Saratoga

Usually the Battle of Saratoga gets mention as the "turning point" in the American Revolution because the untrained militia men and ragtag Continental Army defeated the mighty British, thereby encouraging the French to join the rebels.  But being on site and seeing the terrain and grasping the two weeks of conflict which led to the Brits' surrender makes me think it merits greater attention in the textbooks and classrooms.  It has all of the elements of military drama, not the least of which includes Benedict Arnold's mad dashes across the field rallying the troops and threatening to quit the army because of General Gates reluctance to attack.  Guerrilla tactics, redoubts, light infantry charges, seizing and turning artillery ... really dramatic stuff!  Ultimately it was supply issues and lack of promised reinforcements that led to Burgoyne's surrender, even though he would use the term as her proffered his sword.
This is the view from the park HQ towards the Hudson River and the battlefield.

The LED lights might not show up very well in this photo, but I credit this park with the best representation of the tactics and troop movements using the red and blue lights to show the entire back-and-forth of the two weeks of combat.  Ten minutes of narrative while watching the movement of the troops represented by these lights and we both agreed we had the best visualization of any battlefield we'd visited so far.  This sort of presentation would have been wonderful at Little Bighorn!

This monument was erected by the folks of Saratoga in 1877, the centennial of the Battle, right next to Victory Woods where the surrender occurred ... standing on history again!