Chapter One: The First Revolution
Section Four: Washington’s War
Washington’s army emerged from Valley Forge a disheveled wreck. The Army was only a third of the size that it went in with. Many of the soldiers died from the harsh conditions, some deserted, and some even switched sides. The army was not uniform, not trained, and lacked professionalism. Many of them were sick from malnutrition, and many hadn’t obtained new shoes or other clothing since before winter. On top of all of this was the worst aspect of all; the soldiers that remained were angry and bitter with Washington, with Congress, and with the revolution. It looked as though Washington wouldn’t be able to hold on to his army in 1778. Luckily for Washington he had a very faithful companion by his side, Major General Benedict Arnold.
As in every spring war renewed, and Arnold was ready to fight. He was able to show and inspire enthusiasm that Washington wasn’t able to. His army was done to 4000 men from the 12000 he had back in December. They needed a victory in order to lift their spirits up and to inspire new recruits. Arnold and Washington began drawing up plans for a series of easy victories against the British. Their first target would be Fort Pitt on the Pennsylvania frontier.
Because the British had been focusing on a strategy of economically starving the colonies by cutting off trade through port occupation, defense of the frontier was left mostly to the Indians who sided with the British, and small contingents of British soldiers stationed at forts. Fort Pitt was no difference. The number of actual British soldiers manning the fort was only 700, but there were several thousand Indians in the area augmenting that force. Though the total number defending the fort would be overall less then the size of the American force, they would still have the advantage of position. Washington knew that he needed to remove the Indian factor from the equation.
He would send in an American with experience living with the Indians and who could speak their language. The man met with the Cayuga tribesmen who were in the area. He tried to persuade them to attack Fort Pitt with the Americans, but they declined, sighting their grievances against the colonists. The negotiator then came up with a new idea. The point of attacking Fort Pitt wasn’t to hold it as strategic territory, but instead to boost the morale of the men. He managed to convince the Cayuga tribe not to switch sides, but to instead simply ignore the British this one time. The Cayuga would camp further away from Fort Pitt for 2 weeks, giving the Americans a limited time to attack. On June 6th, 1778 Washington ordered the attack on Fort Pitt. When the British called for the Cayuga, they didn’t come. The British were overwhelmed, and Fort Pitt was taken by the Americans.
This did exactly what Washington and Arnold hoped it would do. The soldiers morale began to pick up. After leaving a small contingent to hold down the Fort, Washington’s army moved back east in order to find more easy victories for his army to devour. He would find several. They would have clashes with several small British forces along the frontier on their way back to eastern Pennsylvania. With each victory the confidence of the army grew. They even picked up volunteers as they headed east.
With this new confidence Washington began envisioning a new ambitious plan to turn the tide of the war. He would attempt a liberation of Philadelphia. This would not be an easy task, and Washington knew that it would take time to build up the strength and to coordinate the attack. It would take several months just to draw up plans, and then to execute them could extend the attack a year into the future. Still he knew that that would be a sign to the rest of the world that the Americans weren’t beat yet.
Another momentous battle for Washington’s new army was at a small settlement which consisted mostly of a tavern and a few small homes. This town sat on the Shippensburg-Baltimore, and Philadelphia-Pittsburgh crossroads. Here Washington engaged Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Carleton, the younger brother of Guy Carleton, in battle. Thomas Carleton has mostly mounted infantry. He and Washington battled over this small settlement for 3 hours before Carleton retreated. At the time the battle was called the Battle of Crossroads. However the battle would eventually be named for the town that eventually named it self Gettysburg, after the tavern owner.
Washington corresponded with generals in the area over his planned attack on Philadelphia. He knew it would take exact coordination to overwhelm and surprise Sir Henry Clinton who still occupied the city. He coordinated with General Gates in New Jersey, and Lafayette along the Virginia-Maryland border. This attack took months of planning. Eventually they set a time period for the attack, Spring of 1779. The exact date would be discussed more through correspondance, but they agreed that the attack needed to be made in spring of the next year. Washington would spend the summer and fall of moving between northern Pennsylvania and southern New York, winning small battles, recruiting small numbers of men, and slowly building up the confidence of his army.
In November of 1778 he would return his army to Valley Forge. This time he would try to accomplish what he couldn’t do in the prior winter, train his army. He would employ the few lessons he was able to learn from von Steuben the previous winter by having the camp set up the proper way from the very beginning, with the kitchens at one end of the camp, and latrines down hill at the other. Soldier’s tents were arranged by unit, with strict discipline enforced by both Washington and Arnold. Horatio Gates’ army would make winter quarters in southern New Jersey, east of Philadelphia. Lafayette’s army would make camp south of Philadelphia. This meant that Philadelphia was surrounded from the north, south, and east, which made the only escape route going west. Together they would drive them toward the frontier, where sir Henry Clinton was not accustomed to fighting.
Winter went by as most winters did, waiting for spring. But the correspondence between Washington, Gates, and Lafayette increased. The three of them would meet several times in person to discuss the attack. When spring came they all knew what they had to do. They would liberate Philadelphia from the British. If the attack succeeded, it could turn the revolution around. Not necessarily strategically, but morale would be boosted across all the colonies.
On May 4th, 1779 all three armies began to move on Philadelphia. The three American armies totaled 17000 between them. There were 10,000 British soldiers stationed in the city. Washington had no illusions of an easy victories. He has learned many times that numbers don’t win the battle. This time he had the city surrounded, and a confident, semi-professional army. Clinton had been suspecting an attack for quite some time. He had been preparing as well. Earth works were dug around the city during the late winter to early spring. On May 6th, the attack begun.
All three armies attacked Philadelphia simultaneously from the north, east, and south. They all fought with a fury that could only be conjured through either desperation, or brutal realization. Lafayette’s men are the first to engage British forces south of the city. It was brutal fighting, but Lafayette’s men were able to get up close to the earth works and trenches and fight the British hand to hand. Washington and Gate’s armies focused on artillery attacks before sending in infantry to mop up. The British were holding on for either the Americans to run out of steam, or for reinforcements to arrive from Burgoyne.
The battle lasted for 3 days. On May 9th Washington’s army broke the northern line of the city and were able to move closer to the city. Washington himself was leading the charge. The British readied bayonets and so did Washington’s men. Suddenly a sea of Blue Continental soldiers collided with a wall of red coats and the carnage began. It was chaos on the northern line of the city. Washington was evading bullets left and right, it seemed as though he couldn’t be shot.
But then trouble came from Gate’s line. Reinforcements from Burgoyne arrived and attacked Gate’s army from the north. At this point Gate’s begins to attempt a retreat. Washington is informed of this and rushes toward Gate’s army to stop the retreat. He arrives outside of eastern Philadelphia. He finds Gates and verbally rips him a new one. He shouts him down and strips him of command. Washington then takes control of Gates’ army and continues the attack, as he leads the men forward a shot is fired and hits Washington in the chest. He falls from his horse and his body hit’s the ground.
The men around him are demoralized. They begin to retreat. News of this spreads quickly through the three armies. Panic begins, and mass retreats are made without order. Benedict Arnold manages to keep his army in order, but he sees the other armies retreating. He knows that if he stays that the army would be destroyed.
In order to save the revolution, he must save the army. He orders a retreat. He tries to send somebody to get Washington’s body, but they are unsuccessful. This is considered the greatest tragedy of the revolution. Washington dies at the Battle of Philadelphia, May 9th, 1779.
Benedict Arnold retreats the army westward to areas that the British are not so likely to follow him. He eventually heads south toward Virginia. The body of George Washington is captured by the British. The body is hung from a noose from a gallow in Philadelphia for several days before it is embalmed and sent by ship to London. The King wanted Washington’s head on a pike in front of Buckingham palace.