The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

On Sunday, October 26th, the German column of the Convention Army left Great Barrington, Massachusetts .  They were probably glad to put the town behind them, given one German officer's comment:  "I never saw ruder, more spiteful people..." [1]  The next three days would be the most difficult days of their march.  On the second day they would reach Blandford, Massachusetts. After leaving Great Barrington on the 26th, one German officer wrote:  “We marched in a desolate mountain range…  It extends up to Westfield.”   These were the Berkshires.  The roads,  he noted, "were as bad as we had ever seen in America. They were not only very hilly but also stony and rocky and in many places so swampy that the men sank up to their knees.” [2]  On the 26th it would turn out that:  "We were wrong in cursing the abominable roads, for we found them worse later.  The 27th, ... the roads got so bad we had no desire to curse them.” [3]   They marched through an area that had

Article I of the Articles of Convention required Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's British and German soldiers to "march out of their camp" on the morning of October 17, 1777, "... to the verge of the river where the old fort stood, where the arms and artillery are to be left; the arms to be piled by word of command from their own officers." [1]   Burgoyne was very specific with regard to this point.  On October 14th, Major-General Horatio Gates had proposed to Burgoyne that once terms were agreed to, "... the troops under his excellency General Burgoyne's command, may be drawn up in their encampment, when they will be ordered to ground their arms, and may thereupon be marched to the riverside, to be passed over on their way towards Bennington."   [2] Burgoyne initially replied to Gates: "If General Gates does not mean to recede from the first [Burgoyne's troops surrender as prisoners of war] and sixth [Burgoyne's troops ground th

Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's British and German troops marched out of their camp and entrenchments at Saratoga on the morning of October 17, 1777, and left their arms and artillery at  "the verge of the river where the old fort stood."  [1]   Supposedly, "With a moist eye the artilleryman looked for the last time upon his faithful gun parting with it as he would from a bride - and that, forever!"  [2]  For the American army, the surrendered artillery was something to be secured, inventoried, and redistributed for use in future battles against their former owners.   A German office would note:  "England's greatest loss may be considered the loss of the  artillery, which was taken by the rebels."  - though Britain's loss of an army, the boost to American morale, and the resulting alliance between the United States and France was surely more significant. [3]   An account of  the Convention Army's stop in Great Barrington includes a stor

After spending the night of October 24, 1777, in Nobletown  (Hillsdale, New York, today) , the German column of the Convention Army continued on its way into Massachusetts.  Brunswick grenadier Johann Bense noted just the basics regarding the end of the day's march in his diary: "[October] 25 at Great Barrington in the woods.”  [1]  A century later local historian Charles J. Taylor described their stay in much more detail, in his  History of Great Barrington , published in 1882.  Taylor, like many, refers to Burgoyne's German troops as "Hessians", but begins his account with some basic facts which can be corroborated through several primary sources, saying: “Late in October, a large part of the captured army of Burgoyne was marched through the town en route for Boston, and encamped here...  A large body of Hessian soldiers formed part of this cavalcade ..." [2] Taylor then goes on to describe exactly where the Convention Army stayed.  He indicates they camp