Battle of Camden
The Battle of Camden was fought on the morning of August 16, 1780. It was a battle between the British and the Americans. Major General Horatio Gates was the American Commander and Major General Charles Cornwallis was the British Commander. The Americans had 3,052 troops versus the British who had 2,240 troops. With the difference in troops one would assume the British were slaughtered however, the British won the Battle of Camden. The “Southern Strategy” helped promote man power, support, and knowledge of area for the British. The British defeated the Continental Army purely based upon poor leadership, poor strategy and inexperience.
To begin with, the Continental Army had, to this point, been victorious in both New York
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Cavalry units from each side stumbled upon each other and decided to retreat to wait for daylight. This is where Gates’s poor strategy came into play. He discovered that he would be fighting an experienced British Army under the command of Cornwallis. Instead of retreating, or regrouping, Gates decided that he would fight the British there. The terrain was horrible. It was cut into a narrow field by the swamps of Gum Creek. This left little to no maneuver room for Gates. He also decided that he would put his most inexperienced soldiers, 900 Maryland and Delaware infantrymen on his left flank. These militiamen would be facing off against Cornwallis’s most experienced under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James Webster. General Gates had his artillery spread out instead of concentrating in the center and had his cavalry directly behind the inexperienced Maryland and Delaware militia. Cornwallis, on the other hand, had all his artillery grouped in the center of his line with his extremely aggressive and experienced cavalry in reserve. When the British attacked, they struck with their right flank against the Colonial left. The militiamen on that side, seeing a well-disciplined, aggressive force coming toward them, threw down their arms and retreated without firing a shot. Seeing this, the panic spread to the Virginian militia and then to the North Carolina militia. By this time, the …show more content…
Had General Gates been more experienced, he would have known to listen to the officers in his command and picked a better route to Camden. This would have kept his soldiers healthy and built their confidence in him. They would have been more willing to fight under a commander who took care of them. He also would have known that the British usually placed their most experienced units on their right flank and would not have placed his unreliable, inexperienced militia on his left. Also, with more experience, he would not have spread his artillery. He would have centralized it, hoping to punch a hole through the British line and pushed his soldiers through. Finally, knowing that he placed his inexperienced troops to his left, he would have tried to rally them, instead of running away like them at the first sign of British forces. Instead of running from their charge, he would have just had his soldiers on the left fire into them and hope to stop their assault that way. All in all, he should have never left his subordinates to fight the battle for him. His actions were questioned by the Continental Congress and was relieved by Major General Nathanael Greene. He was cleared of any wrongdoing but would not hold another command. Eventually, he would end up on General Washington’s staff, just in time for the end of the war. The outcome of the battle and Gates’s cowardice struck a
The Battle of bunker hill was fought June 17, 1775. The battle really didn't occur at bunker hill a reporter reported it wrong it really occurred at breed's hill. The battle started when british sent troops to Boston. Americans set up a militia with over 1000 soldiers to fight the british at bunker hill. What's very significant about this battle is that it was the start of the revolutionary war.
Daniel Morgan had a brilliant idea of setting his troops up into three lines. They would fight line by line which soon tired out the British. The front line was made out of around 150 riflemen. Since rifles are slow to load, but accurate, the riflemen were told to shoot the retreat. The second line was made out of 300 militiamen with muskets.
With enemy troops in South Carolina and Virginia, the outlook for the Continental Army was bleak until the Battle of Cowpens. This was an important turning point for the Americans in the Revolutionary War. The purpose of this essay is to prove that Brigadier General Daniel Morgan led the American Continental Army to success, by driving the operations process. Without his understanding of mission command, it would have been difficult to secure the victory at Cowpens. Though there are people that would argue BG Morgan’s victory at the Battle of Cowpens was a fluke, I will prove BG Morgan used the commanders activities of “lead, understand, visualize, describe.”
Later, Gates sustained a wound during his actions during Braddock's defeat in Pennsylvania in 1755.(Scythes, n.d) After the French and Indian war, Gates decided to retire from his position in the Royal American Regiment, as well as returning to England.
In 1775 Gates was appointed adjutant- and brigadier-general, in a letter Horatio stated to have the greatest respect for Washington. Prior to the war Gates propounded that a committee of congress were to be sent to keep scrutiny on George Washington. As soon as George was in different command, Gates began to gain favor with congress and plot against his commander. Washington wasn't unaware of Gates actions later on he wrote, "I discovered very early in the war symptoms of coldness & constraint in General Gates' behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater
Battle of Hobkirk’s Hill -April 25, 1781 General Cornwallis moved his troops to North Carolina in order to get more provisions for his men. General Greene followed Cornwallis, but hampered by the lack of food, Cornwallis let Green go and trusted that Lord Francis Rawdon who commanded 8,000 men ahead in front of them could take care of the Americans. Rawdon did lead a large force, however it mainly consisted of scattered loyalist units. The largest of these forces numbered 900 men and was based at his headquarters in Camden South Carolina. Greene detached Lieutenant Colonel Henry Lee with orders to unite with Brigaider General Francis Marion for a combined attack on Fort Watson.
On 17 January 1781, Brigadier General (BG) Daniel Morgan showed the British and Lieutenant Colonel Tarleton what type of American military tactician he was at the Battle of Cowpens. BG Morgan proclaimed, "I have given him a Devil of a Whipping. "1 This battle, lasting a little more than an hour and being small in comparison to the Revolutionary War, had an immense impact serving as a turning point in the Revolutionary War.2 Brigadier General (BG) Morgan was the commander of the American forces that met Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens. This small battle helped shape the remainder of the Revolutionary War by pushing the British farther north.
”Washington faced off against British troops under General Henry
Battle of Camden The battle of Camden fought on august 16th 1780 during the revolutionary war, Reasons for the British for attacking Camden were varied depending on opinions and notes. From that point on there were many reasons for the attack but the main one could definitely be that the British needed Camden for personal gain. General Horatio gates (the leader of the defensive militia) was assigned to take back north, Carolina with men who were not mentally or physically trained, since they weren't, they were demolished about 2,000 - 3,000 British to Camden. The last of the colonists were imprisoned or killed.
In the starting years of the war, the British generally won most battles due to their far superior sea power. After the invasion of Canada, the American colonist rebellion invasions and attacks continued. Battles after battles were being fought and everywhere the anger and the revenge taking nature was visible in both the colonists and the British officials’ eyes. The next 2 battles occurred in Trenton and Princeton of New Jersey. The Battle of Trenton occurred 26 December 1776.
The Battle of Monmouth (also called the Battle of Monmouth Court House) was a one day battle fought on 28 June 1778 in what is now known as Monmouth County, New Jersey. The battle was between American Revolutionary forces and Great Britain. During this battle, the Americans hoped to reclaim some of the territory around Philadelphia that they had lost during the previous year. As the Americans departed Valley Forge, General George Washington had commanded his forces to cross the Delaware River with a goal of coming into contact with General Sir Henry Clinton’s troops who had been in route from Philadelphia to Incipient York. George Washington’s forces would meet the British at the Monmouth court house.
Benedict Arnold’s name lives in disgrace. He stands as the American symbol of treason, yet he was brilliant, and without his military genius the country would have lost the war. No other general in American history has ever commanded a single battle that if lost, would have spelled defeat for the entire nation, yet Arnold commanded three such battles: Valcor Island, the Mohawk Valley, and finally Saratoga. Had Arnold been killed at Saratoga, today there would have been cities and states named after him, and no one except Washington would have been so respected for his accomplishments. His treason has erased much of his glory.
During the first three years of the American Revolutionary war, the largest military encounters were in the north, focused on campaigns around the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. After the failed Saratoga Campaign in 1777 when the British attempted to gain military control of the Hudson River Valley, they largely abandoned their operations in the Middle Colonies and pursued a strategy of peace through subjugation in the Southern Colonies. This strategy failed as there were not as many Loyalists willing to fight as the British might have thought. Moreover, the Patriots use of more guerrilla warfare, with hit and run tactics which the British were not accustomed to. Finally, as the British chased the Americans through the countryside, they tended to take food, mainly from farmers, causing new enemies to be established.
Despite their loss, the inexperienced colonial forces inflicted considerable casualties against the invading British, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost. Colonel Prescott’s leadership throughout the battle is an excellent example of good mission command. Upon receipt of mission from higher and given limited resources, Colonel Prescott effectively issued orders to his soldiers, which ultimately led to
This shows that the troops no longer considered the enemy as inhuman. Many soldiers remarked that the enemy knew the soldiers better than the officers, who were patriotic comparatively, did. Additionally, the book pointed out disputes between different generals, which disrupted the war and led to inferior decisions. For example, Grant was unable to fire Butler because if he did, the general may run for president, which could