Battle of Saratoga

American History1. Native American Society on the Eve of British Colonization  a. Diversity of Native American Groups  b. The Anasazi  c. The Algonkian Tribes  d. The Iroquois Tribes2. Britain in the New World  a. Early Ventures Fail  b. Joint-Stock Companies  c. Jamestown Settlement and the "Starving Time"  d. The Growth of the Tobacco Trade  e. War and Peace with Powhatan's People  f. The House of Burgesses3. The New England Colonies  a. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony  b. William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving  c. Massachusetts Bay — "The City Upon a Hill"  d. Puritan Life  e. Dissent in Massachusetts Bay  f. Reaching to Connecticut  g. Witchcraft in Salem4. The Middle Colonies  a. New Netherland to New York  b. Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey  c. City of Brotherly Love — Philadelphia  d. The Ideas of Benjamin Franklin5. The Southern Colonies  a. Maryland — The Catholic Experiment  b. Indentured Servants  c. Creating the Carolinas  d. Debtors in Georgia  e. Life in the Plantation South6. African Americans in the British New World  a. West African Society at the Point of European Contact  b. "The Middle Passage"  c. The Growth of Slavery  d. Slave Life on the Farm and in the Town  e. Free African Americans in the Colonial Era  f. "Slave Codes"  g. A New African-American Culture7. The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking  a. The Impact of Enlightenment in Europe  b. The Great Awakening  c. The Trial of John Peter Zenger  d. Smuggling  e. A Tradition of Rebellion  f. "What Is the American?"8. America's Place in the Global Struggle  a. New France  b. The French and Indian War  c. George Washington's Background and Experience  d. The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its Impact9. The Events Leading to Independence  a. The Royal Proclamation of 1763  b. The Stamp Act Controversy  c. The Boston Patriots  d. The Townshend Acts  e. The Boston Massacre  f. The Tea Act and Tea Parties  g. The Intolerable Acts10. E Pluribus Unum  a. Stamp Act Congress  b. Sons and Daughters of Liberty  c. Committees of Correspondence  d. First Continental Congress  e. Second Continental Congress  f. Thomas Paine's Common Sense  g. The Declaration of Independence11. The American Revolution  a. American and British Strengths and Weaknesses  b. Loyalists, Fence-sitters, and Patriots  c. Lexington and Concord  d. Bunker Hill  e. The Revolution on the Home Front  f. Washington at Valley Forge  g. The Battle of Saratoga  h. The French Alliance  i. Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris12. Societal Impacts of the American Revolution  a. The Impact of Slavery  b. A Revolution in Social Law  c. Political Experience  d. "Republican Motherhood"13. When Does the Revolution End?  a. The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy  b. The War Experience: Soldiers, Officers, and Civilians  c. The Loyalists  d. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Slavery  e. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women  f. Revolutionary Limits: Native Americans  g. Revolutionary Achievement: Yeomen and Artisans  h. The Age of Atlantic Revolutions14. Making Rules  a. State Constitutions  b. Articles of Confederation  c. Evaluating the Congress  d. The Economic Crisis of the 1780s15. Drafting the Constitution  a. Shays' Rebellion  b. A Cast of National Superstars  c. The Tough Issues  d. Constitution Through Compromise16. Ratifying the Constitution  a. Federalists  b. Antifederalists  c. The Ratification Process: State by State  d. After the Fact: Virginia, New York, and "The Federalist Papers"  e. The Antifederalists' Victory in Defeat17. George Washington  a. Growing up in Colonial Virginia  b. The Force of Personality and Military Command  c. The First Administration  d. Farewell Address  e. Mount Vernon and the Dilemma of a Revolutionary Slave Holder18. Unsettled Domestic Issues  a. The Bill of Rights  b. Hamilton's Financial Plan  c. Growing Opposition  d. U.S. Military Defeat; Indian Victory in the West  e. Native American Resilience and Violence in the West19. Politics in Transition: Public Conflict in the 1790s  a. Trans-Atlantic Crisis: The French Revolution  b. Negotiating with the Superpowers  c. Two Parties Emerge  d. The Adams Presidency  e. The Alien and Sedition Acts  f. The Life and Times of John Adams20. Jeffersonian America: A Second Revolution?  a. The Election of 1800  b. Jeffersonian Ideology  c. Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase  d. A New National Capital: Washington, D.C.  e. A Federalist Stronghold: John Marshall's Supreme Court  f. Gabriel's Rebellion: Another View of Virginia in 180021. The Expanding Republic and the War of 1812  a. The Importance of the West  b. Exploration: Lewis and Clark  c. Diplomatic Challenges in an Age of European War  d. Native American Resistance in the Trans-Appalachian West  e. The Second War for American Independence  f. Claiming Victory from Defeat22. Social Change and National Development  a. Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution  b. Cotton and African-American Life  c. Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening  d. Institutionalizing Religious Belief: The Benevolent Empire  e. New Roles for White Women  f. Early National Arts and Cultural Independence23. Politics and the New Nation  a. The Era of Good Feelings and the Two-Party System  b. The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man's Democracy  c. The Missouri Compromise  d. The 1824 Election and the "Corrupt Bargain"  e. John Quincy Adams  f. Jacksonian Democracy and Modern America24. The Age of Jackson  a. The Rise of the Common Man  b. A Strong Presidency  c. The South Carolina Nullification Controversy  d. The War Against the Bank  e. Jackson vs. Clay and Calhoun  f. The Trail of Tears — The Indian Removals25. The Rise of American Industry  a. The Canal Era  b. Early American Railroads  c. Inventors and Inventions  d. The First American Factories  e. The Emergence of "Women's Sphere"  f. Irish and German Immigration26. An Explosion of New Thought  a. Religious Revival  b. Experiments with Utopia  c. Women's Rights  d. Prison and Asylum Reform  e. Hudson River School Artists  f. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy27. The Peculiar Institution  a. The Crowning of King Cotton  b. Slave Life and Slave Codes  c. The Plantation & Chivalry  d. Free(?) African-Americans  e. Rebellions on and off the Plantation  f. The Southern Argument for Slavery28. Abolitionist Sentiment Grows  a. William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator  b. African-American Abolitionists  c. The Underground Railroad  d. Harriet Beecher Stowe — Uncle Tom's Cabin29. Manifest Destiny  a. The Lone Star Republic  b. 54° 40' or Fight  c. "American Blood on American Soil"  d. The Mexican-American War  e. Gold in California30. An Uneasy Peace  a. Wilmot's Proviso  b. Popular Sovereignty  c. Three Senatorial Giants: Clay, Calhoun and Webster  d. The Compromise of 185031. "Bloody Kansas"  a. The Kansas-Nebraska Act  b. Border Ruffians  c. The Sack of Lawrence  d. The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre  e. Canefight! Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner32. From Uneasy Peace to Bitter Conflict  a. The Dred Scott Decision  b. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates  c. John Brown's Raid  d. The Election of 1860  e. The South Secedes33. A House Divided  a. Fort Sumter  b. Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South  c. First Blood and Its Aftermath  d. Sacred Beliefs  e. Bloody Antietam  f. Of Generals and Soldiers  g. Gettysburg: High Watermark of the Confederacy  h. Northern Plans to End the War  i. The Road to Appomattox34. The War Behind the Lines  a. The Emancipation Proclamation  b. Wartime Diplomacy  c. The Northern Homefront  d. The Southern Homefront  e. The Election of 1864  f. The Assassination of the President35. Reconstruction  a. Presidential Reconstruction  b. Radical Reconstruction  c. A President Impeached  d. Rebuilding the Old Order36. The Gilded Age  a. Binding the Nation by Rail  b. The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller  c. The New Tycoons: Andrew Carnegie  d. The New Tycoons: J. Pierpont Morgan  e. New Attitudes Toward Wealth  f. Politics of the Gilded Age37. Organized Labor  a. The Great Upheaval  b. Labor vs. Management  c. Early National Organizations  d. American Federation of Labor  e. Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism38. From the Countryside to the City  a. The Glamour of American Cities  b. The Underside of Urban Life  c. The Rush of Immigrants  d. Corruption Runs Wild  e. Religious Revival: The "Social Gospel"  f. Artistic and Literary Trends39. New Dimensions in Everyday Life  a. Education  b. Sports and Leisure  c. Women in the Gilded Age  d. Victorian Values in a New Age  e. The Print Revolution40. Closing the Frontier  a. The Massacre at Sand Creek  b. Custer's Last Stand  c. The End of Resistance  d. Life on the Reservations  e. The Wounded Knee Massacre41. Western Folkways  a. The Mining Boom  b. The Ways of the Cowboy  c. Life on the Farm  d. The Growth of Populism  e. The Election of 189642. Progressivism Sweeps the Nation  a. Roots of the Movement  b. Muckrakers  c. Women's Suffrage at Last  d. Booker T. Washington  e. W. E. B. DuBois43. Progressives in the White House  a. Teddy Roosevelt: The Rough Rider in the White House  b. The Trust Buster  c. A Helping Hand for Labor  d. Preserving the Wilderness  e. Passing the Torch  f. The Election of 1912  g. Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom44. Seeking Empire  a. Early Stirrings  b. Hawaiian Annexation  c. "Remember the Maine!"  d. The Spanish-American War and Its Consequences  e. The Roosevelt Corollary and Latin America  f. Reaching to Asia  g. The Panama Canal45. America in the First World War  a. Farewell to Isolation  b. Over There  c. Over Here  d. The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations46. The Decade That Roared  a. The Age of the Automobile  b. The Fight Against "Demon Rum"  c. The Invention of the Teenager  d. Flappers  e. The Harlem Renaissance  f. A Consumer Economy  g. Radio Fever  h. Fads and Heroes47. Old Values vs. New Values  a. The Red Scare  b. The Monkey Trial  c. Intolerance  d. Books and Movies  e. Domestic and International Politics48. The Great Depression  a. The Market Crashes  b. Sinking Deeper and Deeper: 1929-33  c. The Bonus March  d. Hoover's Last Stand  e. Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression49. The New Deal  a. A Bank Holiday  b. Putting People Back to Work  c. The Farming Problem  d. Social Security  e. FDR's Alphabet Soup  f. Roosevelt's Critics  g. An Evaluation of the New Deal50. The Road to Pearl Harbor  a. 1930s Isolationism  b. Reactions to a Troubled World  c. War Breaks Out  d. The Arsenal of Democracy  e. Pearl Harbor51. America in the Second World War  a. Wartime Strategy  b. The American Homefront  c. D-Day and the German Surrender  d. War in the Pacific  e. Japanese-American Internment  f. The Manhattan Project  g. The Decision to Drop the Bomb52. Postwar Challenges  a. The Cold War Erupts  b. The United Nations  c. Containment and the Marshall Plan  d. The Berlin Airlift and NATO  e. The Korean War  f. Domestic Challenges53. The 1950s: Happy Days  a. McCarthyism  b. Suburban Growth  c. Land of Television  d. America Rocks and Rolls  e. The Cold War Continues  f. Voices against Conformity54. A New Civil Rights Movement  a. Separate No Longer?  b. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott  c. Showdown in Little Rock  d. The Sit-In Movement  e. Gains and Pains  f. Martin Luther King Jr.  g. The Long, Hot Summers  h. Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam  i. Black Power55. The Vietnam War  a. Early Involvement  b. Years of Escalation: 1965-68  c. The Tet Offensive  d. The Antiwar Movement  e. Years of Withdrawal56. Politics from Camelot to Watergate  a. The Election of 1960  b. Kennedy's New Frontier  c. Kennedy's Global Challenges  d. Kennedy Assassination  e. Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society"  f. 1968: Year of Unraveling  g. Triangular Diplomacy: U.S., USSR, and China57. Shaping a New America  a. Modern Feminism  b. The Fight for Reproductive Rights  c. The Equal Rights Amendment  d. Roe v. Wade and Its Impact  e. Environmental Reform  f. Others Demand Equality  g. Student Activism  h. Flower Power58. A Time of Malaise  a. Undoing a President  b. The Sickened Economy  c. Foreign Woes  d. Finding Oneself  e. The New Right59. The Reagan Years  a. "Morning in America"  b. Reaganomics  c. Foreign and Domestic Entanglements  d. Life in the 1980s  e. The End of the Cold War60. Toward a New Millennium  a. Operation Desert Storm  b. A Baby Boomer in the White House  c. Republicans vs. Democrats  d. Living in the Information Age  e. The End of the American Century

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11g. The Battle of Saratoga

British general John Burgoyne earned the nickname "Gentleman Johnny" for his love of leisure and his tendency to throw parties between battles. His surrender to American forces at the Battle of Saratoga marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War.The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the Revolutionary War.

The scope of the victory is made clear by a few key facts: On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops surrendered their arms. General John Burgoyne had lost 86 percent of his expeditionary force that had triumphantly marched into New York from Canada in the early summer of 1777.

Divide and Conquer
The divide-and-conquer strategy that Burgoyne presented to British ministers in London was to invade America from Canada by advancing down the Hudson Valley to Albany. There, he would be joined by other British troops under the command of Sir William Howe. Howe would be bringing his troops north from New Jersey and New York City.

Burgoyne believed that this bold stroke would not only isolate New England from the other American colonies, but achieve command of the Hudson River and demoralize Americans and their would-be allies, such as the French.


Some historians today are unsure if her death came at Native American hands or by other means, but the murder of Jane McCrea united Americans against the British and their Native American allies.In June 1777, Burgoyne's army of over 7,000 men (half of whom were British troops and the other half Hessian troops from Brunswick and Hesse-Hanau) departed from St. Johns on Lake Champlain, bound for Fort Ticonderoga, at the southern end of the lake.

As the army proceeded southward, Burgoyne drafted and had his men distribute a proclamation that, among other things, included the statement "I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my direction, and they amount to thousands," which implied that Britain's enemies would suffer attacks from Native Americans allied to the British.

More than any other act during the campaign, this threat and subsequent widely reported atrocities such as the scalping of Jane McCrea stiffened the resolve of the Americans to do whatever it took to assure that the threat did not become reality.


Instead of heading north to help Burgoyne fight the rebels in Saratoga, General Howe sailed south and embarked on a campaign to capture Philadelphia.Round One to the British
The American forces at Fort Ticonderoga recognized that once the British mounted artillery on high ground near the fort, Ticonderoga would be indefensible. A retreat from the Fort was ordered, and the Americans floated troops, cannon, and supplies across Lake Champlain to Mount Independence.

From there the army set out for Hubbardton where the British and German troops caught up with them and gave battle. Round one to the British.

Burgoyne continued his march towards Albany, but miles to the south a disturbing event occurred. Sir William Howe decided to attack the Rebel capital at Philadelphia rather than deploying his army to meet up with Burgoyne and cut off New England from the other Colonies. Meanwhile, as Burgoyne marched south, his supply lines from Canada were becoming longer and less reliable.





 I have the honor to inform your Lordship that the enemy [were] dislodged from Ticonderoga and Mount Independent, on the 6th instant, and were driven on the same day, beyond Skenesborough on the right, and the Humerton [Hubbardton] on the left with the loss of 128 pieces of cannon, all their armed vessels and bateaux, the greatest part of their baggage and ammunition, provision and military stores ...

– General John Burgoyne, letter to Lord George Germain (1777)

 



Bennington: "the compleatest Victory gain'd this War"

As Burgoyne and his troops marched down from Canada, the British managed to win several successful campaigns as well as infuriate the colonists. By the time the Burgoyne reached Saratoga, Americans had successfully rallied support to beat him.In early August, word came that a substantial supply depot at Bennington, Vermont, was alleged to be lightly guarded, and Burgoyne dispatched German troops to take the depot and return with the supplies. This time, however, stiff resistance was encountered, and American general John Stark surrounded and captured almost 500 German soldiers. One observer reported Bennington as "the compleatest Victory gain'd this War."

Burgoyne now realized, too late, that the Loyalists (Tories) who were supposed to have come to his aid by the hundreds had not appeared, and that his Native American allies were also undependable.

American general Schuyler proceed to burn supplies and crops in the line of Burgoyne's advance so that the British were forced to rely on their ever-longer and more and more unreliable supply line to Canada. On the American side, General Horatio Gates arrived in New York to take command of the American forces.

Battle of Freeman's Farm

Mask letters, invisible ink, and secret code are the tricks of the trade for any good spy. Loyalist Henry Clinton used a mask letter to communicate with Burgoyne.By mid-September, with the fall weather reminding Burgoyne that he could not winter where he was and needed to proceed rapidly toward Albany, the British army crossed the Hudson and headed for Saratoga.

On September 19 the two forces met at Freeman's Farm north of Albany. While the British were left as "masters of the field," they sustained heavy human losses. Years later, American Henry Dearborn expressed the sentiment that "we had something more at stake than fighting for six Pence pr Day."

Battle of Saratoga
In late September and during the first week of October 1777, Gate's American army was positioned between Burgoyne's army and Albany. On October 7, Burgoyne took the offensive. The troops crashed together south of the town of Saratoga, and Burgoyne's army was broken. In mop-up operations 86 percent of Burgoyne's command was captured.

The victory gave new life to the American cause at a critical time. Americans had just suffered a major setback the Battle of the Brandywine along with news of the fall of Philadelphia to the British.

One American soldier declared, "It was a glorious sight to see the haughty Brittons march out & surrender their arms to an army which but a little before they despised and called paltroons."

A stupendous American victory in October 1777, the success at Saratoga gave France the confidence in the American cause to enter the war as an American ally. Later American successes owed a great deal to French aid in the form of financial and military assistance.

A Word about Spies
Spies worked for both British and American armies. Secret messages and battle plans were passed in a variety of creative ways, including being sewn into buttons. Patriots and loyalists penned these secret letters either in code, with invisible ink, or as mask letters.

Here is an example of Loyalist Sir Henry Clinton's mask letter. The letter on the left is the mask letter with the secret message decoded; to the right is an excerpt of the full letter.




 Sir. W. Howe / is gone to the / Chesapeak bay with / the greatest part of the / army. I hear he is / landed but am not / certain. I am / left to command / here with / too small a force / to make any effectual / diversion in your favour. / I shall try something / at any rate. It may be of use / to you. I own to you I think / Sr W's move just at this time / the worst he could take. / Much joy on your success.

– Henry Clinton, letter to John Burgoyne (August 10, 1777)

 

 
 I shall try some thing certainly/ towards the close / of the year, not till then at any rate. It may be of use to inform you that / report says all yields to you. I own to you that I think the business will / quickly be over now. Sr. W's move just at this time has been capital. / Washingtons have been the worst he could take in every respect. / sincerely give you much joy on your success and am with / great Sincerity your [ ] / HC

– Henry Clinton, letter to John Burgoyne (August 10, 1777)   

 



Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold is best remembered as a traitor; an American patriot who spied for the British during the American Revolution. But there is more to his story than this sad event.

Arnold was a fierce patriot during the Stamp Act crisis and the early years of the American Revolution. During the battles of Lexington and Concord, Arnold worked with Ethan Allen to capture Fort Ticonderoga and was named a colonel.

As a member of George Washington's Continental Army, he led a failed attack on Quebec, but was nonetheless named brigadier general in 1776.

His next big moment came at the Battle of Saratoga. Here, Benedict Arnold was instrumental in stopping the advance of the British and in obtaining the surrender of British General John Burgoyne.

During the Battle of Freeman's Farm, Arnold's leg was severely wounded when pinned beneath his horse. (Both Arnold and his leg survived, there is a monument to his leg at Saratoga National Historic Park.)

Over the next two years, Benedict Arnold remained a patriot, but was upset and embittered at what he felt was a lack of his recognition and contribution to the war. In 1778, following British evacuation of Philadelphia, George Washington appointed Arnold military commander of the city.

This is where the story gets interesting.

In Philadelphia, Benedict Arnold was introduced to and fell in love with Margaret (Peggy) Shippen, a young, well-to-do loyalist who was half his age. Ms. Shippen had previously been friendly with John André, a British spy who had been in Philadelphia during the occupation as the adjutant to the British commander in chief, Sir Henry Clinton. It is believed that Peggy introduced Arnold to André.

Meanwhile, Benedict Arnold's reputation while in Philadelphia was beginning to tarnish. He was accused of using public wagons for private profit and of being friendly to Loyalists. Faced with a court-martial for corruption, he resigned his post on March 19, 1779.

Following his resignation, Arnold began a correspondence with John André, now chief of British intelligence services. But Arnold had also maintained his close relationship with George Washington and still had access to important information. Over the next few months Benedict Arnold continued his talks with André and agreed to hand over key information to the British. Specifically, Arnold offered to hand over the most strategic fortress in America: West Point.

Arnold and André finally met in person, and Arnold handed over information to the British spy. But, unfortunately for both men, André was caught and Arnold's letter was found. Arnold's friend, George Washington, was heartbroken over the news, but was forced to deal with the treacherous act. While Benedict Arnold escaped to British-occupied New York, where he was protected from punishment.

John André was executed for spying.

Benedict Arnold was named brigadier general by the British government and sent on raids to Virginia. Following Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in 1781, Arnold and his family sailed to Britain with his family. He died in London in 1801.