This edition of the Yankee Doodle Spies begins a series of profiles of key historical figures in the next novel in the acclaimed series, The North Spy. In a spoiler alert of sorts, this installment of the adventures of Jeremiah Creed is built around the British invasion of New York from Canada in 1777. No one is more central to that affair than John Burgoyne.
The flamboyant and controversial on his best days, Burgoyne is the archetypal noble cum warrior cum literati-cum celebrity. Archetypal as an extremely unique personality can be… His sobriquet, Gentleman Johnny sums up his soldiers’ view of him – and his view of himself.
Military Brat or Bastard?
Burgoyne was born 24 February 1722 in Sutton, to Captain John Burgoyne and his wife Anna Maria, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Speculation is young John could be a bastard – the illegitimate issue of Lord Bingley. Bingley became John’s “godfather” and put him in his will as his heir if his daughters did not produce male heirs of their own.
There was certainly money to give John a running start in life. So at age 11, Burgoyne began attending the Westminster School in London. There he made some useful friends (always the intent) including Thomas Gage – future General and last Royal Governor of Massachusetts. Another close friend was James Smith-Stanley, aka Lord Strange, son of the wealthy and powerful Lord Derby. At 15, Burgoyne entered the British Army by purchasing a commission in the Horse Guards.
Since the Guards were stationed in London and his duties were light, he had plenty of time and opportunity to mingle with high society. He soon acquired the nickname, "Gentleman Johnny" for his stylish uniforms and fast living. But he quickly amassed large debts and it is believed he sold his commission in 1741 to settle them.
Return to the Colors
The War of the Austrian Succession gave the young dilettante a chance to “reinvent” himself, or better yet, resurrect his military career. The British Army was expanding to meet the threat from France and in April 1745, he was commissioned in the newly formed 1st Royal Dragoons. Unlike most “bought” commissions, as a new regiment, Burgoyne received his commission at no charge. Promoted to lieutenant later that year, he served with his regiment at the Battle of Fontenoy where he led troopers in several charges against the French. By 1747, Burgoyne had enough money to purchase a captaincy – a rank that would provide the platform he needed to get noticed but the end of the war in 1748 cut off any prospect of further active service.
Cupid’s Arrow
After the war, Burgoyne began to court Charlotte Stanley, sister of his close friend at Westminister School, Lord Strange. When Charlotte's father, Lord Derby, disapproved of the match, John and Charlotte eloped – causing scandal and her father to cut her substantial allowance. Since officers on inactive service received no pay, Burgoyne was forced to sell his commission for 2,500 pounds. The young lovebirds began traveling around Europe, mostly in France and Italy. But it was not all about love. During this period Burgoyne became an avid fan of the arts and literature, and this sojourn would help feed his muse. He also began to study treatises on warfare and tour battle sites and fortresses.
Return to England and the Army
When his wife gave birth to what would be their only child, Charlotte Elizabeth, they went home to Britain. Arriving in 1755, his former schoolmate Lord Strange helped the couple reconcile with Lord Derby, who in turn helped Burgoyne purchase a captaincy in the 11th Dragoons. In 1758, Burgoyne moved to the elite Coldstream Guards where the ongoing Seven Years War helped rocket him to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In June 1758, he took part in a raid on St. Malo, France, where British forces burned French shipping. This was followed by another raid on Cherbourg under then Captain Richard Howe, who as Admiral would later command the Royal Navy in North America during the American War.
A New Kind of Command
But John Burgoyne soon had new ambitions – command of one of the British Army's two new cavalry regiments, the 16th Light Dragoons. The new unit offered John the chance to put some of the ideas he had developed on military science into action. Burgoyne was no dilettante now. Unlike others who did not get directly involved in the administration of their regiments, he directly oversaw the stand-up of his unit and personally recruited officers from the landed gentry in Northamptonshire. He wanted a model unit, organized and equipped around his notions of military service: honorable officers, a firm sense of duty, and well-trained and equipped men who were treated with respect. He did not want his men to be the stereotypical dregs of society. To entice quality recruits, he tried to ensure his men had the finest horses, uniforms, and equipment.
In contrast to British Army norms and tradition, Burgoyne encouraged his officers to get to know the “other ranks.” His notion of warfare required the men to be free-thinking in combat – not mid-18th century robots a la Frederick the Great. To achieve this, he wrote and published a transformational regimental code of conduct. He expected better-educated officers too – encouraging them to take time each day to read and learn French as some of the best military texts were in French, such as the writings of Marechal Maurice de Saxe.
Politics, War & Arts
Somehow, Burgoyne found time (and money) to get elected to Parliament for Midhurst in 1761. But the next year he was off to Portugal a new brigadier general. He gained laurels for taking Valencia de Alcántara and then defeating the Spanish in the Battle of Vila Velha. During the battle, Burgoyne directed Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lee, future Deputy Commander of the Continental Army, to charge a Spanish artillery battery.
Burgoyne returned to Britain at the end of the war. In 1768 was returned to Parliament and got himself appointed governor of Fort William, Scotland. He was outspoken and rather “progressive” in Parliament – speaking for military and colonial reform, particularly in the East India Company. By now he was a major general but a large portion of his time was given over to the arts. He had enough time on his hands to pen plays and poetry. In 1774, his play The Maid of the Oaks was performed at the Drury Lane Theater.
Member of the Dream Team
When the American colonial resistance exploded into a war in April 1775, Lord George Germain, Minister for the Colonies, dispatched three of the most promising officers willing to confront the Americans (several others eschewed service against fellow Britons). So the dream team of John Burgoyne, William Howe, and Henry Clinton, all highly experienced and renowned veterans, sailed to Boston. With General Thomas Gage in command, there was a surplus of brass so Burgoyne exercised no field command. However, the debacle at Bunker Hill and the siege gave him ample opportunity to learn from others’ mistakes.
Home and Back and Home
Frustrated, Burgoyne sailed back to England in November 1775. His wife Charlotte died in February 1776, adding to his heartache. Although Burgoyne never remarried, he would begin a long affair with a married actress, Susan Caulfield, by whom he had four children between 1782 and 1788. The four were brought up in Lord Derby's household, and the eldest became Field Marshal Sir John Fox Burgoyne.
His wife gone and anxious to prove himself, Burgoyne returned to North America in the spring. This time arriving at Quebec, where he served under Governor Sir Guy Carleton, who had just stopped the American invasion. Although Carleton managed to push American forces from Canada – he failed to follow up with a drive on Albany, NY. Burgoyne became critical of Sir Guy’s caution and once more sailed for Britain.
A Brilliant Scheme
Among his other traits, Burgoyne was a smooth talker. Once back in London, he set about pressing the Minister for the Colonies (and point man for defeating the rebellion), Lord Germain, on his plan to win the war in 1777. A three-pronged pincer with a thrust south from Lake Champlain to seize Albany supported by a detachment under Lt. Colonel Barry St. Leger approaching from the west through the Mohawk Valley. A northward advance up the North (Hudson) River from New York led by Sir William Howe would seal the Americans' fate. The objective was to cut off New England from the rest of the American Colonies. Classic divide and conquer. Burgoyne’s scheme would prove brilliant but impractical due to politics and geography.
What we have here – is Failure to Communicate
Confusion between Germain and Lord Howe, commander-in-chief in North America, would be its undoing. Howe planned to move south on Philadelphia that year. It is unclear when Germain informed Burgoyne his support from New York City would be minor. Still, Burgoyne landed in Canada and assembled more than7,000 men – British regulars, German auxiliaries, as well as some Canadians and Indians.
Howe (sic) He Lost
I will not go deeply into this complicated and crucial military event. My future novel, The North Spy, will chronicle most of the major, and some of the minor activities. Burgoyne’s plan was undone by several factors. Time was not on his side as the campaign season in the north was short and he started late and slowly. The terrain was some of the most difficult in Noth America with dense forests and numerous bodies of water and mountains to negotiate. And the Americans rallied most fervently against the incursion, spurred on by atrocities committed by Burgoyne’s Indian allies – both rumored and actual.
Delays & False Assumptions
The initial delay was gathering enough vessels to exploit the excellent waterways – a virtual superhighway pointing right into the heart of the colonies It was already late June before they arrived on lake Champlain. Burgoyne’s assumption of widespread Loyalist and Indian support gathering around him was immediately dashed. This was a recurring failure in British thinking throughout the war. There was never a large number of Loyal Americans willing to come out and fight – few Native Americans and Loyalists joined his forces. Although Burgoyne took the bastion of the north, Fort Ticonderoga by early July, he made an operational error by pursuing the Americans. He began to stray from his supply line as his men were lured deeper away from the waterways.
A Small Win & A Big Loss
A minor win at Hubbardton on 7 July only gave him false confidence. And Burgoyne’s advance south towards Forts Anne and Edward was delayed by the retreating Americans who blocked the roads and trails with trees and destroyed any bridges. Around this time he learned Howe was sailing to Philadelphia – the critical thrust from the south would not be. Meanwhile, the supply situation worsened as the army lacked sufficient transport that could traverse the region's primitive roads.
The need for supplies caused him to send a force of Germans foraging to the east where they stumbled into a hornet’s nest of American militia at Bennington on August 16. The New England militia under John Stark whipped the British, further inspiring men to the cause. Many of Burgoyne’s Indian allies began to sense the changing situation and started to drift off to plunder and go home. To make things worse, Barry St. Leger was turned back at Fort Stanwix. The other leg of the triad was gone. Burgoyne had two choices: consolidate at Fort Ticonderoga and continue the next year – or roll the dice and plunge farther south.
The Die is Cast
He took the plunge. Burgoyne decided to abandon his supply lines and try to a “brute squad” push on Albany in time for winter quarters. He crossed to the west bank of the Hudson on 13 September. But just south of Saratoga waited a rapidly growing American army dug defense works designed by famed Polish engineer Thadeuz Kozciusko at a place called Bemis Heights. The weak Major General Horatio Gates commanded the force of mostly New England and New York militia – but he also had some crack continental troops sent north by George Washington. Gates may have been "Granny" (his nickname) but the next line of command had some of the best leaders of the war including, Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, Colonel Dan Morgan, Enoch Poor, Ebenezer Learned, and Benjamin Lincoln.
Freeman's Farm
Burgoyne vacillated. His army was weakened and morale waning. And although Gates was himself content to sit behind his works and wait things out (not entirely a bad notion), he allowed Arnold to try a stratagem. On 19 September, Arnold and Morgan struck Burgoyne's men at Freeman's Farm. Fierce fighting ensued. Both sides were mauled but the British withdrew to regroup.
Bemis Heights
An “Unconventional” Surrender
The British withdrew to their camp near Saratoga. Meanwhile, the Americans had cut off his retreat north and were harassing his lines daily with sniper fire. Stymied in two pitched battles and with no chance now to fall back on his supply lines or smash his way south, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17 at Saratoga. Yet “Gentleman Johnny” tried to make lemonade from lemons in the way of a technical protocol. He managed to convince Gates (a former British officer) to let him sign a “convention” vice a capitulation via unconditional surrender. Also, he and his men were to be returned forthwith to Britain. Congress later set aside the deal. While the British and German officers returned home on parole, the “other ranks” threw down their arms under the watchful American militia and continentals and some 5,800 marched off to captivity in Boston and ultimately Charlottesville, Virginia.
Home in Disgrace
To say Burgoyne returned to Britain in disgrace is an understatement. This was one of the worst defeats in British history – trumping Malplaquet, Fontenoy, or Carillon. The American rabble in arms had destroyed a British army in the field – convincing France to openly ally with the fledgling American nation, later followed by Spain. The impact on world history would be immense.
Attacked by the government for his failures, Burgoyne attempted to reverse the accusations by blaming Germain for failing to order Howe to support his campaign. He demanded but did not receive a court-martial to him of the disgrace. Instead, King George III stripped him of all titles. Once more Burgoyne was out of the army. But not for long.
Political Winds
Frustrated by the lack of support from Lord North’s administration, one he had so strongly supported, Burgoyne switched his political allegiance from the Tories to the Whigs. Soon things turned around for Burgoyne.
When Lord North’s cabinet collapsed in 1782 Burgoyne was in favor with the Whigs and his rank of major general was restored, along with a colonelcy in the King’s Own Royal Regiment. Burgoyne wrangled one of the top appointments in the army – commander in chief in Ireland. He also became a privy councilor. But Burgoyne left government when Lord Rockingham’s government fell a year later. However, this gave him time to concentrate on his literary projects – now his only passion besides his mistress.
Acclaimed Playwright
Burgoyne wrote two plays, romantic comedies – Maid of the Oaks, written by 1774, and The Heiress, written in 1786, arguably his best work. He also collaborated with Richard Brinsley Sheridan in the production of The Camp in 1778. In 1780, he wrote the libretto of William Jackson’s The Lord of the Manor. Burgoyne wrote the translated version of Michel-Jean Sediane’s Richard Coeur de lion for a semi-opera production at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1788.
Legacy
Despite his failed strategy and campaign at Saratoga, John Burgoyne remained best known for his literary achievements among contemporary and post-Revolutionary War Britons. He was most loved for The Heiress, which proved to be a great success and favorite to many before and after his death. Gentleman John Burgoyne died suddenly at his Mayfair home on June 3, 1792. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.
