October 17 · This Day in America
On the meadows above the Hudson, General John Burgoyne's invasion of New York collapses. Outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and cut off from any retreat to Canada, he surrenders nearly six thousand men to General Horatio Gates. It is the first time a British field army has ever laid down its arms to the new United States. The redcoats march out between silent American lines and stack their muskets on the riverbank. Word of it crosses the Atlantic and changes everything: at Versailles, a wavering France decides the rebels can actually win. The treaty of alliance that follows brings ships, money, soldiers, and the long road to Yorktown. Historians have called Saratoga the turning point of the Revolution, and it is hard to argue. A ragged country had just proven, on open ground, that it could beat an empire.
Source: www.nps.gov
Also on this day · 1931
After years of beating murder and bootlegging charges, the most feared gangster in America is brought down by his accountant's arithmetic. A Chicago jury convicts Al Capone on five counts of income tax evasion. He gets eleven years, a heavy fine, and eventually a cell on Alcatraz. The empire of fear ends not with a shootout but with a ledger.
Source: www.archives.gov