Who was Horatio Lloyd Gates?

Horatio Lloyd Gates was a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1728 in England, and he died in April 1806 in New York. He was the American general in the Revolutionary War whose victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 was a major turning point of the Revolutionary War. It convinced France to form an alliance with the Americans against Great Britain in 1778.

Despite his successes, it is believed that General Horatio Gates was suspected of having very little personal courage when it came to fighting. He is perhaps most noted for being in regular competition with General George Washington and hatching a plan to have Washington removed as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.