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Revolutionary War Historical Article
The American Revolution Month-by-Month August 1779
By Compatriot Andrew "Andy" Stough
Editor's Note: This article was reprinted by Permission of the Gold Country Chapter No. 7 of the CSSAR and was slightly edited by the Sons of Liberty Chapter of the CSSAR
The month of August begins with a holdover, the Penobscot Expedition which began on a disputed date in the latter half of July. The Massachusetts fleet was commanded by Dudley Saltonstall, a former privateer who had been given orders to dislodge the 700-man British force from the fort under construction at Castine. Arriving at the site, Saltonstall (for a reason not known) did not immediately attack. The ground force commanders Generals Soloman Lovell and Peleg Wadsworth put 200 of the two or three thousand ground troops ashore. One wonders why such a small number of the available force was used and were not properly supported by the artillery commanded by Paul Revere.
Nothing significant occurred until August 14th when British reinforcements consisting of seven ships with 204 guns and 1,530 ground troops arrived from Halifax, Nova Scotia (other sources say New York). The American forces then withdrew upriver some thirty or forty miles miles to the settlement of Kenduskeag (present day Bangor) where they ran their ships ashore and burned them. The survivors then walked back to Boston, where Saltonstall was dismissed for his actions at Castine and Bangor and Revere was court martialed for disobeying the orders of a superior officer but was acquitted. Is this our Paul Revere of the Midnight Ride? Yes! Revere had risen from a midnight messenger to a Lt. Colonel of Artillery. The Penobscot Expedition was the largest naval force formed and deployed for combat during the entire Revolutionary War. It also was the greatest naval defeat of the Revolution!
While the Penobscot Expedition was finding its place in history as a disaster, the Sullivan and Brodhead expeditions were burning the western frontier. The Sullivan expedition began with General John Sullivan in Easton, Pennsylvania (near present day Allentown) while Brigadier General James Clinton was at Canajoharie; the two forces joining at Tioga in late August. They then moved north with the purpose of capturing hostages and destroying the settlements of the Six Nations (The Iroquois League). in New York's Genessee Valley.
On the way to Tioga, Brigadier General Clinton destroyed an empty Indian village of 30 to 40 substantial homes, a meeting house and chapel along with extensive gardens and fields of corn. He then destroyed the significant Indian town of Onanquaga on the Susquehana River, burning a substantial number of houses, a church, and fields of corn, vegetables and vast fruit orchards.
Leaving a small body of men to guard the town, the combined force proceeded up the Chemung River; by their noisy march negating the objective of securing prisoners.
On August 29th there was a sharp, but short fight at Newtown (near Elmira, New York) between Sullivan and the Tory forces of Colonel John Butler and Joseph Brant and his Indians. Unable to stand against a 1,400 man American force, Butler and Brant left the field to Sullivan. Shortly after the battle Sullivan destroyed a substantial town of English style houses and large orchards and crops, including 150 acres of fine corn. The only defeat of the expedition occurred on September 13th, when a small party of Morgan’s Rifles was ambushed. Twenty-two men were killed outright, the Lieutenant and his sergeant captured and taken to Beard's town where they were tortured and eventually beheaded. As a final act Sullivan put the torch to the old town of Genessee along with its large orchards and gardens.
The expedition retraced its steps, burning anything overlooked on the march north. On September 30th the expedition was at Wyoming and by October 15th had returned to its origin of Easton, Pennsylvania. Brodhead's 600-man expedition operating in the Allegheny River Valley occurred about the same time with results similar to those of Sullivan. The commanders of both expeditions received commendations from Congress and Commander-in-Chief for their actions.
The Indians, their towns and crops destroyed, were forced in humiliation to retreat to Niagara to be housed and fed by the British for the winter. With the return of warmer weather the Indians, seething with a desire for revenge, accelerated their raiding which continued with unabated fury during and after the Revolutionary War.
While all of this was going on, Major Henry Lee Jr. (Light Horse Harry) convinced Washington that he could push the British from their last remaining major outpost in New Jersey called Powles or Paulus Hook (the origin of Jersey City, New Jersey), McLane and his horsemen had been scouting the entire area prior to the capture of Stony Point and was now called on to brief Lee on the fort's defenses, then lead the way into the fort where he and his men acted heroically.
As at Stony Point, there was a swamp to cross and an abatis to infiltrate. The garrison, alerted by sounds of splashing water, opened fire but it was too late. The Americans, as at Stony Point, made the bayonet the weapon of the day, capturing the fort without a shot being fired. The only Briton not killed or captured was a small force of Hessians in a blockhouse who refused to surrender. Time and probable casualties did not allow for an attack on the Blockhouse.
There had been no intention of holding the fort, only the capture of the garrison, spiking of the cannon and blowing up the powder magazine. Retreat from the Hook had to be immediate and was perilous due to the arrival of reinforcements from New York City. Boats positioned to take them back to the main force had been withdrawn and it became necessary to split the force and return by several different routes to Washington's Command. The affair of Paulus Hook on August 19th was the last encounter between Washington and Clinton in 1779. Schlesinger notes that on "14 August, 1779 Congress approves a peace plan that contains the stipulation of independence, specifically defined minimum boundaries, complete evacuation of the American territories and free navigation on the Mississippi River." I find no reference to this in any other document available to me but it is interesting that Congress is plugging away and still confident that the new nation will overcome British rule and gain true independence.
Captain John Paul Jones of the U. S. Navy with a courtesy rank of Commodore set sail on August 14th on a voyage around the British Isles in his flagship Bonhomme Richard accompanied by frigates Alliance and Las Pallas and four lesser vessels, La Vengeance, Le Cerf, Monsieur and Granville; the latter two being privateers who departed the task force shortly after leaving port.
The officers of the Richard were American, French and Irish and most were intensely loyal to the Commodore. The crew which had been formed and reformed before sailing was a mixed lot of eleven nationalities including Americans. On board were 137 French Marines who were to perform nobly. Morison notes "Jones now had a hard core of professional seamen who wanted to fight and recognized their Captain as the great seaman and leader that he was." This was a crew far different from any on his preceding cruises.
On the 18th, the privateer, Monsieur took a prize off Lands End and left the fleet with the prize. On the 19th and 20th a large ship was chased but escaped, on the 21st the cargo ship Mayflower was captured and sent to Lorient with a prize crew. On the 23rd the becalmed Brig Fortune was captured by two boats from Richard and sent to Nantes under a prize crew. Still becalmed and in fog off Ireland, a boat was put out to keep Richard from grounding on a reef. The crew chosen were all dissident Irishmen who shortly cut the towing hawser, deserted, and set off for shore. Chase was given but it was fruitless.
On the 24th Captain Landais came aboard the flagship, and in front of Richard's officers addressed Jones "in the most gross and insulting terms" because Jones had denied him permission to chase a vessel close in to shore where there was danger from rocks. Landais announced that from now on he would chase when and where he pleased and act on his own. Landais then departed and was not seen again until late August.
The Irish deserters alarmed the countryside with stories of Jones' plan to burn and pillage. Newspapers spread the stories far and wide. To calm fears of the populace, two of His Majesty's Ships were put to sea to find and defeat Jones. Use of newspaper accounts of Jones location resulted in the search being made in the wrong direction. Nothing of importance occurred until August 30th when the cargo ship Union was captured and sent as a prize.
References: Arthur Meier Schlesinger's"The Almanac of American History"; Christopher Ward's "The War of the Revolution"; Don Higginbotham's "War of American Independence"; Encyclopedia Britannica "The Revolutionary War Years".
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