Trivia

Just looked the answer up. Dammit GG, I should have known that :)

I was planning on giving others a try at it, but to be honest it could be a difficult one to answer. He attacked New London.

Here is another one for you GG. Prior to which battles of the American Revolution were the following documents read to Washington’s troops a) The Declaration of Independence b) Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis

Close enough.

The American Crisis was read the night before the Battle of Trenton. The Declaration was read right before the Battle of Brooklyn (which is what I think you ment to say when you said Staten Island).

What makes it special to you?  Curious as I’m ignorant about it.

I could go into volumes on this, but let me paint the picture for you.

You are in South Carolina. The British have captured two of the most heavily fortified cities in the South, Savannah and Charleston, with barely a fight. In addition to that, the army garrisoned at Charleston constituted over half of the Continental forces in the Southern states, and was led by one of Washington’s best and most trusted generals named Benjamin Lincoln. Although it wasn’t official, Lincoln was Washington’s second in command.

Ok, so the already vastly outnumbered, outgunned, and outtrained American forces in the South have just lost half their men and their commander. Now British General Cornwalis wants to eliminate all resistance in South Carolina and move north. He sends his troops out with Colonel Tarleton, a ruthless calvary commander. In a few battles with Continental troops, Tarleton’s calvary charged and easily broke the Continental lines, and refused to give quarter to surrendering troops. He scared the crap out of them, needless to say.

Ok, so the Continental Congress sends General Horacio Gates, the commander of the Battle of Saratoga, down to South Carolina to salvage the battle. Gates takes command and foolishly marches to army off to try to draw the British into a decisive battle. He calls out thousands of South Carolina militia and has about 1,500 fairly well trained Continental soldiers on his side. Predictably, he attempts to battle the British in an open field and Tarleton’s calvary breaks the Continental lines. General Gates, scared off by the brutal tactics of Tarleton, takes his staff and gallops as fast as his horse will take him north, deserting his army. The supply train of the Continental Army is captured by the British. In addition to that, Gates attempted to use the militia under his command like normal troops, resulting in a huge collapse. Many militia go home, and the rest are demoralized.

So, the army regroups without supplies, a commander, or much hope. About 800 Continentals remain, and about 1,500 militia. In addition they recieve reinforcements of about 100 calvary troops led by the brother of Washington. Tarleton has more troops and 300 deadly British calvary. He is rumored to be “invincible” by Continental troops.

So Congress dispatched newly promoted General Daniel Morgan, who led a critical company of riflemen at the Battle of Saratoga (which is another great story for another day). Daniel Morgan’s task is to stop the British army from entering North Carolina.

So, how does he do it? His troops have no supplies, little time, fewer calvary, weaker moral, fewer numbers, and his army was mostly made up of militia. Daniel Morgan launches a plan.

Tarleton’s strategy in his battles against the Continentals was to focus on the militia first. Make them run, and let the rest of the army break. It worked. So Morgan decided to play in to this. He marched his army to a large cow pasture. The British would not make the mistake of engaging the revolutionary army on anything less than an open field like they did early in the war, and Morgan didn’t have the supplies to try to run around South Carolina and trick Tarleton into attacking him in the woods somewhere. However, Morgan did pick an open field with a line of trees seperating it from another open field. He places the entirety of his militia in front of this line of trees. In the trees, Morgan places a few dozen of his best riflemen, with orders to shoot for officers, in the line of trees. Morgan then places his 800 Continentals on a bluff right behind the trees. The bluff was not high enough to provide much strategic advantage except to obstruct the view of anything behind it.

During the night before the battle, Morgan goes from campfire to campfire to tell the secret plan to the militia soldiers. They are to fire two shots at the British, then retreat behind the bluff like they were running away.

Come battle day, the British arrive and see the Continentals making what appears to be a last stand. They advance normally, and encounter the militia. The militia fire their three vollies of shots, and take one round from the advancing British. The militia do large amounts of damage, and the British are fooled into thinking that they are running away as usual. They chase the fleeing militia, only to run straight into the fire of the riflemen. The riflemen cover the militia’s retreat, sniping off dozens of British officers. The British charge into the woods, killing nearly every one of the riflemen with bayonets. Still, the damage was done.

Still very strong, the British army advances to meet the Continentals. As the army engages the Continentals, Morgan pulls off his move. Behind the bluff, the militia had regrouped and were ready for another charge. On the other side of the bluff William Washington’s calvary are waiting. When General Tarleton signals his calvary to charge, Washington’s calvary gallops out and engages Tarleton. Simultaneously, the militia pour out on to the British flank. The British, caught unaware during their tough battle with the Continental regulars, are surrounded on three sides. They retreat and take enourmous casualties.

It was the first time since Saratoga that the Americans beat a British army on an open field. Washington’s best friend, General Nathaniel Greene, would eventually take command of the Southern army and employ similar tactics to help beat Cornwalis, eventually pushing him back to Yorktown and winning the war.

Genius. Daniel Morgan, an old man, retired soon after the battle.

We need another question now :)