What's the iconic American battle?

[Little_Nemo]

I’m going with a battle I don’t has been picked yet: Saratoga. (eta: I see it has been mentioned by Colibri and Pixel Dent.)

The American Revolution itself was the most important American war - if that war had gone the other way, there wouldn’t have been any other American wars. And the American Revolution was also the war where the Americans had the biggest chance of losing. So it was a must-win war and we were the underdogs.

Saratoga was the turning point of the war. It was the battle that showed we could beat the British in a stand-up battle and we weren’t just a guerilla army. As a direct result of the American victory at Saratoga, France began openly supporting the Americans and that was probably the factor which decided the war.

[SanVito]

@pancakes3

And of those French-speaking countries, England (and subsequently the UK) is not one of them. So really who conquered whom?

And where do you think the modern English language comes from? It is heavily influenced by French and would be unintelligible to the average Saxon.

[Clothahump]

@Colibri

How many people (outside of Texas) do you think could describe what happened in the battle, and give the date?

Not enough.

[Ranger_Jeff]

Has the Battle of Belleau Wood been mentioned upthread? It’s fairly iconic to the Marines.

[kopek]

@Hello_Again

Lexington & Concord. By a mile.

The privately armed and pissed off local rabble (ahem, “minutemen”) defeated England’s professional army and chased them with their tail between their legs back to Boston… . All in defense of their ammo cache.

.

Kings Mountain. Same kind of story but our “loyal” citizens and some British troops against our “patriot” farmers and hillbilly militia. The patriots won without any real leadership, direction or plan – just by good old “screw you” fighting.

[common_good]

@JohnGalt

I’d think either D-Day or Gettysburg.

Personally I’d vote for Gettysburg - Lincoln really defined what America stood for (equality that is tenuous and perilous and may not survive without sacrifice). But, as part of my community college class we discuss the Gettysburg Address. Very few students know what battle it refers to (it’s in the title!) or even what year it is - when I ask for the year on the final exam (for extra credit) I get ranges from 1740 to 1972! Maybe 1-in-25 will get 1863 correct.

D-Day is America’s next biggest defining battle - protector of the world and super economic power and all that. More people would know its date, simply because anniversaries of it are carried on the news along with remaining survivors. Who knows what will happen 20 years from now when those veterans are all gone.

It’s a matter of choice, but these two stand-out to me, as well. One of my uncles parachuted in with the 82nd Airborne. He died about 10 years ago and could not be made to talk about it. Before he died, I mean. Hasn’t since, either. A typical WWII vet. “We weren’t heros; we were just doing our job”. RIP, uncle. You’ll always be a hero to me.