The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

The area east of the Hudson River, across from Stillwater, New York, bustled with activity on October 19, 1777.  Over 4,000 British and German soldiers, some with their wives and children, had crossed the river starting the day before.  Their campaign to end the rebellion of Great Britain's American colonies was over.  What would be years in captivity for most had just begun.  Major-General Horatio Gates summarized the situation, writing: "...  they are now upon their march towards Boston; General Glover, and General Whipple, with a proper Guard of Militia, escort them; and are to provide all such necessary Articles, as may be wanted upon the march….” [1]   Private David How  was one of those militia guards.  His diary shows little progress for the first few days of the march.  The British having crossed on the 18th, he wrote,  "This Day [the 19th] we have been fixing For a march and at noon we Set out with the prisoners for to Guard th...

A handful of markers commemorate the 1777 march of the Convention Army.  One is in Stillwater, New York, on the corner of Route 4 and Ferry Lane, a short distance from the west bank of the Hudson River.  Its location puts it at what might be considered the start of the march.  Some question if the crossing occurred there.  Regardless of the answer, it only notes the crossing of "Brunswick Troops", not British troops who began crossing the river on October 18th.  In an odd contrast, the  Stillwater town history website  notes only the crossing of British troops.   One of the Convention Army who crossed in 1777 noted that Stillwater was aptly named, as:  "In this region, the Hudson is unusually sluggish for 3 Engl.[ish] miles and you hardly notice the motion the very slight motion of the water." [1]  Today, an iron frame bridge spans the river about one-thousand feet below the ferry site, just north of where the Hudson is joined...