A Fortified Camp

Between the end of the First Battle of Saratoga on September 19 and the Second Battle of Saratoga on October 7, about 600 German soldiers encamped at this fortified position, part of the 2800 such troops in Burgoyne's army who had been leased to the British by the leaders of their states. They built a log-walled fortification to protect the camp, and two small cannons added firepower. Two fortified cabins defended the gap between this camp and the British Light Infantry Redoubt about 1/4 mile away, and these cabins were defended by French Canadians, some of whom were the only drafted soldiers in Burgoyne's army. To the right were 160 loyalist Americans fighting for the British Empire. This multinational position formed the right-most end of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne's battlelines, and at the place where the Second Battle of Saratoga ended in an American victory, it became the key to both victory and defeat.

Saratoga, New York · United States