The Battle of Saratoga: Turning Point in the Revolutionary War

Best Laid Plans Doomed to Fail

Michael Streich

July 4, 2009

The 1777 battle of Saratoga was the most important and decisive battle of the Revolutionary War until Yorktown. Frequently termed the “turning point” of the conflict, American victory at Saratoga dramatically lifted sagging American morale, gave impetus to those in England pressuring Parliament for a negotiated settlement of the war, and convinced the French to support the American cause with material and men.

 

John Burgoyne and the Plan to Capture Albany

 

General Burgoyne, senior British commander in Canada (though nominally under Sir Guy Carleton), used his considerable influence with powerful London war policy-makers to receive approval to march a formidable British army south into New York with the intent of capturing Albany and splitting the colonies.

 

Success of the plan depended upon Sir William Howe, technically Burgoyne’s senior as commander-in-chief in North America, sending an army up the Hudson River to support Burgoyne’s march south. Howe never received a direct order to that effect, however, and resented the fact that Burgoyne had been given complete independence to use the Northern Army for his own purposes.

 

At the time Burgoyne began preparing his army in June 1777, he was unaware that Howe was not planning to send any troops north. Howe was busy brilliantly defeating George Washington in a series of skirmishes that ended with British occupation of Philadelphia where only a year earlier the Declaration of Independence had been adopted.

 

Howe’s second in command, Sir Henry Clinton, remained in New York with a much smaller force and, although initially supportive of Burgoyne’s plan, had no intention of weakening his position. As Burgoyne began his march into the interior after debarking at Lake George, he had no way of knowing that his 7,000 men would be forced to fight an army four times as large without the assumed support from Howe.

 

Benedict Arnold at Bemis Heights

 

Although General Philip Schuyler was responsible for American defenses and the eventual strategy that would result in the encirclement of Burgoyne, he was replaced by Horatio Gates, referred to by historians as the most political of all American generals. Burgoyne, arrogant and uncompromising, severely overextended his supply train, making it easier for the Americans to defeat him at Saratoga. Additionally, Burgoyne’s army included hundreds of women and dependants.

 

After some minor victories along the route (including the capture of Ticonderoga), Burgoyne lost a sizeable number of troops at Bennington where they were ambushed. His march, however, was halted at Bemis Heights. American troops under Benedict Arnold inflicted heavy casualties, forcing Burgoyne to withdraw north to Saratoga where his army dug in.

 

At this point Burgoyne was still able to evacuate northward, an action counseled by some senior officers including Baron von Riedesel, commander of the two German brigades. But Burgoyne still anticipated relief from either Howe or Clinton.

 

The ensuing battle, including an attack on Burgoyne’s center by Benedict Arnold who was acting against orders, resulted in such carnage that Burgoyne was forced to seek surrender terms. His army had less than a week’s worth of food and, as one desperate German officer wrote, “Never can the Jews have longed more for the coming of the Messiah than we longed for the arrival of General Clinton.”

 

Terms and Aftermath

 

Horatio Gates accepted Burgoyne’s counter-terms to the unconditional surrender he had requested. Although Burgoyne threatened to fight to the death if his terms were not accepted, Gates would be undone by the generous terms that included marching the prisoners to Boston and allowing them safe passage home on the promise not to fight in America again. Washington, jealous of Gates’ victory, pressed home this point. An exiled Continental Congress later abrogated the terms. Saratoga was a prime example of why the British lost the war.

 

Sources:

 

William Digby, “The Saratoga Campaign: New York, July-October 1777,” The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, John Rhodenhamel, Editor (New York: The Library of America, 2001)

Robert Harvey, “A Few Bloody Noses” The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution (Woodstock: the Overlook Press, 2002)

Christopher Hibbert, Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolution Through British Eyes (New York: Avon Books, 1990)

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