The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

I've walked short sections of the Convention Army's route of march from Saratoga to Cambridge in the past.  My favorite, so far, runs for a mile or so from the Joshua Spooner well marker on East Main Street in Brookfield, and then along Slab City Road in North Brookfield.  This year I decided to commemorate the Convention Army's 1777 journey  by, among other things, walking an entire day's march on its anniversary date.   In terms of selecting a section to march in its entirety, the German column's march on November 4, 1777,  from Leicester into Worcester , had a lot going for it.  Practically speaking, it begins a couple of miles from where I live; there are sidewalks along the entire length of this section of the route; and for the most part it is downhill.  As I hiked, I also realized that the anniversary of the day's march I'd chosen fell exactly one week before Veterans Day. It's also relatively short, about six miles, compared to more than half

A number of museums have displayed items said to be associated with British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne.  They offer visitors a physical connection to the Saratoga campaign, and serve as a reminder of the American victory in October of 1777, which changed the course of the Revolutionary War.  One of these objects is a kettle described as “Burgoyne’s Camp Kettle” which, up until recently, was on display at the Bennington Battle Monument in Bennington, Vermont. My introduction to Burgoyne’s Camp Kettle came by way of a postcard, as pictured here.  In addition to the painted description on the kettle itself which identified this as “Gen. Burgoyne’s Camp-Kettle”, the back of the postcard indicated that this was “Gen. Burgoyne’s Camp Kettle captured October 17, 1777, in the battle of Saratoga, where Gen. Burgoyne surrendered” .  A caption on the front of the postcard indicated that the picture was taken at the Bennington Battle Monument, a Vermont State Historic Site. Curiosity, and a

British accounts of the 1777 march of the Convention Army after the  surrender at Saratoga  are brief, with the exception the letters published by Ensign Thomas Anburey in 1789 under the title "Travels Through The Interior Parts Of America" .  German accounts of the march are rich in detail, and describe not only where they went and when, but what they saw and did along the way.  In addition, a series of drawing available online through  The New York Public Library Digital Collection  by Hessian Captain Friedrich von Germann show us what various German regiments looked like before the Saratoga campaign started, such as this soldier from the Brunswick Regiment von Specht.   German accounts of the 1777 march range from the memoirs and letters of its commander, to the brief diary entries of one of his soldiers, and include one kept by a woman, the wife of Major-General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel , the commander of General Burgoyne's German troops.   On October 21, 1777, Gen

When I last wrote about  what the Convention Army looked like , I indicated that I was not aware of any image depicting the 1777 march.  Since then I've come across one, in a 1778 British political cartoon in the Library of Congress entitled  "The Closet" .  It shows, among other things, King George III with several of his advisors, and two panels labeled "Saratogha" [sic].  One of the Saratoga panels, pictured here, shows a column of soldiers marching off into captivity, hands bound, as American troops look on from a distance. Their commander, Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne, leads his men sword in hand , and a copy of his play "Maid of the Oaks" under one arm and book of poems under the other, and remarks of his downcast followers:  "I have led my Rag-o-muffians where they have been Peppered" . While there is nothing that suggests this image was drawn from life, especially since Burgoyne rode to meet Gates at his headquarters before depart

Thursday, October 17, 2024, is the 247th anniversary of British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, New York.  The final days of his failed campaign are being remembered during "Siege Weekend" on October 12th and 13th at Saratoga National Historical Park , and a variety of other locations listed on the Saratoga 250 Events Page .  A month-long program of events, beginning with the Battle of Freeman's Farm, culminates on the 17th in a community remembrance of the surrender  at 10:00 AM at Fort Hardy Park in Schuylerville, New York, Saratoga National Historical Park rangers at the site where Burgoyne surrendered  about a mile south of Fort Hardy on Route 4, and at 6:00 PM, a "Surrender Day Benefit" in Saratoga Springs .  For those who like to plan ahead, 2025's commemoration of "Victory Season at Saratoga" is already on the Saratoga 250 website. Looking back, one of the earliest images of Burgoyne's surrender appears to

American Major-General Horatio Gates and British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne were both criticized for agreeing to the Articles of Convention that led to the surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777.  Susan Livingston of Pennsylvania wrote to her sister in Connecticut on November 1, 1777, saying: "The Articles of Capitulation [sic] ... are not relished this way, neither by Whigs, nor Tories, the latter say if Mr. Burgoyne was in a Situation to obtain such Terms he ought to have fought, the Former say if Burgoyne was obliged to surrender at all, Gates might have brought him to what Terms he pleased, so that it looks as if the two Generals wished to avoid fighting." [1] Should they have continued to fight, rather than agreeing to terms both generals would be criticized for accepting?  A significant factor in making that decision was what was happening to their south.  British Lieutenant William Digby would note in his account of the Saratoga campaign that even in its fi

What might be called "Burgoyne's Army" is different from what has become know as the "Convention Army".  When British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne left Canada in June of 1777 bound for Albany, New York, his army of over ten-thousand included Native warriors, Canadians, and “Provincials" (also known as Loyalists or Tories), in addition to thousands of British and German soldiers.  Four months later, roughly half that number would march out of their final camp at Saratoga, New York, when they were forced to surrender to American Major-General Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777 .  Burgoyne's British and German troops who left Saratoga were bound for the port of Boston under the second of the Articles of Convention , with the expectation that they would sail to England.  It was this group that would become what is now known as the Convention Army.  Others, "All Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian establishment, consisting of sailors, ba