The German Route - "We Marched To Neustadt"
On the morning of October 20th, 1777, Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's defeated British and German troops parted ways. For the next two weeks they would march separately , before reuniting to travel on a common route through central Massachusetts to confinement in Charlestown . Some had served together for over a year. Major-General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel for example, had arrived in Canada in June of 1776, to lead the German troops who would accompany Burgoyne on his expedition from Canada. The Germans first full day's march, starting in Schaghticoke, New York , took them south to a stopping point just opposite the mouth of the Mohawk River. Brunswick Grenadier Johann Bense noted of the day simply: "marched to New City near Fort Halfmoon." [1] Massachusetts Militia Private Joshua Pillsbury, of one those guarding the German column, recorded little more, other than it was a Monday and they marched twelve miles. [2]...