buy custom Battle of Saratoga essay

buy custom Battle of Saratoga essay This paper addresses the battle of Saratoga. It spells out the main parties to the battle of Saratoga. It also spells out how the battle advanced and what the main motivating factor behind the battle was (Augustus, 1839). More than this, it gives the identity of the men who led the Americans and the British armies in the war. The paper further states the hardships that the American soldiers faced in the battle. Other aspects that are spelt out include the factors that led to the defeat of the British army. It also explains how the French gave their support to America after they won in this battle. The battle of Saratoga was comprised of two battles, which took place in September 1777 and October 1777. The battles are up-to-date considered as the turning point of American Revolutionary war. The Saratoga battle began when the British planned to control New York especially the upstate part. The British also made a plan to isolate New England from other southern colonies. This was geared towards putting an end to the prevailing revolution. The British troops went to battle led by General John Burgoyne. They planned to drive from Montreal to Albany along Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River. They were to join forces at Albany with two other British Commands. One was coming from New York while the other was coming from Mohawk River. The team by General John Burgoyne faced obstacles in the forest as they headed south. One obstacle was near Lake George where there were colonists who were felling trees. These troops blocked the path by General John Burgoyne Team. This caused a slowdown of the team. It took the team a considerably longer time to reach their destination. They faced a challenge of the fact that their supplies were running out of supplies by the time they arrived at FortEdward. The team sent a portion of their group to procure cattle and supplies from Vermont. Some colonist forces attacked this team and the numbers by Burgoyne were further dwindled. The American Scouts noticed the invasion by General John Burgoyne, and immediately Gates was notified. He ordered Daniel Morgan who was a colonel to track down the march by the British men. They were finally tracked down on the Freeman Farm. They engaged each other in a battle that lasted for more than 3 hours. From the onset, the Americans were numerically superior to the British army. During this encounter, General John Burgoyne forced the American soldirs to withdraw (Augustus, 1839). They mainly won because the ammunition the Americans was nearly exhausted. General John Burgoyne was shaken, and he ordered his army to wait for Clinton. He wanted to ensure that his team is larger than it had been during the first encounter (Kethum, 1999). Clinton was at this time expected to be preparing to move north from New York. They waited for Clinton for three weeks, but he did not turn up. General John Burgoyne had to decide whether to retreat or to advance in the war. He decided to take the risk and engage in his earlier plans. This was because he noticed that the more he waited the more the American army was advancing in size. His armies supplies were also diminishing by the day as he waited and thus he understood he had no more time. The Americans were well set, for they knew that the British team was about to advance. In a separate account, the other group of British Army led by General Howe was travelling north of New York City. They undecided to veer from their previous plan and take on the city of Philadelphia (Rees, 1996). They went ahead with this plan. The continental army of Washington prevented the team from leaving and joining hands with General John Burgoyne. In addition, Washington realized that a massive war was about to emerge. In their defense, they sent large troops to the North. There was an announcement that any military group that could join those troops was at Liberty to do so. This ended up to be extremely sturdy contingent troop and Militia gathering in the Saratoga area (Furneaux, 1971). Now, General John Burgoyne and his troop began to advance south again. They were, however, stopped ten miles below Saratoga. This was the beginning of the battle of Saratoga (Vierow, 2003). This was known the battle of Freemans Farm, and it took place on September, 19 1977. It began when militiamen from Virginia harassed the British. At the same time, other colonists aggressively fought the British. The British felt the loss more as they lost twice as many men as the American side. Gates and Benedict Arnold who was a field general led the American side (Augustus, 1839). The second battle, which is counted as part of battle of Saratoga, took place in October 7 the same year. This battle was named the second battle of Saratoga. It happened when General John Burgoyne decided to break free from the colonial forces that surrounded him (Cuneo, 1967). Thhe army by General John Burgoyne was by this time cut down to about 5000 men. They were facing the American side led by Gates that had 20 000 men. General John Burgoyne was also disadvantaged at this point because they were falling short of supplies in a foreign land (Furneaux, 1971). In this endeavor, he wanted to send them out of the field. In this battle, the British armies and the German allies who were helping them were devastated in battle. The defeat at the Bemis Heights forced General John Burgoyne to withdraw into the northern region. He went to the village, which is now called Schuylerville Village. As he began his retreat, Gates and his men followed him and surrounded him at Saratoga. While here, he consented defeat and surrendered on October 17 1777. The Saratoga monument was set up in this place to commemorate the momentous day of victory. General John Burgoyne was disgraced after the defeat, and he started his way back to England. It is noted that he was not given another command. The French people were now persuaded to support the Americans with some military aid. This defeat of the England forces by the Americans is thus the turning point of the American Revolution. Despite the wining by the American Army, they faced many challenges. In times of need the army, had to recruit slaves and other pardoned criminals? The leaders of the army knew that the wining tactic was ensuring that their numbers were larger than those of General John Burgoyne were. To this end, the American army at times enrolled the British side deserters and the people who would be termed as prisoners of war. Enrolling American men was sometimes hard, as the portion of people who were farmers did not want to leave their fields unattended. People also failed to join the army, as the compensation thereby was extremely low. In times of inflation, the militiamen received remarkably little amount of money as upkeep. There also lacked pension systems that would compensate the soldiers in cases where the soldiers died. There were also easy spreads of diseases in the police camps; they lacked the necessary facilities as they slept without tents and in other cases without blankets. They were also scarcity of food in their tents. The soldiers contended with so many problems as they even lacked cooking utensils and sometimes resulted to eating raw meat. They, however, garnered all their energy and won the British Army (Cuneo, 1967). Buy custom Battle of Saratoga essay buy custom Battle of Saratoga essay This paper is a bout the battle of Saratoga and how it was a major turning point in the revolutionary war. The paper starts by looking at how it all begun some of the involved groups and their significance at the various stages of the battle. The paper also looks at how and why other nations got involved in this war for instance France and Spain. This paper looks at some of the benefits that Americans got by participating in this war for instance the bill of rights ,that were effected and some of the constitutional amendments that came with it. Introduction The Battle of Saratoga was one of Americas major and historic turning points of all the revolutions that America has ever undergone. In this battle, America proved to the whole world that indeed they have an army that was sufficiently effective to fight and defeat well trained British army. This is considered as one of Americas successful battles of all time. When the Americans seemed to overpower the Britons, other European countries became more interested with Americans and how they had managed to put up such a fight against the then powerful nation like Britain. Most of them including France and Spain joined them and provided assistance but secretly. During the 1777 British campaign, Burgoyne who was by then a Major General organized a three columns concentric advance which was to take place in New York. Burgoyne led one of the teams that took the southward direction along river Hudson. Another group under the impetus of General Barry Leger whose main work or responsibility was to provide a diversionary attack, and lastly there was another third group under the leadership of General Howe was dispatched to operate along river Mohawk. The plan was well drawn out and General Howe was expected to direct the group under General Henry to take the northern direction along river Hudson to meet General Burgoyne at Albany. The main aim of this strategy was to basically destroy the massive and brutish forces of New England and also to reduce their influence across Europe. Background information According to Todd L. and Curtis Eugene (1990)The goal of the 1777 campaigns was to basically to take control of the Hudson river, the Lake Champlain and the surrounding areas, by so doing they would have automatically and effectively isolated the oppressive England from their other American colonies. This invasion had been planed in such away that two aspects were to be addressed. First, Burgoyne was to lead a group of people towards Albany in New York along Lake Champlain. Burgoyne started off and within a very short period of time he had managed to recapture Fort Ticonderoga. From there on, Burgoynes march became a bit slow because of a few logistics because of the fact that they were moving through bushes and they also kept on stopping on the way to engage in a bit of training. They also face some problems on their way like being attacked by smaller groups which were sent out to distract them and seize them up and thwart their efforts to access their supplies. They were lucky because most of these kinds of destruction were defeated by the American militia for instance in the Bennington battle. Unfortunately in this instances Burgoyne kept on losing some of his men in the process .There was an instance where the American militia attempted to intervene and provide assistance but got ambushed and had no option but to scatter in a battle that was dubbed Oriskany.A second group that was under the leadership of Benedict Arnold, abandoned him and he had no other option other than returning to Quebec and rethink his strategy. Burgoynes set backs Burgoyne's Group was reduced by almost half in the various battles that they had been engaged in for instance in the battle of Bennington and the fact that they were running out of supplies .Despite all his setbacks, Burgoyne was determined to struggle and fight on in a bid to get to Albany (Frederickson J 2006). There was an American army under the leadership of General Horatio Gates which had already taken over parts of Saratoga. Burgoyne atempted to outflank the American army unfortunately he could not outdo them at the very first Saratoga battle .Burgoyne came up with desperate attempts but in vain and again he feared that the army that was under the leadership of General Howe which was operating in New York would be coming. The American militia and other natives joined the army that was under the stewardship of General Gates making it more stronger. Burgoyne run out of options after losing terribly in the second battle of Saratoga and had to surrender. Saratoga was basically like the turning point that brought about confidence and determination particularly after Howe managed to successful occupy and take control over Philadelphia. This victory in many ways encouraged France to join hands with American after secretly supporting them for close to two solid years. After the alliance and support from other nations, things became more complicated for the Britons. The British plan The British plan which was all about repelling the Americans and gaining more ground seemed to work but only for awhile. The Burgoyne's army had for some time manages to repel and push back the American forces southward as they attempted to surge upwards along the Hudson River .In an a bid to impede the progress of the British army , General Philip Schuyler of America added another group of army. This group moved along the Mohawk River as a reinforcement team. After a while General Arnold went back with his group after successfully fighting off enemies in good time to participate in the battle of Saratoga. The First and second Battles of Saratoga According to Ketchum R. (1999) the very first battle of Saratoga started on 19 September, 1777 .In this very first encounter General Gates who had poor execution lost some substantive ground to the Britons. This was partly due to the disagreement that erupted between him and General Arnold. This was due to difference in tactic they intended to use; this saw Gates relieve Arnold from commanding the army. The deadly battle of Bemis Heights came to be considered as the second battle of Saratoga. After awhile, General Gates took over leadership and command from Schuyler, whose ideologies and political strategies had had hit a snug for instance the loss of Ticonderoga which forced him to retreat. Gates immediately commanded his army to march towards the north. At a place known as the Bemis Heights which is situated north of Stillwater, which is just a few miles south of Saratoga, was picked as a base of its strategic positioning. The army took some time at this place strategizing on how to launch attacks. Bemis was chosen because of its height which could provide a good and clear view .That very first battle actually began when Burgoyne directed some of his troops to Bemis Height in an attempt to stop the American from encroaching on Bemis Heights. General Benedict Arnold was well informed and to counter the move he placed massive forces in their way. Factors that led to Americas triumph The battle of Saratoga was a turning point for the a American people in many ways .First of all ,this battle made American win over the confidence of other countries that had a problem with the British dominance. By successfully participating in this battle the Americans got a lot of morale and knew that they can as well have say in their own matters. Americans capitalized on the weaknesses of the British army for instance the British army had poor planning and lacked proper direction from their headquarters in London. Another reason why the British army lost miserably is because they were far from and could not easily access their supplies in Canada. American also won the battle because they had received the backing of other European nations but clandestinely for instance France who supplied them with war materials and also the French navy played a very big role in helping the American. When France openly came to the assistance of Americans, other countries also joined in, for instance Spain who claimed that they are in the war as Frances ally. The Battle of Saratoga is bbelieved to have been a major turning point for America. Americans had numerous opportunities that helped them win the battle. For instance when the British army was moving south and away from their main source of their supplies which was in Canada. The Generals of the American army got wind of this and took advantage of it by executing their operations. During the 1777 encounter was the first time the American army got to meet the British army in a full dress war and emerged winners. Why the battle was seen as a turning point to Americans The Battle of Saratoga was viewed as a major turning point because of quite a number of reasons which are seen as benefits to the Americans. First of all, Americans started to benefit and fully enjoy their basic rights that they had been denied by the oppressive Britons. This came with a series of constitutional amendments that gave more freedom and privilege to the people of America including liberties to engage I whatever they are interested in. The American legislators got the power to amend the constitution and they even incorporate like forty new provisions .This saw Americans gain a lot of freedoms and other rights which were incorporated in their constitution (Bass H. 1990). Some of them included freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly and also freedom to be tried by the jury. The British authorities had become very oppressive and that is why most of their colonies hated them and helped Americans .After they had actively participated in the French and the Indian Wars, the Britons felt that they had lost some substantive amount of money and the best way to recover that was by taxing their colonies heavily. This move was bitterly resisted by most British colonies who believed that they were not the main reason why Britain had incurred big losses .This prompted most of them to gang against the British authorities .This was a common behavior that the British authorities had adopted, whereby after engaging in wars with other countries and incurring losses, they resort to heavily taxing their colonies. The good thing is that whenever the Britons came up with a new law concerning the taxation, their colonists hated and disliked them even more. Somehow it may sound like it is a good thing for The Britons to impose more taxes on their colonists because it was them that they were protecting after all. According to most Americans this was not the best way to support their mother country; they looked at it as a form of oppression and exploitation. Americans felt that being indebted to their mother country for protection was basically missing the point and it was not what they were looking for. American authorities believed that the British authorities were trying to use their colonies for economic and political gains. The American Revolution came in handy to end that exploitation and oppression. This was a great thing to ever happen in the history of America and in shaping it to what it is today. This revolution was inevitably going to take place happen because of the eagerness of America and other colonies to becoming free. This was timely because American eventually got an opportunity to work together and could join any relig ious organization with out being persecuted. According to Murrin J. et al (2008) this opened up opportunities to Americans all over the world they also got an opportunity to amend their constitution and other laws and political system. Americans showed their former colonialist that they were in apposition to make a living by themselves and providing protection to themselves by putting up that revolution. This was indeed a turning point to Americans in the sense that they realized that they can actually empower themselves and become their own authority. This revolution made Americans to become conscious about the fact that there was no rationale or justification for them to depend or rely on the British government to help them stay afloat. Without this revolution ,the Americans were not only trying to run away from the Not only were they still trying to break away from the oppressive and exploitative British but it gave them an opportunity to form a central government system. Buy custom Battle of Saratoga essay