U.S. #1728

1977 13¢ Surrender at Saratoga
Bicentennial Series 

Issue Date: October 7, 1977

City: Schuylerville, NY

Quantity: 153,736,000

Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Printing Method: Photogravure

Perforations: 11 x 10 ½

Color: Multicolored

The Bicentennial Series

The U.S. Bicentennial was a series of celebrations during the mid-1970s that commemorated the historic events leading to America’s independence from Great Britain. The official events began on April 1, 1975, when the American Freedom Train departed Delaware to begin a 21-month, 25,338-mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. For more than a year, a wave of patriotism swept the nation as elaborate firework displays lit up skies across the U.S., an international fleet of tall-mast sailing ships gathered in New York City and Boston, and Queen Elizabeth made a state visit. The celebration culminated on July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 

The U.S.P.S. issued 113 commemorative stamps over a six-year period in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, beginning with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission Emblem stamp (U.S. #1432). As a group, the Bicentennial Series chronicles one of our nation’s most important chapters, and remembers the events and patriots who made the U.S. a world model for liberty.

Revolutionary War Sesquicentennial 

On August 3, 1927, the US Post Office issued two stamps honoring significant events from the Revolutionary War in 1777.

One of the stamps is the Vermont Sesquicentennial stamp.  The stamp honors the Battle of Bennington and pictures a Green Mountain Boy.  The other stamp honors the Saratoga Campaign and pictures the surrender of General Burgoyne.  It also honors the Battle of Bennington, with an inscription on the right-hand side.

Although US #644 is called the “Burgoyne Campaign,” it commemorates several different events. In fact, General John Burgoyne isn’t the central character in the stamp and it wasn’t originally intended to honor him, as he was a British general fighting against America. The stamp pictures Burgoyne (left of center) handing his sword to General Horatio Gates of the Continental Army. The stamp image is based on John Trumbull’s 1821 painting Surrender of General Burgoyne.

The history behind the stamps…

Known as Gentleman Johnny, General Burgoyne first arrived in Quebec in May 1777, planning to take control of New York’s Hudson River and Mohawk Valley. Commanding about 7,700 British troops, Indians, Germans, and American loyalists to Britain, Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga. But he was slowed to only one mile a day by his excessive baggage train and the American forces who had cut down trees to slow his progress.

The Battles of Fort Stanwix and Oriskany

On August 3, British lieutenant colonel Barry St. Leger began an attack on Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York. As the fort’s 750 men defended themselves, a group of 800 soldiers from Fort Dayton began a 30-mile trek to provide support. However, St. Ledger knew they were coming and planned an ambush on them six miles from Fort Stanwix in Oriskany.

Although St. Ledger’s Indian forces eventually retreated, about 200 Colonists were killed, 50 wounded, and their leader, General Nicholas Herkimer, was mortally wounded. With Herkimer’s men in no shape to relieve Fort Stanwix, Benedict Arnold put together a force of 1,000 men to come to their aid. In the meantime, the Indians rioted against the British, forcing St. Ledger to retreat to Oswego, leaving no one to meet Burgoyne at Albany.

The Battle of Bennington

In the meantime, Burgoyne and his men were critically low on supplies. Knowing the Continental Army stored weapons and supplies at Bennington, New York, (present-day Walloomsac) Burgoyne sent a raid. They were surprised to find more than 1,600 soldiers from New Hampshire and Vermont protecting the supplies. More than 200 British soldiers were killed with another 700 taken prisoner.  (While the Battle of Bennington didn’t take place in Vermont, it was fought by Vermont soldiers just west of the Vermont border.)

Surrender at Saratoga

Burgoyne continued to move toward Albany, losing another 600 men at Freeman’s Farm on September 19, 1777. Less than a month later, Benedict Arnold led another successful campaign against Burgoyne at Bemis Heights, taking the lives of 600 more British soldiers.  As his forces grew smaller and weaker, Burgoyne finally retreated north to Saratoga but was surrounded by American forces outnumbering him three to one. By October 17, he surrendered.

The victories at these New York locations not only kept the British from taking control of New York, but they showed the doubtful French that the Colonists were capable of winning the war for their freedom. Shortly after Burgoyne’s surrender, the French joined the American cause and helped win the war.