The Play’s The Thing–January 8, 1775

Cover art for January 8, 1775: Portrait of John Burgoyne c. 1766, by Joshua Reynolds. Via the Frick Collection.
Portrait of John Burgoyne c. 1766, by Joshua Reynolds. Via the Frick Collection.

Mike wasn’t kidding when he said that, had it not been for his part in the Revolution, John Burgoyne would be best known as a playwright. He wrote several plays, most of them quite successful. Interestingly enough, the play Mike cites today is not often listed among his oeuvre. So we get the feeling that “The Blockade to Boston” was more of a one-act, or a skit-level kind of show meant specifically for that day’s audience.

But he was a general during the Revolution, and he was actually a pretty good one, although for the longest time he got the blame for the British loss. (You may still think this is the case, but more recently historians have moved away from this.)

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