In a normal life, Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs would have remained in obscurity, his name only appearing in town listings. A hatter’s son, he carried on the family tradition, filling the shoes of his father while leading a quiet, unnoticed, humble life in Middletown Connecticut. But he lived during tumultuous times and as such, made his mark on history to fulfill a warrior’s fate, determining his destiny.
As hostilities between the colonies and England worsened, he became a captain of his local militia of minutemen. When the American Revolution erupted, he enlisted and would lead troops into battle, receiving a special commendation from George Washington. He kept a journal and authored Benedict Arnold’s nightmarish journey through the Maine wilderness and doomed attack on Quebec; a major, he led one of Arnold’s divisions, doggedly continuing the fight until surrounded and captured. Paroled and exchanged, he re-enlisted and for his actions commanding one of the most daring and successful raids of the war, received a commemorative sword by Congress. He later helped construct the fortifications that became West Point; one of the redoubts still bears his name. During “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s night assault on the garrison at Stony Point, Meigs led a light regiment in the famed bayonet attack that captured the fortification, receiving General Wayne’s personal accommodation for bravery. And after a harsh and cruel winter that depleted provisions and led to near starvation of Washington’s main army, he successfully negotiated with the troops to advert a mass mutiny. Beside General Israel Putnam, he was the only other officer from Connecticut who received by resolution the notice and approbation of Congress. When considered as a whole, Colonel Meigs commitment and service to a new nation was nothing short of remarkable.
Colonel Return Johnathan Meigs was born on December 17, 1740 in Middletown, Connecticut and died January 28, 1823 in Tennessee. One of 13 children of which only four survived to adulthood, he was the son of Return Meigs, a hatter, and Elizabeth Hamlin. His father was well respected in the community and served in the Connecticut General Assembly. Jonathan apprenticed with his father and followed him in the trade, later, at age 25, marrying Joanna Winborn on Feb. 24, 1765. They wasted no time to start a family. Their first son, Return Jonathan, was born nine months later (Nov. 11, 1765 -1825) and was followed by three siblings: Joanna (1766 – died young), Mary (1769 – 1799), and John (1771 – 1808). His wife Joanna died in 1773 and in early 1775, Meigs remarried Grace Starr Meigs (1740-1807) who with Jonathan had three more children: Elizabeth (1775 died one month later), Richard Montgomery (1777-1785 named for Gen. Richard Montgomery who was killed during the Quebec attack in 1777), and Timothy (1782 –1815). Due to the high colonial mortality rate, of his two wives and seven children, only his first born, Return Jonathan Jr. survived Meigs – dying two years later at age 60.
Enlists in the Continental Army – Invasion of Canada
A few months after hostilities at Lexington and Concord erupted, Meigs, aged 35 and militia captain, enlisted on July 1, 1775 as a major in the 2nd Connecticut Continental Regiment. The regiment was formed on May 1, 1775, commanded by Colonel Joseph Spencer. Spencer was promoted to Brigadier General on June 25th and the command fell to newly commissioned Colonel Samuel Wyllys. Meigs enlisted under Wyllys and remained with the 2nd briefly before volunteering to command a division in a bold expedition to invade Canada.
After the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May of 1775, both Congress and military leaders entertained the prospect of invading Canada to annex a fourteenth colony in the rebellion. The idea became more popular and by the end of the summer, plans were put in place. General Richard Montgomery, former British officer who had in the previous war been with Gen. Wolfe during the capture of Quebec, would invade by way of Fort Ticonderoga. General Washington, with the main army in the siege of Boston organized an expedition to cooperate with Montgomery to take Quebec. They would travel by way of Kennebec and the Maine wilderness. Montgomery would capture British outposts along the Richelieu River and claim Montreal which was lightly defended. Afterwards, he would command his forces down the St. Lawrence and combine with the Boston expedition at Quebec for an attack on the heavily fortified citadel.
The Boston expedition was composed of thirteen companies of volunteers detached from the several New England regiments around Boston, ten musket and three company of riflemen. These volunteers included the newly arrived Pennsylvania and Virginia rifle companies led by the charismatic and experienced frontier warrior Daniel Morgan. The total number of officers and men for the trek through Maine to Quebec, according to Meigs’ journal, were 1,100. Colonel Benedict Arnold of Connecticut, who along with Ethan Allen, had captured Fort Ticonderoga and was assigned to command. His immediate subordinates Lt. Colonel Christopher Greene from Rhode Island (Gen. Nathaniel Greene’s cousin) and Lt. Colonel Roger Enos of Connecticut would command divisions. Major Timothy Bigelow of the 15th Massachusetts would also command a division and Major Meigs would lead Arnold’s second division.
The account and incredible ordeal and struggle by Arnold’s wintry expedition through the wilds of Maine have been documented many times over the decades. However a journal kept by Colonel Meigs, illustrating the courageous and the cowardice of that expedition remains the primary source historians have turned to time and again. It vividly portrayed and described in detail the desperate sixty-three day trek through the wilderness and attack on Quebec. The doomed expedition suffered sickness, starvation, frostbite, death, and severe depletion of the force’s fighting capacity. Yet he and those who survived the ordeal, having arrived at Quebec in the dead of winter, worn out and lacking provisions, still found the stamina and determination to attack the citadel on December 31st, 1775 during a raging blizzard. Though outnumbered and attacking a well fed garrison fully manned with dozens of cannon behind imposing walls, Meigs and those in his command kept up the attack for five hours until driven back. With the dead and dying among them, hopelessly surrounded and trapped within the suburbs of the city, Meigs had no choice but to surrender his command. He would be kept a prisoner in Quebec for nearly six months until paroled on May 16, 1776 (shortly after reinforcements arrived from England which would drive the Americans out of Canada). Allowed to go home to wait for exchange, he returned to his family and former life as a hatter in Middletown. Nine months later he was notified that he was officially exchanged for British Major Christopher French on Jan. 10th, 1777. Soon after, Meigs rejoined as a Lt. Colonel in Colonel Henry Sherburne’s Additional Continental Regiment on February 22, 1777.
Detail of the Attack on Quebec
It is noteworthy to offer a summary of the American attack on Quebec on December 31, 1775 using mainly Colonel Meigs own words from his journal. Meigs started his journal with his arrival in Cambridge on September 9, 1775. Ten days later, Sept. 19th, they embarked by boat towards the Kennebuck River, making the mouth of the river the next day. This began what was for many a deadly excursion through an unrelenting wilderness. Meigs wrote: “…Old moose-hide breeches were boiled and then broiled on the coals and eaten. A barber’s powder bag made a soup in the course of the last three or four days, before we reached the first settlements in Canada. Many men died with fatigue and hunger, frequently four or five minutes after making their last effort and sitting down…”
By early November, after nearly two months of constant hardships, Arnold’s men reached the first settlements near the St. Lawrence River. By then the remaining 600 starving men with him, about half Arnold’s original contingency, had been subsisting on boiled leather and powder for wigs. They crossed the St. Lawrence on the 14th and assembled at Point-aux-Trembles, just west of Quebec to wait for General Montgomery. After securing Montreal on Nov. 22nd, Montgomery marched toward Quebec, arriving Point-aux-Trembles on Dec. 1. Montgomery had resupplied Arnold’s men with food and winter clothing which had secured from Montreal. The two leaders spent the next month cannonading Quebec and preparing to attack the city.
We pick up Meigs journal on December 28th, 1775, just after Montgomery canceled the planned attack that evening because of weather. “This day is the 35th anniversary of my birth. A variety of scenes have presented themselves in this short term – prosperity and adversity have alternately chequered my path. Some dangers escaped, and favors innumerable, demand a tribute of the warmest gratitude.” In this reflective passage, Meigs is resigned to recognize the near death trek and the prospect of combat, yet remains thankful and optimistic.
After the failed early morning attack on December 31st, Meigs described the planned assault and the role he played in its demise. The attack was three pronged: Montgomery with four New York battalions would assemble at Cape Diamond upon the heights of Abraham. Arnold’s detachment, which included Meig’s division, gathered at the guard house in the suburb of St. Roch – two battalions from Cambridge and Roxbury plus Morgan’s riflemen. They would attack through the suburbs of St. Roch and scale the garrison. A third led by Colonel Livingston would faint an attack on the walls to the south of the St. John’s Gate – setting it on fire. This false attack would consist of a regiment of Canadians and Major Brown with part of a Boston regiment. All assembled at 2 AM on the morning of Dec. 31 and were to move into position to attack at 5 AM – nearly two hours before sunrise.
Colonel Livingston’s false attack never happened; reportedly because of the deep snow, they were never able to get into position. Montgomery’s attack successfully cut through the pickets, the general personally pulling down part of the barrier by hand. However the general, along with his aide-de-camp McPherson, engineer Antill, & Captain Cheesman along with some others attacked the guard house without the bulk of his troops. No sooner did Montgomery push past the pickets than the enemy discharged a cannon of grape with smalls arms fire. Most of the attacking party were killed instantly, including Montgomery who was shot in both thighs and his head. Colonel Campbell, now in charge, thought it best to retreat, carrying the wounded to camp.
Arnold’s attack, in which Meigs commanded a division, was the longest part of the attack and the most determined. They pushed a quarter mile through the city, but were eventually surrounded (after Mongomery’s attack failed so early) and forced to surrender. Meigs wrote of their attack: “Thirty men were to march in front as an advanced guard; then the artillery company with a field piece mounted on a sled; then the main body of which Capt. Morgan’s company was first.” They attacked a battery raised upon a wharf. The field piece was difficult to manage in the deep snow and was abandoned. During this attack they made their way among the houses, boats, and wharves of the suburb in complete darkness, all the while under constant fire from the enemy along the walls – killing and wounding several. Morgan was persistent and soo took position of an enemy battery.
It was during the attack on the battery that Arnold was wounded in his leg and taken back to a hospital. A half hour after the battery was taken, the men had regrouped to attempt the next barrier. By now, with Montgomery’s failed attack and the attack at the main gate never materializing – commanding British General Guy Carleton was able to put his full force against Arnold and Morgan’s assault. As Meigs wrote, “…after his fall having retreated [death of Montgomery and his men retreating], gave the enemy an opportunity to turn their whole force and attention upon us, so that before our men attempted the second barrier, the enemy had got such a number of men behind the barrier and in the houses, that we were surrounded with such a fire from treble our numbers, that we found it impossible to force it, the enemy being under cover, while we were exposed to their fire…”
Carleton sallied a force out from the Palace Gate which came up upon the rear of Arnold’s and Morgan’s men. Meigs wrote, “Our men near the second barrier took possession of some houses, and kept up a fire from them for some time; but as the body from the palace Gate came upon the rear, and our numbers greatly lessened by our killed and wounded, it was thought best to retreat to the first battery which we had taken, which we did with the greatest part of our men…” Having done so, they realized that they were trapped. Meigs continued, “…it was the unanimous opinion that it was impracticable to retreat, as we must have passed a great part of the way under the walls of the town, exposed to a line of fire for a quarter of a mile, and our rear exposed to the fire of the enemy at the same time… We maintained our ground till about ten o’clock, and no hopes of relief… were at last obliged to surrender prisoners of war…”
Meigs had spent some agreeable days in December developing a friendship with General Montgomery. He wrote on Dec. 29th, just a couple of days before the fateful attack. “This day dined with General Montgomery and spent the afternoon and evening with him in an agreeable manner…” He ends his narrative praising the general:“His death, though honorable, is lamented, not only as the death of an amiable, worthy friend, but as an experienced, brave general, whose country suffers greatly by such a loss at this time. The native goodness and rectitude of his heart might easily be seen in his actions. His sentiments, which appeared on every occasion, were fraught with that unaffected goodness, which plainly discovered the goodness of the heart sfrom whence they flowed.” Reading this, one can under why Meigs named his next child born for the good general.
Interesting, and what may account for Meigs kind treatment during the months of his captivity is hinted in his next paragraph. “I dined this day with Captain Law, the principal engineer, whom in the morning I made prisoner, but in a few hours I was, in my turn, made prisoner. Capt. Law has treated me with great politeness and ingenuity. In my return from Capt. Law’s quarters, I called at the house of Mr. Munroe, who politely invited me to live at his house, if I could have permission.” It appears that Capt. Law was taken aback by Meigs’ kindness to spare him during the fight, that he returned the gesture, no doubt speaking with General Carleton on Meigs’ behalf. Meigs, along with Henry Dearborn, who would command a unit in the critical battles outside Saratoga in 1777, were imprisoned together and in May of 1776, allowed to return home on parole.
Enlisted After Exchanged
Meigs was exchanged on 10th January, 1777 and rejoined the next month, spending the next four years commanding Continental troops. He re-enlisted as Lt. Colonel in Colonel Henry Sherburne’s Additional Continental Regiment, Feb. 22, 1777 – the regiment made up of men from Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. On January 1, 1777, sixteen regiments were reorganized and numbered with several additional regiments listed under the commander’s name. When the Connecticut Sixth Regiment commander, Colonel William Douglass, resigned on May 12th due to sickness, he would die sixteen days later on the 28th, Meigs was promoted to colonel and given the 6th regiment of light infantry. He would remain the regiment’s commander until he retired from the service on Jan. 1, 1781. Now at the helm of his own regiment, Meigs was to take immediate action. Within eleven days of taking command, he would organize and command the most daring and successful raid of the war. What became known as the Sag Harbor Raid was a quick response to a British raid into his home state of Connecticut effected a month earlier. His quick and decisive sortie against a British garrison and Tory stronghold on Long Island would earn him accolades throughout the colonies.
British Danbury Raid
In the spring of 1777, the British must have been aware of General Samuel Holden Parson’s reorganization of the New England regiments at Peekskill, NY. While the Continental regiments were either in Peekskill or scattered throughout the area, many unarmed, the former royal governor of New York, now Major General William Tryon, struck Connecticut. From April 25 – 28, he commanded an expedition of 1,850 regulars and loyalists against Danbury, an important military depot some 25 miles inland from the Long Island Sound. General Gold Silliman and120 militiamen were posted at Danbury to guard the depot. Faced with such a superior enemy, he quickly retreated as the British force approached. Tryon made Danbury within 24 hours of landing at Compo Beach, present day Westport. His men immediately set to work, destroying much needed military supplies and food including torching twenty one storehouses and several homes, sparing known Tory residences.
Word traveled and rebel commanders desperately tried to organize enough men to offer a resistance to the marauding British. By the time Tryon began his retreat back to his ships, Major General David Wooster, along with Generals Gold Silliman and Benedict Arnold had assembled only 500 men. It was decided that Wooster would pursue the British, striking when he could. Meanwhile Arnold and Silliman, still gathering arriving militiamen, rushed forward to cut off the British. Wooster attacked at Ridgefield and was mortally wounded, however he was able to avert the British onto the Ridgefield Road where Arnold and Silliman had set up a strong defense of 400 men. The Americans held their ground temporarily and inflicted casualties, but had to fall back under superior numbers. The next day the British were able to advert Arnold’s defensive position and successfully arrived at their ships.
American Response – Sag Harbor Raid
General Samuel Holden Parsons was fuming after Tryon’s raid and sought a proper response. He had information that the British were foraging along the east coast of Long Island to supply their army in New York City. He devised a bold plan to attack the foraging party while also destroying British supplies and shipping and sought the proper troops to see it through. He chose Colonel Meigs, newly commissioned commander of the 6th. Meigs was careful in his selection of men comprising the raid: fourteen officers (including one major) and 220 enlisted men. Mostly light infantrymen, he picked those he believed were of strong stamina and courage. That and sound planning plus accurate intelligence would prove to contribute to the operation’s incredible success.
The plan was threefold: attack British outposts in the vicinity of Sag Harbor, Long Island, destroy the forage that had been collected, and finally capture or destroy any shipping in the harbor. They arranged for the whale boats to meet his troops at Guilford, Connecticut, crewed by among the most experienced seamen living on the Connecticut coast – fishermen and those who traded along the Long Island Sound prior to the war. They would row the approximately 20 miles across the sound, enter Gardiners Bay, which sections and cuts into the tip of Long Island, and while still under the cover of darkness, row to Southhold and Peconic Bays where they would disembark. The crossing, in the dead of night, would be hazzardous; fog, squalls, tidal currents, high winds, rough seas, were a possibility including British men-of-war which which prowled the sound daily.
For intelligence, Meigs turned to a sergeant from the 1st Connecticut who had escaped across the sound with other patriots on Long Island after the British captured New York City, Sergeant Elnathan Jennings. Jennings (1754-1840) was 23 years old and up until the previous year, had spent his entire life in the Sag Harbor region. He gave details of what they should expect upon landing, the best place to put in, paths to take, and the village in general. He informed Meigs of an unguarded back way into the village across the fields and ponds where he had played as a boy. Jennings seemed to take credit for the venture, later writing, “I volunteered myself to Colonel Meigs, stating the situation of Sag Harbor and the strength of the British guard and how easy they might be taken, and that I would pilot him and a detachment of troops across the sound to Long Island… The colonel was highly pleased with my plan…”
The raiding party departed New Haven Connecticut on the 21st, arriving Guilford where they waited two days for better weather. At 1 PM on the 23rd, they departed for Long Island in the company of three sloops of war, one unarmed. They rowed across the sound and arrived on the North Fork on the western side of the Island where eleven boats were carried over the slip of land, put into the Peconic River, and crossed to Long Beach (Present day Foster Town Beach), quietly hauling up at 2 AM on the 24th.
Guards were set and Meigs took off for the town and garrisons. About sixty British loyalists, both posted and part of the foraging party, were in the town. During the four mile march south then east around the bay, so to come upon the town from behind, they silenced British sentry posts, taking prisoners. The next is related by Sag Harbor village historian, William Mulvihill; “they captured the British guardhouse, which was the schoolhouse where Jennings learned his alphabet… They marched silently to the British barracks and took more than 30 prisoners without firing a shot. Then they went on to Main Street, where the American Hotel is now, and captured the British commander and his staff. Next they marched up the hill to the Old Burying Ground and attacked the fort there, killing five or six redcoats and taking 56 more prisoners.” The Old Burying Ground was one of the first grave sites in Sag Harbor. The British had cleared trees and, according to horrified residents, desecrated the graves as they set up a fortification to defend the port, it being the highest available ground. Light infantryman Christopher Vail wrote, “We proceed down to their quarters where we completely succeeded in capturing the whole force except one man. We burnt all the coasting vessels, which were all loaded and laid alongside the wharf, and a store that was sixty feet long that stood on the wharf…”
While Meigs approached the water front, a 12 gun schooner spotted the raiders. The alarm was given and the British ship opened fire with grape and round shot. The schooner was anchored within range of Meigs’ muskets who returned fire for the next forty five minutes. While the musket fire kept the crew pinned down, the rest of the raiding party set fire to the ships and stores along the wharf. Tory prisoners were rounded up – a member of the raiding party wrote, “…When we arrived we took 99 Tories. Some had nothing but his shirt on, some a pair of trousers, others perhaps one stocking and one shoe and in fact they were carried off in their situation to New Haven…” General Parsons wrote a detailed letter to General Washington the very next day after Meigs’ party returned to Connecticut. It explains the actions at Sag Harbor succinctly and is worth presenting here in its entirety with slight edits.
“New Haven, May 25, 1777. Having received information that the enemy were collecting forage… on the east end of Long Island, I ordered a detachment from the several regiments then at this place, consisting of one major, four captains, viz: Troop, Pond, Mansfield, and Savage, and nine subalterns, and two hundred and twenty men, non-commissioned officers and privates, under the command of Colonel Meigs, to attack their different posts on that part of the Island, and destroy forage, &c, which they had collected. Col. Meigs embarked his men here, in thirteen whale boats, the 21st, and proceeded to Guilford, but the wind proving high and the sea rough, could not pass the sound until Friday, the 23rd. He left Guilford at 1:00 on the afternoon of the 23rd, with one hundred and seventy of his detachment, and under convoy of two armed sloops, and in company with another unarmed, (to bring off prisoners), crossed the sound to the north branch of the island near Southold, where he arrived about 6 o’clock in the evening; the enemy’s troops on this branch of the island had marched for New York two days before; but about sixty of the enemy remaining at a place called Sag Harbor, about fifteen miles distant on the south branch of the island.
“He ordered eleven whale boats, with as many men as could be safely transported across the bay, over the land to the bay, where they re-embarked to the number of one hundred and thirty, and at about 12:00 o’clock arrived safe across the bay, within four miles of the harbor, where having secured the boats in the woods under care of a guard, Colonel Meigs formed his little remaining detachment in proper order for attacking the different posts and quarters of the enemy, and securing the vessels and forage at the same time. They marched in the greatest order and silence, and at 2:0 o’clock arrived at the harbor.
“The several divisions, with fixed bayonets, attacked the guards and posts assigned them, whilst Captain Troop, with the detachment under his command, secured the vessels and forage lying at the wharf. The alarm soon became general, when an armed schooner of 12 guns and 70 men, within one hundred and fifty yards of the wharf, began a fire upon our troops, which continued without cessation for three-quarters of an hour, with grape and round shot, but the troops with the greatest intrepidity returned the fire upon the schooner and set fire to the vessels and forage and killed and captured all the soldiers and sailors, except about six, who made their escape under cover of the night. Twelve brigs and sloops, one an armed vessel with 12 guns, about 120 tons of pressed hay, oats, corn and other forage, ten hogsheads of rum and a large quantity of other merchandise, were entirely consumed. It gives me the greatest satisfaction to hear the officers and soldiers without exception, behaved with the greatest bravery, order and intrepidity.
“Colonel Meigs having finished the business on which he was sent, returned safe with all his men to Guilford by 2 o’clock PM yesterday, with ninety prisoners, having in 24 hours, by land and water, transported his men full 90 miles, and succeeded in his attempts beyond my most sanguine expectations, without losing a single man, either killed or wounded. It gives me singular pleasure to hear no disposition appeared in any one soldier to plunder the inhabitants or violate private property in the smallest degree,.. Major Humphreys, who waits on your Excellency with the account, wasa in the action with Colonel Meigs, and will be able to give any further necessary information. I am &c, To General Washington. Saml. H. Parsons.
Major Humphreys delivered the letter to Washington at army headquarters at Middlebrook, New York. Washington immediately wrote back on May 29th, “I am now favored with your letter of the 25th, by Major Humphrey. The intelligence communicated by it is truly interesting and agreeable. And now I shall take occasion not only to give you my hearty approbation on your conduct in planning the expediction to Long Island, but to return my sincere thanks to Lieut. Col Meigs and all the officers and men engaged in it. [By the time Washington had penned this letter, Meigs had been commissioned a full colonel nearly two weeks previously – his predecessor, Colonel William Douglass, having died on the 28th]. The enterprise, so fortunate in the execution will greatly distress the enemy in the important and essential article of forage, and reflects much honor upon those who performed it. I shall ever be happy to reward merit when in my power, and therefore wish for you to enquirer for a vacant ensigncy for Sergeant Jennings, to which you will promote him, advising me of the same and the time. I am Sir, &c., G. Washington.”
Colonel Meigs would receive a commemorative sword from Congress, recognized for “prudence, activity, enterprise and valor.” For whatever reason, Sergeant Jennings would never receive his commission as an officer. A search of published rosters of Continental and militia soldiers of the Revolution list Jennings as a sergeant right up until he was released from the army in June of 1779. Colonel Meigs would return to his newly assigned regiment awaiting his next posting. Several Connecticut regiments would march with Washington’s army to Philadelphia and fight at Brandywine and German Town. Some would head north to General Gates to help counter British General Burgoyne’s invasion from Canada. Meigs would remain with the army around the Hudson Valley.
West Point
During October, 1777, General Clinton led a British force up the Hudson Valley. Commander-in-Chief General William Howe had left Clinton in charge of New York City to chase Washington’s army around the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. General Burgoyne was north of Albany and had been hoping for just such a move by Clinton to take the pressure off his stalled invasion from Canada. However Clinton only proceeded up the Hudson River to the two American forts, Montgomery and Clinton. After easily capturing the forts from the unprepared Americans, he immediately quit them and retreated back to New York, abandoning Burgoyne’s army to its fate.
Clinton’s ease in taking the two forts, nearly severing New England from the rest of the colonies, alarmed the Americans of their vulnerability. During the winter of 1777 (while Washington’s main camped at Valley Forge, Penn., troops, including Meigs’ 6th Connecticut, were stationed at West Point on the Hudson River to counter any enemy movement north from New York. In the spring of 1778, those troops stationed at West Point began the construction of several fortifications. The series of forts and redoubts would guard the Hudson in the hope of preventing another such British incursion from New York. A young Polish engineer had been effective in constructing Fort Mercer at Red Bank, New Jersey, and the redoubts and batteries on Bemis Heights, north of Saratoga. In the spring of 1778, Thaddeus Kosciuszko was sent to West Point to oversee the intricate construction of the defenses along the Hudson River. By the time Kosciuszko reported to West Point, French engineer Louis Radiere had designed Fort Clinton (originally Arnold) which was finished in March, 1778. Kosciuszko began engineering construction in April on Fort Putnam and three redoubts that ran south; Webb, Wyllys, and Meigs on the west side of the Hudson. These three redoubts were named for the Connecticut colonels whose regiments dug and hauled stone. Redoubt, or Battery Meigs was destroyed dudring the construction of Officer’s Family Housing Quarters #21 at the US Military Academy in 1910. No remnants of the battery have been identified, causing earlier researchers some confusion in identifying the location of Meig’s fortification.
Late Summer 1778 to White Plains and Winter Camp at Redding
After the Battle of Monmouth, Washington moved his main army to White Plains. They remained at White Plains until late in the fall when the troops went into winter quarters at different points. It would be the largest American force of regular troops brought together in a single encampment during the entire war. By August of 1778, Meigs’ regiment reported to White Plains. Records show he was assigned to a committee of officers along with Colonels Wyllys, Bradley, and Swift, to settle a dispute over officers’ ranks, filing their report on August 29th. This was known as the ‘Arragnement of November 15, 1778.’ The bulk of Washington’s army wintered in 1778 – 79 at Middlebrook, NJ. The Connecticut line (including Meigs regiment along with a NH brigade and Hazen’s men) wintered at Redding, Connecticut. On Dec. 1, General Putnam assumed command from Gen McDougall and the men went into winter log huts.
Returned to West Point and Completed Fortifications: May 1779 to Fall of Same Year
In May of ’79, the Connecticut Division was ordered into the field on the Hudson, and in early in June, they were back at West Point, encamping in the highlands. They continued work on the three strong works they had been begun the previous year. General Heath of Mass was assigned to the Continental force on the east side of the river consisting of the Connecticut Line and a division of Mass troops under Gen Robert Howe. Gen. Putnam had been assigned to the command on the right wing of the army on the west side of the river; his headquarters was at Smith’s Cove. Putnam’s command consisted of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania Divisions.
On July 5th, 1779, British General Tryon was at it again, raiding New Haven Connecticut. As he burned homes and destroyed supplies at Fairfield, Norwalk, and Greenwich, the militia assigned to defend the state was ineffective. Washington ordered troops to march towards the coast to confront Tyron before he escaped back to sea. Major General Heath sent the Connecticut line to chase Tryon; Parsons 1st Brigade (Meigs’ brigade) and Huntington’s 2nd Brigade. Tryon had escaped and sailed before the bulk of the Americans caught up with him; only the leading men of Butler’s and Wyley’s troops skirmished with the British.
After Tryon’s second raid on Connecticut soil ended, Meigs’ regiment regained their post at West Point. However, no sooner than he returned, Meigs was to command a regiment of Connecticut light infantry, formed of light infantry companies from the Connecticut regiments, in the famed bayonet attack on Stony Point.
Midnight Storming of Stony Point, New York. July 15-16, 1779
No man dare speak. They crept through the woods and marshland, silently lowering themselves into the water, knowing if their musket fell from their shoulder, or they hesitated even a moment, orders demanded they be speared to death. And with still a hundred yards to go before reaching the abattis of sharpened stakes that blocked their path, powder flashes suddenly lit the night. Muskets belched their flame and shot. Cannon roared and pellets of grapeshot ripped through the weeds, water, and flesh. A bloody hell tore through the American columns. Men began to fall – the Battle of Stony Point had begun and Colonel Meigs, as commander of one of the four regiments in the attack, he would play a major part.
By the summer of 1779, Washington was desperate; the American cause needed a shot in the arm. Congress had run out of money. Inflation was out of control. Patriots across the colonies were floundering in their support for a war that only a third of the colonists had favored in the first place. Enlistments, as always, were expiring and men were not coming forward to re-enlist nor was there new blood as replacements. The war in the south was turning dismal as loyalist troops grew more powerful and bolder in their attacks. And though future historians would praise Washington’s tactics of attrition, by the summer of 1779, the British seemed more content to play a wait and see game. Nestled in New York City was a large, well supplied, threatening army while in the south everything was going the crown’s way in a perpetual land grab. Washington sought, no was desperate, for a quick, brilliant, decisive, victory like Trenton to capture the populace’s attention and resurrect support for the patriot cause. One that could revive, like Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga, “the happiest turn in the struggle.” And during that critical period in the summer of 1779, when the American Army needed to show colonists and the world its molded professionalism and mettle, he found what he thought was the answer in Stony Point and an elite corps of light infantrymen. To lead the assault against the stony works, Washington picked one of his most dependable officers and veteran fighter, thirty four year old “Mad Anthony” Wayne.
Stony Point was a promontory of rocky land that jutted out a half mile into the Hudson River. It is about thirty miles north of New York City, eight miles south of Forts Montgomery and Clinton, and fourteen miles south from West Point. Some had been fittingly described it as a natural sentinel guarding the gateway of the famed Highlands of the Hudson River. Kings Ferry crossed from Stony Point to Verplanck’s Point, another rocky promontory jutting out into the river slightly north on the east bank of the Hudson. At Stony Point, the river flowed past about a hundred and fifty feet below the precipice and lined its north, east, and southern extremes. The rocky fortification had two distinct defensive lines of abattis (sharpened and pointed timbers). Both southern ends of the abattis lined a beach and wetlands which was under four or more feet of water at high tide. However, though the the 2nd abattis did run south to north across the point to the water level, the first did not, ending before making contact with the northern river bank – a fault that would aide the American assault.
Stony Point was at Kings Ferry, an important crossing that connected New England to the more southern colonies. It was used extensively by Washington’s main army and the army later stationed in the Highlands. In Oct. 1777, the region fell into British hands temporarily, then to the Americans when General Clinton withdrew back to New York City. Nearly two years later, Clinton would once again send a strong force upriver. Approximately 4,500 regular and provincial troops under Major General John Vaughan advanced up the Hudson in a land and sea excursion claiming Kings Ferry on May 31, 1779. Strong detachments were assigned to construct defenses at the Ferry. Stony Point was fortified with abattis, barriers, three redoubts, and fifteen cannon, from 8 inch howitzers to twelve pound cannon mounted in batteries. Across the Hudson, at Verplanck, there was already a small redoubt labeled Fort Lafayette, manned by the Americans which was quickly occupied by Clinton’s forces. Here the 33rd regiment, General Charles Conwallis’ own, fortified the point. When the main British force withdrew south, over six hundred soldiers would be posted at each fort. In both cases the small number of Americans stationed in the region had burned stores and fled before the British.
Washington’s Army Heads North
In late May, 1779, American Major General Alexander McDougall commanded the Hudson River forces stationed at Peekskill, on the east side of the river, five miles north of Kings Ferry and Stony Point. Even before General Clinton advanced up the Hudson, Washington’s information warned him of a possible assault on West Point. He quickly drew his main army up from Middlebrook NJ and marched them north. The bulk of Americans arrived June 6th and encamped throughout the West Point and Peekskill vicinity. From his vantage at New Windsor, New York, seven miles north of West Point, Washington could await developments and plan accordingly. By then the Americans had three corps present to halt any further British advance north:
Major General William Heath commanded General Robert Howe’s Massachusetts and General Samuel Holden Parson’s Connecticut divisions in guarding the approaches on the east side of the Hudson River as far as Continental village;
Major General McDougall was at center, commanding the garrison of West Point (fourteen miles north of Stony Point) and at Constitution (across the river) with three brigades of Massachusetts and North Carolina troops.
West of Fort Montgomery, along the main roads that led north and south in the Queensboro and Doodletown region was Major General Israel Putnam’s Division of troops from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Washington Plans to Take Stony Point
By the tenth of July, Washington had learned enough about the fortifications at Stony Point, number of
troops, position of pickets and degree of vigilance—to enable him to draw up a plan of attack in minute detail. Lighthorse Harry Lee’s Legion of 150 troopers and riflemen were assigned to patrol the region and made a complete report of the terrain and defenses. They captured enemy foragers and rounded up deserters to garnish information on the fort’s interior defenses. They also questioned farmers who were allowed to take fruit and vegetables into the fort. Also of importance, Captain Allen McLane approached the fort under a flag of truce and was allowed free reign within the compound. His quick eye determined troop strength, battery placements, and the composition of the two main defensive lines. So too, Colonel Rufus Putnam, formerly Washington’s Chief Engineer, drafted a careful survey of the grounds and surrounding hills, drawing a detailed map for the use by the assaulting force. Lastly, along with his chosen commander to lead the attack, General Wayne, Washington made a personal survey of the fort on June 6th under the escort of Capt. McLane’s riflemen.
American Force
The proposed corps for the assault was composed of picked men from all the regiments then under Washington’s immediate command. Each regiment contributed companies of 40, 50, or 60 men according to its strength. Four regiments of light infantry were each divided into eight companies. Each regiment, 340 men strong, would be split into two battalions. The total force of approximately 1,300 men would assault the fort in three separate columns from the north, center, and south. At the end of the attack, the corps would be disbanded and each company of light infantry would return to their regiment.
The four regiments and their commanders was as follows:
1st Regiment: Colonel Christian Febiger of the 2nd Virginia – six companies of Virginia and two of Pennsylvania troops. The 1st Battalion was led by Frenchman Lt. Colonel Fleurey and the 2nd Battalion was under Major Thomas Posey of Virginia. Febiger was a veteran of Bunker Hill and had been with General Arnold and Colonel Meigs during the assault on Quebec in 1775.
2nd Regiment: Colonel Richard Butler of the 9th Pennsylvania – four companies of Pennsylvania and four companies of Marylanders. The 1st Battalion consisted of four Pennsylvania companies commanded by Lt. Colonel Samuel Hay who had served with Wayne since 1776. The 2nd Battalion were Marylanders with a few men from Delaware under Major Jack Steward, a brave Baltimore ‘Maccaroni.’ Colonel Butler was considered the finest field officer from Pennsylvania.
3rd Regiment: Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs of the 6th Connecticut – eight companies all from Connecticut. The 1st Battalion was led by Lt. Colonel Isaac Sherman of the 2nd Conn., son of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he had fought at Trenton and Princeton. The 2nd Battalion was commanded by Captain Henry Champion – no field commander was chosen at the time of the assault [a field commander had the rank of major or higher]. Meigs had joined Arnold in the assault on Quebec, was captured and paroled, and led the famed and highly successful raid on Sag Harbor, Long Island in 1777 in response to the British Danbury Raid.
4th Regiment, not fully organized at the time of the assault. It was under the command of Colonel Rufus Putnam (who would not accompany the troops during the assault) and was temporarily assigned to Major William Hull of the 8th Massachusetts – six companies from Mass and two from North Carolina. Hull also commanded the first battalion and the second was led by Colonel Hardy Murfree of North Carolina.
Noted missing in the force designated for the attack were troops from New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. These regiments had been assigned to Major General Sullivan’s Division who had been sent west to deal with the Native Americans and British Forces attacking colonial settlements.
British Force at Stony Point
On May 30th, the main British force under the direct command of Major General John Vaughan advanced up the Hudson River from New York City. The 4,500 man force consisted of the 17th, 33rd, 42nd, 63rd, and 64th regiments plus battalions of light infantry and grenadiers units of Loyalists. They seized Kings Ferry on the 31st and construction began immediately on two forts, Verplanck Point on the east side of the ferry and a higher promontory at Stony Point on the west. The 33rd fortified Verplanck and the Stony Point defenses were built by the 64th, consisting of two lines of abattis and several open artillery emplacements with no enclosed works. Unfortunately for the defenders, the artillery emplacements were constructed in such a manner as to prevent the guns from being lowered far enough to fire effectively at close range on advancing forces. This would be a critical factor in warding off Wayne’s attackers as most of the cannon grape shot went high. When the main forces retired from the area in early June, the 17th Regiment of Foot, under its new commander Lt. Colonel Henry Johnson, garrisoned Stony Point along with the 71st Grenadier Company and detachments of provincials and royal artillery – approximately 700 men.
Plan of Attack
The general plan called for a midnight assault that divided the force into a three-prong attack. One would approach silently from the south with muskets unloaded; their only weapon being the bayonet. They would cut through the abattis and swiftly race up the ridge, swarming over the parapet before the enemy could form a counter attack. A northern assault would also attack with unloaded muskets. They would cut through the abattis and drive up the ridge with bayonets only. The center would be a false assault by two companies with loaded muskets. Once the two bayonet assaults were underway, the center distraction was to fire their muskets outside the first abattis, creating a great disturbance. It was hoped that this distraction would draw the enemy away from the inside defenses where the main attack was to launched. If all went well, the force sent forward to confront the center would be trapped between the two barriers and forced to surrender. Ever careful of deserters and spies, only the commanding regimental officers knew of the planned attack. The men would not be informed until in position just hours before the assault. Each of the four regiments were gathered and encamped either to the west south or north of Fort Montgomery so the enemy would not get word of a massed unit of light infantrymen less than a dozen miles from their position.
After consulting a deserter and Wayne’s own observation, he refined his plan of attack. Wayne decided that the main assault should be on the south side of the point along a beach, or rather sunken sand bar in which the marsh terminated. At low tide, the sand bar was usually covered with about two feet of water which could be crossed rapidly. The men would cut across this stretch of wetland, skirt the first line of abattis, and scramble onto dry land at the second abattis. A small detachment or forlorn hope would carry axes to chop through the pointed logs and branches that lined the water’s edge. These twenty men would immediately be followed by an advanced guard of 150 hand picked light infantrymen in a mad rush up the rocky slope. They would leap over the parapet and push through the fort, crying out that ‘the fort is ours’, smothering any effort by the surprised enemy to launch an attack. The main body would quickly follow, capturing batteries and putting down clumps of resistance. At the same time another smaller detachment would attack from the north, also using the bayonet. The same number of forlorn hope would chop through the abattis while 100 light infantrymen would form the vanguard and race up and into the fort so to link up with the southern attack. If all went well, the British defenders would rush a large body forward to confront the false attack in the center. After the two main assaults converged in the fort, they would turn to trap the defenders caught between the two lines of defense.
The 1st, 3rd, and 4th regiment, minus Major Hardy Murfree’s North Carolina companies, would form the right column. This largest detachment that would cross the marsh and advance on the south edge of the beach, bypassing the first enemy abattis and head directly for the second abattis. It was personally led by General Wayne. On the left and north, a smaller detachment of Colonel Richard Butler’s 2nd regiment and the North Carolina troops under Murfree, would follow an old farm lane and cross the marsh over the remains of a bridge directly in front of enemy entrenchments. Butler would then turn to attack the extreme north end of the British earthworks. He would not have to contend with the first abattis which did not extend to the river and focused on hacking through the second abattis which barred his path. Colonel Murfree, whose troops were the only ones permitted loaded muskets, would position themselves center and just outside the first line of abattis. They were not to fire until the other two units began their assault. The officers were to synchronize their watches and launch the attacks simultaneously.
Twenty-man forlorn hopes bearing heavy axes would head the south and north columns, followed by the noted advance guards of 150 men on the right or south and 100 men on the north or left. The advance guards would dispatch enemy sentries, dismantle the abattis once the forlorn hope chopped through, and lead the assault, followed by the remainder of their respective columns. Each man would have to trust entirely to his bayonet to see him through the night alive.
Lieutenant Knox of the 9th Pennsylvania was chosen to lead the forlorn hope on the right and south, and Lt. James Gibbons of the 6th Pennsylvania, would lead the one on the left or northern assault. As to the advance guards, French Lt. Col. Francois de Fleury led the right under Wayne and Major John Stewart led the left under Butler. Any soldier who skulked during the attack or who presumed to take his musket from his shoulder, or attempted to fire without orders, was to be instantly put to death by officers carrying long spears or pikes.
March to Position
The attack was set for the 15th and Washington held off gathering the attacking force as long as possible. Colonel Meigs and Colonel Hull did not arrive at General Wayne’s camp, about a half mile north of Fort Montgomery, until the 14th. The march to the staging area for the assault would cover fourteen miles. They would pass Fort Montgomery, head west for about four miles to the Queensboro district where the road led south for about 8 miles before leaving the road to the east where they were to assemble at the Springsteel’s farm, just over a mile out from the fort’s first defensive line.
Wayne roused his men early on July 15th and ordered them to shave and powder themselves. He and his officers checked weapons and were certain every man’s bayonet was properly sharpened. By noon the inspection was over, but instead of returning to barracks, the men formed in columns and marched south. They soon passed the ruins of Fort Montgomery then turned west towards Queensboro. Several hours passed under a broiling midsummer sun as they trudged along the winding and narrow mountain lanes. The path took them under Torn Mountain and around the base of rugged Bear Mountain and into the back road, which effectually screened them from observation from the river. When they turned south again, the road was ill-repaired and little traveled. Narrow and rough at best, it often became a mere pathway, leading up wild and precipitous hillsides or over deep swamps through dense and sweltering ravines. The troops finally halted at eight o’clock that evening at the farm of David Springsteel, one and a half miles west of the fort, after traversing thirteen hard miles from their original camp. While the men rested, they were informed of the planned attack and spent the next couple of hours preparing and assembling into the three separate attacking columns.
The Attack
Because the fort was thoroughly studied, the selection of troops with the required skills and experience was excellent, precautions were taken against discovery, and officers who timely kept to the plan led the men by example, the attack gained all the Americans had hoped for and more. At 11:30 PM, the corps advanced from Springsteel’s farm, allowing thirty minutes to reach the marshes at the base of the point. When Wayne’s troops gained the marsh, they found that the water covering the beach at the river’s edge was far deeper than anticipated, four feet or more. Wayne knew this would delay any chance of a quick advance, fearing the enemy would discover them and pour down a devastating fire as they waded the two hundred yards in water up to their chests. There was no delay and the men surged into the water. Soon after the advance guard entered, ‘the storm,’ as Wayne called it, broke upon the night. They were discovered by enemy pickets on the opposite bank who instantly opened up with musket and gave the general alarm. Shot began to find the mark and men fell. Cannon grape exploded and the marsh and weeds were peppered under a deadly cascade of hot metal. The column preserved and doggedly bore the deadly fire and pushed through the water. By 12:30 they reached the other side and dry land close to the second line of abatis.
The enemy continued to pour in an incessant fire of cannon balls, grape shot, and musketry. Fleury and Knox of the forlorn hope, in advance of Wayne’s column which included Colonel Meig’s regiment of Connecticut Light Infantry, led with reckless courage. They tore into the abattis with their heavy axes, cutting through the wooden barrier that was quickly pulled down by the advance guard close on their heels. The forlorn hope threw away their axes, unslung their muskets, and rushed uphill. Both forlorn hopes would ultimately sustain over 90% casualties. The advance guard and main body followed closely, clambering over the trunks and stakes and forming on the other side. They passed the outer battery, pushed up the steep and broken slope, and rushed towards the main works at the summit.
At the first alarm, the British artillery manned the batteries and the infantry took to their stations to prepare for the defense. As soon as the British pickets opened up, the North Carolina companies under Major Murfree released a ‘galling fire’ on the center outside the first defensive line. It had the desired affect. Colonel Johnson quickly drew six companies, about half of the defenders from their stations within the fort and hurried down to the outer line under the impression that the Americans were assaulting the center. This considerably weakened the fort’s second line of defense where the main rebel attack would fall.
Colonel Butler’s regiment crossed the marsh at the northern end and rapidly made their way along the northern face of the point without meeting much opposition, He quietly brushed by the first abattis and approached the north end of the second abattis which had to be surmounted. So well had the movement been planned and timed, he was but a few minutes behind Wayne, although they had been separated for an hour. Major Steward, leading the advance guard, directed Lt. Gibbons with the forlorn hope to incline to the right toward the main works while he kept on to the upper side. Gibbon, his clothes “muddy to the neck and almost torn to rags,” attacked the abattis with zeal and forced a path into the face of devastating enemy fire. He would lose seventeen of this twenty men detachment killed or wounded.
The right or southern column reached the summit first. The vanguard struck the works near the rock and flag bastion at the western end and rushed through the sally port or over the parapet. Lt. Colonel Fleury was the first man over the top; to him fell the honor of lowering the enemy’s flag. He was followed by Knox of the forlorn hope with Sergeant Baker of Virginia, four times wounded during the action. On their heels followed the rest of the right column swarming up and over the parapet in a clash of weapons. Americans yelled the prearranged signal of victory at the top of their lungs crying “the fort’s our own,” and for the enemy to lay down their arms. Bayonets and swords were thrust where surrender was not instant. They would not allow the garrison to concentrate or rally, forcing the defenders into scattered groups. Soon ‘Mercy’ and ‘Quarter’ was heard over the turmoil. Two companies of the 17th under Captain Law offered resistance. It was short lived as some of the attackers loaded their muskets. A volley ripped into the defenders, killing the captain; the men quickly surrendered. Major Posey and his battalion pushed across the fort’s enclosure to the northerly side while Febiger seized other points. Colonel Meigs was at the head of his regiment and Colonel Hull followed, overcoming opposition at the east end. They captured the loyalist corps and several parties attempting to retreat.
As noted, six companies of the 17th, about half the garrison, had rushed forward below the outer redoubts expecting to throw back the American’s main attack. They were mortified when a sudden crash of arms and shouts of victory reverberated from behind. Colonel Johnson soon realized he’d been duped, caught between the two lines of defense. He was entirely surrounded with the rebels in possession of their main defenses in the fort. Johnson swung his force around, but was confronted by Febiger who demanded the British surrender. After being assured humane treatment, Johnson personally surrendered to Febiger.
The battle was nearly over. Some of the detached and bewildered defenders attempted to reach their central works only to meet one or the other of the American wings and were quickly overpowered. It took but thirty minutes from the time the beach was crossed to a halt of hostilities. Wayne’s larger column on the right had swept across the interior as Butler’s left column swept along the northern flank and drove parties of the enemy into the clutches of the right. At exactly one o’clock the battle was over. Stony Point was taken. Only one, Lt. Roberts of the artillery, escaped capture by swimming a mile to the anchored HMS Vulture. He informed the captain that the attack was not repulsed. The crewmen had first rejoiced, hearing the heightened battle and shouts of victory, but soon learned the fort was lost.
Fort Taken and Casualties
General Wayne was wounded in the head by a spent musket ball as he encouraged his men past the abattis towards the summit. Rather than allowing his men to remove him from further harm, he insisted that he be helped up the rocky ridge. Soon after Wayne entered the fort, the garrison surrendered. Within an hour he sat and penned a succinct but moving letter to General Washington dated July 16, 1779, 2 O’clock AM: “Dear General. The fort & garrison with Colonel Johnson are ours. Our officers & men behaved like men who are determined to be free. Yours most sincerely, Anthony Wayne.” Washington wrote the next day, “The perfect execution of orders and the superior gallantry exhibited on the occasion reflects the highest honor on the troops engaged.” Once the fort was secured, a detachment of American artillerymen under Captains Pendleton and Barr turned the garrison guns on Verplanck’s Point opposite the river to no reply. They also bombarded the HMS Vulture that was anchored off of Verplanck’s Point, driving the Vulture from her moorings and she quickly slipped down river.
Five Hundred and forty three prisoners were taken. Sixty three were killed and seventy wounded. Of the Americans, fifteen were killed and eight-three wounded, two thirds of the casualties were among the right column that was the longest under enemy fire. General Wayne had twice in the previous two years witnessed the brutality of British General Gray’s savage bayonet attacks – sparing none as his men murdered those trying to surrender. Adversely, the British captives were treated humanely and none who surrendered were put to the bayonet. A discrepancy exists over the number of British killed. Most patriotic accounts listed 63 fatalities. Historian Mark M. Boatner in his Encyclopedia of the American Revolution accepted the British report of 20 killed and many internet articles cite this number. However, Lt. Colonel Johnson wrote to Sir Henry Clinton on July 24, 1779, listing 58 missing separate from killed, wounded, and captured which may account for the additional number killed beyond the British account.
On July 17th, Washington, General Nathanael Greene, and Baron von Steuben rode down to Stony Point. “It was always fresh in Hull’s recollection how cordially the Commander-in-Chief took his comrades by the hand and with what joy his countenance glowed.” Congress would reward the key players in the assault; Wayne, Fleury, and Steward were to receive gold medals and Knox and Gibbon, those leading the two forlorn hopes, were promoted to captain. Colonel Meigs received an accommodation from General Wayne for leading his men up the slope in the face of intense fire. “Even the enemy applauded the achievement and especially commented on the humanity of the assailants in granting quarter in every case when military custom of the time justified the massacre of garrisons surprised at night.
Washington achieved his desired goal; he had an incredible victory to boost the country’s morale. He had no intention of holding Stony Point, as Clinton’s main army was within a two days march and could besiege it by land and water. His aides Colonels Tech Tilghman and Alexander Hamilton superintended the removal of the wounded and supplies. That morning the prisoners were rounded up and began their march to Easton, Pennsylvania. Stores were collected, cannon removed, and the fort was so dismantled that when the fortification was abandoned, very little was left to the enemy but the bare rock. Washington had also made plans to attack the fortification at Verplanck across the river once Stony Point was taken. However his plans ran astray with misunderstanding of troops involved and several hours were lost. He decided to try a siege with heavy cannon, but there was difficulty bringing the artillery forward and the assault was abandoned.
Stony Point Achieved Washington’s Desires
Stony Point had a lasting effect. A professional British detachment of well trained veterans had held a strong, seemingly impregnable position. The fact that the Americans were capable of launching an attack at the end of a bayonet and overwhelm the fortification in just a half hour was humiliated England. Former Royal Governor William Tyron was reined in and the desultory raids against Connecticut ceased. New London was saved from a planned attack. So too was New Jersey spared as Clinton’s midsummer campaign in the north came to an early close. At Stony Point the Americans had suffered what was considered a trifling loss against the near thousand lost to the British, men General Clinton would not be able to replace. In prestige, the American soldier gained immensely. The country at large celebrated the attack and its confidence in the army became more firmly grounded. Washington had outmaneuvered his antagonist in a masterly fashion and still held the Highlands, the key to the Continent. To the country at large, Washinton’s victory had come like a refreshing tonic. Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut toasted Washington: “I congratulate you on our happy success.”
The moral effect was far reaching in the American camp. It showed that patience and discipline were bearing fruit and with such soldiers as the Continental Army, small as it was, would always be a power. No longer would the Revolution be won by the enthusiasm of “a handful of undisciplined yeomanry,” The Continental soldier came to be the equal on any in the field, English, French, Hessian – the best in Europe. In the closing years of the war, on fields like Stony Point and Yorktown, the British regular found that the trained provincial could, and would measure arms with him. If the cause was worth fighting for, men must fight, and the Americans did, as good as it got.
Back to West Point and Peekskill Region
After Stony Point, Meigs returned to his regiment along with his detached light infantrymen. Though the war shifted south when British General Clinton sailed for Charleston, South Carolina, the main American army remained in the vicinity of West Point. Meigs would join with the Connecticut Division of Major General Heath and were stationed at Camp ‘Robinson’s Farm,’ the later scene of Major General Benedict Arnold’s treason. His troops would continue work on the fortifications at West Point and were engaged in daily drills. Wing orders on Sept. 3rd pertained to Meigs’ regiment: “Six men acquainted with blowing and splitting rocks are to be selected from the Connecticut Line for that service… Captain Starr of the 6th Connecticut is appointed to that duty…”
On October 21st the British destroyed and abandoned their posts at Stony and Vermpanck’s Points. The Connecticut Line, inclusive of Meigs’ 6th Conn., was accordingly ordered to move down the river to the vicinity of King’s Ferry and Haverstraw, just south of Stony Point. Wing Orders of Oct. 26th read, “The Connecticut Division is to march early tomorrow morning and encamp at below Peekskill…proceed to repair the works evacuated by the enemy; Meigs’ brigade on Oct. 29th ordered to set up pickets… they also continued on the repairs… of the works at the Points… The Connecticut Division has made great proficiency in the exercise & maneuvers.”
Winter of 1779 – 1780 with the Main Army in New Jersey
As the season advanced and with no major movement by the enemy stationed in New York City, Washington put in motion plans for winter quarters. As in previous years, he would station the greater part of his force in New Jersey, with brigades posted at West Point and the Highlands. The Connecticut Division, the whole or a portion of which had previously wintered east of the Hudson, in which Meigs’ 6th Connecticut had done so at Redding. This season Washington determined that the entire Connecticut Line would encamp with the main army. In accordance with this arrangement, orders were issued on November 17th & 18th for the Division to break up camp at Peekskill and begin the march to New Jersey. By December 1st, the 6th Connecticut was in the vicinity of Morristown, New Jersey.
Washington’s orders of November 19, 1779 indicated that the troops, upon arrival, were to construct their own huts for the winter months: “Upon the arrival of the troops destined to quarter in New Jersey on the ground which they are to Hut, the space allocated for each Brigade will lie pointed out by the Quarter Master General…” Ebenezer Fitch, a local schoolmaster, on January 4th, 1780 described the camp south of Morristown: “I found the log-house city on the declivity of a high hill, three miles south of Morristown. There the Connecticut Line dwells in tabernacles like Israel of old. And there the troops of the other states lie, some at a greater and some at a less distance among the hills in similar habitations.” Lt. Colonel Sumner, of the Conn. 4Th, superintended the construction of the huts for the division. The grand parade of the army was to be “in the field between the Pennsylvania & York encampment.
Terrible Severe Winter
Hardly had the troops completed their huts before a winter of unusual severity set in – the most trying experienced during the Revolution. It became long known as the famous winter of 1780, when cold, hunger, and want of clothing caused the greatest suffering among the troops – more so than Valley Forge by those who experienced both. Maj. Huntington of Col. Webb’s regiment in Stark’s Brigade wrote on Dec. 24th, 1779: “…The severity of the weather hath been such that the men have suffered much without shoes and stockings, and working half leg deep in snow…” Capt. Joseph Walker of the same regiment wrote on Feb. 6, 1780: “After our long march [from Peekskill] you may well think our men were rather destitute of clothing [also afterr several long months constructing redoubts at West Point and repairing the works at Stony Point]; after our arrival we began and completed our Huts which destroyed our clothing still more and to my certain knowledge we had not more than fifty men in the regiment return fit for duty, many a good lad with nothing to cover them from his hips to his toes save his blanket…”
Assistant Commissary of Purchases, Royal Flint, described the situation to Gov. Trumbull of Conn. On Janary 6th: “… The distress of the army for several days past hardly admits of a description. It is a melancholy fact that the troops, both officers and men, have almost perished for want of provisions…. sudden calamity was occasioned by the early commencement and unusual rigor of the winter, attended by heavy and repeated falls of snow. By these obstructions transportation was so delayed that the magazines in the vicinity were exhausted before relief could be drawn from the more distant resources…” He writes that Washington foraged from the local residents, however that supply was temporary and soon depleted. He also wrote of the lack of soldier’s pay: “…The most material obstruction… is the want of cash, and I feel no probability of a speedy and adequate remedy to this evil from the Continental treasury…”
On February 1st, the Connecticut line was ordered from Morristown to Newark and the Elizabethtown outposts, quartering in the Springfield area. General Arthur St. Clair (who had in 1777, abandoned Ticonderoga at the approach of General Burgoyne’s forces) commanded on on March 2nd was relieved by General DeKalb. Dekalb was relieved by General Huntington a month later, April 3, 1780, when the Prussian general was ordered south (he would be killed at the Battle of Camden later that year).
Averted Mutiny – Return to the Highlands
General Huntington had been commander of the 1st Brigade in which Colonel Meigs’ regiment was posted. When Huntington relieved DeKalb in April, Meigs was given command of the brigade. By May, the troops had reached the end of the tolerance. Sick, poorly clothed and housed, malnourished, and not having been paid for several months, in some cases years, many considered mutiny. Meigs, temporary brigadier, acted as an intermediary for the soldiers. He took aggressive action to forestall the uprising, warning the disgruntled soldiers of the punishment for mutiny and encouraged them to remain loyal. He was able to quell talk of insurrection and adverted a general mutiny. On May 29, 1780, Washington wrote his thanks, “I am very much obliged to you for your exertions upon the first appearance of a proceeding of so dangerous a nature & for your conduct throughout the whole of it. Mutiny, as you very properly observe, cannot in any case be justified…”
By early June, the Connecticut Division and Meigs’ regiment was camped at Kimbol’s Farms in New Jersey. On the 20th, they received orders to march to the Highlands. They halted for a few days at Buttermilk Falls on the west side of the Hudson before continuing on to West Point, arriving on June 29th at the Robinson House at West Point. In July of that year, General Clinton had returned to New York City from South Carolina. He immediately organized an expedition against Newport, Rhode Island. Meigs’ regiment was called upon to march at a moment’s notice. By Aug. 3rd, it was learned that Clinton had gone no farther than Huntington Bay, Long Island.
On September 23rd, British Colonel Andre was arrested with damning information that indicated General Benedict Arnold was about to turn over West Point to the British in exchange for 20,000 pounds and a commission in the British Army. Arnold escaped capture and the American’s feared a British attack. Meigs’ regiment was over forty miles away and ordered to West Point. Meigs pushed his men who covered the 40 miles in just over a day and a half, arriving on the 25th.
The Connecticut Division remained in the Highland Region and went into winter quarters near Robinson’s Farm. The encampment was called ‘Connecticut Village.’ It was during the early winter months that the Connecticut Line was consolidated for a new formation which had been ordered by Congress. After five and a half years of war, experiencing severe hardships and leading his men in two incredible victories, Colonel Meigs retired from the Continental army on January 1, 1781, returning home to his family and his civilian profession as the town hatter.
After the War
Meigs had already made his mark on history had he continued as a hatter in the quite village of Middletown, Connecticut. However, it was not to be. After six years running the family hattery, on Nov. 23, 1787, he was appointed one of the Ohio River Company of Associates first surveyors. He and a party of New Englanders, along with his pioneer son, Return Meigs Jr., under General Rufus Putnam, traveled down the Ohio to the Muskingum River, where they founded Marietta, Ohio.
He was to serve as justice of the peace, clerk of the courts. In keeping with connections he no doubt made during his time in the military and specifically Stony Point, he would serve under General Anthony Wayne in 1795 as a commissary of clothing in the western country. From 1799 – 1801, he was in the Marietta’s General Assembly.
In May,1801, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Meigs, at age 61, the Indian Agent to the Cherokee Nation and the military agent for the US War Department. He moved to Tennessee and functioned in the dual roles until 1813, when the Federal soldiers were withdrawn and the military agent’s function was disbanded. He would continue in his role as Indian Agent to the Cherokee People for the next 10 years until his death. His reputation among the Native Americans varied according to his critics – friend or just a crafty diplomat, however he was general sympathetic. He showed a devotion to the the Cherokee’s well-being, defending their rights during treaty negotiations and assisting them in establishing their own government. For his efforts he was to received the title“The White Path.”
Death and Memorial
Meigs continued in his role as Indian Agent past his eighty. In mid January, 1823, at age eighty-two, as the story is recorded, he moved into a tent so that his more comfortable quarters could be used by an elderly chief who was visiting. Whether true or not, he contracted pneumonia that month and on January 28, 1823, at the Hiwassee Garrison, Cherokee Agency (now Calhoun, Tennessee), he died. He was buried as he wished, beside his wife Grace and young son Timothy in the Old Garrison Cemetery overlooking the junction of the Tennessee and Hiwassee. The small two acre country graveyard is located in Rhea Couunty, Tennessee, about four and a half miles east of Dayton. The head stone and plot walls were repaired in 1965 by Fielding Pope Meigs, Jr.
Romantic Legend How Meigs Got His Name Return
The Meigs family had a long history of unusual names: concurrence, Mindwell, Recompense, Silence, Thankful, Mercy, Wait-still, Submit, and Church. As for the origin of Return, used by over a dozen or so other Returns after Colonel Meigs, the story is part true, missing by a generation. The legend has it that Colonel Meigs father, Jonathan was in love with a Connecticut maiden [supposedly a Quaker who lived nearby] who, when Jonathan asked her to marry him, she replied, “nay Jonathan, I respect thee much; but I cannot marry thee.” As he mounted his horse and started to ride away, the lady had a change of heart and cried out, “Return, Jonathan!” Since these were the happiest words he ever heard, he named his first born Return Jonathan. The problem with this story is that Colonel Meigs father was not Jonathan, but Return. It was the grandfather, named Janna, who courted a Hanna Willard. Hannah refused Janna Meigs’ offer of marriage. As he rode away, it was reported she cried out Return Janna, Return. Janna did and they were married on May 16, 1698. They had ten children, of whom ‘Return,’ the father of Colonel Meigs, was the fifth child and not the eldest son.
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