Ken Burns: American Revolution Ep. 4: Reading Guide

Further Reading for "Conquer by a Drawn Game" (January 1777 - February 1778)

Stalemate, Saratoga & a Global War: Explore history from Ken Burns’ The American Revolution, Episode. 4.

Episode 4 focuses on the Saratoga campaign, the forging of the French alliance, and the grueling winter at Valley Forge. This guide provides further reading on the 1777 campaigns—Brandywine and Germantown, Burgoyne’s advance and defeat at Saratoga—and the diplomatic breakthrough that brings France formally into the war covered in episode 4 of Ken Burns' documentary series, The American Revolution. Watch on PBS

Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6


Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War

Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
The Revolutionary War in the Adirondacks
Follows raids, scouting, and supply struggles in the northern theater; helps viewers connect Saratoga and the Lake Champlain corridor to a wider backcountry war.

Tags: Backcountry / Frontier, Local Interest – New York

Key Concepts & Events: Northern scouting & irregular warfare.
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Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
Northern Vermont in the Revolutionary War
Explores the northern frontier, the overlap between local land claims and national strategy, and the Green Mountain Boys, the "band of vigilantes who had spent years defending their settlements in the Vermont region of northwestern New England against New Yorkers who also claimed the land," of which Colonel Ethan Allen was a notable leader.

Tags: Backcountry / Frontier, Local Interest – Vermont

Key Concepts & Events: Green Mountain Boys & the northern corridor.
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Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
Patriot on the Kennebec: Major Reuben Colburn, Benedict Arnold and the March to Quebec, 1775
A narrative of Arnold’s grueling Quebec expedition—an earlier but thematically linked campaign that frames why the northern border and waterways mattered so much.

Tags: Military History, Backcountry / Frontier, Local Interest – Maine

Key Concepts & Events: Earlier but related northern failures.
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Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
The Battle of Oriskany and General Nicholas Herkimer: Revolution in the Mohawk Valley
A gripping account of General Nicholas Herkimer's valiant defeat of British forces in the heart of New York's Mohawk Valley--and a striking account of the days before and after that fateful day in August 1777.
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Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
Ethan Allen & the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
In 1777, the British capture Fort Ticonderoga: an albatross ever since it was taken by the Patriots in 1775.

In this comprehensive look at ""America's First Victory,"" Richard Smith traces the Patriots' route from Connecticut, through the towns of western Massachusetts and the Berkshire hills and north to Bennington, Vermont, and Lake Champlain. He chronicles the rival expedition led by Benedict Arnold, his confrontation with Allen and the surprise attack that changed the course of the American Revolution
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Northern Campaigns & the Wilderness War
The Battle of Hubbardton
British and German troops ran into stubborn rebel resistance at Hubbardton, Vermont, on July 7, 1777. The day would ultimately turn the tide for the Patriot cause. After capturing Fort Ticonderoga, the British, under Lieutenant General John Burgoyne, pursued a retreating Continental army under Major General Arthur St. Clair.
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Defending & Deserting Philadelphia

Defending & Deserting Philadelphia
Along the Brandywine River
Episode 4 details the hellish battle at Brandywine during the Philadelphia campaign. These collected postcards show the countryside as it appeared during the Revolutionary War Battle at Brandywine through the time of nineteenth-century settlements in the region and into the twentieth century.

Tags: Primary Sources
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Defending & Deserting Philadelphia
Philadelphia Quakers and the American Revolution
Episode 4 details the retribution faced by Philadelphia's Quaker community, who, by the Revolution, had seen their fortunes depleted and brutally suppressed by their political foes. Several dozen influential Friends were exiled to Virginia without so much as a hearing, and Quaker farms and businesses were subject to depredations. Labeled dissenters by Loyalist and Patriot alike, they stood their ground, alone and isolated.

Through the words of those who were there, author and historian Jeff Denman vividly describes the precipitous rise of the Philadelphia Quakers and their fall during the American Revolution.

Tags: Primary Sources, Religion
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Defending & Deserting Philadelphia
A Brief History of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania
Explores the site where George Washington successfully repelled British forces before moving the Continental Army to its winter quarters at Valley Forge.
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Loyalists & a Civil War Within the War

Loyalists & a Civil War Within the War
Loyalists in the Adirondacks: The Fight for Britain in the Revolutionary War
Pairs well with Saratoga and the broader northern story by following those who fought for the Crown in the same forests and valleys.

Tags: Loyalist Perspective, Local Interest – New York

Key Concepts & Events: Divided communities in the northern theater.
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Loyalists & a Civil War Within the War
Bergen County Voices from the American Revolution: Soldiers and Residents in Their Own Words
A document-based look at how ordinary soldiers and civilians in New Jersey experienced raids, foraging, and occupation—essential for understanding why the war feels like a grinding stalemate on the ground.

Tags: Primary Sources, Civilian Experience, Local Interest – New Jersey

Key Concepts & Events:How ordinary people endured a long war.
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Primary Sources
Loyalists & a Civil War Within the War
Shadow Soldiers of the American Revolution: Loyalist Tales from New York to Canada
Collects stories of Loyalist scouts, spies, and irregulars moving between New York and Canada, echoing the film’s emphasis on divided communities and clandestine warfare.

Tags: Loyalist Perspective, Espionage, Frontier Warfare

Key Concepts & Events:Underside of the northern campaigns.
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Regional Resistance

Regional Resistance
The Cape May Navy: Delaware Bay Privateers in the American Revolution
Focuses on small-scale naval warfare and privateering in the Delaware Bay, perfect for viewers newly aware that the Revolution stretches from interior forests to contested sea lanes.

Tags: Naval History, Local Interest – New Jersey


Key Concepts & Events:Privateers & emerging naval conflict.
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Regional Resistance
Around Dryden
Discusses General John Sullivan’s military campaign during the war, which was aimed at removing hostile elements from the Iroquois hunting grounds in New York.
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Early Governing Documents

Early Governing Documents
Articles of Confederation
As the states struggled to form a central government during the war, the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation in 1777. This edition contains the full text of the United States’ first governing document
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