"Light Horse Harry Lee," Ben Huggins
Long before Robert E. Lee became famous as an
American military genius at such battles as Second Manassas, Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville, his daddy set an early example at such battles as Paulus
Hook, Springfield and New Garden.
Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee served during the
American Revolution as one of the most capable subordinates under George
Washington and Nathanael Greene, and on May 21 at the American Revolution
Roundtable of Richmond, historian Benjamin L. Huggins painted what he termed “a
broad brush overview” of Henry Lee’s three greatest battles. Huggins is the
co-author with Edward Lengel of an upcoming book entitled, Harvest of Glory: A Life of Light Horse
Harry Lee.
Huggins noted that Paulus Hook (modern-day
Jersey City) is probably Lee’s best known battle. Not only did Lee serve
as the American commander on the Paulus Hook raid, he was also the one who
presented the idea for a raid to George Washington. Lee thought the Paulus Hook
garrison was vulnerable, and asked Washington for permission to assault the
fort with 600 troops. Washington did not wish to commit that many troops to a
raid but agreed to give Lee 400 men, 300 of whom would serve as assault troops.
Lee’s mission was to attack the fort at night, kill and capture enemy troops
and to bring back captured British supplies to Washington’s army.
Lee spent five days gathering intelligence on
the Paulus Hook fort. The British thought their fort was impregnable,
especially at high tide when rising water filled a nearby canal which emptied
into the Hudson River.
On August 18, 1779 Lee assembled his troops at
New Bridge for a 14-mile march to Paulus Hook. The march, which went through
rough terrain such as marshes and woods, did not go well. His guides got lost
along the way and by the time Lee’s troops arrived at the outskirts of Paulus
Hook, they were three hours behind schedule and becoming fearful of the rising
tide on the Paulus Hook canal, and with daylight looming in the not too distant
future. In addition approximately 100 of his troops deserted him along the way,
reducing his attack force from 300 to 200 men.
Despite feeling outnumbered against the British
garrison, Lee launched his attack at 3:30 a.m. on August 19, 1779. His troops
successfully forded the canal and completely surprised the British, storming
into the outer fort quickly because the British had left a gate down. The
Americans promptly secured the fort, except for a small redoubt which was
defended by approximately 40 British troops. With daylight approaching and the
very real possibility of British reinforcements arriving from New York City,
Lee elected not to assault the redoubt.
Instead he retreated from the fort under the
cover of darkness with approximately 150 prisoners and numerous captured
supplies. His forces then retreated back to Washington’s army with the
prisoners and supplies, which boosted morale in Washington’s army and the
surrounding countryside.
Approximately one year after his raid on Paulus
Hook, Lee fought another one of his best battles not too far away in
Springfield, NJ. At the time Washington’s army was starting to move away from
Morristown when the British army under Sir Henry Clinton was camped on Staten
Island. Washington, who was down to approximately 6,000 effective troops, sent
Greene toward Elizabeth Town with an advance corps of approximately 1,000
troops. Lee was serving as one of Greene’s subordinate commanders.
Heading toward Greene and Lee were approximately
5,000 soldiers under the command of Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen. On June 23,
1780 Greene elected to defend two key roads near the town of Springfield at
bridges which crossed the Rahway River. Greene defended the bridge on Galloping
Hill Road and assigned Lee the responsibility of defending the bridge on
Vauxhall Road with 300-350 troops. Opposing Lee on the other side of the bridge
were Loyalist troops three times the size of Lee’s forces under the command of
John Simcoe.
“If Lee ever had a nemesis in the North the way
he had Banastre Tarleton in the South, that nemesis was Simcoe,” said Huggins.
“Simcoe wanted to crush Lee’s command.”
Simcoe’s goal was to destroy Lee’s forces who
were defending on the Vauxhall Road and then to flank the remainder of Greene’s
troops who were defending the bridge on the Galloping Hill Road.
Lee’s forces fought hard. At first his men
slowed Simcoe’s troops at the Vauxhall Road bridge, and then retreated in an
orderly fashion to a second defensive line on higher ground. By holding
Greene’s left flank, Lee’s men prevented a route of Greene’s forces and the
very real possibility of allowing the British and Loyalists to march into
Morristown and seize vast quantities of American supplies. As more New Jersey
militia arrived to support Greene and Lee’s troops, Knyphausen called off the
attack and retreated his army back to Staten Island a few days later.
After the battle Lee’s nemesis Simcoe admitted
to colleagues that Lee had held the bridge with “great obstinacy”. Lee also won
the admiration of Greene who now regarded Lee as a subordinate on whom he could
depend during critical battlefield moments.
Greene and Lee teamed up once again in another
important battle approximately nine months later at the Battle of New Garden,
just outside Greensboro, NC. Lee and William Washington were in charge of
protecting Greene’s flanks near Guilford Courthouse while Greene attempted to
assemble his infantry into several lines of defense against the oncoming army
of Lord Charles Cornwallis.
Some of Lee’s scouts learned that British wagons
and supplies were moving away from them toward Salisbury, NC while Cornwallis’
main army pursued Greene’s troops. Leaving behind his infantry, Lee advanced
with his cavalry but ran into the enemy cavalry under the command of Banastre
Tarleton.
“Lee and Tarleton hated each other but they also
admired each other,” said Huggins.
The two sides drew pistols and swords near a
meetinghouse on New Garden Road. Lee’s cavalry drove back Tarleton’s cavalry
but then Lee made a mistake. In his effort to cut off Tarleton’s retreating
troops, Lee sent troops down a different road where they accidentally ran into
British infantry. The infantry, plus Tarleton’s cavalry, counterattacked and
drove back Lee who made an orderly retreat to where his infantry could support
him. This defense forced the British to end their pursuit of Lee.
The morning battle at New Garden on March 15,
1781 gave Greene several valuable hours to strengthen his defensive lines
before Cornwallis launched his main attack at Guilford Courthouse later that
day. In fact Lee also helped to boost the fighting spirit among Greene’s main
forces when he returned to Greene’s front lines and showed soldiers his bloody
sword. Lee reportedly said words to the effect, “I’ve been fighting all morning
and now it is time for you men to do your duty as well.”
Huggins concluded his presentation by giving his
opinion as to which of the three battles was Lee’s greatest.
“Paulus Hook was the one where Lee inflicted the
most casualties on his opponent,” said Huggins. “It was also the one where the
Second Continental Congress voted to award him a gold medal. However, I believe
Springfield was Lee’s greatest battle because he saved Greene’s left flank and
what could have become a route. If this had taken place, the British probably
would have captured Morristown and all of its American supplies, and the whole
northern army could have collapsed. It’s a shame that so little is known about
this battle.”
Huggins is an assistant professor at the
University of Virginia and assistant editor at the Papers of George Washington
project in Charlottesville. In addition to his upcoming book on Henry “Light
Horse Harry” Lee with Edward Lengel, Huggins has also written a chapter in A Companion to George Washington (Edward
Lengel, editor) on Washington as commander-in-chief during the first years of
the French alliance.
--Bill Seward
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