The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

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...

As mentioned in a prior post, I'm not aware of a period painting or drawing which shows the Convention Army on the march in 1777.  As a result, my descriptions of the column on the march have been based on written accounts, and pieced together from a number of sources. The arrival of several thousand soldiers in a small Massachusetts town, some accompanied by their wives and children, was bound to attract attention.  In this close-up of a painting by William Hogarth, British troops in fresh uniforms march off to suppress a rebellion in Scotland in 1745.  While Hogarth's painting pre-dates the march of the the Convention Army by several decades, it conveys the mix of curiosity, excitement and confusion that the passing of any army was likely to generate, including the Convention Army as they marched from Saratoga to Cambridge. Accounts of the German column's passage through Blandford and Westfield , to West Springfield suggest they were a hard pressed lot; wet, mud...

On October 29, 1777, the German column of the Convention Army marched seven miles.  The bad weather continued; more rain, accompanied by snow and ice, but it was less windy than the day before.  The roads improved, one German officer noting they  "... were golden in comparison to the earlier ones”,  or at least  "no longer abominable” . [1]  The Berkshire mountains were now behind them.  Their march east from Westfield, Massachusetts ,  took them to West Springfield, on the west bank of the Connecticut River; flat, fertile farmland settled by Europeans over a century earlier, and occupied by Native people for countless generations before that.   When the German column stopped for the night, several noted that the people there  "... took us into their houses" , though it was “in spite of the residents aversion to receiving us” . [2]  Once again it appears likely that the Brunswick Grenadier Johann Bense was assigned qu...

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 ...