From October 8th to the 14th, Burgoyne had been preparing his army to begin the long and dangerous trek back to Fort Ticonderoga. On October 10th, he had dispatched Lt. Colonel Nicholas Sutherland with two regiments up the west bank of the Hudson to assess the situation north of them. The idea, suggested by German commander General Baron Friedrich von Riedesel, was that the army would make a rapid retreat to Fort Edward by fording the Hudson near the rapids above Saratoga, and retreat toward Fort George. Sutherland would come within an hour of Fort Edward and was infuriated when Burgoyne recalled him back to the main army. He had five hundred men with him facing only 100 rebels with the road clear behind him for the rest of Burgoyne’s army to follow.
Burgoyne seemed to have lost his grasp of the situation. He became indecisive, discipline was deteriorating, and the army’s infrastructure, like its personnel, was collapsing. Troops were starving because the commissary did not issue rations. The rebel artillery barrages were increasing in intensity, the bateaux were under constant attack, and every day brought more skirmishes. Captives and desertions had increased tenfold; by the 13th, the Americans had taken 120 prisoners and 160 deserters. And still, Burgoyne did nothing.
At 10 PM on the 12th, General Riedesel had enough of waiting and sent a letter to Burgoyne informing him that the rations were distributed and requesting marching orders. To the baron’s dismay, the reply came back and the retreat was postponed. By the following morning the army was completely surrounded. The northern escape corridor had been sealed off during the night by the hero of the Battle of Bennington, John Stark, who had suddenly appeared with more than a thousand New Hampshire militia, led them across the Hudson near the mouth of the Batten Kill, and erected a battery on the west side. The end was upon them. A drummer, Major Griffith William’s fifteen year old nephew, George Williams[1] was sent to Gates’ lines with a message from General Burgoyne.[2] At first Gates demanded an unconditional surrender. When Burgoyne rejected that, Gates heard that a detachment under British General Vaughan, dispatched by General Henry Clinton, might reach Albany and try to affect a juncture with Burgoyne.
Gates, without further investigation of the information regarding Vaughan’s detachment, foolishly consented to Burgoyne’s demands. The British forces were permitted to march out of camp with the honors of war, their arms “to be piled by word of command of their own officers.” This generous agreement was to allow the surrendered men to march directly to Boston and be housed and fed while they waited for the full passage of all troops to Great Britain “on condition of not serving again in North America during the present contest.”[3] His demand for a court-martial denied, “Gentleman Johnny” was never given another command. Gates would receive ridicule for his hasty approval of Burgoyne’s terms, however not enough to thwart Congress’ decision to grant Gates another command. After he had so successfully commanded the Army of the North, they sent him south at the head of the southern army. His experience leading the Americans against British General Cornwallis resulted in a complete opposite of what Gates and his supporters had hoped for.
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Also from Revolutionary War Journal
RESOURCES
Baxter, James Phinney. The British Invasion from the North; The Campaigns of Generals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, 1776-1777, With the Journal of Lt. William Digby, of the 53rd or Shropshire Regiment of Foot. 1887: Joel Munsell’s Sons, Albany, NY.
Commager, Henry Steele & Morris, Richard B. Editors. The Spirit of Seventy Six, The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants. 1995: Da Capo Press, New York, NY.
Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War. 1997: Henry Holt & Company, New York, NY.
Neilson, Charles. An Original, Compiled and Corrected Account of Burgoyne’s Campaign, and the Memorable Battles of Bemis’ Heights, Sept. 19 – Oct. 7, 1777… 1844: J. Munsell, Albany, NY.
FOOTNOTES
[1] The drummer boy who signaled negotiations for surrender, George Williams, would be the last survivor of the battle, dying in 1850 at the age of 88.
[2] Ketchum, pg. 418.
[3] Though very generous, many in Congress were infuriated by this agreement. Though the officers were eventually pardoned to England, the rank and file spent the next several years in confinement marching from Boston to Virginia where by war’s end, many decided to remain in America rather than return to England.