Tom Craig's Public Library

On September 19, 1777 the Royal army advanced upon the American camp in three
separate columns within the present day towns of Stillwater and Saratoga. Two of
them headed through the heavy forests covering the region; the third, composed
of German troops, marched down the river road. American scouts detected
Burgoyne's army in motion and notified Gates, who ordered Col. Daniel Morgan's
corps of Virginia riflemen to track the British march. About 12:30 p.m., some of
Morgan's men brushed with the advance guard of Burgoyne's center column in a
clearing known as the Freeman Farm, about a mile north of the American camp. The
general battle that followed swayed back and forth over the farm for more than
three hours. Then, as the British lines began to waver in the face of the deadly
fire of the numerically superior Americans, German reinforcements arrived from
the river road. Hurling them against the American right, Burgoyne steadied the
wavering British line and gradually forced the Americans to withdraw. Except for
this timely arrival and the near exhaustion of the Americans' ammunition,
Burgoyne might have been defeated that day. Though he held the immediate field
of battle, Burgoyne had been stopped about a mile north of the American line
with his army roughly treated. Shaken by his "victory," the British commander
ordered his troops to entrench in the vicinity of the Freeman Farm and await
support from Clinton, who was supposedly preparing to move north toward Albany
from New York City.