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from Edward Creasy, Fifteen Decisive
Battles of the World from Marathon to Waterloo (London, 1851), a widely
read account
The war which rent away the North American colonies
from England is, of all subjects in history, the most painful for an
Englishman to dwell on. It was commenced and carried on by the British
ministry in iniquity and folly, and it was concluded in disaster and shame.
But the contemplation of it can not be evaded by the historian, however much
it may be abhorred. Nor can any military event be said to have exercised
more important influence on the future fortunes of mankind than the complete
defeat of Burgoyne's expedition in 1777; a defeat which rescued the revolted
colonists from certain subjection, and which, by inducing the courts of
France and Spain to attack England in their behalf, insured the independence
of the United States, and the formation of that transatlantic power which
not only America, but both Europe and Asia, now see and feel.
The English had a considerable force in Canada, and in
1776 had completely repulsed an attack which the Americans had made upon
that province. The British ministry resolved to avail themselves, in the
next year, of the advantage which the occupation of Canada gave them, not
merely for the purpose of defense, but for the purpose of striking a
vigorous and crushing blow against the revolted colonies. With this view the
army in Canada was largely reinforced. Seven thousand veteran troops were
sent out from England, with a corps of artillery, abundantly supplied and
led by select and experienced officers. Large quantities of military stores
were also furnished for the equipment of the Canadian volunteers, who were
expected to join the expedition.
It was intended that the force thus collected should
march southward by the line of the Lakes, and thence along the banks of the
Hudson River. The British army from New York--or a large detachment of
it--was to make a simultaneous movement northward, up the line of the
Hudson, and the two expeditions were to unite at Albany, a town on that
river. By these operations, all communication between the Northern colonies
and those of the Center and South would be cut off. An irresistible force
would be concentrated, so as to crush all further opposition in New England;
and when this was done, it was believed that the other colonies would
speedily submit. The Americans had no troops in the field that seemed able
to baffle these movements. Their principal army, under Washington, was
occupied in watching over Pennsylvania and the South.
Burgoyne had gained celebrity by some bold and dashing
exploits in Portugal during the last war; he was personally as brave an
officer as ever headed British troops, he had considerable skill as a
tactician; and his general intellectual abilities and acquirements were of a
high order. He had several very able and experienced officers under him,
among whom were Major-General Philips and Brigadier-General Frazer. His
regular troops amounted, exclusively of the corps of artillery, to about
seven thousand two hundred men, rank and file. Nearly half of these were
Germans. . . .
Burgoyne reached the left bank of the Hudson River on
July 30th. Hitherto he had overcome every difficulty which the enemy and the
nature of the country had placed in his way. His army was in excellent
order, and in the highest spirits, and the peril of the expedition seemed
over when they were once on the bank of the river which was to be the
channel of communication between them and the British army in the South. . .
.
The astonishment and alarm which these events produced
among the Americans were naturally great; but the colonists showed no
disposition to submit. The local governments of the New England States, as
well as the Congress, acted with vigor and firmness in their efforts to
repel the enemy. General Gates was sent to take the command of the army at
Saratoga; and Arnold, a favorite leader of the Americans, was dispatched by
Washington to act under him, with reinforcements of troops and guns from the
main American army.
Burgoyne's employment of the Indians now produced the
worst possible effects. Though he labored hard to check the atrocities which
they were accustomed to commit, he could not prevent the occurrence of many
barbarous outrages, repugnant both to the feelings of humanity and to the
laws of civilized warfare. The American commanders took care that the
reports of these excesses should be circulated far and wide, well knowing
that they would made the stern New Englanders, not droop, but rage. . . .
While resolute recruits, accustomed to use of firearms,
and all partially trained by service in the provincial militias, were thus
flocking to the standard of Gates and Arnold at Saratoga, and while Burgoyne
was engaged at Fort Edward in providing the means of the further advance of
the army through the intricate and hostile country that still lay before
him, two events occurred, in each of which the British sustained loss and
the Americans obtained advantage, the moral effects of which were even more
important than the immediate result of the encounters. When Burgoyne left
Canada, General St. Leger was detached from that province with a mixed force
of about one thousand men and some light field-pieces across Lake Ontario
against Fort Stanwix, which the Americans held. After capturing this, he was
to march along the Mohawk River to its confluence with the Hudson, between
Saratoga and Albany, where his force and that of Burgoyne's were to unite.
But, after some successes, St. Leger was obliged to retreat, and to abandon
his tents and large quantities of stores to the garrison.
At the very time that General Burgoyne heard of this
disaster he experienced one still more severe in the defeat of Colonel Baum,
with a large detachment of German troops, at Bennington, whither Burgoyne
had sent them for the purpose of capturing some magazines of provisions, of
which the British army stood greatly in need. The Americans, augmented by
continual accessions of strength, succeeded, after many attacks, in breaking
this corps, which fled into the woods, and left its commander mortally
wounded on the field: they then marched against a force of five hundred
grenadiers and light infantry, which was advancing to Colonel Baum's
assistance under Lieutenant-Colonel Breyman, who, after a gallant
resistance, was obliged to retreat on the main army. The British loss in
these two actions exceeded six hundred men; and a party of American
loyalists, on their way to join the army, having attached themselves to
Colonel Baum's corps, were destroyed with it.
Notwithstanding these reverses, which added greatly to
the spirit and numbers of the American forces, Burgoyne determined to
advance. It was impossible any longer to keep up his communications with
Canada by way of the Lakes, so as to supply his army on his southward march;
but having, but unremitting exertions, collected provisions for thirty days,
he crossed the Hudson by means of a bridge of rafts, and, marching a short
distance along its western bank, he encamped on September 14th on the
heights of Saratoga, about sixteen miles from Albany. The Americans had
fallen back from Saratoga, and were now strongly posted near Stillwater,
about half way between Saratoga and Albany, and showed a determination to
recede no farther.
Meanwhile Lord Howe, with the bulk of the British army
that had lain at New York, had sailed away to the Delaware, and there
commenced a campaign against Washington, in which the English general took
Philadelphia, and gained other showy but unprofitable successes. But Sir
Henry Clinton, a brave and skilful officer, was left with a considerable
force at New York, and he undertook the task of moving up the Hudson to
cooperate with Burgoyne. Clinton was obliged for this purpose to wait for
reinforcements which had been promised from England, and these did not
arrive till September. As soon as he received them, Clinton embarked about
three thousand of his men on a flotilla, convoyed by some ships-of-war under
Commander Hotham, and proceeded to force his way up the river.
The country between Burgoyne's position at Saratoga and
that of the Americans at Stillwater was rugged, and seamed with creeks and
watercourses; but, after great labor in making bridges and temporary
causeways, the British army moved forward. About four miles from Saratoga,
on the afternoon of September 19th, a sharp encounter took place between
part of the English right wing, under Burgoyne himself, and a strong body of
the enemy, under Gates and Arnold. The conflict lasted till sunset. The
British remained masters of the field; but the loss on each side was nearly
equal--from five to six hundred men--and the spirits of the Americans were
greatly raised by having withstood the best regular troops of the English
army.
Burgoyne now halted again, and strengthened his position
by field-works and redoubts; and the Americans also improved their defenses.
The two armies remained nearly within cannon-shot of each other for a
considerable time, during which Burgoyne was anxiously looking for
intelligence of the promised expedition from New York, which, according to
the original plan, ought by this time to have been approaching Albany from
the south. At last a messenger from Clinton made his way, with great
difficulty, to Burgoyne's camp, and brought the information that Clinton was
on his way up the Hudson to attack the American forts which barred the
passage up that river to Albany. Burgoyne, in reply, stated his hopes that
the promised cooperation would be speedy and decisive, and added that,
unless he received assistance before October 10th, he would be obliged to
retreat to the Lakes through want of provisions.
The Indians and Canadians now began to desert Burgoyne,
while, on the other hand, Gates' army was continually reinforced by fresh
bodies of the militia. Burgoyne's force was now reduced to less than six
thousand men. The right of his camp was on high ground a little to the west
of the river; thence his entrenchments extended along the lower ground to
the bank of the Hudson, their line being nearly at a right angle with the
course of the stream. The lines were fortified in the center and on the left
with redoubts and field-works. The numerical force of the Americans was now
greater than the British, even in regular troops, and the numbers of the
militia and volunteers which had joined Gate and Arnold were greater still.
. . .
It was on October 7th that Burgoyne led his column on the
attack; and on the preceding day, the 6th, Clinton had successfully executed
a brilliant enterprise against the two American forts which barred his
progress up the Hudson. He had captured them both, with severe loss to the
American forces opposed to him; he had destroyed the fleet which the
Americans had been forming on the Hudson, under the protection of their
forts; and the upward river was laid open to his squadron. He was now only a
hundred fifty-six miles distant from Burgoyne, and a detachment of one
thousand seven hundred men actually advanced within forty miles of Albany.
Unfortunately, Burgoyne and Clinton were each ignorant of the other's
movements; but if Burgoyne had won his battle on the 7th, he must, on
advancing, have soon learned the tidings of Clinton's success, and Clinton
would have heard of his.
A junction would soon have been made of the two
victorious armies, and the great objects of the campaign might yet have been
accomplished. All depended on the fortune of the column with which Burgoyne,
on the eventful October 7, 1777, advanced against the American position.
There were brave men, both English and German, in its ranks; and, in
particular, it comprised one of the best bodies of grenadiers in the British
service.
Burgoyne's whole force was soon compelled to retreat
toward their camp; the left and center were in complete disorder; but the
light infantry and the Twenty-fourth checked the fury of the assailants, and
the remains of Burgoyne's column with great difficulty effected their return
to their camp, leaving six of their guns in the possession of the enemy, and
great numbers of killed and wounded on the field; and especially a large
proportion of the artillerymen, who had stood to their guns until shot down
or bayoneted beside them by the advancing Americans.
Burgoyne's column had been defeated, but the action was
not yet over. The English had scarcely entered the camp, when the Americans,
pursuing their success, assaulted it in several places with uncommon
fierceness, rushing to the lines through a severe fire of grape-shot and
musketry with the utmost fury. Arnold especially, who on this day appeared
maddened with the thirst of combat and carnage, urged on the attack against
a part of the entrenchments which was occupied by the light infantry under
Lord Balcarras. But the English received him with vigor and spirit. The
struggle here was obstinate and sanguinary. At length, as it grew toward
evening, Arnold having forced all obstacles, entered the works with some of
the most fearless of his followers. but in this critical moment of glory and
danger, he received a painful wound in the same leg which had already been
injured at the assault on Quebec. To his bitter regret, he was obliged to be
carried back. His party still continued the attack; but the English also
continued their obstinate resistance and at last night fell, and the
assailants withdrew from this quarter of the British entrenchments. . . .
Burgoyne now took up his last position on the heights
near Saratoga; and hemmed in by the enemy, who refused any encounter, and
baffled in all his attempts at finding a path of escape, he there lingered
until famine compelled him to capitulate. The fortitude of the British army
during this melancholy period has been justly eulogized by many native
historians. . . .
The articles of capitulation were settled on October
15th, and on that very evening a messenger arrived from Clinton with an
account of his successes, and with the tidings that part of his force had
penetrated as far as Esopus, within fifty miles of Burgoyne's camp. But it
was too late. The public faith was pledged; and the army was indeed too
debilitated by fatigue and hunger to resist an attack, if made; and Gates
certainly would have made it if the convention had been broken off.
Accordingly, on the 17th, the Convention of Saratoga was carried into
effect. . .
When the news of Saratoga reached Paris the whole scene
was changed. Franklin and his brother-commissioners found all their
difficulties with the French Government vanish. The time seemed to have
arrived for the house of Bourbon to take a full revenge for all its
humiliations and losses in previous wars. In December a treaty was arranged,
and formally signed in the February following, by which France acknowledged
the independent United States. This was, of course, tantamount to a
declaration of war with England.
Spain soon followed France; and, before long, Holland
took the same course. Largely aided by French fleets and troops, the
Americans vigorously maintained the war against the armies which England, in
spite of her European foes, continued to send across the Atlantic. The
treaties of 1783 restored peace to the world; the independence of the United
States was reluctantly recognized by their ancient parent and recent enemy.