Early Life
Born on February 4, 1723, John Burgoyne was believed to have been the illegitimate son of Lord Bingley since his will gave Burgoyne’s mother an annuity of four hundred pounds, ownership of her home, lifelong free rent of an estate and forgiveness of her husband’s gambling debts. Furthermore, if Bingley’s children died childless, the entire estate would go to Burgoyne. The annuity enabled him to attend Westminster School, a key training ground for the elite, where he befriended Lord James Strange, the son of the Earl of Derby. His mother managed to purchase a commission in the Horse Guards when he was fifteen but gambling debts forced him to resign his commission in November 1741.

Friendship with Strange won him regular admission to the Derby estate where he met many members of the nobility. He also joined the First Royal Dragoons because it was a newly created regiment so no purchase was required. His winnings at the card table enabled him to buy a captaincy but his life took a turn when he fell in love with Lord Strange’s sister. A poor captain was not considered a good match for a daughter of one of the most powerful families in England, so they eloped in April 1751. It was clearly love since the young couple lived in Europe on the proceeds of the sale of Burgoyne’s commission until the birth of a grandchild persuaded her father to accept him as a son-in-law. He returned to the army where the Derbys’ influence won him promotion to lieutenant colonel in August 1759, and he was made responsible for raising his own regiment. Unlike the majority of officers at the time, he believed that soldiers should be treated like human beings and his habit of practicing what he preached earned him the nickname “Gentleman Johnny”.

Although the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) had been raging in full force for several years, Burgoyne had actually seen little combat since he had not been posted to any of the major theaters. However, in 1762 his regiment was sent to Portugal to oppose a Spanish invasion, and his aggressive, fast-moving tactics proved effective, while he became used to operating on his own in hostile territory.

Membership of Parliament
The end of the war cut short the careers of many officers, but Burgoyne’s connections ensured that he was promoted to colonel when he returned to England. A friend arranged for him to enter parliament as the representative of a rotten borough, and he generally voted with the government. When his friend with the rotten borough died, he won a violently contested election for another borough where both sides imported thugs and he was armed throughout the campaign. While there had been rampant bribery on both sides, he could actually claim to have won his seat, unlike the majority of his fellow members of parliament. He and his wife then threw themselves into London’s social scene, where he often wrote passages for friends’ plays.

Although Burgoyne’s faithful support of the government in parliament was rewarded with promotion to major-general in 1772, he appeared to have reached the peak of his military career, so he became chairman of a committee tasked to investigate corruption in the East India Company, focusing on Robert Clive in particular. When the Company was exonerated despite the findings of his committee, it drove Burgoyne to vote with the opposition until Bostonians threw East India tea into the harbor on December 16, 1773 in protest against the Tea Act. Faced with a direct challenge from the American colonies, he sided with the government.

American Revolution
Tired of the inability of the military governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Gage, to suppress the increasingly common demonstrations against British rule, three major-generals were sent to assist Gage in May 1775 at the beginning of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Burgoyne’s support of the government meant that he was one of them, although he was junior to William Howe and Henry Clinton. Since he had little say in the formation of strategy, he kept himself busy by writing for local theatrical productions and pressing for an independent command. After Gage was recalled following the embarrassment of Bunker Hill and replaced by Howe, Burgoyne hoped for greater opportunities to win glory. However, Howe refused to give him an important role and was unable to break the American siege of Boston. Having little desire to spend the winter cooped up in Boston, he returned to England in December, where he found his wife seriously ill.

Concern over his wife’s health did not prevent him from lobbying the government for an independent command, preferably down the Hudson River from Montreal. The British decision to hire thousands of Hessian soldiers from Germany to regain control of the American colonies meant that both Burgoyne and Clinton were promoted to lieutenant general so that they would be senior to the highest ranking Hessian officer, Lieutenant General Wilhelm Knyphausen.

Instead of an independent command, he was sent with 8,000 troops to relieve Quebec, which had been invaded by the rebels in November 1775. Burgoyne arrived in Canada in late May 1776, just after the American invasion had been repelled. Despite his urgings, the cautious nature of Guy Carleton, governor of Quebec, allowed the surviving rebels to escape across Lake Champlain to Crown Point in early July. The Americans were exhausted and half of the men had come down with smallpox but they had a fleet and the British did not, so they were safe for the moment. While the British built a fleet, the rebels had time to retreat to Ticonderoga, a powerful fortress at the south end of Lake Champlain that dominated the portage to Lake George. Although Carleton’s duties as governor kept him busy he refused to delegate authority to Burgoyne and ignored all of his suggestions for an independent expedition.

The American fleet was defeated in early October and the army reached Ticonderoga on October 27 but the Americans were dug in and winter was approaching, so the army retreated to Montreal, even abandoning Crown Point because it required too long a supply line. Burgoyne protested that Crown Point was a vital staging ground for an invasion of the American colonies, but Carleton saw the situation differently. He was responsible for Canada and he had defended Canada, so he had little desire to waste his resources maintaining Crown Point.

Northern Campaign
This was the last straw for Burgoyne, and he returned to England, officially to push for more supplies for Carleton but actually to press for an independent command. Despite Burgoyne’s enthusiastic and persistent lobbying, Lord George Germain, secretary of state for the colonies, favored Clinton as commander of the northern army, but Clinton did not want to humiliate Carleton, so he resolved to continue as Howe’s second-in-command. Since no other senior officers were willing to accept the command, Germain approved Burgoyne’s plan of leading an army southwards from Canada, crossing Lakes Champlain and George to capture Albany and link up with Howe’s army in New York, thus splitting the colonies in two.

However, Howe had little desire to see a rival gain glory so he announced that his primary objective would be Philadelphia, not Albany, even though he was based in New York. Although Germain was Howe’s nominal superior, Howe had allies in parliament, therefore he was unwilling to officially order Howe to schedule his campaign so that he could take Philadelphia in time to help Burgoyne against Albany. He presumed that Howe understood the situation and would cooperate. Messages took a month or longer to cross the Atlantic, so when Germain learned that Howe planned to move on Pennsylvania by sea, which would make it impossible to link up with Burgoyne, he finally sent a message ordering Howe to coordinate with Burgoyne. Unfortunately, it reached New York after the troops were already at sea.

Burgoyne’s plan was not especially original. It essentially followed the same invasion route that had been used since Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1609. The main force of 8,000 British and German troops would proceed down Lake Champlain and along the Hudson, while a diversionary force of 750 British regulars, Hessian light infantry, and Tory regulars with eight hundred Iroquois allies under Colonel Barry St. Leger would move along the Mohawk River to guard the western flank and attract Tory recruits. Both expeditions would eventually meet at Albany.

The campaign went well at first. Ticonderoga fell on July 6 after the British dragged cannon up a nearby mountain that was within range of the fort, although the garrison was able to escape. However, Carleton had resented Burgoyne’s political maneuverings in London and refused to garrison the fortress, so nine hundred men had to be detached from the army. Lacking experience in North America, Burgoyne ignored the traditional route of sailing down Lake George and portaging to Fort Edward, at the head of the Hudson River, and then sailing down to Albany. Instead, he decided to march overland to Fort Edward, since it appeared much closer on a map.

Unfortunately, he neglected to send out advance troops to secure the route, and the American commander, Major General Schuyler, was able to have men block the road by cutting down trees, burning bridges and diverting streams so that they flooded the area. These scorched earth tactics would prove effective, slowing British progress to a mile a day, thus gaining time for reinforcements to arrive. However, Congress was alarmed by the fall of Ticonderoga and replaced Schuyler with Major General Horatio Gates.

Furthermore, the situation continued to worsen for Burgoyne. He had recruited few Indian allies, and his constant attempts to restrict their scalping and looting drove most of them to leave on August 5. Hoping to relieve his badly strained supply line, a force of six hundred Brunswick dragoons, Loyalists and British troops were sent to raid a supply depot at Bennington but an overconfident commander led them to destruction on August 16. Troops sent to relieve them were badly mauled, so Burgoyne lost fourteen percent of his army in a single day. Despite an initial victory at Oriskany, St. Leger’s expedition had become bogged down at Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River, and finally abandoned the siege on August 22.

Since Howe was at sea, George Washington, commander of the rebel army, was able to send several thousand soldiers, and Gates had ten thousand men by September. His army had built solid fortifications at Bemis Heights, blocking the route to Albany. The British army arrived near Bemis Heights on September 18, and although he knew that he was outnumbered, Burgoyne had little fear of untrained rebels. His first attempt to reach Bemis Heights failed because his three columns proved unable to maintain contact in the dense forest and the central column suffered heavy casualties at Freeman’s Farm on September 19. Without Indian allies, the British troops were unable to penetrate the screen of riflemen under Daniel Morgan while his army was worn down by constant raids.

Although Burgoyne’s senior officers suggested a retreat, he led a force to reconnoiter the defenses at Bemis Heights but another battle developed at Freeman’s Farm on October 7. It had become clear that he was greatly outnumbered so the British retreated to Saratoga the next day. However, Gates had received enough reinforcements to surround the British and once it became clear that they could not break out, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17. The surrender of a British army convinced the French government to enter the war on the side of the rebels.

Later Life
Back in England, Burgoyne demanded a court martial but Germain had no desire for a public discussion, since he would undoubtedly look like an incompetent. Burgoyne then resigned his rank and entered parliament, where he became an ally of Charles James Fox, leader of the opposition. He later served as commander in Ireland from 1782 to 1784 where he struggled to keep the peace. Criticism of Warren Hastings’s administration in India put him in direct opposition to the king, which ended his army career and he returned to writing plays, as well as having four children with his mistress, a married actress. He supported the French Revolution, although it was opposed by his friend Edmund Burke, and he served in the House of Commons until his death in 1792.

Related Movies:

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert
A young couple loses their farm in the Mohawk Valley during an Indian raid at the beginning of the American Revolution. When the British and their Indian allies invade the valley, the community is forced to seek shelter in the local fort. (please click here to read the review)
The Devil’s Disciple (1959)
Directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
The black sheep of a family and parson get drawn into the American Revolution when General Johnny Burgoyne leads an army from Canada to split the colonies in two. They help delay Burgoyne’s advance long enough for reinforcements to gather at Saratoga. (please click here to read the review)
Divided Loyalties (1989)
Directed by Mario Azzopardi, starring Jack Lanjedijk and Paul Gross
When the Iroquois Confederacy is divided over whether to support the British or the American rebels, Joseph Brant leads the Mohawks to side with the British.

Further Reading:

The Generals of Saratoga: John Burgoyne & Horatio Gates-Max. M. Mintz, Yale University Press: New Haven, 1990.

The parallel careers of Burgoyne and Gates are not just fascinating because of their fateful encounter at Saratoga but because of their different experiences with the British establishment. Although both were born to families that were only a few rungs above poor on the social ladder, one managed to penetrate the aristocracy through marriage and pursue a successful career. The other failed to acquire the necessary connections to rise further in rank than major and the resulting bitterness towards the British caste system drove him to join the American rebels. Mintz has produced a well-researched and well-written work but he falls into the same trap as many biographers, namely becoming too attached to his subjects. For example, Burgoyne’s decision to carve out a land route instead of following the time-honored waterway route from Ticonderoga to Albany gave Gates the time needed to put together the army that won at Saratoga. However, Mintz’s defense of Burgoyne is based largely on testimony given by him and his officers during a court martial, when they would not be expected to put the blame on themselves.

1777: The Year of the Hangman-John S. Pancake, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1977.

The book provides a concise explanation of the background to the Revolution, the royal government’s response and the early stages of the war as both the British generals and the young American army fumbled to find a strategy. It explains the difference between the British military and the newborn American army, and discusses the tradition of the militia, as well as the reasons behind the British emphasis on drill, including an invaluable step by step demonstration with pictures of the actual process of loading and firing a musket. The author destroys the myth that the Revolution was won by rugged Indian fighters, whose sharp shooting skills cut the silly, slow-moving British with their stiff formations to ribbons, pointing out that if it had been that easy, it would not have taken eight years to win the war. Most important, Pancake shows what Howe’s army was doing in Philadelphia while Burgoyne’s expedition crawled southwards and explains the reasons behind the fatal lack of cooperation between the two commanders that enabled the rebels to win a stunning victory at Saratoga. The book’s broad approach makes it a splendid addition to the library of any serious student of the Revolutionary War but it can still be enjoyed by the general reader.


Share this page with others: