Location: 15 miles (24 km) South- East of Saratoga Springs, NY Map
Area: 3,392 acres (13.73 km2)
Tel. (518) 664 9821
Open: 9am- 5pm daily
Closed: January 1, Thanksgiving
Official site
Saratoga National Historic Park situated 15 miles (24 km) South- East of Saratoga Springs in New York state is a famous battle site of a Revolutionary War. Here in 1777 Battle of Saratoga was fought between American patriots under leadership of Horatio Gates and 9000 British regular troops or "Redcoats" along with Hessians, and Native Americans under command of General John Burgoyne. The battle was decisively won by the American Colonial forces. This ensured that Hudson river corridor was kept by United States. French King Louis XVI impressed by this battle sent troops the next year to help the Colonial army to continue their struggle against the British crown.
Saratoga National Historical Park is located in the county of
Saratoga County and the state of New York, in the eastern part
of the country, 500 km northeast of the capital city Washington,
D.C. Saratoga National Historical Park is located 65 meters
above sea level.
The land around Saratoga National
Historical Park is mostly flat, but to the east it is hilly. The
highest point in the area is Willard Mountain, 423 meters above
sea level, 9.0 km east of Saratoga National Historical Park.
There are about 28 people per square kilometer around the
Saratoga National Historical Park relatively small population.
The nearest larger town is Clifton Park, 18.7 km southwest of
Saratoga National Historical Park. Saratoga National Historical
Park is surrounded by fields.
The climate is hemiboreal.
The average temperature is 8 °C. The warmest month is July, at
20 °C, and the coldest is January, at −10 °C. The average
rainfall is 1,373 millimeters per year. The wettest month is
June, with 168 millimeters of rain, and the driest is November,
with 71 millimeters.
Boot Monument
Erected 1887 By
JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER
Brev: Maj: Gen: S.N.Y.
2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n:
In memory of the "most brilliant soldier" of the Continental
Army who was desperately wounded on this spot the sally port of
BORGOYNES GREAT WESTERN REDOUBT
7th October, 1777 winning for his countrymen the decisive battle
of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major
General
The Visitors Center offers a 20-minute orientation
film, fiber-optic light map, timeline and artifact displays. A
brochure is available for a self-guided tour of sites in the
four-square-mile (10 km2) battlefield in Stillwater. General Philip
Schuyler's Schuyler House is located eight miles (13 km) north in
Schuylerville. It is a restored house museum open by tour. The
Saratoga Monument is in the nearby village of Victory.
The
park is located on the upper Hudson River southeast of Saratoga
Springs. It contains the famous Boot Monument to Benedict Arnold,
the only war memorial in the United States that does not bear the
name of its honoree. The memorial was donated by John Watts de
Peyster, a former Major General for the New York State Militia
during the American Civil War who wrote several military histories
about the Battle of Saratoga.
In the summer of 1777, General Burgoyne advanced from Canada with approximately 10,000 men - mostly salaried British soldiers - on a campaign into New England. The goal was to capture Albany and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies by taking control of the Hudson River Valley. In the spring of 1777, the British captured the colonial forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and the Americans withdrew. But successful delaying tactics by the colonists through systematic blocking of roads, destruction of bridges, and continuous sniper attacks on the British troops slowed the British advance beyond the southern ends of Lake Champlain and Lake George to a few kilometers a day. Burgoyne's force was ultimately stopped by the Continental Army and colonist militias under General Horatio Gates in the area north of Saratoga. Over the summer of 1777, the colonists' force grew to approximately 15,000 men.
The Battle of Saratoga consisted of two individual engagements, the
first of which is called the Battle of Freeman's Farm. The British
advanced on Saratoga in separate columns and encountered American forces
in the woods around Freeman's Farm on September 19. General Benedict
Arnold, who commanded the Americans' left wing, ordered Colonel Daniel
Morgan to attack the British. Morgan advanced on General Simon Fraser's
column, inflicting significant casualties until he was repelled.
To support Morgan, General Arnold sent General Enoch Poor's and General
Ebenezer Learned's brigades forward, while Burgoyne, to attack the
Americans across the field, sent James Inglis Hamilton and Simon Fraser.
Arnold's refilled line was able to repulse the British attack, albeit
with heavy casualties. Arnold was angry with the American commander
Horatio Gates because he did not send reinforcements that could have
broken the British lines. At the end of the battle, the British had
repelled a final attack by the Americans. Benedict Arnold was relieved
of command. Although the Americans had to abandon the field, they had at
least halted Burgoyne's advance and inflicted irreplaceable losses on
the British. Finally, Burgoyne built entrenchments and fortified his
position. The Americans also built fortifications about two miles south.
The second and final engagement of the Battles of Saratoga became
known as the Battle of Bemis Heights and took place on October 7th.
Although the British had suffered heavily at Freeman's Farm and Gates
had since received reinforcements, Burgoyne planned to attack the
American lines with three columns. The main attack was to be carried out
by the Braunschweig troops under Friedrich Adolf Riedesel on the Bemis
Heights. General Benjamin Lincoln now commanded Enoch Poor's division
and Ebenezer Learned's brigade, which were stationed at Bemis Heights.
Burgoyne's attack began early in the morning. Not firing until the
Braunschweigers were within firing range, Poor's brigade destroyed the
first wave of attacks and wiped out the survivors in a counterattack.
Morgan attacked the Canadian infantry and extended the attack to
Fraser's regular brigade. Fraser began to rally his division when, at
this crucial moment, Benedict Arnold appeared on the battlefield.
Although he had been stripped of command after the Battle of Freeman's
Farm and given no orders, he ignored Commander-in-Chief Gates and
ordered Fraser shot. One of Morgan's snipers then fatally wounded
Fraser. From Morgan's front, Arnold rode on to Learned's brigade.
Uncertainty spread among Learned's men as they faced a Brunswick attack.
Again Arnold arrived at the crucial moment and called the Americans
together. With Arnold and Learned at the forefront, they
counterattacked. Poor and Morgan came towards them in the rear of the
Braunschweigers and the Braunschweig front gave way. The British
retreated to their starting positions. Arnold then led Learned's men in
an attack on the Hessian fortifications. Before he was withdrawn from
the battlefield, Arnold tried to bring another brigade forward, but a
messenger from Gates finally called him back as darkness spread over the
battlefield.
The British force eventually retreated a few kilometers north until their retreat was blocked by colonial forces under the command of Horatio Gates. Surrounded and outnumbered, forty miles from Fort Ticonderoga, with dwindling supplies and facing winter, Burgoyne had few options. He surrendered on October 17, 1777.
Burgoyne's troops were disarmed and were supposed to be sworn to
return to Britain and never again take part in a conflict with the
colonies - a common military practice in the 18th century. Instead, the
American Congress refused to ratify the Convention, the document that
spelled out the terms of surrender negotiated between Gates and
Burgoyne. Aside from a few British and German officers who were
eventually exchanged for captured American officers, most of the
rank-and-file soldiers of the “Convention Army,” as it was now called,
were held captive in camps in New England, Virginia, and Pennsylvania
until the end of the war held. Burgoyne himself was sent back to England
in dishonor.
France now officially recognized the independence of
the states and concluded a friendship and trade treaty with them in
February 1778. Years later, French military and naval units played a key
role in the surrender of the British Second Army at the Battle of
Yorktown and ending the war.