History in 6 Minutes

Welcome to History in 6 a place where we sample history in small increments. I'm your host Team Elendil and today in our journey through the American Revolutionary War we are going to (look at the Battle of Freeman’s Farm which was the first battle of Saratoga ). Time is short, let's jump into it.

1777. In the corridors of power in London, a grand and audacious plan took shape. A strategy born of frustration with the stubborn rebellion festering in New England. The British high command believed that if they could sever New England from the other colonies, the rebellion will wither and die.1
Their plan called for three armies to converge on Albany, New York, seizing control of the vital Hudson River valley.4 The main thrust would come from the north. Lieutenant General John Burgoyne, would lead a formidable army of over 7,000 British regulars and German mercenaries south from Canada.5 His path would follow the great water highway of Lake Champlain (sham-playn) and the Hudson River.4 To the south, General Sir William Howe, the British commander-in-chief, was expected to march his army north from New York City to meet Burgoyne in a triumphant rendezvous in Albany.3 A third, smaller force under Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger (SIL-en-jer) would act as a diversion, sweeping east from Lake Ontario through the Mohawk Valley to confuse the Americans and rally Loyalist support.1
On paper, the plan was brilliant. In reality, it was a product of "armchair generalship," a strategy conceived on maps in London that failed to grasp the brutal realities of the American frontier.5 The plan depended on the perfect coordination of three independent armies, a feat made nearly impossible by the vast distances and primitive communication lines of North America.3 Throw in personal rivalries and conflicting orders from London and the plan was in trouble from the beginning .1
The campaign began with a flash of success. In early July, Burgoyne's army easily captured Fort Ticonderoga, a victory that sent a shockwave through the American colonies.7 But Burgoyne’s good fortune was short-lived. As his army pushed south, its advance slowed to a crawl. The American commander in the north, General Philip Schuyler, employed skillful delaying tactics. His men felled massive trees across the primitive roads, destroyed bridges, and turned the wilderness into an impassable maze.12 A journey that should have taken days stretched into a grueling month, forcing Burgoyne's men to hack a new road through the dense forest.12
Burgoyne sent a column of German troops to raid Bennington, Vermont, hoping to seize desperately needed supplies and horses. Instead, the force was surrounded and defeated by American militia under General John Stark, costing Burgoyne nearly 1,000 of his best men.3 His crucial Native American scouts, disgusted by the defeat and Burgoyne's attempts to restrain their methods of warfare, began to desert in droves, leaving him blind in the wilderness.9
By September, the grand design was unraveling. General Howe, pursuing his own ambitions, had sailed his army south to capture the American capital of Philadelphia, abandoning Burgoyne to his fate.1 St. Leger's (SIL-en-jer) western expedition had been smashed at the Siege of Fort Stanwix and was in full retreat back to Canada.1
This left Burgoyne dangerously alone. He was deep in hostile territory, his supply lines stretched to the breaking point, and his army shrinking with every passing week.8
Despite all of this, the proud and ambitious Burgoyne could not bring himself to retreat. On September 13, he marched his army across to the west bank of the Hudson River, a move that committed him to battle.12 There was no turning back. By September 18, his weary army was camped just four miles north of the American lines, waiting for a battle they knew must come.12
While Burgoyne's army struggled, the American forces were flourishing. In August, a panicked Continental Congress replaced the aristocratic Philip Schuyler with General Horatio Gates.12 Gates was a former British officer, a cautious and methodical commander known more for his administrative skills than for battlefield daring.17 He was a steady hand the shaken Northern Army needed after the loss of Ticonderoga.
Under Gates's command, the American army grew to approximately 7,000 men. Gates adopted a strong defensive position, entrenching his forces on Bemis Heights, a naturally fortified bluff that offered a commanding view of the Hudson River. Their man-made defenses, designed by Polish engineer Colonel Thaddeus Kosciuszko (KOS-CHOOS-KO), further strengthened the position. This strategic location meant that any British assault would be forced into the dense woods and difficult terrain on the American left, which significantly favored the defenders. General Gates's plan was straightforward and effective: he would allow Burgoyne's army to wear itself out in a fruitless attack against the American stronghold.12
The morning of September 19, 1777, dawned with a thick, heavy fog. Around 10:00 AM, the sun burned through the mist, and Burgoyne gave the order to advance.15 Unsure of the exact American positions, he planned a reconnaissance in force, probing south in three powerful columns, hoping to discover and turn the American’s left flank.12
On the British left, marching down the river road, was the column of German troops commanded by Baron Friedrich von Riedesel (REE-duh-zel). They guarded the army's heavy artillery and vital supply boats on the Hudson.15 In the center, General James Hamilton led a column of British regulars, accompanied by Burgoyne himself, through the woods toward the high ground.15 The main effort fell to the right column, commanded by the highly capable General Simon Fraser. His elite troops swung wide to the west, tasked with executing the decisive flanking maneuver.15
In the American camp at Bemis Heights, scouts raced in with reports of the British advance. General Gates, true to his cautious nature, ordered his men to hold their positions and wait for the enemy to come to them.23 Benedict Arnold on the other hand was furious. He passionately argued that passivity would squander their greatest asset: Morgan's riflemen, whose long rifles could kill at twice the range of a British musket. Arnold insisted they confront the British in the woods, where Morgan's men could decimate the enemy's disciplined formations.23
The argument between the two generals was fierce and lasted for hours.23 Finally, Gates relented, but only slightly. He refused to commit the whole army, but he authorized Arnold to send out Colonel Morgan's riflemen and some light infantry to "harass the enemy" and feel out their intentions.23 It was a compromise that satisfied no one, but it was enough to kick off the proceedings.
Around 12:30 PM, Daniel Morgan led his men north through the dense woods.12 They soon emerged into a small, 15-acre clearing on the farm of a local Loyalist named John Freeman.15 There, in the open, they saw them: the advance guard of Burgoyne's center column, a company of British regulars marching as if on a parade ground in England.
Relying on discipline and volley fire, the British preferred open ground. Morgan's men, however, melted into the treeline, using the forest for cover rather than meeting the British in their strength. With careful aim from their long rifles, they targeted officers—the men with gorgets and swords who gave orders. The first volley had a stunning effect: nearly every officer in the British advance party was cut down. Deprived of leadership, the British line instantly dissolved into panic, breaking and running.
Emboldened by their shocking success, Morgan's riflemen forgot their discipline. They let out a yell and charged into the clearing, pursuing the fleeing redcoats.24 They ran headlong into the main body of Hamilton's column. A wall of British muskets erupted in their faces, and a bayonet charge sent the Americans reeling back into the woods. In the chaos, Morgan, a veteran of countless frontier skirmishes, began rallying his men.27 The first, sharp clash ended around 1:00PM. The brutal struggle for Freeman's Farm was just beginning.
It was a fight of savage intensity, a bloody stalemate fought between two armies with fundamentally different ways of fighting. The clearing itself became a no-man's-land, a killing field that changed hands over and over again.30
The British regulars of Hamilton's center column fought as they had been trained. They formed their immaculate lines in the open field, attempting to shatter the Americans with disciplined volleys of musket fire and cold steel bayonet charges.12 But their enemy refused to fight by European rules. The Americans, now reinforced with more regiments from Arnold's division, clung to the edge of the woods. They used the trees for cover, firing with deadly accuracy at the dense ranks of redcoats exposed in the clearing.12 A British soldier later described the scene, writing that the "ground flowed with English and American blood".12
At the heart of this storm stood the British 62nd Regiment of Foot.12 They found themselves at the center of the British line, bearing the brunt of the American fire. They stood their ground with incredible bravery, firing volley after volley into the woods, but their musket balls mostly splintered tree bark. The American fire, however, was very effective. The riflemen in the woods were systematically picking off the British soldiers and artillerymen.12
The British commander, Lieutenant Colonel John Anstruther (AN-ster), desperate to drive the Americans from their cover, ordered his men to charge with the bayonet. Four separate times, the 62nd charged into the woods. Each time, the Americans simply faded back before them, melting into the forest, only to reform and resume their galling fire as soon as the British retreated to their original line.12 The 62nd was being annihilated. By the end of the day, the regiment, which had entered the battle with about 340 men, had suffered a staggering 285 casualties.28 They were, for all practical purposes, wiped out as a fighting force.
By 3pm, the British center was nearing the breaking point. The 62nd Regiment was shattered. The 20th and 21st Regiments were under immense pressure, and Burgoyne had no more reserves to commit.13 In desperation, he sent an urgent message to Baron Riedesel (REE-duh-zel), whose German column was still on the river road to the east.12
Riedesel (REE-duh-zel), hearing the rising crescendo of battle, had already halted his men and was anxiously awaiting orders.12 When the summons came, he acted with decisive speed. Leaving a small guard with the army's baggage, he personally led 750 of his German grenadiers and two cannons on a hard march through the woods, heading directly toward the sound of gunfire.12
The Germans arrived at Freeman's Farm at the perfect moment for the British, and the worst possible moment for the Americans. They crashed out of the woods and slammed into the exposed American right flank, unleashing a furious storm of musketry and cannon fire.12 The Americans, exhausted from hours of fighting and with their ammunition running low, were caught completely by surprise. They had no reinforcements to counter this new threat. Their right flank, which had been pressing the British center hard, buckled and then broke.
With darkness falling, their right flank turned, Fraser threatening on the left, and their strength spent, the Americans had no choice but to fall back. They conducted an orderly retreat, pulling back from the bloody clearing to the safety of their main defensive lines on Bemis Heights.12 As night enveloped the field, the firing sputtered and died out.12
The British secured Freeman’s Farm, a tactical victor, but at a severe cost. With over 600 casualties compared to the American’s 320, Burgoyne’s army was too weakened to continue its advance towards Albay. The strategic advantage now belonged to the Americans. Burgoyne chose to fortify his position at Freeman’s Farm. Turning it into a defensive camp, and awaited reinforcements from New York city - a hope that would ultimately prove futile.
In the American camp, the aftermath was mixed. Morale among the troops soared. They had met the best of the British army in open battle and had inflicted nearly double the casualties they had sustained.10 But at the command level, the simmering feud between Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold boiled over. In his official report to Congress, Gates took sole credit for the victory, deliberately omitting any mention of Arnold or the heroic actions of his division.20 Arnold, enraged by this slight, confronted Gates in a furious argument. The result was that Gates relieved Arnold of his command.21 The Americans' most brilliant and aggressive general was now confined to his tent, a commander without an army. And just as the campaign was reaching its climax. This bitter humiliation would fester in Arnold's heart, planting the seeds of resentment.23
For the next three weeks, the two armies faced each other from their fortified lines, often less than a mile apart.39 But while the battlefield was static, the strategic situation was not. Burgoyne's army slowly withered. His supplies dwindled, and his men were put on half-rations.16 Disease and desertion thinned his ranks daily.9 Meanwhile, the American army grew ever stronger. Inspired by the news of the battle, militia from across New England and New York poured into Gates's camp, swelling his numbers to over 11,000 men.38
The final battle was near.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the Battle of Freeman’s Farm. One thing I did wonder while making this episode was: What if Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger's western expedition had skipped Ft Stanwix after Oriskany as some of his officers wanted and swept through the Mohawk Valley and joined Burgoyne? Would that have changed anything? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you found this video interesting or learned something new, please consider subscribing and hitting the like button. It truly helps the show grow and allows me to make more content like this one. Again thanks for watching and as always have a great day if you want to