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Schematic plan · American Revolution

Bemis Heights

All battlesBattles of Saratoga: engagement 2 of 2The event in the chronicleWikipedia
A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveGuns0200 m400 mN

One of the 2 engagements of the Battles of Saratoga recorded in the CAA Database of Battles (number 2 in date order). Great Britain (Br Army, 5,000 men under Burgoyne) attacked USA (Am Army, 11,000 men under Gates) in New York. The CAA Database of Battles records 0.9 hours of fighting on a front of 0.6 km, a frontal attack against fortified defense, and that USA held. Losses: Great Britain 600 (12%), USA 130 (1%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Great Britain

Burgoyne

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry1,164
Great Britain centreInfantry1,552
Great Britain right wingInfantry1,164
Great Britain reserveInfantry970
Great Britain artillery (10 guns)Artillery150
BurgoyneCommander—
In this plan5,000

USA

Gates

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry2,640
USA centreInfantry3,520
USA right wingInfantry2,640
USA reserveInfantry2,200
GatesCommander—
In this plan11,000

What the sources report

Great BritainUSA
Strength, this plan5,00011,000
Losses, this plan600130

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 89, “Bemis Heights”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
0.9 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Fortified defense
Front width
0.6 km (attacker), 1.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Great Britainattacker5,000600010Frontal attack; Repulse; Withdrew
USAdefender11,0001300—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack

Attacker’s advantages initiative +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.