The Battles of Saratoga is once again the subject of national recognition. American History magazine, Vol. 55, Issue 5, December 2020 edition has an article by Jonathan House titled “Camp Follower: In 1777, a high-born wife takes her three youngsters to North America to find her husband, a German officer fighting under British command. What could go wrong?”
The article focuses on how Baroness Fredenka Charlotte Riedesel, 30, and her small daughters and servants left Brunswick, a German-speaking duchy located in central Europe to join her husband, General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, whose unit of Brunswickers had been hired to fight with the British Army. He was part of the British and allied army that in 1777 −− the second year of America’s War for Independence −− sought to quell the rebellion with a single decisive military campaign.
The article says “The Riedesels had been married for 13 years when the duke of Brunswick appointed Friedrich to lead a brigade that England’s King George III had hired to fight in America. With his forces stretched across a global empire and the Americans in revolt, the king needed more troops. German states historically had provided multiple nations with boots on the ground–for a price. When King George advertised for mercenaries, six states jumped at the opportunity. Hesse-Cassel sent the most, about 17,000; German troops came to be known in America as “Hessians.” Brunswick came second with 6,000 soldiers. Other forces hailed from Hesse-Hanau, Anspach-Bayreuth, Waldeck, and Anhalt-Zerbst.” The British plan depended on using an invading army to divide the colonies along a natural corridor of rivers and lakes stretching from Canada to New York City.
The Saratoga region is fortunate to be the subject of this American History magazine article. Articles in these publications get the word out nationally about our community. These articles provides creditably to the story about the importance of the Battles of Saratoga and that our community is worth visiting. Articles in national publications can be used to strengthen our community’s partnerships with I Love NY and tour operators, who are promoting international tourism to our region.
The best place to learn more about the epic Battles of Saratoga is to visit the Saratoga National Historical Park in the towns of Saratoga and Stillwater. The park website is at https://www.nps.gov/sara
Nine miles north of the battlefield are three sites, located in the villages of Schuylerville and Victory, which are also part of Saratoga National Historical Park. The Schuyler House is the 1777 country home of General Philip Schuyler, a businessman, politician, and entrepreneur, and father-in-law to Alexander Hamilton. Schuyler constructed this home within weeks after the retreating British burned his earlier estate on the property. Nearby is the Gothic style 155-foot tall Saratoga Monument, which hardy visitors can climb for panoramic views of numerous mountain ranges. Then there is Victory Woods, where a fully accessible boardwalk trail passes through the area where the British made their “last stand” during a siege before surrendering. While in Schuylerville you can walk along the historic Champlain Canal, visit art galleries, and dine in variety of eateries.
In 2017, 97.8 thousand park visitors spent an estimated $5.6 million in local gateway regions (including Schuylerville) while visiting Saratoga National Historical Park. These expenditures supported a total of 80 jobs, $2.4 million in labor income and $7 million in economic outputs in local gateway community economies.
The Schuylerville Public Library https://ift.tt/2dYYY7C and all the libraries in the region have a number of books on the Battles of Saratoga. One of the better ones is “Don Troiani’s Campaign to Saratoga – 1777: The Turning Point of the Revolutionary War in Paintings, Artifacts, and Historical Narrative” written by Eric Schnitzer Globe Pequot / Stackpole Books 978-0-8117-3852-1 August 2019.
The formal surrender of British General John Burgoyne and his forces to the Americans in the autumn of 1777 is depicted by artist John Trumbull in one of eight scenes memorializing America’s founding in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. The Battles of Saratoga were named in the New York Times Magazine as the “battle of the millennium” and by esteemed British historian Sir Edward Creasy as one of the 15 most decisive battles in world history. These facts may not be well known, but the powerful story of the battles and their meanings come to life when you visit the hallowed grounds of Saratoga National Historical Park and the communities that surround the park.
