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 For the most part old battlefields are not of much interest to me. However, a few years ago, after reading a fascinating book about Benedict Arnold, I developed an interest in him as a historical character. As I mentioned a few days ago, in many ways, Arnold was the real American hero of the Battle of Saratoga, though not recognized as such at the time. His treatment in other events of the Revolutionay War, from his involvement in a raid on Fort Ticonderoga to allegations of corruption while overseeing an American occupation of Philadelphia, combined, along with pressures from a loyalist wife with direct connections to a British officer in New York City, to turn Arnold from his total committment to the revolution to becoming one of the most reviled traitors in American history. This picture is of the field on which the Americans and British clashed on October 7, 1777. From the brochure given out at the National Historic Park: 'Gen. Benedict Arnold - who had been effectively relieved of command after a quarrel with Gates - rode onto the field and led Learned's brigade against the German [British allies] troops holding the British center. Under tremendous pressure from all sides, the Germans joined a general withdrawal into the fortifications on the Freeman Farm. Within an hour after the opening clash, Burgoyne lost eight cannon and more than 400 officers and men. Flushed with success, the Americans believed that victory was near. Arnold led a column in a series of savage attacks on the Balcarres Redoubt [behind where I stood for this picture], a powerful British fieldwork on the Freeman Farm. After failing repeatedly to carry this position, Arnold wheeled his horse and, dashing through the crossfire of both armies, spurred northwest [across the field in this picture] to the Breymann Redoubt. Arriving just as American troops began to assault the fortification, he joined in the final surge that overwhelmed the German soldiers defending the work. Upon entering the redoubt, he was wounded in the leg. Had he died there, posterity would have known few brighter names than that of Benedict Arnold.' I stood at this place and tried to imagine that day. To imagine the soldiers -- British regulars trained for battle versus a ragtag, poorly supplied and hardly trained group of farmers, storekeepers, and craftsmen -- engaged in pitched battle on this very spot. To see Arnold, wheeling his horse and charging across the field as the guns and cannon blazed on either side. | |
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Posted by forgingahead Archived under: History, Landscapes |
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