Battles of Saratoga

The battles of Saratoga marked a turning point in the American War of Independence. More of a mini-campaign than single battle, Saratoga was actually two major battles, with multiple skirmishes in between. The two main battles were fought 18 days apart on the same ground near Saratoga, New York.


British general John Burgoyne was attempting to drive down from Canada through the heart of New York in an effort to cut the colonies in two. The campaign started out well for Burgoyne. On September 19, 1777 he defeated American forces under Horatio Gates at the Battle of Freeman's Farm. This engagement is also considered the first Battle of Saratoga.

Logistical problems and attrition would lead to Burgoyne's downfall. By October 7th he only had about 5,000 combat-ready troops. The Battle of Bemis Heights, or the Second Battle of Saratoga, was fought that day. Over 8,000 American troops led by Gates and Benedict Arnold took to the field. British grenadiers opened the battle at 2 p.m. A charge by the grenadiers was broken up by short-range fire. Burgoyne lost 400 men and six of ten field pieces in the first hour. Agitated, Arnold led a successful attack on Breymann's Redoubt as darkness descended. Burgoyne retreated northward, but his dwindling army was soon surrounded. He surrendered his army on October 17th at Saratoga.


Not only did Saratoga prevent the British from cutting the colonies in two, it encouraged the French to enter the war on the side of the Americans. The War of American Independence turned decidedly in the favor of the Americans. The battlefield is preserved as Saratoga National Historic Park.

The Siege of Bastogne ranks high on any list of American military triumphs. In late 1944 Nazi Germany was in retreat, pursued from the east by Stalin's Red Army and from the west by a coalition of American, British and minor allies. Out of desperation, Hitler launched what would prove to be the final German offensive of the war, in hope of securing a favorable settlement with the Western Allies before the Russians reached Berlin.

The German name for the operation, Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein, meant "Operation Watch on the Rhine." The Germans decided to attack along a lightly defended area of the Allied line in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium. Launched on December 16th, Germans armored columns plunged westwards in hope of recapturing the port city of Antwerp. 

The 101st Airborne Division, along with various other units, was stationed in a the small village of Bastogne. One look at the map tells everything one needs to know—all roads led to Bastogne. Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz, commanding the 26th Volksgrenadier, 2nd Panzer, and Panzer-Lehr divisions was tasked with capturing the town before pushing onward. The attack caught the Americans off guard and the Germans succeeding in surrounding the village on the 20th.

The Americans held on tenaciously. Finally, on the 22nd the Germans sent forward a flag of truce to offer the Americans and ultimatum. Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting officer since Major General Maxwell D. Taylor was at a conference in America, allegedly crumpled the German paper while saying "Ah, nuts!" The offhand remark became the basis for McAuliffe's reply: "To the German Commander, NUTS! The American Commander." 

Air-dropped supplies kept the Americans supplied until General George Patton's 3rd Army punched through the line. The 101st was ordered to go on the offensive, pushing the Germans back to their starting point by January 17, 1945. Patton received many of the headlines and much of the glory, but the 101st boys see it differently. They thought they were fine and that Patton was simply a late comer.

The Battle of New Orleans

The War of 1812 should have never happened. Enraged by the British practice of impressment, trade restrictions, and support of Native Americans, U.S. President James Madison convinced Congress to declare war. Signing the declaration on June 18, 1812, Madison would not learn for weeks, due to slow communications, that new Prime Minister Lord Liverpool was seeking to avoid war.

The war was fought in three theaters: At sea, along the northern border and in Canada, and along the American Gulf Coast. The most significant land battle was for New Orleans. Ironically, like the start of the war, this battle should have never took place. The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814 officially ended the war. News of the war's end would not reach Louisiana until February of the following year.

In December 1814 a British fleet laden with 8,000 soldiers moved against New Orleans. Capture of the city, strategically located near the mouth of the Mississippi River would have threatened the entire Louisiana Territory and the course of Manifest Destiny that would fuel American expansion in the 19th century.

General Andrew Jackson was charged with the defense of the city. British troops disembarked onto the west coast of the Mississippi on December 23rd. A quick movement by General John Keane might have easily resulted in capture of the city. A spoiling attack by Johnson's forces (technically a British victory) unnerved Keane enough to delay until all his forces arrived at the beginning of the new year. The Americans used the time wisely, converting a canal into a strong defensive line.

The main attack got under way before light on the morning of January 8th. British soldiers, hemmed in by the Mississippi on one side and swamps on the other, bravely crossed the open field towards the American positions. Despite having superior numbers and reaching several American positions along the bank of the river, the British attack never truly stood a chance. Two large assaults were repelled. Americans suffered 71 casualties; the British a staggering 2,042.

The battle secured American rights to the Louisiana Territory and made Andrew Jackson a national hero. In 1828 Jackson would be elected president, serving as one of the most memorable presidents in American history. The battle also bolstered American morale and unity, propelling the young nation into a time of great growth and optimism known as the "Era of Good Feelings."

The battle was the subject of a song, The Battle of New Orleans, written by Jimmy Driftwood and made popular when recorded by Johnny Horton in 1959.

The map is from The Library of Congress.

The Battle of the Bulge

Hitler was desperate. The summer of 1944 witnessed the crumbling of German armies on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. With the Western Allies having gained a solid foothold in France, Germany was being squeezed into submission. german resistance began to stiffen during the fall but something had to be done. Hitler stunned his generals with an audacious plan, "Wacht Am Rhein" (Watch on the Rhine), in which Wehrmacht forces would once more assume the offensive.

Though Hitler's thoughts were rarely grounded in reality, he was correct in believing that he would receive better terms from the Western Allies than Stalin—3 1/2 long years of brutal warfare left the Russians only desiring revenge. Hitler's plan called for the massing of what new forces could be scrapped together and focusing an attack against the lightly-defended Ardennes forest in an effort to recapture the Belgian port city of Antwerp. Hitler's prayer was that the Wallies resolve might waver and seek an armistice favorable to Germany, allowing Hitler to focus only on the Russian threat.

The attack was set for mid-December, counting on poor weather that would ground the Wallies superior air support. Launched on December 16th, German forces quickly overran the sparsely-populated American front lines. Problems soon developed. Lacking precious fuel, German plans depended on capturing American fuel dumps. once the alarm was raised, American troops began destroying bridges and setting up roadblocks in which a handful of soldiers held up the German columns on the narrow forest roads. The village of Bastogne proved to be a major stumbling block, with roads extending out like the legs of a spider, Bastogne was a key position. The Germans encircled the city, but never forced the surrender of the defending 101st Airborne Division. Falling behind schedule, lacking fuel, clearing weather allowing Allied air support, and with reinforcements racing to the front, the attack not only failed to reach Antwerp but at its greatest extent still fell short of the Meuse River. The Germans merely created a "bulge" in the Allied lines (see map above).

Though the American forces were under General Omar Bradley, British general Bernard Montgomery was given temporary command of units that had been isolated by the German incursion. General George Patton's Third Army swung up from the south to help relieve the siege of Bastogne and by the end of December German forces were in retreat back towards their starting line. On January 1, 1945 Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stage a large raid known as "The Great Blow." 800 planes took to the air in the last German air offensive. Despite destroying 200 Allied aircraft, the Germans lost over 300 and the Luftwaffe never flew in significant numbers again. By mid-January the Germans were back at their starting lines but fewer in men and equipment. The end of the Thousand-year Reich was just months away.

An excellent resource on this and other WW2 topics is Famous Men of the Second World War. 

Japanese Official Surrender

Okay, it is not a map. However, as a follow-up to a post about the Japanese surrender several weeks ago, I believe this photo is appropriate for today (actually two days ago, can't believe I missed it). September 2, 1945 marked the end of the Second World War. At the cost of an estimated 50 million lives the world could once again live in relative peace. While many people believe all WW2 photographs are black & white, a surprising number of color photos exist. Here the somber Japanese delegation boards the USS Missouri for the signing of documents officially ending the war. Contrary to Japanese belief, the Allied powers did not eliminate the Emperor but instead helped Japan rebuild into one of the great industrial nations of the latter half of the twentieth century.

V-J Day

Today marks V-J Day,  the 57th anniversary go Japan's agreement to surrender unconditionally. The surrender came as a relief to Allied commanders who faced the daunting task of invading the Japanese home islands. Operation Olympic was the planned October 1945 (X-Day would have been November 1st) invasion of the Japanese island of Kyushu. Bases established by the capture of Kyushu would have supported the spring 1946 invasion of the Kanto Plain near Tokyo on the island of Honshu.

American soldiers did not doubt the will of the Japanese to fight tenaciously even when defeat was obvious. Having witnessed mass suicides by Japanese civilians during the battle of Okinawa, Allied planners expected to encounter resistance from not only the Japanese soldiers but civilians. Estimated American casualty rates varied wildly. General Douglas MacArthur's staff estimated 105,000 casualties in the first 120 days. A report put together for Secretary of State Henry Stimson suggested that casualties could reach four million!

V-J Day eliminated the need for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. The surrender was formalized on September 2, 1945 onboard the battleship Missouri. MacArthur was named Supreme Allied Commander (SCAP). In this position, arguably the most powerful position ever held by an American, MacArthur rewrote the Japanese constitution and initiated post-war reconstruction.

Battle of Big Black River Bridge

The day after the near-run Battle of Champion's Hill, Confederate General John C. Pemberton was fighting to save his army for a last stand at Vicksburg. The last natural barrier between Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant and Vicksburg was the Big Black River. Pemberton ordered Brig. General John S. Bowen to defend the crossing with just three brigades while soldiers crossed over a bridge and a steamboat positioned as a bridge. The Confederates hastily constructed a breastworks made out of cotton bales lined up against a bayou.

John A. McClernand's XIII Corps closed in on the defenders. Brig. General Michael K. Lawler led his brigade in an assault that carried them through waist-deep water to the breastworks. The rebels broke and attempted to cross the river any way possible. Over 1700 Confederates were captured, killed in combat or drowned attempting to cross the river. The rebels who succeeded in crossing burned the bridge and steamboat, but merely delayed what was to come — Grant would place Vicksburg under siege.

Battle of Champion's Hill (or Bakers Creek)

The summer 0f 1863 proved decisive in the Western theater of the American Civil War. After a daring landing south of Vicksburg, General Ulysses S. Grant cut a swath through enemy territory and securing his rear with the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, turned back west with the intent of destroying Confederate forces under John C. Pemberton and capturing Vicksburg.

Pemberton had headed west after the Battle of Jackson. His commanding officer, Joseph E. Johnston ordered Pemberton to attack Grant at Clinton. On May 16, 1863 Pemberton arrayed his forces on a three mile line overlooking Jackson Creek. Grant ordered James B. McPherson and John A. McClernand to take the ridge. After fierce fighting the Federals gained the ridge only to be pushed back by a counterattack led by Confederate General John S. Bowen. Pemberton ordered William W. Loring to reinforce Bowen. Loring refused, stating that he had Union troops in his front. Bowen did not have the manpower to hold the ridge and the Confederate retreat began in earnest. Brig. General Lloyd Tilghman's brigade valiantly formed a rearguard, allowing Pemberton's army to escape, though not before Tilghman himself was killed by artillery fire.

The retreat set the stage for another engagement the next day— the Battle of Big Black River. Pemberton would soon be cooped up in Vicksburg and its fall would just be a matter of time.

Fort Donelson

After the fall of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862, General U. S. Grant quickly turned his attention to capturing Fort Donelson, the Confederate fort controlling entry and exit to the Cumberland River. Captuiring the fort would allow Union forces to use the Cumberland as a highway into the interior of the Confederacy.

A force of 17,000 Rebels under Brigadier General John B. Floyd held Fort Donelson and a outlying entrenchments. After several probing attacks on the 13th Union gunboats closed in on the 14th. Plunging fire from the well-situated fort (unlike Fort Henry) disabled the USS St. Louis, Louisville and Pittsburg. Despite the failed naval assault, Union troops surrounded the Rebels. A Confederate offensive on the 15th, led by Brigadier General Gideon Pillow succeeded in pushing back the Union right flank and opening an escape route for the trapped soldiers. Believing Union reinforcements were at hand, the Confederates lost their nerve and fell back to their original lines instead of escaping.

Though pleased with the day's results, the Confederate leaders still believed their position to be untenable. Floyd, fearing capture and trial in the North, resigned command, passing it to Pillow. Pillow also decided to take a pass, leaving Brigadier General Simon B. Buckner to surrender the fort while Pillow and Floyd turned tail and ran. Buckner contacted Grant for terms of surrender. Grant responded:

Sir: Yours of this date proposing Armistice, and appointment of Commissioners, to settle terms of Capitulation is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.

I propose to move immediately upon your works.

I am Sir: very respectfully

Your obt. sevt.

U.S. Grant

Brig. Gen.

Though Buckner complained about Grant's "ungenerous and unchivalrous terms," he felt compelled to accept them. On February 16th upwards of 15,000 troops and 48 artillery pieces surrendered. Grant had captured the first of three Confederate armies during the Civil War. 

For his role in capturing the fort, Grant was promoted to Major General and rose from obscurity to a public figure. He also earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, using the initials of his name. Grant's personal account of this battle and the rest of his Civil War experiences are recorded in his memoirs. Parts of the battlefield have been preserved by the National Park Service.

Battle of Bunker Hill

A bit of a misnomer, the Battle of Bunker Hill took place mostly on Breed's Hill on June 17, 1775. The objective of both the colonists and the British was the larger, adjacent Bunker Hill. The battle took place against the backdrop of the Siege of Boston, marking the beginning of the first major phase of the American Revolution.

The colonists laid siege to Boston in an effort to contain the British base of operations. Having received reinforcements during the first three months of the siege British generals William Howe, John Burgoyne and Henry Clinton decided to seize the unoccupied hills near Boston as the first step to breaking out. Learning about the plan, 1200 colonists under William Prescott moved onto Breed's Hill and hastily prepared fortifications. The redoubt on the southern end was composed of six-foot earthen walls with wood planks for men to stand on and shoot.

3800 British troops were sent to dislodge the colonists. The first assault, launched around 3 p.m., was promptly repulsed. With reinforcements streaming in by boat, the British made a second, determined assault that was also repulsed. The third British assault proved successful as the colonists ran out of ammunition. The British, armed with bayonets, gained the advantage in hand-to-hand combat as the colonists had no bayonets. Israel Putnam's attempt to establish a new line on Bunker Hill failed but most of the colonial troops escaped before the British could surround them.

Despite driving the colonists from Bunker Hill, the battle was costly for the British, with over 1000 casualties compared to only 450 colonial. The battle proved that colonists were determined enough to stand up to British regulars.

The siege ultimately proved effective. Eleven months after the siege began, while under pressure from American troops under George Washington, the British finally withdrew.

    One of the many aspects of the American Civil War that amazes me is how Richmond and Washington D.C. lasted so long without an assault despite only being located approximately 100 miles apart. One major reason that the South never seriously threatened Washington was the extensive series of forts that encircled the Union capital.
    Sixty-five forts ringed the capital, providing support form one another and giving good reason for even the boldest of Confederate commanders to contemplate the cost of an attack. Government concern for the upkeep of the forts waned in the days after the Civil War. While evidence of some of the forts has vanished, others, such as Battery Kemble are well-preserved and today constitute a series of parks overseen by the National Park Service as the Fort Circle Parks.

Looking for a last-minte Christmas present for a young person in your life? Written by the author of the Battle Maps blog and in the tradition of John Haaren's Famous Men series Alacrity Press is proud to introduce a new entry to biography-driven history, Famous Men of the Second World War. In this book adults, youth and older children can learn about history's most complex event through the eyes of the people who played pivotal roles in the conflict. Oh, just so you know it is relevant, the book contains over a dozen battle maps. Joy!

A support website with a sample chapter and other neat goodies (click on downloads) may be found at www.famousmenww2.com. The book is also available from the Alacrity Press bookstore.