During the fighting here, British soldiers lay continuously upon their arms while enemy cannon fire and rifle and cannon shot reached every part of their camp. In Victory Woods, blue-coated British gunners dueled for days with American cannoneers on the high ground across Fish Creek. Cannonballs weighing as much as 24 pounds flew at hundreds of miles per hour, and solid iron shot smashed everything in its path, including trees, flesh, and bone. General Burgoyne brought 138 cannon, mortars, and howitzers on his 1777 expedition to capture Albany and defeat the rebellion against the British Crown. No factory in North America could then produce weapons as daunting as Burgoyne’s artillery, and after the British surrender here, these expensive, high-tech guns were turned against their former owners in the fight for American independence.

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin