Battle of Monmouth (1778): Molly Pitcher and the Hot Summer Fight

The Battle of Monmouth was fought on 28 June 1778 near Monmouth Court House, now Freehold, New Jersey, between George Washington’s Continental Army and a British army under Sir Henry Clinton marching from Philadelphia to New York. Fought in extreme summer heat, it began with a confused American retreat and ended in a hard-fought draw. It was the last major battle in the northern states and is remembered for the court-martial of General Charles Lee and the legend of Molly Pitcher.

Background

After France entered the war as an American ally in early 1778, Britain changed its strategy. Clinton, who replaced William Howe as commander-in-chief in May, was ordered to give up Philadelphia and concentrate his forces in New York. On 18 June 1778 his army, estimated at anywhere from about 10,000 to over 15,000 soldiers depending on the count, left the city and began marching across New Jersey, with a baggage train stretching for some 12 miles.

Washington’s army, newly trained by Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben during the winter at Valley Forge, followed. Washington’s generals disagreed about what to do. Charles Lee, recently freed in a prisoner exchange after his capture in December 1776, argued against risking a major battle. Others, including Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne and the Marquis de Lafayette, wanted to strike. Washington chose to attack the British rearguard with an advanced force of about 4,000 to 5,000 men. Lee, as senior major general, at first declined to lead it and then asked for the command when its size grew.

The battle

On the morning of 28 June Lee’s force moved against the British rear near Monmouth Court House. His instructions were vague, his plans were poorly explained to his subordinates, and units moved without coordination. When Clinton turned back with strong forces under Lord Cornwallis, Lee’s troops began to fall back, in places in confusion.

Washington, riding forward with the main army, met the retreating troops and confronted Lee. Their exchange became famous, although accounts of exactly what Washington said, and the tradition that he swore furiously, rest mostly on later recollections. Washington took personal command, posted troops to delay the British, and formed a strong defensive line on high ground to the west, with artillery on Comb’s Hill on the flank.

Through the afternoon the British launched attacks against this line and were met by heavy artillery fire and steady infantry. Temperatures were reported at close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 38 degrees Celsius), and soldiers on both sides collapsed from heat and thirst. Late in the day the fighting died down. That night Clinton’s army slipped away, and it reached Sandy Hook and then New York by early July.

Casualties

Figures are uncertain. Washington’s official return listed about 69 Americans killed, 161 wounded and a further 37 dead from heat. The British reported somewhat more than 300 killed, wounded and missing, including roughly 60 who died of heatstroke, but American burial parties claimed to have buried more British dead than that. Hundreds of British and German soldiers also deserted during the march across New Jersey.

Lee’s court-martial

Stung by Washington’s rebuke, Lee wrote angry letters to him after the battle and demanded a court-martial to clear his name. The trial began on 4 July 1778. Lee was charged with disobeying orders by not attacking, with making “an unnecessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat”, and with disrespect to the commander-in-chief. He was found guilty on all three charges and suspended from command for a year. Congress confirmed the verdict in December 1778, and Lee was dismissed from the army in 1780 after another insulting letter.

The legend of Molly Pitcher

Monmouth gave rise to one of the best-known legends of the Revolution. “Molly Pitcher” was said to have carried water to soldiers in the heat and to have taken her fallen husband’s place at a cannon. The name was probably a nickname for women who brought pitchers of water to troops, and the story as told today is a composite that took shape in the 19th century.

There is real evidence that a woman served at a gun at Monmouth. The veteran Joseph Plumb Martin, in a memoir published in 1830, described a woman helping her husband at an artillery piece who calmly carried on after an enemy cannon shot passed between her legs and tore away part of her petticoat. She is often identified with Mary Ludwig Hays of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but historians regard that link as uncertain.

Timeline

• 1778, 6 February: France signs an alliance with the United States.
• 1778, 18 June: The British army leaves Philadelphia.
• 1778, 19 June: Washington’s army leaves Valley Forge in pursuit.
• 1778, 28 June: The Battle of Monmouth is fought near Monmouth Court House.
• 1778, 30 June – early July: Clinton’s army reaches Sandy Hook and is ferried to New York.
• 1778, 4 July: Charles Lee’s court-martial begins.
• 1778, 12 August: The court finds Lee guilty on all charges.

Why it matters

Monmouth was tactically inconclusive, but it showed that the Continental Army, retrained at Valley Forge and encouraged by the Franco-American alliance, could stand against British regulars in open battle. After it, the war in the north settled into a standoff around New York, and the main British effort shifted south, towards the campaigns that ended at the Siege of Yorktown.