Pivotal moments in US history: a timeline of the Saratoga campaign

In the summer and fall of 1777, after two years of indecisive fighting on both sides, the American War of Independence was at a stalemate. The British were determined to end the rebellion that year and devised what they believed a war-winning strategy: to send General John Burgoyne south to rout the Americans and take Albany. Less than four months later, however, a combination of the Continental Army and Militia forces, commanded by Major General Horatio Gates and inspired by the heroics of Benedict Arnold, changed the course of the war…