#battle of monmouth

[thebaffledcaptain]

Some studies I did of the British at Monmouth this past June, featuring soldiers and musicians from the 22nd, 33rd, and 71st regiments of foot, inspired by William Barns Wollen’s 1911 sketchbook. Fantastic event and I can’t wait to do it again.

(Alternate, color-less version below cut)

[protectionsquad24601]

First heard about this historical incident a year ago and it still never fails to make me emotional:

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Hello ! How many times was Laurens injured during the war ?

Five confirmed times;

Battle of Brandywine — Laurens suffered an ankle injury due to a musketball.

Battle of Germantown — Laurens had been shot through the “fleshy Part” of his right and dominant shoulder earlier in the battle. So, he had continued to fight with his aide riband wrapped around his arm and his sword in his left and non-dominant hand. He also received “a Blow in his Side from a spent Ball,” that was a minor injury that only caused swelling.

Battle of Monmouth — Laurens suffered a bruised right shoulder from a musketball.

Battle of Coosawhatchie — Another shot in the right shoulder.

Battle of Combahee — It isn't known specifically where Laurens was shot, it is only confirmed to have been fatal, and he seems to have died almost immediately. If so, he was likely shot in the heart, head, or neck.

[livelaughlovelams]

Lee: You look like someone who knows the zodiac signs

Von Steuben: Yeah, and you look like a fuckin Aquarius.

Lee: ?!?!?!?!?!?

[pub-lius]

DONT MAKE THIS LAFAYETTE POST AT 3 AM... | LAFAYETTE 3 AM CHALLENGE (scary) (don't try) (gone wrong) (lafayette pt. 4)

i witerawwy making this wafayette post at thwee am guys :0 (im so fucking tired but i hope you enjoy this @thereallvrb0y ) also here's pt. 3

The Conway Cabal *vine boom*

Alright, so last we left off, Lafayette rejoined Washington's staff on October 19, 1777 and Congress named him the commander of his own division. Woohoo!

While at Valley Forge (which is it's own beast to tackle another day), Lafayette worked closely with the aides-de-camp to procure supplies for the troops, but since they rarely ever got their requests fulfilled, Lafayette ended up spending his own money to provide necessities for the men, which is something like barely anyone else did, so this was super cool.

It's around this time that Washington's office became obsessed with the idea of a Conway Cabal (this is like one of my favorite topics of the amrev so I will try to keep this brief).

Lafayette's involvement in this whole ordeal came in the form of another fucking Canada expedition. At first, Lafayette refused because he didn't want to betray Washington, since the order came from the Board of War, which was seen as like a way to usurp Washington. When the order came from Congress (which was more acceptable to a political ally of Washington), Lafayette still didn't agree because he didn't want Thomas Conway, the former Inspector General, as his second in command because he thought he was annoying and dumb. Eventually, with some negotiating, he accepted on the condition that Conway wouldn't be there.

Side note: i will get exasperated several times with America wanting to conquer Canada or get them on their side against the British in some way because this happens SO MANY TIMES throughout the amrev and also 1812 that it is physically exhausting. like Canada wouldn't be any fuck to anyone anyway (no hate to canadians y'all are alright but still useless as hell in 18th century warfare)

When Lafayette arrived at where he'd be stationed in Albany, he was like wtf because he had N O T H I N G. like when I say nothing I mean most of the men he was told he'd have weren't there, there were no supplies like at all, and the men that WERE there were sick and dying and Lafayette had to pay more out of pocket to keep them alive. So, yeah, that expedition DIDNT HAPPEN, and Washington's allies were like "yeah this was definitely doomed to fail".

*DISCLAIMER: Again, I have to give the Conway Cabal Disclaimer (tm), there is no definitive proof that there was an actual conspiracy to overthrow Washington and replace him with Gates, it's more likely that he just had political enemies who had separate schemes against him, and occasionally worked together against their common enemy. Me personally, i don't really give a rats ass if they were actually conspiring against him, I think the events kinda speak for themselves and the conspiracy question is the wrong one to be asking.*

Barren Hill and Monmouth

Remember when I mentioned that Lafayette had established himself as the middle man between America and France? Yeah, that is important because he played a role in the ~French/American alliance~ aka the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, but that isn't really interesting aside from the fact that around the time everyone was celebrating the alliance, Gilbert found out his oldest daughter, Henriette, had died. Whoops!

After he was done sobbing while everyone else partied, he was ordered to find out of the British were actually leaving Philadelphia or just pranking them. Washington stationed Lafayette at Barren Hill with his Virginian detachment (this is where his love of Virginia comes from, along with his besties being from there), as well as some Oneida warriors he befriended while on that "Canada expedition"

Note: there's actually some interesting nuance with the indigenous warriors that played a part at Barren Hill, so I recommend anyone who is interested in that to look into it bc its super cool

Another note: Lafayette would eventually take a young Oneida boy with him to France (along with a Protestant kid who's father died in the war) for a better education, and there's some really interesting racial stuff that shows the attitudes the French court had towards poc, particularly indigenous people, at the time. Basically what had happened was Lafayette wanted to show off the really cool culture but really just ended up humiliating the kid by exploiting and exaggerating his culture for his French aristocratic visitors. it was very not cool and he should have known better!

Anyway, back to Barren Hill.

Washington gave Lafayette specific orders not to stay in one place because it would make it really easy for the British to find his location and attack him. Like really easy. Especially if you made camp on top of a hill and just kinda. chilled there. for an extended period of time. Like the British would find you immediately...

So the British found him immediately because he made camp on top of a hill and just kinda chilled there for an extended period of time. That hill was Barren Hill, if you hadn't already guessed.

Roughly a shit ton (5,000) British shoulders attacked the encampment from three directions, and in doing so, completely fucking Lafayette over. However, thanks mostly to the Oneida warriors, Lafayette and his troops retreated calmly across a low road through the woods, across the Schuylkill river (everything happens here), and successfully eluding the enemy. btw the Americans lost only NINE LIVES. Also another shoutout to the Oneida warriors who were absolute BADASSES and were the last to leave the site to make sure everyone else got out safely :')

Okay now we're getting into the real shit.

So Washington was like "okay so the British are ACTUALLY leaving Philadelphia (thanks laf), let's annoy the shit out of them while they leave" and they did, had a couple skirmishes here and there, but they wanted a real victory, so they planned one for the area near Monmouth Courthouse.

At first, Washington offered the command to General Charles Lee, who was pretty experienced in European warfare and was also throwing a huge hissy fit because he needed attention constantly. Lee never liked Washington or his plans, so he declined the command at Monmouth, so Washington gave it to Lafayette.

However, Lee was a petty bitch who clearly had no father figure so he threw another fucking tantrum when he found out that Lafayette would be in command instead of him, so he appealed to Washington and got the command back based on seniority.

During the battle, Lee was pushed back by Cornwallis' troops, and ordered a retreat, however he did not go about this in an orderly fashion, and did not give specific directions on who was retreating and where, so the troops were just running around in confusion while getting shot at. Lafayette, who was on the front lines, sent a note to Washington who arrived ASAP, and tore Lee a new asshole in front of everyone and it was super embarrassing.

The battle continued for the rest of the day (with Lafayette leading troops at the front and Lee at the rear) and eventually the British withdrew, making the battle a technical draw, but a moral victory for the Continental army.

Lee slandered many of the officers, including Washington, von Steuben, and Washington's aides-de-camp, which is the reason John Laurens shot his ass. His career never recovered.

Also, we have the records for Lee's court martial, and they're very interesting to read if you have the time. Laurens' testimonies are very funny.

The Newport Campaign

Good news: France finally sent naval support in the form of a fleet under Admiral d'Estaing, which arrived in Rhode Island. More good news: d'Estaing quickly befriended Lafayette. Even better news: the French and Continental forces were planning a campaign against the British fortifications at Newport, RI.

Bad news: the Americans chose General John Sullivan as commander of the Continental troops for the Newport campaign. And he. Hates. French people.

The American and French officers planned a joint land and sea offensive against the British and Hessian troops, and they were really riding on Lafayette's ability to ease the tension between the French and Americans, but things were still strained since Sullivan and d'Estaing both wanted the military advantage of attacking first.

Without consulting d'Estaing, Sullivan decided to attack a day early. This was really stupid because he wouldn't have naval coverage but he did it anyway. D'Estaing felt betrayed by this, and dispatched his fleet from Newport Harbor to pursue British ships without consulting Sullivan, so Sullivan had even less naval coverage bc the ships were just gone.

This left Lafayette trying to mend relations between these two assholes. He begged d'Estaing to come back and that the Americans thought he was being dramatic, but d'Estaing refused until strong winds destroyed his ships and he had to go into port to repair his ships, which he said he'd leave immediately after that was finished. He sailed for Boston with his repaired ships, and Sullivan accused him of desertion, cowardice, or treason. He put his accusations to paper and sent it ahead of d'Estaing so that the Bostonians wouldn't want anything to do with him.

Lafayette. lost. his. shit. He was infuriated that Sullivan would insult the French, though he didn't condone d'Estaing's behavior. In fact, he was so enraged that he decided not to update Washington because he didn't want to risk insulting the Commander in Chief. Eventually, he broke and talked to Washington, who handled the situation diplomatically.

"Would you believe that, forgetting the general obligations owed to France and the services specifically rendered by the fleet, the greater part of these people here allow faded prejudices to revive and speak as though they had been abandoned, almost betrayed." -Lafayette to d'Estaing, August 24

Note: the next post might take even longer than this one lol because I have to take more notes from my sources to get my timeline together for laf's participation in the french revolution, but while I'm doing that, i'll be posting an actual timeline of the frev on here, so i'll still be making posts. also, even tho my account will be focused on frev for a little bit, im still actively doing research on the amrev, so any questions about either, or other historical figures/events, are still just as encouraged as normal! love y'all <3

[ms-march]

The shot heard around the world fr

[corpserots]

[gracehosborn]

The other day, due to being impatient to get the project out into the world, I got stuck on thinking about the ending to The American Icarus: Volume I. I’m planning to end the volume with the Battle of Monmouth, and I’m thinking to myself, wouldn't it be insane if Hamilton was forced to leave the field in some dramatic fashion during a climactic moment, and Laurens also happened to be nearby with the same result?

So I go and pull out my copy of Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle (that the amazing @kaylinalexanderbooks got me forever ago) to see if that would even be possible because my memory sucks ass in trying to keep up with the chaos that is Alexander Hamilton’s life. I discover that (at least according to the authors): during a climactic moment in the action Hamilton was thrown off his horse (who saved him from a bullet) and had to be evacuated towards Washington's position across a ravine, and according to Laurens' own account it appears he got injured while defending the same position as Hamilton at or around the same time (also thrown off his horse that was killed), getting injured either at the same time as Hamilton or soon after and at least from what I could guess from context, it’s likely Laurens had the same outcome as Hamilton in regards to being carried off the field due to his equal importance to Washington.

Let me tell you, the shock that filled me for the ensuing couple of minutes.

I threw the most dramatic idea at the wall and somehow surviving documentation proves it actually happened?? This is truly insane. I will be double checking literally everything because I am a stickler for historical accuracy but like y’all. How did I guess that right?? That’s going to be one hell of a climax though. I cannot wait to write it.

[entity-of-the-opera]

captain timothy knight at monmouth, getting fucked up. (1779, colourized)

[little-desi-historian]

Happy Battle of Monmouth day to those who observe it.

I can’t stand Charles Lee, everyone should hate Charles Lee.

[thebaffledcaptain]

things that happened at my first event as a revwar reenactor, fifing for the british army at monmouth:

I do not yet have a canteen. I drink from a wine bottle shoved in my haversack. the company found this very funny. I did not

in the same vein. captain of my regiment comes up to me with a full canteen right before we move out for battle. I go “oh thank you” he goes “don’t drink it”

it’s full of rum

anyway. woke up at 6 to do revielly only to not be able to play a single note (other fifers just carried... my abilities had not woken up yet)

got poured on for all of five minutes while firing in waist high grass

had to climb a fence during battle. half the regiment, which is full of middle aged white dads, decided that that was a good time to lie down and die

we lost the entire british army on the march back. which is to say they didn’t march back. music marched back and no one followed and somehow the regiment wandered back to camp one by one

one brave soul from the regiment ate a fresh cooked knock right off his bayonet

every musician was told a different time for formation on day 2

I know I know “you’re supposed to respond to drummer’s call” I didn’t hear drummer’s call!!!!

I must have been in a building when it happened idk instead I heard a resounding God Save The King from the entire british army and went Oh Shit

we stepped on a lot of tomato plants. feel bad about that

54th had some difficulties with…. acoustics? they couldn't pin the blame on one musket so they just blamed. acoustics idk if y’all are reading this hope you guys still have all your hearing also your drummer is really chill

missing a fife major for most of the battle because he’s a nice older guy who likes to take pictures

which meant my notoriously goofy 20 year old college friend was directing music for our company

“music…. on the advance… cha cha real smooth!”

all the regimental dads love me. you would not believe the degree to which my very existence seems to just delight them. I possess untold amounts of swag to 50 something year old white guy history buffs.

got six identical cuts on the same thumb because the buckle on my sword belt is broken and sharp and I had to hike it back up every 20 minutes

still hearing Phantom Fifing even in the safety of my own house

wouldn't have it any other way

[bleedingcoffee42]

[yr-obedt-cicero]

I am happy to have it in my power to mention the merit of your friend Hammy [Hamilton]. He was incessant in his endeavours during the whole day—in reconnoitering the enemy, and in rallying and charging.—But whether he or Col. [John] Laurens deserves most of our commendation is somewhat doubtful—both had their horses shot under them, and both exhibited singular proofs of bravery. They seemed to court death under our doubtful circumstances, and triumphed over it as the face of war changed in our favor.—Independent of any prejudice I may have conceived for Colonel Laurens in consequence of his virtues, I cannot but speak of him in terms of the highest military deserving.—Colonel [John] Fitzgerald also, and Colonel [Richard Kidder] Meade claim the greatest encomiums—The former received a slight contusion. Even the Secretaries caught the general contagion, and had the audacity to put themselves in places of danger, and to share some of the honors of the day. I wish I could do justice to his Excellency [Washington]; but you will hear of his conduct and the singular talents which he unfolded with the effects they produced in the complexionary the combat from other hands.

Source — James McHenry to Elias Boudinot, [July 2, 1778]

James McHenry recalling the Battle of Monmouth, which was only a week prior to the letter.

[boltlightning]

anna strong and mary woodhull are the only good characters that exist ever maybe. talk about fucking foils. you got anna (who started off ruthless and has been broken down and now chases after kindness and love just out of her grasp, shackled to abe through the spy ring, paying for his mistakes time after time) and mary (the forgotten wife who would do literally anything for abe, her Goddamned Husband, despite how much he has shown he does not and will not love her, despite how meek and accepting she seems) and one of these is the one telling abe how to get away with murder. but it's not the person who started the series suggesting it. they get 10min of screen time an episode between them and still completely own the show. oh my god. women <3

[5arcasmw]

the more i learn about the american revolution the more hamilton: the musical infuriates me

(read tags for context pls i go off on a mega tangent)