The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [95]
But, again, there was no attack and the men remained on alert, apprehensive and with little sleep. They all knew that this would be a major engagement of the revolution and that Burgoyne had a large army with a long line of cannon. From Gates and Arnold down to the enlisted men like Wild, all were certain that if they did not stop the English commander he would continue to march directly south to Albany and capture it. Then he could move to New York.
The First Battle of Saratoga
Wild rose at daylight on the following morning, September 19, to find the entire western bank of the Hudson, Bemis Heights, and the forests around it covered with a thick fog. The soupy fog was so thick men could not see more than a few yards in front of them. The fog did not lift until noon, Wild said, and it was just after that when the battle began. “About one o’clock we were alarmed by the enemy. We marched from our encampment and manned the [earth]works above us. About two o’clock, an engagement ensued between their advanced party and ours which lasted fifteen minutes without cessation. Our people drove them and took some prisoners,” he wrote of the heated battle.
Wild’s regiment found itself facing Burgoyne himself. The British general had decided to split his army into three columns. General Simon Fraser’s was sent far west in an attempt to flank the Americans. Burgoyne led a central assault that stalled at Freeman’s farm. Baron von Riedesel was ordered to attack along the river road on the banks of the Hudson.
Fraser’s force found itself stumbling about in thick woods and contributed little to the battle at first. The bulk of Burgoyne’s column inched its way toward the farm, moving very slowly through tangled forests, following an advance guard. Von Riedesel was ordered to bring nearly a thousand men and cannon from the river to support the British commander. On top of Bemis Heights, Benedict Arnold fumed. Arnold told Gates in heated language that he was going to be attacked by all three British columns if he did not send men out to attack them first. It was now, Arnold believed, that the Americans had the advantage.
Gates, like so many other officers, did not like Benedict Arnold. His hatred for Arnold was based on Arnold’s loyalty to Schuyler. Gates and Schuyler had smeared each other in letters to congressional delegates and personal appearances before Congress. It was one of the uglier feuds of the war.12 Finally, tired of Arnold’s haranguing, Gates sent Morgan’s riflemen, the best sharpshooters in the army, along with Henry Dearborn’s light infantry, with Arnold’s wing of the army, to attack Burgoyne at Freeman’s. Arnold rode off at a furious gallop to join his men.
Morgan’s riflemen, with extraordinary accuracy and even better luck, killed most of the officers in the advance guard at Freeman’s in several volleys and steady sharpshooting. The rest of the British fled back into the forest behind Freeman’s cabin. The Americans, shouting, chased them, but ran directly into the main British force under Burgoyne, advancing quickly upon hearing the sound of the guns. Morgan’s men fled, dispersed, and regrouped on the other side of the meadow, where they were joined by Arnold and other American regiments. Arnold surveyed the situation quickly and took command, barking orders over the sound of gunfire. Burgoyne’s forces were joined shortly by Fraser’s men, emerging from the thickets.
What followed was one of the most furious battles of the Revolution; a