The Saratoga Project: Guide To Burgoyne's Army

 

British 9th Foot at Saratoga
(Fife and Drum Miniatures)

My lack of blogging in recent weeks does not indicate a lack of hobby related work during the first few weeks of 2021. Quite the contrary, my paint brushes have reactivated favorably and I have made a good dent in my planned project for 2021: The Saratoga Project in 1/56 Scale. The 1/56 scale figures are approximately 30-32mm in height and of course they will all be Fife and Drum Miniatures figures.

As of today, my British Saratoga army includes: 9th/20th/21st/62nd Regiments of Foot; two stands of 8 light company figures; three stands of 8 grenadiers. The line regiments will have five stands of 8 figures, or 40 in total. The converged light and grenadier battalions will each have six stands of 8 figures, or 48 in total.

My first inspection of the armies at Saratoga indicates that I can do the British army with a moderate number (for me, at least) of figures at my planned figure to man ratio of 10 to 1. This ratio means that one casting represents 10 actual soldiers. I like to organize my war game armies around historical orders of battle, if they are available. For this purpose, I used the Osprey Campaign Saratoga 1777 book, authored by Brendan Morrissey. As an example, if the British 9th Regiment of Foot had 398 officers and men during the campaign, then I would round up to 400 men and field a war gaming unit of 40 castings.

I will use my existing American regiments augmented by Morgan's Rifles.

The project will also include the necessary troops to fight Oriskany, Hubbardton and Bennington, so this includes Mohawk Indians and Brunswick troops. By the way, Brunswick musketeers and grenadiers are the next new figures in the queue of the Fife and Drum Miniatures Saratoga figure range. These will likely be available by May 2021.

Converged British Light Infantry

Converged British Light Infantry

Converged British Grenadier Battalion

Reference Material

A good place to start is the finding of a good reference books with the orders of battle for all of the armies. Fortunately, Osprey Publishing has "Saratoga 1777, Turning Point of a Revolution". The book, authored by noted war gamer and historian Brendan Morrissey, provides a nice summary of the whole campaign and specific battles, and also provides detailed orders of battle around which a war gamer can build his/her own table top army.

If you are interested in a deeper dive into the Saratoga campaign, then I would recommend the following books:

• Campaign to Saratoga - 1777,  by Eric Schnitzer and illustrated by Don Troiani, (2019 Stackpole Books - publisher)
• Saratoga, A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution, by John Luzader, (2008 Savas Beatie - publisher)
• Saratoga, The Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, by Richard Ketchum, (1997 Harold Holt -publisher)
• Uniforms of the British, German and American Armies at Saratoga, by Brendan Morrissey is a very detailed description of uniform details and regimental organization for the units that fought at Saratoga. The information can be found on the Perry Miniatures web site (under the Articles pull down menu).  Click on the adjacent link  to find the three articles. Perry Miniatures "Articles"
• Campaign Book #7, The War of Independence in the North, "We Have Always Governed Ourselves, by Greg Novak (1988 Ulster Imports - Publisher, out of print). 

Eric Schnitzer is the head Park Ranger, historian-interpreter at Saratoga National Historical Park, having served in that role for more than 20 years. Don Troiani is well-known for his accurate historical and military paintings. John Luzader has served with the National Park Service with an expertise on the battle of Saratoga.

62nd Foot

21st Foot

Burgoyne's British and German Army

Lt. General John Burgoyne's Canada Army numbered approximately 9,500 officers and men and consisted of troops from Britain, Brunswick and Canada. There were two brigades of British soldiers with 4,000 men; the Brunswick contingent with 3,500 men; and 1,900 headquarters and unassigned troops. The following order of battle for Burgoyne's army is sourced from Brendan Morrissey's book on the Saratoga Campaign (Osprey).

The numbers in parentheses indicate the total number of officers and men in that particular regiment or formation.

Advance Guard - Brigadier General Simon Fraser

24th Foot (391)

Converged British Grenadiers (631)

Converged Light Companies (611)

Corps of Marksmen (102) 

Royal Artillery - 

• four 6-pounders - Captain Thomas Jones
• four 6-pounders, four 3-pounders, two 5.5-inch howitzers - Captain Ellis Walker

1st Brigade - Brigadier General Henry Powell

9th Foot  (398)

47th Foot (detached to guard bateaux on Lake George) (380)  

53rd Foot (left behind at Fort Ticonderoga ) (391)

2nd Brigade - Brigadier General James Hamilton

20th Foot  (383)

21st Foot  (393)

62nd Foot  (377)

NOTE: due to detachments, the 9th Foot joined the 2nd Brigade commanded by Hamilton during the two battles of Saratoga.

Artillery 

• RA - Major Griffith Williams (267)
• Hesse-Hanau Artillery - Captain Georg Pausch (103)
• Attached infantry - Lt. George Nutt (155)
• Artillery Park - 3 brigades

Headquarters

General staff and ADCs (17)

Prinz Ludwig Dragoons (dismounted) - Lt. Col. von Baum (307)

King's Loyal Americans - Lt. Col. Ebenezer Jessup (150)

Queen's Loyal Rangers - Lt. Col. John Peters (150)

Canadians/Bateauxmen - Capt. Monin / Capt. Boucherville (300)

Indians (500)

The Brunswick Contingent - Major General Friedrich von Riedesel

The Brunswick contingent constituted the Left Wing of Burgoyne's Canada Army and was organized into three brigades: Advance Corps (von Breymann), 1st Brigade (von Specht), 2nd Brigade (von Gall) and the Hesse Hanau artillery (Pausch).

Artillery - Captain Georg Pausch

4 x 6-pounders Hesse Hanau artillery brigade

Advance Corps - Lt. Colonel Heinrich von Breymann

Grenadier Battalion - companies from the Rhetz, Riedesel, Specht and Prinz Friedrich regiments (456)

Light Battalion - Major Ferdinand von Barner - chosen men from the same regiments as above (398)

Jager Company - Captain Carl von Geisau (124)

Artillery - Lt. von Spangenburg (2 x 6pdrs and 2 x 3pdrs)

1st Brigade - Brigadier General Johann von Specht

Regiment von Rhetz (535)

Regiment von Riedesel (537)

Regiment von Specht (536)

2nd Brigade - Brigadier General Wilhelm von Gall

Regiment Prinz Friedrich (533) - detached to Fort Ticonderoga

Regiment Erbprinz of Hesse-Hanau  (546)

In war game terms, my Brunswick contingent will have the converged grenadier and light company battalions, the Jager company, two sections of artillery and four battalions of musketeers (omitting the detachement at Fort Ticonderoga). As of this writing, only the jagers are painted and I plan on using my Minden SYW Prussian artillery crew figures manning British 6-pounders and 3-pounders. I can draft some of the Fife and Drum Miniatures Hessians into my Brunswick contingent until the Brunswick figures go into production, probably in May 2021.

What Is Ahead?

I plan on adding uniform information for both British and Brunswick regiments, to be posted on this blog. I will also post orders of battle for the forces at Hubbardton, Bennington and Oriskeny in the near future. Finally, I will post pictures of the British and Brunswick regiments as they are painted. Hopefully, by mid to late Summer 2021, I will have the necessary forces to game all of the battles that comprise the Saratoga Campaign of 1777.