change we can believe in

  In 1777 seven thousand British and Hessian troops led by General John Burgoyne, marched out of Canada toward New York City in an attempt to separate the Eastern Colonies, now New England, from the rest of our fledgling nation.  Simple strategy, divide and conquer.  Burgoyne’s route was to take his army along Lake Champlain then Lake George, finally following the Hudson River south to New York City.  Unfortunately Burgoyne hit a little snag.

On this date, September 19, 1777 the seven thousand soldiers under Burgoyne met 17, 000 patriots outside of Saratoga, New York at Freeman’s farm and the Battle of Saratoga was begun.  The battle that was to become the turning point of the American Revolution would culminate on October 7^th with the final assault on British positions and Burgoyne’s eventual surrender.   When news of the British defeat reached Europe, France made a decision to back the rebellion and the rest, as they say, is history.

I visited the Saratoga National Battlefield over the summer.  During my visit I overheard a park ranger inform a couple of grade school kids that this was the place of the most important battle of the last thousand years (obviously alluding to the Battle of Hastings in 1066).  When you think about it, she might have been selling Saratoga short.  The founding of the United States and the effect this country and this form of government has had on the world over the past 230 years is amazing.  And so today, I hang the American flag from my front porch to commemorate what is one of the most important dates in world history.