The Battle of Saratoga

Overview:
    In December General Burgoyne concerted with the British ministry a plan for the campaign of 1777. A large force under his command was to go to Albany by way of Lakes Champlain and George, while another body, under Sir Henry Clinton, advanced up the Hudson. Simultaneously, Colonel Barry St. Leger was to make a diversion, by way of Oswego, on the Mohawk river. In pursuance of this plan, Burgoyne, in June began his advance with one of the best-equipped armies that had ever left the shores of England. Proceeding up Lake Champlain, he easily forced the evacuation of Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and Fort Anne. But, instead of availing himself of the water-carriage of Lake George, at the head of which there was a direct road to Fort Edward, he advanced upon that work by land, consuming three weeks in cutting a road through the woods 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 department. Burgoyne also lost valuable time and received a fatal check by his disastrous attack on Bennington.
    At length, finding his progress stopped by the entrenchments of Gates at Bemus's heights, nine miles south of Saratoga (Schuylerville), he endeavored to extricate himself from his perilous position by fighting.

Synopsis:

Freeman's Farm:
    As soon as Maj. General Horatio Gates took command of the Northern Department from Maj. General Philip Schuyler on August 19, 1777, he moved north to intercept Maj. General John Burgoyne. When General George Washington learned that Burgoyne was in a tenuous situation, he called to "let all New England rise and crush Burgoyne." He sent Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln with a brigade to support Gates. Washington also detached Colonel Daniel Morgan and his rifle regiment to help Gates.
    General Gates made camp at Bemis Heights, near Saratoga, New York. On September 19, General Burgoyne advanced on Gates' camp in three columns. When Gates learned of the advance, he sent Colonel Morgan to track Burgoyne. Morgan's riflemen with the support of 300 New Hampshire light infantry engaged Burgoyne's center column at Freeman's Farm about a mile north of the American camp.
    The riflemen actually made too much ground against the British, so that they scattered when the British counterattacked with their bayonets. Colonel Morgan regrouped his men. The momentum swayed back and forth for three hours. Then the British began to give way under the fire of the larger American force. But German reinforcements arrived and attacked the right American flank. The Americans were now running low on ammunition, so they withdrew from the field. Though General Burgoyne had won the field, his advance had been halted.
    General Burgoyne now ordered his force to entrench around Freeman's Farm. He was waiting for Lt. General Sir Henry Clinton, who was supposedly preparing to leave New York City and march north to Albany. Burgoyne waited for three weeks, but Clinton did not come. Burgoyne was now once again low on supplies and facing an American army that was growing in numbers. He could wait no longer. He had to choose to either retreat or engage General Gates.

Bemis Heights:
    On October 7, Maj. General John Burgoyne sent a British force of 1,500 to test the American left flank. The Americans responded to the British movement with three columns under Colonel Daniel Morgan, Maj. General Ebenezer Learned, and Maj. General Enoch Poor, and attacked at about 3 P.M. The British line was repeatedly broken, but rallied again and again.
    After General Simon Fraser was mortally wounded trying to rally his men to cover a withdrawal, Maj. General Benedict Arnold rode onto the field. He and Maj. General Horatio Gates had earlier quarreled and had been relieved of command. However, he now led General Learned's column against the British center held by the German troops. The Germans joined the withdrawal.
    Within an hour of the beginning of the battle, the British were forced to fall back to their fortifications around Freeman's Farm. The Americans now believed that victory was theirs, but the British heavy entrenchments proved difficult to overwhelm. After failing to overrun one redoubt, General Arnold led the attack on another that was manned by Germans. Here, he succeeded, but received a wound in the leg.
    Fighting only ceased when darkness fell. The darkness had saved General Burgoyne from defeat. During the night, he left campfires burning and withdrew to a large redoubt. He had suffered 1,000 casualties to only 500 for the Americans. The following night he retreated to fortifications at Saratoga, New York, where the American force, which now numbered 20,000 surrounded the British force of 6,000.

Conclusion:
    Following his retreat on October 8, Maj. General John Burgoyne spent a week negotiating terms of surrender with Maj. General Horatio Gates. Finally on October 17, 1777, Burgoyne formally surrendered. Under the generous terms of the Convention of Saratoga, Burgoyne was allowed to march out of camp "with the Honors of War", which included retaining his colors and the return of his men to England. His 6,000 men marched out of their camp, surrendered their weapons and began their march west. However, when they reached New England, Gates' terms were not honored and the British soldiers spent months in sparse guarded camps.
    The effect of the victory was enormous. General Gates became known as the 'Hero of Saratoga'. The victory also gave the fledgling country much needed momentum. Not long after France learned of the victory, they declared war on Britain, finally officially joining the war. Spain soon did the same. The loss also further weakened the current British government under Lord North. It was the beginning of the end of the war for the British.

Recommended readings: (Click on link to purchase)

	Title: Saratoga : Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War || Author: Richard M. Ketchum || ISDN: 0-805-06123-1 || Released: May 1999
	Ketchum, who is the author or editor of several books on American wars, draws on an enormous range of sources, including diaries and letters by officers and common soldiers. The strength of Saratoga lies in his vivid descriptions of the rugged landscape and in his many arresting portraits of participants which make clear how personal rivalries affected the conduct of the war on both sides.

Title: The Generals of Saratoga : John Burgoyne & Horatio Gates || Author: Max M. Mintz || ISDN: 0-300-05261-8 || Released: August 1992

Relying on numerous primary sources as well as the standard accounts, Mintz succinctly chronicles the lives of John Burgoyne and Horatio Gates prior to the American Revolution. . . . The Generals of Saratoga is an excellent read and is a worthy contribution to the historiography of the American Revolution. In an age when few historians even attempt to write for a wide audience and at a time when the reading public has responded with a crashing disinterest toward what most scholars publish, it is heartening to discover a readable, professional assessment of a crucial event in the history of the American Revolution. . . . Mintz has pumped life into a well-known story and produced a volume that can be read for pleasure and edification by the general public and by serious students of history alike.

Title: For Want of a Nail : If Burgoyne Had Won at Saratoga || Author: Robert Sobel || ISDN: 1-853-67281-5 || Released: September 1997

This book is truly one of the most unique I have ever read, although I'm not sure that describing it as fiction properly serves the book or the reader. Of course, it is fiction, but if you're looking for characters and plot in the traditional sense, you won't find any. A more accurate description of this book would be as a text book of a history that never was. Sobel starts with the premise that Burgoyne won at Saratoga, thereby leaving our young republic still-born. He then proceeds to recount 200 years of "history" of the Commonwealth of North America and its rival, the United States of Mexico. The depth into which he delves is nothing short of astonishing, and the rigor he imposes on the work is equally amazing. As one might guess, I enjoyed this book immensely, but it's not a book I would recommend broadly. If you are not a reader of serious history, it is pretty much assured that you will not enjoy this book. It strives for accuracy and reality in a way that is refreshing, but which could easily overwhelm the unprepared, or unmotivated reader.

**Notes
Click here to read a Hessian soldier's account of the battle.
Click here to read an account from a British historian in 1851.

**Battle Map 1

**Battle Map 2

**Battle Map 3