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1777 Turning Point: The Battles of Saratoga

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Grade Levels: This lesson is intended for 5th – 8th Grade students with scaffolds for English-learners.

Essential Question: Why are the Battles of Saratoga considered to have been an important turning point in the War for American Independence?

Lesson Objective:

  • Students will use close looking and close reading strategies to examine evidence from textual and visual primary and secondary sources, and determine which evidence supports their claim to answer the essential question.

Lesson Description: This lesson invites students to explore two primary sources from the American Revolution and, along with two secondary sources, consider how the Battles of Saratoga helped change the direction of the war in the autumn of 1777. Students will “close read” a map depicting the position of British General Burgoyne’s troops, paired with the text (excerpted for younger students) of American General Horatio Gates’ letter to John Hancock about the progress of the battles. They will also examine John Trumbull’s 1821 painting depicting The Surrender of General Burgoyne, and read an article from Britannica Kids that provides an overview of the chronology and importance of Battles of Saratoga in the War for American Independence. Together, these sources will provide students with evidence that will help them construct and defend a claim that answers the question, why are the Battles of Saratoga considered to have been an important turning point in the War for American Independence?

Content Standards Addressed in the Lesson:

D2.Geo.3.3-5. Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of cultural and environmental characteristics. / D2.Geo.3.6-8. Use paper based and electronic mapping and graphing techniques to represent and analyze spatial patterns of different environmental and cultural characteristics.

D2.His.6.3-5. Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created. / D2.His.6.6-8. Analyze how people’s perspectives influenced what information is available in the historical sources they created.

D2.His.13.3-5. Use information about a historical source, including the maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose to judge the extent to which the source is useful for studying a particular topic. / D2.His.13.6-8. Evaluate the relevancy and utility of a historical source based on information such as maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose.

Lesson Procedures

Part 1: “Close Reading” Primary Sources First, as a whole class guided by the teacher(s), independently, or in pairs, students will spend one full minute looking closely at the 1777 map, looking from top to bottom, left to right, and “zooming in” on the details that pop out or inspire curiosity. Students should capture their observations and ideas about the map by answering the questions in the “Close Reading” Note-Catcher. Next, students will “close read” the Gen. Gates letter independently or with a partner, again using the Note-Catcher to record information about the source for future reference.

Materials needed

Part 2: Context and Legacy with Secondary Sources To concretize the primary source materials from part 1, students will read a secondary source overview of the Battles of Saratoga as a whole class guided by the teacher(s), independently, or in pairs. They will answer reading comprehension questions about the battles in the Secondary Source Note-Catcher independently or with a partner. Then, as a whole class guided by the teacher(s), independently, or in pairs, students will spend one full minute looking closely at the Trumbull painting of The Surrender of General Burgoyne, looking from top to bottom, left to right, and “zooming in” on the details that pop out or inspire curiosity. Students may also read and discuss the text accompanying the painting. Again, students should use their Secondary Source Note-Catcher to record their thoughts.

Materials needed

Part 3: Synthesis and Argument Students will complete the lesson by writing a short composition that uses details from each of the four sources to support a claim that answers the question: Why are the Battles of Saratoga considered to have been an important turning point in the War for American Independence?

Materials needed

Scaffolds and Supports

  • Younger students and English-learners should use an excerpt from Gates’ letter
  • Pre-teach vocabulary as necessary (some possibly unfamiliar terms for students may include reconnaissance, isolate, garrison, reinforcements, alliance)
  • Provide sentence stems, such as
    • I predict that I will find ___ on the map because I see ___ .
    • The author says ___ , so I think that ___ .
    • ___ is evidence that supports my claim because ___ .

ARGO tags: George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 1777, House and Property, Military, Manuscript, United States, British Empire, English, Indigenous Peoples

ARGO Map:

Part 1: Students’ “Close Reading” Note-Catcher

SOURCE: MAP The encampment & position of the army under His Excy. Lt. Gl: Burgoyne: at Swords’s and Freeman’s Farms on Hudsons River near Stillwater, 1777, 1st & 2d positions … on the 19th Septr. 1777 https://www.argomaps.org/maps/commonwealth:q524nj79k/SOURCE: DOCUMENT A letter to John Hancock from Horatio Gates concerning the victory at Freeman’s Farm during the Saratoga campaign (Digital Public Library of America) https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/revolutionary-war-turning-points-saratoga-and-valley-forge/sources/1371
Based on the map title, what can you predict, or infer, that you will see on the map?Who is the author of this letter? Who is the audience for this letter?
What information can you learn by looking at the land, and details on the land? (Be sure to include human geography and physical geography).What does it mean where the transcription of the letter says [object Object]? Hint: Look at the original version of the letter AND at the transcription below.
What information does the ‘Reference” section of the map tell you?How would you summarize the main points of this letter?
Based on all of your information, who might have used this map during the Revolutionary War times? Why would they have needed it?Based on all of your information about this letter, were the Battles of Saratoga an important part of the War for American Independence in 1777, when the war was happening?

Part 2: Students’ Secondary Source Note-Catcher

Secondary Source Text: Britannica Kids article on the Battles of Saratoga https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Battles-of-Saratoga/335701Secondary Source Artwork: The Surrender of General Burgoyne by John Trumbull https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/surrender-general-burgoyne
Before the Battles of Saratoga, which side was doing better in the War for American Independence, the British Army or the Continental (American) Army? What detail from the text makes you say that?Based on what you have read already about the Battles of Saratoga, what do you see going on in this painting?
How did the American troops finally force Burgoyne to surrender?Who is the artist who created this painting? Who was the intended audience for this painting?
After the Battles of Saratoga, which side was doing better in the War for American Independence, the British Army or the Continental (American) Army? What detail from the text makes you say that?Why do you think this painting was created? What details from the text about this painting help you answer this question?
How did the outcome of the Battles of Saratoga affect French support of the Americans during the war?What was the legacy of the Battles of Saratoga in the 1820s? What details from the painting and text make you say that?

Part 3: Students’ Synthesis and Argument Graphic Organizer

Question: Why are the Battles of Saratoga considered to have been an important turning point in the War for American Independence?
Claim:
Primary Source Evidence (Map):
How does this evidence support your claim?
Primary Source Evidence (Document):
How does this evidence support your claim?
Secondary Source Evidence (Text):
How does this evidence support your claim?
Secondary Source Evidence (Artwork):
How does this evidence support your claim?