Episode 484: The American Revolution Part Two

Once the Hudson was in British hands, New England could be cut off, starved a supply, and forced into submission. The plan had three moving parts. General John Burgoyne would march south from Canada through Lake Champlain along the Hudson River route with about eight thousand men. Colonel Barry Saint Leisure would move east from Lake Ontario down the Mohawk River Valley, rallying loyalists and Native allies. Jenior William Howe, commanding New York City, was expected to move north of

the Hudson, where he would rendezvous with Burgoyne. It was a bold plan, but its coordination, or lack thereof, would prove its undoing. Burgoyne began his advance in June seventeen seventy seven. Moving down Lake Champlain, he captured for Tykwonderoga on July the sixth without a major fight, when American forces under General Arthur Saint Clair abandoned it in the face of British artillery placed on nearby Mount Defiance in London. The victory was hailed as a sign that the campaign

was on track, but Burgoyne soon encountered problems. His army's progress was slowed by wilderness terrain in the need to haul heavy baggage and artillery, much of it his own, the Americans felled trees, destroyed bridges, and harassed the enemy's supply lines the entire way. In August, seeking provisions, Burgoyne

sent a detachment toward Bennington, Vermont. There, on August the sixteenth, New Hampshire militia under General John Stark, reinforced by SETH Warner's Green Mountain Boys, crushed the British force, capturing or killing nine hundred men. Stark famously told his men before the fight quote, there they are boys, we beat them today,

or Molly Stark sleeps a widow tonight. Meanwhile, Saint Leger's forces, made up of British Regulars, Loyalists and Mohawk warriors led by Joseph Brandt, laid siege to Fort Stannix in present day Rome, New York, but the defenders, under Colonel Peter Grants vout held firm. A relief column of militia under General Nichos Harkener fought a bloody engagement at Arkenay on

August six, one of the war's most brutal encounters. Though technically a British tactical success, heavy casualties weakened Saint Leger's position. Rumors of a large American force approaching, spread in part by the bold deception of one Benedict Arnold, caused Saint Leger's Native allies to abandon him. He retreated to Canada without linking up with Burgoyne. By September, Burgoyne had now reached the Hudson River near Saratoga, but was dangerously isolated.

How instead of marching north to meet him, had sailed south to capture Philadelphia, leaving Burgoyne to face the main American army alone. General Horatio Gates, newly in command of the Colonial Northern Department, established a strong defensive position at Beamis Heights south of Saratoga, with fortifications designed by Polish engineer Thadeus Kutskoff. Gates's army was swelled by militia inspired by recent successes, including aggressive field actions under leaders like

Benedict Arnold and under Daniel Morgan. On September the nineteenth Burgoyne tried to turn the American left flank at the First Battle of Saratoga, located on Freeman's Farm on September the nineteenth, seventeen seventy seven. His troops clashed with advanced American units in the farm fields of John Freeman's property. Daniel Morgan's riflemen poured accurate fire into British columns, while Arnold, although technically under Gates command, rode along the line's urging attacks.

The fighting raged on for hours. The British held the field at day's end, but suffered nearly six hundred casualties,

losses that Burgoyne could ill afford. The Americans lost around three hundred, but crucially they retained their defensive position, leading to the Second Battle of Saratoga on Beamus Heights on October seventh, seventeen seventy seven, with Burgoyne's supplies now nearly gone, and desertion growing among his native allies, Burgoyne needed to do something, and so on October the seventh, he launched

a reconnaissance in forced to test the American lines. Gates ordered Morgan's riflemen and other units to counter the attack. In the fierce fighting, American troops broke through the British right. Benedict Arnold, still without a formal command, after clashing with Gates, rode into the battle anyway, rallying soldiers and leading a charge that overran key positions, including the fortified redoubt held by Hessian troops. Arnold was wounded in the leg, but

his intervation was decisive. Burgoorne's army, now totally totally demoralized after this devastating defeat, retreated all the way back to Saratoga, surrounded with no prospect of relief. We're going open negotiations. On October the seventeenth, he surrendered his entire army of

about five and eight hundred remaining men to Gates. The quote unquote Convention of Saratoga allowed the British troops to return to Europe, but unfortunately, the Continental Congress later voided that battlefield decision, and the British soldiers were held as prisoners of war. Saratoga would prove to be the turning point of the American Revolution. Militarily destroyed a major British army,

and it secured the Hudson Valley for the Americans. Politically, as I'll get into next week, it convinced France that the United States could win this war. In early seventeen seventy eight, France entered the war as a formal ally, soon followed by Spain and the Dutch Republic. As the French Foreign Minister Regaines put its, burgoyne surrender was proof

that quote England's cause is lost in America. From the smoke choked fields of Freemen's Farm and Beeman's Heights came not just an American victory, but the birth of an international war for independence, one that Britain could no longer fight on its terms alone. At the same time, however, George Washington and his army had been pushed to the limit. By mid seventeen seventy seven, Britain had two major campaigns

in motion. In the North, General John Burgoyne was marching from Canada toward Albany, hoping to meet the forces from New York City he wouldn't and cut New England off from the rest of the colonies. He didn't, But in the south, General William Howe, commanding the main British army, had his own plans. Rather than march north to link up with Burgoyne, which he should have, how decided to

capture Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress. How believed that taking the rebel cap capital would cripple the revolution's political leadership, undermining public morale, and perhaps bring the war to a quick and decisive end. In late July, How's army of about fifteen thousand men set sail from New York City. Washington, uncertain of his destination, kept his army ready to shadow the British. Once they landed. On August the twenty fifth, how Does embarked at head of Elk, Maryland,

placing himself about fifteen miles southwest of Philadelphia. Washington moved quickly to block his advance, choosing to make a stand at Brandywine Creek near Chadsford, Pennsylvania, a series of fords that controlled the main roads to the capitol. On the morning of September eleventh, Washington deployed his fourteen thousand men

to guard the Fords. How employing attack similar that he had us used in New York, launched a diversionary attack at Chad's Ford while sending the bulk of his army under Lord Cornwallis on a long flanking motion and marched to the north. By afternoon, Cornwallis's column struck Washington's right flank near Birmingham Meetinghouse. Despite really strong and spirited resistance from divisions under both John Sullivan and Nathaniel Green, the

American lines ultimately broke under the pressure. Washington's army retreated in good order towards Chester, leaving the British with the clear path to Philadelphia. American casualties numbered about eleven hundred compared to about six hundred losses. The defeated Brandywine opened the road to the capitol. On September twenty sixth, seventeen

seventy seven, British forces marched into Philadelphia unopposed. The Continental Congress had fled to York, Pennsylvania, and now the city's occupation, of course, how believed would be a huge political blow, but it didn't work. Out that way. Honestly, the center of resistance never really collapsed. The Continental Army remained in the field. And this continues to illustrate the British misunderstanding. Here in the beginning, it's all a Boston problem. Let's

just take out Boston and New England. That didn't work, so okay, Well, let's go after Philadelphia and that'll take care of the situation. Well, that didn't work either, And so as a consequence, with Washington still in the field, How had accomplished very little, and unbeknownst to him, he had sacrificed Burgoyne and his army, which would prove to be the decisive turning point of the American Revolution. Washington was also unwilling to let How's army rest easy in Philadelphia.

Learning that the British had posted nine thousand troops at Germantown, a few miles north of the city, he devised an ambitious attack. The plan called for four separate American columns to converge on Germantown in a pre dawn assault. At first, the attack on October the fourth went well, driving back the initial British pickets, but morning fog, complex coordination, and a stubborn British defense inside the Chew House, a solid

stone mansion, disrupted the advance. Confusion spread, friendly fire, incidents occurred, and the British counterattacked. American forces retreated after several hours of fighting, leaving about one thousand casualties on the field. Still, the boldness of the attack impressed foreign observers, especially those in France, showing that the Continental Army could take the

offensive against seasoned British troops. Through October and November, Washington shadowed House forces, preventing them from breaking out of Philadelphia to raid the countryside. In early December, at the Battle of White Marsh, the British probed the American position, but decided against a full scale attack. With Drawing back to the city. With winter closing in and supply shortages worsening, Washington made the fateful decision to encamp his army at

Valley Forge, about twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia. It would be a defensible position from which to watch the British, while also allowing the army to recover and reorganize. It would also prove to be a decision that would remake the Continental Army in many ways, and build on the already growing reputation a myth of the greatness of George Washington. The Fall campaign of seventeen seventy seven had been tough sledding,

to say the least. Washington had lost the Battle of Brandywine in September, allowing British General William Howe toure Philadelphia. An American counterattack at Germantown in October had failed, and now the British wintered comfortably in the occupied city. Washington needed a position close enough to monitor the enemy, but far enough to protect his army from a sudden attack.

On December nineteenth, seventeen seventy seven, about twelve thousand Continental soldiers and camp followers tramped into the Valley Forge, twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia. The land offered defensible high ground and access to nearby farms, but there was no reality to the name. It wasn't a valley, just open fields an ice cold wind. The winter of seventeen seven to seventy eight at Valley Forge was not the coldest on record, but for an army lacking food, clothing, and shelter, it

was beyond brtle. Soldiers built log huts and neat rows using whatever tools they had. Some slept under canvas or in makeshift lean tos until the huts were finished. By February, about four thousand men were listed as unfit for duty due to sickness, with diseases like smallpox, typhus, and dysentery spreading rapidly. Shortages in the continental supply system meant that men often meant days without meat, and even bread was scarce.

On December the twenty third, Washington wrote to the Continental Congress in York in despair, quote, we have by a field return this day made no less than two thousand, eight hundred and ninety eight men now in camp unfit for duty because they are barefoot and otherwise naked. I am now convinced beyond doubt that some great and capital change suddenly takes place in the Quartermaster's department. This army must be reduced to one or other of these three things, starve, dissolve,

or disperse. Now the army, of course did not dissolve, but only because the men captured, by loyalty to the cause and perhaps loyalty to George Washington, endured more than they could beyond reasonable limits. A soldier in the eighth Connecticut, later recalled quote, the army was poorly supplied with provisions, clothes, shoes, and tents. We were obliged to do our duty barefoot

and almost naked in the cold and snow. Washington himself bore the political strain of the so called Conway Cabal of faction in Congress and the officer Corps, who whispered about replacing him with General Horatio Gates, the great Victor of Saratoga. But Washington handled the issue with calculated restraint, letting his quiet, persistence and concern for the army speak louder than any intrigue could. In fact, Washington never looked out for himself. He only looked out for his army.

He spent that winter lobbying Congress and state governments for supplies, sometimes riding out personally in the bitter cold to inspect supply routes. His presence in camp, sharing the soldier's hardships helped to cement his reputation as a leader who endured alongside of his men. Then, in February seventeen seventy eight, a Prussian officer named Friedrich Wilhelm VN Steuben arrived at

Valley Forge, recommended by Benjamin Franklin. No less, ben Steuben brought European millilitary expertise and a flare for the dramatic. He would swear at the troops in a mix of French and German, with aids hurriedly alongside of him, translating into English. He began drilling selected units, teaching them standardized maneuvers, bayonet techniques, and battlefield discipline. Rather than lecture, he demonstrated

turning training into action. As one soldier would later write, quote, he taught us to use our arms properly and made us soldiers. Indeed, by spring, ben Steuben's methods had transformed the Continental Army from a collection of militia companies into a more cohesive, professional fighting force. Now. Valley Forge, to be fair, was not a frozen healscape of constant starvation, as myth would sometimes suggest. Supply issues did finally ease in late winter, but it was a place where endurance

became the measure of your commitment to the cause. Washington framed the army suffering as part of the desire for independence itself in his General Orders of February sixteenth, seventeen seventy eight, he wrote, to see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets, to lay on, without shoes, and submitting without a murmur is a mark of patience, an obedience which, in my opinion, can scarce be paralleled.

By June of seventeen seventy eight, as the British prepared to evacuate Philadelphia, the Continental Army broke camp at Valley Forge. The men who marched out were not the same as those who went in. They were more disciplined, and they were hardened by months of adversity, and they knew for the first time how to execute European battle maneuvers thanks

to Van Stuiben. And as we'll see next time, they'll prove this almost immediately, meeting the British and open battle at Monmouth, New Jersey and holding the field against one of the world's best armies, a performance unthinkable without the prior winters crucible