The Wilkinson Trail is a 4.2 mile looped footpath through fields, woods, and hills in the northern section of the Saratoga Battlefield. Be prepared! Wear sturdy shoes, bring water, snacks, bug spray, and sunscreen!
NPS
You can now hike the Wilkinson Trail while immersing yourself in tales from the Battles of Saratoga!
These free, downloadable files range from 3-7 MB. Save them to your device, and listen to them as you hike the Wilkinson Trail. Or you can listen to them directly from the website, but service can be poor in the park.
Start playing each one at each station on the Wilkinson Trail (gray, plastic marker posts, labeled "Station A", "Station B", etc.), and keep walking as you listen. If you are still listening when you arrive at the next station, you're a fast walker! Just finish listening to the track before you begin playing the next one.
Please use a copy of the Wilkinson Trail Map to better understand the tour sequence. A downloadable copy of this map may be found on our Maps page.
Wilkinson Trail Introduction
This is the introduction to the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
The trail you are about to embark on is the 4.2 mile Wilkinson Trail. The start of the Wilkinson Trail is a brown kiosk behind the Visitor Center at the end of the lawn.
Trail markers and informational stations on the trail are thick grey plastic posts. Each trail marker is labeled "Wilkinson Trail," while each informational station is labeled with a letter of the alphabet, A through N.
Each of these stations has a corresponding audio track; start listening to each track at its corresponding station and continue to enjoy it as you hike to the next station.
When you arrive at station C, there is a fork in the trail. Take the path to the right. This will allow you walk the rest of the trail.
For a shorter version of the trail, roughly 2 miles, hike to Station F and take the left turn for the Liaison Trail shortcut, marked with brown thin posts. That will take you to Station N, where you will turn left to complete the shortened hike. We will remind you again when you arrive at Station F.
Please help preserve the natural and historic resources of Saratoga National Historical Park by leaving plants, wildlife and historic objects undisturbed. There is a restroom near trail Station C located at Tour Road Stop 7.
Welcome to the Wilkinson Trail!
"At Saratoga, the British campaign that was intended to crush America’s rebellion ended instead in a surrender that changed the history of the world."
- Richard Ketchum, author
While walking this historic land you will see woods, open fields, hills and streams. You will also see cannons and white marker posts tracing long-removed fortifications from the Revolutionary War battles fought here. On these grounds in 1777, determined American soldiers defeated a world class British army invading their homeland.
This stunning victory spurred international allies to openly provide supplies and armed forces to the new Untied States, making it possible for America to ultimately win its independence. What you don’t see was arguably the most important element of the events that unfolded...the men, women and children on both sides of the conflict, some of whom were willing to make the supreme sacrifice for causes they believed in.
The Battles of Saratoga were replete with a colorful cast of characters, political intrigue, sacrifice, and human drama. Walking the trail you will retrace the same paths where soldiers marched to and from battle, where determined souls overcame overwhelming odds, and where America’s fight for freedom breathed new life.
Listen for the echoes of years gone by...let this trail be a journey into the past, and perhaps you may glimpse scenes of 18th-century America and the human stories and events surrounding the Battles of Saratoga.
Wilkinson Trail Station A
This is the second stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
"I have always thought Hudson's River the most proper part of the whole continent for opening vigorous operations. Because the course of the river, so beneficial for conveying all the bulky necessaries of an army, is precisely the route that an army ought to take for the great purposes of cutting communications between the Southern and Northern Provinces…."
–General John Burgoyne of His Majesty's British Army
Since the Revolutionary War's opening shots at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the British had wanted to bring an end to the rebellion in the American colonies. They hoped that 1777 could be the year.
General John Burgoyne, commander of the British forces here at Saratoga, believed the Lake Champlain-Hudson River Valley Corridor would be the best travel route should an invasion become necessary. That belief formed the backbone of British plans to invade New York by marching south from Canada —a daring scheme that would utilize separate armies in an effort to isolate New England, the perceived heart of the rebellion.
In 1777, the plan was put into action...Burgoyne’s British forces invaded south into New York using the natural corridor of waterways. A smaller force under Lieutenant-Colonel Barry St. Leger would support this movement by marching east from Lake Ontario toward the Mohawk River, which they would follow to the Hudson, and meet up with Burgoyne's troops at Albany.
Once in Albany, the combined force would establish communications with General Sir William Howe in New York City --all in the hopes of stopping the American rebellion before France or Spain chose to intervene.
Aware that General Burgoyne's troops were advancing south from Canada, the American forces, under the command of General Horatio Gates, made plans to prevent further invasion. But what made this land the most advantageous site for the Continental Army to take a stand against the advance of the British? Why here?
Consider the landscape around you as you walk. Topography and ground cover played important roles here at Saratoga. The American Army worked to use these factors to their advantage. In September 1777, under the advice of Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a brilliant Polish engineer serving with the Americans, they chose a raised area a few miles south of here, known as Bemis Heights, to build their fortifications and stop the British advance to Albany.
Bemis Heights overlooked the Hudson River and the road to Albany at a natural "bottleneck" in the river valley. The heights gave a commanding view north, where the British would be advancing from. Dense woodland and difficult ravines prevented the British from traversing the land just east of the river. Swampland and ravines directly beneath Bemis Heights restricted Burgoyne's advance to the river and the road, both of which were highly visible and vulnerable to American forces.
These imposing defenses forced Burgoyne's army to take the only safe route open to them and move inland, away from the Hudson, a few miles north of Bemis Heights.
This historic walking trail loosely follows some of the roads the British used for that move inland, as well as during the Battles of Saratoga, in September and October of 1777. Locating these roads was made possible by using maps drawn at the time by Lieutenant William Cumberland Wilkinson, a British mapmaker serving under British commander General Burgoyne.
Did you know the Revolutionary War is considered America's first civil war? Continue down the small hill to the open field to learn more about difficult decisions people living in America had to make during that turbulent time. Start the next track when you arrive at Station post B.
Wilkinson Trail Station B
This is the third stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
The year 1777 in America was a time of great conflict. Many people faced difficult decisions with no easy answers but potentially severe and even deadly consequences.
If you lived here in the 1770s, would you be a Loyalist or Tory, terms for individuals loyal to the established government of Great Britain? Would you be a Rebel or Whig, terms for Americans wanting personal freedom and a country that could make its own decisions regarding government, trade, taxes and laws for its people? Or would you try to remain neutral? It must have been a difficult decision for many of those early Americans...a wrong decision could result in being jailed, losing friends, neighbors, job, home, and even family members.
Just as politics can divide nations today, in the late 1700s there were a variety of viewpoints, often influenced by economic status, race, religion, gender and age, which resulted not only in discord on the battlefield but also in the personal lives of those torn between conflicting loyalties within their families and communities.
The site you are on used to belong to John McBride during the 1770s. This family made the difficult decision to remain loyal to Great Britain and the King. Their neighbors, the Freemans, were also Loyalists. Would the McBrides and the Freemans ever have imagined their fields bearing fierce fighting between British soldiers and… fellow Americans?
Loyalists involved with the Battles of Saratoga served mainly in two regiments, the Kings Loyal Americans and the Queen's Loyal Rangers. Throughout the Battles of Saratoga, the British troops were divided into three columns, and these Loyalist units were part of the right column.
The road you are walking was used by the right hand column, furthest from the river, commanded by Brigadier General Simon Fraser. The Loyalist forces were positioned on the knolls behind this farm. The American Revolution truly was America's first civil war, pitting neighbor against neighbor and sometimes brother against brother. Always suspicious of one's fellow neighbors and friends, it was a trying time to be a local resident.
Who do you think of when you hear the term "redcoats?" What about Hessians? Native Warriors? They all played an important role here at Saratoga. Keep hiking to find out who joined the British on the field of battle.
Wilkinson Trail Station C
This is the fourth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
At this fork in the trail, take the path to the right. It allows you to follow chronologically the historical events as they occurred here.
Troop movement and composition.
"On a march, in bad weather and bad roads, when the weary foot slips back at every step, and a curse is provoked by the enormous weight that retards him, it must be a very patient veteran, who has experienced much scarcity and hunger, that is not tempted to throw the whole contents of his haversack into the mire."
–British Ensign Thomas Anbury, 24th Regiment of Foot
From the time Burgoyne's army left Canada they faced a steady stream of hardships. Each soldier carried over 40 pounds of equipment, and added to this was the daily grind of extreme weather —including heat, cold, driving rain, humidity— and mosquitoes and black flies, and accompanying hunger, thirst and fatigue.
About one mile north of here, the British split into three columns, or three groups. One column followed the road along the Hudson River. A second kept about a mile west of the river. The third moved along one mile farther west from the river. This spacing was intended to help sweep around American positions the British were sure had to be somewhere near here.
You are now walking on the same trail used by the troops in the center column accompanied by Burgoyne himself. But just who were these forces we so commonly call "Redcoats?"
The British Regiments were famous on many European fields of battle, and here at Saratoga they consisted of men from England, Scotland, Wales, Germany and Ireland. Also with them were regiments of German auxiliaries –almost 3,000 officers and men– supplementing Burgoyne’s army.
In addition, they were joined by Native people, including about 150 Fort Hunter Mohawk warriors and their families, as well as dozens of Iroquois and Algonquin warriors from the Seven Nations of Canada. The rest of the forces included French Canadians and American Loyalists.
For this world-renowned fighting force, even the possibility of defeat at the hands of the contemptuous rebels was unthinkable.
Integrated forces were not purely a British military practice. The American army integrated African Americans, American Indians, and Caucasian soldiers in the same units. In fact, about five percent of the American troops here at Saratoga were black men, reflecting a policy of integration which didn’t happen again until the Korean War. They served as soldiers in both the Continental Army and militia forces alongside their white counterparts.
Enslaved men were sometimes forced to serve in the place of their owners. Many were not slaves at all, but free men who volunteered to serve. Although only white men were appointed as commissioned officers, all soldiers served and fought together and received the same rations, uniforms and pay. This marked a unique situation in a time of active slavery in this country.
Shhhh...is that musket fire in the distance? The British have arrived here on this very land. Keep hiking to find out what happened on that first day of battle...
Wilkinson Trail Station D
This is the fifth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
"We. . .had Something More at Stake than fighting for six Pence per day."
–Major Henry Dearborn, Commander, American Battalion of Light Infantry.
On September 19th, 1777, daybreak was cold and damp with a low-lying fog. The British army advanced south in three columns, a few miles away from the American Camp. As the fog lifted, about 12:30 in the afternoon, the clash began.
Some of Daniel Morgan's riflemen brushed with the advanced guard of Burgoyne's center column in the clearing of Freeman's Farm. To the British, the Americans appeared a motley crew, mostly dressed in whatever piecemeal uniforms they could muster. But appearances were deceiving.
The Americans had a lot more at stake. Eyewitness accounts on both sides from that first day of battle recall some of the most heated fighting any of them had ever seen:
"such an explosion of fire I have never had any idea of before"
"Both armies seemed determined to conquer or die"
"the blaze of the artillery and small arms was incessant and sounded like to roll of the drum"
"it was the hottest Fire of Canon and Musquetry that ever I heard in my life"
"We continued to press on, keeping our lines as well as the ground would permit; loading and firing rapidly as possible as we advanced."
The battle swayed back and forth for more than three hours, with each side taking turns commanding the field. Morgan's riflemen singled out specific targets, while the massed Continental and British lines filled the air with volleys of lead. Sounds of men crying out in pain and fear could be heard across the field. Both sides scrambled to carry out their wounded.
Just as the British lines began to waver in the face of deadly fire from the numerically superior Americans, German reinforcements from the left column arrived from the river road with two 6-pound cannons, forcing the Americans to withdraw under the cover of darkness.
Wilkinson Trail Station E
This is the sixth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
You are now crossing a field where several hundred soldiers lost their lives.
After a brutal back and forth battle, the British held this field at the end of the day on September 19th. However, British losses were severe...if it hadn't been for the timely arrival of the Germans, Burgoyne might have been defeated that very day.
The British troops that were lost could not be replaced, while American strength would keep growing with militia troops arriving in the coming days. British Ensign Thomas Anbury foreshadowed what was to come and praised the American valor:
"I am fearful the real advantages resulting from this hard-fought battle will rest on that of the Americans, our army being so weakened by this engagement as not to be of sufficient strength to venture forth and improve the victory, which may, in the end, put a stop to our intended expedition...we are now become fully convinced they are not that contemptible enemy we had hitherto imagined them, incapable of standing a regular engagement, and that they would only fight behind strong earthworks."
The British had learned a hard lesson...the Americans were not to be underestimated. Gates still blocked the route to Albany and the British now had a sense of their opponent's skill and tenacity.
What happened after the sun set on the first day of battle? Keep hiking to find out about Burgoyne's strategy after the Battle of Freemans Farm...and how his fateful decisions influenced the very history of the world!
Wilkinson Trail Station F
This is the seventh stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
At Station F you have a choice to either continue on the Wilkinson Trail straight ahead or turn left and take the short cut Liaison Trail marked by the thin brown posts marked with an L. If you want to hike the shorter Liaison Trail, listen to track F and G as your next two audio tracks...then skip to audio track N when you arrive at the next thick grey post marked station N.
"The thought of fighting for their country and for freedom made them braver than ever"
--Baroness Frederika von Riedesel
On the morning of Sunday, September 21, two days after the battle of Freeman's Farm, a letter was delivered to Burgoyne from the British commander in the city of New York, General Sir Henry Clinton. According to this letter, Clinton was willing to send 2,000 troops north from the City to exert pressure south of Albany and make General Gates divert some troops to cope with this new threat.
Burgoyne decided to wait for this diversion before he moved again against the American troops. For the next 16 days the two sides were encamped more or less facing each other; less than two miles separated the opposing armies.
The Americans continued to strengthen their defensive fortifications and Bemis Heights, while the British constructed their own fortifications, represented by the red topped posts, some of which you might see nearby. Burgoyne's men felled hundreds of trees to construct several defensive "redoubts,"a name coming from the French term for "temporary field fortifications." Each redoubt was built of walls formed with heavy logs.
These positions were staggered to defend a 2-mile span west of the Hudson River, with each redoubt intended to provide supporting fire to those nearby. The soldiers also cut hundreds more trees to clear areas in front of these redoubts so the American enemy would have no hiding places near the British lines. Such massive clear-cutting for these works left much of the land bare.
The British kept working, and waiting...
Wilkinson Trail Station G
This is the eighth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
"Our situation was becoming more critical from day to day, the supplies were getting lower and a total lack of forage for the horses was to be feared. The enemy’s position, on the other hand was strong and his large army was three times superior to ours so that we could not attack him with any hope of success."
--Brunswick Lieutenant Anton Adolph Heinrich Du Roi, October 7, 1777
It is said an army marches on its stomach. Burgoyne's army had difficulties moving through this unfamiliar countryside and even more trouble finding enough rations and supplies. A ration is the amount of food given to a solider for one day.
On a campaign, it consisted of one and a half pounds of flour or bread and one and a half pounds of salted pork or beef. But the bread was not fresh and soft; it was flat, hard, and dry –poor tasting, but well preserved for storage and travel. This "ship’s bread"as it was then called, dismayed the Germans soldiers who were used to baked bread. The salted meat, soaked in saltwater for months at a time tasted even worse; washing the meat one to two times in fresh water was often required to make it edible.
Women received half rations and children received about one quarter ration.
On October 3rd, due to the British supply shortage, Burgoyne had to cut troops down to 1/3 of its normal rations. Officers sent out foraging parties to find food in the nearby farms. Eunice Campbell Reid, a child of a local farmer, reported on a German foraging party.
"When on our way home from Burgoyne's camp, we stopped several days at John McNeil's. Whilst there were a large party of Brunswickwers, to the number of thirty or more, come and went into Mister NcNeil's potato field and dug a considerable part of the crop. Each of them had three knapsacks or bags which they filled with potatoes and carried off. . . some took pairs of tow cloth trousers that were hanging up to dry, tied up the bottoms of the legs and filled them with potatoes, tied them up, and taking one under each arm went off with the trousers as well as their contents."
What other foods did the foraging soldiers find? The locals grew a variety of crops, including wheat, barley, rye, potatoes, peas, pumpkins, and turnips. They also grew corn, beans, and squash –a reflection of the Native influence in the area. Hay and oats were grown as feed for horses and cattle.
The locals that lived here, having temporarily fled, often found devastation when they returned home. Crops were ravaged, fences torn down, animals taken, and their houses were often burnt to the ground.
Wilkinson Trail Station H
This is the ninth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
Soldiers typically ranged from 20 to 30 years of age. Sometimes younger boys served as officers' servants, or as drummers or fifers. Occasionally, boys as young as 14 or 15 served as officers in the British army. Civilian camp followers marched with both British and American armies.
Camp followers included women and children, merchants, and occasional refugees. Their jobs were to wash, mend and sew the soldiers’ clothes, forage, tend the wounded or sick, help provide some supplies, and take care of themselves and their children. They did not generally cook for soldiers, as the soldiers did their own cooking.
It was a difficult life, but their presence did afford armies some needed assistance. Camp followers were occasionally exposed to battlefield dangers. Two accounts tell of anonymous American camp followers killed in the fighting during the Battles of Saratoga.
"I was convinced how much the Americans were pushed in our late action, on the 19th of September, for I met with several dead bodies belonging to the enemy, and among them were laying close to each other, two men and a woman, the latter of whom had her arms extended, and her hands grasping cartridges."
–British Ensign Thomas Anbury, British 24th Regiment of Foot
"the American women followed close after the American soldiers, as they were advancing, and even exposed themselves where the shot were flying, to strip the dead....I saw one woman while thus employed, struck by a cannon ball and literally dashed to pieces."
–Ambrose Collins, Connecticut militia
We often hear tales of the soldiers'contributions here at Saratoga and in the American Revolution...but what about the women? How did women contribute to the war effort and participate in the political climate of the day? What effects did the war have on Women’s Rights? Keep marching to find out....
Wilkinson Trail Station I
This is the tenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
While men volunteered or were required, by law or circumstances, to serve in the army, how did women contribute to the war effort? Why get involved at all? There were a variety of reasons.
As already mentioned, women camp followers were an essential part of both American and British armies in the 18th Century. Their work as nurses, and doing laundry and mending clothes, and scavenging for supplies, were all extremely valuable to the military.
At home however, when their husbands, sons or brothers went off to war, women were left to fend for themselves. In England and in America, military service could mean months and even years that a man would be away, leaving women to maintain homes, farms, families, and perhaps even businesses. They were then confronted with the realities of inflation, shortages, and threats to homes and towns.
Here in America, women's efforts were also greatly needed in the combined fronts of economy and politics. Listen to this poem that appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette in 1767 in attempts to persuade women to political patriotism:
"Young ladies in town and those that lived round. Let a friend, at this season, advise you. Since money's so scarce, and times growing worse, Strange things may soon hap and surprise you. First, then, throw aside your high topknots of pride, Wear none but your own country linen, Of economy boast...Let your pride be the most To show clothes of your own make and spinning."
This and other ventures followed the cues of Colonial leaders as they encouraged consumer boycotts of British goods. Self-sufficiency became both a political statement and an economic necessity.
What about stories like that of Deborah Sampson, who masqueraded as a man to join the Continental Army, or Molly Pitcher, who took her injured husband's place in a cannon crew?
These were very heroic but highly unusual exceptions. As a rule, women simply were not soldiers. They did, however sometimes provide crucial information for armies, and one young African-American teenager, named Phoebe Fraunces, may have actually saved George Washington by providing information about a plot against his life.
Despite the contributions women made to the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War, the achievement of independence failed to bring a revolution in the rights of American females. For most women, the war's end in 1783 signaled a return to their customary duties within their families and households.
Although women gained little in the way of additional legal and political rights as a consequence of the struggle for independence, the American Revolution helped foster a female ideal that has become known as "republican motherhood."These women involved in the Revolution instilled in their children the virtues on which a republican form of government was believed to rest –wisdom, honestly, loyalty and a compassion for ones fellow citizens. They believed this was best achieved through education, which brought about an unprecedented emphasis on increasing the opportunities for female education during the postwar era.
Do you enjoy camping? Can you imagine being in rugged wilderness conditions for weeks at a time? With the American lines less than two miles away, how did it feel to be a solider or camp follower in the British army during those 16 days after the Battle of Freeman's Farm? Would you be anxious for action? Nervous? Exhausted from building fortifications? Homesick?
Wilkinson Trail Station J
This is the eleventh stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
After the first Battle of Saratoga on September 19th, Burgoyne's army occupied this area for three weeks waiting for reinforcements that never came. How were thousands of men, women, and children organized into an encampment and what where their living conditions like?
There were standard British military regulations for the layout of field camps. In "An Essay on Castrametation" by Lewis Lochée in 1778 gave detailed descriptions. For example, the camps had parade grounds in the front for troop formations. Near this were rows of wedge-shaped tents for soldiers. Women and children, sutlers, wagons and equipment would have been at the rear of the camp.
The same style of linen canvas tent the soldiers occupied was typically assigned to men, women and children as well. These tents, with no bottoms, had a supporting frame of two upright wooden poles and a cross pole, and were staked to the ground. To carry away rain, small trenches were sometimes dug around tent rows. The size of those tents would be comparable to a two person tent by today’s standards. Imagine how crowded those tents were with four to six soldiers each!
Of course, no cooking, defecating, or garbage in or near the tents was permitted. Latrines, or "necessaries" as they were called, would be located on the edge of a gully or cliff if such existed. Otherwise, they were essentially pit toilets, with regimental necessaries being dug every four days or less and located no nearer than 300 feet from the nearest occupied tent.
Just to your left is the area where the 9th Regiment of Foot, consisting mostly of men from Ireland, was encamped. In line next to them was the 21st Regiment of Foot, consisting mostly of men from Scotland. These were just part of the nearly 8000 troops composing Burgoyne's army, that arrived in this general area in September of 1777.
Can you imagine so many people in these tranquil woods today?
Wilkinson Trail Station K
This is the twelfth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
The hush of the forest! Imagine yourself moving on a path or wagon track through densely wooded land. You are away from the security of the river and always fearful of an enemy attack. You are a few thousand miles from home and traveling on unfamiliar terrain... your mind wanders as you think about facing American soldiers who believed their very way of life was in jeopardy.
You are now thinking and feeling like British soldiers as they followed this same path while advancing to the Freeman Farm area.
Did you know that America's most famous traitor was an important figure on the American side at Saratoga, and that his deeds here won him a monument...but without his name? Keep walking to hear the tale...but be careful, spies are afoot!
Wilkinson Trail Station L
This is the thirteenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
The dense and varying terrain made it very difficult to stay in communication, both within one's own army and with other individuals farther away. They had only two ways to send a message; word of mouth, or a written message, either of which had to be sent with a messenger. That's right, no e-mail, cell phones, no radios, not even telegraphs!
Certainly, there were also spies, and both sides used them, often for gaining information about an enemy or circumstances ahead of one's own army. British General Simon Fraser, as one example, made many payments to individuals in exchange for scouting and spying services. And yes, the American Revolution also had its share of secret messages hidden in everyday objects, like buttons, bullets, or clothes, or messages encrypted by clever codes or hidden in plain sight and only revealed by a chemical treatment.
Of course, the punishment for spying was severe –execution by hanging. Perhaps the most infamous American traitor, General Benedict Arnold, was guilty of smuggling critical military information to the British –he was spying. Yet that wasn’t until 1780. During the Battles of Saratoga, Arnold was still on the American side. In fact, Arnold was considered by his troops as a man of great bravery and valor.
So what happened? Answering that requires taking another step back in time. But even then, it’s complicated. In 1775, Arnold helped lead a daring mission to take over remote Fort Ticonderoga from the British. Credit for the victory went to Vermont militia commander Ethan Allan, with whom Arnold shared command. Arnold perceived this as a slight to his honor, the first among many that were yet to come.
In early 1777, Arnold was passed over for promotion, as five other Brigadier Generals were promoted to Major General, leaving Arnold behind. A few months later, he gathered a militia force and repelled some British invaders from central Connecticut, which won him his promotion, but did not restore his seniority –he was still subordinate to those other five Major Generals.
Here at Saratoga, Arnold suffered yet another blow to his ego. After the battle of Freeman's Farm on September 19th, a series of arguments with General Gates ensued, ranging from the unauthorized expense of public money to Arnold's anger over not being mentioned in dispatches back to the President of Congress, John Hancock. Gates decided to ignore Arnold’s further complaints, advice, and his very presence within the army. Arnold took it personally.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 7, as Burgoyne's forces made a movement closer to the American lines, the Americans launched an attack. Joining this attack, Arnold rode to the field of battle and took part in the ensuing fight, culminating in the successful capture of the Breymann Redoubt. Severely wounded in the left leg just as the redoubt was being taken, and described as "gallant" in the report to President Hancock by Gates himself, Congress afterward decided to restore Arnold's seniority.
Capturing Breymann Redoubt led to a British retreat, and the retreat led to the British surrender. General Horatio Gates, as the commanding American officer, was credited with the American victory –a reality that no doubt aggravated Arnold as he lay for months in Albany, and later in Connecticut, recovering from his leg wound.
His leg healed, but his anger festered.
In summer 1778, George Washington sent the now hobbling Arnold to Philadelphia to help stabilize the city in the wake of a British retreat from the area. While there, he met and eventually married Peggy Shippen, a much younger woman with Loyalist sentiments, and who infamously facilitated his contact with British intelligence officer, Major John André.
As allegations of his conduct surfaced, Arnold requested a change of command that would put him back in New York as Commandant of West Point. Arnold and his wife felt that the powers-that-be never fully appreciated his actions or his service, and that the British might offer better treatment. He arranged to meet in secret with Major André, the head of British Intelligence in America.
Arnold devised a plan to give over the defenses at West Point –the pride of the Continental Army and the key to advancing up the Hudson River. The information wouldn't be without cost, though: Arnold demanded 30,000 pounds-sterling in exchange, but would only receive 10,000 pounds-sterling, or nearly one million American dollars today.
Arnold gave André detailed information including troop movements, maps and weapon locations. André was captured in route with the plans hidden in his boot and Arnold's betrayal was revealed. Had Arnold not chosen to betray the American cause, he may have been remembered as one of the greatest heroes of the Revolution. Instead, Arnold fled West Point, and set sail on HMS Vulture to New York City where he was made a British Brigadier General. He then fought against American forces in America for the rest of the war, and died in England in June of 1801.
Once known as General Washington’s "fighting General," he had become America’s worst betrayer.
While today we have weapons of mass destruction that could conceivably destroy the entire population, what types of weapons did the armies use during the Revolutionary War and what sorts of damage could they inflict?
Wilkinson Trail Station M
This is the fourteenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
"Her husband was not yet dead, but a cannon ball had taken off his arm close to the shoulder. During the whole night we heard his moans...the poor man died towards morning."
–Baroness Frederika von Riesdesel
"In the course of the last action, Lieutenant Hervey, a youth of sixteen, received several wounds...a ball striking one of his legs, his removal became absolutely necessary, and while they were carrying him away, another wounded him mortally."
–British Ensign Thomas Anbury, 24th Regiment of Foot
"The carnage became frightful, but the conflict was of short duration. Their gallant major received a musket ball through both leg...The sufferings of the wounded were extreme, having neither beds under them nor any kind of bed clothing to cover them. Several surgeons were busily employed during the night extracting bullets and performing other surgical operations."
–Samuel Woodruff, Connecticut Militia
Revolutionary War weaponry was very effective in killing or wounding soldiers. Amputations, infections and soldiers perishing in the crude field hospitals were all too common.
What types of weapons were used here in these battles? The largest proportion of soldiers used muskets, which fired a single lead musket ball, or a combination of "buck and ball," one full-size musket ball with a few smaller musket balls.
Muskets were smooth-bore firearms, meaning their barrels were smooth inside and therefore were not very accurate. However, it was relatively easy to learn the dozen or so steps to load and fire a musket, a well trained soldier could fire his musket 3-4 times per minute. Multiplied by several dozen soldiers, this produced an intimidating volume of gunfire.
A smaller number of soldiers used rifles, such as troops in Colonel Daniel Morgan's corps, one of the units George Washington had detached from his army. These were much more accurate, as the rifling, or spiral grooves along the length of their bores, made a musket ball spin like a well-thrown football. This also gave a rifle far greater range than a musket, allowing a trained shooter to hit a target two to three hundred yards, or two to three football fields, away.
Rifles required more training to use and more time to load and fire –about one to two minutes between shots. And they were generally not fitted for bayonets. This made rifles better suited to small unit actions such as scouting and skirmishing.
There were three types of artillery pieces used in the Revolutionary War: cannons, howitzers and mortars. In their day these were the most powerful, damaging, and far reaching human controlled weapons.
Cannons, the most frequently used artillery pieces, fired a solid, non-exploding, iron cannonball. It was the velocity and the mass of a cannon ball smashing through targets that made cannons so destructive. Cannons were named for the weight of the cannonball they fired, and here at Saratoga, 3, 6, and 12 pound cannons were used. Depending on their size, it took a crew of approximately 6-12 soldiers to man one cannon. Loading and firing cannons was dangerous, exhausting and deafening work.
Mortars and howitzer, by comparison, were shorter, stubbier tubes which fired hollow, exploding shells on a high arc. These artillery pieces were usually used in stationary situations like defending a redoubt, or for the lengthy siege of fortifications.
Artillery had an important place here at Saratoga and influenced the initial success, and ultimate defeat of the British army here. On September 19th, it was the Germans' arrival on the field along with two 6-pound cannons that prevented an almost certain British defeat that day at the hands of the Americans. In contrast, some of Burgoyne's own artillery, captured from his army in battle on October 7th, was used against him north of here at Saratoga —present-day Schuylerville.
Hear the distant echo of the cannons firing? We are coming upon the scene of the second battle of Saratoga. Keep walking to hear some details of that fateful day...
Wilkinson Trail Station N
This is the fifteenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
In his fortified camp, Burgoyne decided in early October that he could not wait much longer for Clinton's support. Faced by a growing American army, no arriving reinforcements of their own, and with supplies rapidly diminishing, the British army became weaker with each passing day. Burgoyne had to choose between advancing or retreating. Plagued by severe supply shortages, desertions and faced with the onset of colder weather, he was forced to take the initiative.
At mid-day on October 7th, 1,500 officers and men commanded by Generals Burgoyne, Philips, von Riedesel and Fraser marched out of camp along wooded roads which led them into Simeon Barber's farm field. Here they found wheat which they stopped to forage.
American pickets were driven out of their Barber farm outpost. Returning to the American camp, they sounded the alarm that a British force was moving towards the American left flank. General Gates sent word to "order on Morgan and begin the game."
A combined force of Continental troops and militia advanced to attack the British. As hostilities started, Burgoyne returned to camp to prepare the defenses in case of attack.
"That memorable day, the seventh of October when our army was again rallied for battle about twelve o'clock, our tents were struck and baggage wagons loaded... Everything made ready. Every man drawed a gill of rum and were ordered to march for the field of battle which had already commenced...the battle was flying thick and fast."
–American Sergeant James Selkirk, Colonel James Livingston’s Battalion of Forces
Musket balls started flying, then cannons boomed across the field of battle. The two armies became fully engaged.
Wilkinson Trail Station C, Part II
This is the sixteenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
At Station C you are going to bear right and head back towards Station B and the visitor center.
In the course of ferocious fighting at Barber's Wheatfield, British forces began to withdraw from the field towards Balcarres' Redoubt at John Freeman's Farm, now outlined by white posts with red tops.
The fortification at Breymann's Redoubt ran about 100 yards long and was seven feet high. It was named after Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich Breymann, who initially commanded 600 German and American Loyalist troops at this fortification. The two sets of posts configured in small squares to the right signify two cabins manned by French Canadian militia.
As the British retreated from Barber's Wheatfield, Brigadier General Simon Fraser rode back and forth along the British lines in order to rally the troops. As he did, he was mortally wounded, possibly from a rifleman’s bullet.
"Towards three o'clock in the afternoon, instead of my dinner guest arriving as expected, poor General Fraser, who was to have been one of them, was brought to me on a stretcher, mortally wounded. The table, which had already been set for diner, was removed and a bed for the General was put in its place. I sat in a corner of the room, shivering and trembling."
–Baroness Frederika von Riedesel
While Balcarres’ Redoubt at Freeman's Farm held strong, here at Breymann's Redoubt, by late afternoon, the fewer than 200 German and Loyalists there proved no match for the more than 1000 Continental and militia troops who circled the defenders, capturing the fort. It was during the attack on the Breymann Redoubt here that Arnold was severely wounded in the left leg. Arnold's "boot monument" is off to your right in the stand of trees.
"At this stage in the action, General Benedict Arnold, while galloping up and down our line...received a musket ball which broke his leg and killed the horse under him. He was about 40 yards distant from me and in fair view."
–Samuel Woodruff, Connecticut Militia
The Americans' final surge that day overwhelmed the Germans and Loyalists defending this position and drove the British back toward Balcarres Redoubt. The fall of this redoubt exposed the rear of Burgoyne's camp and was perhaps THE crucial hour in the battle, as Americans gained control of the back door to the entire British line.
Only the darkness saved Burgoyne from immediate disaster. Many men of both armies died that day; British losses were punctuated by the killings of Lieutenant Colonel Breymann and General Fraser. Their deaths foreshadowed the eventual end to Burgoyne’s plans for 1777, and the surrender of his army.
Wilkinson Trail Station B, Part II
This is the seventeenth stop on the Wilkinson Trail Audio Tour.
"The day after our late engagement, I had as unpleasant a duty as can fall the lot of an officer, the command of the party sent out to bury the dead and bring in the wounded.... I, however, observed a little more decency than some parties had done, who left heads, legs and arms above ground. No other distinction is paid to officer or soldier than the officers are put in a hole by themselves. This friendly office to the dead, though it greatly affects the feelings, was nothing to the scene in bringing in the wounded; the one were past all pain, the other in the most excruciating torments, sending forth dreadful groans. They had remained out all night...some of them begged they might lie and die, others again were insensible, some upon the least movement were put in the most horrid tortures, and all had near a mile to be conveyed to the hospitals. These poor creatures, perishing with cold and weltering in their blood, displayed such a scene, it must be a heart of adamant that could not be affected by it, even to a degree of weakness."
–Ensign Thomas Anbury, 24th Regiment of Foot
The outcome of the second battle of Saratoga, October 7th, 1777, initiated the events which led to the capture of General Burgoyne's army.
On October 8th, after burying General Fraser in a solemn ceremony, Burgoyne had little choice but to withdraw. A chilly, slow, soaking autumn rain turned the road to ankle-deep mud, and made the march even more of an ordeal for the dispirited army. Tired, cold and hungry from the grueling battles, they marched north.
Eight miles north, in the Village of Saratoga, the British burned the country estate of American General Philip Schuyler to the ground in hopes of denying the pursuing Americans additional cover. About three-fourths of a mile west of there, they encamped on a hill and were surrounded by American forces and a full-scale siege of the British forces' positions began. Starving, outnumbered almost three to one, and with no hope of escape, the British surrendered to the Americans on October 17th, 1777.
The British plan, meant to bring a decisive end to the Revolution and the war, instead resulted in France joining the side of the United States against England in 1778. France was joined by Spain in 1779, and the English declared war on the Netherlands in 1780, thus turning the revolution into an international conflict, one that continued for another 6 years and became a war of attrition for the British.
This foreign support helped guarantee the independence of the United States, and established the Battles of Saratoga as the turning point of the American Revolution.
To learn more about the week-long siege on the British and the surrender that followed, be sure to visit Victory Woods, 8 miles north of the Battlefield, to explore the scenes of that turbulent time. Victory Woods is accessible from behind Saratoga Monument, in the Village of Victory. In the summer months, make sure to visit and climb Saratoga Monument, located on Burgoyne Road in the Village of Victory, featuring fantastic views of the surrounding area and dramatized images of the American Revolution. The Monument is located on part of the grounds of Burgoyne's last camp.
Also, tour General Philip Schuyler's country house, a center of commerce and a political way-station, which was visited by important figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Philip Schuyler is perhaps the most famous American you’ve never heard of. He not only contributed to the success of the Battles of Saratoga, but was also instrumental in New York politics and was in many ways the father of the American canal system. Schuyler House is located on Rt. 4 in the Village of Schuylerville. All three sights are located within one mile of each other.
As you return to the Visitor Center, take time out to explore the stories of the men, women and children of the Revolution. Speak with Park Rangers, read first-hand accounts, and explore the museum and the rest of this historic site. Be inspired by your journey, always remembering the great human cost of the freedoms that American citizens enjoy today.
"The field of Saratoga is rich with the blood of heroes. What are the few names we have recorded compared with the unnumbered hosts who lie under the placid hills of the Hudson --or who performed upon this field unnoticed deeds of valor, and passed through life unregarded and unmade!"
From this point you can follow the trail back to the Visitors Center where we invite you to view our movie, fiber optic map, and exhibits. Make sure to pick up a copy of the annual Calendar of Events to learn more about upcoming “living history” programs, nature walks, and ranger presentations. Please also enjoy our 10-mile auto and cycling tour road where you can learn more about events that unfolded here at Saratoga National Historical Park.
Last updated: June 22, 2023
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Contact Info
Mailing Address:
648 Route 32
Stillwater,
NY
12170
Phone:
(518) 670-2985
Saratoga National Historical Park information desk available daily from 9am - 5pm. If no one is available to take your call, please leave a message, and someone will return your call as soon as possible.
