Saratoga campaign

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Saratoga, battle of (1777), the key engagement of the American independence war. It consisted of two engagements: a British attack on American positions on 19 September, and an assault on Bemis Heights on 7 October. Lt Gen ‘Gentleman Johnny’ Burgoyne was marching down the trackless wastes of the Hudson valley from Canada in an abortive attempt to link up with Sir Henry Clinton's forces marching north from New York. This strategy was an attempt to split the economic base of New England from the seat of the rebel Congress in Philadelphia, along the axis of the Hudson. It was a bold and ambitious plan that took no account of the terrain or local conditions.

Burgoyne found his way barred by American forces at Bemis Heights, and the British came under a harassing attack at Freeman's Farm on 19 September. They withdrew in some disorder to construct a fortified camp and await developments. When the prospects of relief by Clinton faded, Burgoyne ordered a major assault on the American position on the heights on 7 October, but this attack was repulsed. On the 17th, surrounded and outnumbered, he capitulated. The defeat handed the strategic initiative to the Americans in the region and strengthened the embassy of Lafayette, which helped to bring about the entry of France into the war, which in turn sealed the fate of the British effort in North America.

— Toby McLeod

The plan to isolate rebellious New England, adopted by British secretary of state for the colonies George Germain midway into the Revolutionary War, stipulated a Lake Champlain–Hudson River campaign under Gen. John Burgoyne and a sweep through Lake Ontario under Lt. Col. Barry St. Leger, both to join, at Albany, with Gen. William Howe's army, advancing north from New York City. Burgoyne's army included 4,135 British regulars, Friedrich von Riedesel's 3,116 Germans, and large numbers of authorized “camp followers.” Approximately 500 Indians and 500 French Canadian militia also accompanied the expedition, but most soon departed. Fort Ticonderoga fell to Burgoyne when its commander, Arthur St.Clair, left it unprotected against artillery fire from southwest Sugar Loaf Hill and northwest Mount Hope. The Americans escaped across the lake.

Burgoyne, running short of food, sent a detachment of Germans under Lt. Col. Friedrich Baum to Bennington, Vermont, for supplies; there they were routed by John Stark's militia on 16 August 1777. Howe, meanwhile, sailed for Philadelphia instead of Albany, and St. Leger's army of loyalists and Indians, although victorious at Oriskany, 6 August, withdrew to Canada. Burgoyne, instead of turning back, declared his orders mandatory and crossed the Hudson; this effectively severed his Canadian supply line.

Horatio Gates, as commander of the 10,277 American troops, replaced Philip Schuyler, who was blamed for the loss of Ticonderoga. At Freeman's Farm, 19 September, Burgoyne's three‐pronged attack was stalled by Col. Daniel Morgan's riflemen and thrown back by a charge under Gen. Benedict Arnold. British losses were 566, American 313. At Bemis Heights, 7 October, Burgoyne's 1,723‐man spearhead was repulsed by an unauthorized but successful attack led by Arnold, who was wounded in the leg. British losses were 631, American 130.

Gen. Henry Clinton, Howe's successor in command at New York, declined to send reinforcements, and Burgoyne had waited too long to turn back. He retreated to Saratoga, and on 17 October surrendered his force of 5,895 men. The defeat of a major army led the British government to restrict operations to the southern coast. More important, the American success at Saratoga led France to sign the France‐American Alliance and provide the forces that ultimately helped win the Revolutionary War.

[See also Militia and National Guard; Revolutionary War: Military and Diplomatic Course.]

Bibliography

• Hoffman Nickerson, The Turning Point of the American Revolution, 1928; repr. 1967.
• Max M. Mintz, The Generals of Saratoga, 1990.
• Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, 1997

Two battles of the Revolutionary War, in September and October of 1777, in which American forces under Gen. Benedict Arnold defeated British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne. The American victories led France to sign the Alliance with the United States and provide the forces that ultimately helped win the war.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Stung by their inability to end the American rebellion in 1776, the British government ordered an invasion of the colonies from Canada, meant to surgically separate New England from the other colonies. Unfortunately, General Sir William Howe, insistent on invading Pennsylvania from his base in New York, left the army sent from Canada, under General John Burgoyne, unsupported as it marched south. Marching out of Quebec in July 1777, Burgoyne's 9,000 men faced the enormous problems inherent in a 350-mile march: river crossings, hostile Indians, and poor support from French Canadians, as well as transporting an overloaded baggage train and heavy artillery. Although he displaced the Americans from Fort Ticonderoga, Burgoyne delayed en route to the Hudson River in order to gather supplies, allowing the rebels time to place obstacles along the route and plan an attack, which came when a detachment under Lieutenant Colonel Friederich Baum was defeated by rebels while on a foraging mission in Bennington, Vermont.

Advancing towards Albany, New York, Burgoyne learned that an American army under Horatio Gates had entrenched itself at Bemis Heights, also called Freeman's Farm, and had approximately the same number of men (5,500) as himself. The first battle of Saratoga, fought on 19 September 1777, began when Burgoyne ordered his army to attack the American fortifications. While Gates kept his troops behind their entrenchments, his more flamboyant second in command, Benedict Arnold, sent his left wing to fight in the woods in front of the entrenchments. The battle ended in a curious situation—although the British held the field, they had lost 600 men, while the Americans, unable to advance against the artillery commanded by Hessian General Friederich Riedesel, retreated to their fortifications on Bemis Heights and gathered more men and supplies.

Eighteen days later, while Gates waited for the British to weaken through lack of supplies and attrition from sniping, Burgoyne waited with increasing desperation for help from General Sir Henry Clinton in New York. Reaching the end of his patience on 7 October, Burgoyne sent out a reconnaissance force of 1,500 men to push the left wing of the American fortifications on Bemis Heights. Attacked by the Americans under the command of Arnold, who had been relieved of command after arguing with Gates, Burgoyne's men were routed. Burgoyne began a costly retreat back to Canada, but was surrounded by Gates's army on 12 October and compelled to negotiate a surrender.

These battles, later collectively known as Saratoga, were a major turning point in the Revolutionary War. The capture of a British army raised morale at a time when George Washington's army had been defeated by Howe in Pennsylvania. When news reached Europe, the American victory encouraged open French and Spanish aid to the rebels. The campaign also sparked the differences between Arnold and the American command, which were later to lead to his defection to the British. On the British side, the defeat led to the replacement of Howe with Clinton, and after the loss of so many men and resources, the British turned increasingly to the Royal Navy to press their advantage on the American coastline, particularly in the southern colonies.

Bibliography

Elting, John R. The Battles of Saratoga. Monmouth Beach, N.J.: Philip Freneau Press, 1977.

Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War. New York: Holt, 1997.

Mintz, Max M. The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne and Horatio Gates. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990.

A major battle of the Revolutionary War, fought in 1777 in northern New York state. Benedict Arnold, who had not yet turned traitor, was a leader of the American offensive, which forced the surrender of British troops under General John Burgoyne.