Monmouth order of battle

The Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778 saw a colonial American army under Major General George Washington fight a British army led by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton. After evacuating Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 18, Clinton intended to march his 13,000-man army to New York City. Washington sent 6,400 troops commanded by Major General Charles Lee to attack the British column of march near Monmouth Court House, New Jersey. When Clinton counterattacked, Lee ordered his badly deployed troops to fall back immediately. Washington brought up 7,000 men to support Lee's withdrawing wing and held his ground against repeated British assaults. That evening Clinton retreated from the field and continued his march to Sandy Hook, where the British fleet waited to ferry his army to New York. Both armies' casualties were about even in the last major battle in the northern colonies. Lee was court martialed for his behavior during the battle.^[1]

British order of battle

Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton (est. 18,000 - 19,000)^[2]

• Staff:
  • Adjutant General: Lieutenant Colonel Francis Lord Rawdon
  • Deputy Adjutant General: Major Stephen Kemble, Captain George Hutchinson
  • Assistant Adjutant General: Lieutenant James Cramond
  • Quartermaster General: Brigadier General Sir William Erskine
  • Royal Artillery Commander: Brigadier General James Pattison
  • Senior Engineer Officer: Captain John Montresor (Absent)
  • Aide-de-Camp: Major Duncan Drummond, Captains William Sutherland, Lord William Cathcart, William Crosbie, Alexander von Wilmowsky, Ernst von Munchhausen
  • Military Secretary: Captain John Smith
  • Deputy Inspector General of Provincial Forces: Captain Henry Rooke
  • Deputy Muster-Master of Provincial Forces: Andrew Bell

1st Division

The 1st Division was commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis and comprised 9,440 combat troops.^[3]

Artillery

The artillery was divided between the two divisions.^[7]

2nd Division

The 2nd Division was commanded by Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen and comprised 8,229 combat troops and 1,394 noncombatants.^[10] While the 1st Division fought at Monmouth Court House, the 2nd Division proceeded with the 1,500 wagons of the baggage train towards Middletown. It endured only light harassment from American militia along the way.^[11]

American order of battle

General George Washington (est. 15,000 - 16,000)^[14]
{Curly Brackets indicate Brigade/Regimental/Battalion Strength}

• Staff:
  • Quartermaster General: Major General Nathanael Greene
  • Inspector General: Major General: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
  • Senior Artillery Officer: Brigadier General Henry Knox
  • Senior Engineer Officer: Brigadier General Louis Lebègue Duportail
  • Adjutant General: Colonel Alexander Scammell
  • Commissary Generals: Colonels Jeremiah Wadsworth and Clement Biddle
  • Judge Advocate General: Colonel John Lawrence
  • Military Secretary: Lieutenant Colonel Robert H. Harrison
  • Assistant Secretary: James McHenry
  • Aide-de-Camp: Lieutenant Colonels John Fitzgerald, Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens and Richard Meade
  • Volunteer Aides-de-Camp: Brigadier Generals Joseph Reed and John Cadwalader

Vanguard

The vanguard was commanded by Major General Charles Lee and comprised approximately 4,540 troops.^[15]

• Staff:
  • Acting Adjutant General: Lieutenant Colonel John Brooks
  • Aide-de-camp: Captains John Francis Mercer and Evan Edwards
  • Senior Artillery Officer: Lieutenant Colonel Eleazer Oswald
  • Deputy Inspector: Jean Baptiste Ternant
  • Advisers: Brigadier General David Forman and Colonel Marquis François de Malmedy

* Lee reshuffled his troops before launching his attack on the British rearguard, and put Wayne in charge of a detachment comprising Grayson's combined Virginia regiments, Butler's battalion and Jackson's detachment. Lafayette took over command of Wayne's original detachment.^[18][19]

Other advanced forces

Main line of defenses

Forward screen

Reserve (Perrine's Hill)

Forces commanded by Lafayette shadowed the British flanking column then rested behind the main defensive line at Perrine's Hill.^[22]

Combs Hill

When the main body reached Tennent's Meeting House, some two miles (three kilometres) east of Englishtown, Washington ordered Major General Nathanael Greene to take a brigade to cover the right flank. Greene was guided to Combs Hill by Lieutenant Colonel David Rhea of the 2nd New Jersey Militia.^[23]

Reserve (Englishtown)

Washington sent four brigades under Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben back to Englishtown to form a reserve.^[24]

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

References

• Bilby, Joseph G.; Jenkins, Katherine Bilby (2010). Monmouth Court House: The Battle That Made the American Army. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59416-108-7.
• Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-24913-1.
• Heitman, Francis Bernard (1914). Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution. Washington, D.C.: Rare Book Shop Publishing Company.
• Johnson, Curt (1975). Battles of the American Revolution. London: Rand McNally & Company. ISBN 0-528-81022-7.
• Lender, Mark Edward; Stone, Garry Wheeler (2016). Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-5335-3.
• Martin, David G., Millman, Leonard, Smith, Eric Lee. Battle of Monmouth: The Colonies take the Offensive war game. New York, NY: Simulations Publications, Inc., 1982.
• Morrissey, Brendan (2008). Monmouth Courthouse 1778: The last great battle in the North. Long Island City, N.Y.: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-772-7.
• McGuire, Thomas J. (2006). The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume I. Mechanicsburg, Penn.: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0178-6.
• McGuire, Thomas J. (2007). The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume II. Mechanicsburg, Penn.: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0206-5.
• revolutionarywar101.com American Revolutionary War Units
• ushistory.org Regiments at Valley Forge

This page was last edited on 20 January 2024, at 14:43