General George Washington, Continental Army, The Battle of Saratoga, 1777--single mounted figure--RETIRED--LAST ONE!!
$98.00

John Jenkins Designs - RETIRED COLLECTION

Item Number: SGEN-GW01

General George Washington, Continental Army, The Battle of Saratoga, 1777, Drums Along the Mohawk

THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA 1777

“The surrender that changed the world”.

In October 1777, a 6,000 strong British army surrendered in defeat after the American victory at the Battles of Saratoga.
For the first time in history a British General surrendered his sword
The German mercenaries were firing steadily from their redoubt.
From the rear came the crack of rifles.  A general mounted and, his sword flashing, led the riflemen into the redoubt.  German resistance collapsed.  The Battle of Saratoga was over.

The day was Oct. 7th, 1777. Twelve days later, “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne, the gifted, courageous British commander, surrendered to the American general, Horatio Gates.  Thus ended the most ambitious and dangerous offensive launched by Britain in the Revolution.  The attack on the redoubt was the last of a series of actions that constituted the Battle of Saratoga, considered the turning point of the Revolution.

The rifle fire that decimated the Germans awoke echoes around the World.  The French court, friendly to any who fought their ancient British enemy, finally was convinced that France’s interest lay in entering the war on the side of the Americans. 

Following intense fighting with the Continental Army in September, the British Army fortified themselves behind two defensive redoubts--the larger, better defended Balcarres Redoubt, and the weaker Breymann Redoubt.

American forces, led by General Benedict Arnold, managed to take the Breymann Redoubt, which gave them a strong position behind the British lines.  The loss of the Redoubt rendered the British position untenable.  The British Army was forced to pull back to the river, from which position they would attempt to retreat north the next morning.

THE CONTINENTAL ARMY

The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America.  Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in their revolt against the rule of Great Britain.  The Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent.  General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war.

The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies and, after 1776, from all 13 states.  When the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army.  Previously, each colony had relied upon the militia, made up of part-time citizen-soldiers, for local defense, or the raising of temporary "provincial regiments" during specific crises such as the French and Indian War of 1754–63.  As tensions with Great Britain increased in the years leading to the war, colonists began to reform their militias in preparation for the perceived potential conflict.  Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774.  Colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea.
The Continental Army of 1777–80 evolved out of several critical reforms and political decisions that came about when it became apparent that the British were sending massive forces to put an end to the American Revolution.  The Continental Congress passed the "Eighty-eight Battalion Resolve", ordering each state to contribute one-battalion regiments in proportion to their population, and Washington subsequently received authority to raise an additional 16 battalions. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to "the length of the war" to avoid the year-end crises that depleted forces (including the notable near-collapse of the army at the end of 1776, which could have ended the war in a Continental, or American, loss by forfeit).

Three of the Continental Army units which took part in the assault on the Breymann Redoubt, were the 2nd Massachussetts, the 2nd New York, and the 1st Canadian Regiment.

George Washington (February 22, 1732  – December 14, 1799) commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).

In the early years of the war, Washington was often in the middle of the action, first directing the Siege of Boston to its successful conclusion, but then losing New York City and almost losing New Jersey before winning surprising and decisive victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of the 1776 campaign season.  At the end of the year in both 1775 and 1776, he had to deal with expiring enlistments, since the Congress had only authorized the army's existence for single years.  With the 1777 establishment of a more permanent army structure and the introduction of three-year enlistments, Washington built a reliable stable of experienced troops, although hard currency and supplies of all types were difficult to come by.  In 1777, Washington was again defeated in the defense of Philadelphia, but sent critical support to Horatio Gates that made the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga possible.  Following a difficult winter at Valley Forge and the entry of France into the war in 1778, Washington followed the British army as it withdrew from Philadelphia back to New York, and fought an ultimately inconclusive battle at Monmouth Court House in New Jersey.

Washington's activities from late 1778 to 1780 were more diplomatic and organizational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Sir Henry Clinton's army that occupied the city.  Washington strategized with the French on how best to cooperate in actions against the British, leading to ultimately unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the British from Newport, Rhode Island and Savannah, Georgia.  His attention was also drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York.  When General Clinton sent the turncoat General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, Washington began to detach elements of his army to face the growing threat there.  The arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow.  Washington's army and the French army moved south to face Cornwallis, and a cooperative French navy under Admiral de Grasse successfully disrupted British attempts to control of the Chesapeake Bay, completing the entrapment of Cornwallis, who surrendered after the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781.  Although Yorktown marked the end of significant hostilities in North America, the British still occupied New York and other cities, so Washington had to maintain the army in the face of a bankrupt Congress and troops that were at times mutinous over conditions and pay.  The army was formally disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23, 1783.

Released in DECEMBER 2019.

RETIRED.

LAST ONE!!