Finally at Bemis Heights, Kosciuszko designed a cork in the bottle which forced Burgoyne to abandon the River Road for a flanking attack through the woods, where the British tactic of volley followed by bayonet charge was ineffective, and the American ranger tactics were extremely effective. Thus did the Americans gain their first major victory of the Revolution, bringing the French into the conflict on the American side. Saratoga was, in the minds of most historians, the turning point of the war. In war, as in medicine, natural causes not under our control, do much. In the present case, the great tacticians of the campaign, were hills and forests, which a young Polish Engineer was skillful enough to select for my encampment.
Most military leaders have a learning curve.
Certainly that was the case with George Washington himself. His defenses of West Point were brilliant with their use of natural terrain and interlocking fields of fire. But to Kosciuszko, they seemed obvious. The construction of defense works was somehow second nature to him. Kosciuszko realized, long before Napoleon came on the scene, that artillery could be used as the great equalizer and killer of men.