Tuesday, October 17, 2006
This Day in American History
On this day in 1777, General Burgoyne surrendered his remaining troops at Saratoga to overwhelming numbers of American troops and militia and provided the American rebels with a much needed victory. The British had started a three column push in northern New York on September 17, 1777, but the columns never joined up as planned. Burgoyne had both British and German troops and marched down the west side of Lake Champlain and the Hudson until he met Virginia riflemen at Freeman Farm. The British stopped, dug in and the main battle was fought on October 7, 1777, where General Benedict Arnold was the most impressive leader to an American victory, although others stole the credit later. The British retreated back to Saratoga until trapped and forced to surrender.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:01 AM 
