The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

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 Barr...

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.  H...

The prisoners of the Convention Army traveled through a region most had likely heard about, but never seen.  Their march from the Saratoga battlefield in the fall of 1777 took them through Hudson Valley villages settled by Dutch and German farmers, isolated hamlets in the Berkshires which had sprung up beyond prosperous English settlements along the Connecticut River, and the towns of Worcester and Middlesex Counties which marked a century and a half of expansion from the settlement of Boston in 1630; all land occupied by a Native population for countless generations before the arrival of Europeans.   What did they see?  Most obvious was the terrain: two major rivers and two mountain ranges before reaching the hills of central Massachusetts, and then their barracks overlooking Boston Harbor.   A painting in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum, " Looking East From Denny Hill"  seen in an image © Worcester Art Museum , offers a glim...

On June 24 and 25, 2023, the Bidwell House Museum in Monterey, Massachusetts, will host a Revolutionary War "Living History Weekend" that recreates the camp of an army on campaign.  Modern day "living history" can trace its roots to our nation's Bi-Centennial period, when participants generally focused on re-enacting a major (or imagined) battle.  Many of today’s re-enactors have benefitted from years of research and the greater availability of primary source information on which to base their presentations, and a shift to an immersive experience for visitors, such as recreating a Continental Army camp. The Bidwell House campaign event will be just that.  Most of the participants at the Bidwell House will portray troops on the march camped on the grounds of the Bidwell House, to give visitors the opportunity to see how the common soldier of the Revolution may have lived, what he ate, and how he spent his time in camp, drilling, maintaining his clothing and equ...

Last week I shared that tracking the 1777 journey of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne from Saratoga to Cambridge was a challenge.  Several primary sources document he stayed in Albany at Major-General Philip Schuyler's home until October 27th, and arrived in Cambridge on November 7th.  Less clear was where he stopped in between, though multiple locations lay claim to the statement "Burgoyne slept here" - some relatively easy to challenge, others not so much so. Travelers during the Revolutionary War going from Albany to Boston (or Boston to Albany) generally followed one of two major routes that correspond to the routes taken by the British and German columns.  A traveler leaving Albany could head south towards Kinderhook, then east through Great Barrington to Springfield, and on to Boston (or Cambridge for our purposes) along the Western Post Road.  Alternatively, a traveler could head east from Albany to Pittsfield or Williamstown, then through the Berkshires to c...

  "The famous Gen. Burgoyne and his army..." proclaimed the  Massachusetts Spy on October 30, 1777, "... are expected in town tomorrow."   The citizens of Worcester, home to the pro-patriot newspaper since April of 1775, would wait two additional days for the first elements of the Convention Army to arrive in their town, and the famous General Burgoyne seems to have come and gone without much notice.  I found tracking his journey to be a challenge as well. Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne (seen here as a younger man in the painting  John Burgoyne , in the National Portrait Gallery in London, NPG 4158) remains a well-known figure of the American Revolution.  Unfortunately, many of the stories told about him appear suspect, while others remain rarely told or untold - especially the details of his journey from Saratoga to Boston.   Burgoyne dedicated the publication of his defense of his failed campaign before Parliament,  A State of the ...

Article IV of the Articles of Convention required "The army under Lieutenant-general Burgoyne, to march to Massachusetts Bay, by the easiest, most expeditious, and convenient route; and be quartered in, near, or as convenient as possible to Boston..." Understanding the routes taken is a study of history and geography.  There is no direct natural route from Saratoga to Boston, but a well established network of roads provided a way across rivers and streams, over mountains, through woods, and past countless farms and villages.  American militia units had taken many of these roads in the summer and early fall of 1777 to join the Northern Army under Major-General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, and would use them to escort Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's British and German troops to quarters in Cambridge and present-day Somerville (then part of Charlestown) Massachusetts to await their fate.  I'm interested in following their footsteps as closely as possible. Two accounts ...