American Revolution: The Battle of Saratoga, 1777

[Note: humble apologies for the 'smallpox blanket' gaff at 08:11. This was a mistake in researching that I'm embarrassed about. It will be correct in a future compilation video for the series.]

I find it one of history's great ironies that despite the Saratoga Campaign being one of the most decisive battles in American history, its two main architects ended their careers in disgrace. Benedict Arnold went on to commit high treason, and Gates spent the remainder of his military career using Saratoga as leverage in political maneuvers against Washington- until defeat and personal cowardice at Camden in 1780 finally saw him sidelined. Philip Schuyler is best known as Alexander Hamilton's father-in-law. And while Daniel Morgan's patriotic and military reputation remains unimpeachable, his relatively quiet post-war life has left him remembered only by American history buffs.

This content is woefully underrated. Easily on the level Of kings and generals in quality. Keep them coming

Love that your channel focuses on American Revolutionary battles. Good narration, maps, pictures, and battle tracking. Keep vids coming! 👍

New video? Yes sir! Half an hour?! YES SIR!!! THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN?!?! YES SIRRRRR!!!!!!

I love how you covered the entire Saratoga campaign and gave us the big picture with the important smaller battles leading up to the famous Saratoga battle. Oriskany, Bennington and Freeman’s farm. Also the context of the Native Americans role in this campaign. Thank you for your videos on our revolution. We need to pass the important history of all these battles down so they are never forgotten, and with your top notch professional presentation, music, maps, animation, details, makes it possible for all of us who care about this history to share with anyone

This all happened about 5 miles from where I grew up in Saratoga county, NY. I am a direct descendant of General Morgan.

Well done. I highly recommend spending several days visiting the Saratoga Battlefield, which is like a small Gettysburg, Ft Ticonderoga, and everything in between. The Hubbardton Battlefield is pretty much as it was and is a must see.

Keep the videos coming ❤

Couple of notes: 1 - The use of Hessian Mercenaries and Indian Troops and potential atrocities (Jane McRae) caused a lot of militiamen to show up. By the time of the Battle of Bemis Heights, the Americans had about twice the number of troops than Burgoyne had. 2 - The Battles are called Saratoga because that is where the surrender took place (the town is now called Schuylerville). As noted by another commenter, the Battles took place closer to the town of Stillwater. 3 - Gates and Arnold hated each other and Arnold was confined to quarters for most of the 2nd Battle. Gates took all the credit for the win (though it was mostly Arnold). This led in a long way to Arnold's betrayal. 4 - There are no monuments at the battlefield or the obelisk dedicated to the battle with Arnold's name on them. The obelisk has 4 nooks and 3 statues with Arnold's missing. The only monument at all is a boot monument located where Arnold was wounded. 5 - The battle is not well known overall but a big deal locally. There is still a Surrender Day parade. It used to be in October, but was moved to coincide with the horse racing season in Saratoga Springs.

Great video! My 6th great grandfather fought in what he called “both battles of Stillwater” in his letter for an increase in his pension. I was confused by that until I looked it up and realized he meant Saratoga. The podcast Revolutions has a terrific episode about Saratoga that is my favorite on his show. It has little snarky comments throughout, mostly about Burgoyne’s “party train”—“Upstate New York is LOVELY this time of year!” The rivalry between Gates and Arnold also gets a lot of attention.

I'm still amazed at how high quality these videos have been since the very beginning. I found this channel right after the second video aired and couldn't believe that channel with a few hundred subs was already making this level of content from day one. These are genuinely the best videos I've seen on the Revolutionary War

Dude, this content is insane. The field of view or fog of war. Whatever you want to call it that you put in there give such a cool perspective like another comment said this is on Kings and generals quality.

Great video as always

Hell yeah one of the coolest and dynamic battles of the American Revolution! Great stuff man!

So happy when I saw this channel uploaded. In a year or two this channel is going to be huge!

Im not a big fan of Mondays, but this upload made it count for a lot. Fantastic work! Cant wait to see your channel grow to new heights.

Amazing content, keep it coming! Can't wait for the rest!!

This is the best documentary of the battles of the American revolution

Well done! I live 4 miles from the Saratoga Battlefield and this is a well detailed documentary. BTW it’s pronounced like Bee-Miss Heights