how did the british fight back in 17 76 ? What did Washington do at Trenton ? And how did von steuben improve the army at Valley forge these discussions and insights are coming up . Welcome to the U . S . Army history and Heritage podcast , the official podcast of the United States Army Center of Military History . The Center of Military history writes and publishes the army's official history , manages the US army museum enterprise and provides historical support throughout the U . S . Army . Hello everyone and welcome to the United States Army history and Heritage podcast . I'm lee Reynolds , the strategic communications officer for the Center of Military History . This is part two of a three part series of discussions on the Revolutionary War and joining me is colonial war historian . Dr Glenn Williams . Welcome , Glenn glad to be here , li Yeah , so we had you on the first episode talking about the early part of the Revolutionary War , the beginning , some of the tactics and our discussion got us up through really the british evacuating boston and then where they were going next . But before we get into the discussion , just a reminder for folks who you are . So dr Glenn Williams is a retired army officer , infantry and ranger Hooah hooah , uh he's a published author on the colonial and Revolutionary War era and has extensive experience working um in history , locations throughout the United States . Uh , Glenn tell us a little bit more about yourself that I'm missing here . Okay , after I retired from the army became a historian in my second career , I was an assistant curator of the Baltimore Civil War Museum and President Street station , I was the historian and curator of the USS constellation museum in Baltimore harbor uh and then went to the US National Park Service where I served on the american battlefield protection program and specifically on the american Revolution study . And then came to the center of Military history in 2000 and four , where I worked on the Lewis and clark bicentennial and several commemorations including the bicentennial of the Civil War . Sesquicentennial , excuse me ? The bicentennial of the war of 18 12 , sesquicentennial of the Civil War , the centennial of World War One and now the semi quin centennial of the Revolutionary War and 250th birthday of the U . S . Army . Right ? So we're we're really kind of excited about that's coming up in a couple of years , the 250th birthday of the U . S . Army , but also the commemoration for the 250th of the Revolutionary War . So and we appreciate all the time and effort you've put in here at the center of military history preparing us for that . So laying the groundwork and as an expert on that era , your perfect guy to do that . So um so now let's let's get back into the discussion here um when we were last talking , the british had um evacuated boston It's now spring of 1776 . That really important year ? So when the British left Boston , How many British were still in the colonies at the time between the evacuation of Boston in March and the ejection of British forces from Virginia in the early summer of 1776 . And the crushing of a loyalist uprising in North Carolina , there are no British Forces left in the 13 colonies in the spring of 1776 , which is the perfect time for the second Continental Congress to debate , consider and vote on independence . They voted for independence on two July and of course declared independence on the fourth . Yeah , I mean , no , no british forces in the colonies , they must have felt emboldened by that . That's exactly why they took that opportunity to seriously consider independence . That was previous to that . After a Lexington and concord , the congress offered a what was called the olive branch petition to the king for reconciliation . The king rejected that in the late summer of 1775 and it became uh a war of rebellion at that time . And then with the passage of time , sentiment towards independence and voting on independence , it became the american war of independence . Yeah . And um , how did the british respond to the declaration of independence ? Uh , well , they had already had the wheels in motion at the time . Great Britain mounted its largest ever overseas military expedition , including getting some of their german allies , two augment the british army with auxiliaries from some of the german Principalities and they returned with an invasion of the United States in the summer of 17 76 . 1st by landing on Staten Island and then crossing over to Long Island where Washington had some of the Continental army deployed . It was where was Washington at the time , Washington had his headquarters on Manhattan . Uh , part of the army was deployed on Long Island near Brooklyn . What's President , City of Brooklyn ? And some of the rest of the forces on Manhattan Island as well . And what happened with the battle of Long Long Island ? Uh , probably Washington's most disastrous defeat . As army commander , the british overwhelmed the americans . They were able to retreat almost intact , mostly intact to Manhattan . The british followed pursued them up Manhattan . Several other battles . The british made amphibious landing at kips Bay . Americans were able to check their advance somewhat at Harlem Heights . But then the war continued . With the battles along the white plains and uh fort Washington in new york , the british were able to push the americans completely out of new york and Washington and his army retreated across New Jersey , pursued by the british and they finally stopped after they crossed the Delaware in pennsylvania . So what was happening to the army at the time ? I mean , we've got these militias , we've got the Continental Army there in full retreat basically . They're in full retreat and the U . S . Went through three different armies in this period . The first establishment was when the Continental Army is first established and and the Massachusetts Army of Observation that we talked about last time . Uh their men's enlistments run out at the end of 1775 . The second establishment only required mental enlist for one year . And as the seven year 1776 is ending , their enlistments are also ending . So the army is dissolving rate underneath of Washington's eyes . Ah and the third establishment is created in September of 1776 , but it's only had started recruiting . So most of those men haven't arrived at the army yet . And with the army in kind of full retreat like that . Did a lot of people have faith in the army at the time ? What was the morale like ? Morale was sinking ? A lot of people were rethinking having favored uh independence . Um people in New Jersey who had been on the patriots side and were pretty mean to some of their loyalist neighbors were now feeling the reverse as the british army uh started to occupy parts of New Jersey . And morale was at a low point , it looked like the british might continue to philadelphia . So congress relocated to Baltimore in december and things were looking pretty bleak for the american cause . Yeah , so then we get into the winter . Right , So um fighting generally stops at that time generally in those days , an army would go into winter quarters where they would continue training . They may conduct some small operations patrol and things like that . But basically they went into quarters , remained on defensive with the to consolidate their their hold and that's what brings a brigade of Hessian soldiers to Trenton New Jersey , right across the river from pennsylvania . Um , they are there to occupy that part of New Jersey and to establish an outpost of the area that's occupied by the crown forces . So things are kind of looking bleak for the american army at this point it was a dark winter . So because of that , Washington realizes something , he needs to do something . He needs to take action of some sort . So what does he do ? Washington is very combative . We usually don't get him , give him credit for that , but he decides to go on the offensive . So he musters what continental forces he can that he has at his disposal . He calls on the assistance of militia . They cross the Delaware river on the night of christmas 17 76 early in the morning of The 26th , they attacked the the Hessian outpost at Trenton . They're able to overwhelm them . The Americans have about 2500 men on the field , 18 pieces of artillery . The British have about British Hessians have about 1000 with maybe 4-6 pieces of artillery . Complete victory for the Americans . They capture about 800 and some odd Hessians march them back across the Delaware , marched them through Philadelphia on the way to prisoner of war camps . The army returns to the Pennsylvania side and looks to its falling apart essentially as enlistments run out . Oh wow ! So , in spite of that , victory enlistments are running out . Um , they're losing people again . They know the army is losing people , the third establishment soldiers , most of them have not got there yet , Washington knows that unless he does something , the victory at Trenton will only be considered a raid , a temporary victory uh , to to to advance to , to enhance what he had gained at Trenton . He knows he has to attack again . So he plans to cross the Delaware again to Trenton once more . Uh , he controls a lot of men to extend their enlistments with offers of bounties or bonuses . Um , they cross over the british react by trying to pin him against the Delaware River at Trenton . He's able to move around their flank and continue to advance into New And when is this ? This is the second of january 17 77 . Yes , so he's able to go around the flank of the british and head into the interior of New Jersey and he meets a rearguard of british that are coming to reinforce those at Trenton and they fight the battle of Princeton on the third of january overwhelming victory for the americans . Continentals , as well as militia on the field . Uh , the Continental army continues and goes into its own winter quarters at morristown For the rest of the winter of 1777 and engaged in small operations from there for the beginning of the 1777 . So Washington was taking a lot of risks here . He , he was maybe not as strong as , as the British . Um , was there pushback where these , I mean , were these tactics ? I mean , I'm looking back on them . Yeah , they worked out well . But um , what does his contemporaries think ? He had ? A lot of critics , Some people were thinking , why did we pick this guy as the commanding general ? And there are some generals that want to take his place , such as Charles lee who got captured during the retreat across New Jersey by the way . But there are other officers who think , hey , I would do a better job than this guy and there's some politicians in the congress who are thinking the same thing . Why did we pick Washington to command this army ? All he's done is lose since he took over . Yeah . But he fought back against all that criticism . He did what he thought needed to be done . Yes . The surprise at Trenton and the victory at Princeton . Uh , he gains a reputation as being a winner and nothing helps an army trying to recruit Better than an army that's winning . So that , that really helped out the recruiting in the early months of 1777 . So then moving into 1777 . Um , well they come out of winter quarters . What what takes place ? Well , the British are launching their big plan to end the war in 17 77 . In fact if you look at how they would write those numbers 1777 in their handwriting looks like a row of gallows . So it's called year of the Hangman because all of what we now call our founding fathers would have been hanged . Uh So british invasion , led by Lieutenant General Burgoyne from Canada is coming down the lake , champlain , the Ray shield river to the Hudson uh General how in new york says he's told to support it , but he's also given permission to attack philadelphia . This the erstwhile american capital . So he launches an invasion defeats Washington at the battle of Brandywine uh and is able to occupy philadelphia . The congress relocates to new york . Um And so the british think they won the war british think they won a war , but in october not only does Burgoyne surrender at Saratoga , but Washington leads a surprise counterattack that almost routes the best units in the british army at the battle of Germantown in early october as well . So this , this shows the british that the americans still have a lot of fight in them and we may occupy their capital but we haven't destroyed their army which is , is the linchpin of the whole war . Right ? So so the british are are in philadelphia . Um And it's almost an empty victory for them then it is a very empty victory because like I said Washington's army is only 20 miles away at Valley Forge and is harassing their foraging parties trying to gather food and provisions because it can't bring everything in by sea . Right ? So yeah , they're trying to wear him down . Their logistics , their food and other supplies , but at the same time they're trying to build up their own . Exactly . And the americans are having a tough time at first . But Nathaniel Greene takes over as quartermaster general . He straightens out a lot of logistical problems . Tactically the army improves a great deal at Valley Forge , particularly with this volunteer that comes to say , I'll serve as a volunteer meaning non paid in those days . Major General , if you give me the rank of Inspector general . Well , his name is Von Steuben and he sets a new training program for the Continental Army . It standardizes the training because a lot of regiments use different manuals as they trained . He standardizes that he puts them through their paces . He organizes them better . And when the army marches out of Valley forge in june , it is a much better and much more professional , A much more efficient fighting force than and went into Valley forge in december of 17 76 . Right , But let's talk a little bit more about Valley forge . You know , it's , it's known for the harsh conditions um , that year . So what what besides the new training from Von steuben ? What did the american army go through ? Did we lose soldiers at the same time ? We were losing soldiers mainly through sickness and disease being in winter quarters because it was pretty like you said , a pretty rough winter . We shouldn't get the idea that it snowed all the time . There's probably more rain . But you know , paintings of valley forge in the snow are much more sellable than valley forge in the mud . Um , but the army weathered that , I think one of the things that bonds Washington and many of the senior officers to the soldiers is they stay in camp previously and a lot of the senior officers would go on furlough during the winter and the soldiers would stay in camp for the winter . But Washington stays in camp and sodas , knocks and some of the other general officers and that bonds the army together like it had not been before . And besides the soldiers being much better organized and trained . What about the officers ? To talk to me about who the officers were , the key officers and how did they evolve as the staff were the officers become much more professional than they had been before ? Some of them had experience in the malicious , some had experience in provincial forces or the british army during the previous war . But we have officers like Anthony wayne who really comes into his own as a hard driving aggressive officer , Nathaniel Greene who has raised a Quaker but joins the militia anyway , becomes one of Washington's most trusted subordinates . He established that reputation even before valley forge , Henry Knox , The commander of the artillery , uh , is also seen as an expert and he's getting better at his craft managing the artillery as well . So , and um , and we also get some volunteers . Um , we often think of Lafayette as being a french officer , but we have to remember that he might have been french by nationality , but he was a major general in the US army . And then of course , you know , I bring him up because of the popularity these days because of the musical . But alexander Hamilton , alexander Hamilton is a lieutenant colonel . He's on Washington's staff . He's one of his trusted aides . Um , so , so Washington bounces ideas off of him , Washington writes down his correspondence and uh , and make sure that the proper officers get the copies that they're supposed to . And he really learns he had been a captain in the artillery before this , but he really learns managing an army there by being on Washington's staff or what's called the military family . Yeah . And all right . So now moving forward then out of valley forge , you know , we're in what , 17 78 now , Right , early 1778 , something that the american army had been wanting for a long time takes place . Get the british on the field of battle in an open battle to test out their , their improved status . The british evacuate boston boston philadelphia . Uh , the americans re occupy boston in the meantime , I'm sorry philadelphia . Uh General Clinton has assumed command of the british army because how has resigned Because the French come into the war in February of 1778 is a whole new war . Uh , so the British have to change their strategy . So the British government orders Clinton to evacuate Pennsylvania Philadelphia and go to new york . So they ship off most of the a lot of their supplies , the loyalist refugees and the soldiers , families go by sea . The army goes by land , they have to march across New Jersey to Sandy Hook where they'll pick be picked up by the Royal Navy . They're on the way Washington wants to bring them to battle . So as they're following the british army across New Jersey , the americans take the opportunity to attack the rear guard at a place called Monmouth Courthouse . Uh And the battle lasts all day and into the night . The americans hold their ground . Uh , technically it's a draw , but in the , at the at night the british resumed their retreat to Sandy Hook . The americans are able to claim victory because they retain the field and it's a very big morale boost to the american army . How does it affect the army as far as are they getting more people . Um , morale , morale skyrockets , but by this point , you know , the people are starting to tire of the war . So it's hard to get recruits , but the recruits they have and the soldiers they have in the army have high morale . They're very cohesive . Uh they're very well trained and they're in it for for the duration of the war basically . And now with the french as our allies in this war , um you mentioned before that it's it's it's a , it's a whole new war . It's the french participation has really changed the nature of the war . For the british talk to talk about a little about that . Well , the french had always given supplies Uh , covertly to the Americans , but now in February 1778 , they signed an alliance with the new United States and that essentially puts them at war with Great Britain Britain responds by declaring war , Britain now is facing not a regional conflict with rebellion of the colonies , but now they're facing a near peer adversary in the french as well . So they not only have to suppress the rebellion here , but they also have to defend the freedom of the seas because they , they rely on commerce , they have to defend the homeland from french invasion . They have to defend their other colonies , particularly in the west . Indies , they also have holdings in africa and on the subcontinent of India . So now for the british , they're facing a global conflict , not just this regional war . Yeah . And and in some ways , I don't know if this would be correct to say that the , the fight in the colonies was , what would you say it was , it was a global fight because of now you had the french there . Um , and in addition , you have , you have indians , american indians fighting on both sides . American indians on both sides . I like to point out the example of the six nations of the Iroquois , probably the most dominant military political indian polity in this part of north America . So out of the six Nations , you have the mohawk , the Seneca , the cayuga and the Onondaga , our british allies . But the other two uh nations , the Oneida and Tuscarora are us allies . And we often talk about the Revolutionary War being a civil war between loyalist and patriot americans . Well , at the Battle of Oriskany , it becomes a civil war among the Iroquois where you have mohawks and Seneca primarily on one side and Oneidas on the other . And in fact , general Philip skylar who tries to arrange counsel with the indians to get them . The entire six nations returned to neutrality , sends a wampum belt to the Seneca and they return it saying we're not going to talk to the Oneida while their hatchets are still buried in our back , wow ! Well , and that's fascinating . That's a , that's a piece . I didn't , I didn't know um , about the revolutionary war . So at this point here , uh , by the end of 1778 , um , the Washington and the american army had significant victory , but , and I , and I think you hate this term . It's , it's , it's , it's become almost a stalemate . There's still some small battles and skirmishes going on in the north , but it's become much more of a stalemate . It's become pretty static . The british need to hold on to new york is it's a principal military political naval base in in north America , at least this part of north America . So they looked to the south because they believe there's more loyalist support there . But that doesn't mean things just stop in the northern part of the country . Um , you still have engagements in 17 79 at stony point and Apollo's Hook , The US Army launches a campaign against the six nations of America that are on the British side that takes place most of the summer of 1779 . In 1780 . General von Nip Hausen . While the war is going on in the south , uh , he's leading an expedition to try to take the American supplies and camp at morristown and on the way they fight the battles of Connecticut farms in Springfield . So it's erroneous to say that nothing was going on . Right . Well , thanks Len and I think this next episode that we're going to get into , we're going to cover the war in the south . Uh , there was a sudden the southern campaign , I think is what you call it . So we'll cover that in the next one . But thanks so much for all these insights and now again , as we're ending this episode , we want to get back to our who our or our hamza trivia , Do you have a piece of trivia for us about this era ? Yeah . One that I've already mentioned is that we often think of Lafayette is a french officer , but he was a major general in the US army at stony point . It's his core of what ? Well , he'll eventually assume command of the core of light infantry , but Anthony wayne leads the attack so that the core of light infantry really comes into its own in 17 79 and establishes a lot of the traditions that we still hold in the army , particularly the bayonet charge . All right , right . And you know , an interesting note about Lafayette , how old was he when he came over here and volunteer , he's only like 21 or so . Very young young aristocrat paid his own way to come here . Right . And um yeah , I just a fascinating character I think from , from that era . Well , Glenn , thank you so much . I appreciate all your , your insights in this episode as well as the previous one about the american , excuse me , the Revolutionary War and um , and these are the first two phases um , of our discussion and so thank you very much , Glenn , great to have you here . Now if you folks , if you want to learn more about the american revolution um or army history in general . I encourage you to explore our website at history dot army dot mil and if you want to experience army history every day , then visit our social media sites on facebook twitter and instagram and make sure you like and share them so that we can share army history with more people . Please join us every week on this podcast for more in depth discussions about army history as we cover topics from all eras of U . S . Army history . Thank you for joining us today on the United States Army history and heritage podcast for the center of Military history . I'm lee Reynolds and until next time we're history . The views expressed in this podcast reflect those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views , policies or opinions of the U . S . Army or Department of Defense . For more information about the army's proud history and heritage , go to history dot army dot mil .