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The Battle Of Saratoga

The Battle of Freeman's Farm, the First Battle of Saratoga, was an indecisive battle fought 19 September 1777. The Battle of Bemis Heights was the second battle of Saratoga, taking place October 7th.

On July first of 1777 the able, affable “Gentleman johnny” Burgoyne set out from Crown Point on Lake Champlain with his competent Hessian ally, Baron Friedrich von Riedesel, thereby opening a campaign that he had wagered would see him home victorious by Christmas. Burgoyne’s plan was to bisect the colonies; Colonel Barry St. Leger would move east through the Mohawk Valley with seventeen hundred men, Howe would march north from New York, and Burgoyne would take his ninety-five hundred troops south to Albany, where he would meet with Howe and St. Leger. But it was not to be. St. Leger, laying siege to Fort Stanwix in the Mohawk Valley, was discouraged by rumors that Benedict Arnold was pounding north with reinforcements to relieve the fort. His Indian allies panicked, and St. Leger was driven out of the campaign. Howe, committed to taking Philadelphia, never started north at all.

General John Burgoyne, British Army: No possibility of communication with your lordship [George Germain] having existed since the beginning of September … I have to report to your lordship the proceedings of the army under my command from that period; a series of hard toil, incessant effort, stubborn action; till disabled in the collateral branches of the army by the total defection of the Indians; the desertion or timidity of the Canadians and Provincials, some individuals excepted; disappointed in the last hope of any timely co-operation from other armies; the regular troops reduced by losses from the best part to three thousand five hundred fighting men, not two thousand of which were British; only three days’ provisions upon short allowance in store … I was induced to open a treaty with Major-general Gates. … [On September 18] The enemy appeared in considerable force to … draw on an action where artillery could not be employed … Captain Benjamin Warren, Continental Army: Friday 19th. Received intelligence that the enemy was nigh. … About two o’clock the action began on our left, between their advanced guard and Capt. Morgan’s, who was a flanking party; he beat them back to the main body. … The engagement began again at 25 minutes after three o’clock with great spirit on both sides, we beat them back three times and they reinforced and recovered their ground again, till after sunset without any intermission when both parties retired and left the field … General Burgoyne: It was soon found that no fruits (honor excepted) were attained by the preceding victory, the enemy working with redoubled ardor to strengthen their left; their right was already unattackable. On our side it became expedient to erect strong redoubts. … In this situation things continued till the seventh, when … it was judged advisable to make a movement to the enemy’s left… Ebenezer Mattoon, Continental Army: Gen. [Benjamin] Lincoln says, “Gen. Gates, the firing at the river is merely a feint; their object is your left. …” Gates replied, “I will send Morgan with his riflemen, and [Major Henry] Dearborn’s infantry.” Arnold says, “That is nothing; you must send a strong force.” Gates replied, “Gen. Arnold, I have nothing for you to do; you have no business here.” Arnold’s reply was reproachful and severe. Gen. Lincoln says, “You must send a strong force to support Morgan and Dearborn, at least three regiments.” Two regiments … were then ordered to that station and to defend it at all hazards. … We then advanced into the line of infantry. … During this time, a tremendous firing was heard on our left. We poured in upon them our canister shot as fast as possible, and the whole line, from left to right, became engaged. … Col. Johnson’s regiment, coming up, threw in a heavy fire and compelled the Hessians to retreat. Upon this we advanced with a shout of victory. … We were met by a fire from the British infantry. … They advanced with a quick step, firing as they came on. We returned them a brisk fire of canister shot, not allowing ourselves time even to sponge our pieces. … At this juncture Arnold came up with a part of Brooks’s regiment, and gave them a most deadly fire, which soon caused them to face about and retreat with a quicker step than they advanced. The firing had now principally ceased on our left, but was brisk in front and on the right. At this moment Arnold says to Col. Brooks (late governor of Massachusetts), “Let us attack Balcarras’s works.” Brooks replied, “No. Lord Auckland’s detachment has retired there, we can’t carry them.” “Well, then, let us attack the Hessian lines.” Brooks replies, “With all my heart.” We all wheeled to the right and advanced. No fire was received, except from the cannon, until we got within about eight rods, when we received a tremendous fire from the whole line. … Still advancing, we received a second fire, in which a few men fell, and Cen. Arnold’s horse fell under him, and he himself was wounded. He cried out, “Rush on, my brave boys!” After receiving the third fire, Brooks mounted their works, swung his sword, and the men rushed into their works. … Captain Georg Pausch, Hessian forces: … Two of my men had been shot dead; three or four were wounded; a number had straggled off, and all of the infantry … either gone to the devil or run away. … Seeing that all was irretrievably lost, and that it was impossible to save anything, I called to the few remaining men to save themselves. … Lieutenant Thomas Anburey, British Army: After waiting the whole of the 13th day of October in anxious expectation of what it would produce … a council of war was called, to which all the Generals, Field-officers and commanding officers of corps were summoned, when it was unanimously agreed that in the present circumstances we could do no other than treat with the enemy.

Still, Burgoyne did well enough at first. On July 6 he took Fort Ticonderoga without a fight. Then, rather than continue his advance to the upper reaches of the Hudson by way of Lake George, he inexplicably plunged into the dense wilderness south of the fort. It took nearly a month to build a road through the woods, and the task so sapped British supplies that Burgoyne was forced to send most of his left wing to Bennington to replenish his stores. There the contingent was set upon and destroyed by militia under John Stark.

Faced with mounting disaster and the knowledge now that there would be no help from Howe, Burgoyne decided nonetheless to push on to Albany. He was some thirty miles north of his goal on September 19 when his army, ragged and dispirited and now only six thousand strong, came up against an American force of roughly the same size under Major General Horatio Gates. Gates was a vainglorious and uninspired commander, but he had some good men under him, among them Colonel Daniel Morgan and his riflemen. These boys struck the first blow against Burgoyne’s regiments as the British advanced into lands cleared by a farmer named Freeman. The rough, wearing battle that ensued cost the British more than six hundred men before von Riedesel swept down from the east and saved them from total destruction. Burgoyne dug in and waited for reinforcements that never came while British morale was chipped away by constant American raids. At last, on October 7, Burgoyne made his final cast at victory. Fifteen hundred men left their trenches and formed into battle order under a cloudless autumn sky. They were hit on the left by tough New Hampshiremen under Enoch Poor and on the right by Dan Morgan’s riflemen. The British units began to disintegrate and then fled back to a pair of redoubts that had been prepared while Burgoyne waited for reinforcements. This might have been the end of the fight but for an extraordinary display of personal courage by Benedict Arnold. A sulky Gates had relieved him of command after a squabble some weeks before, but Arnold, with no authority save boldness, rushed into the fight and led an attack against the redoubt on the American right. When this was checked, he galloped across the entire front, rallied Ebenezer Learned’s Massachusetts brigade, took two stockaded log cabins between the redoubts, and went on to capture, at the cost of a ball in the leg, the other redoubt. Gates never went near the battlefield.

Burgoyne withdrew to a place called Saratoga, dogged by a force now three times his strength. He waited four days; then Stark blocked his last possible escape route. On October 14 Burgoyne asked Gates for terms of surrender. The import of this momentous victory was not lost on the watchers overseas. Less than four months after Burgoyne surrendered, France cast in her lot with the fledgling American republic.

Three days of negotiations resulted in the "convention" of Saratoga, as the surrender was called. By this agreement the British army was to march out with the honors of war, stack their arms, and go under guard to Boston, thence taking ship to England, after promising to serve no more in the American war. There was no attempt to humiliate the British troops as they laid down their arms, and every courtesy was shown them by the rank and file as well as by the officers of the American army. Congress, however, wrangled with Burgoyne over the carrying out of the terms of the convention, and ended by disgracefully breaking the public faith and never permitting the return of the British troops. Some of them escaped, while many were assimilated among the American people.

While Burgoyne was losing an army, Howe was paying dearly for the possession of the "rebel capital." The result in America of Burgoyne's surrender was, as a contemporary wrote, that "Rebellion, which a twelvemonth ago was really a contemptible pygmy, is now in appearance become a giant more dreadful to the minds of men than Polyphemus of old or the sons of Anak."

The Battle of Saratoga is recognized as one of the fifteen most decisive battles in world history, and is considered the turning point of the American Revolution. This victory in the fall of 1777 led directly to France’s recognition of the independence of the United States, as well as entry into the war as a decisive military ally of the struggling Americans.

The Americans had sent a mission to France near the beginning of the Revolution and it had borne little fruit. The French, having been ousted from North America by these same Americans and their then British benefactors, were eager to twist the British lions tail. But at first they were wary of these upstart Americans. The thought, not unreasonably, was that if the French were to back the Americans openly, and the Americans were to for some reason end the Revolution, then Britain would turn and attack France. So at first France sent supplies to aid the Americans. Never on French ships so as to distance themselves from what was an act of war. For the guns and powder the Americans sent back tobacco. Ben Franklin exploded on the Paris scene. He was seen as Rousseau’s “natural man”. No matter that Franklin- editor, scientist, inventor, author, diplomat and “Immoral Moralist” - was every bit as sophisticated as the decadent French aristocracy and as shrewd, devious and subtle as the French diplomats he would be dealing with. As Burgoyne began his campaign, American stock on the Paris market dried up. Shipments of supplies halted. Then came Bennington, Bemis Heights and Saratoga. At Saratoga, the Americans won not a battle but an alliance with France. (and quietly with Spain also) The Treaty was kept quiet until March 1778 because the Spanish Gold Ships had not yet arrived from the New World.

The American victory at Saratoga persuaded the French to offer an alliance—founded on their desire for revenge and Franklin's brilliant diplomacy—that turned the American rebellion into a much wider war. France had been supplying the Americans with arms from the beginning of hostilities. After Saratoga, England feared an open alliance between France and America and proposed peace. Parliament offered to repeal all acts passed since 1763, to respect the right of Americans to tax themselves, and to withdraw all English troops. The Americans, however, preferred full independence and allied themselves with France in 1778. The French recognized American independence December 1777. In January 1778 French Minister Vergennes offered to enter into two treaties with the United States, military and commercial.

Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne Burgoyne, a theatrical British General, was more interested in his social status, gambling and writing plays than he was in politics. Prior to the Revolution, Burgoyne had no desire to see Britain take action against the colonies. However, he was determined to make a name for himself, and given his military background, fighting in a war seemed like the way to do so. His first tour of service was fairly successful. In 1777, he forced Americans to retreat from Canada, and the retreat was held for the remainder of the war. After this accomplishment, he returned to England and resumed his position in Parliament. Back in Britain, he devised a plan to attack New England on three fronts and isolate them from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne returned to America to implement his plan, marching south from Canada towards New York. The start of the campaign met with easy successes. However, his arrogance and choice of a slow land route turned on him. When the confident Burgoyne arrived in a settlement, he would loudly invite Americans to join the British cause. The invitations had the opposite effect. They cemented American opposition to his army and triggered pockets of military resistance that challenged Burgoyne throughout the march. In addition to local resisters, the General was being slowed down by an excessive amount of baggage. He had insisted on dragging heavy luxury items, like cases of champagne, through the thick New York woods. His mile-long train of carts, pulled by pack animals were almost impossible to maneuver through such dense wilderness. The opposition and slow route allowed American General Major Horatio Gates to effectively corner Burgoyne. With few useful supplies and no reinforcements on the way, Burgoyne either needed to fight Gates’ army or starve his own troops. He chose battle and was forced to surrender at Saratoga. The American victory was a crucial success for the colonies – a turning point in the war that helped convince the French to support the American cause. Defeated and embarrassed, Burgoyne returned to England. He held one more government office before the end of his life, but never truly regained his political stature. Instead, his later years were devoted to writing literature, which culminated in the successful publication of his play, The Heiress, in 1786.“League of Armed Neutrality.” Great Britain was, in effect, fighting the entire western world.

Meanwhile Spain decided to join the fight against Great Britain but did not recognize the American minister to Spain, John Jay. Jay failed to gain Spanish recognition of independence, but did manage to borrow small amount of money. Spain was anxious to recoup some of her holdings in North America, which in fact did occur: Florida was returned to Spain during the peace negotiations in 1783.

Arnold and Morgan were the fire and sword of the American effort at the second battle of Saratoga. On the British side there was only one. Their catalyst was General Simon Fraser, a truly outstanding officer and man. It was General Fraser who rallied the British forces and who was bringing order out of chaos when Arnold spotted his actions. Arnold told Morgan that Fraser had to be eliminated. Morgan called his men together and gave orders to a file of his best marksmen: "That gallant officer is General Fraser. I admire and honor him, but it is necessary that he should die; victory for the enemy depends on him. Take your stations in that clump of bushes, and do your duty."

Timothy Murphy one of Morgan's sharpshooters mortally wounded Fraser a few minutes later. If the loss of General Fraser was not enough three thousand fresh New York Militia appeared on the field at which the ensuing British retreat became a general rout. Arnold followed up the British retreat by first leading an assault on the British Balcarres redoubt. In this he was unsuccessful, it being too heavily defended. Then he spied another opportunity and led a successful coordinated attack on the nearby Breymann's redoubt. According to contemporaneous accounts Arnold in the lead, still mounted on the black charger, leapt the wall followed by his men who breached the gate. Here he was shot in the leg below the knee, the bullet passed into his horse which collapsed and broke his leg. Arnold's last official battlefield command was that his men should spare the German who fired the shot. It again was his left leg, the same leg in which he had received the wound in Quebec.

Arnold was also the only officer to answer General Schuyler's call for a volunteer at a crisis point when Burgoyne's advance from the north coincided with a deadly threat to Albany from the east by St. Ledger. Arnold accomplished this relief through subterfuge and without loss to his men and against a superior force. Returning from his success at Fort Stanwick, Arnold was one of the two major players who convinced his new Commander, General Gates, to reposition his army in a more appropriate defensive position and then selected it for him.

At the first battle of Saratoga, Arnold was the General on the field who brought in the victory. Again it was Arnold who having been relieved of command, effectively assumed leadership of the American army in the field and once again brought it victory. Gates, the American commander, was in his usual position two miles to the rear. While Gates sat out the battle, Arnold's leadership led to the destruction of the most significant force the British had yet fielded in North America.

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