Saratoga Orders of Battle

American Revolution

By Wesley A. Rogers


The tables below present the British and American orders of battle at Saratoga, as of 19 September, 1777.

There is one table for each wing, column, or brigade, listing the unit's name, its actual strength, strength in figures at 1:20 scale (1:2 for gun models and 1:5 for gunners), coat color, and facing color (where I could find this information).

For the American units, you'll notice that the unit strengths are suspiciously uniform. This is because all I had was the total strength of the brigade, and the units within it. Therefore, I simply divided the men evenly among the units.

I hope this will be of use and interest to those gamers who are collecting AW! armies.

Each table begins with its title, its commander, and a (highly subjective) rating of that general, A,. B, C, D, or E.

British Order of Battle

British General Staff 26, under John Burgoyne (C)

Right Wing: Brigadier-General Frasier (B)

Grenadiers and Light Infantry
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
24th - Grant41120 R/Gr
Gren. - Acland 49525 R/Gr
Lights - Balcarres490 25R/Var.
Butler's Rangers1106 Gr*/Var.
Frasier Artillery10 guns
71 gunners		5 models
6 gunners		Bi/R
* rifle shirts, Light Infantry hats

Breymann's Brunswick Corps (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
Gren./Breymannt32816 BI/Var.
Lts V. Barrier 132 8BI/Bk
Jaegers/Geyso40 2Gr/R.
Artillery2 guns
31 gunners		1 model
6 gunners		Bi/R

Center Column: Brig. General James Hamilton (Fair)

Center Column
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
9th/Hill40020 R/Y
20th/Lynd40420 R/Y
21st/Hamilton413 21R/Bl
62nd/Anstruther417 21R/Y

Left Wing: Major Generals V. Riedesel and Phillips
German General Staff. 43 under Von Riedesel (C)

Cavalry (dismounted) and Light Infantry
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
Brunswick Dragoons382 Lt. Bl./Y
Brunswick Chausseurs100 5Gr/R
Hessian Artillery2 guns
56 gunners		1 model
11 gunners		Bl/Y

1st Brigade (Brunswickers) : Brig. Gen. Johann Specht (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
V. Rhetz/ (V. Ehrenkook) 45823 Lt. Bl./W
V. Riedesel/(V. Spaeth)490 24Bl/Y
V. Specht/ (V. Specht)441 22Bl/R

2nd Brigade (Hesse-Hanau): Brig.-Gen. V. Gall (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
KronPrinz/(V. Gall)59430 Bl./R

Major-General William Philips's Brigade (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
47th/Sutheriand 289* 15R/W
Artillery15 guns
231 gunners		7 model
46 gunners		Bl/R
* 120 men were left to guard boats

Auxiliaries
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength 		Figure
Strength		Coat/
Facings
Royal Rgt. of N.Y @200 10Gr/W
Indians@20046 -
Seamen and Bateaux238model
10*		-
* No combat value

The gun types, I believe, were: 2 heavy 12# guns, 2 field howitzers, 6 light 3# guns, the rest 6# field guns. I do not know how they were divided among the brigades, but I believe the heavy guns were with one of the German brigades.

American Order of Battle

Saratoga (Freeman's Farm) Prior to Reinforcements

Right Wing: Major-General Horatio Gates (D, maybe E on a bad day)

John Patterson's Massachusetts Brigade (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength		 Coat/
Facings
10th/Marshall244 12Br/R
11th/Tupper244 12?
12th/Braves244 12Br/R
14th/Bradford244 12Br/SkyBlue

John Glover's Massachusetts Brigade (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength		 Coat/
Facings
1st/Vose257 13?
4th/Shepard257 13?
13th/Wigglesworth257 13?
15th/Bigelow257 13?
2nd Albany Co.
NY Militia (Wemple) 		257 13?
Dutchess & Ulster Co.
NY Militia (Graham)		257 13?
17th Albany Co.
NY Militia (Whiting)		257 13?

John Nixon's Massachusetts Brigade (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength 		Coat/
Facings
3rd/Greaton281 14Bl/W
5th/Putnam281 14?
6th/T. Nixon282 14?
7th/Alden282 14?

Left Wing: Major-General Benedict Arnold (A)

Enoch Poor's Brigade (C)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength 		Coat/
Facings
1st NH/Cilley304 15?
2nd NH/Adam304 15SkyBlue/R
3rd NH/Scammel302 15?
2nd NY/Cortlandt302 15Br/Bl
4th NY/Livingstone302 15Br/R
1st Conn. Militia/(Cooke) 302 15?
2nd Conn. Militia/(Latimore) 302 15?

Ebenezer Learned's Brigade (C) Red
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength 		Coat/
Facings
2nd MA/ Bailey311 15Bl/W
8th MA./Jackson311 15Bl/R
9th MA./Wesson311 15?
NY Regt./Livingstone310 15?

Col. Daniel Morgan's Brigade (B)
Unit/CmmdrActual
Strength		Figure
Strength 		Coat/
Facings
Virginia Rifles/Morgan327 16Br*
Lt. Inf./Dearborn327 16?
* Hunting Shirt

Guide to uniform data in tables

    Bk - black
    BI - Blue
    R - Red
    Y - Yellow
    BR - Brown
    Gr - Green
    W - White
    Y - Yellow

Cavalry: The Connecticut Light Horse (Hyde) - 200 men (10 figures)

Artillery: 22 cannon (types unknown), 248 gunners, 71 sappers. 11 gun models, 50 gunners

Other: An additional 5000 (!) militia in 2 brigades of 2500: Major-General Lincoln's Massachusetts militia, and Brigadier-General Abraham Ten Broek's New York Militia. Assume 10 regiments of 250 men per brigade, for 20 regiments total. Get painting!

Sources

North American Fighting Uniforms, Michael Powers, Ed.
The Era of the American Revolution, John R. Elting, Ed.
Uniforms of the American Revolution, John Mollo.
1776 (wargaming rules) Jay Facciolo and Joe Miceli (these rules contain some very good battle setups, with complete unit strengths. Even if you don't play the rules, they are worth getting just for this stuff ... )

Note: The unit strengths came from a history book which I borrowed several years ago from Cris Manka, who has since moved away. Unfortunately, I no longer have the title or author ... arrgh!

Back to Citadel Fall 1996 Table of Contents
Back to Citadel List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1996 by Northwest Historical Miniature Gaming Society
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com