Bemis Heights
"...Arnold
had the killer instinct..."
(Ketchum, 403)
The Battle of Bemis Heights
October 7
The German General Riedesel was against any further attacks. Burgoyne was
of a different mind. He was a gambler, and he would go "all in"
in order to reach Albany.
That stated, his officers convinced him to probe the Rebel defenses before
offering full battle. If they were found wanting, then an attack would be
made. If they were not, then a withdrawal to Ticonderoga
would be made. This probe, or reconnaissance in force, had less than
2,000 men including Burgoyne.
On October 7th the British moved out. By two in the afternoon they had
made it to Barber's wheat field less than a mile away from American
lines. Burgoyne climbed upon a local roof and surveyed the American
lines. He saw nothing but thick forest. The reconnaissance had
gained him no new information. However, the Americans saw every movement
the British made. When the message got to Gates that the British were
stationary at the wheat field, he ordered Morgan to "begin the game"
(Ketchum, 394). Arnold,
after reconnoitering the British lines, scoffed at so few troops being sent to
engage the British and begged that more be sent. Gates refused, and Arnold went to stew in his
quarters.
Arnold seems to
be justified in his arguments since Gates had 12,000 effectives to use against
a 1,700 man detachment. However, Gates was more concerned with the
entirety of Burgoyne’s force.
Morgan, along with Learned and Poor, hit the British forces hard, so much so
that, "From the time the first shot was fired that afternoon until the
British left and right wings were in full retreat, exactly fifty-two minuets
had elapsed" (Ketchum, 398). Gates, technically, had been proven
right. The force he dispatched did blunt the apparent British attack.
What Arnold
wanted to do was not to begin the game, but end it. With a larger force
he believed he could roll up the British defenses and force a conclusion, while
Gates was content to let the British come or go. Arnold was content in his quarters no
more. Mad as Hell and liquored up, he spurred his horse towards the
battle without orders.
Arnold rallied
men from Learned's command and led a charge against some stubborn
Brunswickers. They held, but Morgan had pushed back the British flank,
and the Germans were forced to fall back. The British officer Simon
Fraser was rallying the British line and causing the Americans much
consternation. Arnold
suggested to Morgan that that officer needed to be dealt with. He
was--one of Morgan's marksmen hit him in the stomach--a fatal wound indeed.
After that the British battle line collapsed, but the British position was
still protected by two redoubts.
Arnold knew
those redoubts would have to fall if the British were to be defeated
completely. He rallied more men from other commanders and charged the
redoubt that was held by Balcarres's light infantry. The men charged
valiantly into the face of British fire and were pushed back. Arnold was not
quitting. He spurred his horse between the British redoubts and collected
more men, except this time his target was the rear of the Breymann
redoubt. After clearing out the middle of the British lines, he
attacked. Arnold
led the charge against the unprotected rear of the redoubt and completely
surprised its defenders. In the melee that ensued, Arnold
was shot in the leg; his horse was then killed and fell upon said leg which
pinned Arnold
down. That heroism inspired the Americans, and they overwhelmed the
redoubt's defenders in half an hour of hand-to-hand struggle. "The
British had 184 killed, 264 wounded, and 183 taken prisoner--631 men of whom 31
were officers. The Germans had 94 dead, 67 wounded, and 102 captured,
which meant that of slightly more than 1,700 in the reconnaissance force,
894--more than half--had been lost" (Ketchum, 405). The Americans
had 31 dead and 100 wounded and with the fall of the redoubt, the British right
and rear were exposed to attack. Burgoyne had lost his gamble and was
forced to retreat for good.
Burgoyne, however, would ultimately choose to surrender, for as he was being
closely pursued by American forces, they would in due course cut him off from Ticonderoga. The only bargaining tool he thought he
held was the outside chance that Sir Harry Clinton would come up the Hudson River and rescue him. After learning that
this was an impossibility, he capitulated, and an entire British Army was
retired. Despite General Washington's woes and the loss of Philadelphia, the news that a rebel army had actually
defeated and induced an entire British Army to surrender gave hope for the
rebellion and convinced the French that America
could win.
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