Battle of Stony Point

The Battle of Stony Point was a battle of the American Revolutionary War.

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 1 Crown forces had occupied and begun fortifying Stony Point, New York 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.

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 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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 one of the last major battles of the War in the Northern Theater.

Wayne's losses were only 15 killed and 83 wounded [Boatner, Mark Mayo, "Cassell’s Biographical Dictionary of the American War of Independence 1763-1783", Cassell, London, 1966, ISBN 0 304 29296 6, page 1066] . 546 prisoners were taken, 74 of whom were wounded [Boatner, page 1066] . Some Patriot sources stated that there were 63 British dead [Boatner, page 1066] but military historian Mark M. Boatner describes this claim as "obviously false" and accepts the official British report of 20 killed [Boatner, page 1066] .

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.

Contemporary Patriot propaganda made a great deal out of the fact that Wayne had given quarter to the garrison of Stony Point despite the treatment of his own men at the “Paoli Massacre” in 1777. One story even had King George III fighting back tears when he heard of the “mercy” that had been shown to his troops [Loprieno, Don, "The Enterprise in Contemplation: The Midnight Assault of Stony Point", Heritage Books Inc., 2004, ISBN-10: 0788425749, ISBN-13: 978-0788425745 ] . In fact, there was no reason to be surprised that Lt-Col Johnson’s men escaped massacre. Both sides took thousands of prisoners during the Revolution and the granting of quarter was a matter of routine. The rumors of massacre at Paoli were largely propaganda claims [Boatner, page 829] (see article on the Battle of Paoli for details) and Wayne himself had fought at the Battles of Trois-Rivières, Brandywine and Germantown, where the Americans captured by the British numbered 236 [Boatner, page 1117] , 400 [Boatner, page 109] and 438 [Martin, David G.; "The Philadelphia Campaign June 1777-July 1778"; Combined Books; Conshocken, Pennsylvania; 1993; ISBN 0-938289-19-5, page 76] respectively.

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.

tate 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.

References

See also

*List of New York state parks.

External links

* [http://nysparks.state.ny.us/sites/info.asp?siteID=29 NYS Stony Point webpage]
* [http://www.revolutionaryday.com/usroute9w/stonypoint/default.htm Battle information]
* [http://www.loyalamericanregiment.org/ Loyal American Regiment Living History Group]
* [http://www.hm17thregiment.org/ 17th Regiment of Foot Living History Group]