Coming Home: Captured Cannon Returns to Saratoga

STILLWATER — A cannon captured by the Continental Army in October 1777 after they defeated the British Army at the Battles and Siege of Saratoga will be permanently preserved as a part of the museum collection at Saratoga National Historical Park.

The light six-pound British cannon (Cannon #102) was donated from the Department of the Army to the National Park Service (NPS).  

This British Cannon was crafted from bronze in 1756. The brass light six-pounder cannons were the most desired type of artillery used by the British and Americans during the War for Independence.  British General Burgoyne had 18 light six-pounders captured by the Continental Army, among other weapons. Throughout the war, the Continental Army continued to use the light six-pounders captured at Saratoga.   

Only three of the original 18 light six-pounders captured at Saratoga are known to remain in existence today.  It was engraved with trophy honors marking the cannon as Surrender Cannon from Saratoga at West Point in 1783. 

In 1934, the Town of Saratoga secured a loan of Cannon #102 from New York City Department of Parks and Recreation who were its stewards at that time.  However, rather than being displayed, it remained in storage in a Schuylerville barn until 1961. It was then taken to Saratoga Springs, where it was allegedly illegally sold to a collector of militaria. Despite attempts to track down its location over the years and return it to Saratoga, it was essentially lost.   

 In 2009, a visitor to Saratoga National Historical Park commented to park staff that he had just seen a cannon with Saratoga trophy engravings at a museum in Alabama. An NPS team visited the museum in Tuscaloosa and confirmed its identity as the missing Cannon.  

 In 2011, the NPS and the U.S. Army Center for Military History agreed to pursue the case for the retrieval of the Cannon #102 on behalf of the U.S. Army. In 2013, the Westervelt Company and the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art returned it to the Department of the Army. Later that year, the Center officially loaned the cannon to the park, where it has been ever since.