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Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga (1777) – a matter of contemporary and historical controversy – and was blamed for the defeat at the Battle of Camden in 1780. Gates has been described as "one of the Revolution's most controversial military figures" because of his role in the Conway Cabal, which attempted to discredit and replace General George Washington; the battle at Saratoga; and his actions before, during, and after his defeat at Camden.Billias, p. 80Tuchman, Barbara W. The First Salute: A View of the American Revolution. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988. p.192
Born in the town of Maldon in Essex, Gates served in the British Army during the War of the Austrian Succession and the French and Indian War. Frustrated by his inability to advance in the army, Gates sold his commission and established a small plantation in Virginia. On Washington's recommendation, the Continental Congress made Gates the Adjutant general of the Continental Army in 1775. He was assigned command of Fort Ticonderoga in 1776 and command of the Northern Department in 1777. Shortly after Gates took charge of the Northern Department, the Continental Army defeated the British at the crucial Battles of Saratoga. After the battles, some members of Congress considered replacing Washington with Gates, but Washington ultimately retained his position as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
Gates took command of the Southern Department in 1780, but was removed from command later that year after the disastrous American defeat at Camden. Gates's military reputation was destroyed by the battle, and he did not hold another command for the remainder of the war. Gates retired to his Virginia estate after the war, but eventually decided to Manumission his slaves and move to New York. He was elected to a single term in the New York State Legislature and died in 1806.
In 1745, Horatio Gates obtained a military commission with financial help from his parents and political support from the Duke of Bolton. Gates served with the 20th Foot in Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession. He arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia under Edward Cornwallis and was later promoted to captain in the 45th Foot, under the command of Hugh Warburton the following year. Selections from the public documents of the province of Nova Scotia p.627 He participated in several engagements against the Mi'kmaq and Acadians, particularly the Battle at Chignecto. He married the daughter of Erasmus James Philipps, Elizabeth, at St. Paul's Church (Halifax) in 1754. Leaving Nova Scotia, he sold his commission in 1754 and purchased a captaincy in one of the New York Independent Companies. One of his mentors in his early years was Edward Cornwallis, the uncle of Charles Cornwallis, against whom the Americans would later fight. Gates served under Cornwallis when the latter was governor of Nova Scotia, and also developed a friendship with the lieutenant governor, Robert Monckton.Billias, p. 81
In November 1755, Gates married Elizabeth Phillips and had a son, Robert, in 1758. Gates' military career stalled, as advancement in the British army required money or influence. Frustrated by the British class hierarchy, he sold his major's commission in 1769 and came to North America. In 1772, he re-established contact with George Washington and purchased a modest plantation in Virginia the following year.
Gates's previous wartime service in administrative posts was invaluable to the fledgling army, as he, Washington, and Charles Lee were the only men with significant experience in the British regular army. As adjutant, Horatio Gates created the army's system of records and orders and helped standardize regiments from the various colonies. During the siege of Boston, he was a voice of caution, speaking in war councils against what he saw as overly risky actions.
Although his administrative skills were valuable, Gates longed for a field command. By June 1776, he had been promoted to major general and given command of the Canadian Department to replace John Sullivan. This unit of the army was then in disorganized retreat from Quebec, following the arrival of British reinforcements at Quebec City. Furthermore, disease, especially smallpox, had taken a significant toll on the ranks, which also suffered from poor morale and dissension over pay and conditions. The retreat from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga also brought Gates into conflict with the authority of Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the army's Northern Department, which retained jurisdiction over Ticonderoga. During the summer of 1776, this struggle was resolved, with Schuyler given command of the department as a whole and Gates' command of Ticonderoga and the defense of Lake Champlain.
Gates spent the summer of 1776 overseeing the enlargement of the American fleet that would be needed to prevent the British from taking control of Lake Champlain. Much of this work eventually fell to Benedict Arnold, who had been with the army during its retreat and was also an experienced seaman. Gates rewarded Arnold's initiative by giving him command of the fleet when it sailed to meet the British. The American fleet was defeated at the Battle of Valcour Island in October 1776, although the defense of the lake was sufficient to delay a British advance against Ticonderoga until 1777.*
But in 1777, Congress blamed Schuyler and St. Clair for the loss of Fort Ticonderoga, though Gates had exercised a lengthy command in the region. Congress finally gave Gates command of the Northern Department on August 4.
Gates assumed command of the Northern Department on August 19 and led the army during the defeat of British General John Burgoyne invasion in the Battles of Saratoga. While Gates and his supporters took credit for the victory, military action was directed by a cohort of field commanders led by Benedict Arnold, Enoch Poor, Benjamin Lincoln, and Daniel Morgan. Arnold, in particular, took the field after requesting and receiving orders from Gates to engage the British, then rallied his troops in a furious attack on the British lines, suffering serious injuries to his leg. John Stark's defeat of a sizable British raiding force at the Battle of Bennington–Stark's forces killed or captured over 900 British soldiers–was also a substantial factor in the outcome at Saratoga.
Gates stands front and center in John Trumbull's painting of the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Surrender of General Burgoyne which hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. By Congressional resolution, a gold medal was presented to Gates to commemorate his victories over the British in the Battles of Bennington, Fort Stanwix, and Saratoga. Gold and bronze replicas of that medal are still awarded by the Adjutant General's Corps Regimental Association in recognition of outstanding service. Adjutant General's Corps Regimental Association Awards . Retrieved December 9, 2009
Gates followed up the victory at Saratoga with a proposal to invade Quebec, but his suggestion was rejected by Washington.Mintz p. 228
Washington learned of the campaign against him by Gates's adjutant, James Wilkinson. Following a drunken party, Wilkinson repeated the remarks of General Thomas Conway to Gates, which were critical of Washington, to aides of General William Alexander, who passed them on to Washington. Gates (then unaware of Wilkinson's involvement) accused persons unknown of copying his mail and forwarded Conway's letter to the president of Congress, Henry Laurens. Washington's supporters in Congress and the army rallied to his side, ending the "Conway Cabal".Some historians doubt the existence of an organized effort of Washington's opponents that might be called a cabal. One of those historians, Christopher Ward, nonetheless wrote: "The actual existence of such a conspiracy is of little importance in comparison with the general belief in its existence, which prevailed among Washington's friends in the army and elsewhere. Lafayette asserted it was a fact." Ward, Christopher. John Richard Alden, ed. The War of the Revolution. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2011. . Originally published Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky, 1952. p. 560.Historian John Ferling wrote: "In all likelihood the supposed intrigue never amounted to more than a handful of disgruntled individuals who grumbled to one another about Washington's shortcomings. It is almost certain that Conway never belonged to any cabal, although he doubtless said harsh things about Washington." Ferling, John. Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. . (pbk.) Originally published in hardcover in 2007. p. 282. Gates then apologized to Washington for his role in the affair, resigned from the Board of War, and took an assignment as commander of the Eastern Department in November 1778.
Gates led Continental forces and militia south and prepared to face the British forces of Charles Cornwallis, who had advanced to Camden, South Carolina. In the Battle of Camden on August 16, Gates's army was routed, with nearly 1,000 men captured, along with the army's baggage train and artillery. Analysis of the debacle suggests that Gates greatly overestimated the capabilities of his inexperienced militia, an error magnified when he lined those forces against the British right, the traditional position of the strongest troops. He also failed to make proper arrangements for an organized retreat. Gates's principal accomplishment in the unsuccessful campaign was to cover in three days on horseback, heading north in retreat. His disappointment was compounded by news of his son Robert's death in combat in October. Nathanael Greene replaced Gates as commander on December 3, and Gates returned home to Virginia. Gates's devastating defeat at Camden not only ruined his new American army, but it also ruined his military reputation.
In 1786, Gates married Mary Valens, a wealthy Liverpool who had come to the colonies in 1773 with her sister and Rev. Bartholomew Booth, who ran a boys' boarding school in Maryland.Whitehead, Maurice. The Academies of the Reverend Bartholomew Booth in Georgian England and Revolutionary America, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996 Booth had been the curate for the "Chapel in the Woods," later to become Saint John's Church at Hagerstown, Maryland. Many have suggested that Gates freed his slaves at the urging of his friend John Adams, along with the sale of Traveller's Rest in 1790. This narrative was popularized in 1837 by the Anti-Slavery Record, an abolitionist publication. The paper produced an account of the event in which Gates supposedly “summoned his numerous family and slaves about him, and amidst their tears of affection and gratitude, gave them their freedom.” In fact, the terms of the deed of sale for Traveller's Rest indicate that Gates sold his slaves for £800 together with the plantation. The deed did not immediately free any of Gates's slaves, rather it stipulated that five would be free after five years; the remaining eleven would have to wait until they reached the age of twenty-eight. Nevertheless, even this limited gesture toward emancipation surpassed the other major generals of the revolutionary era; for none but Gates made any efforts to emancipate their slaves during their lifetimes.
The couple thereupon moved to an estate at Rose Hill in present-day midtown Manhattan, where the local authorities received him warmly.(1)
(2) His later support for Thomas Jefferson presidential candidacy ended his friendship with Adams. Gates and his wife remained active in New York City society, and he was elected to a single term in the New York State Legislature in 1800.Billias, pp. 103–104 He died in his Rose Hill home on April 10, 1806, and was buried in the Trinity Church graveyard at the foot of Wall Street, though the exact location of his grave is unknown.Luzader, p. xxiii
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