The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led an invasion army of 7,200–8,000 men southward from Canada in the Champlain Valley, hoping to meet a similar British force marching northward from New York City and another British force marching eastward from Lake Ontario; the goal was to take Albany, New York. The southern and western forces never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York 15 miles (24 km) short of his goal. He fought two battles which took place 18 days apart on the same ground 9 miles (14 km) south of Saratoga, New York. He gained a victory in the first battle despite being outnumbered, but lost the second battle after the Americans returned with an even larger force.
Surrender of General Burgoyne, an 1822 portrait by John Trumbull depicting John Burgoyne, a British Army general, surrendering to General Horatio Gates, who refused to take his sword. The painting presently hangs in the United States Capitol Rotunda.
General Horatio Gates, portrait by Gilbert Stuart
General John Burgoyne by Sir Joshua Reynolds
The slaying of Jane McCrae by Native Americans under Burgoyne's command was widely published in newspapers throughout the colonies. This led to a massive turnout of colonial militia, outnumbering Burgoyne's army by two to one.
The Saratoga campaign in 1777 was an attempt by the British high command for North America to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River valley during the American Revolutionary War. It ended in the surrender of the British army, which historian Edmund Morgan argues, "was a great turning point of the war, because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory."
Surrender of General Burgoyne a portrait by John Trumbull
General John Burgoyne, portrait by Joshua Reynolds
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, portrait by Antoine-François Callet
Fort Ticonderoga from Mount Defiance