Turning Point: The Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Monmouth was a "turning point in the history of Continental Army." Despite poor leadership at the beginning of the battle, the Americans held their ground.
(Lockhart,165)
(Lockhart,165)
The British heard the French were arriving in America and withdrew from Philadelphia to centralize their fighting force in New York. As they retreated, the Americans delayed them. The British rested at the town of Monmouth Courthouse, where Washington attacked.
General Charles Lee was assigned to attack the British. Lee had last seen the Americans in action at the Battle of Long Island. He had been under house arrest from December of 1776 to March, 1778, missing most of Steuben's training. "He was so reluctant to engage the British that he didn't even formulate a plan of action for his troops when the fighting began. . . ." Then, "instead of directing his now well-trained troops into position, he got into an argument with one of his junior officers." Worse, Lee's troops were moving in a straight line, slowing them down. Finally, private Joseph Plumb Martin remembers, "we received orders to retreat . . . . under the command of General Lee. . . . Grating as this order was to our feelings, we were obliged to comply."
(Murphy 61-63)
(Murphy 61-63)
Dismayed, Washington demanded to know what was happening. "Lee replied that 'the American troops would not stand the British bayonets.' 'You never tried them!' cried Washington. . . ." After relieving Lee, Washington ordered a counterattack.
(Herbert, 86)
(Herbert, 86)
"On command his soldiers turned and reformed their lines just as Steuben had taught them."
(Murphy, 63)
Then the British "were retreating in line, though in some disorder. . . ."
(Joseph Plumb Martin, cited in Murphy, 66)
(Murphy, 63)
Then the British "were retreating in line, though in some disorder. . . ."
(Joseph Plumb Martin, cited in Murphy, 66)
When the British counterattacked, "[t]he Continentals held firm as musket balls . . . as fabled regiments like the Highlanders of the Black Watch advanced on their lines with bayonets levelled. They held their ground though all of these things . . . and drove the Redcoats from the field." The next morning the British army sneaked away to New York.
(Lockhart,165)
(Lockhart,165)
Professor Daniel Crosswell, Colonel Richard R. Hallock Distinguished University Chair in Military History, Columbus State University, talks about what the Battle of Monmouth meant in the American Revolution. Note: some historians argue that the Americans won the Battle of Monmouth.
"The behaviour of the officers and men in general was such as could not safely be surpassed. Our troops . . . behaved with more spirit and moved with greater order than the British troops. You [Elias Boudinot] know my way of thinking about our army, and that I am not apt to flatter it. I assure you I never was pleased with them before this day."
(Alexander Hamilton, Letter to Elias Boudinot, cited in http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084337?seq=7, p. 45. Boudinot was a member of the Continental Congress.)
(Alexander Hamilton, Letter to Elias Boudinot, cited in http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084337?seq=7, p. 45. Boudinot was a member of the Continental Congress.)
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