Battle of Saratoga

The Battle of Saratoga occured on October 7, 1777 and was in Saratoga, New York. The American forces had been growing during the time between battles. Burgoyne's attack on the American left now faced Major General Benjamin Lincoln's division. The division had General Ebenezer Learned's and Enoch Poor's brigades, Colonel Henry Dearborn's light infantry battalion, and Colonel Daniel Morgan's riflemen. Expanded by militia units, the division now had about 3,800 men with another 1,200 militia available for immediate support.
Burgoyne's plan was to use three assault elements. Brigadier Simon Fraser was to slide past the Americans on their left and secure the positions for the artillery. Since he was going through woodlands, he had the light infantry, along with the Canadian militia and ranger forces and Indian allies, for a total of about 700 men. Major General Riedesel's Brunswickers would make the main attack to occupy the American left, with about 1,100 men and supporting artillery. Meanwhile, Major General William Phillips would attack in a left hook to separate the left from the main American forces positioned at Bemis Heights overlooking the Hudson River. Phillip's force was just over 400 men of Grenadier Battalion under Major John Dyke Acland and the Royal Artillery under Major Williams.
General Lincoln's men were extended northwest from Gates' fortifications on Bemis Heights. On the far left or western end were Colonels Morgan and Dearborn with a total of about 600 men. In his center was General Learned's brigade (1st New York, 1st Canadian, 2nd, 8th and 9th Massachusetts Regiments), expanded by militia to about 1,800 men. Tying his forces to the main positions was General Poor's brigade (1st, 2nd, and 3rd New Hampshire; and 2nd and 4th New York Regiments) of just over 1,400. Behind Learned, Brigadier General Abraham Ten Broeck led 1,200 New York militia in reserve.
Having learned from the battle two weeks before, the attack started in the early afternoon. This would allow Burgoyne to withdraw at nightfall if necessary. The opening fire came from the Grenadiers' advance on Lincoln's right. Poor's men held fire, and the terrain made the shooting largely ineffective. When Major Acland led a bayonet charge on their position, the Americans finally began shooting at close range. Acland fell, shot in both legs, and many of the Grenadiers also went down. Their column was in a total rout, and Poor's men advanced to take both force leaders prisoner and capture their artillery. Those that escaped returned to the Breymann and Balcarres Redoubts at Freeman's Farm, which together anchored the British right.
On the western end, things were also not going well for the British. Morgan's men swept aside the Canadians and Indians to engage Fraser's regulars. Although slightly outnumbered, Morgan managed to break up several British attempts to move west. Meanwhile, at Gates' headquarters, Benedict Arnold paced nervously at the sounds of battle. He had been removed from command, and Gates refused to see him. Finally, he leapt to his horse and rode towards the firing. Gates' only reaction was to send Major Armstrong out to order his return, but Armstrong could not catch up with him.
Arnold went to the light battalions on the west of the line. When he saw Fraser rally his men repeatedly, he pointed to Fraser and shouted to Morgan: "That man on the gray horse is a host unto himself and must be disposed of!" Morgan reacted by ordering him shot, and a marksman named Timothy Murphy obliged. He shot Fraser at 275m.[19]Fraser fell from his horse, mortally wounded, and his advance fell apart.
Next, Arnold rode to the central action. Learned's men were having a rough time handling the Hessian advance and were yielding ground. Arnold helped to rally them, and with Learned he led their counter attack. When Morgan, Dearborn, and Poor began to close on their sides, the Hessians also withdrew to their starting positions.
After just about an hour of heavy fighting, the British were back to their starting position. Not content with stopping the British advance, Arnold led Learned and his men in a charge on the Breymann Redoubt on the right flank of the British fortifications. Arnold, leading the charge personally on horseback, was shot in the same leg he had earlier injured during the invasion of Canada. Then his horse fell on him and broke that same leg. Arnold was out of the battle, but Learned's brigade carried the redoubt.
Even though his injury kept him from combat, Arnold went to Brigadier General John Paterson's brigade (10th, 11th, 12th and 14th Massachusetts Regiments) to encourage him to support the earlier attacks. But here, Gates' orders caught up with him and removed him from action. Nightfall ended the battle and saved Burgoyne from further defeat.

Burgoyne, already outnumbered 3 to 1, had lost 1,000 men total including the casualties sustained during the Battle of Freeman's Farm, while American losses came to about 500 killed and wounded. He had lost several of his most effective leaders. The maneuver had failed, and his forward line was now breached. That night he lit fires at his remaining forward positions and withdrew under the cover of darkness. So on the morning of October 8, he was back in the fortified positions he had held on September 16.
Again under cover of darkness, the British forces retreated north, but their attempted retreat to Fort Ticonderoga was blocked by American forces under the command of General Gates. The British were attempting to cross back over to the east side of the Hudson at Saratoga, the same point they had crossed in August, but by then they were surrounded and badly outnumbered. Forty miles (60 km) south of Fort Ticonderoga, with supplies dwindling and winter not far off, Burgoyne had little option. He set up camp at Saratoga and decided to open discussions with the Americans.
At first Gates demanded unconditional surrender, which the British general flatly turned down, declaring he would sooner fight to the death. Gates eventually agreed to a "treaty of convention," whereby the British would technically not surrender nor be taken as prisoners but be marched to Boston and returned to England on the condition that they were not to serve again in America. Gates was concerned that a fight to the death with Burgoyne could still prove costly, and he was also concerned about reports of General Sir Henry Clinton advancing from New York to relieve his compatriots stranded at Saratoga. Resplendent in full ceremonial uniform, General Burgoyne led his troops out from his camp on October 17, 1777, and was greeted with formal cordiality by General Gates. Others lay wounded or were helping the large contingent of officers' wives prepare for captivity.
In the grounding of arms at Saratoga, 5,791 men were surrendered. Riedesel had stated that not more than 4,000 of these were fit for duty. The number of Germans surrendering is set down by Eelking at 2,431 men, and of Germans killed, wounded, captured or missing down to October 6, at 1,122 including the losses at Bennington. The total loss of the British and their German auxiliaries, in killed, wounded, prisoners, and deserters, during the campaign, was 9,000 men. The winner of the battle was the American army. Because the Americans won this battle, the French joined them in their fight against Britain and Germany. The british lost Major General Simon Fraser in this battle.

I found this work on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_saratoga