Burgoyne's Artillery - "Drawn Through The Village"
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 story about where the artillery taken at Saratoga went, and one of those guns in particular. Allegedly: "Not long after the arrival here of the British [sic] prisoners of war, the fine train of artillery captured at Saratoga was drawn through the village. The people assembled and the children came out from school to witness the novel exhibition; and one old lady - the late venerable Mrs. Mary Pynchon - then a child - who was present, informed the writer that in the train was one cannon (probably a mortar) of enormous size drawn by several yoke of oxen; so large that some of the children crawled into it.” [4]
Cannons and howitzers used in the field were set on a wooden frame with large wheels (a "carriage") to allow them to be moved relatively easily on the march and on the battlefield. Burgoyne's cannon - such as this one in the Saratoga National Historical Park Visitor Center - were smooth bore weapons, loaded at the muzzle (the open front end) with a charge of gunpowder and either a solid round iron ball (a "cannonball") or multiple small balls wrapped in cloth or packed in a tin container ("grapeshot" or "canister", respectively). The weight of the solid projectile, and often the type of metal the gun was made with (iron or bronze - though the term "brass" was commonly used), was used to designate the type of cannon. Burgoyne's artillery were bronze guns. His cannon ranged from heavy twenty-four pounders, to far lighter and more maneuverable three pound guns.
Howitzers, similar in appearance to cannon, but having a shorter barrel, fired an explosive projectile - a hollow round iron shell filled with gunpowder, and fitted with a wooden fuse to delay bursting until the projectile reached its target. Howitzers were designated by the diameter of their bore, Burgoyne's being eight inch and five and a half inch howitzers. Mortars also fired explosive projectiles, but from a flat wooden bed rather than a wheeled carriage - making them weapons that would be challenging to move though the American wilderness. Burgoyne noted that he left Canada with mortars whose bore ranged in diameter from four and two-fifths inches, to an enormous thirteen inches. [5]
Burgoyne's choice of how much and what type of artillery to bring with his army on the campaign was based on what he expected to encounter - and triggered criticism after he was defeated. In his words: "In regard to the artillery, ... It has been stated as far beyond the necessary proportion for the number of troops, an incumbrance to their movements, and one cause of what has been called the slow progress of the expedition." [6.]
Burgoyne's army made good use of its artillery right up until its surrender. At the Battle of Bemis Heights, on October 7th, Lieutenant William Digby of the 53rd Regiment of Foot noted its impact on the Americans: "They still advanced upon our works under a severe fire of grape shot, which in some measure stopped them, by the great execution we saw made among their columns..." A day later, as Burgoyne's army prepared to retreat, he noted of the Americans again: "They brought some pieces of cannon and attempted to throw up a work for them, but our guns soon demolished what they had executed. Our design was to amuse them during the day with our cannon, which kept them at a proper distance, and at night to make our retreat... During the day it was entertaining enough, as I had no idea of artillery being so well served as ours was. Sometimes we could see a 12 pounder take place in the centre of their columns, and shells burst among them, thrown from our howitzers with the greatest judgment." [7]
Nine days later, the guns which "so well served" the British army would be in the hands of their enemy. Major Ebenezer Stevens, who commanded Gates artillery, made a list of what was taken. What isn't mentioned in accounts of the surrender is were those guns went. [8]
If no mortars were captured at Saratoga, did Mrs. Pynchon make up her story? Perhaps, or perhaps she was remembering the guns that went through Great Barrington two winters prior. Colonel Henry Knox passed through the town in January of 1776, on his way to the Continental Army outside Boston. Knox brought with him fifty-nine pieces of artillery captured in 1775 in the Champlain Valley, including three iron thirteen inch mortars - proving that while it was challenging to move weapons of such caliber though the American wilderness, it was not impossible. [10]
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