The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-10-29
GENERAL BURGOYNE'S
SURRENDER AT SARATOGA
Occurred On October 18th, One
Hundred Fifty-fOur Years Ago

One hundred and htty-tour years
ago, on October 18th, occurred the
surrender of General Burgoyne and
his British army at Saratoga, New
York. 1t happened in the year 1777,
before our present national Govern
ment was formally established. AS it
was one of the critical turning points
that decided the success of the Revo-
luton, it is worth thinking about in
any year. Next year it will be doubly
worth recalling, in honor of the man
we celebrate in 1882, on the two hun
dredth anniversary of his birth
George Washington.
AS to the significance of the sur
render and the battle of Saratoga,
the late Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
has put the case in a single striking
line: "The Revolution had been saved
at Trenton; it was established at Sar-
atoga."
Every good American remembers
something of what the school history
books taught him about Burgoyne and
Saratoga, but it takes the careful
searchings of more recent historians
to see that event as the great hinge
on which our entire national history
turned. 1t has been left for such au-
thorities as Lodge, for example, to
make clear George Washington's part
in the winning of that pivotal victory.
Our textbooks taught US that Sar-
atoga was fought in the heart of New
York State, while Washington was
watching Howe at Philadelphia, the
assumption being that Saratoga was
a stroke of good fortune by which he
benefited but in which he played no
personal part.
The United States George Wash
ington Bicentennal Commission
points out that Washington saw in a
flash the danger of Burgoyne's thrust
toward the Hudson River, and did his
utmost to block it. Washington knew
llldG OllCS lIlC DIllloH SOIIlLlctINA VI
the Hudson, they would cut the Revo
lutionary States in two. In that case
the war might be lost. Like hawk
he watched the army of Howe at the
southern end of the Hudson, and must
have been overjoyed when he saw it
strike for Philadelphia, instead of
moving up the river to connect with
Burgoyne. 1t was Washington's part
to pin Howe where he was in Phila-
delphia. But it was not Washington's
part to allow Burgoyne to capture the
north without resistance.
The labor that brought the down.
fall of Burgoyne was accomplished by
General Washington. He carried on a
furious correspondence with the Gov
errors of the New England and the
Northern States, with an appeal for
militia. His letters to General Schuy-
Ter, than in command of the northern
Continental troops, disclose the same
shrewd plans on Washington's part.
At the critical moment, Congress de-
cided to place General Gates in COM
mand, in place of General Schuyler,
but the ground for success had al
ready been prepared by Washington.
Besides, General Washington sent
some of his own much needed troops
under Arnold and Morgan to assist
in stopping the British.
Precisely as the Commander-in-
Chief had reckoned, the people of
the northern wilderness arose against
the British invader, and at Saratoga
General Gates had for once suffi-
Gent forces animated by determined
spirit. We know the result. Burgoyne
hemmed in, was taken with his en-
tire army. The victory heartened the
Americans to renewed efforts, dis
mayed the British, and led to political
effects that pointed straight to York
town and the surrender of another
and the most important of the Brit
ish armies.
For Saratoga proved to the world
the fighting spirit of the Americans,
their ability to win. It was Saratoga
and the surrender of Burgoyne that
brought in France on the American
side, with just the support that was
needed. 1t is true that four more
years of Encouragement and fighting
and delay lay between Saratoga and
the successful stroke at Yorktown;
but, had there been no Saratoga, there
might have been no Yorktown, no vic
tory there, and no United States.
That is the Importance of the sur
render at Saratoga in American his
tory, and why we should give it CRATE
full thought on October II, the ami
versary of the day on which it &C.
Cured. Next year we doubly owe it
commemoration when the entire ma
ton devotes itself to nine months
celebration in Washington's honor.
AS a victory of his own planning and
preparation, it plays its part among
his achievements in the founding of