The Battles of Connecticut Farms and
The British invasion of June, 1780
The winter of 1779-1780 was the worst
one of the war, and even the worst of the 15th Century. It snowed
early that year, snowed often, and deep, so that the roads and
fences were buried under enough snow that they were hard to find.
They had no equipment for snow removal, so the roads were often
impassible. It was so cold for so long that the Hudson River froze,
and so did large parts of Long Island Sound. The British were
able to ride horses and take cannon over the ice to Staten Island.
This left the American Army, encamped
in huts of their own making at Jockey Hollow just south of Morristown,
in a horrible supply problem. Never were supplies over abundant
for the Americans, but when transportation of material was almost
halted by the winter, critical shortages occurred.
The daily ration for an enlisted man
was one pound of bread or flour, and one pound of beef or 3/4
pound of pork, (with the addition of some small amounts of vegetables,
vinegar, salt, milk, butter, peas and beans as available.) and
a half gill of spirits or quart of beer. This is a adequate, but
not extensive, diet, but many times during the winter, the army
was not able to issue flour for days at the time, sometimes not
able to issue meat, and a few times, for a few days, not able
to issue anything at all. The men were cold, wearing ragged clothing,
unpaid, not allowed to leave camp, and starving. Morale was low,
and both officers and men were unhappy with the state of the support
they received from their states and the Continental Congress.
The war was dragging on. In all wars,
apathy sets in as it goes on. Both sides struggled on, but the
Americans were still handicapped by being the new government.
It takes time to learn how to run supply and purchasing systems.
Methods are tried that fail, men quit or give up in frustration,
or are thrown out for incompetence, and their replacements have
to learn from scratch. Plus, the Continental money situation was
desperate. Inflation had ruined the paper money to no value whatever,
(from this winter time we got the phrase "not worth a Continental"
and Congress hesitated in printing more- but without printing
it, there was no money for it to spend. The Americans changed
supplies systems several times during the war, and at this stage
had gone from the Continental Congress purchasing supplies to
the States providing them.
On Christmas Day, 1779, General Sir
Henry Clinton sailed for Charleston, South Carolina, to try to
capture it and begin his southern campaign to return those colonies
to the crown. The man left to command in his absence was Lieutenant
General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, a German ally or "Hessian".
Meanwhile, in New York City, the British
Loyalists were pushing for action to be taken to end the war,
lead by: William Franklin, (son of Benjamin, the Royal Governor
of New Jersey in exile in New York), William Smith royal Chief
Justice of NY, Major General James Robinson, new Royal Governor
of NY, called "Old Clip" for his habit of shaving the
edges of the coins that came into his hands and General William
Tryon, ex-governor of New York. They were all detractors of Clinton's,
they had their own spy networks and informants, and began to assert
that the American Army was on the verge of deserting en mass,
that they would refuse to fight, that the militia would not come
out, but that there were so many disaffected persons sick of the
war and the changes in the government, that thousands would flock
to the British to help throw out the rebel government.
These assertions were exaggerations,
but they believed them. They pushed them on "old Knyp",
and pressed him for action. Through the winter he would not consider
large military action- the transport of men and material would
be no easier for him than the Americans. Winter action was not
normal with armies of the day, since it was hard to transport
and clothe an army under winter conditions.
The Loyalist made frequent raids into
New Jersey, particularly around Elizabethtown. The Americans posted
troops to guard there, but could not prevent them from landing
and making a quick strike. Moving quickly by boat or over the
ice, the British could overwhelm any small or medium force with
a surprise attack at night.
On January 25th, they raided both Newark
and Elizabethtown on the same night. From Newark they took Justice
Joseph Heddon, marching him across the ice to Staten Island in
his nightshirt and bare feet, (which he lost to gangrene.) At
Elizabethtown, they captured several civilians and 5 Continental
Officers and 47 privates.
Joseph Plum Martin, in the 8th Connecticut
regiment, which was moved shortly afterward to help guard the
area, in "Yankee Doodle" described his duty :
"We were stationed about six
miles from Elizabethtown... We had to send a detachment to this
place which continued on duty there several days. It consisted
of about two hundred men and had to form several guards while
there. We had another guard, which consisted of about one hundred
men, at a place called Woodbridge, this guard stayed there two
days before they were relieved, and was ten miles from our quarters.
Our duty all the winter and spring
was thus. Suppose I went upon the Woodbridge guard. I must march
from the parade at eight o'clock in the morning, go a distance
of ten miles and relieve the guard already there, which would
commonly bring it to about twelve o'clock., stay there two days
and nights, then be relieved and take up the afternoon of that
day to reach our quarters and, generally before I could lay by
my arms, warned for Elizabethtown the next day...."
They lived on a starvation diet, and
the inhabitants had little more, being robbed or foraged on by
both armies, although Washington gave and enforced strict orders
against soldiers taking private property. This did not stop the
civil authorities from collecting, nor totally prevent hungry
soldiers from raiding chicken coops.
The guard kept at Woodbridge being
so small, and so far from the troops, and so near the enemy that
they were obliged to be constantly on the alert. We had three
different houses that we occupied alternately during the night:
the first an empty house, the second the parson's house, and the
third a farmer's house. We had to remove from one to the other
of these houses three times every night, from fear of being surprised
by the enemy."
One of Martin's friends, named Twist,
was stationed to sentry a secret path near their guard post. He
called out to people coming up the path one night, and they told
him they would kill him if he fired. He fired anyway, and ran
up the path shouting for the guard. He got tangled in a hedge,
and the Loyalists came up and bayoneted him twelve times. The
other sentries managed to flee, so Twist's sacrifice was not in
On the 14th of May, the New Jersey
Brigade took over the coastal guard and relieved the Connecticut
troops. They had four under-strength regiments with 741 men total.
In May the state tried a major effort to enlist new men to fill
the ranks. They got 29 men between May 3 and June 3rd- the best
showing of any state. Only 53 men from all 13 states arrived.
On May 25th, the 4th and 8th Connecticut
regiments at Morristown, starving, decided not to return to their
huts after evening parade. They stayed out under arms, defying
orders to disperse. They marched to the neighboring Connecticut
brigade, which was prevented from joining them by the quick thinking
of its officers who had them form up for parade "without
arms" before the mutineers arrive, then prevented them from
getting to their arms.
The nearby Pennsylvania Brigade, called
out to stop the Connecticut. men, almost joined them instead,
but the officers marched them back to their own cabins.
After standing around on the parade
ground for some time, without purpose or goals, the Connecticut
men finally went back to their quarters.
The NJ Brigade which had replaced them
on the line, also had hard duty "on the lines." They
were forced by the raiders to stay farther back from the shore
than wished, and had two regiments pulled back to near Bound Brook,
where they were out of any immediate danger, but could move forward
in a couple of hours to support the lines. The 3rd NJ, stationed
at Elizabethtown, moved back to Springfield, 7 miles to the northwest,
by the 3rd of June, and on the 4th were in Chatham, farther northwest
behind the hills, because of the danger of raids. General William
Maxwell, commander of the NJ Brigade, stationed the 1st and 2nd
NJ regiments at Bound Brook, where they could march to support
the 1st, but were out of immediate danger.
All these factors were brought to the
attention of General von Knyphausen. Finally on May 28th a letter
arrived from Sir Andrew Hammond to Governor William Patterson,
who had been appointed to govern Nova Scotia, who was still in
New York, part of the Loyalist leader group. The letter told of
the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, with only minor British
losses, on May 12th.. The Loyalist were extremely annoyed that
they in New York were left in ignorance, without official word,
without instructions, while Clinton got the glory of a southern
campaign. They passed the letter on to "old Knyp."
The Englishmen and Loyalist left in
New York knew they now had a chance for their own glory. Spring
had arrived and opened the campaign season, and now they could
act independently of Clinton. Success would raise them all, defeat
could be blamed on von Knyphausen. They all came out in favor
of some kind of attack on the Americans, stressing how weak they
were- Washington had only 3,500 men in Morristown-and how low
morale in New Jersey was. General von Knyphausen decided to attack,
landing in Elizabethtown and marching for the Hobart Gap, near
Springfield, where they could cross into the mountains and onto
the road to Morristown, where the American supplies were.
On June 6th, 1780, the first troops
boarded boats on Staten Island to cross and secure a landing near
Elizabethtown at midnight. General Thomas Stirling commanded the
van, composed of the light infantry companies of the British 37th
and 38th foot regiments. They landed around midnight at a marsh
on De Hart's point, and checked it for American sentry. Once it
was found to be clear, the remainder of the regiments landed,
then the other two regiments of the division, Hessians under the
division second in command, Colonel Ludwig Johann Adolph von Wurmb.
Instead of light infantry, the Hessians had Jaegars, which means
"hunters", who carried rifles, and did a similar duty
as the light infantry- covering flanks and retreats. Once this
advance corp was landed and advancing inland, another 4,500 men
would land to support them The British forces would outnumber
the total Continental Army two to one.
On that day, Colonel Elias Dayton,
commander of the 3rd NJ, was back in Elizabethtown, and he received
a note that 5000 men were preparing to invade NJ at Elizabethtown
during the evening. He immediately sent Ensign Moses Ogden of
Colonel Oliver Spencer's 4th additional regiment to the crossroads
where the roads from Elizabeth point and De Hart's point met,
with orders to fire one volley at any troops that appeared on
the roads, then retreat. Dayton would take a position on Jelf's
Hill, overlooking the stone bridge in Elizabethtown.
After a wait of an hour or more, a
column of troops was detected marching down the road, lead by
Tories with darkened lanterns, leading a man on horseback. Ensign
Ogden ordered his men to present and fire, and they hit General
Stirling in the thigh. The British column halted, as Ogden and
his men made their escape back to the main body.
Colonel Dayton ordered his son, Captain
Jonathan Dayton, to write a note to General Washington:
I am directed by Colo. Dayton to inform
your excellency that the enemy landed this night at 12 o'Clock,
from the best intelligence four or five thousand men & Twelve
field pieces, & it is his conjecture that they intend to penetrate
into the country.
I am your excellys most hum Servt.
Joha. Dayton, Capt.
A courier raced to deliver it to Washington,
about 16 miles away.
Colonel Dayton moved his regiment to
Jelf's Hill, overlooking the bridge in Elizabethtown, with Colonel
Oliver Spence and the 4th "additional" regiment (NJ
was assigned to provide 3 regiments, but provided four- although
all were short handed.)
Along the shore, Colonel von Wermb
decided not to advance any farther, but to wait for daylight.
The British troop crossing had been delayed, and General Stirling
In Bound Brook, the volley had been
heard. General Maxwell sent Major Aaron Ogden, his adjutant, to
Elizabethtown, while he ordered the 1st and 2nd regiments to Connecticut
Farms. The militia also began to gather.
Years before, the British got a laugh
out of this letter from Brigader General Winds of the NJ militia,
which was published in Rivington's Gazette:
Mendon, Sept. 5th 1777
Your are to keep one man allways with an order already writ to
impress an horss on the way he shall want that upon the first
appearance of the enemy's coming to attack you or yours you are
to dispatch the man and tell him to come the nighest road direct
to me or my house and he is to call to every man woman or child
he sees and desire them to call upon all men to push down where
the enemy is and give them battle.
But he is not to stop to give his story. But call out as he rides
along if they have no guns or ammonison they are to carry pitchforks
flails stones or such weapons as they chuse
But if any man is a fraid to go to battle that hath no gun his
is imediately to set out as a common cryer and desire everyone
he sees to come down to the helpe of the Lord against the might
and I will keep a becon out so that if you can keep the enemy
in play a few howers I will be down with 1,000 or 1,500 men. Shew
this letter to all men you see and send coppys of it to all the
militia officers you can that live within 15 or 20 miles of the
lines and shorest every man as soon as he is ready stop for no
company but call all they see to send word to their next neighbour
of the a larm-and cursed is he that is well &will not turn
out when this a larm comes.
William Winds, BG
The British thought his grammar and
spelling funny, but they ignored the fact that he knew how to
get the militia out quickly and efficiently.
Major Ogden arrived and he, Dayton
and Spencer discussed what they should do. They decided not to
stand that ground, as they were liable to be cut off and overrun.
They decided to move to Connecticut Farms. As they reached the
edge of town, General Maxwell arrived to inform them that he had
ordered the 1st and 2nd to Connecticut Farms, and they should
fall back to there. They would be able to call out the militia
better if they could see the British marching out of Elizabethtown.
About 4 am, Washington ordered the
troops to cook 2 days rations, to have 40 cartridges each, and
prepare to march. They were 16 miles or more away in Morristown.
The coast watchers would not expect help from Washington until
At 6 am, the British moved out for
Elizabethtown, and small units of militia began to fire from their
front and flanks. Normally the light infantry, trained for flank
protection, were sent out to prevent them from serious moves against
the British column. Now they had none with them and units with
out this training had to serve.
At Hobard Gap, the firing was heard
and the "Old Sow", an ancient cannon was fired to sound
the alarm and the bonfire signal fire was lit, to summon the militia.
Maxwell posted small groups of Continentals
with the early militia to delay the British. He posted the remainder
of his men along a defile in the middle of Connecticut Farms.
As the British advanced, the fire they
received grew. Militia units formed up and fired from the woods,
orchards, stone fences, and buildings along the road. They would
advance and attack, be driven off, only to return later. The British
flanking Light Infantry and Jaegars grew tired and frustrated.
A large number of British troops had to be diverted from the attack
to defending the flanks. The militia's persistent attacks against
the British flanks prevented the Continentals holding the front
from being overwhelmed.
In Connecticut Farms, the Reverend
Caldwell had left to help rally the militia to the north. He was
called by the British, " the Rebel High Priest" for
his sermons on liberty, and his service as a deputy quartermaster
for the American army. His wife stayed at home with their baby
and a 3 year old toddler. As the British moved into Connecticut
Farms, Hannah Caldwell was shot through a window or wall as she
sat with her children on a bed. She was killed. After the battle
the Americans made much of this in propaganda. They claimed she
was killed by the British in an act of brutality, the British
responded by claiming she had been shot by one of the Americans
firing on the British moving into town.
At 8 am, the British van reached the
defile held by Maxwell's NJ Brigade. The Hessian Jaegars, who
carried rifles, attacked, and were then supported by the rest
of the advance forces. For 3 hours there was an ebb and flow across
the defile. The British were driven back to the village tavern,
then they received reinforcements in the arrival of the second
division, and drove the Americans back across the defile.
The Americans fell back slowly and
with firm resistance through the village. When the British reached
the west end of the village, they paused to regroup and reorganize
units that had been disorganized in the advance. Maxwell decided
to attack, and drove them back some distance before the British
counterattacked, forcing Maxwell back.
Maxwell ordered the men across the
Rahway river, so they could make a stand with the river to their
front. At this time, Captain Eliakim Little, of the militia arrived
with "an old iron 4 pounder". He stationed it behind
the bridge, on a knoll that gave him a good field of fire for
3/4 of a mile. The cannon fire broke the British attack, after
they had twice reached the bridge.
Connecticut Farms was now empty of
armed Americans. The British troops ( these consisted of British
regulars, Loyalists regiments, and Hessians) begin to loot homes,
chop down orchards, then fired the homes and buildings. The neighbors
of Hannah Caldwell begged to be allowed to retrieve her body,
and were given permission to take it out, then the Caldwell home
was burned, with virtually every other house in the village.
At 3 pm, Washington reached Chatham,
on the other side of the mountains, with his army. He sent his
Life Guards, his personal protection unit of 156 men, forward
to help Maxwell. General Maxwell crossed the river again.
General Knyphausen decided to break
off and retire to high ground 2 1/2 miles nearer Elizabethtown
for the night. The Americans followed them and harassed their
retreat, firing on their pickets until dark. Knyphausen was told
by General Clinton's aside, Major Crosbie, that Clinton (commander
in America) was due any day with more troops. This changed the
British agenda- you do not commit part of a force if more men
will soon be available- so he decided to move to Elizabethtown
where they could easily be reinforced.
The British quietly moved out, barely
getting the word to some of their pickets. One non-com and his
squad from the the British 22nd Foot did not get the word and
were captured the next morning.
Washington, in meeting with his officers
had decided on a night attack. Before the Americans could form
for the attack, a tremendous thunderstorm arrived, and the attack
was called off. The storm allowed the British to retreat unmolested,
but caused confusion in moving out in the complete dark. At midnight
the British arrived at Elizabethtown, taking a defensive position,
their men without tents.
In the morning, Washington sent dispatches
to Congress and recalled Colonel "Light Horse" Harry
Lee with his Legion, which had started for Virginia. The "Legion"
was a mixed unit that contained infantry, dragoons and artillery
General "Lord" Alexander
Stirling, ordered by Washington to oversee the militia, issued
the following orders:
June 8th, 1780
You will with all the force you
can muster be as active as possible in annoying the enemy this
day, upon their left flank, endeavoring to put your parties as
much covered by woods as the situation of the country will admit
as you will thereby be the better defended from the attempts of
their horse, altho you are required to harass the enemy as much
as inn your power, at the same time you are requested to be careful
not to expend ammunition unnecessarily, only when the object is
sure. Please to send by the bearer your number as near as can
I am your humble servant,
Later that day, after finding the enemy
gone to Elizabethtown Point, Washington ordered Stirling:
June 8th, 1780
I am just making a detachment of
three battalions under General Hand, which are to be employed
today as actively as the situation of the enemy will permit in
conjunction with the militia. While the enemy remain in their
present position, Maxwell's Brigade will preserve the post it
held last evening, reposing to-day and acting as a covering party.
I shall send it a field piece for this purpose. The troops and
militia, near the enemy must act chiefly in the woods, as this
mode will not only best to harass the enemy, but will be best
adapted to security, especially against horse of which the enemy
are said to have a considerable body.
I wish your Lordship to have the
militia put into some form and endeavor to ascertain their number.
After this you will permit them to act in their won way, having
places of rendezvous to assemble occasionally, and receive orders.
Washington planned a three prong assault
on what he believed to be a small holding party still at Elizabethtown
Point, with Hand's three regiments in the center, and the militia
on the flanks. They began the attack by capturing an officer and
16 men of the 22nd Regiment on picket duty. Heavy cannon fire
soon made General Hand realize he was not attacking a rear guard
but the main force. He ordered the militia to hold position, and
paraded his 800 plus men in front of the British lines. The British
thought it was a lure for a trap and would not come forward. Hand
then sent his men forward to skirmish with the enemy, but not
to assault the enemy positions. They pressured the 22nd regiment
so hard that two Hessian regiments were brought forward to assist,
but found themselves under heavy fire.
At 5pm, Washington was informed of
events by Stirling, and ordered the attack to end. He did not
have the manpower to assault the British, in fact was concerned
about a possible attack from the British.
The militia over the following days
continued to harass the enemy, sniping at outposts and preventing
patrols. The British built a bridge of boats from Staten Island
to Elizabethtown Point, in case of a hurried retreat. The Hessians
believed that 7000 militia were nearby. According to Major Carl
Bauermeister, the Militia " make sudden irregular attacks,
that resemble surprises and are excellent marksmen. We have not
yet learned to to meet them the same way....It is inconceivable
how these people, without being supplied with food, have stuck
together and are as steadfast as the Continental troops."
On the 11th Lee and his dragoons arrived.Washington
ordered all horses and cattle within 5 miles of the enemy driven
collected and driven away.
On the 13th he met with militia officers
and had half of the militia sent home, keeping 1500 (on paper)
with him as forward troops. Probably most of the men kept were
the ones who had marched farther. The closer men could be sent
home and could return sooner at any alarm. Militia had arrived
from the counties of Union, Essex, Somerset, Middlesex and even
southern Hunterdon County.
On the 18th Clinton arrived in New
York and resumed command. He was annoyed to find his plans spoiled
by the activity in New Jersey. He had hoped to find the American
army quietly rotting away. His 4000 addititional men mean Washington
must guard both NJ and the Hudson Highland forts. Washington had
already ordered that the stores of flour held at Morristown be
moved to West Point for safety, and to supply that garrison in
case of attack. On the 21st he moves northward in New Jersey to
guard that wagon train, and Clinton moves ships up the Hudson.
Washington placed General Nathanael Greene in charge of the Elizabethtown
area guard force. Greene had General Maxwell's NJ Brigade of about
650 men, and General John Stark's Brigade, with 3 small regiments
from Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, totaling 461
men, and Major Harry Lee's Legion of 400 men. On paper he had
1500 militia, but these came and went, and some who were supposed
to stay had left. Bt June 23rd only 500 militia remained on hand.
Washington and Greene heard reports
on the 22nd of June that the British plan some move to attack.
Greene recommended that the American army hold its position until
solid information developed.
On the 23rd of June, at 5am, the British
moved out of Elizabethtown Point, and captured the Elizabethtown
outposts and 3 cannon. The Americans still in Elizabethtown evacuated
the town, alerting Generals Maxwell, just west of the town, and
Greene. Greene ordered the planks from the bridges over the Rahway
river removed, leaving the bridges on the branch behind them intact,
in case the men defending the 1st bridges had to retreat. Maxwell
told Colonel Dayton to defend the Galloping Hill Road from Connecticut
Farms, and sent Lee's Legion to defend the Vaux Hall Road.
Greene placed Colonel Isreal Angell's
2nd Rhode Island regiment at the 1st bridge on Galloping Hill
Road, with Colonel Isreal Shreve and the 2nd NJ regiment supporting
them from high ground behind the 2nd bridge, to their rear. At
the Vauxhall Bridge, he sent Colonel Mathias Ogden leading the
1st NJ regiment. Supporting Ogden and Lee were the other NJ regiments
and the 2 regiments left to Starks Brigade, along the slopes of
Greene himself took command of the
militia who were present under General Philemon Dickinson, and
positioned them behind Shreve's men. A few militia were forward,
harassing the British advance. These men had dwindled lately,
as a lack of perceived immediate threat had encouraged the men
to go home. As the British suddenly came out, the militia outposts
were scattered or overrun, and now they made little resistance.
Most of the available militia had gathered under Dickinson and
were with Greene- less than 500 men. More militia began to march
to join the American forces as they learned of the British advance.
At Connecticut Farm, Dayton placed
his men on each side of the defile they had defended on the first
attack on Connecticut Farms. He placed one company and the militia
to the left in an orchard, and to the right the remainder of his
men in a thicket.
They were attacked by a regiment of
the NJ Volunteers, a loyalist unit, ( who had been called by the
American's "the Greens", for their green uniforms, although
they had at this time just been issue redcoats) who soon found
themselves overmatched. They looked to support from Simcoe's Queen's
Rangers. Simcoe, rather than join the fight directly, calmly marched
his men down the road between Dayton's left and right, without
firing a shot. The American's were taken by surprise by the rapid
advance, and failed to prevent it. The Rangers, once behind Dayton's
men, attacked Dayton's left, and the militia broke and ran. Dayton
held his regulars together and made a fighting retreat across
the river to the Rhode Islanders.
General Knyphausen joined the Volunteers
and Rangers with the rest of the British forces. He sent the Rangers,
Volunteers, a Guard regiment and some other British regiments
to attack the Vauxhall Bridge to the east. He kept the German
units under his own command.
Once in position the British forces
made a simultaneous attack. The German troops made several attempts
to take the bridge, but were repulsed by a single cannon on a
rise behind the Rhode Islanders. Once the British brought up their
own guns, they killed Captain Tom Thompson commanding the gun
and disabled it. They then rushed the bridge again, getting a
sergeant and a few privates over its bare runners, but they were
shot down on the other side.
The Jaegers then split to the flanks,
the British 37th and 38th Regiments moved to the center and attacked
across the river, which is only a few feet deep. Under heavy fire
from both the infantry and the British cannons, Angell's men held
out for almost a half hour. They fought five times their number.
During this part of the fight, the
men began to call for more wadding, used to hold powder and ball
in place. Reverend Caldwell, who was nearby, heard this and raced
to the Presbyterian Church to get paper. He returned with Watt's
Hymnals, and handed them out, saying, "Give 'em Watt's boys,
Give 'em Watts!".
Gradually Angell's men were under fire
from both front and both sides. They made a fighting retreat to
the next bridge and the support of Shreve's 2nd NJ Regiment and
the NJ militia.
The British continued to advance. This
branch of the river is also easily fordable, and the British forces
attacked across it again. They were stopped. They brought up cannon
to fire on the Americans, and sent the 38th Regiment to attack
the American right. This flank attack was halted when a unit of
Continentals in a stone house opened fire, and then a militia
unit came out in a counter attack, forcing them back. The militia
were in turn driven back when they advanced close enough to come
under fire by the British massed forces.
When the British advanced again on
the right, Greene ordered his men back to the high ground reserves.
Once in possession of the town, the British halted. Greene also
sent Lt. Col. Barber to check on the Vauxhall Road.
To the east, on the Vauxhall Road,
Lee's Legion and Ogden's Regiment, with a good number of militia
on the flank, were placed in an extended line to each side of
the bridge. When the Rangers and Volunteers again lead the attack,
Lee realized that his extended line was too thin to hold. He made
a fighting retreat across the west branch of the river. Lee placed
his men by companies again to cover the road, but again Simcoe
declined firing and marched across the bridge, formed and attacked.
At the same time the Volunteers skirmished with the militia on
the right, and the Light Infantry went around his left. The Light
Infantry fought a series of sharp small fights across a thicket
filled defile. Finally they brought Lee's men under a flanking
fire, and more British were forming for a larger attack.
Barber, arriving on the scene, realized
Lee needed help, and reported it back to Greene. Greene ordered
the other two Rhode Island regiments to move in support, and also
sent a cannon.
When they arrived Lee was falling back
again to the slopes of the Short Hills. When the additional 400
regulars arrived the British halted, seeing the militia were beginning
to mass forces on the mountain above them. The Rangers continued
to advance until the American cannon took them under fire.
The British in order to advance down
the Vauxhall Road would have to face attack from front and flanks.
Militia was gathering in force to the right on the mountain slope.
British Major General Mathew decided to take a cross roads into
Springfield and rejoin Knyphausen.
During this respite, Greene reorganized
and resupplied his men, and moved back closer to Hobart Gap, pulling
Lee to a supportable position on the east side of the Gap.
The American's, although pushed back
by superior numbers, had done well, and were ready to continue.
The British had had enough. They began to retreat back to Elizabethtown.
The loyalists present, mostly civilians, set fire to every Whig
building on the way out. The British forces did not stop them.
The American's first inkling that the battle was over was the
sight of the smoke arising from many homes in Springfield. Greene
ordered him men to advance on the outskirts of town to protect
as many buildings as possible, but most of the town was in British
possession. Only four homes owned by British sympathizers escaped
The British began to march for Elizabethtown,
one column down Vauxhall Road and one down Galloping Hill Road.
The Rangers guarded the rear on Vauxhall, the Jaegers on Galloping
Hill roads. Greene sent the two Rhode Island regiments that had
not seen much fighting after them, but they were two miles behind
The militia however already had men
on the flanks, and were soon joined by more. They began to extract
revenge from both columns. The Jaegers made only light attempts
to prevent attacks, and the Americans successfully harassed that
The Rangers however had not lost so
many men, and were able to keep the American militia at bay. NJ
Militia General Heard finally had to call the militia back, and
had them follow at a distance.
The British did not stop long at Elizabethtown,
and crossed over a bridge of boats to Staten Island. They had
lost over 307 men killed, wounded or captured.
Again and again during the war the
British expected that loyal Americans would turn out to support
them, that the American army would fail to stand up and fight.
The Springfield campaign was another of these miscalculations.
No one in the American camp understood at the time what the British
hoped to achieve- the Americans knew that no 6 thousand men could
reach Morristown. It was only late in the 1800's when the British
records became available that it was found that they had hoped
to reach Morristown and destroy the army and stores there. Since
it seemed pointless, it was deemed just another large raid, and
with the major effort of the war happening in the south, this
campaign became the "Forgotten" victory.
Most history books don't even mention
this battle, with 6000 British troops attacking half that number
of Continentals. However, it was an American victory, an effective
defense, and the last large battle in the north.
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