Sarato Gajet
Author: Our special guest author Kan Dashan
The history books say that the turning point of the American Revolutionary War was the "Saratoga Victory", a victory that shifted Washington's Continental Army from passive defense to active offense. In fact, there are still many details to be dug into in history, and the many reversals and bizarre twists and turns in this victory that are recorded in the annals of history are unimaginable to many people.
First, it is stretched
In 1777, the British captured the iconic location of Philadelphia. Before Washington became the capital, Philadelphia was the capital of the United States, where two continental conferences were held, the Declaration of Independence was formulated and adopted, and the Constituent Assembly held here in 1787 gave birth to the first Constitution of the United States.
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Such a significant city was captured by the British, and Washington commanded the army to retreat, choosing to avoid the front for the time being. However, the British general Bergoin did not intend to spare Washington, and he commanded the army to take advantage of the victory to pursue and ask for reinforcements from his side, but his superiors refused. The reason is very simple, no money, no soldiers, no supplies!
At that time, Britain's main combat opponents were Spain and France, and there was not much military force placed in the direction of North America; coupled with the sudden outbreak of the "Boston Tea Pour" incident, there was no time to prepare, which made Britain's power in North America for "counterinsurgency" stretched.
To this end, Britain did everything in its power to expand its power. In addition to the tens of thousands of German Hessen mercenaries recruited, british generals recruited hundreds of Indians "according to local conditions." There is no definitive historical record of how much the British allowed the Indian tribes to serve, but these people did serve as scouts for the British army. Even britain issued declarations in North America such as the emancipation of blacks, encouraging them to serve Britain.
Even more surprising is that Washington also has a sparse indian army under its banner. Given the poor economic situation in the North American Federation at the time, they should not have the financial resources to hire. The Indians who fought for American independence were likely to come from rival tribes of Indians serving the British.
However, there were also British who opposed the hiring of Indians, such as William Howe, who successfully occupied Philadelphia. Because the inhabitants of North America and the Indians had blood debts that could not be broken, especially the habit of cutting their scalps was unacceptable to Europeans. William Howe was afraid of hiring Indians to stir up a sense of unity.
Burgoyne, who could pursue Washington, ignored all this, and recruited 400 Indian warriors in his ranks. Unexpectedly, these warriors really caused trouble.
Second, the Victory of Freeman Farm
The fall of Philadelphia did shake the confidence of many to resist, and Burgoyne's troops continued to be joined by supporters along the way. More famous is a beautiful woman named Jane McRae, who is bent on marrying a British officer named David Jones.
Burgoyne also very much wanted to achieve this marriage, so he sent two Indian warriors to escort Miss McRae to her fiancé as soon as possible. Who knew that the three men on the road had an argument over remuneration, and the Indian warriors hacked Jane McRae to death with an axe.
This stabbed the sky thunder, and the Continental Army made a fuss about this incident. Although it was only the Indians hired by Bergoyn who attacked Miss McRae, the Federal newspapers very clearly implied that the British could not effectively restrain the Indian allies, who could indiscriminately slaughter North Americans.
The royalists, who had intended to support the British army, immediately changed their attitude and rose up against the British. Within a week of the McRae Incident, one in ten men in New Hampshire spontaneously joined the Continental Army, much more effectively than the U.S. Federation's own mobilization efforts.
These hastily equipped militia spontaneously organized themselves and marched towards Bergoin's location. Because of the constant presence of joiners, the British could not tell who was pro-British and who was a fake. This resulted in the situation of the British army being almost completely transparent in Washington's eyes.
On September 14, 1777, Bergoin crossed the Hudson River with his troops. In order to reduce the influence of public opinion, he bombed most of the Indians who accompanied the army. Although the British always denied the role of the Indians, in fact the British reconnaissance without the latter was completely deaf and blind.
Hudson river
The British approached a small clearing called Freeman's Farm without understanding the dynamics of the Americans. The two armies were only 6 kilometers apart, but Bergoin was unaware of the other's presence. When there were Indians, this would never happen.
A patrol of the Continental Army inadvertently discovered a British grain collection team digging potatoes on the ground, and the encounter broke out. The result of the battle, known in history as the "First Victory of Saratoga", resulted in the Americans killing and wounding twice as many British troops at the cost of 300 killed.
The "British army" here refers to the British regular army wearing red shirts, in fact, more than half of the German Hesse mercenaries suffered thousands of casualties, but they were not counted.
Iii. The Battle of Bemis Heights
Bergoyn, who survived the Freeman Farm encounter, led the remnants of his troops on their way. Worse than the defeat was the supply line, which stretched for 300 kilometers, and the officers and men were forced to carry only key items and abandon all other luggage.
Bergoyn's desire was to quickly find a decisive battle with the Continental Army in order to get out of the predicament of being entangled in a long distance, and in this state of mind he went to Washington.
Taking advantage of intelligence, numbers, terrain, and supplies, Washington decided to annihilate this lone army, and he sent his generals to set up defensive positions on a place on the west bank of the Hudson River called Bemis Heights. The dense woods and farms here are not conducive to the mobility of Bergoin's troops and limit the power of their artillery. Instead, it is conducive to small-scale sniping by the Continental Army militia.
The battle, known in history as the "Second Victory of Saratoga", lasted nearly 4 hours, with heavy British losses. The 62nd Regiment had 350 men at the start of the war, and fewer than 60 men were left at nightfall; an artillery detachment was 50 men, and fewer than 10 were able to stand up after the war.
Bergoin built a simple fortress on a 4-kilometer front and held on to the aid, and the two sides were deadlocked for 17 days. For more than ten days, British reinforcements did not come, but more than 6,000 militiamen from all over the world reinforced the Continental Army.
Looking at the crowds pouring in around him, Bergoyn called a meeting of group-level commanders, and the participants unanimously voted to surrender.
After surrender
Burgoyne has been trying to disguise the surrender by renaming the Capitolga Agreement the Saratoga Agreement. The Americans allowed Burgoyne's troops to return to Britain on the condition that they would not return to North America.
In the subsequent surrender ceremony, the Continental Army Band played the "national anthem" of the time, "Yankee Song". The song greatly humiliated the pride of the British soldiers, who vented their accumulated anger on the guns. Officers and soldiers deliberately damaged parts of firearms when handing over their guns.
The captives were initially held in Cambridge (a city next to Boston) and have since been constantly relocated. Their large numbers and high-ranking officers once became one of the causes of headaches for the British government.
However, the U.S. government was friendly to these senior officers, such as the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who often entertained German and British officers at his residence in Boston.
Thomas Jefferson
Because these prisoners of war lived in more places than the population of all connecticut cities at the time, it was difficult to keep. Many of the prisoners of war later managed to escape and rejoin the British in New York, not anticipating a second surrender to the Americans in the future.
In 1782, all these prisoners of war were released. Those who are willing to go back to Europe, those who are willing to stay stay in the United States. In particular, many of the German mercenaries remained in the United States, becoming the ancestors of many Germans in the United States today.
References: The Great Biography of Washington, The Americans: From Colonization to Democracy
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