Legends of the Old West - REVOLUTION Ep. 2 | “New York Minute”

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

After boosting American morale with successes at Trenton and Princeton, the American main army suffers seemingly disastrous losses outside Philadelphia in 1777. The British capture the American capital, but the accomplishment comes with unintended consequences. A campaign by the British northern army to take control of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers starts well but then falters. Near Albany, New York, the American northern army saves the war effort with a shocking result at the pair of engagements known as the Battle of Saratoga. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the heat and humidity of early August 1777, Major General Benedict Arnold rushed west with 700 soldiers on a rescue mission. Arnold and his detachment had been retreating south along the Hudson River in upstate New York, with the American Northern Army when they learned that Fort Stanwicks, also known as Fort Schuyler, was in trouble. Roughly 750 men of the 3rd New York Regiment were trapped at the fort, which sat along the Mohawk River outside the present-day town of Rome, New York. The British column surrounding the fort had left its base at Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario on July 26th. The column of 1,500 men was led by Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Lejeure,

who was promoted to Brevet Brigadier General in order to lead the mission. His job was to march east from Lake Ontario and clear out all American resistance in the Mohawk River Valley, which cuts across the center of New York. St. Lejeure's mission was one-third of the British campaign to try to take control of the entire state of New York in the summer of 1777. After eight days of marching along the Oswego River

and then the Oneida River, St. Lejeure's column reached Fort Stanwicks at the junction of the Oneida and Mohawk Rivers. On August 2nd, the column surrounded the fort and trapped the third New York regiment inside. St. L'Lajard demanded surrender, the Americans refused, and the siege of Fort Stanwicks began. Four days later, on August 2nd, a relief column commanded by Nicholas Herkimer tried to break the siege. Brigadier General Herkimer, with about 800 militiamen and 60 Oneida warriors, were intercepted by a British detachment about seven miles outside the fort.

The British detachment of about 100 loyalist militiamen and 400 Mohawk warriors slammed. into the relief column in a vicious hand-to-hand fight. The British force was outnumbered, but they killed Herkimer and forced the American relief column to retreat in a brutal fight called the Battle of Eriscany. At Fort Stanwyx, General St. Lejeure once again told the American garrison to surrender. Once again, the Americans refused. A few days later, Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the American Northern Army, authorized Benedict Arnold to march 90 miles west to help Fort Stanwicks.

As Arnold and 700 men hurried west along the Mohawk River, Arnold spread the word that there would be 3,000 soldiers on the way to relieve Fort Stanwigs. That smart bit of disinformation saved the relief column from a bloody brawl. General St. Lejeure heard the rumor that an army of 3,000 soldiers was marching to Fort Stanwix to battle his 1,500 fighters. As Arnold's force drew within striking distance, General St. Lajure fell for the bluff. He abandoned the siege of Fort Stanwyx and retreated back to his base and Oswego on the shore of Lake Ontario. Arnold's column did an about-face and rushed back to the American Northern Army without firing a shot. But the bloodless success was more important than anyone knew at the time.

By driving away one of the three British columns which were supposed to unite to wipe out the American Northern Army, army, the Americans had unknowingly dealt the British a deadly blow. When the first of two major battles happened one month later, the Americans actually had a fighting chance to save the war effort for the second time in less than a year. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling an American frontier story in honor of America's 250th birthday. It's the story of the six battles which defined the Revolutionary War and saved American

hopes for independence. This is episode two, New York Minute. After the pair of American victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of December 1776 and the beginning of January 1777, the war paused for the rest of winter and all of spring. The victories had saved the American war effort. As the weather warmed, ice on the rivers thawed, muddy rivers dried to become passable, and new volunteers streamed into the camp of the American Army at Morristown, New Jersey. Meanwhile, in March, King George III approved two plans for the British campaign of 1777. He authorized Commander-in-Chief William Howe to capture the American capital of Philadelphia, and he authorized Lieutenant General John Bergoin to coordinate and lead a mission to capture Albany, New York,

and with it, the Hudson River. Howe would need to send a column north to help the three-pronged, stringer. strategy against Albany, but most of his men would concentrate on taking Philadelphia. American Commander-in-Chief George Washington and the American Main Army broke camp at Morristown on May 28, 1777. General Howe led 16,000 British and Hessian soldiers out of New York City in an effort to lure Washington's army into a fight. Howe hoped to crush the American Army and then waltz into the Capitol. At the start of the summer of 1777, Washington had between 6,000 and 9,000 soldiers in his army, and he had no intention of getting

drawn into an open field battle with the British. For all of June and most of July, the American Army and the British Army circled each other without engaging. After about six weeks, General Howe was thoroughly sick of the tedious dance, and he decided to go straight at Philadelphia. At the end of July, Howe loaded his 16,000 soldiers onto 265 ships in New York and sailed down to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It should have been a relatively short trip, but the stomach-churning voyage took more than a month due to relentless summer storms. The British finally touched dry land at the end of August and began the slow march up to Philadelphia. The delay gave Washington time to march his army south to intercept the British. And just as important, the time allowed more volunteers to join the army.

By the time the British finally landed in Maryland and started their march up to Philadelphia, Washington's army had doubled in size from 9,000 men to 18,000. His army was now larger than the British force, but critically, it was full of raw, untrained volunteers. Regardless, Washington could not avoid battle any longer. He arranged his army in defensive positions along, Randy Wine Creek, about 20 miles outside Philadelphia. On September 11th, the British Army attacked. The Americans held strong for a while, but the British were able to cross the creek

at a spot which was mistakenly left unguarded. The British flanked the American Army and turned a possible American victory into a devastating American defeat. Fifteen days later, the British marched into Philadelphia and captured the American capital. On October 4th at the Battle of Germantown on the north side of the city, the American Army attempted to dislodge the British but failed. With that, the British controlled New York City and Philadelphia and all the area in between. The American Main Army had been soundly beaten for the second straight year.

It hadn't been wiped out, but the end of 1777 felt like the end of 1776. If the Americans couldn't pull off a miracle, hope for independence would be. likely lost. Two weeks after the Battle of Germantown, the second turning point of the Revolutionary War happened in Central New York. British General John Bergoin had been leading his army south from Canada all summer. But right outside of his goal of Albany, he ran into a roadblock, and the American Northern Army achieved the first real success of the war. Across Canada in a Volvo. Destination, Vancouver, turn left to leave.

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They're not a demographic group, they're fans. Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Back in June of 1777, while British commander-in-chief William Howe was trying to draw the American Maine Army into battle, Lieutenant General John Bergoin was mobilizing the British Northern Army outside Montreal, Canada. The plan called for columns of soldiers to converge on the town of Albany from the north, south, and west. Albany was almost perfectly centralized for the three columns. It was about 150 miles from the bases of all three. But Albany itself was not the real target. The goal was to gain control of the mighty Hudson River, which ran nearly the entire length of New York. The waterway was absolutely vital to the

the Americans, and the town of Albany sat along the Hudson at about the halfway point of the river. If the British captured Albany, they could gain control of the Hudson and open a highway on the water from Canada to New York City. In mid-June, the British Northern Army began the mission to capture Albany. Brevet Brigadier General Barry St. Liger's column sailed down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal and down through Lake Ontario to Oswego, New York. From there, St. Louisville Lejeure would hopefully march through the Mohawk Valley and clear out all American resistance. At the same time, General John Burgoyne and about 7,500 soldiers sailed down through Lake Champlain on their first step toward Albany. In order to reach the city, they would have to wipe out a series of forts along the way.

The first stop was Fort Ticonderoga, which had been captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen two years earlier. In the summer of 1777, Ticonderoga and its twin Fort Independence on the other side of the lake were garrisoned by about 4,000 American soldiers. But more than 500 of them were sick and unfit for duty. On July 2nd, Burgoyne's army started landing in the area of the forts. Before the Americans knew it, the British moved cannon into position on top of nearby Mount Defiance. From the gun placements, the British could rain down cannon fire, on Fort Ticonderoga.

The American Northern Army was stationed 40 miles south at Fort Edward, but by the time they learned of the siege, mobilized troops for a long march and covered the 40 miles of rugged terrain, the British could pummel Fort Ticonderoga into oblivion. If American commanders at the fort tried to hold the installation and became trapped in a siege, there was every possibility that they would all be killed or captured. On July 6th, before the British completely surrounded the forts, the Americans slipped out and went on the run. It was an inauspicious way to celebrate the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but the American soldiers hoped to retreat southward to unite with General Philip Schuyler

and the American Northern Army at Fort Edward. On the second day of the retreat, July 7th, about 15 miles away at Hubbardton, Vermont, a detachment of British and Hessian soldiers caught up to some of the Americans and battered them while they stopped to rest. Those who were still able continued to move south. The two sides clashed again before the retreating Americans reached Fort Ann, the last stop before they reached Fort Edward and the Northern Army. With a huge British army on their heels, the Americans decided to employ a scorched earth campaign.

They torched Fort Ann before continuing to retreat South. Over the next 10 miles before they reached Fort Edward, the Americans laid waste to everything that could help the British. They cut down trees and shoved them into creeks and across roads. They destroyed bridges and mills. They stripped farms of everything usable. The Americans fought a minor engagement against British Native American allies near the village of Kingsbury on July 22nd, and then a larger battle near Fort Edward on July 26th. At that point, with the refugees from other people, forts united with the American Northern Army, it was General Philip Schuyler's turn to choose

to flee or fight. The British were marching south with the force of a slow-moving tidal wave, and Schuyler decided his smaller army would not hold up if it made a stand at Fort Edward. The American Northern Army, plus the retreating soldiers from Ticonderoga, fell back from Fort Edward to the village of Saratoga, which is the present-day city of Skylerville on the Hudson River. skirmishing with the British, but they always stayed one step ahead of a full-scale battle. The Americans kept retreating little by little through the first two weeks of August. On August 18th, they stopped to rest and regroup at a ferry crossing eight miles north of Albany. But a few days before they arrived, General Schuyler dispatched Major General Benedict Arnold on a rescue mission.

Benedict Arnold was a respected general during the first two years of the war. In 1775, right after the battles of Lexington and Concord, he recruited a small group of volunteers to rush north from New England to capture Fort Ticonderoga. It had been built by the French at the beginning of the French and Indian War, and it guarded a key point at the southern end of Lake Champlain, where the lake narrowed to the width of a river. Four years after construction, the British captured the fort. But in the 15 years since the end of major fighting in the French and Indian War,

The fort had been mostly abandoned and had fallen into disrepair. Benedict Arnold ended up joining forces with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys from Vermont, who had had the same idea to easily capture the fort. Arnold's initiative, creativity, and determination earned him a commission as a major general in the Continental Army. A year later, in October 1776, Arnold led America's first naval battle. The British Northern Army had been trying to sail down through Lake Champlain, to invade New York from the north. Arnold led a makeshift American flotilla

in what became known as the Battle of Valcourt Island. Arnold didn't win the battle, but he did stop the invasion. A month later, in November 1776, he was the co-leader of a failed mission to liberate Montreal and Quebec. His superior officer, Major General Philip Schuyler, was supposed to lead the campaign, but he was knocked down with one of his frequent bouts of sickness.

Now, about seven months after the Canadian campaign, Skyler and Arnold were retreating south from Fort Edward with the American Northern Army when they learned that a British force was besieging Fort Stanwicks. Skyler sent Arnold and 700 soldiers to help. The British column led by Brevet Brigadier General Barry St. Lejeure had been conducting a siege of Fort Stanwicks on the Mohawk River for about three weeks. The British had already beaten back one American relief column, but then they heard a rumor that a much larger force was moving toward them. During Benedict Arnold's march, he employed a disinformation campaign, which made St.

Lejeure believe that Arnold rode at the head of an army of 3,000 soldiers. That number would be double the size of St. Lejeure's force. St. Lejeure was already experiencing impatience and tension from his Native American allies. If they left his column and Arnold arrived with 3,000 soldiers, St. Lejeure would be in serious trouble. After about three weeks outside Fort Stanwix, he abandoned the siege and retreated to Oswego, and Benedict Arnold quickly turned around and led his column back to the American Army camp at the ferry crossing north of Albany. It wouldn't go down as a dramatic American achievement, but retaining control of the Mohawk River Valley was extremely important. The Americans kept control of a vital waterway, and they knocked out one of the three British armies in the plan to conquer New York.

Lieutenant General John Bergoin's army, the largest of the three, was still marching south. But Bergoin was about to get a double dose of bad news. St. Lejeure's column had failed to take control of the Mohawk Valley and would not be joining him in an attack on Albany. And there was no third column coming up from New York City, at least not in time to help. British commander-in-chief William Howe was completely focused on the American Maine Army and the capture of Philadelphia, and he did not send troops to help Bergoin, with the Albany campaign.

Borgoyne knew that Howe had been authorized to take Philadelphia, but Bregoyne still thought Howe would send a column north to help capture Albany. That didn't happen. To make matters worse, Borgoyne made his first big mistake of the campaign. After taking Fort Edward and then Fort Miller, the next fort south along the Hudson, Bergoin paused his steady southward progress to send a attachment east to Bennington, Vermont, on a supply raid. It was a full 30 miles through rough terrain from Burgoyne's position to Bennington.

And while the detachment marched, an American regular army regiment joined forces with local militiamen who streamed into the area when they heard about the British movement. On August 16, 1777, about 10 miles outside Bennington, near the tiny hamlet of Willumstack, New York, the two armies met in a bloody clash in the mud. The Americans had about 2,400. fighters, and the British had about 1,400. Accounts described non-stop firing, even as the fight descended into hand-to-hand combat with bayonets, sabers, pikes, and rifles.

The Americans won the battle and dealt Bergoin a heavy blow in the process. Of the 1,400 men in the British detachment, only about 500 returned to Borgoyne's army. 200 were killed or seriously wounded, and 700 were captured or missing. Plus, the loss caused loyalists to stop volunteering for Bergoin's army, and most of Bergoin's Native American allies headed home to start preparing for winter. Of the roughly 7,500 fighters Bergoin had started with, he was down to about 6,000. Lastly, by the time the survivors returned to the army and Bergoin started to move again, he had lost a month of time.

The American Northern Army had used the delay wisely, and it was finally ready to to make a stand. In the American camp after the Battle of Bennington, there was a change in leadership. Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the Northern Army, was out, and Major General Horatio Gates was in. Skyler was one of the most wealthy and prominent citizens in New York, and he owned tons of land in the region where the two Northern armies would do battle, which is why so many things in the area are named after him. Skyler had been one of the first four major major generals appointed by Congress to fill out Washington's staff in June of 1775, along with Charles Lee, Artemis Ward, and Israel Putnam. But Schuyler had been plagued by sickness throughout his

two years in command of the Northern Army, and Congress replaced him with Horatio Gates. Like several officers in the American Army, Gates was British. He had been an officer in the British Army and had served in the colonies during the French and Indian War, where he met George Washington. Gates moved to the colonies in 1773, and he was an outspoken supporter of colonial independence. When Congress named George Washington, commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army, it appointed Horatio Gates as Washington's adjutant general. Gates's two primary responsibilities were enormous. He had to build an administrative framework for the new army, and he had to train the new army. He excelled at both, which earned him a promotion to

Major General. He left Washington's staff to command armies in the field, and on August 18th, 1777, he took over for Schuyler as commander of the American Northern Army. Gates might have been the better choice on merit, but he was also a relentless campaigner for his own interests. He essentially convinced Congress that he was a better choice than Skyler. Three weeks later, the Northern Army advanced for the first time that year. Early September, while Bergoin regrouped about 30 miles north of Albany after the disastrous Battle of Bennington, the American Northern Army marched from its camp at a ferry crossing above Albany to a bluff along the Hudson River called Bemis Heights.

The position was about halfway between Burgoyne's Army and Albany, and it was the best place to make a stand. The American Northern Army, which had grown significantly during Burgoyne's delay, fortified the heights with wooden palisade walls and earthworks under the supervision of Polish engineer Colonel Thaddeus Cuschusco. The front, so to speak, of the fortified position faced north in the direction of Burgoyne's army. The right flank was protected by steep hills, which led down to the Hudson River. The left flank, the most vulnerable side, was where Gates placed his second in command, Major General Benedict Arnold, with about 2,000 soldiers.

Arguably the best fighters of the 2000 were the Virginia riflemen under the command of Colonel Daniel Morgan. A week after the Americans set up their position, the British marched south and camped four miles from Bemis Heights. On the morning of September 19th, Bergoin decided to scout the American lines with the bulk of his army. He divided his men into three columns and sent them left, right, and center. They moved forward cautiously through the early morning fog. In the American camp, Benedict Arnold begged to lead his 2,000 men out to attack the British. General Gates was naturally defensive-minded, but he relented. Arnold placed Daniel Morgan's Virginia Rifleman in front, and they marched out to pick a fight.

Below the bluff, between the Americans and the British, was the farm of John Freeman. At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, as the fog lifted, Daniel Morgan's riflemen found the advanced scouts of the British Center College. in the woods near Freeman's farm. Morgan's men opened fire and charged. The riflemen drove the scouts back, but the scouts quickly united with the core of the British column. The British opened fire with artillery,

but the shells did little damage as Morgan's expert marksman killed or injured the gun crews. A British bayonet charge finally forced Morgan's troops to retreat. American troops were learning to stand up to volleys of musket fire and cannon fire, but they rarely held their ground in the face of a British bayonet charge. The side of hundreds or thousands of soldiers screaming forward with steel spikes 17 inches long affixed to their muskets was often too much for American volunteers. As Morgan's men retreated, Brigadier General Enoch Porz, New Hampshire troops, moved up to support them.

While Porr's men took up positions on Morgan's right, a second British column engaged the Americans from the left. Brigadier General Ebenezer Lernet led his New York Brigade into the fight to help protect the left flank. The two British columns pushed against the American lines as fighting became ferocious and close range. Infantrymen in the British Center made four more bayonet charges. Each time, the Americans fell back, but then regrouped and surged forward again. For two hours, the battle flowed back and forth over the same ground. into one of the most violent clashes to date.

At about 5 o'clock in the evening, with the sun beginning to set, Benedict Arnold requested more reinforcements from Horatio Gates, but Gates refused. The two armies had mauled each other for four hours on John Freeman's farm, and there was still a third British column which was on its way to join the battle. Arnold's troops retreated to the fortifications on Bemis Heights to regroup and await an attack on the installation. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you.

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with 100% of its brands championing diversity. With 25,000 professional opportunities for people under 30 worldwide and 54% of leading positions held by women, diversity is a strength that helps L'Oreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit L'Oreal.com to learn more. As darkness fell on September 19th, 1777, General John Burgoyne's army had lost 600 soldiers killed or badly wounded at the Battle of Freeman's Farm. The British technically won the battle, but they had gained nothing. Bergoin had lost another 600 men he couldn't replace, and the campaign

which began with so much momentum three months earlier was now in a scary place. Burgoyne's army was dwindling, he couldn't replace his losses, and his supplies were dangerously low. He was stuck in the wilderness of central New York, with no help from the column which was supposed to have joined him from the Mohawk Valley or the column which was supposed to have joined him from the city of New York. But two days after the battle, he felt a glimmer of hope. He received a note from Lieutenant General Henry Clinton in New York. Clinton had been protecting the city while General Howe tried to take Philadelphia. Clinton offered to lead 2,000 troops north to attack American positions between New York City and Albany.

He didn't offer to reinforce Burgoyne's army, but Clinton hoped he could force the American Northern Army to weaken its strength by sending troops south. Bergoin dug in and waited for updates from Clinton. On Bemis Heights, anger flared between leaders in the American camp. Major General Horatio Gates may have been a solid officer 20 years earlier in the French and Indian War, but by the time of the American War,

American Revolution, he was more of a politician than a military commander. He seemed to have a genuine talent for administration, but his greatest skill appeared to be his power of persuasion. He had convinced Congress to give him command of the American Northern Army without any real battlefield qualifications, and then he took sole credit for the actions of the American units at the Battle of Freeman's Farm. Benedict Arnold had led the American force as battlefield commander, but in Gates' letters to Congress after the battle, Gates refused to mention Arnold's name. Benedict Arnold was rightfully outraged, and that was the beginning of the rift between Arnold, the Army, and Congress.

Gates and Arnold argued continuously in the American camp during the two and a half weeks of waiting after the Battle of Freeman's Farm. The relationship grew so bad that Gates replaced Arnold as second in command with newly arrived Major General Benjamin Lincoln. And while the American leaders squabbled on, Bemis Heights, the British built four fortifications called redoubts around their camp. The days passed slowly during the two and a half weeks that the soldiers worked and waited for news. The British Army subsisted on half rations as their supply situation grew dire. By early October,

with no further communication from General Clinton or anyone else, Borgoyne decided he couldn't wait any longer. He didn't want to retreat from the position his men had fought so hard to win, and his officers convinced him that an all-out assault on the American position would be a bad idea since they didn't know the full strength of the American Army or any details about the American fortifications. Bergoin eventually settled for another reconnaissance patrol, which would be the Army's last. On the morning of October 7, 1777, Scottish General Simon Fraser led a column forward to try to scout the left side of the American position. The British deployed in a wheat field next to a creek below Bemis Heights. Above on the bluff, General Gates saw the British advance

and sent Colonel Daniel Morgan's riflemen out to meet them. During the Battle of Freeman's Farm, Morgan's riflemen had formed a good partnership with Major Henry Dearborn's light infantrymen, so now Deerborn's unit moved out as well. The two units had learned to work together to capitalize on their strengths and protect against their weaknesses. The rifled muskets carried by Morgan's men were more accurate than the traditional smoothbore muskets carried by Deerborn's men.

But the rifles could not hold bayonets. When Morgan's men fired a volley as a unit, it meant they had to reload as a unit. If the British charged with fixed bayonets, they could devastate the riflemen. So, Morgan and Deerborn developed a system. Morgan's men fired a volley and then fell back behind Deerborn's men.

The infantrymen formed a protective wall with bayonets on their muskets, which made them look like old-fashioned pikemen. Morgan's men reloaded, stepped forward, and blasted away again. At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon on October 7th, the British column formed lines of battle along a creek on the left side of the American position. Morgan's and Dearborn's units moved down from the British heights, took up an angle at the end of the British line, and started the battle. As the riflemen and light infantrymen worked their system, the other two regiments which had fought at Freeman's farm moved out again. Brigadier General Ebenezer Lernet led his brigade in an assault on the center of the British line along the creek, and Brigadier General Enoch Pore took his brigade around to the right. With Morgan on the left, Lernod in the center, and Poor on the right, the American's stronger force pushed the British reconnaissance patrol away from the creek.

After about 30 minutes of fighting, the Americans were inflicting heavy casualties on the British flanks. The British left and right were in danger of collapsing at any moment, and the Americans received another boost. On the bluff above the battle, Benedict Arnold implored Horatio Gates to allow him to command the battle in the field. Despite their quarrels over the past two and a half weeks, Gates agreed. In a scene that was described as something out of a movie,

Arnold leapt on to his horse and charged down toward the battle. The soldiers on Bemis Heights cheered as Arnold galloped toward the action. In the Wheatfield next to the creek, the American units opened up with a deadly barrage which crumbled the flanks of the British column. The British began to retreat to the redoubt where they had started their march. As a rear-guard maneuver, General Simon Fraser reformed his lines and fired at the Americans.

With the combatants so close to each other, the general high up on his horse made a good target. One of Morgan's riflemen, often cited as Timothy Murphy, fired a ball that hit General Fraser in the stomach. The shot knocked Fraser off his horse with a fatal wound. When Fraser hit the ground, the British lost all semblance of order and ran back to their redoubt. Benedict Arnold shouted at the commanders of the three American columns

to follow the British and keep up the fight. Brigadier General John Patterson's brigade, of Massachusetts men joined the American lines, and now four columns advanced toward British redoubts in the center and on the left. Morgan and Lernet attacked the redoubt on the left, while Enoch Pore and John Patterson attacked the redoubt in the center. The redoubt in the center was now the home of the survivors of the recon patrol, and they put up stiff resistance, but the redoubt on the left was in bad shape. That one was manned by about half of the German force in Bergoin's army. As Morgan and Lernid poured fire into the redoubt, the defense broke. When the German soldiers

started to fall back, the commander killed four of his own men who were trying to retreat. After his cold-blooded reaction, his own men shot and killed him before continuing to retreat. The Americans stormed the fort and chased the Germans. Benedict Arnold was part of the assault, and he suffered a gunshot wound to the leg as he rode past the redoubt. Arnold fell to the ground with a wound which was serious but not fatal. By that time, it was late in the evening and darkness crept across the battlefield. The Americans controlled one of the four British redoubts and were putting serious pressure on a second.

When night fell and the fighting stopped, the British had lost another 600 men, which included a general Simon Fraser, a colonel, and a major. Bergoin was down to about 5,000 men, and he faced an American army which was nearly triple his size at about 13,000 soldiers. That night, Bergoin moved his whole army off of the immediate battlefield and back to the biggest redoubt of the four, called the Great Redoubt. The next day, October 8th, the British Army retreated up to the village of Saratoga, modern-day Skylerville. The American Army followed and surrounded the British. Nine days later, General John Bergoin surrendered the British Northern Army to General Horatio Gates.

It was the first decisive victory in a full-scale battle for the Americans, and it had a profound impact on the war. The engagements on September 19th on October 7th would be collectively known as the Battle of Saratoga. With the American victory, the U.S. had saved its war effort for the second time in 10 months. As of October 17, 1777, the British controlled the cities of New York and Philadelphia, the Americans controlled all of the territory and rivers outside the cities. And most importantly, the success of the American Northern Army had convinced the French that the Americans had a legitimate chance to win the war. Four months after Saratoga, the U.S. and France became allies.

The battles at Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights were the second major turning point of the war. The American victory was crucial, but that didn't mean the Americans had the momentum. Commander-in-chief George Washington was stalled in Pennsylvania with seemingly no way to defeat the British main army. And when the war shifted to the southern colonies, the Americans suffered a pair of epic disasters. Before a cast of rugged frontiersmen became unlikely saviors, and new leaders finally figured out how to turn the tide of the war. Next time on Legends of the Old West, in the summer of 1780, the war explodes in the south. The American Southern Army suffers shocking losses,

but a pair of battles in late 1780 and early 1781 change everything. Daniel Morgan and the original Western Frontiersmen become heroes in the final episode of this three-part mini-series. That's next time on Legends of the Old West. To binge all the episodes of a new season and to listen to every episode of the podcast with no commercials, subscribe in Apple Podcasts, or sign up through the link in the show.

show notes or on our website Black Barrel Media. This series was researched, written and produced by me, Chris Wimmer. Original music by Rob Valier. Thanks for listening. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

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