John Burgoyne

Born February 24, 1723
Sutton, England
Died August 4, 1792
London, England

Military leader, politician, playwright

British general John Burgoyne was best known for leading a failed military campaign against the rebel colonists during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). Back in England, Burgoyne had to defend himself before the British government for his defeat and was stripped of his military rank and privileges. He spent his later years as a politician, a playwright, and a leader of London society.

Burgoyne was born in 1723 in Sutton, England. His mother, Anna Burenstone Burgoyne, the daughter of a very wealthy man, brought a large sum of money to her marriage. It was soon gambled away by her husband, an army captain named John, who spent a good deal of his life in prison for failing to pay his debts. Anna Burgoyne was rather free with her affections, and it was rumored that young John Burgoyne's real father may not have been Anna's husband, but the child's wealthy godfather, Lord Bingley.

In 1740, after attending the strict Westminster School, young John Burgoyne entered the British army as part of the Thirteenth Dragoons. (Dragoons fought on horseback or on foot with short guns called muskets.) In 1741 Burgoyne began his rise through the military ranks by becoming a lieutenant.

Marries and moves to France

During the early 1740s Burgoyne lived in London, England. The young soldier became a frequent visitor to the home of the wealthy Earl of Derby, a man who was an important political figure and the father of one of Burgoyne's school friends. In 1743 the twenty-one-year-old Burgoyne, who had very little money, betrayed the trust of his powerful friend by running away with his daughter, Lady Charlotte, and marrying her. This was considered a very serious offense against the manners and morals of the time.

The earl opposed the marriage and gave his daughter only a small amount of money as a wedding gift. He made it clear the couple would have to support themselves financially. Faced with money problems because of Derby's rejection, Burgoyne resigned from the army in 1746 and took his wife to France, where it was cheaper to live. The handsome and elegant Burgoyne and his highborn wife were welcomed into upper-class French society. Once they had settled in France, money never seemed to be a problem. (It is possible that Burgoyne's mother helped the couple financially.)

Rises through military ranks

In those days, a young Englishman like Burgoyne who wanted to get ahead socially and professionally needed a wealthy patron, someone who could use his influence to help the young man. By the mid-1750s, Lord Derby had come to accept his son-in-law, adopted the role of patron, and managed to have Burgoyne accepted back into the army. In late 1754 Lady Charlotte gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth, the couple's only child.

Burgoyne, by then a captain, got his first taste of warfare when he took part in the Seven Years' War (1754–63) in Europe. The conflict was a struggle between England and France for sea power and political control throughout the world. In America the war—which was won in the end by England—was called the French and Indian War.

Burgoyne performed well in combat and demonstrated unusual talents. Using what he had learned about European armies while living in France, he started the British army's first light horse units, groups of soldiers on horseback who could move quickly from place to place. In 1759 he became a commander of one of the first light horse units. This event proved to be a turning point in his military career.

"Gentleman Johnny"

Burgoyne wrote a code of instructions for his officers in which he opposed the use of harsh training methods that were common at the time. He believed his officers could maintain good discipline by treating the soldiers under their command as "thinking beings." He instructed the officers to develop an "insight into the character of each particular man" and declared there was to be no swearing at soldiers or beating them for breaking minor rules. Burgoyne practiced what he preached, and he earned the loyalty of his men to a greater extent than most other commanding officers of his day. Out of respect and affection, Burgoyne's soldiers came to call him "Gentleman Johnny."

Burgoyne had his officers study mathematics, the handling of horses, and especially French, because the best military instruction papers were written in French. The reforms Burgoyne suggested and used were ahead of their time. Similar practices were not widely adopted by the British military until the early nineteenth century.

Gains victory in Spain; is elected to Parliament

By 1761 Burgoyne was eager to increase his military fame. His efforts were helped by Spain's entrance into the Seven Years' War on the side of France. Spain had no wish to attack Great Britain, but she did want French help in seeking revenge against Portugal for an old insult. In 1762 King Joseph I of Portugal asked for assistance from the British against Spain, and Britain sent 7,000 men, including the unit led by John Burgoyne.

In a daring raid in Spain, Burgoyne's soldiers defeated a group of Spanish soldiers, took over a town, and captured many prisoners. When the military campaign ended three months later, Burgoyne received the praise of his superiors and was promoted to colonel of the Sixteenth Light Dragoons. The appointment was one usually held for life and brought with it many financial benefits.

In 1761, while he was away in Spain, Burgoyne had been elected to Parliament, the British lawmaking body. By 1763 his financial situation had greatly improved, because of his military promotion and his wife's recent inheritance. But in 1764 John and Charlotte Burgoyne faced a personal tragedy when their only child died of unknown causes at age ten. From that point on, Lady Charlotte's health began to worsen.

Votes to keep Stamp Act

After the war Burgoyne turned his attention to his duties in Parliament, where he was honored as a military hero. Two years later England was still saddled with huge debts and, as a result, placed a major tax on the American colonists called the Stamp Act of 1765. It required colonists to pay a tax on all paper items they used; only documents with the official British stamp were considered legal.

Most Americans strongly opposed the Stamp Act and protested against it. In time, riots against the Stamp Act broke out in Boston, Massachusetts. American objections to the Stamp Act were so strong that Parliament finally put the measure up for a vote. Forced to take sides, Burgoyne voted to keep the Stamp Act, but his side lost. When the tax was struck down, American tempers cooled for a while, but over time American opposition to "taxation without representation" in Parliament turned into a struggle for American independence from British rule.

Career advances

In 1766 the Burgoynes traveled around Europe so that John could study the organization of European military groups. When the Burgoynes returned to England, John Burgoyne gambled heavily and enjoyed visiting fashionable clubs and acting in plays, often without Charlotte, who stayed home sick. He returned to Parliament in 1768, where he continued to develop his political skills. Burgoyne served in Parliament off and on from 1761 until a few years before his death in 1792. As a member of the Tory Party, he generally favored keeping the American colonies dependent on Great Britain.

During this time, Burgoyne received several profitable military appointments. In 1769 he became Governor of Fort William in Scotland, a job that required little effort and earned him a substantial amount of money every year. In 1772, when he was appointed major-general in the British army, Burgoyne was earning even more.

Fires of freedom burn in America

In 1772 political conflicts between Great Britain and America were on the rise. The citizens of Boston were becoming very rebellious. Years before, at the time the hated Stamp Act had been struck down, the British had passed a bill saying that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies any way they chose. The British imposed new taxes—first the Townshend Acts in 1767, then the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The colonists were furious. They showed their displeasure by refusing to buy British goods and by tarring and feathering customs officials (a painful procedure in which a person is covered with hot tar and sprinkled with feathers). The British government soon decided it needed to strengthen its armed forces in America.

Although the thousands of soldiers sent to the colonies by England were unable to restore order, their number was great enough to cause problems. When available military housing in Boston could not handle the additional troops, the British government insisted that colonists allow the British soldiers to stay in their homes. This demand was very unpopular and made matters worse. Americans continued to resist Parliament's claim that it had a right to tax them. In 1774 Parliament was discussing whether to remove a tax they had placed on tea, an item widely used by rich and poor Americans alike. Again, John Burgoyne opposed lifting the tax.

Leaves Lady Charlotte to fight in America

In February 1775 Parliament and King George III declared Massachusetts—where most of the colonial uproar was centered—to be in a state of rebellion. Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage was already in Boston, but Parliament did not think he could handle the increasingly dangerous situation there, so, Major-Generals William Howe (see entries), Henry Clinton, and Burgoyne were sent to Boston to support Gage. Burgoyne was not eager to make the trip because of his wife's frail health, and because the war was not popular in England.

In the mid-1770s the British Parliament was divided between those who thought the American colonists should be forced back into line under British rule and those who supported the colonists' desire to gain more freedom. The noted British politician William Pitt see entry the Elder headed the second group. Burgoyne tried to avoid taking sides in the matter so he would not offend important people like Pitt, but it was becoming harder to do because passions were so inflamed.

Burgoyne disappoints Gage

In May 1775 Burgoyne arrived in Boston with Howe and Clinton. Massachusetts was in a condition of extreme disorder, and to Gage's disappointment, Burgoyne proved to be of very little help. Parliament ordered Gage to proclaim martial law, under which military authorities ruled over regular citizens. Before doing as ordered, Gage made one last attempt to bring the colonists back into line. In a move that proved to be a big mistake, he called on Burgoyne to write a manifesto, a public declaration to the Americans describing what the British planned to do and why.

In the manifesto Burgoyne referred to the colonists as an "infatuated multitude" (people who are completely carried away by unreasoning passion) and cautioned them that such a "preposterous parade" as themselves could never hold back the British army. In the document the British offered free pardons to all colonists who would return home peaceably. But Burgoyne's choice of words angered the Americans and failed to persuade the majority of them to part company with their leaders, who were pushing for complete independence from Britain. In fact, his manifesto may have helped to increase the Americans' determination to stand up for their rights.

Meanwhile, life in Boston was proving to be very boring for British soldiers, who were both idle and unwelcome. To lessen his boredom, Burgoyne wrote a humorous play called "The Siege of Boston," which was presented in 1776 at Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Proposes new methods of warfare

Burgoyne noticed that the American fighting style involved moving quickly from one site to another, firing from hiding places behind trees or stone walls. He believed that to beat the Americans, British soldiers would have to abandon the European style of warfare, in which orderly lines of soldiers fired carefully controlled volleys (successions of shots).

Burgoyne proposed that British soldiers use movable cannons; cannon fire would then be followed by swarms of well-trained soldiers on foot. This was a new approach for the British and showed Burgoyne to be an innovative thinker.

Serves under Carleton; wife dies

In March 1776 British soldiers under General Howe were defeated in Boston by troops led by George Washington see entry. Trying to avoid total disaster in America, King George III then appointed General Burgoyne to serve as second in command to General Guy Carleton in Canada. Carleton's troops were defending the city of Quebec from attacks by colonists who wanted to make the area of Quebec part of the United States.

In May Burgoyne arrived in Canada with British soldiers he had rounded up on a 1775 trip home to England. He was joined there by German soldiers hired by King George III after a sufficient number of British volunteers could not be found. Shortly after Burgoyne's arrival in Canada his soldiers drove the weak American forces out of the city of Quebec and nearby areas. In October 1776 Burgoyne helped chase rebels westward to Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in New York.

Burgoyne's military concerns were overshadowed for a time by his own personal loss. On June 5, 1776, Charlotte, his wife of twenty-five years, died. Burgoyne was grief-stricken at her passing.

"Burgoyne's Offensive"

As the Revolutionary War was heating up, Burgoyne suggested a strategy that history refers to as "Burgoyne's Offensive," though some historians claim other men had proposed the same plan as early as 1775. Burgoyne proposed taking control of the Hudson River in northern New York State to prevent the Americans from moving men and supplies across the river to a place where British soldiers were fighting. According to the plan, troops traveling southward from Canada would meet in Albany, New York, with troops coming northward from New York City.

Burgoyne's strategy was approved by George III, but he did not receive the manpower he had requested. In March 1777 Burgoyne was placed in command of an invasion force that was only half the size he said he needed. Further trouble loomed when there was poor coordination between his efforts and those of Generals Clinton and Howe. From June through October 1777 Burgoyne and his men, numbering about 9,000, fought a series of battles called the Saratoga campaign.

Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York on July 6, but soon ran into serious problems brought on by his shortage of troops, overconfidence, the large numbers of the American enemy, and assorted errors. Disaster for the British was the result. Outnumbered, surrounded, and short of supplies, Burgoyne finally surrendered to American general Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777. This American victory is widely recognized as the turning point of the Revolutionary War.

Faces punishment; turns to politics and writing

In 1778 Burgoyne returned to England, where he faced harsh criticism for losing at Saratoga. A government committee formed to investigate his failures in America found him guilty of disobedience and neglect of duty, although he defended himself by arguing that he did not have enough supplies and men. King George III punished Burgoyne by taking away some of his military duties. This cut his income in half and ended his rise in the military. While trying to recover from the disappointment, he began courting a young singer named Susan Caulfield. He never married his companion, but she bore him four children. In the years that followed, Burgoyne continued to be active in politics and was known for his efforts to improve the treatment of soldiers.

Burgoyne spent most of his later life both attending and writing plays. In November 1774 his play Maid of the Oaks was produced in London and enjoyed moderate success. His humorous 1780 musical play The Lord of the Manor, which centered on life in the army, enhanced Burgoyne's writing reputation. His play The Heiress, produced in 1786, was witty and proved very popular. He followed this triumph in late 1786 by adapting an opera for the stage about the English king, Richard the Lionhearted (1157–1199), which was not very successful.

On August 4, 1792, shortly after returning home from a play, sixty-nine-year-old Burgoyne died, with Susan Caulfield at his bedside. Examining his career, historians agree that Burgoyne was more successful as an author than he had been as a soldier.

For More Information

Boatner, Mark M. "Burgoyne, John" and "Burgoyne's Offensive" in Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. New York: David McKay, 1994, pp. 130–43.

Dorson, Richard M. America Rebels: Narratives of the Patriots. New York: Pantheon, 1953.

Hudleston, F. J. Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1927.

Lunt, James. John Burgoyne of Saratoga. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1975.

Tharp, Louise Hall. The Baroness and the General. Boston: Little, Brown, 1962.

Maid of the Oaks

John Burgoyne's play Maid of the Oaks was presented in London in 1774. The project actually began as a masque, written and produced by Burgoyne to celebrate the marriage of his nephew, then Lord Stanley, to Lady Betty Hamilton. (A masque was a type of entertainment popular in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that featured lavish costumes, music, and dancing.)

Burgoyne spared no expense to ensure the success of the presentation for the young couple. He had a splendid ballroom erected in the garden of a mansion, and all the guests were to come costumed as famous characters from history. According to F. J. Hudleston in his biography Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne, there was "an orangerie [a place where orange trees are grown], a concealed band of music, [young lovers] in fancy dress playing [a bowling game], shepherdesses swinging, with shrieks of apprehension and [swirling] petticoats … archery, dancing, and [maidens] kicking at a [tambourine] suspended from a tree." John Burgoyne served as the master of ceremonies.

With the help of famed producer David Garrick, Burgoyne revised the plot and the dialogue and the play was presented at London's famous Drury Lane Theatre on November 5, 1774. The plot, in the words of Burgoyne biographer James Lunt, centered on "a woman-about-town outwitting the gentlemen intent on her virtue, but there were one or two good songs, and a [fancy ball] to round off the performance." According to Lunt, the play "was given a respectable reception."