Tag «General Burgoyne»

Murder of Jane McCrea Helped Defeat a British Army: Propaganda in the American Revolution

“In the history of the Revolutionary War, perhaps no single incident is recorded which, at the time of its occurrence, created more intense sympathy, or aroused a spirit of more bitter indignation, than the massacre of Jane McCrea.” David Wilson, 1853 On July 27, 1777, in Argyle, New York, north of Saratoga, John Allen’s family …

“If Ole England is not by this lesson taught humility, then she is an obstinate old slut, bent upon her ruin.” General Horatio Gates after the Battle of Saratoga October 14th, 1777.

From October 8th to the 14th, Burgoyne had been preparing his army to begin the long and dangerous trek back to Fort Ticonderoga. On October 10th, he had dispatched Lt. Colonel Nicholas Sutherland with two regiments up the west bank of the Hudson to assess the situation north of them. The idea, suggested by German …