Saratoga and the Polish Engineer - TTG

The Saratoga Battlefield has occupied a special place in my heart since the seventies. I have walked skied and snowshoed every inch of the national park. My wife grew up only a few miles south of the battlefield. A nearby bridge over the Mohawk River is named for an architect of our victory over the British at Saratoga in 1777. It’s popularly called the Twin Bridges, but it has always been the Tadeusz Kosciuszko Bridge to me. For several years, a resident of the area has done her best to make sure people remember that.

————————————————————

To veterans advocate Carol Hotaling, of Clifton Park, the structure has a much deeper meaning - a tribute to the Revolutionary War hero that it's officially named after -- Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko. The bridge, which first opened in 1959, underwent a major reconstruction project this fall. "I would like to propose a rededication of this bridge," she said. "He (Kosciuszko) was born in Poland, came to a struggling America, volunteered his services to the Continental Army and became chief engineer."

Kosciuszko's accomplishments were many, including the fortification of West Point. But his most important contribution was designing the American defenses for the 1777 Battles of Saratoga, which proved to be the Revolution's turning point.

Gen. Horatio Gates, the American commander, gets most of the credit for the victory at Saratoga. Without Kosciuszko, though, it never would have happened. "It was his use of topography and design of defenses that gave Americans an extremely strong and defensible position," said Bill Valosin, a Saratoga National Historical Park ranger. Specifically, artillery placed atop Bemis Heights stopped the flow of British supplies on the Hudson River, directly below, and kept them from using the main north-south river road.

The southward advancing British army, under Gen. John Burgoyne, was trying to reach Albany, where it would meet British forces moving up the Hudson Valley led by Gen. William Howe. The goal was to split the colonies in two, and bring the American rebellion to a quick end.

At Saratoga, however, the river forms a bottleneck and thanks to Kosciuszko's well-designed defenses, the Americans controlled it. Burgoyne's army split up into three separate columns - one near the river; the other two about a mile and two miles inland, respectively. However, Kosciuszko built an L-shaped three-quarter-mile long line to the west, and another about two-thirds of a mile to the south and west, to hold off attacks from those directions, too. (Saratogian News)

————————————————————

A Virginian was also instrumental in that victory. Daniel Morgan and his Virginia Riflemen proved deadly to the British, Hessians and Canadian Loyalists that made up Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne’s forces.  General Simon Fraser of Balnain fell to one of Morgan’s riflemen, Timothy Murphy. Morgan called on Murphy and said: "That gallant officer is General Fraser. I admire him, but it is necessary that he should die, do your duty."  Murphy shot Fraser from a perch in a tree at a distance of 300 yards.

Today’s celebrations at the battlefield include administering the oath of citizenship to twenty immigrants, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and thirteen toasts accompanied by celebratory cannon and musket fire.

July 4, 2015 Addendum:

The victory at Saratoga was also aided by General John Stark's victory over a largely Hessian force at the battle of Bennington, Vermont. Stark began that battle with his cry, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" Not only did Burgoyne lose nearly 1,000 troops, but he lost the support of the local Indians, depriving him of his reconnaissance capability. He also lost much needed logistical support from the Connecticut River Valley.

TTG

Comments

[kao_hsien_chih]

I have always admired the words spoken by Morgan with regards Fraser. There was a time that we could recognize that the people on the other side were worthy, honorable, and decent lot, who just happened to be our enemies. Now, we have to insist that all our enemies are not merely our enemies, but are moral degenerates who must be held in personal contempt. All that it accomplishes is to make disputes personal and unresolvable except possibly with a greater sacrifice in life and tresaure than is necessary. I am aware that professional soldiers such as our honored host still do so, but for our political leaders and us, the civilians, the idea that our adversaries are not baby-eating monsters seems difficult to fathom.

[SteveG]

khc

"That professional soldiers as our honored host
Still do so". Please clarify this scurrilous remark.
Apparently you have not read his VN remembrances.

[alba etie]

TTG
And if memory serves he also wanted his estate to be used to free President Jefferson's slaves , but his will was never executed .

[oofda]

Walked by the Kosciuszko monument in Lafayette Park in front of the White House just a bit ago. A stirring monumnent with the word "Saratoga" engraved in the stone base at the front.

[SteveG]

KHC
In my haste, iPhone and medical condition
I have mischaracterized your post,apologies.

[kao_hsien_chih]

Our professional soldiers still do regard many of our adversaries as honorable, or at least competent, professionals worthy of respect, even if they are on the wrong side, that is. I reread my post and it did have some potential for misunderstanding. My apologies for the lack of clarity.

[David Habakkuk]

kao_hsien_chih,

I was amused to find an – Oxford educated – Presbyterian minister and academic from Florida recalling in reflections on Independence Day remarks made at the time in the House of Commons by Horace Walpole:

“There is no good crying about the matter,” Walpole remarked: “Cousin America has run off with the Presbyterian parson, and that is the end of it.”

(See http://donsweeting.wordpress.com/2014/07/04/those-blasted-presbyterians-reflections-on-independence-day/ .)

As you of course know, a propensity to see oneself as a lonely embodiment of God’s will, fighting the demons, is very strong in Calvinism.

Of course, the Calvinist strain is only one element in the American Revolution. And in American history subsequently, sometimes it has been more prominent, sometimes less.

At the risk of paranoia, however, I note that Walpole was referring specifically to John Witherspoon, then president of Princeton University, which was apparently referred to among Tories as the ‘seminary of sedition’.

Among later graduates of Princeton were Woodrow Wilson, George Kennan, and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

[nick b]

TTG,

I thought Kosciuszko was born in Polish Lithuania?

[nick b]

His house is a national monument on the corner of Pine and 3rd in Philadelphia.

[Tyler]

This might find some appreciation here:

http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=34

[Jim Ticehurst]

Very Interesting Reading That's why I enjoy coming here...Thanks for these kind of Articles...

[turcopolier]

jim Ticehurst

think of SST as a buffet. pl

[Peter Brownlee]

Kościuszko is well-known in Australia as a mountain (well, sort of -- this is an old place) but the person for whom it is named and the namer, Paul Strzelecki, are not.

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks/parkhome.aspx?id=n0018

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko

[The Twisted Genius]

nick b,

Kosciuszko's birthplace is now in Belarus. When he was born it was in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He did have Lithuanian ancestry as well as Ruthenian. Out of curiosity, I looked for a picture of his home in Mereczowszczyzna. The reconstructed manor looks remarkable like the thatched roof, wood house that my great-grandmother built a model of for the Danbury State Fair many years ago. My great-grandmother's house was much smaller and had no chimneys. The smoke from the cooking fire would cure meat hung in the rafters. The house also doubled as the animal barn. I loved her stories.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18556248

[The Twisted Genius]

Tyler,

I always liked "Hark! a Vagrant." My younger son (who is probably close to your age) introduced me to it.

[The Twisted Genius]

alba etie,

Kościuszko's estate was to be used for the manumission and education of black slaves. His will gave Jefferson the duty of doing this. Due to his age, Jefferson couldn't execute Kościuszko's wishes. The estate was eventually used to establish an educational institute in Newark, New Jersey for African-Americans.

[Fred]

There is a monument in Detroit as well.

http://detroit1701.org/Kosciuszko%20Statue.html

[alba etie]

TTG & nick b
Seems These United States was a melting pot even then

[Tyler]

She's also an honest to goodness cutie patootie, but I could do without her turn to internet social justice nonsense.

[nick b]

TTG,

Thank you for that, and for memories of the Danbury fair. Good stuff.

[Will]

Daniel Morgan was the commander at the battle of Cowpens. The trio battles of King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Court House (Greensboro, NC where R.E. Lee's dad Lighthorse Harry shone) helped seal Cornwallis' fate in the Carolinas and set him off to the relative safety of Yorktown.

What is unique about Cowpens is the tactical innovation of Morgan with green troops. An American version of Hanibals' Battle of Cannae, no less- a double envelopment. (Oh Morgan is related to the pirate).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cowpens

[RM]

More history of Kosciuszko's work at West Point http://www.kosciuszkoatwestpoint.org/index.html

[Stu Wood]

Another reason for the victory was the stopping of St. Leger coming down the Mohawk Valley to meet up with Burgoyne. This resulted in the Battle of Oriskany
where the German and Dutch settlers of the Mohawk valley fought the American Tory and Indian allies of the British to a draw. Here is a good wipedia description of the battle:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Oriskany.

The bottom line is that the American forces lost more men but retained control of the battlefield after the hostilities.

[mike]

Hermione is in New York now

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/37336

[Anonymous]

"think of SST as a buffet. pl"

Indeed. I always get the latest recipe of ban on my plate.