Plan of the encampment and position of the army under His Excellency Lt. General Burgoyne at Swords House on Hudson's River on September 17th, with the positions of that part of the army engaged on the September 19, 1777. The first battle of Saratoga, the Battle of Freeman's Farm, took place on September 19, 1777. A militia of sharpshooters from Virginia harassed the British, while other colonist forces aggressively charged into battle with them. Burgoyne lost two men for every one on the American side. The Battles of Saratoga (the other took place on October 7, 1777) decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American Revolutionary War and are regarded as a turning point. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles south of Saratoga, New York.