![Plan of the position which the army under Lt. Genl. Burgoyne took at Saratoga, on the 10th of September [October] , and in which it remained till the convention was signed. [?, 1777] Map. Library of Congress.](https://www.thenmusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/iiif-service_gmd_gmd380_g3803_g3803s_ar117800-full-pct_25-0-default.jpg)
![Walworth, Ellen Hardin. Saratoga, the Battle– Battle Ground– Visitors’ Guide, With Maps. [New York: American News Co, 1877] Pdf. Library of Congress.](https://www.thenmusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Screenshot-2025-12-04-at-3.40.35 PM.png)
Following their defeat on 7 October 1777, Burgoyne’s forces retreated to high ground seven miles north of the battlefield. For ten days the now-surrounded British, German, and Royalist troops suffered greatly from Patriot gunfire, as well as lack of proper shelter, food and water. As many as 400 followers — mostly women and children — endured these hardships alongside the soldiers. The possibility of a retreat into Canada now seemed lost.
"I undertook the care of Major Plumpfield, adjutant of General Phillips. A musket ball had passed through both of his cheeks, shattered his teeth and grazed his tongue. He could hold nothing whatever in his mouth. The substance from the wound almost choked him, and he was unable to take any other nourishment, except a little broth, or something liquid. We had Rhine wine. I gave him a bottle of it, in hopes that the acidity of the wine would cleanse his wound. He kept some continually in his mouth, and that alone acted so beneficially that he became cured, and I again acquired one more friend. Thus, in the midst of my hours of care and suffering, I derived a joyful satisfaction, which made me very happy."
Lady Friederike Charlotte Louise RiedeselLady Friederike Charlotte Louise Riedesel. “Diary of Lady Riedesel : Letters and Journals relating to the War of Independence and the capture of the German Troops at Saratoga.” Canada:German-Canadian Museum of Applied History, 1867. , p. 86.