Early in 1777 the British High Command devised a master plan to end the American Revolutionary War. General John Burgoyne would march south from Quebec with an army of 7,000 British regulars at the same time that General William Howe marched north with an army from New York City. Their mission: to gain control of the Hudson River valley, seize rebel forts along the way, and cut off the New England states from those to the south.
Early Victory: Fort Ticonderoga
Despite a slow-moving wagon train -- Burgoyne saw fit to travel through the harsh wilderness with champagne and china, and wives and mistresses for his officers -- the British arrived at Fort Ticonderoga on the south end of Lake Champlain in June 1777. Built originally by the French during the Seven Years' War, it had been captured by the British and held by them until 1775, when it fell to the Green Mountain Boys under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Burgoyne's army took position in the heights around the fort and threatened the garrison within. The garrison withdrew, leaving the fort again in British hands.
Burgoyne set off south again, only to learn that General Howe had decided not to march north, rather to sail south to the social graces of Philadelphia. There would be no meeting of British armies in upper New York State. Burgoyne was on his own.
Horatio Gates vs. Benedict Arnold
Leading the Continental Army's Northern Division was General Horatio Gates, a former British soldier who had fought in America during the French and Indian War. Gates assumed command from General Philip Schuyler after the fall of Fort Ticonderoga. Aware that British general William Howe was preparing to advance, General Washington sent Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, his most aggressive field commander, and Colonel Daniel Morgan to reinforce Gates. It was a fateful decision. Gates and Arnold could not agree on military strategy, nor did they much like each other. Arnold held Gates in open distain, and Gates was furious that Arnold chose staff officers loyal to General Schuyler.
The Battles of Saratoga
On his march south, Burgoyne was having a hard time fighting mosquitoes and rugged terrain, and savaged by the frontier tactics of the Americans. By the time his army crossed the Hudson River on September 18, and approached the American defenses concentrated at a place called Freeman's Farm, his soldiers were tired and hungry. Nonetheless, Burgoyne ordered them to advance in three columns. The ensuing battle -- or series of skirmishes -- ended essentially in a draw. Burgoyne had lost nearly 600 men, many of them officers picked off by Morgan's sharpshooters. American losses totaled half that number.
There came a lull in the action as both sides settled in to lick their wounds and Burgoyne waited for reinforcements from General Henry Clinton in New York. As September turned into October, it became clear that Clinton was not coming. Burgoyne's officers favored a retreat, but Burgoyne would not agree to such a shameful act. On October 7 he ordered 2,000 soldiers an attack on the American left flank, while the bulk of his army assaulted the main American force at Bemis Heights. By this time the Continentals had nearly 12,000 soldiers.
Although Gates had ordered the removal of Arnold from field command, Arnold ignored the order and led his troops against two British redoubts anchoring the British position. His bravery in the heat of battle (he was carried off the field in a litter after his horse was shot out from under him), coupled with Morgan's outflanking maneuvers, led to the capture of the redoubts and the defeat of the British army.
The Continentals had won a decisive victory, and that victory convinced King Louis XVI and his chevaliers that it was time for France to enter the war against her ancient enemy, England.
Sources:
Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War by Richard Ketchum, Holt Paperbacks, May 1999
A Guide to the Battles of the Revolution by Theodore Savas, Savas Beatie, August 2006
