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The Battle of Stony Point was a battle of the American Revolutionary War. Combatants United States (United Colonies prior to July 1776) France Spanish Empire Dutch Republic Polish volunteers Quebec volunteers Prussian volunteers Oneida Tuscarora Great Britain Loyalists Hessian mercenaries Iroquois Confederacy Duchy of Brunswick Commanders George Washington Nathanael Greene Gilbert de La Fayette Comte de Rochambeau Bernardo de Gálvez Tadeusz Ko...
Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, July 16, 1779 Source: A Brief History of the United States, Barness Historical Series, American Book Company, New York, 1885. ...
is the 196th day of the year (197th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1779 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Stony Point is a town located in Rockland County, New York. ...
Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 - December 15, 1796), was a United States Army general and statesman. ...
The Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga consisted of a series of battles between the American revolutionaries and British forces, from 1778 through 1781 in what are now the New England and Mid-Atlantic states of the United States. ...
The Battle of Cobleskill (Cobleskill massacre) occurred on May 30-June 1, 1778, in Cobleskill, New York. ...
Combatants Britain United States Commanders Colonel John Butler Colonel Zebulon Butler Strength 900 regulars and Native American warriors 360 milita Casualties 3 killed 8 wounded 300+ killed and captured (164+6 known dead) The Wyoming Valley battle and massacre was an encounter during the American Revolutionary War between American Patriots...
Combatants Britain United States Commanders Unknown Colonel Hunter The Big Runaway occurred in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, when settlements throughout the West Branch Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania in what became the United States were attacked by Loyalists and Native Americans allied with the British. ...
Combatants British United States Commanders Robert Pigot John Sullivan Strength 7,139 10,100 Casualties at least 260 at least 211 The Battle of Rhode Island was a battle fought on August 29, 1778 when units of the Continental Army under the command of John Sullivan attempted to recapture Aquidneck...
Combatants United States and Vermont Republic British Commanders Seth Warner Christopher Carleton Strength unknown number of local militia 454 soldiers plus sailors on the ships Casualties 79 captured, unknown killed and wounded 1 killed, 17 missing and 1 wounded On October 24, 1778 with snow already on the ground but...
Incident in Cherry Valley - fate of Jane Wells from the original picture by Alonzo Chappel by Thomas Phillibrown, engraver. ...
The Battle of Minisink, which commenced on July 22, 1779 at Minisink Ford in Orange County, New York during the American Revolution was one of the most bloody and decisive battles of the War where Loyalists and Iroquois under the leadership of Joseph Brant, a Mohawk who was a Colonel...
Combatants Britain United States Commanders Colonel Francis McLean General Solomon Lovell and Captain Dudley Saltonstall Strength 600 regulars 1,000 regulars, 43 warships Casualties 13 killed and wounded 474 killed, wounded, and captured; all ships lost The Penobscot Expedition was the largest American naval expedition of the American Revolutionary War...
The Sullivan Expedition, also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, was a campaign led by Major General John Sullivan and General James Clinton against Loyalists (Tories) and the four nations of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War. ...
The Battle of Newtown (29 August 1779) was the only major battle of the Sullivan Expedition, an armed offensive led by Gen. ...
Combatants United States Great Britain Hessians Commanders Nathanael Greene Wilhelm von Knyphausen Strength 2,050 6,000 Casualties 15 killed, 40 wounded 25–50 or more killed {Note the appendix to The Hessians gives possible casualites estimates as being 25 killed, 75 wounded} The Battle of Springfield was a battle...
The Battle of Groton Heights was a battle of the American Revolutionary War. ...
Combatants United States (United Colonies prior to July 1776) France Spanish Empire Dutch Republic Polish volunteers Quebec volunteers Prussian volunteers Oneida Tuscarora Great Britain Loyalists Hessian mercenaries Iroquois Confederacy Duchy of Brunswick Commanders George Washington Nathanael Greene Gilbert de La Fayette Comte de Rochambeau Bernardo de Gálvez Tadeusz Ko...
Background
In late May, 1779, British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton sent a force of about 8,000 men up the North (or Hudson) River with the intention of drawing General George Washington’s Continental Army out of its lair at West Point. By June 1st Crown forces had occupied and begun fortifying Stony Point on the west side of the river and Verplanck’s Point on the east side. This move effectively closed King’s Ferry, a major river crossing at that narrow point in the river, about 10 miles (16 km) south of West Point and 35 miles (56 km) north of New York City. George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)[1] led Americas Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and in 1789 was elected the first President of the United States of America. ...
Illustration depicting uniforms and weapons used during the 1779 to 1783 period of the American Revolution by showing four soldiers standing in an informal group General George Washington, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775. ...
Alternate meanings: West Point (disambiguation). ...
Stony Point may refer to: Stony Point railway line, Melbourne The Battle of Stony Point Stony Point, Michigan Stony Point railway station, Melbourne Stony Point (town), New York Stony Point, Oklahoma Stony Point, North Carolina Stony Point (CDP), New York There are also: The Stoney Point people, a First Nation...
New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...
Stony Point was garrisoned with elements of the 17th Regiment of Foot under the command of Lt. Col. Henry Johnson. The 17th was reinforced there by the grenadier company of the 71st Highland Regiment, a company of the Loyal American Regiment, and a detachment of the Royal Artillery with nine cannon, four mortars and one eight-inch howitzer. A Royal Navy gunboat was assigned to protect the river approaches to the fortifications, and the sloop Vulture was also on patrol in that part of the river. The Royal Leicestershire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, first raised in 1688. ...
The Loyal American Regiment was a Royal Provincial regiment comprised of American loyalists who served in the American Revolution from 1777 to 1783. ...
Tactical Recognition Flash of the Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, generally known as the Royal Artillery (RA), is, despite its name, a corps of the British Army. ...
The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ...
Washington observed construction of the fortifications through a telescope from atop nearby Buckberg Mountain. Historians also believe he used intelligence gathered from local merchants to get a better idea of the strength of the garrison, the types of watchwords in use, and the placement of sentries – especially on the south side of the point, which could not be seen from Buckberg. During this time he formulated a plan of attack and selected a commander to lead it – Major General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania. Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 - December 15, 1796), was a United States Army general and statesman. ...
Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area Ranked 33rd - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²) - Width 280 miles (455 km) - Length 160 miles (255 km) - % water 2. ...
The British position at Stony Point was a fortified one, but it was never intended to be a true fort in the 18th Century European sense of the word. No stone was used and no walls were constructed. The defenses consisted of earthen fleches (cannon positions) and wooden abatis (felled trees sharpened to a point and placed in earthen embankments). This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. ...
Battle Washington’s plan called for a two-pronged, pincer-type, nighttime attack on the fortifications to be carried out by 1,200 men of his Corps of Light Infantry. According to 18th Century military doctrine, this was not enough men to take a well-prepared defensive position, but in addition to the element of surprise, Washington’s plan exploited a fatal flaw in the fortifications. British engineers had extended the wooden abatis 50 yards into the river in order to prevent attackers from approaching along a narrow beach at the base of the point, but low tide in the river meant men could wade around the end of the abatis. Traditionally light infantry (or skirmishers) were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. ...
Washington gave Wayne his orders, along with permission to alter the plan if necessary. This was an unusual act for Washington, and indicates the high opinion he had of Wayne’s tactical abilities. The assault would be difficult: It would be carried out in the dead of night, it called for the men to scale the steep, rocky sides of Stony Point, and it required absolute surprise. To accomplish this last aim Washington ordered that the men attack with bayonets only in order to prevent a musket blast from alerting British sentries. Despite the difficulty of the plan, Wayne made only one change. He decided to use a small force to approach the fortifications from the landward side – exactly where the British expected an attack to come from. This group was permitted to load their muskets and to keep up a fire “sufficient to amuse the enemy” as a diversionary tactic. Wayne selected Col. Richard Butler to lead the northern column, Maj. Hardy Murfree to lead the diversionary attack on the British center, and Wayne himself would lead the southern column. Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ...
At nightfall on July 15, 1779, Wayne and his men marched south from West Point in three columns. The civilians they met along their march were taken into custody to prevent them from warning the British. The three columns rendezvoused at about 10:00 p.m. at a farm just a few miles from the fortifications. The men were given a rum ration and their orders. They were also given pieces of white paper to pin to their hats in order to help them tell each other from the British in the darkness. The three columns then moved out to begin the attack. This article is about the beverage. ...
Bad weather that night aided the Continentals. Cloud cover cut off moonlight and high winds forced the British ships in Haverstraw Bay to leave their posts off Stony Point and move downriver. At midnight, just as scheduled, the attack began. Murfree’s center column was spotted by British sentries and fired upon. Wayne’s column was discovered by the light of the muzzle blast of a cannon firing at Murfree’s men, but by that time it was too late to turn the cannon – Wayne’s men had succeeded in getting inside the British first line of defenses. Wayne himself was struck in the head by a spent musket ball and fell to the ground, leaving Col. Christian Febiger to take over command of Wayne’s column. Meanwhile, Butler’s column had succeeded in cutting their way through the abatis, although they sustained the only loss of life on the American side while doing so. Haverstraw Bay, located in New York, is the widest portion of the Hudson River. ...
Col. ...
The first man into the British upper works was Lt. Col. Francois de Fleury, a French nobleman serving on Wayne’s staff. He was followed by Americans named Knox, Baker and Dunlop – all of whom earned cash prizes for their accomplishment. As the men hauled down the British colors they called out, “The fort’s our own!” – the prearranged password telling their comrades the battle was won. The battle had lasted less than an hour, yet it proved to be the major engagement of 1779, and the last major battle of the war in the northern theater. A password is a form of secret authentication data that is used to control access to a resource. ...
Before dawn, Wayne sent a brief dispatch telling Washington that “The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours. The men behaved like men determined to be free.” The next day Washington rode into the works to inspect the battlefield and congratulate the troops. For his exploits, Wayne was awarded a medal by Congress, one of the few issued during the Revolution.
The Continentals, not having enough men to defend the site, chose to abandon it – but not until after carrying off the cannon and supplies captured there. The British briefly reoccupied the site only to abandon it shortly after as Clinton redeployed his troops to the southern colonies in anticipation of a French invasion.
Some officer prisoners were exchanged immediately after the battle, but the majority of the garrison was marched off to prison camps in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Anthony Wayne is alleged to have seen troops under his command massacred by bayonet during the Battle of Paoli in 1777, and Wayne himself called out “Remember Paoli!” as his men scaled the slopes of Stony Point, but in the aftermath of the battle, he ordered full quarter given to surrendering enemy soldiers. It was said that King George III had to fight back tears when he was told of the mercy shown to his soldiers at Stony Point. This is a legend and is not factual, see the book "The Enterprise in Contemplation" The US Marine Corps OKC-3S Bayonet A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon. ...
Combatants United States Great Britain Commanders Anthony Wayne Charles Grey Strength 3,850 troops 1,300 troops Casualties 53 killed, 113 wounded, 17 captured 4 killed, 5 wounded The Battle of Paoli (also known as the Battle of Paoli Tavern or the Paoli Massacre) was a battle in the Philadelphia...
George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738–29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ...
Note: Anthony Wayne is often known by the sobriquet "Mad Anthony,” but this nickname was not in use at the time of the assault on Stony Point. The name was first used after the Battle of Green Spring, VA, in 1781, which involved another daring bayonet charge. Battle of Green Spring took place at Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War. ...
State Historic Site The Stony Point State Historic Site is located at the former battlefield and has interpretive materials, tours, and demonstrations, primarily during the summer season. A museum on the site features artifacts from the battle, including a howitzer and two mortars.
See also This is a list of state parks in the U.S. state of New York. ...
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