Revolutionary War

1
Revolutionary War

• Lesson 3

2
Agenda

• METT-TC Revolutionary War Overview
• Characteristics of the Offense Trenton
• Characteristics of the Defense The Cowpens
• Principles of War Yorktown

3
METT-TC

• Mission
• Enemy
• Terrain and Weather
• Troops and Equipment
• Time
• Civilians

4
Mission

• Colonists
• Gain independence
• British
• Maintain colonies within the British Empire

5
Enemy Aug 1776

• British
• 24,000 soldiers
• Average soldier was 30 years old with 10 years
  service
• Muskets, bayonets, light field guns
• Two or three ranks of infantry supported by light
  field guns
• Powerful Navy (30 warships, 400 transports)
• More experienced, better led, more thoroughly
  disciplined and trained
• Howe knew generals from their Seven Years War
  record

(Doughty, 38-39)
6
Terrain

• New York City
• Ice free port
• Important to American communications along and
  across the Hudson River
• Important to American morale
• Location at the confluence of the Hudson and East
  Rivers would cause Washington to divide his
  forces among Manhattan, Long Island, and New
  Jersey

(Doughty, 38)
7
New York City
8
Weather

• Traditionally armies in the Revolutionary War era
  went into winter quarters
• Washington would use this to gain surprise at
  Trenton in Dec 1776
• Valley Forge, Dec 1777 to May 1778

9
Troops Aug 1776

• Colonists
• 28,000 soldiers
• Average soldier was 20 years old with less than a
  year of service
• Muskets, bayonets, light field guns
• Two or three ranks of infantry supported by light
  field guns
• Used simplified British tactics (experience from
  Seven Years War)
• No Navy
• Great disparity in quality between militia and
  Continental Army
• Many generals imposed upon Washington by Congress
  or state governments

(Doughty, 38-39)
10
Troops Colonists

• Fearing that the creation of a regular army might
  ultimately deprive them of their liberty, they
  initially sought to win through inspired citizen
  soldiers (unskilled militiamen)
• Failure of this premise led to creation of
  Continental Army

(Doughty, 30)
11
Troops Colonists

• Continued apprehension caused leaders to pursue
  more evasive and delaying strategies and to rely
  on militiamen more than they wished
• Continued dependence on militiamen and partisan
  caused leaders to
• simplify marching and drilling
• command more by persuasion and instruction than
  by coercion
• integrate militiamen and regulars in tactical
  dispositions

(Doughty, 30)
12
Time

• Washington assumed command of the Continental
  Army on 2 July 1775
• Most of his mens enlistments expired 31 Dec
• It wasnt until Feb 1776 that Washington had
  raised enough men, ammunition, and artillery to
  consider attacking Boston (Doughty, 35)
• It took Washington and Rochambeau from 21 Aug to
  26 Sept 1781 to march their armies from NY to VA
  prior to Yorktown (Doughty, 64)

13
Civilians In General

• Both sides understood from the beginning that
  they were fighting for the allegiance of a people
  and for the destruction or preservation of one
  state and the creation of another

(Doughty, 30)
14
Civilians Colonists

• Had to defeat the British and control the
  loyalists without losing popular support or
  destroying the republican principles for which
  they fought

(Doughty, 30)
15
Civilians British

• Argued that they were protecting loyalists from
  the tyranny of a few ambitious rebels
• Various strategies
• Intimidating the rebels with a show of force
• Combining force and persuasion to break the
  rebellion without alienating a majority of the
  colonists
• Enlisting the support of loyalists in a gradual
  and cumulative restoration of royal government

(Doughty, 30)
16
Characteristics of the Offense

• Trenton

17
Characteristics of the Offense

• Surprise
• Concentration
• Tempo
• Audacity

(FM 3-0, p. 7-4)
18
Trenton

• The British followed up their success on Long
  Island with a series of landings on Manhattan
  Island
• Compelled Washington to retreat, escaping finally
  over the Delaware into Pennsylvania with about
  3,000 men.
• Howe then went into winter quarters

19
Trenton

• In December 1776, Washington determined to make a
  surprise attack on the British garrison in
  Trenton, a 1,400-man Hessian force
• Hoped that a striking victory would lift the
  badly flagging American morale.
• Reinforcements had raised Washington's army to
  about 7,000

20
Trenton

• On Christmas night (25-26 December) he ferried
  about 2,400 men of this force across the
  ice-choked Delaware.
• At 0800 hours they converged on Trenton in two
  columns, achieving complete surprise. After only
  an hour and a half of fighting, the Hessians
  surrendered.
• Some 400 of the garrison escaped southward to
  Bordentown, N. J., when two other American
  columns failed to get across the Delaware in time
  to intercept them.
• About 30 were killed and 918 captured. American
  losses were only 4 dead and a like number
  wounded.

21
TrentonCharacteristics of the Offense

• Surprise
• Took advantage of British being in winter
  quarters and in poorly defended, dispersed
  locations
• Bad weather and limited visibility
• Christmas had reduced British security

22
TrentonCharacteristics of the Offense

• Concentration
• Washington led 2,400 men across the Delaware at
  McConkeys Ferry above Trenton and then proceeded
  by two columns on different routes, converging at
  opposite ends of the main street in Trenton
• Tempo
• Washingtons forces attacked before the British
  could react

23
Trenton Concentration
24
TrentonCharacteristics of the Offense

• Audacity
• Washington knew
• he had to do something
• to restore morale and act
• decisively before the 1776 enlistments expired
• Risked poor weather, previous poor performance of
  troops, and dividing his force
• In house to house fighting, American inspiration
  and initiative would counter British superior
  training and discipline

25
Characteristics of the Defense

• Cowpens

26
Characteristics of the Defense

• Preparation
• Security
• Disruption
• Massing Effects
• Flexibility

(FM 3-0, p. 8-2)
27
Cowpens Preparation

• Nathanael Greene was commander in the Carolinas
  and Georgia
• Only a little over 1,000 Continentals and bands
  of ill-disciplined militia against Cornwallis
  10,000 men
• Had to create circumstances to achieve success

28
Cowpens Preparation (cont)

• Greene divided his army into two divisions which
  he posted to the northwest and northeast of
  Cornwallis camp at Winnsboro
• Allowed him to better feed his own men, sustain
  the militia, and harass the British
• Tempted Cornwallis to divide his main body,
  making it more vulnerable
• Cornwallis did this in Jan 1781, sending 1,100
  men (commanded by Tarleton) to attack Greenes
  western division (commanded by Morgan)

29
Cowpens Security

• Greenes strategy was luring Cornwallis away from
  his bases of supply
• Morgan applied the troops portion of METT-T and
  recognized his militia was ill-disciplined
• Deployed militia in two lines, 300 and 150 yards
  in front of his Continentals
• He asked each militia line to fire twice before
  retreating behind the Continentals
• A small force of 125 cavalry was posted in the
  rear to cover the exposed flanks

30
Cowpens Disruption and massed effects

• Americans executed as planned
• Militia in the first lines checked the British
  cavalry and fired two effective volleys into the
  infantry before retreating behind the
  Continentals
• British rushed after the retreating militia and
  became disordered
• Continentals fired repeated volleys into the
  British
• British disintegrated against American
  counterattack

31
Cowpens Massed Effects
32
Cowpens Results

• Americans suffered 6.2 losses (12 killed and 60
  wounded)
• British suffered 90 losses
• Cornwallis became obsessed with Morgan and turned
  to pursue him
• Morgan retreated into Virginia (flexibility)
• In a month Cornwallis had marched 225 miles
  without achieving decisive battle

33
Principles of War

• Yorktown

34
Principles of War

• Objective
• Offensive
• Mass
• Economy of force
• Maneuver
• Unity of command
• Security
• Surprise
• Simplicity

35
Yorktown and Selected Principles of War

• Objective
• Trap and defeat Cornwallis army on the York
  Peninsula
• Offensive
• Two parallel siege lines followed by an assault
• Mass
• Allies had an overwhelming advantage in numbers
  (16,000 to fewer than 8,000)

36
Yorktown Maneuver
37
Yorktown Unity of Command

• More appropriately, unity of effort
• Joint (Army and Navy)
• Combined (Americans and French)
• Rochambeau (French) and Lafayette (French)
  cooperated on land with Washington
• De Grasse (French) sealed off the Chesapeake with
  the Navy

38
Homework

• Read Doughty p. 81- 92. Concentrate on the
  principles of war of maneuver
• the turning movement (e.g., Cerro Gordo)
• amphibious operations (Vera Cruz)
• and security
• reconnaissance by the engineers