The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

Major General Horatio Gates victory at the Battle of Bemis Heights, and the British surrender at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777, together resulted in the capture and surrender of thirty-five pieces of artillery .  These guns, cannons and howitzers, were likely sent south to Albany initially, to be used in the fight to secure American independence.  [1 ]    It wasn't the first time captured British artillery moved south through Saratoga, and on to Albany.  In late December of 1775, newly commissioned artillery officer Colonel Henry Knox had passed through, on his way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, followed soon after by teamsters hauling thirty-nine cannon, fourteen mortars, and two howitzers.  These artillery pieces, along with a barrel of gun flints and over a ton of lead, most taken at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the first few weeks of the war, were bound for the Continental Army under General George Washington, which surrounded British occ...

Britons at home in 1775 were anxious for news regarding the war in North America.  Official accounts, along with letters from friends and loved ones, took weeks to cross the Atlantic.  Once they arrived, they were read and shared, and if deemed newsworthy, published in one or more of England's many newspapers and magazines.  The September 9, 1775, edition of the "London Chronicle" included several such stories.  In one article, portions of two letters were printed describing "a most glorious victory obtained by the King's troops over the rebel army" on August 7, 1775, at Boston.  Another revealed that "It is reported that the troops will not winter at Boston..." , as they were expected to relocate to either Rhode Island or New York. The two letters describing the engagement on August 7, one from "an officer" dated August 11th, and the other from a "gentleman" dated August 10th, were published anonymously.  British General Thoma...

Sixteen year old Ezra Ross of Ipswich, Massachusetts, likely feared he might die on several occasions before July 2, 1778.  On December 19, 1775, he had enlisted in Colonel Loammi Baldwin's 26th Continental Regiment.  In the year that followed, his regiment would take part in the Siege of Boston, Washington's unsuccessful attempt to defend New York City from a British invasion, and the Battle of Trenton before their enlistments expired on December 31, 1776.  In August of 1777, Ross would either volunteer or be drafted to serve again, one of the two-thousand Massachusetts militiamen called for to reinforce the Northern Army under the command of Major-General Horatio Gates. [1]    Eight months later, and just a few weeks before his seventeenth birthday, he faced certain death. [2]   Ross, along with Sergeant James Buchannon and Private William Brooks of the British 9th Regiment of Foot, and Bathsheba Spooner of Brookfield, Massachusetts , had been convi...

As the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution continues, a recreation of the Battle of Bunker Hill has been planned for the weekend of June 21 and 22, 2025, (albeit in Gloucester, Massachusetts, twenty-five miles northeast of the actual site, due to the urban nature of Charlestown in the 21st century, its organizers indicate).  As is the case with the Battle of  Lexington  and Concord , there are multiple connection between the events of June 17, 1775, and the Massachusetts militiamen who escorted the Convention Army from Saratoga to Massachusetts in 1777. Perhaps the most dramatic of these connections is one of the men associated with the order  "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."   Historian and author J.L. Bell, creator of the Boston 1775 blog, examined the origin of this quote in detail in a June 17, 2020, article in the Journal of the American Revolution .  Bell traces the Bunker Hill order story back to 180...

The connections between the 1777 march of the Convention Army and the Massachusetts militia are not limited to Middlesex County, including some who fought at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 .  Militia from Essex County escorted the British column of the Convention Army from Saratoga to Prospect Hill in 1777, and faced off against the British Army, including the 47th Regiment of Foot , at the Battle of Bunker Hill.   Massachusetts militiamen, whether they served in 1775 or in 1777, were expected to provide their own firearms.  Under the August 1777 call for men to support Major-General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, each man was to come equipped with  "a good Fire Arm and also a Bayonet if to be had, Cartridge Box, Knapsack and Blanket, with 1/2 lb Powder, twenty Balls suitable for his Gun..." .   In September, when more of the Massachusetts militia was mobilized, including those who would escort the Convention Army, those who volunteered or were ...

How many connections are there between Concord and Lexington, and the 1777 march of the Convention Army?  On the American side, countless Massachusetts militiamen who answered the call on April 19th, 1775, did so again in the summer and fall of 1777.  On the British side just one unit, the 47th Regiment of Foot , took part in both the 1775 raid on Concord, and Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's 1777 expedition from Canada.   The militia troops who mobilized on April 19th came from towns and villages in Essex County, as well as Middlesex County .  The Reverend Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts, would note in his diary: "... At sunset [on April 19, 1775] we got almost into Cambridge, and met with our people just after they fired their last gun.  The British fought upon a retreat from Concord to Cambridge, where they had boats to take them on board for Boston.  It is not known how many were killed on either side..." [1]  Fortunately, the Ma...