Battle of Saratoga
The Saratoga campaign of September–October 1777 ended in the surrender of an entire British army. General John Burgoyne had advanced south from Canada through Lake Champlain in the summer of 1777 with 7,000 regulars, German auxiliaries, Loyalists, and Indigenous allies, intending to link up at Albany with Howe's force moving north from New York. Howe instead sailed to Pennsylvania to capture Philadelphia — leaving Burgoyne unsupported in the wilderness of upstate New York. As Burgoyne's army moved south, it became increasingly isolated. A detachment sent to raid Bennington, Vermont for supplies was destroyed on 16 August by 2,000 New England militia under John Stark. American forces under Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold blocked Burgoyne's advance at Bemis Heights on 19 September (the First Battle of Saratoga), where Arnold's aggressive tactical handling prevented a British breakthrough. At the Second Battle of Saratoga on 7 October, another British assault was repulsed and Burgoyne's position became untenable. Surrounded by an American force that had grown to 20,000, with supplies exhausted and no relief coming, Burgoyne surrendered his remaining 5,895 men on 17 October at the Convention of Saratoga — the largest British military defeat since the end of the English Civil War.
- Year: 1777 CE
- Category: Military
