Solid Soldier

Oft mentioned, Little Known

I have profiled a few of the "second-tier" First Patriots, those who played important but less widely lauded roles in the American war for independence. This blog looks at one such person but from the British side. As I did my homework and research for some of the backdrops to the Yankee Doodle Spies, the name of one British officer appeared more regularly than others. The name  Alexander Leslie popped up in battles and campaigns from New York to the Carolinas. I began to wonder about this man who seemed to lead troops and be in the most interesting places but never seemed to be the guy, as was the case with say, a Simon Fraser or Banastre Tarleton.

Alexander Leslie

Before the outbreak of War

Alexander Leslie, son of the Earl of Leven and Melville, joined the army in 1753, as an ensign in the Third Foot Guards. In 1768, he was lieutenant-colonel of the 64th regiment, stationed in Boston. His quick rise in rank is an indicator of Britain's extensive military commitments during that period of warfare. Leslie served with the British garrison at Boston prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1775. Before the American War of Independence broke out, he led troops on a mission to Salem, Massachusetts to find contraband weapons, including cannon, held by the Patriots. A confrontation (not physical) with rebels at a raised bridge disrupted the mission and delayed his advance. His force was eventually allowed to proceed into Salem, but found nothing of consequence and retreated. An early version of Lexington and Concord was narrowly averted. One wonders if a more hot-blooded commander would have brought a different result. It is said a spy provided Leslie's commander Gage with faulty intelligence.

The Retreat at Salem Bridge

Mostly success in the North

Leslie's Light Infantry led the night movement
that cut off a large part of the rebel army on Long Island

By the New York campaign of 1776, he was a brigadier-general. He led troops on Long Island, at Kip's Bay, and at Harlem Heights. Leslie commanded a brigade of Light Infantry, elite soldiers more adept at fighting in the fields and forests of America. Men who could shoot, move and fight better than most. His brigade formed the advanced guard of General William Howe's strategic night envelopment of Washington's forces. The Light Infantry seized the strategic Jamaica pass at night and led an advance in the dark that cut off a large portion of the American troops. Leslie's command suffered 63 casualties for their efforts. This was a relatively small amount for such a critical and successful action but the numbers mirror those of the other brigades that fully engaged during that sultry day near Brooklyn. But when the British took New York, Leslie's British Light Infantry was mauled by Colonel Thomas Knowlton's Rangers at the Battle of Harlem Heights. Unfortunately for the American cause, Knowlton was mortally wounded. Much of this is captured in book one of Yankee Doodle Spies, The Patriot Spy.

Battle of Harlem Heights

When the British landed north of New York in October 1776, Leslie's command was once more in the fray but he suffered heavy losses at the Battle of White Plains.  The solid and steady Leslie missed a chance to earn glory came at Princeton in January of 1777. General Washington had escaped the onslaught of the British under Lord Cornwallis by a night march around the British left towards Princeton, which lay several miles to Cornwallis's rear. Leslie commanded the brigade garrisoning Maidenhead (today's Lawrenceville, NJ). Lord Cornwallis ordered Leslie and Mawhood's brigades into action. But before Leslie could play a role, the vanguard of the Continentals smashed through Colonel Mawhood's brigade and took Princeton. The Continental Army escaped Cornwallis and found sanctuary behind the Watchung Mountains at Morristown. Leslie also participated in the siege of Charleston as commander of the combined brigade: four battalions of Light Infantry and elite Grenadiers, the cream of the British troops. When Charleston fell Leslie initially took command of the city. He remained there only a couple of weeks. Once he had organized the garrison General Henry Clinton ordered him back to the main British garrison in New York. He took command of the Light Infantry and Grenadiers quartered there.

Washington leads the attack at Princeton

Struggling in the South

In the autumn of 1780, Clinton sent Leslie to the Chesapeake Bay at the head of an expedition intended to divert American forces and then seize the stores of supplies the Americans had gathered for their defense. Leslie reached Virginia in October, but soon received orders from Cornwallis (he was now under his command) to continue on to Charleston. Leslie must have realized that Virginia would prove critical to the successful conclusion of the war because, before he continued south, he sought confirmation from Clinton. His correspondence suggests that he went south only reluctantly. Prior to leaving Virginia, he wrote Clinton that he hoped "you will be able to take up this ground; for it certainly is the key to the wealth of Virginia and Maryland." But south he went. Leslie arrived in Charleston in mid-December. There he received orders to march inland and rendezvous with Cornwallis's army. Cornwallis's decided to wait for Leslie to reinforce him before proceeding to link up with BanastreTarleton. That decision proved a crucial mistake. Delayed by bad weather, Leslie's force reached the main army camp on 18 January, one day after the Battle of Cowpens. Tarleton had to face Daniel Morgan's division without support from Cornwallis, whose presence might have made it a British victory instead of a resounding defeat.

The Cowpens

 Leslie's command accompanied Cornwallis's forces in pursuit of General Nathaniel Greene's army. At Guilford Courthouse, he commanded the British right in a style which Cornwallis praised in his follow-up dispatch: "I have been particularly indebted to Major-General Leslie for his gallantry and exertion in the action, as well as his assistance in every other part of the service". Leslie took part in the tortuous march north from the Carolinas into Virginia, one of the amazing feats of the war. However, Leslie was not with Cornwallis at the siege and surrender of Yorktown. By the summer of 1781, his health deteriorated to a point where Cornwallis transferred him to Charleston, whence Clinton recalled him to New York.

But the stay in New York was short-lived. On August 31st, Clinton ordered him to sail once more to  Charleston and assume command. After Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Clinton placed Leslie in command of all British forces in the south. The weather and strain of command proved grueling on Leslie. He had a bad fall from his horse that debilitated him and complicated his other ailments. Recognizing his ill health, he asked to return to New York but Clinton could not spare him. He remained in command throughout the rest of the year despite numerous requests to be relieved due to deteriorating physical stamina and the ability to handle stress. Leslie had toiled in America for years, his wife was dead and he had a sole daughter whom he wished to see and ensure a suitable marriage. He pointed out several suitable replacements but Clinton, although professing sympathy, delayed and stonewalled his requests.

After the British took Charleston it became the "Green Zone"
of the southern theater

Frustrating Finish

So Leslie soldiered on, supervising the demise of British interests in the south and after the treaty, organizing the consolidation and elimination of British garrisons while dealing with unrelenting rebels, disheartened troops, and complaining Loyalists, who watched in disbelief as their birthright and lives evaporated as the British withdrawal from Charleston approached. As it turned out, Leslie's command in Charleston outlasted Clinton's stay in New York, which the new British commander in chief General Guy Carleton would have the honor of evacuating. Gradually withdrawing the British inland garrisons from outposts, maintaining order, and fending off rebel incursions, was no easy task and offered little glory. The time in Charleston would have sapped the strength of a robust man. The southern rebels were among the most active throughout the war and bitter small-scale fighting, theft of property (by both sides), and general mayhem hallmarked his command. As Loyalists in the thousands descended on the sanctuary of Charleston (another sort of "Green Zone" like New York) the sheer task of the care and feeding of civilians became daunting. Leslie's efforts to arrange a cease-fire of sorts went unheeded by the Americans, who now smelled blood and always smelled a trap from the British. Leslie held command of the city itself until it was finally evacuated in December 1782.

Back (at last) to Britain

Leslie, who would remain a widower his life, returned to Scotland in 1783. On a happy note, he was able to witness the wedding of his daughter, Mary-Anne, in 1787.  By accounts, Leslie was liked by his peers, considered genteel and mild-mannered by most. His life after America is surprisingly obscure given the fact he was appointed deputy commander of the forces in Britain. In 1794 he was near Glasgow, Scotland where he led troops to suppress a rebellion by the Breadalbane Regiment of Fencibles. Some accounts claim he was hit by a stone while marching some of the prisoners away and died shortly after. However, at least one eyewitness account disputes that and points to a Major Leslie as the victim. Regardless, the quiet and easy-going Scot died in December of that year. His demise was, like his army career, without fanfare and little noted. Yet the stalwart Scot should not be dismissed lightly. He served honorably and through great hardship and unlike so many of his contemporaries, with little regard for his own glory.

Yankee Doodle Music

I am going out on a very long and shaky limb with this post. I have decided to add a bit of culture to my musings on the time of the American War for Independence, aka the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. Music is a reflection of the society and culture from which it springs: aspirations, frustrations, and dreams all collide in a mix that is meant to inspire, influence, and sometimes just entertain. Whether music is composed for the concert hall, salon, church, or tavern, it has an effect on society and sometimes helps transform it. Since the American Revolution was one of the most transformative events in history, its music bears some attention. Because I happen to be listening to some of Haydn's string quartets as I write, I will focus on "serious" music during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies in this post.

Mozart

Within the genre that we call "classical" music, the eighteenth century was a time of transition from the Baroque period actually called the Classical. In some ways, the transition mirrors the overall cultural shift during what is called the Age of Reason. During the eighteenth century, a new awakening to the study and appreciation of classical Greece and Rome led to a renewed interest in classical architecture, literature, arts, and history. The study of those once forgotten languages flourished. Oratory became an important part of education, as did mathematics and science. The evolution of music from the more formal and structured Baroque to the less formal and cleaner style of the classical period is a manifestation of this period of transition. Such music was still associated with court culture and absolutism, with its formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy. After all, these were the patrons, sponsors, and benefactors.  They paid the bills. But the new style was also "cleaner" - favoring clearer divisions between parts, starker contrasts, and simplicity rather than complexity. As the 18th century progressed, the nobility became the primary patrons of instrumental music, while public taste increasingly preferred comic opera. This led to changes in the way music was performed and written. The central figure of the last quarter of the century was, of course, Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's compositions characterized the music of the classical era.

Most gatherings included but a few instruments

Across the ocean, things followed, albeit more slowly. The period of Puritan domination (That is New England) was waning by the 1730s  and musical concerts began to spring up. The first public concert in America, of which we have a record, was held in Boston. This took place in 1731, at a time when the New England ban against secular music was gradually waning. The event, called "a Concert of Music on sundry Instruments," was held in "the great room" of a local dancing master, who was also a teacher, tradesman, and a tobacco trader. A few years later Fanueil Hall began to be used for musical concerts.  By 1754 there was a concert hall at the corner of Hanover and Court Streets in Boston. The next American city to have a public concert was Charleston, South Carolina. The upper classes already had their private recitals, dances, and such. Then came to New York. In 1736 there was advertised a "Consort of Musick, Vocal, and Instrumental," where various instruments were showcased. Philadelphia had its first public concert in 1757. But as the largest city in the American colonies, Philadelphia likely had private concerts previous to this as it had a vibrant culture of entertainment (despite the strong Quaker influences). By George Washington's time, the variety of musical instruments used in America was growing. As early as 1761,  Washington ordered a spinet from England. The harpsichord, and later the piano-forte, were found in many homes and were used at concerts. Violins and cellos were well-known, and the versatile German flute grew in popularity.

The concert programs of the day provide a glimpse of the instruments that were most used, for many of them announced the instrumentation of the orchestras that performed, as well as the instruments used by soloists. At least one concert in 1769 included solos on the violin, flute, clarinet, harpsichord, and the mandolino.  Other instruments used during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies included the violin, the violas, flutes, and French horns. Trombones were in use too. According to one account one night in 1755 a number of trombonists at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania warded off an Indian attack by playing chorales. Trumpets were introduced in America by the early eighteenth century. Wood-winds such as the oboe and the bassoon were beginning to appear as well. All of these were in very small numbers and scattered nearer the more developed parts of the colonies. The point is this - by the mid-eighteenth century, the colonies were growing economically.  Cultural expansion followed and the tools (instruments) made their way across the ocean to fill the need.

The Snare Drum is one of the oldest military instruments

During the mid-eighteenth century, American church music also began to come into its own. So called Psalm Music was primarily vocal, as was most music in colonial America. Perhaps the great religious awakening of the mid-century spurred it on. Regardless, this was the harbinger of the unique relationship between church and secular that exists even today. It should be remembered that the same phenomena existed in Europe as well. Most musicians wrote for both audiences. The military also had an impact on musical appreciation as the American Revolution broke out. Military bands had both “field music,” primarily fife and drum to move troops around the battlefield as well as “bands of music.’ The latter were small ensembles hired by officers to play at balls, fetes, and sometimes for the public. These were the antecedents to the later 19th century bands that became popular in America and Europe and still perform public functions today. The music fifes and drums played can be identified from published tutors and from tune books written out by the players themselves.  Giles Gibbs's.  Book for the Fife (1777) represented all of the music needed for an army: military signals and marches, but also dances, songs, and hymns. It also includes the music to the song we know today as "Yankee Doodle."

Military bands came into their own during the
struggle for independence

In the fall of 1768 British troops landed in Boston to protect crown officials who were being harassed by local citizens and could not carry out their duties. The British regiments had bands of music attached to them. By 1769 these bands were participating in public concerts. The programs included symphonies, concertos, overtures, and songs—not military music, but typical eighteenth-century concert fare. Americans organized their military units along British lines, and military musicians were part of the plan. The Continental Army, consisting of one artillery and twenty-seven infantry regiments, was formed from the various state militias. Each regiment had eight companies of ninety officers and men, including two fifers and two drummers. Drum majors and fife majors were also appointed in many regiments to instruct and lead the field music. The organization thus provided positions quite a number of fifers and drummers alone—448 of each. Whether or not all fife and drum positions were filled, military music had a forcible impact on the atmosphere of American towns and cities after the outbreak of the war. Legend has it that at the surrender of General Cornwallis’s troops ending the siege of Yorktown, a British military band played a popular tune of the period as the British and Hessians grounded their arms: “The World Turned Upside Down.” There is no contemporary account of this (the story grew out of an early 19th-century memoir) but clearly, the very idea that a musical theme should accompany such a momentous occasion completes the cycle that made music a central part of American culture in the years following America's independence.

The World Turned Upside Down? Musically, politically...

The next look at music during the Revolutionary War will focus on the “pop music” of the day. Songs sung by the masses were used by both sides to rally support their causes. Out of that genre came the first composer born in America whom we shall meet next time.

Wizard Owl

As I studied the American War for Independence in preparing the Yankee Doodle Spies novels, the name of Andrew Pickens seemed to appear at pivotal moments in the Southern Campaign. Who was this person? When one thinks of the American Revolution in South Carolina, the names Francis Marion, William Moultrie, and Thomas Sumter readily come to mind.  I thought it was time to give Pickens his due.

General Andrew Pickens

 Frontiersman:  This little-known First Patriot was one of the foremost South Carolinians and Americans. He was a prominent frontiersman, successful farmer, and accomplished soldier who later went on to serve as a South Carolina representative in Congress. Andrew Pickens was born in Pennsylvania in 1739. The son of Scots-Irish immigrants, at thirteen, Pickens moved with his family to seek lands further south. They traveled the route of many other Scots-Irish of the time: down the Shenandoah Valley, where they settled for a while in Augusta County, Virginia. Eventually, they moved on to South Carolina, settling first near Waxhaws on the North-South Carolina border and finally in Abbeville County, near the Georgia line. The family settled in an area called the Long Canes. Here, Andrew  Pickens married. He farmed and raised cattle like many of the other settlers. The young Pickens became acquainted with his Indian neighbors and traded with them.



 Patriot:  As the American Revolution approached, political feelings were strong in the South - both ways. From the start, its inhabitants split between Patriots and Loyalists (or Whigs and Tories). Pickens was an ardent Patriot and soon emerged as a military leader, first in expeditions as a militia captain against the Cherokee, who had allied with the Loyalists in hopes of retaining their lands. In 1779, the British sent soldiers to South Carolina and North Georgia to encourage Loyalist support. The now Colonel Pickens led his three-hundred-man militia in efforts to aid the Patriot cause. He overtook and defeated a much larger force of over 700 men under Loyalist Colonel Boyd at Kettle Creek in North Georgia just south of the Long Canes.

Battle of Kettle Creek

 Warrior:  The victory at Kettle Creek slowed the recruitment of Loyalists on the frontier. But by 1780  the British had taken Charleston, captured the southern Continental Army, and marched inland from the Carolina coast. The situation was dire.  When Charleston fell in May of 1780, Pickens and other militia leaders surrendered to the British and, on oath, agreed to sit out the war under British protection. But the Loyalists destroyed his farm and frightened his family, providing Pickens the grounds to declare his parole broken and take the field once more. He called together his band of militia and began to wage guerrilla war in reprisal.  The war in the South was brutal. Pickens borrowed heavily from the Cherokee style of war and used those skills in partisan warfare.  He was courageous and brilliant in leading partisans.

Battle of the Cowpens

In January 1781, British Colonel Bastre Tarlton tried to destroy an American force under famed rifleman Daniel Morgan. Pickens was a leader of militias in the engagement and played a key role in defeating British Colonel Tarleton. American commander Daniel Morgan had decided to use the reputation of the militia as a rabble who wouldn't stand against a disciplined British attack to bait the British.  As they waited for the enemy, Morgan asked them for "just two volleys and then retreat." Easier said than done in most cases.  But with Pickens commanding the militia, they did just as Morgan asked. When the British saw the militia retreat they thought they had the victory won and advanced straight into Morgan's trap. Pickens's men rallied behind the Continentals and took part in the victory, which came at a crucial time for the Patriots in the south. Until then, they had been repeatedly forced to retreat before British forces. For his "spirited conduct" at Cowpens, the Continental Congress presented Pickens with a sword, and the State of South Carolina promoted him to Brigadier-General in the state militia. Pickens seemed to be at all the key engagements in the South. Besides Cowpens, Charleston, and Savannah, he was at Augusta (Georgia) when it fell. Pickens was at Ninety-Six for more than one of its many engagements. In numerous skirmishes, he leveraged his knowledge of the Cherokee way of war to flush out the many Tories in their midst.

Pickens later served in Congress

 Citizen:  After the Revolution, Pickens acquired land in frontier South Carolina on the banks of the Keowee River, across from the old Cherokee town of Seneca. There, he built a house named "Hopewell" and became a backcountry gentleman. He served as a political middleman between the Cherokees and the new American nation. Although  Pickens had begun his military career by fighting the Cherokee in the Anglo-Cherokee War, he was well-respected by tribal leaders. They called him "Skyagunsta" – or Wizard Owl. In his later years, he sympathized with Indian causes.  Among the whites, he was sometimes known as "The Fighting Elder" because of his Presbyterian beliefs. Like many frontier settlers, Pickens was a family man. He married Rebecca Floride Calhoun in 1765. They had 12 children. Pickens served as A US Congressman. His son, Andrew Pickens Jr., was governor of South Carolina from 1817-1819, and Ezekiel Pickens became a lieutenant governor of South Carolina from 1802-1804. A grandson, Francis Wilkinson Pickens, was also a governor of South Carolina from 1860-1862.  Andrew Pickens died near Tamassee, South Carolina, in Oconee County, on Aug. 11, 1817. He is buried at Old Stone Church Cemetery in Clemson, South Carolina. On a final note, It is said that Pickens's war experiences helped provide the basis for the Mel Gibson film The Patriot. And there are certainly some overlaps indicating they drew somewhat from it. Clearly, if the writers had stayed truer to Pickens's remarkable life, the film would have been all the better for it. Certainly, our nation is all the better for it.

General Andrew Pickens' Grave at Clemson

The Hessians

Who were these guys?

In the days when American schools taught history with some substance, almost all students learned the word "Hessian" when the American Revolutionary War was taught. These were those big, bad foreigners hired to help crush the rebellion. Tall men who fought us with a cold-bloodedness that even discomforted some  British officers and men. Most of what we learned in school of the Hessians centered around perhaps their lowest moment - the battle of Trenton in which a force of over a thousand crack infantry was captured by General George Washington's rabble of a half-starved army. But the Hessians were just some of the Germans King George leased to suppress the rebellion. Although they made up the largest contingent - more than half. Since there were some German settlers in parts of  Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia it was convenient to pin all the German mercenaries with the name, a name that came to send chills down the spines of Americans.

Who they were

German soldiers made up about a quarter of the British fighting force in America. That term Hessian is applied to all the soldiers fighting in units leased to the King of England by the various prince-lings of the place called Germany. Friederich Wilhelm II, Landgraf of Hesse Cassel, was the most renowned of the German prince-lings and he had the best mercenary force on the continent. In the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies, Germany comprised over 300 independent yet interdependent states, dukedoms, princedoms, archbishoprics, electorates, margravates, landgraves and such. These would be greatly consolidated some thirty-five years later by Napoleon. But the majority were from the areas of Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Hanau. Others came from regiments raised in Brunswick, Anspach-Bayreuth, Waldeck, and Anhalt-Zerbst.

Hessian Grenadiers

The typical German soldier was conscripted from the lower classes of these regions: men who had no other recourse to avoid conscription such as paying a tax, leveraging social position, or bribing a corrupt official. Occasionally these "dregs" included craftsmen, tradesmen, educated men, and other men of substance as well as the occasionally fallen cleric. But most German soldiers who came to fight in America were farm boys who came from farms that reached hard times. So in most instances, these men were forced into service by circumstances. The fortunate soldier who did not fall in battle or succumb to disease might reach the rank of corporal or sergeant. But calling the German soldiers mercenaries is a bit misleading. They were soldiers serving in the army of their prince. It was their princes who were mercenary in leasing out whole regiments and companies to the King of England. This was not an uncommon occurrence in the 18th century.

Hessian Jaegers zu Fuss und zu Pferde

Where  they served

The first wave of German troops came over in 1776 to reinforce the British for the planned attack on New York. Their first engagement was in the Battle of Long Island but the Hessians also fought in many other battles in the Revolutionary War including Harlem Heights; Fort Washington;  White Plains; Savannah; Trenton; Bennington; Bemis Heights; Freeman's Farm; and Guilford Courthouse. They served as garrison forces and in hundreds of smaller engagements throughout the colonies. German troops made up a considerable chunk of the Cornwallis' surrendering army at Yorktown. They were noted for their ruthlessness and the American propagandists missed no opportunity to leverage that to stir up fear, anger, and resentment against them and their British masters.

Hessians were present at Yorktown's surrender

How many came

Jaegers

The British purchased the services of 30,000 German soldiers, the payment of which went into the royal coffers of the German princes, not the troops. The units came from the German states of Hesse Cassel, Hesse Hanau, Brunswick, Anspach, Bayreuth, Anhalt Zerbst, and Waldeck.

               Place               Number sent    Number not returned home

           Hesse Cassel                16,992             6,500

           Hesse Hannau                 2,422               981

           Brunswick                    5,723             3,015

           Anspach - Bayreuth           2,553             1,178

           Anhalt Zerbst                1,152               168

           Waldeck                      1,225               720

The total sent was 30,067 from 1776 to 1782; 12,562 did not return... 7,754 dead (mostly from disease) and 4,808 remained in America... Perhaps making them perhaps the first great wave of non-English speaking immigrants to America. 

How they dressed and armed

The Hessian soldiers included infantry plus hussars (dismounted), three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers. The infantry were sharpshooters, musketeers, and fusiliers who were armed with smoothbore muskets. The line companies were armed with musket, bayonet, and hanger (short sword). The line infantry made a contrast to the redcoats with their dark blue jackets. They wore tricorne hats. In a style unique to the Germans, the traditional queue, the fashion at the time, was twisted so tightly it protruded straight out from beneath the German headgear giving the appearance of a skillet handle. The Jaeger units carried a special short rifled musket and were excellent skirmishing in the rough American terrain. Most were hunters in Germany and excellent shots. They wore distinctive dark green jackets and hunting style hats. The grenadiers (easy to spot in their tall miter hats) were the biggest of the big. German troops, especially those from Hesse-Cassell, were powerfully built. The Hessian artillery used three-pounder cannons (so-called because they fired three-pound balls). These lighter cannon supported the infantry and were more manageable in the dense forests of America. A key event in the attack by the Americans on the Hessian Garrison at Trenton in December 1776 was a fight over one such cannon. Over one thousand Hessian soldiers were captured in the struggle, which arguably prevented the American cause from ending that winter. This is mentioned in book two of the Yankee Doodle Spies, The Cavalier Spy.

Hessians overrun Fort Washington

How they fought

Well, they fought well. The German regiments were disciplined, could endure great hardship, were highly trained and skilled, and most of all brave. Despite the harsh terms of their enlistment and the brutal discipline imposed, they had great elan and esprit de corps. They had pride in their profession and they did not like to lose. In fact, they always expected to win. The Germans were well armed with the best weapons of the period and fought in disciplined companies of between forty and eighty men. The companies usually formed part of a regiment, typically named for its commander or place of origin. With extremely professional officers and non-commissioned officers, the Germans made a reliable force with a combat power beyond their numbers. German regiments rarely failed to have a major impact on a battle. They led the attack at the passes on Long Island and stormed Fort Washington's outer works. Their reputation was such that their presence before Washington's army helped pin the American front at Brandywine while the rebel flank was turned upstream. I could go on.

Hessians adapted well to combat in America
Jaegers skirmishing

Who led them

Von Knyphausen

 The German officer corps (commissioned and non-commissioned) was excellent. They led from the front and many fell in combat - the most famous of course is Colonel Johann Von Rall, who was mortally wounded trying to rally his regiments for a counter-attack after the Continental Army surprised them at Trenton. Colonel Carl von Donop was another noted Hessian officer who fought in many of the war's battles until he fell leading assaults at the Battle of Red Bank in 1777. The commander of the Hessian forces was Wilhelm, Reichsfreiherr zu Innhausen und Knyphausen. He replaced the original commander Von Heister, who commanded the Hessian troops with efficiency if not with distinction, Following the disaster of the Hessian defeat at Trenton, for which Heister, as corps commander, had ultimate responsibility, the old and ailing general was recalled to Hesse in 1777. It should be noted Heister clashed with Howe over strategy. Unlike other British generals, he could be quite blunt with the commander in chief. Perhaps this contributed to his return as well. Knyphausen remained the senior German officer for the remainder of the war. He led the attack on Fort Washington and one of the redoubts was later renamed for him. He commanded the New York garrison as well, but returned for health reasons to Germany in 1782.  General Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg succeeded him in command of the Hessian troops in New York.

Von Heister

Legend and Legacy 

One can argue that the German contingent played a crucial but perhaps not decisive role in the war. Although it is hard to imagine how Britain could have raised as many fine regiments at home to make up the difference if the Teutonic regiments had not been available. The large scale use of hired foreign troops played into the Americans' worst fears and prejudices, enabling papers and pamphlets (as well as word of mouth) to spread myths about these strange invaders in order to galvanize the people in what was in the end, a war of hearts and minds. Although the Hessians did behave harshly to civilians in some instances, many cases were embellished and expanded to stir up the people. They were brutal to the rebels in combat though, and treated prisoners more cruelly than the British, but not more harshly than the American Loyalists and Patriots treated each other. The myths and legends grew and still abound. Written within the memory of the war, it is no coincidence that Washington Irving's famed "Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow" was a Hessian artilleryman whose head was taken by a cannonball. But it is no myth that the Hessians were valiant and reliable soldiers who added a unique dimension to the American struggle for independence.

Even the USPS contributes to the legend

Middelbrook

Background

Nestled at the beginning of the Watchung Mountains of New Jersey lies the colonial town of Middlebrook. During the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies Middlebrook was a small village northwest of Bound Brook. The village of Middlebrook no longer exists but has been absorbed by the town of Bound Brook. During the American Revolution, this small farming community sat astride the
route of two armies engaged in a struggle for a continent and much more - a struggle for ideas. In the case of the Continentals, it was a struggle for a new nation and a new idea of government. For the British Army, it was a struggle to maintain the old order and the rights of a King.

Good ground

Gen Washington at Princeton

General George Washington had marched past Middlebrook after the Battle of Princeton on his way to Morristown, in January 1777. Its advantage as a strategic position did not go unnoticed by the former surveyor. Late in the spring of 1777, Washington moved his small army of about 7,000 from their winter encampment at Morristown to the Middlebrook Heights. Why? The ground was good, enabling the Americans to observe the British troops at New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. He moved Anthony Wayne's Brigade onto the forward slopes to defend the approaches to the pass. The Americans fortified the already defensible terrain. From these positions, Washington could kept watch on the British garrisons in New York and New Brunswick. But even better, it provided him a position to flank the British if they attempted to cross New Jersey to Philadelphia.

Battleground

However, the British also realized the advantages the positions around Middlebrook gave the rebels. So on the night of June 13th, 1777,  General Lord Cornwallis moved out of New Brunswick hoping to draw Washington out of his Middlebrook defenses into the open flat land for battle. With Hessians leading his columns, Cornwallis launched a four-pronged attack on the village. Washington responded, but not in the way the British had hoped. The commander in chief sent the militia, re-enforced with some Continentals, to harass the enemy columns. But most of the Continental Army did not leave their secure positions. By the end of June, a frustrated Cornwallis and his British forces retreated to Staten Island. The British held ground near New Brunswick, the Amboys, and at the Paulhus Hook (Jersey City) but much of the rest of Jersey was a no man's land where Loyalist and Patriot factions, militias, and criminal elements from both sides fought. Middlebrook was at a pivotal point in that no man's land.

Lord Cornwallis

Observation point

The attack on Middlebrook, as well as other forays and feints, caused General Howe to change his strategy.  The British commander in chief made a naval maneuver towards the Chesapeake to capture the rebel capital at Philadelphia from the south. Most of the British regiments left their fortress New York for a sea-land campaign that would succeed in driving the rebels from their capital but left
British General Burgoyne's army to founder in the wilds of upper New York. Thus the modest engagement at Middlebrook played a key role in a chain of events that helped turn the course of the war. Realizing the need for a new strategy for the 1778 summer campaign, the British abandoned Philadelphia to once more concentrate in New York. Washington struck them from the rear and the largest pitched battle of the American Revolution was fought at Monmouth. When the British column withdrew to its safe zone around New York and its immediate environs, Washington once again used the Middlebrook area as a base from which to observe and threaten the British.

Winter Encampment

In November 1778 George Washington once more took the army back to the Middlebrook area. Again, it provided a natural defensive position while enabling him to keep watch on the British foothold in New Jersey. Washington set up his headquarters at the Wallace House in what is now Somerville. The main army, consisting of brigades from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, with the Delaware regiment, the artillery Corps, and the support units, dug in along the base of the
Watchung Mountains. Here they were protected from some of the weather, had a good supply of trees for construction and firewood, and were supported by a generally patriotic population, with an active militia. Fortunately, the winter was a relatively mild one. The Continental army remained in the second Middlebrook encampment until late June of 1779. That winter quarters at Middlebrook would be noted for a symbolic event.

First Flag

There is an interesting footnote to the story of Middlebrook. On June 14, 1777, Congress adopted the Flag Resolution, establishing the famed Betsy Ross flag national flag. An official flag was brought from Philadelphia to be flown at the Middlebrook encampment before the soldiers took the field for the summer campaign season. In an act whose symbolism was important to the new and struggling nation, the first thirteen-star American flag was flown at an American army base. One wonders what the beleaguered but determined soldiers would think if they could see into a future where their descendants would champion the very ideas they fought for in campaigns across the globe. Or a future in which the flag they flew over Middlebrook would be flown as a symbol of liberty at hundreds or army bases across the yet unexplored continent and later on scores of foreign shores.

Flag at Middlebrook Encampment

In the Navy!

 The Naval Advantage in 1776

This past week has been the anniversary of the British landing on Long Island and the battle of the same name. As most readers of this blog know, the invasion and the events following it provide the background for my novel, The Patriot Spy. I thought I would use this blog to discuss the role of naval power in the campaign. The American Army under General George Washington had essentially no knowledge of the British intentions after General William Howe withdrew his besieged army from Boston. However, it did not take a stretch of genius to know what the overriding British advantage was in the war: the Royal Navy.

1776: British fleet at Staten Island 

Early success, defeat and triumphs

Destruction of the Spanish Armada

In some ways, the story of Britain is the story of its navy. During the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies, Britain had the greatest navy in the world and, more importantly, had over a century of knowledge and experience in knowing how to effectively use that advantage decisively. Many are familiar with the victories of the 16th-century English navy under Elizabeth I against the Spanish.  But during the 17th century, England and its navy went through a time of upheaval.  The English Civil War, three wars with the Dutch (who had eclipsed Spain as the world's dominant mercantile and naval power), and the "Glorious Revolution" had impacts on the navy's development, both positive and negative. During that time, the English and Scottish fleets merged but, on paper, were still separate. The Dutch Wars first favored the Dutch, who won remarkable naval victories. Still, Britain gained the critical Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (1664), and it learned how to develop its navy through the experience of defeat. By 1692, the British had the finest fleet in the world. The political accommodation with the Dutch, which declared their ruler, William of Orange, as William III of England, strengthened both navies. In a curious alliance, the Dutch fleet sailed under British admirals in the subsequent wars with France and Spain that dominated the close of the 17th and most of the 18th century. The British were able to expand operations globally and in a series of wars, picked off colonial possessions, large and small, to build a support structure for its naval and mercantile needs.

Dutch burn the British fleet at Chatham

 Britannia rules the waves!

Royal Navy in Action

The Royal Navy of 1776 had a swagger built on achievement. Part of that achievement included what would later be called "combined arms" actions. That is the use of Royal Marines for small sea-land actions and cooperation with the Royal Army for major actions, mostly transporting forces and protecting the supply lanes of those forces. This was developed during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian) in North America. With the onset of the rebellion, the Royal Navy was Britain's biggest advantage over the rebellious string of coastal settlements poorly connected by a handful of bad roads. America relied on the sea, and control of it was central to any strategy to suppress the colonies. Trade could be cut off, starving the rebellious colonies relying on the mother country for many finished goods. That this policy was one of the grievances leading to rebellion is ironic. Britain's decisive edge at sea was a factor in some Loyalists' sympathies or at least antipathy to the cause of rebellion. To many, it appeared insane to take on the greatest global (read naval) power the world had ever seen. Those concerns were well-founded during most of the war. America had no navy in comparison and was urgently building a semblance of one more as a show of national pride than to gain strategic advantage. In fact, the American advantage at sea was its force of privateers, many from merchant vessels re-purposed because of British control of the seas - another irony. The effective use of naval superiority got Howe out of a tactical trap in Boston. It enabled him to effect a well-executed envelopment from the sea and sweep into New York harbor, changing the venue and tempo of the war to Britain's advantage.

Invasion, they're coming!

British landing at Gravesend on Long Island
(near the site of Brooklyn's Verazano Bridge)

The Royal Navy isolated New York from the sea and rendered its port useless. The port gave the city its strategic importance as New York in the 18th century was not the largest American city. The Royal Navy provided reconnaissance, naval gunfire, and transport for a succession of landings at Staten Island, Gravesend, Kips Bay, and Westchester (Throgs Neck, Pelham, etc). British naval movements confused the Americans and threatened areas. General Howe had no intention of attacking. As importantly, it restricted General Washington's ability to move troops and forced him to try to defend more land than he had soldiers and guns to cover. Surprise, maneuver, and firepower are critical multipliers in any conflict, but they are even nicer when you have overwhelming forces as well! As discussed in The Patriot Spy, only extremely unfavorable winds and tides prevented the other Howe (Admiral Sir Richard, William's brother, and naval force commander) from enveloping Washington's forces on Long Island, who huddled in a desperate defensive position on Brooklyn Heights. Had the conditions been right, Howe's fleet could have bombarded Washington from the rear and coupled with the army besieging Washington's front, forced surrender in the summer of 1776. Would the loss of George Washington and a large chunk of the Continental Army have ended the war then and there to Britain's advantage? Well, that's the subject of another blog.

The Lady was a... Spy?

The  General... 

Thomas Gage

Many  British officers serving in the American Revolution had served previously in North America during the French and Indian War. Some, such as Horatio Gates and Charles Lee took to the new world, settled in America, and fought for the Patriots during the War for Independence. Others took American wives in the grand tradition of war brides that continues to this day. One such officer was General Thomas Gage. Gage was born in Firle, England, the second son of a Viscount. Gage attended the prestigious Westminster School and on graduation joined the British Army as an ensign. He rose in rank and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1751. His regiment was sent to America in 1755. In fact, his career took through many important military events as the British kingdom forged an empire during the mid-18th century. But that is another story.

The Lady...

Margaret Kemble Gage in 1771

In America, Gage proved a successful and innovative officer, achieving high command and eventually governing Canada after the French surrendered. But in December 1757 the war and life in America took on a special meaning for the accomplished officer, now a brigadier general. He spent the winter in New Jersey, where he was charged with recruiting colonists for the British army. He was stationed near  Brunswick, a small town not far from New York City.  There he met Margaret Kemble, a well-known beauty of some standing in the area. Margaret was the great-granddaughter of the former Mayor of New York City Stephanus Van Cortlandt (one of the richest families in New York). And her father was Peter Kemble, a well-to-do New Jersey businessman and politician. On December 8, 1758, Gage married the beautiful and well connected Jersey girl. For many years, the Gage's played a prominent role in New York society. By all evidence, they were happily married, and most attested that they were an ideal couple. Their marital compatibility was evinced by the births of five daughters and six sons.

The Governor...

Margaret's brother Stephen
 Kemble was Gage's Chief of
Intelligence

Thomas Gage eventually rose to command of all British troops in North America. After the war with France ended, he watched as the political strife in the colonies turned to resistance. Unfortunately, he would soon play a hand in turning them to open rebellion. The colony of Massachusetts was the most rebellious. In May 1774, King George III sent Gage to Boston, naming him military governor of Massachusetts, with hopes that he
could restore order to that most rebellious colony, and enforce the hated Parliamentary acts.  His wife Margaret arrived in Boston in late 1774. Although Gage had initially been respected by the colonists, they also regarded him with a measure of suspicion. Margaret herself was anguished over the conflict in the colonies and her divided loyalties. She hoped that her husband would not take action resulting in the loss of the lives of her countrymen...

Action...

Doctor Benjamin Church

Margaret's brother, Stephen Kemble, was her husband's  Intelligence Officer. His chief asset was the very prominent Dr. Benjamin Church, a member of the Massachusetts Congress and its Committee of Safety. Seems the doctor liked to play doctor with an expensive mistress and turned to spy for the British to pay for her. So while the Patriot Congress met in Concord (October 1774, and March through April 1775), sworn to secrecy, Dr. Church regularly provided summaries of the proceedings to Gage. Church was later exposed (no pun), but that is another tale.  General Gage learned that the Massachusetts militia was storing
arms and ammunition in Concord, about 20 miles northwest of Boston. He also heard that Samuel Adams and John Hancock were in Lexington. Gage made plans to take them out along with the munitions. But the rebels under Dr. Joseph Warren had their own spy network. Warren learned of the upcoming British troop movements on April 18 and confirmed it through a confidential informant with connections to the  British high command. Thus the famous "midnight ride" of Paul Revere and others to warn the rebels. The "shot heard round the world resulted." But just who was the informant? Unfortunately, Warren was killed at Bunker Hill, so the identity of the informant is subject to speculation.

Intrigue...

And as we all know, speculation is fun. The warning was out before the redcoats marched for Lexington and Concord so the informant was not a low ranking soldier or officer.  Gage himself was called into question because he admitted telling just one person of his plans before informing his top commanders. But major speculation is that Gage had been betrayed by his American-born wife, Margaret. Could the long term spouse of the top British officer really have been an American agent? Would she betray her husband and her king? And if so, how? Did her brother play a role? Stephen was reduced to the grade of captain after Lexington and Concord. Why? But let's focus on his sister. Allegedly, Margaret warned  Warren of her husband's plans on April 18th.  A clergyman from Roxbury named Rev.William Gordon, later noted that Warren's spy was "a daughter of liberty unequally yoked in the point of politics." Many have suggested she was sympathetic to the colonial cause. There is evidence that she had political sentiments of her own and that the now burning dispute between Britain and America filled her with sadness. Margaret did once admit to an acquaintance that she hoped her husband would not be the instrument of the death of her countrymen. But there were many Loyal Britons who held similar views. In all, there is no proof of her espionage. Many a discussion has taken place on communication. How could Warren communicate with the wife of the British governor?  How could he trust an intermediary with such a delicate mission? How could he risk a personal meeting? Such challenges face every intelligence operation, especially those of potential high gain as assets such as the wife of the British Governor would be. But perhaps the biggest "indicator" of Margaret Kemble Gage's possible espionage is that her husband soon after packed her off to England. This blog considers her a very likely source, if not an outright spy. The reduction in grade of her brother around the same time leads us to believe there was a connection. Perhaps Gage's other confidant in his plans was his intelligence chief. Perhaps she gleaned her nugget from Stephen. In 1775, the stakes were high enough to risk getting the information to the American side.

End of the Affair...

Gage remained in America for another year and returned to England not too impressed with his record in Boston.  In the years that followed, their marriage deteriorated and was marked by estrangement. Jersey girl Margaret Gage spent the second half of her life in England, never returning to her land of birth. She died at the age of 90 in 1824, surviving her husband by almost 37 years.

 

 

Places: Fort Washington

The Place

When General George Washington and the Continental Army arrived in New York in the early summer of 1776, the strategic situation was bleak. British control of the waterways and superiority of artillery meant New York, specifically the island now known as Manhattan could be threatened form any quarter. Although the British approach from the sea made a southern thrust most likely, the commander in chief had to prepare for attacks from any direction. To the dismay of his troops, Washington ordered fortifications built all around
the island. The men worked hard with shovel and pick. Despite their efforts,  most of these were primitive and ill-attended earthworks. But on June 20, 1776, some Pennsylvania battalions of the Continental Army began constructing a five-bastion fort at the intersection of present-day Fort Washington Avenue and 183rd Street. The quickly assembled, the earthen-walled structure had no water supply and no significant barricade to repel attackers. Still, it was situated on the highest hill on Manhattan island. This made it an ideal location for the fort, with its views overlooking the Hudson River to the east, the valley of Manhattan as far south as what is now 120th Street, and protection on the north side from high ground commanding the Kings Bridge approach. They named it Fort Washington in honor of their commander in chief.

The Namesake

Colonel Robert Magaw
hoped to defend the fort

Washington correctly assessed the high ground at the north end of the island as strategically valuable. With its "sister" fort, Fort Lee (named after Washington's deputy commander, Charles Lee), Fort Washington controlled access to the Hudson  Valley, the Bronx, Westchester, and the areas bordering New England. And of course, it threatened any forces occupying central and lower parts of the Island of New York. But left unsupported and undermanned, Washington's namesake was a liability to his strategy and would doom many of his best men. After defeating the Continental Army at the Battle of White Plains, the British Army
forces under the command of Lieutenant General William Howe moved to capture Fort Washington, the last American stronghold in Manhattan. Realizing this, Washington issued a "discretionary" order to General Nathaniel Greene to abandon the fort and remove its garrison of 3,000 men to New Jersey. But the fort's commander, Pennsylvania Colonel Robert Magaw, resisted the order to abandon it. He believed it still could be defended from the British and implored Greene to let him defend the positions. Greene agreed to leave Magaw in place until he could consult with Washington and crossed the Hudson to discuss the situation. Unfortunately, the usually lethargic Howe attacked the fort before General Washington was able to completely assess the situation.

The Battle

Throughout that summer and autumn of 1776, Lord Howe's British land and naval forces waged an effective albeit slow land-sea campaign that threw the  Continentals out of Long Island and most of the Island of New York. By November, the last position the Americans held on Manhattan was the area around Fort Washington on the northern tip, known as Harlem Heights.  Now, with Washington in retreat from White Plains and retreating to New Jersey, he struck. Howe planned three attacks. Brigadier Lord Percy was to attack from the South up the island. Brigadier Matthews with the light infantry and Guards to cross the Harlem River and attack Baxter on the east side, supported by Lord Cornwallis with the grenadiers and the 33rd Foot. The main attack was to be on Colonel Rawlings’ position by Hessian troops commanded by General Von Knyphausen. An additional assault was to be carried out on the same side by the 42nd Highland Regiment (the famous Black Watch) under Colonel Sterling.

British ships bombarding

Early on the November  15th, General Howe called on the fort to surrender. McGaw refused. A bombardment on the American positions erupted from British batteries across the Harlem River and from the British frigate, Pearl. Percy's forces advanced to the attack. At noon, Matthews landed on Manhattan and began his assault. The American commander on the works was killed and his militia fled to the protection of the fort. But the real threat came from the north. General Knyphausen crossed south onto Manhattan (from the Bronx) at Kingsbridge. His two Hessian columns assaulted American positions along the high wooded ground. After a hard fight,  Rawlings’ riflemen fell back into the fort. Then Hugh Percy, leading about 2,000 regulars through McGowan's Pass, attacked American Colonel Lambert Cadwallader and his 800 Pennsylvanians on the south side of the fort while the 42nd landed on the east side in a diversionary attack and pushed inland behind Cadwallader’s position. This forced the  Americans holding the last outer works to fall back to the fort as well. With all his troops pinned inside Fort Washington under heavy fire, Magaw surrendered to the Hessian General Knyphausen. Casualties were stiff on both sides. The British suffered 450 casualties of which 320 were skilled Hessians. The Americans suffered 2,900 casualties of which the preponderance were prisoners.

The 42nd landing

Aftermath

Washington watched in frustration from Fort Lee

From across the river its sister Fort Lee, George Washington watched helplessly as his last hold on the strategic Island of New York evaporated. Almost 3,000 men from some of his best regiments marched off into captivity. As critical, valuable, and irreplaceable supplies and munitions, including 150 cannon, fell to the British, who occupied the fort and renamed it Fort Knyphausen, after the Hessian general instrumental in taking it.  The high ground covering the northern Kingsbridge approach was turned into a separate fort, named after New York's last Royal Governor Tryon. A third fort was named Fort George. That the British created three forts where previously one large American fort existed is significant. In Magaw's defense, he was not given enough men to properly man and defend the extensive positions. This is a common theme in defending forts (to be repeated at Ticonderoga the following year)  - they could be a death trap if the garrison wasn't large enough. The British army and its sympathizers then occupied the city until the American victory in 1783. After the war, vestiges of the fort disappeared, and the surrounding area became known as Washington Heights. Granite paving outlines the former contours of Fort Washington in the southern portion of nearby Bennett Park.