250 and Counting

Category: Continental Army

  • The Return of Charles Lee–October 14, 1776

    Cover art for October 14, 1776: Portrait engraving of Major-General Charles Lee, ca 1860 by Henry Bryan Hall, based on historical sources. via New York Public Library Digital Collection.

    Charles Lee was born in Great Britain and only came to British America in 1773, when he purchased an estate in western Virginia.

    It wasn’t his first time in America; he’d fought for the British in the French and Indian War and married the daughter of a Mohawk chief.

    Lee was injured in 1758 during an attack on Fort Ticonderoga. The following year he was part of the capture of Fort Niagara and of Montreal the year after that.

    Lee returned to Europe and served in Portugal as a lieutenant colonel. In 1763 he returned to England and retired on half-pay. Two years later he served as an aide-de-camp under King Stanislaus II of Poland. He saw some action in the Russo-Turkish War but it was during a duel in Italy that he lost two fingers.

    Lee returned to England and realized that he was sympathetic to the Colonists’ cause, so he moved to America and purchased an estate in what would now be West Virginia. When the Continental Army formed, he joined up immediately, expecting to be second-in-command to George Washington (he did realize that Congress would want a native-born Commander in Chief).

    Lee took on the command of the Southern Department and was present for the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. He was given credit for the victory, though based on some accounts the win didn’t really belong to him.

    Lee was captured in December 1776 in New Jersey and released in a prisoner exchange in 1778. In subsequent battles Lee was cast in a villain role by official reports, and he was court-martialed. He was found guilty by the jury but the court reduced the final charges and suspended from the army for a year. In 1780 Lee sent a scathing letter to Congress that led to his dismissal from the army.

    He returned to Virginia but his debts piled up and he was advised to sell off his property. Unfortunately he died in 1782 before he could complete the sale and his sister Sidney Lee inherited the property. It’s not clear but he likely died of tuberculosis.

    Lee’s legacy has waxed and waned over the years, and most recently it’s in a “down” cycle, as documents have been discovered that he may have been attempting to communicate with British officers regarding a potential plan with which they might defeat the American rebellion. However, there are still many who doubt the idea that Lee was specifically acting treasonously.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • A Fort Is Abandoned–October 5, 1776

    Cover art for October 5, 1776: Historical Marker denoting the former site of Bergen Neck Fort/Fort Delancey. Via Historical Marker Database.

    The cover art for today’s episode is the historical marker for Bergen Neck Fort, in Bayonne, New Jersey.

    As someone who was born and raised on the other side of the East River, it’s supposed to be my duty to bust on New Jersey and say something like “there’s nothing interesting going on in Bayonne” and I’d mostly be right, but I will note that Mercer Park, just a hair under a mile from this spot, is rather nice.

    I did spend a few years living in northern New Jersey, just a stone’s throw from what was then called The Meadowlands (and still is, if you’re a die-hard), and it’s really not a bad place to live. I had a decent sight-line to the Manhattan skyline, but my neighborhood had a very suburban feel to it. The town I lived in was practically Whoville during Christmas season.

    Bergen County was also home to many people who lost their lives to the attacks on the World Trade Center, since it was just across the Hudson River, so there are numerous memorials in the area. Lyndhurst, NJ (for example), which is mostly famous for a bunch of exterior scenes from The Sopranos, has one that’s made from stones reclaimed from the rubble. I moved away from the area just a couple of weeks before September 11, but I kept in touch and many people in the area were deeply affected.

    And now that I think about it, Bayonne—which is literally within sight of the former WTC buildings and the Statue of Liberty— has a truly moving memorial commonly called “The Teardrop”, which was a gift to the United States by a Russian sculptor named Zurab Tserteli. At 100 feet high, it can actually be seen from the other side of the river as well. So don’t go to Bayonne to see Bergen Neck Fort, since there’s nothing there. But if you do go, head to Harbor View Park.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

    And please don’t tell anyone I have a soft spot for northern New Jersey; I could lose my NY cred for that.

  • Re-Mastering the Army–October 1, 1776

    Cover art for October 1, 1776: Portrait of Thomas Mifflin by Charles Willson Peale, ca. 1783-4. via Independence Hational Historical Park.

    Thomas Mifflin was the Continental Army’s first Quartermaster General, and he was replaced by someone who just couldn’t get the job done, so he was asked to return to the position. He was good at the Quartermaster duties, but he really preferred to be on the front lines.

    Oddly enough, though, when the soldiers at Valley Forge went through all their hardships, it was Mifflin who got the blame for it, and Congress had to appropriate a lot of money to settle the complaints. He still managed to keep the position, but the writing was on the wall and he resigned his commission a few months later.

    Mifflin wasn’t done with public service, though. He became a delegate to the Congress and even spent some time as its President. And once Pennsylvania revamped its Constitution to include a genuine Governor position, as the last President of Pennsylvania he became the state’s first Governor, from 1790 to December 1799. He returned to the State Legislature but died a few weeks later.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Washington’s Desperate Letter–September 24, 1776

    Cover art for September 24, 1776: portrait of George Washington commissioned by John Hancock shortly before the Declaration was issued, painted by Charles WIllson Peale in 1776. via the Brooklyn Museum.

    George Washington was a practical man, and he realized that without a standing army, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the British.

    Sure, it’s good to have motivated people who are passionate about the cause, but when they have setbacks, they’re more likely to bail out, and that’s exactly what he was facing once the dust began to settle from his losses in New York. Many of the recruits that he had weren’t finishing out the enlistment period they’d agreed on when they first joined up, and the fact that their supplies and their pay were sporadic didn’t help matters.

    It was with this in mind that Washington wrote to Congress, strongly recommending that they make some changes to the way that the Continental Army was being administered. Improving pay would be great, but simply ensuring that pay happened on a regular basis would be even better. And, of course, if a standing army could be established, then the men would be locked in for longer periods of time, and his officers wouldn’t spend so much time training new recruits.

    Whether Congress agrees to this change…stay tuned.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Word From Congress–September 14, 1776

    Cover art for September 14, 1776: portrait of John Hancock by John Singleton Copley, ca 1770-72. via Massachusetts Historical Society.

    Washington was on the brink of retreating from New York City, but he was getting pushback from some of his generals regarding how it should be done.

    Fortunately for him, this Gordian Knot was cut by a letter arriving from John Hancock on behalf of the Continental Congress.

    Nathanael Green and William Heath weren’t necessarily in agreement with Hancock’s recommendations, but orders are orders and everyone prepared to move out based on those.

    But about a week later, something happened to render part of those orders moot.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • To Stay, Or Not To Stay?–September 12, 1776

    Cover art for September 12, 1776: "Washington's Council of War at Hopewell," James Edward Kelly, 1884. Cigar Box inner label based on a relief sculpture.

    George Washington’s Council of War finally got to meet on this day in 1776, to figure out what happens next.

    The Battle of Long Island was a rout for several reasons. In addition to the Continental Army being outnumbered by roughly two-to-one, there was poor communication and a couple of tactical errors. And the only reason more soldiers weren’t captured or killed was because poor weather prevented the British from figuring out that they were escaping across the East River until it was far too late.

    So, as any good soldier would, Washington took a moment out to seek advice from his Council of War. Nathanael Greene recommended just getting out of town and regrouping elsewhere, but he also suggested burning the city down to keep it out of British hands. Washington already knew that Congress didn’t like the burning thing.

    Most of Washington’s council recommended leaving the city, but Washington still wanted to ensure that some portions of the city were fortified and made appropriate plans. Unfortunately those plans fell apart rather quickly, as we’ll soon learn.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • All Under Heaven Is Chaos–September 7, 1776

    Cover art for September 7, 1776: Cutaway diagram of the Turtle, drawn by Lt.C. Francis M. Barber of the US Navy in 1875. via Library of Congress.

    …but the situation was not excellent, for the American side, anyway.

    George Washington got a wake-up call in the form of a letter from Congress. In that letter he was told that it was not a good idea to burn down New York City; what’s more, they weren’t quite so invested in his holding the City as he thought they were. This was a good news/bad news situation for him, since he knew that strategically, the British occupying New York had the potential to be a huge problem, especially if they were able to take the entire Hudson Valley.

    But even if they didn’t, having one of our biggest and busiest ports was going to create a lot of headaches, regardless of what was supposed to be moving in or out of the city.

    Meanwhile, we have Ezra Lee making his first attempt at genuinely deploying the Turtle submersible. The currents plus the darkness made maneuvering very difficult, and while he did get close enough to Admiral Howe’s ship to stick the explosive charge to it, the spear he used couldn’t penetrate the hull enough to stick. In recent years it’s thought that he tried to pierce the hull near the rudder, which had an iron plate on it; another theory involved the recent use of copper on ships’ bottoms, but this copper was quite thin and would have been easily pierced.

    Lee made one more attempt with the Turtle, on October 6, but that try also failed. The Turtle was lost less than a week later when the sloop serving as her tender was sunk by British ships. Who knows? Maybe there are still pieces of her in the Hudson River.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Eve of Battle–August 26, 1776

    Cover art for August 26, 1776: A map of Brooklyn by Bernard Ratzer, ca. 1766-67. The Guan Heights are marked as ovals at center right.

    At this point, both George Washington and General William Howe know that they’re literally on the eve of battle, and they’re making their final preparations.

    The British, along with the Hessians, were making plans to move along the Jamaica Pass (it’s the road just above the Acroasis logo in today’s art), which, while they didn’t know it, was relatively lightly guarded by the Continental Army.

    Washington’s tactic was to hold on to the Heights of Guan (the ovals to the right of the episode title, representing hills) and fortify Brooklyn Heights (far left center, about where the Brooklyn Bridge is today). It wasn’t a bad idea, but it didn’t match the British plans. And that’s largely where things went wrong. We’ll be talking about that in greater detail tomorrow.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Meet The New Boss–August 24, 1776

    Cover art for August 24, 1776: Engraving of Israel Putnam during the Revolution. via Library of Congress.

    That George Washington chose to add Israel Putnam to his leadership rolls in Brooklyn isn’t specifically mysterious. What is mysterious is that Putnam was added rather than used as a replacement for someone else.

    As a result of that move, there were essentially two men in charge on Long Island, with Putnam as the theater commander and General John Sullivan, who’d arrived only a couple of days earlier, in charge of ..something else?

    I’m reminded of a story from when I was a youngster and my family went up to Fort William Henry, on Lake George in upstate New York. It was built by the British during the French and Indian War, but it wasn’t built to withstand artillery, so when the battle started, the fort had to surrender pretty quickly. At any rate, one of the docents, dressed in period clothing, demonstrated how a flintlock rifle worked: he set up the powder, etc, put a musket ball into the gun (my memory is hazy on the specific details here), then he took aim, out toward the lake so nobody would get hit…and the gun misfired, the hammer simply banging down ineffectually.

    >click<

    And someone in the tour group, who may have been my mother (is the statute of limitations up yet?) said, “No wonder you lost.”

    Same thing happened on Long Island: poor planning, confusion regarding leadership roles, and being generally outnumbered.

    No wonder we lost. (oop, spoiler alert.)

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • Reacting to Brooklyn–August 23, 1776

    Cover art for August 23, 1776: Map showing Howe's attack upon Washington's forces on Long Island. via Library of Congress.

    The day after the British landed on Long Island, George Washington was disheartened to learn that army provisioning wasn’t at the level he’d expected, despite his orders only a week earlier.

    It was bad enough that he’d been caught a little flatfooted by both the magnitude and the direction of the British movement, now he discovers that troops he’d ordered to move had done so without proper provisions.

    So, he took the time to create new orders regarding army provisioning and ensure that the General Commissary had the manpower to do what it needed to do. He also took the time to write an inspirational note to the troops, which we couldn’t do in a two-minute show, but which read thus:

    The Enemy have now landed on Long Island, and the hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty—that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men: Remember how your Courage and Spirit have been dispised, and traduced by your cruel invaders; though they have found by dear experience at Boston, Charlestown and other places, what a few brave men contending in their own land, and in the best of causes can do, against base hirelings and mercenaries—Be cool, but determined; do not fire at a distance, but wait for orders from your officers—It is the General’s express orders that if any man attempt to skulk, lay down, or retreat without Orders he be instantly shot down as an example, he hopes no such Scoundrel will be found in this army; but on the contrary, every one for himself resolving to conquer, or die, and trusting to the smiles of heaven upon so just a cause, will behave with Bravery and Resolution: Those who are distinguished for their Gallantry, and good Conduct, may depend upon being honorably noticed, and suitably rewarded: And if this Army will but emulate, and imitate their brave Countrymen, in other parts of America, he has no doubt they will, by a glorious Victory, save their Country, and acquire to themselves immortal Honor.

    Yes, I said that cowardice “will not be tolerated” in the episode; clearly I under-sold that one.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed