Qualla: Battles of Saratoga https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battles of Saratoga https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga Battles of Saratoga: Introduction https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit Gilbert Stuart, Public domain. Benedict Arnold had no command on October 7, 1777. General Horatio Gates had stripped it from him after weeks of bitter quarreling in the American camp south of Saratoga. Yet when the second battle erupted on the fields below Bemis Heights, Arnold reportedly mounted his horse and galloped into the fight anyway, rallying troops he had no authority to lead. Whether this story is fully true remains debated by historians to this day, but what happened on these fields is not in doubt: in two engagements fought September 19 and October 7, 1777, an American army destroyed the British strategy to split the colonies in half, forced the surrender of an entire invasion force, and triggered the alliance with France that would ultimately win the Revolutionary War. Historian Edmund Morgan called Saratoga "a great turning point of the war" because it secured the foreign assistance that proved to be the final ingredient needed for victory.

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Image: Gilbert Stuart | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battles of Saratoga: A Three-Pronged Gamble https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit Joshua Reynolds, Public domain. The British plan for 1777 was elegant on paper: three armies converging on Albany, New York, like fingers closing into a fist around New England's throat. General John Burgoyne would march south from Canada through the Champlain Valley with 7,200 to 8,000 men. Brigadier General B...

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Image: Joshua Reynolds | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-a-three-pronged-gamble.mp3 0:06 2 full Battles of Saratoga: The Slaying That Swelled an Army https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit John Vanderlyn, Public domain. The murder of Jane McCrea changed everything. McCrea was the fiancee of a Loyalist serving in Burgoyne's army, killed by Native Americans under British command. When newspapers across the colonies published the story, outrage swept through New England. Militia volunteers poured i...

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Image: John Vanderlyn | Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-the-slaying-that-swelled-an-army.mp3 0:06 3 full Battles of Saratoga: Freeman's Farm: A Pyrrhic Victory https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit Charles E. Frye, CC BY-SA 3.0. On September 19, after the morning fog lifted around 10 am, Burgoyne sent his army forward in three columns. The battle that erupted on the farm of Loyalist John Freeman seesawed for hours through alternating waves of musket fire and bayonet charges. Morgan's sharpshooters proved...

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Image: Charles E. Frye | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-freemans-farm-a-pyrrhic-victory.mp3 0:06 4 full Battles of Saratoga: Bemis Heights: The Trap Closes https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit Public domain. For eighteen days Burgoyne waited on the battlefield, hoping for reinforcements from New York City that never came. His provisions dwindled. American militia continued to arrive. On October 7, he gambled on one more attack. This time the Americans counterattacked with overwhelmin...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-bemis-heights-the-trap-closes.mp3 0:06 5 full Battles of Saratoga: The Ground Remembers https://qualla.com/battles-of-saratoga/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 2.5. Today the Saratoga National Historical Park preserves the battlefield south of Schuylerville, where the fields and wooded bluffs look much as they did in 1777. The site where Freeman's farmhouse stood, the entrenchments on Bemis Heights, the ground where Morgan's riflemen picked ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/r/e/s/battles-of-saratoga-wp/dres-battles-of-saratoga-the-ground-remembers.mp3 0:06 6 full