Memorializing John Andre

On this cold, damp New Year's Day, 2013, I journeyed to Rivervale, New Jersey, and photographed the site of the Baylor Massacre, to be noted in later posts.  A few miles away, though, is the monument to John Andre and the site where he was hanged.  It was one of those moments where you are fully conversant with place, history and what happened on the very spot.

We are at the top of the hill, looking toward Tappan Road, just over the border from New Jersey, in New York.  Andre was the British officer with whom Benedict Arnold corresponded.  Upon discovery of the treason to the American cause, Andre was captured through a strange and at times comic set of circumstances.  He was tried nearby in an inn in Tappan.  He asked Washington for death by firing squad, as a soldier, but instead was hanged as a spy.  His last words reportedly were: "I pray you to bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man." He was buried here but in 1821, his remains were removed to Westminster Abbey, in London.

Washington called him "an accomplished man and gallant officer." It is something to think about that we have homage to a man who participated in one of the greatest treasons of the Revolution, and not merely mark the site of his hanging, but give it monumental status, and on the Saratoga battlefield, the monument to Benedict Arnold is a boot (for his wounded leg) but does not mention him by name.

Eutaw Springs and Bunker Hill

Almost as many Americans (138) were killed at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina on September 8, 1781 as were killed at Bunker Hill (140).The British suffered 85 killed (they lost 226 at Bunker Hill) and 351 wounded (to 828 at Bunker Hill).  American wounded 375, more than the 271 at Bunker Hill.  Eutaw Springs serves as a bloody bookend to the war at the tail end, around the time of Yorktown.

American General Nathanael Greene, having lost his assault on Ninety-Six, continued to harass the British as their forces consolidated in South Carolina at Charleston.  British Colonel Alexander Stewart was in charge of the British forces at Charleston, following Lord Rawdon's return to England.  He took 2,000 men to search for Greene's army and while camped at Eutaw Springs, Greene attacked him with about 2200 men.  Though his men drove the British back and should have won, they started plundering the British tents.  The British made a well-defended stand around a brick house near the river, under command of Major John Marjoribanks, and turned the tide against the Americans.  Marjoribanks was killed and is buried on the site, shown here.

Quinby Bridge and the Hubris of Command

Two markers identify the spot of this engagement typical of the bitter warfare in South Carolina.  The South Carolina historical marker calls it Quenby Bridge; the Francis Marion Trail marker spells in Quinby Bridge.  Here, on July 17, 1781 at this location on the creek, British forces retreating from Monck's Corner towards Charleston were attacked by militia forces under American General Thomas Sumter.  American Colonel Henry Lee attacked the British about a mile from this area, and the British fell back to here.

The British again fell back after the fight at the bridge to nearby Shubrick's Plantation established a defensive position.  Against the advice of General Francis Marion, Sumter nonetheless ordered an attack; after three hours, it failed and Sumter retreated.

Quinby (or Quenby) Bridge is a place to contemplate the hubris of command.  Thirty Americans died and thirty more were wounded, in an engagement involving some 550 Americans and approximately 600 Regulars and Loyalists.  Many of Marion's men deserted after this and Marion did not fight under Sumter again.

Battle of Quebec and the Preemptive Strike

This month also marks the anniversary of the failed American assault on Quebec City, on December 31, 1775.  The invasion of Canada, primarily directed at Quebec and Montreal, was at its worst a primary and early example of American aggression and, at best, an honest effort to include Quebec in the American independence movement.  In a December 4, 1775 letter to the Continental Congress, George Washington wrote "Upon the whole I think, Affairs carry a pleasing aspect in that Quarter, the reduction of Quebec is an Object of such great importance, that I doubt not the Congress will give every Assistance in their power for the accomplishing it this Winter."

Here is what the Americans faced.

The leaders of the American forces were the young General Richard Montgomery, who easily took Montreal, and then Colonel Benedict Arnold, whose arduous journey through severe weather and terrain to get there brought him comparison to Hannibal crossing the Alps.  Montgomery was killed, and Arnold wounded.

Quebec provides an interesting departure point for consideration of the roots of American foreign policy in terms of the justification for preemptive strikes and when invasion of foreign soil for such purposes is warranted.

The First Battle of Trenton

As we enter December we enter the critical month of the Revolution.  In December 1776, five months after the Declaration of Independence and over a year and a half into the war, Washington had lost New York City and retreated across the Delaware River.  On Christmas Day, he recrossed and next morning, December 26, 1776, won the political and military victory at Trenton.  The First Battle of Trenton--more a raid that lasted no more than an hour--boosted the morale of the new Continental Army.

Trenton today is a post-industrial city marked by loss of its industrial base and population.  As this is written, its mayor is under indictment for corruption.  We can look at this image of the reenactment of the battle, on the same ground (Warren Street, then King Street) where Washington's men fought, and reflect upon a city that held such historic importance two centuries ago, and to where it has fallen.

Millstone, Militia and Local Heroes

I've been to the major (and many less major) Revolutionary War battlefields from Quebec, Canada to Ninety-Six, South Carolina, but it's always interesting to look for the lessons in the smaller scale, lesser known engagements.  One such nearby battle is the Battle of Millstone in central New Jersey.  On January 20, 1777 General Philemon Dickinson led about 400 New Jersey and 50 Pennsylvania militia in battle, defeating about 500 British Regulars and Hessians under Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby that were on a foraging mission, and captured some 40 wagons and 100 horses.

The precise location of Van Nest's Mills along the Millstone, where the battle occurred, is locally disputed but this is the area of the Millstone River where the battle most likely occurred, near the Weston Causeway in Somerset County.

The battle focuses attention on the thousands of small-scale actions, no less bitter or fatal than some of the more well-known ones, that marked the war and the role of the militia.  Ironically, at the same time he was praising Dickinson--whose house still stands in Trenton, New Jersey--to Congress, he was writing Dickinson to complain about another militia in a New Jersey county that was abandoning service.

Fort Washington, Fort Lee and Analog Warfare

     November 16 marks the anniversary of the defeat of the Continental Army at Fort Washington in Manhattan in 1776.  Fort Washington was constructed on the highest point on Manhattan island.  Today, you cannot see its counterpart in New Jersey, the area where Fort Lee was, standing in the site of Fort Washington.  Nonetheless, in 1776 Fort Lee and Fort Washington were considered essential by the Americans to control the North River (now the Hudson River).

     Nonetheless, we can gain an understanding of the nature of the American defenses and place from the batteries of Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.

     The fort was a bit inland from this, but up here, on the Palisades, you can see how artillery from here and Fort Washington would control the Hudson.  Fort Washington was just to the north of where the George Washington Bridge enters Manhattan, on the left in this photograph.

     In an age of drone attacks, and when we can watch video clips on the internet of assassinations and missiles fired from unseen planes, this image and the Battle of Fort Washington remind us of the pre-digital age of analog warfare.