The battle of Saratoga was a defining moment in the revolutionary war. During the winter of 1776 to 1777, the government in Great Britain and its military created a plan to send any significant force down Lake Champlain. This course was designed to strike deep into the heart of the rebelling American Colonies. The goal was to isolate New England from the rest of the Colonies. To a large extent, this battle decided the fate of the American Colonies (perhaps even more so than Yorktown). Following the defeat of the British and Canadian forces at Saratoga, both the French and the Spanish began delaying the aid to the American Colonies, which helped to turn the tide.
It might have been more sensible for the government to appoint Guy Carleton, the governor of Canada, to lead this offensive, especially given his preexisting experience and successful defense of Canada during the previous year. However, King George the third was persuaded to appoint General John Burgoyne (Gentleman Johnnie) to the command. He had been Carleton’s second in command during the Canadian campaign and had used his political influences and connections to lobby for this new command.
The plan was that significant reinforcements made up of British and Brunswick forces would be sent to Canada. Burgoyne’s goal was to move the best regiments among his forces through late champagne, take fort Ticonderoga from the Americans and then move on to the Hudson River. The intention was that these forces would meet up under a second force under the command of Major General Clinton, who would travel from New York in the opposite direction up the Hudson River to join forces with Burgoyne and his army. However, miscommunications resulted in a failure to send orders to this back to General Howell, who was the overall commander of British forces in the area around New York. As a consequence, General Howe made entirely different plans to attack Pennsylvania an attempt to capture Philadelphia.
Without knowing this, Burgoyne move from the Saint Lawrence River south to Lake Champlain in late June. He reached for Ticonderoga at the beginning of July. As the English forces came and, the American commander at the fort withdrew his forces. At the same time, Colonel St Leger led a British diversionary force on a raid down along the Mohawk River. By the 10th of July, Burgoyne had arrived at Skenesboro. Once there it it focused on creating a road running from north to south to carry supplies.
At this point, the American Commander General Schuyler went through this forces to a position just 30 miles above Albany, near a town called Stillwater. They also made an effort to gather together the New England militia and carried out a scorched earth policy in an attempt to slow down the British advance into the area. Because of the need for further supplies and horses, Colonel Baum and 500 men were sent by Burgoyne on a quick raid of the town of Bennington in New Hampshire. And the same time, Burgoyne relocated his own army further down the Hudson River close to Saratoga. Here he constructed a substantial fortification.
Colonel Baum and his forces were attacked and defeated by the Americans. A force sent to reinforce and relieve Colonel Baum was defeated and driven back. Meanwhile, St Leger faced stiff resistance from the forces of Benedict Arnold which compelled him to discontinue his advance down the Mohawk. As a result of these setbacks, Burgoyne was placed in a very difficult position. The local militia had risen in sizable numbers, and his forces were extremely short on supplies and food. His standing orders left him few options, since he could not retreat or move to the east. As a consequence, when he had gathered to sufficient supplies his forces continued the advance.
Burgoyne’s forces were deployed in preparation for the attack. Frazier was on the right, while Riedesel began moving four along the river. The battle at this early stage took place near freeman’s farm and was extremely hard fought. However, by the end of the day the British were in control of the area. The following day Burgoyne was urged by several of his officers to launch a new attack on the Americans. It may be that if he had done so, you could have achieved a great victory because of the disorder among the American forces caused by the difficult fighting on the previous day. While he considered this, Burgoyne ultimately decided to remain camped next to the Hudson River.
And about the same time, Burgoyne was informed that American forces had intercepted some of his supplies coming across Lake George. This news was so disheartening, that he considered abandon the entire campaign and retreating to Fort Ticonderoga. However, intelligence telling him that General Clinton was moving up to join with him convinced him to remain in place.
Pickets out in front of the American forces sent back word to the American commanders that the British were advancing. British forces formed up close to the old freeman’s farm battlefield, taking a position in a large wheat field. A force made up of Morgan’s rifleman were sent in to face the attack, and were supported by other elements of Benedict Arnolds division. The British forces were quickly driven back by the vastly superior numbers of the Americans attacking them.
At the height of the battle, one of Morgan’s rifleman mortally wounded British brigadier Fraser. American General Arnold, who had driven the Americans to continue the attack was also seriously wounded. Finally, the British and German troops gave way before the advancing Americans. After the fortification that had been held by colonel Breymann and his men was overrun, Burgoyne decided to withdraw this force back to his fortified position along the Hudson River.
The following day Burgoyne moved again, repositioning his army further up the river at Saratoga. American forces pursued him and surrounded the British. Burgoyne might have been able to escape north to Ticonderoga, but he kept believing that Clinton’s army would eventually show up and reinforce him. This reflects the major weakness that the British had during the entire campaign, which was a major failure of communication between the two primary forces, Burgoyne’s and Clinton’s. Although messages were sent from both armies, almost all of them were captured by the Americans before they could deliver their messages.
Burgoyne held out until October 17, when it was finally forced to surrender to General Gates, who by this point had almost 20,000 men. The end result of this battle was a terrible defeat for the British and a rousing victory for the Americans. Half of the 7000 British and German troops who marched from Canada were either dead, sick or wounded by the time of the surrender.
The victory at Saratoga had wider implications for the Americans than just the defeat of these 7000 British troops. Prior to this, the fortunes of the American forces had been fairly bleak, with victories being small and rare. This had made it difficult to get support from other countries. However, with the defeat of Burgoyne and his forces at Saratoga, European powers who were adversaries of the British finally began to commit to help lead the Americans in their revolution.
Not only did the French and then the Spanish begin to give supplies and material support to the Americans, but they ultimately joined in the war against Britain. The French supplied French troops to fight on American soil, while the French navy helped the fledgling American navy take all of them might of the Royal Navy.
References
Allen, Thomas B. 2013. "From Bennington, 1777." Military History 30, no. 3: 21.
Lefkowitz, Arthur S. 2003. "Chapter Four: The Defense of Philadelphia January-October 1777." In George Washington's Indispensable Men, 95-131. US: Stackpole Books, 2003.
Loiselle, Brett. "The Battles of Saratoga." Battles Of Saratoga (September 2009): 1-2.
Norman, Geoffrey. 2007. "Big Win At Saratoga." Military History 24, no. 7: 26-35.
Weddle, Kevin J. 2013. "A Change of Both Men and Measures": British Reassessment of Military Strategy after Saratoga, 1777-1778." Journal Of Military History 77, no. 3: 837-865
