington to name a general to relieve Schuyler of his northern command. Washington, however, felt that the Northern Department had been all along virtually separate, more under the direction of the congress than under his own, and that the delicacy and critical nature of its situation was a further reason to excuse him from naming a commander. The congress then proceeded to name Gates (JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 8:596, 603–604; Washington, Writings, ed. Fitzpatrick description begins The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, Washington, 1931–1944; 39 vols. description ends , 9:8–9). The fiasco of Ticonderoga had strengthened the hand of the anti-Schuyler forces, even though he was not directly responsible for St. Clair’s evacuation of that post.