I just wanted to add this to the thread that is about
to scroll off the bottom of the page.
In the battle of Long Island the Americans were over matched. They were untrained and ill equipped. The British had sent an army of 30,000 professional soldiers and were poised to obliterate the Americans. This army was the largest contingent of troops ever transported from Europe until that time and for some time afterwards.
The only thing that saved the American arm was General Howe's affinity for Americans and his view on how to handle the insurrection. That and the incredible luck in the appearance of a morning fog and a change of wind direction after the Americans were cut to pieces at the Gowanus river.
Howe was tainted by the deference the Americans payed to his older brother after his death in the French and Indian war. Howe also believed that all he needed to do was hand the rebels an embarrassing defeat and they would throw in the towel. Howe did not want to obliterate the Americans because he thought of them as British subjects that were being led by traitors.
Other than the battles of Bunker Hill in 1776, Saratoga in 1777, Kings Mountain in 1780, Cowpens in 1780 and Yorktown the Americans lost every single battle they fought with the British. (Monmouth Courthouse was not an American win)
And in that regard, each British loss can be explained by extemporaneous events.
The Americans won the war because Washington adopted a Fabian strategy of avoiding pitched battle whenever possible and just being satisfied keeping an army in the field. Doing so wore down the British will to win because it was incredibly expensive for them to keep their armies in America and, ultimately, the amount of treasure they earned from the colonies paled in comparison to the income they got from their Caribbean islands and India.
To be clear, Howe could have won the war in 1776 by cutting Washington's line of retreat either in Brooklyn or in northern Manhattan.
After that opportunity passed, the British had very little chance of winning the war.
In regard to Pell's Point, I've read that Clinton, who was one of Howe's subordinates at the time, wanted to land in a different area which would have afforded the British a better chance of cutting off Washington's retreat to White Plains.
And, to boot, when the British soldiers disembarked from their ships in the Bronx they took their time advancing, deciding to set up camp and wait for the next day.
The early British deployments, all the way through to Brandywine and even after Germantown in 1777, where slow and without urgency.
It's pretty clear to most historians, and to me as well, that Howe blew it and that his chance to end the war in the first year, and particularly in and around New York, was the last best chance the British had.
“Other than the battles of Bunker Hill in 1776, Saratoga in 1777, Kings Mountain in 1780, Cowpens in 1780 and Yorktown the Americans lost every single battle they fought with the British. (Monmouth Courthouse was not an American win)”
Are you excluding Trenton because it was against Hessians? And what about the Battle of Princeton? Also, Battle of Bennington, unless you’re collapsing that route under the Saratoga Campaign. There was also the Siege of Boston in which Washington expelled the British. Not to mention the highly successful assault on Stoney Point.
“Other than the battles of Bunker Hill in 1776, Saratoga in 1777, Kings Mountain in 1780, Cowpens in 1780 and Yorktown the Americans lost every single battle they fought with the British. (Monmouth Courthouse was not an American win)”
Are you excluding Trenton because it was against Hessians? And what about the Battle of Princeton? Also, Battle of Bennington, unless you’re collapsing that route under the Saratoga Campaign. There was also the Siege of Boston in which Washington expelled the British. Not to mention the highly successful assault on Stoney Point.
Yes. Good catch. I forgot to include Trenton and Princeton. However, in my defense, Trenton and Princeton were exceeding small engagements when compared with engagements such as Brandywine, Camden, Brooklyn, White Plains, and Guilford Courthouse.
Trenton and Princeton were small even compared to Cowpens, Bennington, Green Springs and Hubberton.
And yes, I folded Bennington, Hubberton and Ticonderoga into the Saratoga campaign.
Quote:
Your Words:
“Other than the battles of Bunker Hill in 1776, Saratoga in 1777, Kings Mountain in 1780, Cowpens in 1780 and Yorktown the Americans lost every single battle they fought with the British. (Monmouth Courthouse was not an American win)”
Are you excluding Trenton because it was against Hessians? And what about the Battle of Princeton? Also, Battle of Bennington, unless you’re collapsing that route under the Saratoga Campaign. There was also the Siege of Boston in which Washington expelled the British. Not to mention the highly successful assault on Stoney Point.
Yes. Good catch. I forgot to include Trenton and Princeton. However, in my defense, Trenton and Princeton were exceeding small engagements when compared with engagements such as Brandywine, Camden, Brooklyn, White Plains, and Guilford Courthouse.
Trenton and Princeton were small even compared to Cowpens, Bennington, Green Springs and Hubberton.
And yes, I folded Bennington, Hubberton and Ticonderoga into the Saratoga campaign.
Stony Point was a mere skirmish. If you really want to hold my feet to the fire you could have also mentioned the Battle of Connecticut Farms.
Let's be honest. There were literally thousands of actions during the Revolutionary War. There were over 700 in New Jersey alone and I do not know any accounting of the number of battles that occurred during the Southern Campaign.
But lets not quibble.
John Paulding applied to Congress to have his war pension increased in his last frail years… he was dying and needed the money desperately. This wasn't actually a war pension, but rather a special lifelong annuity in recognition of his invaluable service for capturing Major John Andre in Tarrytown, who was carrying Benedict Arnold’s plans of West Point in his boot. John Paulding (as well as Isaac Van Wart and David Williams) were heroes, and the then new Congress wanted to do something special for them. That was around 1780.
Strangely enough, there was a huge Congressional battle over the funds requested by John Paulding in 1817, initiated by a scathing attack by a Congressman Tallmadge – he not only railed against Paulding, but the other two captors of Andre as well.
Stranger still -- during the Revolution, the then Major Benjamin Tallmadge was Washington’s Chief of Espionage, and he actually interviewed the captured Major Andre and came away very impressed with the English gentleman. Thirty-seven years later, his favorable impression of Andre took on a positively golden glow, and in rejecting Paulding’s petition he called into question the motives of Major Andre’s captors.
Turns out, they had Major Andre remove his boots… they were probably going to strip him of all his valuables, which would have been standard operating procedure during the Revolution in Westchester County -- it was the Neutral Ground, so take what you can while you can. That’s when Benedict Arnold’s plans for the capture of West Point fell out of Andre’s boot, and Paulding – the only one of the three who could read – decided they had a much bigger fish on their hands, so they decided to turn him over to Washington’s Army.
(In other words, Paulding, Van Wart and Williams may not have been part of the regular army. Maybe more like militia, or maybe militia when they wanted to be militia, if you get my drift.)
The question is: Why was Tallmadge so black-hearted about the event so many years later?
Turns out it was a matter of Tallmadge looking down his long patrician nose at the plebian, Paulding… he couldn’t believe an ordinary citizen would act from selfless motives for the greater good. Such noble behavior was reserved for Paulding’s betters… for a gentleman who was multi-lingual, artistic, a writer of verse, a flutist… a man just like the cherished Major Andre, motivated by the highest principles.
And the attack got worse. Tallmadge worked himself into such a fury against Paulding’s petition that he actually went on record calling all three ‘freebooters’, and that he would have probably arrested them had they ever crossed his path in the Neutral Ground… that is, within the jurisdiction of Westchester County.
What is so strange about Tallmadge's behavior is that General George Washington himself denied Major Andre’s request to be shot like a gentleman, and had him strung up like a crass, ordinary spy because he was discovered in civilian clothes carrying Arnold’s plans to West Point. And there was no way -- after so many years -- that Congressman Tallmadge forgot this simple fact since he attended the execution.
But Tallmadge was later brought to book. There was a New York judge by the name of Benson who came to the defense of all three of Andre’s captors, launching a withering attack on Tallmadge. His first blow reminded everyone that regardless of their original intent, Paulding, Van Wart and Williams had to be judged by their deeds, which meant they probably saved West Point from capture, thus the entire defense of the Hudson River and, perhaps, the very life of our young nation.
Then Benson went in for the coup de grace… since Tallmadge never once raised a word of protest during his years in Congress over the three of them receiving their special pension – why, then, his diatribe against the Paulding petition in 1817? After all, wasn’t Congressman Tallmadge responsible for overseeing the proper and judicious dispersal of the people’s money?
That put a stopper on the mischief whipped up by Congressman Tallmadge!
Don't hold me to that reference. I might have read about it somewhere else.
In colonial times, regular soldiers were given little respect by their own side let along when captured by the opposition. Officers held themselves to in higher regard and rarely shared in the depravations endured by the common man. The incident you write about is tangential to the long wait for pensions that common soldiers had to endure after the war.
Sounds familar?
Don't hold me to that reference. I might have read about it somewhere else.
In colonial times, regular soldiers were given little respect by their own side let along when captured by the opposition. Officers held themselves to in higher regard and rarely shared in the depravations endured by the common man. The incident you write about is tangential to the long wait for pensions that common soldiers had to endure after the war.
Sounds familar?
Very true. Maybe it all boils down to the "class divide."
Ken Burns is a celebrated American documentary filmmaker, known for producing critically acclaimed historical series for PBS.
Link - ( New Window )
Ken Burns is a celebrated American documentary filmmaker, known for producing critically acclaimed historical series for PBS. Link - ( New Window )
I can't wait for it to come out. From what I can gather, it is going to focus on the military campaigns from the common man's, and woman's, perspective.