Battle of Monmouth

Lee, as Washington's senior subordinate, was initially appointed commander of the advance force, but turned it down because of his doubts about the plan. However, when the force was increased to 5,000 men and the command offered to the Marquis de Lafayette, Lee changed his mind and insisted on the command.

Lee met with his subordinates but failed to give them proper orders, resulting in a piecemeal and disorganized attack on June 28 against the British rear guard under Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. After several hours of fighting in the hot weather, the British counterattacked and Lee ordered a retreat, which rapidly became a rout.

Washington, advancing with the main force along the Monmouth road, encountered Lee and his fleeing troops, with the British in pursuit. After a heated discussion with Lee, Washington relieved him of command and sent him to the rear. He then rallied Lee's troops, who delayed the British pursuit until the main force could take up positions further to the west.

The remnants of Lee's forces then withdrew to the main American force, where the newly-trained Continental Army troops held the British, repelling several attacks. The British fell back, rested, and resumed their march to the northeast during the night. The exhausted Americans could not pursue.

The next morning the Americans found the British had slipped away during the night, continuing their march without incident to Sandy Hook, arriving there on June 30. The British force was then transported by the Royal Navy across Lower New York Bay to the safety of Manhattan.

The battle was a tactical British victory, as the rearguard successfully covered the British withdrawal. However, strategically it was an American victory, as they were left in possession of the field, and had demonstrated that the Continental Army regiments could stand against the British regulars.

On June 28, in the morning, the British were camped along Dutch Lane and the Freehold-Mount Holly Road, while the main Continental Army was camped at Manalapan Bridge, 4 miles west of Englishtown.

At 8:00 A.M., Lee's advance body of 5,000 troops and 12 guns approached the British rear guard a few miles north of Monmouth Court House. They slowly moved forward. Dickinson reported that he was engaged with the British and they seemed to be falling back. Wayne's division skirmished with a British converging party, but almost immediately Lee lost command of this situation. He issued various orders moving units from one place to another, never developed a clear plan of attack, and his subordinates became confused.

Lee had failed to gather data on the ground or the position of the British, and now he heard conflicting reports that the British was moving out and that they were preparing an attack. Lee was annoyed at the lack of intelligence about the British, which he had failed to order gathered. The British were both falling back, moving their baggage, and preparing an attack with the rear-guard, but Lee couldn't get reports that clearly stated this.

Lee finally got a picture of the British placements in his head and ordered units to move to their left and right, to cut off the 1,500-man British rear guard and capture them. Units marched out to the flanks, but then received no orders. Wayne, in the center, was told to feint an attack. Lee wanted hold the rear guard while he encircled the British, but his officers didn't know the plan.

Wayne's brigade was the first to make contact with the British, just north of Monmouth. The spreading fight alerted Clinton to the proximity of a significant American column in his rear. Brig. Gen. Count D. von Knyphausen was ordered to watch his left flank and continue marching. Meanwhile, Clinton turned Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis's wing of 14 battalions and the 16th Light Dragoons around to meet and crush Lee's vanguard bef...

The winter of 1777-78 was one of relative ease for British forces under General William Howe. They occupied the American capital of Philadelphia, having dispatched the rebel Congress in ignominious flight to York, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia’s large loyalist population wined and dined the officers and Howe conducted an open affair with the wife of consenting Joshua Loring Jr., a prosperous prison contractor. The general’s inclination to enjoy the comforts of urban life precluded an effort to engage Washington’s forces at nearby Valley Forge, but it did anger Howe’s superiors. Benjamin Franklin, then the American diplomatic representative in France, was asked if Howe had taken Philadelphia; he responded that, in truth, Philadelphia had taken Howe. In the spring, a replacement was sent in the person of Sir Henry Clinton.

British commanders had received word in early 1778 that a French fleet was on its way to America; Louis XVI’s government was intent on aiding the patriot cause in the wake of the British failure at Saratoga in October of the previous year. France had initially doubted America’s resolve and ability to wage an effective war against Britain, but was now willing to cast its lot with the upstart colonists.

Clinton moved quickly to return to the British safe haven in New York City, fearing that if he remained in Philadelphia he would risk being surrounded by hostile forces. It was anticipated that the French fleet would soon control Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River, and in so doing drive a wedge between the British armies. On June 18, Clinton began the evacuation, giving frightened loyalists first crack at the waiting ships; this left the bulk of the British force to proceed across New Jersey on foot. The long queue of soldiers, loyalists, wagons and baggage stretched out for 10 miles.

Washington immediately began to shadow the British movement. He decided to strike against the rear guard and initially chose the Marquis de Lafayette to lead ...