Lt. John Mansfield at the Battle of Yorktown, His Awe-Inspiring Command of the Forlorn Hope

Lieutenant John Mansfield (1748 – 1823) was one of the faceless thousands who valiantly served his country from the first to last shots of the American Revolution. It is difficult to encapsulate, in a couple of thousand words, eight years of hardships – the struggle, the bitterly cold winter camps, the hunger and the fear, and the sheer brutality of combat. In several major battles, from April, 1775 until October 1781, he displayed incredible perseverance and courage; from a twenty mile crossing of Long Island Sound in a small whale boat participating in one of the most successful raids and incursion into enemy territory in the war, to a midnight bayonet attack on an impregnable fort, having to suffer through winters with little food or clothing, surviving one of the worst bombardments of the war, and the terror of combat, staring down death at an age where life’s many paths are just beginning to open. At the Battle of Yorktown, Colonel Alexander Hamilton noted the youthful officer for leading the forlorn hope that chopped through the abattis at Redoubt number ten, storming the embankment and leading to victory and the final capitulation of Cornwallis’ army; an action in which he was severely wounded. Lt. Mansfield’s experience, like so many in war, is one of sacrifice and duty, and whose life is worth far more than words can express nor our thanks can convey, but to bring an awareness to his memory and so many like him is honorable, and that in itself is just and proper.

Early Life

Little is documented as to John Mansfield’s life. He left behind no memoir. Most of what we know can be traced through his service in the American Revolutionary War. We know he born and raised in Wallingford, Connecticut as all Revolutionary War certificates that list his name also give that town as his residence. He is also buried at the Park Street Cemetery in Wallingford. According to his memorial for the Park Street Cemetery, his date of birth is unknown and he died on June 1, 1823, however it also states he was 75 years of age which would put his birth in 1748. Charles Davis’ 1870 text History of Wallingford, Connecticut… gives Mansfield’s birth as 1748.

There is some confusion as to his parents as well as his wife(s). Some internet sites list Moses Mansfield (1709-1745) and Ann Mary Kierstead (1709-1742) as his parents, however this could not be correct as both died prior to Mansfield’s birth. A possible grandfather of Mansfield was Jonathan Mansfield (1684-1775). There were three male children, Moses who, as noted died prior to John’s birth, Stephen Mansfield (1716 – 1774) who was married to Hanah Beach (1728 – 1795) – however of their four sons, only Jared lived to adulthood – they did have a son John, however it gives his dates as 1759-1766 – perhaps these dates are in error. Lastly Nahtan Mansfield who married Deborah Mansfield (1724 – 1817), but they reportedly only had two children, Nathan and Glen.

Mansfield was a farmer and according to Davis, John Mansfield was married to Esther Lewis (parents – Ichabod & Esther Lewis). They had two children Ira (1777 – 1849) – settled at Atwater, OH and Sybil (1800? – 1833) – who married John Hiddleson of Georgetown, South Carolina and settled in Wallingford. There is some confusion, as Esther Lewis’ memorial states that she was the husband of Samuel Lewis. Esther died in 1805, predeceasing John Mansfield. Perhaps Esther was a widower of Samuel Lewis, yet why would Samuel’s name be listed on the memorial and not John Mansfield? Also, some internet sites state that John had a first wife of Sybil Sexton, married on 1772. A search found only one Sybil Sexton of the Wallingford, New Haven region whose husband was Elijah Sexton. Sybil predeceased him so she could not have been a widower who remarried Mansfield. She was also born in 1754 and would have only been eight when supposedly married to Mansfield.

Enlisted in Continental Army and Canadian Invasion

What little we do know of Lt. John Mansfield’s role in the American Revolution has been sourced from the 1900 text, “Yearbook of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for 1897-1899”, pg. 537 & 538, which details his years as a Continental Soldier and militiaman. There is no record of his being active in the local militia prior to the outbreak of war. However, he enlisted as a sergeant which would indicate he was considered one of leadership qualities usually associated with some prior military experience. On May 1, 1775, shortly after the Battle of Lexington & Concord, he joined the newly conscripted 1^st Connecticut Regiment (raised during April & May in New Haven) under Colonel David Wooster; Wooster would be made a brigadier general on June 25^th and was replaced with Lt. Colonel Andrew Ward. Mansfield was a sergeant in the 7^th Company commanded by Captain Isaac Cook Jr. and Lt. John Hough and would serve with the 1^st Connecticut until it was fully disbanded on November 28, 1775 (Mansfield’s company being released on Nov. 20th).

In late June, 1775, the newly formed 1^st Conn. Regiment, along with the 5^th Conn. Regiment, were assembled and marched under the recently promoted General Wooster to Harlem, New York, just north of New York City. Later that summer they were posted on Long Island. By early fall, plans were in place to effect an invasion of Canada under Generals Phillip Schuyler and Richard Montgomery, advancing up the Hudson Valley and down Lake Champlain to Montreal, and Colonel Benedict Arnold, traversing through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec. In the Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution, compiled by the 1889 Connecticut General Assembly, it states that Wooster, around September 28^th, marched his men to the Northern Army that was commanded by Major General Schuyler.

Reduction of St. Jean (St. John), Canada

The British had occupied a former French fort at St. John’s, situated on the Richelieu River, to guard against any advance towards Montreal. It had been lightly garrisoned when Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys raided the fort on May 18, 1775, sinking the HMS Savage, a six gun sloop, fifty footer with a crew of approximately fifty. This action prompted British General Guy Carleton to send a large contingency of regular infantry to occupy the fort. By the time the American Army approached the garrison in early September, there were 750 men posted under the command of British Major Charles Preston. Most were regulars from the 7^th & 26^th Regiments of Foot and the Royal Artillery. Ninety locally raised militia and twenty loyalists from Colonel Maclean’s Royal Highland Emigrants joined them. So too, the HMS Savage was raised and repaired.

General Schuyler had moved his army north to the Richelieu River which empties Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence River. By early September he had been taken gravely ill. General Richard Montgomery took over command of the invasion into Canada and on September 17^th and after several probes to discover the enemy’s strength, laid siege to St. Jean. Wooster’s brigade advanced along Lake George and Lake Champlain to the Richelieu River and arrived some time in mid-to late September with the 1^st and 5^th Connecticut Regiments. The 4^th Connecticut had already been sent to the Northern Army in May and were already part of Montgomery’s forces. Harrison Bird, in 1968 of his text, The Canadian Campaign, wrote that Wooster’s men arrived, 800 strong, on the Richelieu River on Sept. 8^th, citing a secondary source. Without further research, it can be assumed that Wooster marched north sometime in early September and arrived soon after the siege of St. Jean, toward the end of September. As to the numbers within his command, they differ from 400 to 800. The units had yet to be decimated by sickness and furloughs therefore the 800 number appears to be more accurate based on company reports of troop regimental strength.

The siege, initiated on September 17^th lasted nearly two months. Major Preston’s hopes of reinforcements were dashed when a relief column sent by General Carleton, now in Montreal, was turned back. He surrendered on November 3^rd and ten days later, the American army under General Montgomery, marched unopposed into Montreal, Carleton having barely escaped the day before on the 11^th. Mansfield and the 1^st was stationed in and around Montreal during the rest of their brief stay in the region. Casualties on both sides during the siege was light, but the Americans suffered most severely from a reduction in men due to extensive sickness and multiple furloughs. Both the 1^st and 5^th Connecticut Regiments were shattered and ceased to be an effective fighting force. Between October and November 28^th, both regiments were broken up and the units disbanded, the survivors, individually and in groups, returned home.

The extended siege also caused the Americans precious time in their goal of taking both Montreal and Quebec and forcing a winter campaign the Americans were ill prepared to launch. General Wooster was to remain and organized a provisional regiment for service from December 1775 until the spring of 1776; 150 men were enticed to enlist from the various regiments and remained in Canada. Montgomery left Wooster in charge of Montreal and marched to Quebec to assist Colonel Arnold in the assault on Quebec. Montgomery would die during the snowy night attack on December 31^st; an attack which would also see Arnold wounded and Daniel Morgan captured; including Mansfield’s future commander, Return Johnathan Meigs.

1776: Reenlisted and Battles Around New York City

Mansfield returned home to Wallingford, Connecticut in November 1775 and for the next six months resumed farming. Meanwhile, the American Army was getting a new face. Toward the end of 1775, due to disbanded short term enlistments, extended furloughs, and illness, Washington’s army was in trouble. Beginning January 1, 1776, the Commander-in-Chief enacted a re-organization of current Continental Regiments and pushed for longer three year enlistments, resulting in the birth of several new regiments. Congress established twenty seven Continental Regiments from all the colonies. This makeover also included the formation of several state militia regiments.

After the British vacated Boston, Washington moved his army to New York City to prepare for a British invasion. Reinforcements were needed in the city and in June of 1776, the Douglas State Militia was raised, 506 men, from the New Haven Connecticut region for an enlistment period of six months. On June 20^th, John Mansfield signed up as an ensign (or second lieutenant). The militia’s leader, Colonel William Douglas, was able infantry officer as well as seaman. As a teenager, he served under Israel Putnam during the French & Indian War. When the Revolution broke out, he was with Benedict Arnold in the taking of Fort Ticonderoga and soon after commanded a flotilla of vessels on Lake Champlain, aiding in the taking of St. Jean (St. John). Like so many worn out from the strenuous northern campaign, he returned home in the winter of 1775 and was elected to the Conn. General Assembly. However, in June, when asked, he raised a state militia to help defend New York City, he accepted.

Mansfield’s regiment boarded transports and sailed along the sound through Hell’s Gate and docked in the city where the regiment encamped near Stone Street on the southwest angle of the city. We know that the last of Mansfield’s regiment had arrived in New York City around the first week of August. Joseph Plumb Martin, a private in Douglass’ State Regiment wrote in his memoir, “…Soon after my arrival in New York, a forty-four gun ship (the Phoenix) and a small frigate (the Rose, I think) came down the North & Hudson River (they had been some time in the river) and passed the city in fine style, midst a cannonade from all our fortification…” The HMS Phoenix & Rose had first run the Hudson River blockades on July 12^th to the Tappen Sea, up river where the Hudson widens.

The action Martin referred to occurred on August 16^th. American fire ships drove the two British war ships out of the Tappen Sea and they sailed back down the river through a gauntlet of shore batteries. The Douglass State Regiment was assigned to Major General Joseph Spencer’s Division in General James Wadsworth’s Brigade. By early August, Douglass’ regiment became the 5^th Battalion in General Wadsworth’s Brigade.

Battle of Long Island

Douglass’ Battalion, in which Ensign John Mansfield was in the 6^th Company commanded by Captain Jacob Brackett, was ordered to Long Island on August 27^th, the day of the Battle of Long Island. Some days earlier, elements of Major General Spencer’s Division had been sent to counter the British landing on Long Island. According to Henry Johnston’s 1889 Record of Service of Connecticut Soldiers in the War, both Spencer’s’ brigades saw action during the coming battle on August 27, 1776. Parson’s entire brigade was present – Colonel Huntington’s and Wyllys’ Regiments suffered heavy casualties guarding the Bedford Pass. The rest of Parson’s Brigade may have been on the Brooklyn Heights defenses. Of Wadsworth’s Brigade, Colonels Silliman, Sage, Chester had been sent to Long Island, Douglass’ Battalion arrived the day of the battle; Bradley’s was assigned to Fort Washington further north on Manhattan Island, and Gay’s regiment remained in the city.

Joseph Plumb Martin, of the 3^rd company, Captain Peck commanding, wrote of the battalion’s experience at the Battle of Long Island in which Mansfield was present: “…our sergeant major… soon arrived and informed us… that he had orders… to march us to our quarters as the regiment was ordered to Long Island, the British having landed in force there.” The regiment took the ferry to Brooklyn under the command of Lt. Col. James Arnold (Douglass was not present). They witnessed wounded being brought to the rear and marched to the sound of battle, “…pressed forward toward a creek, where a large party of Americans and British were engaged…” This was Gowanus Creek, where General Stirling & Major Gist, with a detachment of Col. Smallwood’s Marylanders, attacked and held off the British advance, allowing over 1,600 Americans to escape. Martin continued, “By the time we arrived, the enemy had driven our men into the creek, or rather mill pond (the tide being up), where such as could swim got across… The British, having several field pieces stationed by a brick house [the Vechte-Cortelyou House], were pouring the canister and grape upon the Americans like a shower of hail… they came out of the water and mud to us looking like river rats, it was a truly pitiful sight…some of us went into the water after the fall of the tide, and took out a number of corpses.”

The pond Martin spoke of was the Brouwer’s Mill Pond. The remains of Stirling’s division had driven through the waters in a desperate bid to defy capture or death. Stirling’s detachment of between three and four hundred young men repeatedly attacked the British to assure their comrade’s escape, resulting in over 270 killed – only twelve made it back to the American lines. Stirling fought his way to the Hessians and offered his surrender. Martin’s and Mansfield’s regiment “lay on the ground we then occupied the following night.” The next day they participated in a heated skirmish that involved the entire regiment and the following evening, were secretly whisked back across the East River to New York City with the rest of the American force stationed on Brooklyn Heights.

Battle of Kip’s Bay

On September 15^th, Mansfield’s regiment was posted along the East River north of the city. They had been sent to Turtle Bay to secure about 2,500 barrels of flour from storehouses along the river. British ships plied the waters and the regiment remained, lying behind lines, “although they were nothing more than a ditch dug along on the bank of the river, with the dirt thrown out towards the water.” At first light on the morning of Sept. 15^th, the men peered out over the water to four frigates and a bomb ketch anchored within musket shot of the beach. As the sun lifted over the river, several hundred boats were seen pushing out into the river from the Long Island side, “… filled with British soldiers… they continued to augment their forces from the Island until they appeared like a large clover field in full bloom…” By ten o’clock, the invasion was well under way. The frigates opened up with a devastating, hour long bombardment – some would later claim the worse they would experience in the entire war. Martin wrote, “… there came such a peal of thunder from the British shipping that I thought my head would go with the sound…”

Under such a dreadful bombardment and threat of thousands of British and Hessians troops ready to pull ashore, Douglass’ regiment pulled back in mass. Mansfield and his militia’s retreat was quickly joined by the rest of Wadsworth’s Brigade that had been stationed south of Turtle Bay from Kip’s Bay down to the city itself. The retreat turned into a rout once the British and German troops landed and pursued the Americans; even after the appearance of General Washington and his futile attempts to stem the tide to turn and fight. All that day, those of the regiment and brigade who had escaped capture gradually made their way northwest to the American defensive line at Harlem Heights – setting up the next day’s skirmish that quickly grew into the Battle of Harlem Heights.

Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776

British General William Howe had landed approximately 10,000 troops at Kip’s Bay and cut across the island south of Washington’s lines at Harlem Heights to the north. Early the next morning, a probe by the American ranger force under Colonel Thomas Knowlton quickly grew into a heated skirmish with the British chased the rebels as they drew back to their lines. Washington saw that the British light infantrymen pursuers had pushed beyond their line of support and he proposed to trap them. He sent Knowlton’s men, along with a company of Virginia riflemen under Colonel Andrew Leitch in a flanking motioned to come up from behind. However, before the trap could be sprung, some of the riflemen fired prematurely and the light infantrymen realized their precarious position. As they drew back, Washington sent in more troops to hurry them along, including Douglass’ militia which had been accused of panicking in their hasty retreat from Kip’s Bay. We pick up the narrative from Plumb Martin, “Our regiment was now ordered into the field… we soon came into action with them. The troops engaged, being reinforced by our regiment, kept them still retreating, until they found shelter under the cannon… we remained on the battle ground till nearly sunset, expecting the enemy to attack us again, but they showed no such inclination that day. The men were very much fatigued and faint, having had nothing to eat for forty-eight hours…” This action proved to be the first time in the war that American forces had marched out onto the field, held their own before mass British arms, and driven their enemy back.

Battle of White Plains, October 28, 1776

Nearly three weeks after the Battle of Harlem Heights proved the Americans determination to hold the line against the British push north, British Commander-in-Chief, General William Howe, decided to try and flank Washington. On October 12^th, he transported his troops through Hells Gate on the East River and landed them in the American rear at Frog’s Neck (Throng’s Neck). Colonel Edward Hand and twenty-five men from the 1^st Pennsylvania staged a determined defense on the only causeway to the mainland. Over four thousand British troops were delayed by this action. Once additional supplies arrived from New York, Howe decided to ship his men further north to Pelham. By now, Washington was well aware of Howe’s intent. At a council of war on the 16^th, it was decided that Colonel Glover’s regiment would be sent to Pelham to block and delay Howe’s advance. Meanwhile, Washington enacted a withdrawal of the main army from Harlem Heights and into Westhchester County, towards White Plains. He would leave behind over 2,000 men to garrison Fort Washington as well as maintaining the lines at Harlem Heights which now faced a British force under the command of Lord Percy. The main army was on the road north by October 18^th, the same day that Glover’s regiment temporarily halted Howe’s advance in a dogmatic rear action engagement called the Battle of Pelham (or Pells Point).

Howe’s lethargic advance allowed Washington’s army to slip by and entrench themselves at White Plains. On the morning of October 28^th, the British advanced in two columns, the main British force on the right and the left was mainly composed of Hessian troops. The British right and American left would remain spectators of the ensuing battle as it was fought by the Hessian and British left and the American right. The Americans chose to send out two divisions from their right to meet the advancing Hessians: Major General Sullivan’s and Major General Spencer’s, in which Mansfield’s Douglass’ militia were present as part of Wadsworth’s Brigade – about 2,600 men in all would face an equal number of Hessian forces.

The Battle of White Plains was two part – the initial clash of advanced American forces who ultimately retreated back to the defenses, followed by an assault on the far American right on Chatterton Hill. Mansfield’s unit only saw action during the initial attack on the Hessians. We pick up Plumb Martin’s description of the Douglass regiment’s part in the struggle. They had advanced to a stone wall before an orchard when the Hessian forces showed themselves: “There was in our front, about ten rods distant [a rod is 5 ½ yards or in this case 55 yards] an orchard of apple trees… a party of Hessian troops and some English soon took possession of this ground; they would advance so far as just to show themselves above the rising ground, fire, and fall back and reload… our chance upon them was, as soon as they… fired, to aim at the flashes of their guns… We were engaged in this manner for some time, when finding ourselves flanked and in danger of being surrounded, we were compelled to make a hasty retreat from the stone wall. We lost, comparatively speaking, very few at the fence [stone wall]: but when forced to retreat, we lost, in killed and wounded, a considerable number… We fell back a little distance and made a stand; detached parties engaging in almost every direction. We did not come in contact with the enemy again that day, and just at night we fell back to our encampment.

The British would take Chatterton Hill on the American far right, but not pursue any further action that day. For the next two days, the two forces would face each other without further action. A torrential rain fell during this time forcing Howe to postpone any further attack. When he was ready on the 31^st, the fox had already flown; during the night, Washington had drawn his forces back three miles to Castle North and dug in. Howe would remain at White Plains before deciding to head back to New York City and invest the remaining forces at Fort Washington, capturing the garrison and nearly 3,000 rebels, including a vast quantity of arms and supplies.

Main Army Heads to New Jersey, Mansfield’s Regiments Remains in Hudson Valley

Once Howe returned to New York, Washington left a portion of his army under the command of Major General Charles Lee and headed south to New Jersey to block any movement Howe could make towards Philadelphia. Mansfield and Douglass’ regiment were to remain with Lee’s Division. They did so until the state militiamen’s six month term ended in early December and the regiment disbanded, the men returning home. On January 1^st, 1777, the Continental Army was one again reorganized, this time Washington got his wish and enlistments were to last until the end of the war. On March 14th, Mansfield was once more a Continental soldier, joining as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 6^th Connecticut Continental Regiment (formerly the 10^th Connecticut Regiment) under his former commander of the state militia, Colonel William Douglass. The new regiment would winter in the Hudson Valley in Parson’s Brigade under General Israel Putnam (General Lee having been captured by the British in New Jersey) and by the spring, they would have a new commander. Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, previously Lt. Colonel of Sherburne’s Additional Continental Regiment, having been exchanged in February after his capture outside Quebec on Dec. 31^st, 1775, took over the 6^th on May 12^th when Douglass became seriously ill. Douglass would die on May 28^th, and Meigs was formerly made its leader. Meigs would not wait long before he made his mark on his new command and the war, organizing and heading one of the most successful raids of the struggle.

Sag Harbor Raid, May 24, 1777

Major General William Tryon staged a raid against the Danbury, Connecticut depot of military supplies in April of 1777. His three day excursion into Connecticut created quite the stir as the former royal governor was successful in destroying American supplies and torching a large portion of Danbury, as well as residences in route from and to the sound where his ships were anchored. In response, General Samuel Parsons planned a raid of Sag Harbor, at the tip of Long Island. He received a report that a foraging party was in the area of the garrisoned fort of both regular and loyalist troops. The plan was to capture both British regulars, loyalists, and any supplies that could be carried off, destroying all the rest. For this Sag Harbor Raid, he chose the commander of the 6^th Connecticut Reg., Colonel Meigs.

Meigs would pick 220 enlisted men and fourteen officers, chosen from his regiment. He chose young, hardy men as it would require rowing over twenty miles both ways across the sound to Sag Harbor. Was John Mansfield part of this raid? This researcher has found no hard evidence that he was chosen. Almost half of the the 6^th Connecticut participated in the raid. Of the twenty three officers (captains & lieutenants) fourteen participated. Mansfield was young, hardy, and an experienced officer, having fought in the northern army and the battles around New York. Officer in the light infantry, it is strongly assumed that he was chosen as a member of the raiding party.

The party departed from Guilford, Connecticut at 1 PM and rowed the twenty miles across the sound accompanied by three sloops. They put in on the North Fork on the western side of the island, than carried eleven whale boats over the slip of land to the Peconic River. They cross the wide inlet and at 2 AM on the 24^th, pulled up on Long Beach near the town of Sag Harbor. They surprised the garrison and after a brief skirmish, in which some of the British and loyalists were killed and wounded, the fort was taken. After destroying the forged and stored supplies, the party proceeded to the town where they wrecked all provisions in the town’s storage facilities. All achored shipping was attacked and burned including an armed sloop. Once stores and captives were secured on their boats, the raiding party departed without the loss of a single man. It was a highly successful operation gaining laurels for Colonel Meigs and all those who participated.

1777 – 1779: West Point, Mansfield Promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and Stony Point

The next two years, Mansfield and the 6^th Connecticut would be active in constructing the fortifications at West Point and wintering with the Highland Army detailed to block any attempt by the British into Westchester County and New England. The redoubt at West Point, called Fort Meigs, was built during the winter of 1777 – 1778. After the Battle of Monmouth, June 28^th, 1778, Washington moved his army up to White Plains, New York. Mansfield’s regiment camped nearby and joined the main army. When Washington once more transferred the main army further south to Middlebrook, NJ for the 1778 – 1779 winter encampment, Mansfield’s 6^th Connecticut remained with the Highland detachment, wintering in Redding, Connecticut. The following spring, the regiment was back at West Point working on fortifications. On March 31^st, 1779, John Mansfield was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant.

June 5^th, 1779, saw British General Tryon at it again, this time raiding New Haven, Connecticut, destroying homes and supplies at Norwalk, Greenwich, and Fairfield. Mansfield’s regiment chased after him, the Tryon alluded them and escaped to his ships. The 6^th returned to West Point, however the light infantry company would join other light infantry companies from several other regiments to form a special detachment for a specific job – the taking of Stony Point. The fort on the Hudson River, fourteen miles south of West Point, had been constructed by the British. The Point guarded the important Kings Ferry and Washington intended to capture the garrison, even if for a little while before abandoning it. A midnight bayonet attack was planned for July 15, 1779. The detachment of light infantry companies was led by Mansfield’s regiment’s commander, Colonel Return Miegs. A search of the roster of those who stormed the fort at Stony Point indicated that Lt. John Mansfield was not part of this expedition. The fort was surprised and taken within thirty minutes with minimal casualties. It was abandoned a few days later when General Clinton advanced with a strong detachment.

Horrific 1779 – 1780 Winter Camp at Morristown, New Jersey

Around late November, 1779, Washington began moving the main army to winter at Morristown, NJ; the 6^th Connecticut joined him. It proved to be the worst and most devastating winter the army would experience, far worse than Valley Forge. Upon arrival, in late Dec. and early January, the troops had to live in tents while they constructed wooden huts. Hardly had they completed their huts before a winter of unusual severity set in – the most trying of the whole war; when cold, hunger, and want of clothing caused immense suffering. Major Huntington of Colonel Webb’s regiment in Stark’s Brigade wrote on Dec. 24^th, 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…” Assistant Commissary of Purchases, Royal Flint, described the situation to Gov. Trumbull of Connecticut. On January 6^th he wrote, “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…”

There was no winter clothing available. Blankets were scarce. Provisions, when available, could not be transported over the heavy snows. Plus, the men had not been paid for months. After constructing their huts and settled in, on Feb. 1^st, Mansfield’s regiment was ordered to the Elizabethtown and Newark outposts to guard against British foragers and incursions. By May, 1780, the troops had reached their breaking point and mutinied. Colonel Meigs of the 6^th was instrumental in convincing the men to lay down their arms, receiving Washington’s thanks.

Benedict Arnold’s Treason and Back to West Point, Regiment Consolidated

By June, Mansfield’s regiment was back in the Hudson Highlands. On September 23^rd, British Colonel Andre was arrested in Westchester County and General Benedict’s treason was uncovered. Mansfield’s regiment was ordered north to West Point to guard the fort against any sudden attack by the British. They remained in the region and went into winter quarters near Robinson’s Farm at West Point labeled, ‘The 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. On Jan. 1, 1781, the nine Connecticut regiments were consolidated into five regiments. The 6^th became the 4^th, the former 3^rd & 4^th became the 1^st, the old 5^th & 7^th became the new 2^nd, and the 2^nd & 9^th was formed into the 3^rd, and lastly the 1^st & 8^th became the 5^th. Mansfield would chose to remain in the newly formed 4^th Connecticut under the command of Colonel Zebulon Butler as Col. Meigs had resigned to go home. In doing so, Mansfield would participate in the deciding battle of the war and in the storming of redoubt number ten, he would play an important role in its outcome.

Siege of Yorktown, September 28 – October 19, 1781

By early summer, 1781, cooperation with the French forces led to two possible scenarios: a combined attack upon New York City, or, if circumstances favored a given moment, a march to Virginia to confront the build up of enemy. Preparations for either plan were put into motion when in June, troops were concentrated at Peekskill and the immediate vicinity. The Connecticut line marched on June 21^st to Dobb’s Ferry and closer to New York City at Camp Phillipsburg; this included Parson’s Division which included four Connecticut Regiments and the Rhode Island 1^st – only African American regiment commanded by Col. Jeremiah Olney after its former leader, Christopher Greene, was killed five weeks earlier on Mary 13^th by loyalists in Westchester County. The French army, upon their arrival, camped on the left of the American troops.

Both of Washington’s plans of attack depended on the French fleet to bottle up the British forces. The French in turn were more concerned with their interests in the Caribbean which provided their government much needed revenue, than coordinating an attack on British ground forces. Their target was the British navy and any movement by the French fleet was to that end. Later that summer, receiving news that the expected French fleet under Admiral DeGrasse, would sail for the Chesapeake to draw out the British fleet and not New York City, Washington accepted the alternative plan on marching against Cornwallis in Virginia. On August 19^th, he broke camp at Phillipsburg and American and French troops crossed the Hudson at King’s Ferry, beginning the movement south which, two months later, ended in the surrender of General Cornwallis’ army at Yorktown. A portion of the rebel forces were left in the Highlands under Major General Heath to guard against any enemy movement north from New York City.

Prior to August, Washington had sent a detached force to Virginia in February, 1781, under his protege General Lafayette. The traitor, General Benedict Arnold, having received a commission in the British army, had invaded Virginia and was reported to be camped at Portsmouth. Washington was keen for his capture. Twelve hundred men, composed of three light regiments, eight companies each, marched rapidly to Virginia. One of the regiments, commanded by Colonel Jean-Joseph Sourbader de Gimat and Major John Wyllys, contained five companies from the Connecticut Line, in which Mansfield participated, two companies from Massachusetts, and a company from the 1^st Rhode Island. They were to spend the spring harassing British forces, following and retreating during heated skirmishes into the early summer. Having failed at capturing Arnold, Washington directed Lafayette to place himself under the command of Major General Nathanael Greene, commanding the Department of the South as British General Charles Cornwallis advanced towards Virginia.

From May until August, Lafayette’s small army was constantly on the march, staying close to the enemy – watching, delaying, and thwarting their movements, until Cornwallis took post at Yorktown in early August. When Washington arrived a Yorktown in September, his army consisted of two more light regiments which were assigned to Lafayette’s Light Division. From September 28^th until Cornwallis’s surrender on Oct. 19^th, hey were to hold the right of the besieging forces around Yorktown. The two additional regiments were under Col. Scammell of New Hampshire and Col. Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s aide-de-camp who had, after repeated pestering, received a field command from his Commander-in-Chief. At Yorktown, Gimat’s battalion, with Lt. Mansfield in charge of the forlorn hope, was to distinguish itself by leading the storming column that captured an important redoubt. Labeled number ten, this action was the final blow against the British defense, resulting in the army’s surrender five days later.

Storming Redoubt Number Ten and Mansfield’s Forlorn Hope, October 14, 1781

Storming Redoubt Number Ten and Mansfield’ forlorn hope, October 14, 1781

Eighteenth Century defenses and fortifications depended heavily on predesignated obstacles that hindered the enemy’s assault. This included trenching which forced the enemy to scramble up steep slopes and clamber over sharpened stakes called abattis (also spelled abatis or abbattis). In nearly every assault, a select group of volunteers were assigned to spearhead the assault, carrying heavy axes. They were to attack the abattis and chop through the pointed obstacles, thereby allowing the mass of infantry to pour through the opening. Once a portion of the abattis was destroyed, those of the forlorn hope who had not been cut down by fire from above, were to join the surge of infantry storming the parapet. In most cases, the highest percentage of casualties was among the forlorn hope. Lt. Mansfield was chosen to lead the twenty men comprising this important detachment.

Colonel Alexander Hamilton’s letter to Lafayette, dated Oct. 15^th, the day after the attack, best describes the action in which Mansfield’s forlorn hope advanced the assault. “I have the honor to render you an account of the corps under my command in your attack of last night, upon the redoubt on the left of the enemy’s lines… Agreeable to your orders we advanced in two columns with unloaded arms, the right composed of Lt. Col. Gimat’s battalion and my own commanded by Major Fish… The column on the right was preceded by a van guard of twenty men let by Lt. Mansfield, and a detachment of sappers and miners, commanded by Capt. Gilliland for the purpose of removing obstructions. The redoubt was commanded by Major Campbell with a detachment of British and German troops, and was completely in a state of defense… Lt. Col. Gimat’s battalion which formed the van of the right attack and which fell under my immediate observation, encouraged by the decisive and animated example of their leader, advanced with an ardor and resolution superior to every obstacle… Lt. Mansfield deserves particular commendation, for the coolness firmness and punctuality with which he conducted the van guard… Lt. Mansfield of Gimats [was] wounded with the bayonet in gallantly entering the work…”

In receiving his wound, Mansfield was one of the first ones over the parapet. The entire action lasted less than ten minutes under which a furious fire, the attacking troops climbed over or broke through the abattis, crossed a defensive ditch, scaled the parapet, and captured the redoubt. Of the ten men killed and twenty six wounded, a large proportion were from the forlorn hope. This researcher could not find any documentation that described Mansfield’s bayonet wound. Roster returns for early 1782 indicate Lt. Mansfield’s presence in camp indicating that it may either been superficial or not too severe to render him placed on the invalid roster.

After Yorktown 1781 – 1782

Washington’s army did not return to the Hudson Valley region from Virginia until early December, 1781. The Connecticut Division re-occupied their West Point camp at “Connecticut Village” of the previous winter, the full regiments back under Major General Heath. The winter would prove relatively mild in comparison to previous winter encampments with the usual furloughs issued for soldiers to return home to attend to family and business. The light companies of the regiments, in which Mansfield was assigned, were posted on the lines north of New York City in what had been labeled ‘no man’s land’; a region of Westchester County in which partisan forces of patriots and loyalist ‘cowboys’ roamed freely staging violent raids on residents, resulting in heated skirmishes. On April 3, 1782, General Samuel Parsons, the ‘face’ of the Connecticut line for seven years of constant service, resigned for health reasons and went home; General William Alexander ‘Lord’ Sterling took his place as Division Commander.

Between August and October of 1782, the Connecticut Line was condensed into two brigades. Mansfield and the Connecticut 4^th regiment was in the 2^nd brigade under Colonel Heman Swift, then part of Maj. Gen. Alexander McDougall’s Division in the left wing under General William Heath. The right wing of Washington’s army was under Major General Horatio Gates, resurrected from his humiliating defeat at the Battle of Camden. When Washington’s army marched to the 1782-1783 winter quarters at Newburg, New York, the Connecticut line once more wintered at “Connecticut Villiage” near West Point. The light infantrymen continued their patrols of Westminster County, occasionally skirmishing with loyalist and British regulars patrols and foraging parties.

1783 and Last Six Months of the War

On January 1, 1783, the final reorganization of the army took place. The five Connecticut Continental Regiments were reduced to three. The Conn. 1^st remained as such under Butler. The Conn. 2^nd stayed the same under Swift and so too the 3^rd Conn. Under placed under Webb. Mansfield’s 4^th and the 5^th Connecticut was divided among the other three regiments. 1^st Lt. Mansfield transferred to the 2^nd under Colonel Heman Swift. He would remain with the army in service at West Point and patrolling Westchester and vicinity until June 3^rd when his commission ended and he was discharged from the army.

Later Years and Death

John Mansfield, aged 35, returned to farming in the town to which he was born, Wallingford, Connecticut. He died on June 1, 1823 and was buried in the Center Street Cemetery, Wallingford, Connecticut. There is no information detailing his life after the war. What we know can be deemed from his obituary that appeared in the Connecticut Herald on June 10, 1823: “Capt. John Mansfield [he was never commissioned a captain, his highest rank a 1^st Lieutenant], in the 75^th year of his age – He served his country faithfully during the Revolutionary War – was the same man who commanded the “Forlorn Hope,” at the storming of the redoubts at Yorktown – and whose name was honorably mentioned by Col. Hamilton… he received a wound in that attack… Poor in purse, but rich in honor, he returned to his family, and by strenuous exertions, succeeded in accumulating a small property… He sustained through life the character of an industrious, honorable, upright man, died lamented by all the friends of worth who knew him.”

His wife, Esther Lewis, is also interned at the Center Cemetery. Of his two children: Ira Mansfield (1777 – 1849) settled in Atwater, Ohio in 1806 and moved his wife (Susan Kirtland who died in 1849) and family there two years later. Sybil Hiddleson and her husband John Hiddleson of South Carolina both died in Wallingford, Connecticut and are buried at the Center Street Cemetery; Sybil on Nov. 2, 1833 and John on 26^th of February, 1848.

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Connecticut Herald. New Haven, Connecticut. 10 June 1823. p 3., col. 4.

Daughters of the American Revolution. Lineage Book – National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. 32. 1911: 2009: Digitized University of Southern California.

Davis, Charles Henry. History of Wallingford, Connecticut, From its Settlement in 1670 to the Present Time… 1870: Published by the author, Meriden, Connecticut.

Gabriel, Michael P. Major General Richard Montgomery: The Making of an American Hero. 2002: Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, New Jersey.

Hamilton’s Oct. 15^th report on Yorktown to General Lafayette. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress; copy, Reel 188, Item 169, VIII, p. 249, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives.

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution. 1914: The Rare Book Shop Publishing Company, Inc., Washington D. C.

Hotchkiss, Hobart & Gay, Frank & Greeley, Edwin; Publication Committee. Yearbook of the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for 1897 – 1898, and 1899. 1900: Printed by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, New Haven, CT.

Johnston, Henry Philips. Connecticut. Adjutant-General’s Office. Record of Service of Connecticut Men In the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford. 1889: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co, Hartford, CN.

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