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Revolutionary War · New York · September 19 and October 7, 1777
The Battles of Saratoga
In 1777 a British army marched south from Canada to cut New England off from the other colonies. In two battles in the woods and fields near Saratoga, New York, American soldiers stopped it cold, and on October 17 General John Burgoyne surrendered his entire army. The victory brought France into the war and is often called the turning point of the Revolution.
Benedict Arnold, the hero of Saratoga, in a 1776 print. Three years later he turned traitor.
Quick facts
Saratoga at a glance
| When | Freeman’s Farm: September 19, 1777; Bemis Heights: October 7, 1777; surrender: October 17, 1777 | |
| Where | Along the Hudson River near Stillwater and Saratoga (now Schuylerville), New York | |
| Sides | Continental Army and New England and New York militia vs. British, German and Loyalist troops | |
| American leaders | Gen. Horatio Gates; Gens. Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Lincoln; Col. Daniel Morgan; engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko | |
| British leaders | Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne; Gen. Simon Fraser (killed); German Gen. Friedrich von Riedesel | |
| Troops | Burgoyne started with about 7,000 men; the American army grew from about 9,000 to more than 15,000 | |
| Casualties | British and Germans about 1,500 killed, wounded or captured in the two battles; Americans about 500 | |
| Result | Decisive American victory; about 5,900 British and German soldiers surrender |
The big picture in 30 seconds
Why Saratoga matters
- It wrecked Britain’s plan to cut off New England along the Hudson.
- An entire British army surrendered, a shock to London.
- It convinced France to sign an alliance with the United States in February 1778.
- Spain and the Dutch followed France, turning the war into a world war.
About 5,900
British and German soldiers surrendered
About 200 miles
marched south from Canada
2
battles, three weeks apart
Feb. 6, 1778
France signs the alliance
Gentleman Johnny’s plan
Divide the colonies
John Burgoyne, a dashing general and playwright known as “Gentleman Johnny,” persuaded the government in London to let him invade from Canada. His army would sail down Lake Champlain and march to Albany, while a smaller force under Barry St. Leger came east along the Mohawk River. They hoped General Howe would come north up the Hudson from New York to meet them. Control of the Hudson would cut New England, the heart of the rebellion, off from the rest of the colonies.
The campaign started well. In July 1777 Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga without a fight. Then things went wrong. Americans felled trees across the roads, and the army, with a huge baggage train, moved only about a mile a day. In August St. Leger was stopped at Fort Stanwix and Oriskany, and about 1,000 German troops sent to seize supplies were crushed by New England militia under John Stark near Bennington. Howe, meanwhile, had sailed off to capture Philadelphia.
Where it happened
Three British armies that never met
Burgoyne’s army came south from Montreal by Lake Champlain and Lake George to the Hudson. St. Leger’s smaller force came from Oswego on Lake Ontario but turned back at Fort Stanwix. Howe’s main army, which was supposed to meet them at Albany, was 250 miles away in Pennsylvania.
Simplified map. Howe was supposed to come up the Hudson from New York, but went to Philadelphia instead.
How the battle unfolded
From Ticonderoga to surrender
The fighting took place near the Hudson about 9 miles south of Saratoga, at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights.
The British haul cannon up Mount Defiance, overlooking the fort. The Americans abandon “the Gibraltar of the North” without a fight.
Burgoyne attacks. Morgan’s riflemen pick off British officers. The British hold the field but lose about 600 men, twice the American losses.
A British probe is smashed. Arnold, with no official command, gallops in and leads the attack on Breymann’s redoubt until he is shot in the leg. General Fraser is mortally wounded.
Surrounded at Saratoga, short of food and outnumbered three to one, Burgoyne surrenders his army to Gates in the “Convention of Saratoga.”
A hero’s wound
Benedict Arnold at Saratoga
Benedict Arnold was one of the best fighting generals in the American army, but he had quarreled bitterly with Gates, who removed him from command after Freeman’s Farm. On October 7, as the battle began, Arnold could not stand it. He mounted his horse, rode onto the field and took charge of the attack. He led troops against the Balcarres redoubt and then stormed the German-held Breymann redoubt, where a musket ball shattered the same leg that had been wounded at Quebec.
Gates got the credit for Saratoga, and Arnold felt cheated. Three years later he plotted to surrender West Point to the British. Today the Saratoga battlefield has a monument to his leg, the “Boot Monument,” which does not name him.
Commanders and soldiers
Who led the armies
Why it mattered
The turning point
When news of Saratoga reached Paris in December 1777, Benjamin Franklin and the other American commissioners finally got what they had worked for. On February 6, 1778, France signed treaties of alliance and commerce with the United States, and soon French money, soldiers and warships were on their way. Britain now had to fight France around the world, and could no longer put all its strength into America.
“You cannot conquer America.”
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
House of Lords, November 18, 1777, weeks before news of Saratoga reached London
The bigger story
Revolution and Founding, 1770–1819
Our U.S. History era page puts the war in context: the road to independence, the Constitution and the first presidents.
Go deeper
Books and sources
- Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War, by Richard M. Ketchum (1997)
- Valiant Ambition, by Nathaniel Philbrick (2016)
- The Glorious Cause, by Robert Middlekauff (1982)
- More recommended books