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About 250 Years Ago … Battles of Saratoga

The failure of the American invasion of Canada in 1775–76 left a large surplus of British troops along the St. Lawrence River. In 1777 these troops were to move south for an attack on Albany, New York.

In 1777, British strategy called for a three-pronged attack seeking to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River Valley, with three separate groups converging near Albany.

By August, British General John Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga, defeated fleeing American troops at Hubbardton (Vermont) and occupied Fort Edward, on the edge of the Hudson River. After a contingent of Burgoyne’s troops was defeated in the Battle of Bennington, his reduced forces marched south toward Saratoga in early September.

To disrupt the British advance south, Gates had his troops erect defenses on the crest of Bemis Heights, a series of bluffs from which both the Hudson River and the road can be seen. From there, American artillery had the range to hit both the river and the road.

The Americans also erected a fortified wall a little less than a mile from Bemis Heights. The wall extended about three-quarters of a mile, creating a line shaped like a large “L”. Twenty-two cannons were placed behind this defense, providing the Americans with artillery cover.

The two armies engaged in combat at Freeman’s Farm on September 19. While the British held off the Americans, their losses were great. Burgoyne’s battered forces dug trenches and waited for reinforcements, but none came.

Following intense fighting with the Continental Army in September, at Freeman’s Farm, the British Army fortified themselves behind two defensive redoubts (protective barriers) – the larger, better-defended Balcarres Redoubt and the weaker Breymann Redoubt. American forces, led by General Benedict Arnold, managed to take the Breymann Redoubt, which gave them a strong position behind the British lines.

Benedict Arnold galloped into the fray and rallied the Americans in the attack on the Breymann Redoubt. A fellow officer in the Continental Line said that Arnold “behaved more like a madman than a cool and discreet officer.” During this engagement, he sustained a serious wound in his left leg.

By early evening, the Americans secured possession of the Breymann Redoubt and gained a tactical advantage, as it was the far right flank of the British lines.

From here the Americans could easily get behind British lines. Realizing their plight, the British pulled back into their Great Redoubt near the river and held out for several weeks. (Battlefields)

On October 7, Burgoyne launched a second, unsuccessful attack on the Americans at Bemis Heights.  On the morning of October 8, General John Burgoyne’s army attempted to escape north, but a cold, hard rain forced them to stop and encamp near the town of Saratoga. Cold, hungry and weary, they dug in and prepared to defend themselves, but within two days the Americans had them surrounded.

With no means of escape, Burgoyne eventually surrendered to Gates on October 17. (Battlefields)

Why was it important?

American troops battled and beat a British invasion force, marking the first time in world history that a British Army ever surrendered. (NPS)  It was one of the most decisive American battles of the Revolutionary War.

Saratoga was unquestionably the greatest victory yet won by the Continental Army in terms of prisoners and captured arms and equipment. Nearly 6,000 enemy soldiers were taken, along with 42 cannon and massive quantities of stores. (Army-mil)

Following the American victory, morale among American troops was high. With Burgoyne’s surrender of his entire army to Gates, the Americans scored a decisive victory that finally persuaded the French to sign a treaty allying with the United States against Britain, France’s traditional enemy.

The entrance of France into the war, along with its financial and military support, in particular its navy, was in the end crucial to Washington’s victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, which effectively ended the war.

But the French were not alone in supporting the Americans following the Battle of Saratoga. The Spanish and later the Dutch provided support as well, eager to seize the opportunity to weaken their British rival.

It also had a direct impact on the career of General George Washington.  Without the victory at Saratoga, American forces would likely not have received critical assistance from the French, and faith in the war effort would have been weakened.

On a personal side note, I am a descendant of Israel Moseley (he is my 4th Great Grandfather).  Israel Moseley was a Patriot who fought in the American Revolution.  Born in 1743, Israel graduated from Yale in 1766.

He served as a private in Captain Daniel Sacket’s company, Colonel Woodbridge’s regiment from August 20 to October 23, 1777 in the Northern department.  He fought in the Battles of Saratoga.

Click the following links to general summaries about the Battles of Saratoga:

Click to access Battles-of-Saratoga-1777-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Battles-of-Saratoga.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Peace of Paris

The 1781 U.S. victory at the Battle of Yorktown made peace talks where British negotiators were willing to consider U.S. independence a possibility.

After Yorktown, the Continental Congress appointed a small group of statesmen to travel to Europe and negotiate a peace treaty with the British: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson and Henry Laurens.

Jefferson, however, was not able to leave the United States for the negotiations, and Laurens had been captured by a British warship and held captive in the Tower of London until the end of the war, so the principal American negotiators were Franklin, Adams and Jay.

Franklin, who served as America’s first ambassador to France, had been in Paris since the start of the Revolution and was instrumental in securing French assistance during the war. Peace negotiations between British and American diplomats began there in the spring of 1782 and continued into the fall.

Eighteenth-century British parliamentary governments tended to be unstable and depended on both a majority in the House of Commons and the good favor of the King. Thus, when news of Yorktown reached London, the parliamentary opposition succeeded in overthrowing the embattled government led by Frederick North, Lord North.

However, the new government, led by Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham, was not much more stable than the previous one. The strong personalities of its ministers led to internal conflicts between them and King George III.

Rockingham died in July of 1782, and he was succeeded by William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne. Lord Shelburne’s government wanted to seek peace, but hoped to avoid recognizing U.S. independence.

However, the war had been expensive, and Britain faced a formidable alliance, fighting the combined forces of France, Spain, and the Netherlands, in addition to the rebellious colonists.

Shelburne and other British diplomats had pursued a strategy of trying to drive the alliance apart by entering negotiations for a separate peace with France’s allies.

Although such efforts failed with the Netherlands, US negotiators were receptive to the idea of separate negotiations, because they saw in such negotiations the clearest path to ensuring recognition of US independence in a final peace settlement. The French Foreign Minister, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, approved of separate negotiations, though not of a separate peace.

In the meantime, Anglo-American negotiations had been stalled, owing to internal conflicts in the British government and British refusal to recognize U.S. independence as part of the peace settlement.

In July of 1782, Lord Shelburne gave in on the issue of independence, hoping that a generous peace settlement with the United States would bring peace with France, the Netherlands, and Spain. However, John Jay objected to British refusal to acknowledge the United States as already independent during peace negotiations, so the negotiations halted until the fall.

Anglo-American negotiations entered their final stage in October and November of 1782. The United States succeeded in obtaining Newfoundland fishing rights, a western border that extended to the Mississippi with rights of navigation (which the Spanish government would later prevent) and, most importantly, British acknowledgement of U.S. independence along with the peaceful withdrawal of British forces.

In return for these concessions, the agreement contained provisions requiring the U.S. to honor private debts and ensure an end to the seizure of Loyalist property. U.S. negotiators John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Henry Laurens signed a preliminary agreement with British representative Richard Oswald on November 30, 1782. The agreement would remain informal until the conclusion of a peace agreement between Britain and France.

The Peace of Paris is a collection of treaties concluding the American Revolution and signed by representatives of Great Britain on one side and the United States, France, and Spain on the other.

Preliminary articles (often called the Preliminary Treaty of Paris) were signed at Paris between Britain and the United States on November 30, 1782.

On September 3, 1783, three definitive treaties were signed

  • Treaty of Paris – between Britain and the United States in Paris
  • Treaty of Versailles – between Britain and France and Spain, respectively
  • Treaty of Paris – between Britain and the Netherlands (Dutch Republic) (a preliminary treaty on September 2, 1783, and a final separate peace on May 20, 1784)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Peace of Paris:

Click to access Peace-of-Paris.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Battles of the South

The Revolutionary War began in the northeastern colonies and traveled southward to the homes of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.

The British Southern Strategy was a plan to win the war by concentrating their efforts in the south, where they anticipated more support from Loyalists, slaves, and Indian allies.

The strategy initially seemed to work, with Archibald Campbell’s capture of Savannah, Georgia in December 1778, followed by another British victory at Henry Clinton’s siege of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780.

British troops continued their tour through the south and gradually moved northward, with Charles Cornwallis’s victory at the Battle of Camden in northern South Carolina in August of 1780.

But the tide began to turn when William Campbell’s American troops pushed back the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain in what is now Cherokee County, South Carolina, in October 1780.

Another American victory followed with Daniel Morgan’s defeat of the British at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781, only to be followed by a victory by Cornwallis’s men at the Battle of Guilford Court House in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons.” – Lt. General Charles, Earl Cornwallis

On March 15, 1781, six years into the American Revolution, General Greene and Lord Cornwallis’ troops faced off at a small courthouse community. The battle would change the course of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution.

Though Patriots and the British traded victories throughout a series of southern battles in the last three years of the war, the Patriots ultimately held their own and Britain’s Southern Strategy failed to secure the victory they had planned.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Lafayette Comes to America

At the age of 19, the Marquis de Lafayette crossed the Atlantic and joined General Washington’s Continental Army.

Inspired by the promise of liberty made by the new nation’s Founding Fathers, and despite a royal decree prohibiting French officers from serving in America, Lafayette purchased his own ship, La Victoire, and landed on the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina on June 13, 1777, despite objections from his family and King Louis XVI.

Three months later, Lafayette offered his service to the United States without pay. He began his American military career in Philadelphia on July 31, 1777 when Congress awarded him the commission of major general in the American Continental Army.

By the end of the year, Lafayette was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in southeastern Pennsylvania near the Delaware border.

He became General Washington’s favorite foreign officer because of his fierce loyalty to the Commander-in-Chief.

Washington, who recognized Lafayette’s courage and genius for strategy, entrusted him with a major role in the Battle of Yorktown.

Years after his victory in the battle that won the War of Independence, Lafayette returned to America and visited every state in the nation he helped preserve.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250-Years Ago … Declaration of Independence

Throughout the 1760s and early 1770s, the North American colonists found themselves increasingly at odds with British imperial policies regarding taxation and frontier policy.

When repeated protests failed to influence British policies, and instead resulted in the closing of the port of Boston and the declaration of martial law in Massachusetts, the colonial governments sent delegates to a Continental Congress to coordinate a colonial boycott of British goods.

Britain began to prepare for war in early 1775. The first fighting broke out in April in Massachusetts. In August, the King declared the colonists “in a state of open and avowed rebellion.” For the first time, many colonists began to seriously consider cutting ties with Britain.

When fighting broke out between American colonists and British forces in Massachusetts, the Continental Congress worked with local groups, originally intended to enforce the boycott, to coordinate resistance against the British. British officials throughout the colonies increasingly found their authority challenged by informal local governments, although loyalist sentiment remained strong in some areas.

Despite these changes, colonial leaders hoped to reconcile with the British Government, and all but the most radical members of Congress were unwilling to declare independence.

The colonists elected delegates to attend the Second Continental Congress that eventually became the governing body of the union during the Revolution. Its second meeting convened in Philadelphia in 1775. The delegates to Congress adopted strict rules of secrecy to protect the cause of American liberty and their own lives. In less than a year, most of the delegates abandoned hope of reconciliation with Britain.

Throughout the winter of 1775–1776, the members of the Continental Congress came to view reconciliation with Britain as unlikely, and independence the only course of action available to them.

When on December 22, 1775, the British Parliament prohibited trade with the colonies, Congress responded in April of 1776 by opening colonial ports – this was a major step towards severing ties with Britain.

The colonists were aided by the January publication of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, which advocated the colonies’ independence and was widely distributed throughout the colonies.

By February of 1776, colonial leaders were discussing the possibility of forming foreign alliances and began to draft the Model Treaty that would serve as a basis for the 1778 alliance with France.

Leaders for the cause of independence wanted to make certain that they had sufficient congressional support before they would bring the issue to the vote.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states,” acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention. The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and “a plan for confederation.”

Other members of Congress were amenable but thought some colonies not quite ready. However, Congress did form a committee to draft a declaration of independence and assigned this duty to Thomas Jefferson.

The publication of Thomas Paine’s stirring pamphlet Common Sense in early 1776 lit a fire under this previously unthinkable idea. The movement for independence was now in full swing.

On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed three concurrent committees in response to the Lee Resolution: one to draft a declaration of independence, a second to draw up a plan “for forming foreign alliances,” and a third to “prepare and digest the form of a confederation.”

They appointed a Committee of Five to write an announcement explaining the reasons for independence. Thomas Jefferson, who chaired the committee and had established himself as a bold and talented political writer, wrote the first draft.

On June 11, 1776, Jefferson holed up in his Philadelphia boarding house and began to write. Jefferson’s writing was influenced by George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, as well as by his study of natural rights theory and the writings of John Locke, including Two Treatises of Government.

Jefferson later explained that “he was not striving for originality of principal or sentiment.” Instead, he hoped his words served as an “expression of the American mind.”

Through the many revisions made by Jefferson, the committee, and then by Congress, Jefferson retained his prominent role in writing the defining document of the American Revolution and, indeed, of the United States. Jefferson was critical of changes to the document and was justly proud of his role in writing the Declaration of Independence and skillfully defended his authorship of this hallowed document. (LOC)

Less than three weeks after he’d begun, the draft went to Congress. He was not pleased when Congress “mangled” his composition by cutting and changing much of his carefully chosen wording. He was especially sorry they removed the part blaming King George III for the slave trade, although he knew the time wasn’t right to deal with the issue.

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration.

John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies, and commanders of the Continental troops. The Dunlap Broadsides weren’t signed, but John Hancock’s name appears in large type at the bottom.

One copy crossed the Atlantic, reaching King George III months later. The official British response scolded the “misguided Americans” and “their extravagant and inadmissable Claim of Independency”.

On July 19, once all 13 colonies had signified their approval of the Declaration of Independence, Congress ordered that it be “fairly engrossed on parchment.” (To “engross” is to write in a large, clear hand.) Timothy Matlack, an assistant to the Secretary of the Congress, was most likely the penman.

On August 2, the journal of the Continental Congress records that “The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed.”

John Hancock, President of the Congress, signed first. The delegates then signed by state from north to south. Some signed after August 2. A few refused. George Washington was away with his troops. Ultimately, 56 delegates signed the Declaration.

Unlike the other founding documents, the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, but it is powerful. Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.” It continues to inspire people around the world to fight for freedom and equality.

The Declaration of Independence was designed for multiple audiences: the King, the colonists, and the world.  It was also designed to multitask. Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country.

The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause. It had just defied the most powerful nation on Earth. It needed to motivate foreign allies to join the fight.

These are the lines contemporary Americans know best: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”  These stirring words were designed to convince Americans to put their lives on the line for the cause.

Separation from the mother country threatened their sense of security, economic stability, and identity. The preamble sought to inspire and unite them through the vision of a better life.

The list of 27 complaints against King George III constitute the proof of the right to rebellion. Congress cast “the causes which impel them to separation” in universal terms for an international audience. Join our fight, reads the subtext, and you join humankind’s fight against tyranny.

The most important and dramatic statement comes near the end: “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” It declares a complete break with Britain and its King and claims the powers of an independent country.

About the Signers

Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence – they mutually pledged “to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers and two were cousins.  Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers and four were doctors.  Twenty-two were lawyers and nine were judges.

The average age of a signer was 45.  Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at 70.  The youngest was Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina at 27.

American Revolutionary War

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year.

That war lasted from April 19, 1775 (with the Battles of Lexington and Concord) to September 3, 1783; it lasted 8 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day.

Then, the sovereignty of the United States was recognized over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

The British captured five signers during the war.  Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward and Arthur Middleton were captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780.  George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah; Richard Stockton was incarcerated at the hands of British Loyalists.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed.  Francis Lewis’s New York home was razed and his wife taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and he died while fleeing capture.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six – Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson and George Reed – signed the US Constitution.

Here are a couple myths about the 4th of July and the Declaration of Independence:

#1 Independence Was Declared on the Fourth of July

America’s independence was actually declared by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776.  The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, …

… was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the United Colonies to be independent of the British Empire.  Richard Henry Lee of Virginia first proposed it on June 7, 1776; it was formally approved on July 2, 1776.

So what happened on the Fourth? The document justifying the act of Congress – Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence – was adopted on the fourth, as is indicated on the document itself.

#2 The Declaration of Independence Was Signed July 4

Hanging in the grand Rotunda of the Capitol of the United States is a vast canvas painting by John Trumbull depicting the signing of the Declaration.

Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote, years afterward, that the signing ceremony took place on July 4. When someone challenged Jefferson’s memory in the early 1800s Jefferson insisted he was right.

However, David McCullough remarks in his biography of Adams, “No such scene, with all the delegates present, ever occurred at Philadelphia.”

So when was it signed? Most delegates signed the document on August 2, when a clean copy was finally produced by Timothy Matlack, assistant to the secretary of Congress. Several did not sign until later. And their names were not released to the public until January 1777.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; Carroll was the last signer to die – in 1832 – at the age of 95.

Click the following links to general summaries about the Declaration of Independence:

Click to access Declaration-of-Independence-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Declaration-of-Independence.pdf

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