The Tryon County militia sent to relieve Fort Stanwix was repulsed at Oriskany, but General Phillip Schuyler was determined to send a second relief column. When none of Schuyler’s subordinates volunteered to lead the expedition, Major General Benedict Arnold agreed to do so.

While the Mohawk and Seneca Indians and British Loyalists were ambushing General Nicholas Herkimer and his Tryon County militiamen at The Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777, Lieutenant Colonel Marinus Willett and 250 Continentals were destroying the unprotected British camp outside Fort Stanwix. Once alerted to Willett’s presence, Native American and British forces abandoned the fight to protect their belongings. Willet’s men retreated into Fort Stanwix, but they had saved Herkimer’s militiamen from certain annihilation. In an indication of the ferocity of the battle, 385 of the 700 Tryon County militiamen, or an astonishing 55 percent, had been killed, an unparalleled percentage for an American force during the Revolutionary War.

On August 6, 1777, General Nicholas Herkimer and 700 Tryon County militiamen planned a surprise attack against a British force led by Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger that was besieging Fort Stanwix. Unfortunately, an informer tipped off St. Leger and he directed Joseph Brant, leader of the Mohawks surrounding Fort Stanwix, to set up an ambush in a ravine near the Native American village of Oriska.

In the summer of 1777, British General John Burgoyne launched a three-pronged advance towards Albany, New York, with the goal of splitting off New England from the other colonies. One 1,800-man contingent, half Loyalists and half Native Americans, moved east from Lake Ontario to the Mohawk River Valley. Their primary target was the 500-man American garrison at Fort Stanwix. General Nicholas Herkimer, commander of the Tryon County militia based thirty miles away at Fort Dayton, was informed of the siege and assembled 700 militiamen to march to the fort’s relief.

Following their loss at Bemis Heights on October 7, 1777, the British Army was in a bad way, but there was still hope. General John Burgoyne had 6,000 well-trained soldiers and, although greatly outnumbered by the Continental Army, British-controlled Fort Ticonderoga was only fifty miles away.

General John Burgoyne’s British Army crossed to the west bank of the Hudson River in mid-September to continue its march towards Albany. General Benedict Arnold had placed American troops in a virtually unassailable position on high ground called Bemis Heights. On September 19, Burgoyne moved through heavy woods around the American flank, hoping to surprise the Continentals. However, Arnold, anticipating this move, sent Captain Daniel Morgan’s Virginia riflemen and Major Henry Dearborn’s light infantry to attack the British at Freeman’s Farm before they could deploy.

In the eight weeks since capturing Fort Ticonderoga, British General John Burgoyne had seen his army go from being invincible to facing starvation and defeat. The Americans were having issues as well. With the loss of Fort Ticonderoga, New Englanders in Congress had the perfect excuse to remove General Phillip Schuyler, who was strongly disliked, from command. He was replaced with General Horatio Gates, and General George Washington sent his best field commander, General Benedict Arnold, to assist as well. Unfortunately, Gates resented Arnold’s fame and that resentment would almost cost the Continental Army this campaign.

As General John Burgoyne’s British Army advanced deeper into New York in the summer of 1777, his supply line lengthened, making it more difficult to obtain supplies, especially given the wretched roads in the area. Living off the land was not an option as the Continental Army destroyed any provisions they could not carry off as they retreated. With the situation growing desperate, Burgoyne dispatched a detachment to capture a stockpile of supplies at Bennington. On August 16, these troops walked into a buzzsaw in the form of Colonel John Stark and 2,000 angry New Hampshire militiamen spoiling for a fight.

In June 1777, Fort Ticonderoga had been in American hands for two years, but little had been done to strengthen its defenses. The fort, commanded by General Arthur St. Clair, was garrisoned by 2,000 Continental troops but was not prepared to withstand an assault. When the vanguard of British General John Burgoyne’s 7,000-man army arrived in front of Fort Ticonderoga, British officers soon discovered Mount Defiance, a hill that dominated the fort, was unoccupied.

Following the failed American invasion of Canada in 1776, British General Guy Carleton pursued the retreating Continentals as far south as Fort Ticonderoga until the approaching winter halted Carleton’s advance and he retired to winter quarters. Unhappy with Carleton, Lord George Germain, England’s secretary of state for the colonies, replaced him with General John Burgoyne. Known as Gentleman Johnny, Burgoyne had developed a great plan to defeat the Continental Army, but he was relatively unfamiliar with warfare in North America and the logistical challenges presented by its seemingly endless forests.

In December 1777, following the loss of Philadelphia, General George Washington moved his Continental Army into winter quarters about 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, there were no shelters for the 12,000 soldiers and improvised wooden huts, housing 8-12 men, were hastily erected, but barely kept out the wind. Washington, who remained with his troops throughout the long winter, sent countless requests to Congress imploring them to alleviate his men’s suffering. But Congress, without taxation authority and little influence over the states, seemed powerless to help.

In the spring of 1777, most of the British army was stationed in New York. For his next move, General William Howe decided to attack Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies and home of the Continental Congress. Rather than march over land through New Jersey, Howe sailed his regiments up the Chesapeake Bay and landed sixty miles south of the city. Washington quickly moved to get between Howe’s army and the capital but failed to guard a ford to his north. When the British attacked on September 11, 1777, they outflanked the Americans and Washington was forced to retreat.

After achieving a great victory at the Battle of Trenton, General George Washington recrossed the Delaware River hoping for a second miracle. In response, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 6,000 Redcoats marched towards Trenton and struck back at the bold Americans, leaving a battalion at Princeton, twelve miles north. On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington, unnoticed by British sentries, moved his men around the British flank towards Princeton and attacked at dawn. Perfect.

In late December 1776, after four months of hard-fighting, the 16,000-man Continental Army had dwindled to a force of 3,000 soldiers encamped in Pennsylvania on the west side of the Delaware River. General George Washington chose this desperate moment to strike a surprise blow at the Redcoats. He would cross the river Christmas night and attack the 1,500-man Hessian garrison in Trenton, knowing that the Hessians would be recovering from a day of Christmas reverie.

Although the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, Washington’s troops faced more setbacks than successes at the start of the American Revolution. By the time of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, the army had dwindled down to roughly 3,000 poorly clad, poorly fed and poorly armed men. Thinking the end was near, Britain’s General Howe placed his soldiers in winter quarters. He would soon find out the American Army still had some fight.

When General George Washington took command of the Continental Army, the challenges he faced were formidable. Instead of one unified force, every colony had its own militia, each at various stages of development. Consequently, training was non-existent, discipline was lax, and the men were disrespectful to their officers. By comparison, the British Army was a force of well-equipped and well-trained soldiers, led by professionals, and far more numerous than the Continentals.

The first significant offensive operation of the American Revolution was the invasion of British Canada by American troops in 1775. It was the opening act of the Northern Campaign in which we hoped to take control of British Canada and secure our northern flank.

During the American Revolution, roughly one quarter of colonists did not want to separate from England. From their perspective, life in the English colonies of North America was relatively good. They believed in their rights as deeply as the most devoted Patriot, but rebelling against their king was a line they would not cross.

The debate over declaring the colonies’ independence from England was intense and emotional. Those who felt we should remain loyal to the King believed just as deeply as those who thought we must go our own way. There was no middle ground and Americans were forced by extremists to choose a side.

Other than George Washington, Henry Knox was the greatest soldier-statesman of the Founding Generation, and his accomplishments in the field and the halls of government are unparalleled.