Virtual Tour Stop 7

A section of the paved pathway at the Breymann Redoubt.

Saratoga National Historical Park

BREYMANN REDOUBT

This quiet and unassuming little rise of land became the key to the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga.

 

A model of the Breymann Redoubt, showing the zig-zagging log wall, earthworks in front of the cannon, and defending soldiers.

Saratoga National Historical Park

A single, crescent-shaped fortified wall with two small cannon had been hastily built atop this rise. The position, under the command of German Lieutenant Colonel Breymann and occupied by German soldiers and American Loyalists, defended the far right end of all the British positions. As such, its location was crucial.

On October 7, 1777, as British forces withdrew from the Barber Wheatfield to the safety of the Balcarres Redoubt, fewer than 200 German soldiers and officers fell back to the Breymann Redoubt.

This small force of Brunswick men, and a few dozen Loyalist soldiers, would discover late that afternoon that their minimally-built defenses could not repel the American attackers. The Americans captured the Breymann Redoubt by early evening, scattering the defenders into the twilight woods.

 

A line of American soldiers advances across a misty, late-day field toward the Breymann Redoubt.

Saratoga National Historical Park

 

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