September 2015 Volume 54, Issue 7

The Minuteman

Central Florida

SAR Chapter

Chartered on

May 8, 1961

Meeting Location:

The Mayflower

1720 Mayflower

Court Winter Park, FL

32792

Chapter Meeting September 12, 2015

At this meeting, we will be hav-ing an in character presentation of Pres-ident James Madison and his wife, Dol-ly Madison, our 4th President and First Lady. See other article for more details. This meeting will be held in the Duxbury Hall of the Mayflower Retire-ment Community Center located at 1620 Mayflower Court in Winter Park, Florida. A time of socializing will begin at 11:30 am with lunch being served at noon. The cost of the lunch is $16.00. The entrée choices will be an-

nounced in a separate e-mail. Note that

each meal comes with an assortment of

vegetables, starch, salad or soup, and a

dessert. Coffee and tea is also served

with the meal.

Please make your reservation to

attend this meeting by 9/9/2015 by con-

tacting Compatriot Dan Stebbins via

phone at 407-830-6946 or via e-mail at

catears@centurylink.net. Your partici-

pation is greatly appreciated in respond-

ing with your RSVP before the deadline

date. Please plan to attend.

Speaker Introduction “Presidents and Their First Ladies, dra-matically speaking” is the creation of the veter-an acting and writing team of husband and wife, William and Sue Wills. After 20 years of

operating their own theatrical company in the resort of Ocean City, MD, the couple is now in their 20th year of bringing to life the stories of 33 differ-ent Presidential cou-

ples. Amazingly, the Wills have appeared to-gether on stage over 8,700 times…and still counting. They are no “impersonators”, but hope that their costumes, dialects, and demean-ors will help recreate these historical characters. Mr. and Mrs. Wills have performed in 35 of our 50 states and in 2013 presented all 33 of their presentations in 5 days to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Such a feat has nev-er been achieved before. They are a true work-ing team with William researching and creating the scripts while Sue edits his work and creates the costumes, many of her own design. With their “Presidents and First La-dies” program, William and Sue hope that by presenting the personal side of our first couples, they will become more than just names read about in history books. Today they proudly present to us the story of our 4th President and First Lady: James and Dolley Madison.

Historical Madison Facts James Madison, being shy and soft spo-ken, found the perfect complimentary match in widowed, yet effervescent, Dolley Todd, who came from a Quaker background. As a young

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wife, she suffered the deaths of her husband and a young son. Her remaining son, Payne, was a constant cause of heartbreak for the Madison's. James, known as “the father of the Constitution”, came from a Virginia plantation family. As President, he headed the nation during an unpopular war with Great Britain which led to the burning of the White House and Dolley’s heroic and historic escape.

Membership in the Ladies Auxiliary

The Ladies’ Auxiliary Florida Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is open to wives as well as female blood relatives (mothers, daughters, grand-daughters, aunts, nieces) of the SAR member. The Ladies’ Auxiliary supports the SAR in its histori-cal, patriotic and educational objectives. The Ladies’ Auxiliary raises funds to award (on a smaller scale) the same students that the Florida Society SAR awards. Dues for the LAFLSSAR are $5 per year; the application form is available at: http://www.flssar.org/FLSSAR/DOCS/LadyAuxDocs/LaAuxMemApp.pdf. Please encourage the ladies in your life to join and support us in our efforts.

Chaplain’s Thoughts By Rev. George Andrews

In the letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul refers to Jesus as “our peace”. In the Bible and in the Chris-tian faith, the idea of peace occupies a prominent place. To begin with it speaks about a person’s peace with God. The Bible takes seriously the fact of peo-ple’s opposition to God - their rebellion against Him. From the very first pages in Genesis, Adam and Eve disregard what God commands, eat of the tree of good and evil and go their own way - at war with the boss. Jesus seems to have been very conscious of this side of our human nature. In another instance, He told the parable of the landowner who let out his vineyard to wine-growers who were responsible to look after it during his ab-sence. When he sent his servants, the tenants treated them harshly and sent them away empty handed. Then he sent his son, saying, “they will respect my son”. But they didn’t. Instead they killed the son. When we are hostile to God, and go our own way, we cannot expect to be at peace. God still continues to

love us, but where God’s holiness and people’s sin meet, there is bound to be judgement and estrange-ment. Furthermore, the Bible has much to say about peace in our interpersonal relationships. Picture a three legged stool; one leg is God, another leg is my neighbor, and the third is myself. If I am in a wrong relationship with my neighbor this affects my relation-ship with God. When one leg of the stool is weak-ened, the whole stool is weakened. So, (1) peace with God, (2) peace in our inter-personal relationships and (3) peace with myself. When we read the Gospels we see how often when Jesus came into close contact with someone he brought peace to that individual. One of St. Paul’s finest pray-ers we hear often and needs to be impressed on our minds which goes like this: The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His son, Je-sus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Flag Award Certificate

The Flag Award Certificate, authorized in 1987, is presented to individuals, companies and gov-ernment agencies that fly the United States flag for patriotic purposes only. It is not to be given to any commercial enterprise that obviously flies it for adver-tising purposes. If you know of an individual or company whom you think the Central Florida SAR chapter should consider for this Flag Award Certificate, please inform Compatriot Randall Allan or Compatriot Don Green. We encourage you to consider submitting in nominees for this year.

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The Creation & Development of Gunpowder

by Terry Manning, Atlanta Chapter SAR

Source: Jack Kelly, Gunpowder – Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World (Basic Books: New York, 2004)

The history of gunpowder is a history of mis-takes, errors, enlightenment, and trial and error. Gun-powder had its beginnings in China as man started experimenting with the science of chemistry. Europe-ans had the opportunity at the same time to have dis-covered gunpowder, but their study of chemistry in the sixth century was a quest for riches. Their dab-bling in chemistry was directed toward alchemy, or the transformation of base metals into gold. The Chi-nese became involved in chemistry for another pur-pose: seeking an elixir of longevity to life – a chemi-cal Fountain of Youth. The Chinese had come to recognize that swal-lowing certain herbal concoctions or drinking certain liquid potions had an effect on their health, such as curing an upset stomach or removing a headache. Why couldn’t the right combination of natural ingre-dients prolong their life? The man who could discov-er such an elixir would be wealthy beyond his dreams and live perhaps forever. This dream drove thousands of men and women to dabble in the art of chemistry. This process of their mixing hundreds of combina-tions of materials together ultimately led to many dis-coveries. None of them gave everlasting life, but one of them became the object of shortening thousands of lives: gunpowder. Probably the earliest documentation of a form of gunpowder comes from a book dated 850 A.D. The book debunked 35 elixirs proposed to increase lon-gevity, noting that one of them which combined salt-peter, sulfur, and dried honey (a source of carbon), when heated resulted in smoke and flames that burnt a house down. The basic formula for gunpowder had been discovered, but the enormity of the find and the mysterious complexity of this substance meant that it was 200 years before this explosive material was de-veloped into the effective use of gunpowder (1044 A.D. during the Sung dynasty). It was natural that the main ingredient for gunpowder would find its way into hundreds of at-tempts to find an elixir of youth. The ready availabil-ity of saltpeter as a white crust on certain soils in Chi-na led to years of experimentation with it. Cooks were after all, using it as a flavoring like other salts.

But they found that at high temperatures (335 degrees +) the normally stable saltpeter flared up or exploded. Eventually, gunpowder, or “fire drug” as the Chinese called it, was found to require saltpeter to make up ¾ of its volume to be effective. Lesser amounts burnt, but did not explode. The fiery potential of sulfur (which makes up about 10% of gunpowder) which exists in a pure state in nature, combined with charcoal (15% of gunpow-der) (created from wood burnt in an oxygen deprived environment) provides the fuel needed to mix with saltpeter to create gunpowder. Who knows what kitchen or laboratory accident might have made it clear to its discoverer that these combined items might have a value. Sulfur reacts first to the introduction of heat from a spark or flame, igniting at a relatively low temperature (261 degrees centigrade). Its burning generates additional heat that ignites the charcoal and shatters the saltpeter. The oxygen stored in the salt-peter is released, igniting more fuel. The charcoal, burning at a higher temperature than the sulfur, accel-erates the process further. The resultant gases ex-pand enormously, giving the gunpowder its blast ef-fect. Thus, ignition translates gunpowder’s stored chemical energy into the thermal energy of flame and the mechanical energy of compressed gases. As these concoctions of chemicals came to create smoke, flames, and/or explosions it became clear that containers of some sort were needed to di-rect that energy and put it to work. Fireworks were the first expression of this concept. Four basic forms of containment outline the uses of gunpowder to our present time: 1. Enclosure in a sealed container with a fuse, blows the container apart like a firecracker or bomb. The tougher the container, the more violent the explosion. 2. Enclosure in a tube with an open end projects the combustible products to fly out in a fiery spray for pyrotechnic displays. 3. If the open-ended tube is not fixed in place, the force of the escaping gases drives the container in the opposite direction to form a rocket (discovered acci-dentally about 1264 AD). 4. Placing an item in the open-ended tube on top of the powder, almost filling the width of the opening with it, creates a projectile that bursts out at a high speed when the exploding gases escape. Ultimately, by 1127 A.D. the Chinese were

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using explosive paper bombs to create noise and con-fusion among their enemies. It was another hundred years before an increased volume of saltpeter came in use rich enough to explode metal casings (1231 A.D.). The earliest widespread military use of “fire drug” by 1083 was as an attachment to fire arrows and as fire producing incendiaries delivered by catapults. The success of these weapons led quickly to a ban on the export of saltpeter and sulfur by the Chinese. Gun-powder became a Chinese monopoly. These [air quotes] “Heaven-Shaking Thunder Crash Bombs” could be heard 33 miles distant and scorch an area 40 yards square. In conjunction with flying-fire spears (a 2-foot tube of gunpowder attached to a long spear), they were in use against the invading armies of the son of Genghis-Kahn in Northern China. Of course, a variety of bombs quickly fol-lowed. While the fire and flames created by gunpow-der were of primary interest initially, the use of small metal and ceramic debris in some bombs and fire lanc-es and the development of rockets (mid 1200 A.D.) led to the concept of the gun. Firing a projectile(s) became more important than spitting flames. Fire lances replaced their bamboo tubes with metal tubes in order to use a more powerful powder. As these became larger, one man couldn’t handle them, and they attached them to frames or wheels, and became known as erupters, firing bundles of arrows or metal balls at a time. The Chinese discovered that the closer a pro-jectile filled the opening of a barrel, the more forceful-ly it left the barrel. Thicker barrels allowed use of stronger gunpowder charges. The history of hand guns is a long story in itself but the earliest guns in China (while under Mon-gol control) appeared in the late 1200s. By the mid 1300s, cannons and hand held guns were common in warfare within China as the Mongols and Chinese fought for control. A bronze, hand cannon from 1332 is only a foot long and weighs 8 pounds. Stone and metal balls were fired by it. China could not for long hold a monopoly over the use of gunpowder. By the mid 1200s knowledge of gunpowder was documented in Europe and other parts of Asia. 1331 A.D. was the date of first military use in Europe. King Edward III of Eng-land was the first to use it as one of his major weapon sources in a major battle in 1346 against King Phillip in France where he was greatly out numbered. It was so effective, that the race was on in Europe to adapt it somehow into modern warfare, although exactly how to make best use of it with existing weapons and mili-tary strategy was not clear. By 1412 a 3-foot cannon using a half pound of powder could fire a 2-inch ball at high velocity or a

bag of half-inch lead pellets. The problem in making gunpowder in Europe was finding natural sources of saltpeter. By the late 1300s, they discovered ways of creating it artificially. One recipe in 1561 mixed human feces, urine, horse dung, and lime – all of it sheltered from rain and turned regularly for a year. A hundred pounds of scraping yielded only a half pound of saltpeter. A whole new industry of saltpeter plantations was born. Some theo-rize that the expense of this new military tactic led to the heavier taxes that so often provoked one’s popula-tion into revolt. In spite of the cost and effort required to create gunpowder, its effective use in military engagements could not be ignored. Joan of Arc is said to have used it more effectively than others of her time because she was not encumbered by the experience of traditional warfare tactics. New to warfare, but with a natural sense of tactics, she recognized the real value of its use was not as a scare tactic and as a result led the removal of the English from power in France in the early 1400s with great reliance on the use of gunpowder. This unique victory was followed by the fall of Constantinople in the East when the Turkish sultan Mehmed II recognized the genius of a Hungarian named Urban, one of the most skilled gunpowder tech-nicians and metallurgists of the time, who created the largest cannon of its time – 26 feet long and able to fire a half-ton stone ball (an amazing engineering feat for its time). Fifty oxen were needed to move the cannon and 700 men were assigned to its crew. The stone would travel a mile and imbed itself 6 feet into the ground. Gunpowder by the ton was required. It took hours to load the cannon, limiting it to seven shots a day. Any error in packing gunpowder too loosely or tightly, in the mixing of the ingredients, in humidity, and other factors could create a fizzle and not a boom, or an explosion too powerful for a cannon to handle without blowing itself up and everyone around it! In May 1453, the impossible happened. Fol-lowing a 6-week siege, Constantinople fell, shocking the Christian world, as it was common knowledge that the double walled castle was impregnable, having re-pulsed dozens of sieges in its history. Gunpowder was changing the world! Over the next couple hundred years, gunpow-der and cannon manufacture took on dozens of changes through trial and error and engineering and scientific study. Even the most minute variation could spell suc-cess or disaster. Scottish King James II found this out the hard way when he was killed when a powder cham-ber exploded accidentally. The precise mixing of gun-powder was no less problematic than the casting of weapons and methods of igniting the gunpowder

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properly in cannons and guns. The wrong mixture of metals or the wrong temperature used in cooling the metals in a cannon’s manufacture could mean success or failure. The development of the handgun and the ad-vancement of various bombs and shells are in them-selves another story covering many years with as many complications as the development of gunpowder, but the basic cannon (developed by 1500 A.D.) was still in use during the American Civil War, almost 300 years later. In summary, “fire drug” or gunpowder, com-prised of a few simple chemicals, confounded the world’s military establishment for centuries, continually upending the status quo with each new discovery and improvement, and creating with each new development the next super power, changing world history forever, not with a bang but with a boom! Source: www.NSSAR.org website

The Battle of Saratoga Freeman's Farm

By James Frassett

Editor's Note: This article was reprinted from Vol.4 Issue 2 of the Lock Stock and Barrel Living History Newsletter and Event Calendar, 2001

The "Battle of Freeman's Farm" was the first of two battles that were later to be collectively called the "Battle of Saratoga." The second battle was called the "Battle of Bemis Heights." There are several accounts of how the Freeman's Farm battle began and I think it is important to present all three accounts for the purpose of providing historical interpreters all of the perspectives available. The first two accounts of the beginning of the battle are taken from Page Smith's, "A New Age Now Begins" as follows: "There are conflicting accounts of the opening of the engagement. Ebenezer Mattoon, a Continental officer reported that Arnold was with Gates when word arrived that contact had been made between Morgan's riflemen and some Indians. Mattoon reports that Arnold declared: 'That is nothing; you must send a strong force,' to which Gates understandably irritated, answered, 'General Arnold, I have nothing for you to do, you have no business here.' Benjamin Lincoln re-peated Arnold's advice, and the additional reinforce-ments from Learned's and Nixon's brigades were sent to support Morgan and Dearborn." By another account, when Tories and Canadi-ans, decked out in Indian regalia, began to harass the American lines from the cover of a wood filled with

down-timber, Arnold, who had persuaded Gates to al-low the Americans to advance to meet the British right, rode up to the man who had marched with him to Que-bec and said, "Colonel Morgan, you and I have seen too many redskins to be deceived by that garb of paint and feathers; they are asses in lions' skins, Canadians and Tories, let your riflemen cure them of their bor-rowed plumes." The 'Indians' were promptly driven off by the accuracy of the Virginia riflemen. The following account is taken from the book, "The Life and Times of General Daniel Morgan of the Virginia Line of the Army of the United States", by James Graham. It is the account that I prefer as the book was assembled in 1856 by James Graham, the husband of Daniel Morgan's granddaughter, who had access to all of Morgan's personal papers and includes excerpts from Colonel Wilkinson's journal to elaborate on the activities of the engagement. It is significant to note that in the days before the encounter at Freeman's Farm the British army un-der General Burgoyne had assembled a 30-day supply of food for the army. This left the General with a great decision: should he take the supplies and retreat back up Lake Champlain to Fort Ticonderoga or should he attempt to press on towards Albany where he hoped to join forces with Sir Henry Clinton who was moving north from New York City to rendezvous with Bur-goyne. Quite possibly, because this was his first inde-pendent command, Burgoyne, ever the ambitious one, could not stomach the thought of retreat. He had boldly told the army at the beginning of the campaign, "This army must not retreat!" and perhaps the pressure of his bombastic statement had come back to haunt him. He knew Colonel St. Leger, and the third leg of the cam-paign, had retreated back to Fort Oswego, and thus eventually to Quebec, and therefore would be of no assistance. He had lost a force of 900 men at Benning-ton. His Canadians, Tories and Indian allies had almost to a company deserted the army, and finally his sol-diers, many of whom were wounded and sick, were at least exhausted. Morale was at an all time low. Burgoyne decided to strike for Albany. He did not know the strength of the American army in num-bers and neither did he know of the formidable fortifi-cations that had been instructed by the Polish engineer, Thaddeus Kosciusko at Bemis Heights. What Bur-goyne did know was that it was necessary to cross the river here at Stillwater in order to march on towards Albany. It would be impossible to cross the Hudson at Albany. If he could have done so, he could have stayed on the eastern side of the Hudson River and simply bypassed the American forces that were waiting for him at Stillwater and Bemis Heights. The Americans had arrived at Bemis Heights

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on September 12th and immediately began strength-ening and fortifying their position. It was believed that Burgoyne might have already crossed the Hud-son and Colonel Morgan was sent to ascertain the position, strength, and objectives of the enemy. Mor-gan was positioned on the left of the American army and was directed to observe and provide information to headquarters of any movement of the British army. General Gates, commanding officer of the northern army, was determined to stop the advance of the British there at Bemis Heights. He redoubled the efforts to strengthen the encampment and sent word to all of the countryside to call out the militia. Colo-nel Morgan and his sharpshooters, acting as recon-naissance were also given the opportunity to attack whenever the opportunity presented itself. No British regular dared to advance beyond the outposts of the camp without fear of a rifled round ball stealing his life. On September 13th and 14th the British crossed from the east side of the Hudson River to the west. By the 18th the British army had advanced to within 3 miles of the American encampment at Be-mis Heights and by the afternoon of the 18th the Brit-ish set camp approximately 2 miles from the Ameri-cans. There was a brief encounter on the 18th be-tween members of Morgan's corps and who were joined by members of General Poor's brigade, under the direction of Benedict Arnold. The encounter was brief and was instigated by Morgan. Several mem-bers of a German regiment and members of Morgan's corps were killed and several Germans were taken prisoner. It is important at this point in the narrative to attempt to imagine the lay of the ground as it looked in September of 1777. The space between the oppos-ing armies was partly wooded and partly cleared. The land along the Hudson River was partly cultivated, while the land on the elevations overlooking the river were covered with forest, with the exception of three or four small farms separated by intervals of forest. The ground between the centers of each army was rugged and covered with an impenetrable thicket. Morgan's corps was placed on the left flank of the American army in the highest area of the for-est. To his right was the center of the American army and the center of the British army, which was doomed to slug it out in the impenetrable thickets of the terrain. Morgan's position was absolutely neces-sary for the British to obtain in order to outflank the Americans and render the fortifications at Bemis Heights undefendable. On the morning of the 19th the British were discovered moving from the bank of the river to-wards the high ground on the American left. Gates

immediately sent orders to Morgan to advance and retard their march, and to cripple them as much as pos-sible. The corps was divided into two lines. The first line, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Butler, was composed of two companies of riflemen, headed by Major Morris, followed by Major Dearborn's light in-fantry. The second line, which formed the main body, was under the command of Colonel Morgan. The first line advanced forward towards the British advance and after a half hour they came upon an advance picket of the enemy of about 300. The vol-ley that opened up on them was treacherous and the charge that followed caused the [British] advance to break and run in great disorder. The Americans pur-sued with great determination into the forest and sub-sequently found themselves a few paces from a large body of the enemy. The British opened fire, killing several of the pursuing Americans and sending the rest of the pursuers into retreat. During this encounter Cap-tain Swearingen and Lieutenant Moore were killed and several others were taken prisoner. Major Morris who had pursued with great de-termination, found himself in the midst of the British and gallantly dashed his horse through their ranks un-der a hail of lead. He succeeded in jumping over a half a dozen men and escaping to rejoin his men. The men were scattered in every direction but were soon reunit-ed. Morgan's Rangers were trained to collect, disperse, flee and pursue as an integral part of their tactics. When Morgan heard the firing in front of him, he quickly moved the second line forward to take part in the engagement. Upon his advance he was met with a number of retreating fugitives. Morgan was indig-nant and alarmed that his officers seemingly had reck-lessly rushed forward and that the first division had been destroyed. Colonel Wilkinson relates in his memoirs Colonel Morgan arriving upon the scene against Gates' orders: "The first officer I fell in with," he says, "was Major Dearborn, who with great animation and not a little warmth, was forming thirty or forty file of his infantry. I exchanged a few words with him, passed on, and met Major Morris, who was never so sprightly as under a hot fire." After receiving a description of the events of the action from the major, and being cautioned against exposing himself to the enemies' sharpshooters, Wil-kinson proceeds: "I crossed the angle of the field, leaped the fence, and just before me on a ridge, dis-covered Lieutenant Colonel Butler with three men, all treed. From him 1 learned that they had 'caught a Scotch prize:' that having forced the picket, they had closed with the British line, had been instantly routed and from the suddenness of the shock and the nature

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of the ground, were broken and scattered in all direc-tions." Returning to the camp to report to the general, Wilkinson continues, "my ears were saluted by an uncom-mon noise, when I approached and perceived Colonel Morgan, attended by two men only, and who, with a tur-key-call [an instrument make from a turkey-bone for de-coying a wild turkey], was collecting his dispersed troops. The moment I came up to him, he burst into tears, and exclaimed, 'I am ruined, by God! Major Morris ran on so rapidly with his front, that they were beaten before I could get up with the rear, and my men are scattered God knows where'." Partly from discipline and partly from the direct-ing sounds of the turkey call, a brief time sufficed to bring the dispersed division of the corps together again. This being effect-ed, the whole regiment advanced in a body towards the scene of the recent conflict. As they approached the clearing, a large force of the ene-my were found occupying the ground. The Americans attacked with such vigor that the British were forced to retreat. The British reached an eminence fronting an open piece of ground called "Freeman's Field" and here through the vigorous encouragement of their officers, made their stand. It was here that a fierce and deadly struggle ensued. The British held the superiority in numbers and artillery and this yielded to them a temporary triumph. Morgan was forced to yield the attack and retreat to the safety of the woods. The move to the woods be-came even more necessary as the British began a flanking movement with a large force on Morgan's left. At precise-ly this moment two regiments of New Hampshire troops, commanded by Colonels Scammel and Cilley appeared and secured Morgan's left and engaged and halted the flanking maneuver of the enemy. Morgan now feeling that his flanks were secure, the left being secured by the New Hampshire regiments and the right by the impenetrable thicket, renewed his action on the front with redoubled vigor. The well di-rected fire of six hundred marksmen soon forced the ene-my once more to seek safety of the woody eminence, not, however, before the ground was covered with their killed and wounded. Upon retiring, they were forced to leave their artillery, but took the precaution to carry away with them the linstocks, rendering their immediate use by the Americans impossible. The Americans decided to carry them off, but the nature of the ground would not permit a speedy removal and the enemy, under cover of the woods above the field, rallied in their defense. The attempt to

seize the artillery was met with a destructive fire that decimated those attempting to take the cannons and the effort was finally abandoned. The British now maintained a commanding position over the Americans and Morgan was forced to retreat to the cover of the woods on the opposite side of the open field where the battle had begun. This step, however, was not executed until the Americans had tried on several occasions to flush the British from their position at the cost of much bloodshed on both sides. As the fighting had intensified so had the numbers of men involved on both sides. After

Scammel's and Cilley's New Hampshire regi-ment had joined Morgan they were followed by the whole of General Poor's brigade which included five additional regiments. These regi-ments joined the New Hampshire's to form an extension of the left flank of Morgan. The British countered by re-inforcing their right with approximately the same

number of men and so the additional forces re-mained arrayed against one another. The American force now numbered about 2,500 men and the Brit-ish considerably more along with several pieces of artillery of which the Americans had none. The British now maintained a commanding position over the Americans and Morgan was forced to retreat to the cover of the woods on the opposite side of the open field where the battle had begun. This step, however, was not executed until the Americans had tried on several occasions to flush the British from their position at the cost of much bloodshed on both sides. As the fighting had intensified so had the numbers of men involved on both sides. After Scammel's and Cilley's New Hampshire regiment had joined Morgan they were followed by the whole of General Poor's brigade which included five additional regiments. These regiments joined the New Hampshire's to form an extension of the left flank of Morgan. The British countered by rein-forcing their right with approximately the same number of men and so the additional forces re-mained arrayed against one another. The American force now numbered about 2,500 men and the Brit-ish considerably more along with several pieces of artillery of which the Americans had none.

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As the sun began to set the Americans were again reinforced by General Learned and his entire brigade and one regiment from General Patterson's brigade. A body of German and British troops had been sent from their main camp, and were occupying the right of the British line, in a posi-tion to outflank the American left. The fresh reinforcements brought these troops to ac-tion, but the battle was feeble and soon both sides ceased altogether. The darkness put an end to the conflict. The Americans returned to their camp, but the British, appre-hensive of a renewal of the contest before the next morning, slept on their arms in front of their camp, a short distance from the field. The American losses at the "Battle of Free-man's Farm" amounted to eighty killed, two hundred and eighteen wounded and twenty-three missing. The killed and wounded of the British amounted to nearly six hundred, along with many Canadians, Tories and Indians who deserted at the end of the action. Mor-gan's corps took the brunt of the losses with fifty men killed, sixty-two wounded and six missing. The sixty-second regiment of Hamilton's brigade, who had op-posed Morgan for most of the day, lost one hundred and fifty of its men. The Americans engaged throughout the day was nearly three thousand men. About one thousand more arrived late in the day but too late to actually participate in the battle. The British force was at all times during the day superior in number, and when the action closed their numbers amounted to nearly four thousand. The one point that most historians will agree on concerning this battle, is that the Americans earned an indisputable victory. The goal of the Amer-icans was to check the advance of the British army and the engagement completely checked the enemy advance towards Albany. Although the battle had begun as a skirmish in the early hours of the morn-ing, by the end of the day over seven thousand troops had been engaged. Burgoyne, determined to crash the left flank of the Americans, was thrown back again and again. Gates, who had seen the battle as insignifi-cant early in the day had continued to reinforce Mor-gan throughout the day, while continuing to keep an eye on the American right and the road to Albany, expecting Burgoyne to engage at that point at any time.

The fact remains, that during one of the most obstinately contested actions of the war, in which nearly seven thousand men were engaged, not a single

officer above the rank of a colonel appeared upon the ground until night began to fall upon the combatants, when General Learned ar-rived with his brigade. Alt-hough all of General Ar-nold's division took an active part in the battle, that officer never appeared in the action. General Wilkinson informs us that Arnold was forbidden by Gates to visit the field and direct the operations of his command. The object in stating these well authenti-

cated facts is to show that the credit of this glorious action, so generally accorded either to Arnold or to Gates, or to both, properly belongs to neither. It should go to enrich the memory of those gallant men, who, unassisted by the directing hand of either of their com-manders, but cooperating in purpose from the impuls-es of a courage common to all, fought the battle and won the day. Among this glorious band of heroes - - it is no injustice to the memory of any one of them to assert - -Morgan was preeminently distinguished. His regiment was the first in the field, and the last out of it. Where it was engaged, the battle was more deadly and less in-terrupted, than in any other position. Its loss was greater in proportion to its numbers than that of any other regiment engaged, while the number of the ene-my which fell by its hands, was nearly one--half of that admitted by General Burgoyne to have fallen in the battle. Though Morgan was denied the merited mention in Gates' communications to Congress regard-ing this battle, justice claims for him the foremost po-sition among those who had a share in the glories of the day. Posterity will freely accord him this, and hail him - as did his friends and neighbors on his return home a few months after as "the hero of Stillwater." The news of the victory was received through-out the country with joy. It was a precursor of the great victories that were to follow and Gates and Ar-nold both reaped a rich harvest of undeserved honors and applause. The militia came flocking into the American camp along with a large number of Indians. Everything began to fall into place for a speedy cap-ture of Burgoyne's entire army. Source: http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/saratogafarm.html

Page 9 Volume 54, Issue 7

Central Florida SAR Chapter - The Minuteman

SAR Pledge We, descendants of the heroes

of the American Revolution,

who by their sacrifices, estab-

lished the United States of

America, reaffirm our faith in

the principles of liberty and

our constitutional republic, and

solemnly pledge ourselves to

defend them against every foe.

SAR Mission

The objects of this Society are

declared to be patriotic, his-

torical, and educational; to

unite and promote fellowship

among descendants of those

who sacrificed to achieve the

independence of the American

people, to inspire them and the

community at-large with a

more profound reverence for

the principles of the govern-

ment founded by our forefa-

thers; to foster true patriot-

ism; to maintain and extend

the institutions of American

freedom.

How to Acquire a Militia Uniform! The Information listed is as of October 2014. Basic Militia Uniform: Total Paid, including shipping = $164.00. Optional Items: Total Paid, including shipping = $145.45. What you spend is up to you? The uniform of Victor Murray pictured on this page cost $305.45 in October 2014. With respect to the Militia uniform, the basic uniform consists of the follow-ing: (a) A hat – either tricorn or round; (b) A hunting shirt; (c) A white or checkered shirt; (d) Long britches or fall-front trousers; and (e) Shoes (not necessarily buckle since the long pants leg will cover the buckle area). Haversack: The haversack carried the basic necessities of the soldier includ-ing rations, smaller mess kit items, wallet, etc. Today, it is an ideal place for the guardsman to carry his wallet, cell phone, glasses or other necessary items. It should be made of linen or some similar material.

Powder Horn / Tomahawks / Knives: These items are not parts of the Continental uniform. They are identified with the Militia uniform and should only be worn or carried by those guardsmen in that uniform. These items can be carried using rawhide or leather strings or other materials. They can also be inserted in belts or other woven sashes. As a matter of personal and corporate safety, edged weapons (including swords above) must have the blades covered or secured within an appropriate scab-bard.

Ordered from Cooperstown Trading Post: www.cooperstowntradingpost.com

Men's Shirt – natural, XXL $35.00; Men's Dropfront Britches and Knee Britches - Large – 44-inches, Full-length, Cotton $50.00; Subtotal $85.00; Shipping $15.00; Total $100.00 Ordered From Jas. Townsend and Son, Inc.

www.jas-townsend.com/hand-finished-tricorn-p-255.html

Hand Finished Tricorn TH-905 $64.00. Typical of the revolutionary war or colonial period. Black wool felt hat cocked and trimmed in white or black. Finished with a cotton hatband inside. Rosette cockade with pewter button on left side. Give head measurement. Specify black or white trim. Max. hat size 7-3/4. A favorite of soldiers, civilians and fife and drum corps. DON'T FORGET TO CHOOSE YOUR HEAD MEASUREMENT!

Ordered from Crazy Crow Trading Post: www.crazycrow.com. Frontier Rifleman’s

Knife with Sheath Code: 4926-005-002. Carried as a personal sidearm by frontiersmen, militia and mountain men from the pre-Revolutionary period throughout the fur trade era, this blade is typical of the large knives of this period. Approximately 18” overall, with a 13”+ heavy steel blade, thick buffalo horn scales attached with brass pins, and hand laced leather sheath with incised designs and belt loop. Cost: $33.50; Shipping: Standard Ground Delivery: $8.95; Total: $42.45. They also sell “Mountain Men Clothing” with pants and shirts

Ordered from Cooperstown Trading Post: www.cooperstowntradingpost.com

Eastern Longhunter Shoulder Bag $15.00; Throwing Hawks – E. Revolutionary Poll Hawk $24.50 Belts and Buckles - 2" – 50" - 51", Brass $30.80 - NOTE: Get the 3" Belt if also getting the Toma-hawk Holder or Knife with Sheath; Subtotal $70.30; Shipping $15.00; Total $85.30

Monthly Birthday Announcements On behalf of the Central Florida SAR Chapter, we would like to wish the following individual a Happy and Enjoyable Birthday: SEPTEMBER 2 Decker, Vanre 11 Andrews, George 7 Davis, Richard 11 Irey, Michelle 9 McWilliams, Curtis 17 Deneen, Valerie 9 Smetheram, Herb 29 McCollum, Ingrid 23 Russell, JoAnne 30 Bryant, Claire