British Reaction To The Surrender - "No Accounts, Properly Authenticated"
On December 31, 1777, British forces controlled Canada, continued to occupy New York City, and Newport, Rhode Island, and had recently taken the capitol of the new United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had not brought the rebellion in the thirteen colonies to an end, or taken Albany, New York. Instead, Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne and over 4,000 of his British and German troops who had set out from Canada that summer were now prisoners in Massachusetts - the "Convention Army", following their surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777.
Burgoyne was authorized to share the news of his defeat under Article X of the Convention, which provided that: "Passports to be immediately granted for three officers, not exceeding the rank of captains, who shall be appointed by Lieutenant-general Burgoyne, to carry dispatches to Sir William Howe, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Great Britain, by the way of New York". Burgoyne wrote these letters, and several others, on October 20, 1777, at the Albany home of Major-General Philip Schuyler, on his journey to Cambridge.
Burgoyne drafted his dispatches so as to inform his fellow commanders in North America, his superiors in London, and those he considered to be among his supporters in England of the outcome of the campaign, the reasons for his defeat, and the benefits of the agreement he had entered into end to the fighting. His letters were also be his first step, of what would be many, to shift responsibility for the defeat away from him and on to others.
One of Burgoyne's letters was to Sir Henry Clinton, in New York City. In addition to letting Clinton know he had stopped fighting, Burgoyne sought to portray the Articles of Convention as a grand stroke of strategy on his part, and assure Clinton that he did not blame him for his defeat. Clinton and Burgoyne had exchanged messages previously during the campaign. Unbeknownst to Burgoyne, a week earlier Clinton had already begun to suggest to others that Burgoyne was not performing as expected, writing to a friend in England: "The communication with Albany is now open, but I fear Burgoyne is not there to avail himself of it." [1]
Rumors of Burgoyne's surrender circulated in New York City as early as October 20th, but were considered doubtful until October 26th. Still, despite Burgoyne's dispatches from Albany to New York City, and his letter to Clinton, on November 3, 1777, the New York Gazette & the Weekly Mercury notified its readers that: “As no accounts, properly authenticated, of the Situation of the Northern Army, have yet been brought to this city, the Printer entreats the public to excuse his inserting any of the Reports that have been circulated, until he may be warranted by Intelligence derived immediately from General Burgoyne." A week later, on November 10th, the paper published the Articles of Convention without comment. [2] William Cunningham, the British provost-marshal in New York, was said to have kept any word of Burgoyne's surrender from reaching Americans being held prisoner there. Supposedly they only learned of the "...brilliant and cheering victory" through the guile of "Miss Margaret Lent, who lived near the prison, and visited it frequently, with food...", who had baked a letter with that message into a loaf of bread that she brought to them. [3]
By the time Howe received Burgoyne's letter, he had already heard reports that Burgoyne had surrendered. Apparently he didn't believe it, as on October 22nd he wrote to Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in England: "The rebels having reported that Lieutenant General Burgoyne's army has surrendered prisoners of war, [they] will no doubt send such accounts to Europe, and I mention this circumstance to your Lordship with my opinion that it is totally false..." Howe, like Clinton, also began to distance himself from Burgoyne, also sharing with Germain: “I am surprised to find the General's [Burgoyne's] declaration, in his message to Sir Henry Clinton by Captain Campbell, 'that he would not have given up his communications with Ticonderoga had he not expected a co-operating army at Albany,' ...” [5]
In England, Germain would write from Whitehall on December 11, 1777, "... the particulars of Lieut. General Burgoyne's situation are still unknown..." and "I cannot but feel the most poignant concern and mortification at the strong, and, I fear, too well-grounded reports of the misfortune which has happened to Lieutenant General Burgoyne and his army." [6] Burgoyne's defeat would be confirmed in a few days. Burgoyne's October 20th letter to Germain, along with supporting documents, were noted as officially received in Parliament on December 15, 1777. [7]
Official word of Burgoyne's defeat in London was not a cause for celebration, as it had been for many Americans. In the words of one British scholar, writing one hundred years later: "The effect produced by the defeat of Burgoyne's army had operated upon the public mind of England in two diametrically opposed directions. Those who had hitherto deprecated the war were confirmed in their conviction of its hopelessness, and urged more strenuously than ever the abandonment of the attempt to subdue the colonists. The Court and Cabinet, and the majority, not only in Parliament, but, at this time, of the English nation, were, on the contrary, more than ever determined to enforce their authority; they had now an insult to avenge as well as an offence to punish, and they resolved to redouble their efforts and to increase their sacrifices, in order to restore the royal authority." [8]
Howe was correct in saying that the "rebels" would waste no time in sending news of their victory to Europe. His concern was well placed, as the American victory at Saratoga would lead to France to recognize the independence of the United States on December 19, 1777, and sign a treaty of alliance on February 6, 1778. Two days before that, on February 4, 1778, Germain would write to Howe that King George III had approved Howe's request to relinquish his command, and was appointing Clinton to take his place as the commander-in-chief of British land forces in North America. [9]
The failure of Burgoyne's campaign would impact many for years to come. Brunswick dragoon company surgeon Julius Friedrich Wasmus, captured at the Battle of Bennington over five years earlier, would pen a note on December 31, 1782, with a hope that is as necessary now - if not more so - as it was then:
"At this year's end, it is my heartfelt wish that the news of peace, now being spread around more and more, may prove to be true..." [10]
[1] "Letter of Sir Henry Clinton to ... the Duke of Newcastle, 13 Oct. [1777]", accessed through the University of Nottingham website December 14, 2023: http://mssweb.nottingham.ac.uk/elearning/view-text.asp?resource=Conflict&ref=nec2344&theme=3&view=text&page=1.
[2] Ford, Paul Leicester, ed., The Journal of Hugh Gaines, Printer, New York, Dodd, Mead and Co., 1902, Vol. II, pp. 52-53. Wall, Alexander J., "The Story of the Convention Army 1777-1783", New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. XI, No. 3, October 1927, p. 70.
[3] Bushnell, Charles I., ed., The Narrative of Major Abraham Leggett, privately published, New York, 1865, p. 67, n. 44. Bushnell provided no source or citation for this claim.
[4] Wilshin, Francis, F., "Preliminary Report on the Source Material of the Burgoyne Campaign", Saratoga National Historical Park, April 29, 1940, pp v-vi.
[5] Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Spotford-Stackville of Drayton House, Northamptonshire, His Majesty's Stationary Office, Hereford, 1910, Vol. II, pp. 79-80.
[6] Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Spotford-Stackville, pp. 83-84.
[7] "Votes In The House of Commons", London, John Wiston, 1778, pp. 209-210.
[8] De Fonblanque, Edward Barrington, Political and Military Episodes in the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century Derived From The Life and Correspondence … Burgoyne, London, Macmillan and Co., 1876, p. 356.
[9] Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Spotford-Stackville, p. 92.
[10] Wasmus, p. 269.
For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:
Comments
Post a Comment