The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

Most of the German column of the Convention Army crossed over the Connecticut River to Springfield, Massachusetts , on October 31, 1777.  They were impressed by the town, but didn't stay in any of its fine homes.   The commentary which accompanies a transcription of Major-General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel's letters and journal indicates: “General Riedesel, however, did not find the people of East Springfield as obliging as those at West Springfield. Notwithstanding all his entreaties, he failed to induce them to quarter his troops. They were, accordingly, obliged to continue their march as far as Palmer, a distance of thirteen miles [from West Springfield].” [1]   The Germans would march to Palmer, but not on October 31st.  It appears that they spent the night camped closer to Springfield.  Massachusetts militiaman Joshua Pillsbury, who stayed in Springfield for two nights, notes that he traveled five miles on October 31st, and did not reach Palmer un...

People across Massachusetts were well aware of the 1777 march of the Convention Army from Saratoga to Cambridge.  Brunswick dragoon company surgeon Julius Friedrich Wasmus, who had been captured at the the Battle of Bennington in August, and was being held in Brimfield, Massachusetts, was among those who heard they were coming.  Two days after the surrender at Saratoga he wrote in his journal:  “[October] 19th  Tonight, we received the sad news that our army has been captured at Saratoga.  Therefore, they made a feu de joie with cannon in Springfield.”   Ten days later he would note:  “[October] 29th  News comes from everywhere that our army is expected in Springfield” [1]  Springfield, Massachusetts, was one of the oldest and largest towns that the Convention Army would pass through.  Europeans first settled in Springfield in 1636, when it was still part of Connecticut.  A plaque to the right of the door of the  Student Pri...

There was no bridge across the Connecticut River at  West Springfield, Massachusetts , in 1777.  This meant that the men, women, children, horses and baggage wagons which made up the German element of the Convention Army, and their guards, would all cross by ferry, as  the   British column was doing at Northampton .  Such a crossing required organization as well as resources.   German accounts provide us some insight on how they accomplished the task, starting on October 29, 1777.      The Germans began the process by issuing orders prior to crossing directing all unit commanders to ensure that  "Necessary watch for each regiment, and necessary helmsmen were [assigned] so that in the morning nothing will interfere with the crossing." [1]   Some of the guards escorting the Germans were the first to cross, as was the case with the British column.  Private Joshua Pillsbury of the Massachusetts militia wou...

On October 29, 1777, the British Column of the Convention Army faced the last remaining major natural obstacle on their march to Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The day after their surrender at Saratoga they had crossed the Hudson River .  In the tens days that followed they had marched through a corner of Vermont , south to Pittsfield, Massachusetts , and then east to  Northampton,  on the west bank of the Connecticut River. Rivers were a formidable obstacle to travelers in the eighteenth century, especially an army numbering in the thousands which included soldiers (and some of their wives and children) marching on foot, officers on horseback, and horse or ox-drawn wagons loaded with personal belongings, equipment and supplies.  There was no bridge from Northampton to Hadley, or anywhere else along the Connecticut River in 1777.  The first was not completed until 1785, fifty miles upstream, between Walpole, New Hampshire, and Bellows Falls, Vermont. [1] Crossi...