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In late 1777, the British Redcoats hoped to crush the American fighting forces once and for all. The
British were really worried foreign powers like France could join the War. We needed to take New
York conclusively and keep the pesky French from joining the War. So the plan was to send a strong
army down the Lake Champlain route from Canada into the heart of the rebellious American colonies
and essentially isolating New England. The British planned to have three armies converge at Albany,
New York. The British believed that taking control of Albany and the rest of the Hudson
Valley would effectively cut off the unruly New England. General John Burgoyne began marching
down the Hudson Valley from Canada in the summer of 1777. Along the way, Burgoyne captured Fort
Ticonderoga in July. Lieutenant-colonel St. Leger started travelling east across the Mohawk Valley
but was stopped in his tracks in conflicts with local forces and Benedict Arnold. General Howe
was supposed to march north to support Burgoyne but he was tied up in his campaign to capture
Philadelphia. At the end of the day Burgoyne was alone without reinforcements to take on
the American forces. My men under General Horatio Gates were waiting for General Burgoyne's army,
we weren't gonna miss anything. There were actually two battles of Saratoga, 18 days apart.
The first was known as the Battle of Freeman's Farm. On September 19th, some of my troops got
involved with part of General Gates' army near the abandoned farm of John Freeman. Neither side was
able to gain the upper hand until some Hessian auxiliary troops came late in the day and gave
the British the advantage forcing the Continental Army to pull back. Even so those pesky British
regulars couldn't continue to push to Albany like they wanted to because we had inflicted
twice as many casualties on them so the result was a British win at Freeman's farm not necessarily a
good omen for Gates's troops. I knew my numbers were down so I didn't want to stay put and wait
for reinforcements to arrive. Unfortunately Gates had the same idea and ended up amassing
over 13,000 men in the next several weeks. We were fed up waiting for reinforcements from New
York so I decided to spring a surprise attack. On October 7th General Burgoyne tried to attack
the Continental Army's left flank near Bemis Heights just south of Saratoga but the Americans
successfully defended the attack and broke his army. The battle became known as the Second Battle
of Saratoga or the Battle of Bennis Heights. Even Benedict Arnold who would later become a traitor
to the Americans played a significant role in defeating us. During the Battle of Bemis Heights,
he ignored Gates order and led an assault on horseback. Did you know that traitor Benedict
Arnold played important roles in early American wins in the Revolution? In fact Arnold resigned
his Army Commission in July 1777 but Washington refused it and sent him north to serve under
Gates. Poor Arnold never felt appreciated by our country and later turned a traitor joining the
British. Ole Burgoyne and his men tried to escape but the cold weather and heavy rain slowed them
down. They had to dig in to prepare to defend themselves but my man Gates and his soldiers had
the upper hand. They surrounded Burgoyne's army forcing them to surrender and it was a good thing
because back in Pennsylvania, the Continental Army serving under me had unfortunately suffered a big
fat defeat at the Battle of Brandywine which led to the British occupation of
Philadelphia a couple weeks later. In addition to offensive actions taken by the Continental Army,
British mishaps and delays forced Burgoyne's troops to fight Gates fast-growing army alone
which greatly diminished any possibility of a final British win. I negotiated with the Americans
for a week before I finally capitulated. Oh it was a glorious sight to see the haughty Brits
march out in surrender to the Continental army which they had despised. The Battle of Saratoga
or both of them if you want to be precise was a huge success for the prompting France and
other foreign powers to join the Americans in the Revolution to fight against the British.
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