28 June 1778, noon
Monmouth: Washington’s line
Coming up from Englishtown with the main body, Washington meets the retreating troops and then Lee. “I desire to know, sir, what is the reason, whence arises this disorder and confusion?” he asks. He orders Wayne to delay the British with three battalions in the Point of Woods south of the brook and forms the main body on Perrine’s Hill, above the bridge. Lee takes four guns and two battalions to a hill to the right of Wayne.
The Battle of Monmouth, engraving by Robert Hinshelwood after Alonzo ChappelWikimedia Commons, Robert Hinshelwood after Alonzo Chappel, Public domain (Battle of Monmouth (NYPL b13075520-422191) cropped.jpg)
The Guards and dragoons drive Wayne back to the bridge within ten minutes, and the Grenadiers push Lee’s guns back to a hedgerow. North of the brook the 42nd Highlanders cross and chase part of Scott’s men into Stirling’s line. At 13:30 Lee is among the last to cross the bridge. A Grenadier battalion following him comes under fire from Wayne’s men and Stirling’s guns, its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Monckton, is killed, and it falls back.
The infantry fight gives way to a two-hour artillery duel across 1,200 yards of open ground on either side of the brook.
Sources
- Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone, Fatal Sunday (2016).
- Joseph G. Bilby and Katherine Bilby Jenkins, Monmouth Court House (2010).
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