Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (15)

This is the final entry in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14.

In the “separate battle” at Guilford Courthouse, British forces attacking Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee’s flank corps found their flank and rear imperiled by the “Rockbridge Rifles” of Edward Stevens’ brigade of Virginia militia [Part 14].

The British drew men away from their primary attack to counter the Virginians, but they found the riflemen difficult to dislodge. Rifleman Andrew Wiley later remembered, “the British forces… were swept off [a ridge] by the Virginia Riflemen, but formed again and again”. [1]

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The model battlefield as the battle winds down (click to enlarge). The Americans first line was behind the fields near the bottom of the image, the second line was in the woods in the center, and the third line was at the top (where miniature redcoats can be seen driving back the American Continentals). The green-coated British Legion cavalry are massed behind the infantry. The “separate battle” is occurring along the right edge of the image.

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Meanwhile, Lee attempted to break off the action and join the Continentals on the third line. In his words:

Lee dispensed with his cavalry, heretofore held in the rear to cover retreat in case of disaster, ordering it to close with the left of the continental line, and there to act until it should receive further orders. Upon [Regiment von] Bose... [his troops] now turned with increased animation and with confidence of success. [2]

Lee’s men drove the Guardsmen and Hessians back a little ways. At that point:

Every obstacle now removed, Lee pressed forward... and joined his horse close by Guilford court-house.

However, by the time Lee’s troops reached the courthouse area, the battle for the third line was over. Lee then followed the rest of the army on its retreat.

After Lee retreated, the Rockbridge Rifles were the only sizable group of Americans left on the battlefield (Lee, perhaps, had been unaware of their presence). The Rifles soon were imperiled. At about the same time that Lee left the fight, British Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton was dispatched to aid the Hessians and Guardsmen with part of his British Legion cavalry. Tarleton recalled that en route:

[they] found officers and men of both corps wounded, and in possession of the enemy: The prisoners were quickly rescued from the hands of their captors, and the dragoons… [continued on] without delay. As soon as the cavalry arrived, the guards and the Hessians were directed to fire a volley upon the largest party of the militia, and, under the cover of the smoke, Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton doubled round the right flank of the guards, and charged the Americans with considerable effect. The enemy gave way on all sides, and were routed with confusion and loss. [2]

Samuel Houston of the Rockbridge Rifles recalled running for his life from the charging horsemen: “we were obliged to run, and many were sore chased, and some cut down.” [3]

Houston and a number of other riflemen eventually found each other and made their way towards the American encampment.

Darkness and rainfall halted the movement of both armies. Houston’s party, which had several wounded men in it, spent a miserable night in the woods:

all being almost wearied out, we… encamped, where, through darkness and rain, and want of provisions we were in distress. Some parched a little corn. We stretched blankets to shelter some of us from the rain.

The British army encamped on the battlefield. Commissary General Charles Stedman recalled that:

The night… was remarkable for its darkness, accompanied with rain, which fell in torrents…. The cries of the wounded and dying who remained on the field of action during the night exceed all description. Such a complicated scene of horror and distress, it is hoped, for the sake of humanity, rarely occurs, even in a military life. [4]

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British Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis had been victorious at the battle of Guilford Courthouse as a victory, but only in a very narrow sense. He had driven the Americans from field, but more than 1 in 4 of his men were killed or wounded in the process. He also failed to achieve his primary objective – restoration of a favorable strategic situation in the southern theater through the destruction of the American army.

American Major-General Nathanael Greene’s army, however, had been greatly damaged. Many of his Continentals had been killed or wounded, and much of his militia was scattered. Some of the North Carolina militia simply went home after the battle; some left out of disgust with what they felt was poor leadership by their commanders.

Greene’s situation was in a sense the opposite of that of Cornwallis. He had been unsuccessful on the tactical level (his defense-in-depth had not stopped the British attack), but he was closer than before to achieving his strategic objectives. Cornwallis gave up his pursuit of Greene’s army and moved eastward where he could be supplied. That move gave Greene an open road into South Carolina, and he soon undertook the reconquest of that state.

When Greene moved south, he expected Cornwallis would abandon North Carolina and try to defend British holdings in South Carolina. Instead, Cornwallis, after being resupplied, moved north into Virginia.

Cornwallis later explained that a retreat into South Carolina would have been difficult to undertake and would further weaken his army. Moreover, he suspected that the fight for control of the South Carolina backcountry would be over before his troops arrived. Cornwallis knew that Virginia was Greene’s main source of men and supplies. He reasoned that no action could better preserve British holdings in the south than taking Virginia out of the war. Furthermore, Virginia was vulnerable: its fine ports and rich plantations were defended by little more than militia.

Neither commander got exactly what he wanted from these moves. Greene had considerable trouble driving the British from the South Carolina backcountry; the campaign in this quarter dragged on for months. Cornwallis had an easy and successful campaign when he first arrived in Virginia, but he was unable to stop Greene’s activity in South Carolina. Furthermore, American resistance in Virginia grew stronger with time. By late summer, 1781, Cornwallis’ operations were largely confined to the coast, and in October his army was besieged and forced to surrender at Yorktown.

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Notes:

1. Pension application of Andrew Wiley.

2. Lee's and Tarleton's accounts of the battle (among others) can be found in this compendium.

3. Houston's account appears in William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia....

4. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (14)

This is Part 13 in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

While British and American regulars battled on the 3rd line at Guilford Courthouse (parts 9-13 in this series), a separate battle took place in the woods to the south. There, Regiment von Bose and the 1st Battalion of Guards advanced against the American light troops in Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee’s flank corps.

The British troops were at a disadvantage in the heavily wooded terrain. Commissary General Charles Stedman later wrote:

[The Guards] suffered greatly in ascending a woody height to attack the second line of the Americans, strongly posted upon the top of it, who, availing themselves of the advantages of their situation, retired, as soon as they had discharged their pieces, behind the brow of the hill, which protected them from the shot of the guards, and returned, as soon as they had loaded, and were again in readiness to fire. [1]

The Guards at last seized this hill and pressed on to attack another line of Americans. However:

the battalion was not in regular order when it received the fire of the third American line. The enemy’s fire… poured in not only on the front but flank of the battalion… [until] it was at last entirely broken. Fortunately, at this time, the Hessian regiment of Bose… was advancing in firm and compact order on the left of the guards, to attack the enemy.

The Hessians then wheeled to their right, engaged the Americans, and allowed the Guards to rally. Stedman added:

No sooner had the guards and Hessians defeated the enemy in front, than they found it necessary to return and attack another body of them [the Americans] that appeared in the rear; and in this manner were they obliged to traverse the same ground in various directions, before the enemy were completely put to the rout.

The troops to the rear were probably the Rockbridge Rifles of Brigadier-General Edward Stevens’ brigade of Virginia militia. These troops held a part of the woods in between the British troops in the separate battle and the rest of the British army; thus, they remained on the American second line long after the rest of the Virginia militia had retreated.

The Virginians at last got into action with the 1st Guards. According to Samuel Houston:

we fired on their flank, and that brought down many of them… We pursued them about forty poles [220 yards] to the top of a hill, where they stood, and we retreated from them back to where we formed. Here we repulsed them again; and they a second time made us retreat back to our first ground, where we were deceived by a reinforcement of Hessians, whom we took for our own [both Hessians and Continentals wore blue coats], and cried to them to see if they were our friends, and shouted Liberty! Liberty! and advanced up till they let off some guns; then we fired sharply on them, and made them retreat a little. [2]

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Regiment von Bose drives Virginia riflemen and North Carolina militiamen through the woods at the beginning of the separate battle (here and below, click to enlarge).

In the foreground, the 1st Battalion of Guards struggles against the Rockbridge Rifles. In the background, Regiment von Bose attacks the flank of Lee’s flank corps.

Another view of the above.

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Notes:

1. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

2. Houston's account appears in William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia....

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (8)

This is the eighth in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee had been placed at the head of a flank corps (or “corps of observation”) that consisted of his own legion of infantry and cavalry, some Virginian Continental light infantry, and a corps of riflemen from western North Carolina and Virginia. As briefly noted in Part 1, this corps skirmished with the British on the British march to Guilford Courthouse. Lee’s men then took position on the extreme left end of the first American line.

It so happened that the right end of the British line (Regiment von Bose) passed through this field, giving Lee what he thought was a magnificent opportunity to stymie the British attack. He later wrote:

[the men] raked by their fire the right of the British wing, entirely uncovered… The appearance in this quarter was so favorable that sanguine hopes were entertained by many of the officers, from the manifest advantage possessed, of breaking down the enemy’s right before he approached the fence; and the troops exhibited the appearance of great zeal and alacrity. [1]

However, he claimed that he could not capitalize on the opportunity, because of the rapid collapse of the North Carolina militia on the first line (see Part 4). The sudden retreat of the North Carolinians “threw the corps of Lee out of combination with the army, and also exposed it to destruction.”

Regiment von Bose, aided by the 1st battalion of Guards (brought up from reserve), began to pursue Lee’s men. However, according to Charles Stedman:

the first battalion of the guards, and the regiment of Bose, [were] greatly impeded in advancing by the excessive thickness of the woods, which rendered their bayonets of little use. The broken corps of the enemy were thereby encouraged to make frequent stands, and to throw in an irregular fire… [2]

The pursuit of Lee caused the 1st Guards and Hessians to become separated from the rest of the British army. Soon, they would find themselves in a desperate fight for survival in the deep woods.

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At the beginning of the battle, Regiment von Bose was placed on the right end of the British line, alongside the 71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser’s Highlanders).

However, after the American first line was defeated, the two regiments headed in slightly different directions, and a gap opened between them.

The further the two regiments advanced, the larger the gap became. In this image, the 71st is approaching Brigadier-General Edward Stevens’ brigade, while Regiment von Bose skirmishes with riflemen in Lee’s corps.

However, Regiment von Bose was not without support; the 1st Battalion of British Guards was soon ordered up to their assistance.

Lee’s Legion (foreground) and Campbell’s Virginia riflemen (background) skirmish with the British and Hessians in the woods.

Parties of riflemen contest the Hessians’ advance.

Virginia light infantry cause trouble for the 1st Guards.

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Notes:

In this post I describe the beginning of what is known as the "separate battle" at Guilford Courthouse. I've commented previously on different ways the source material for this part of the battle can be interpreted (see here).

1. Henry Lee. (1812). Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States.

2. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (4)

This is the fourth in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

At Guilford Courthouse, the American army was arrayed in three defensive lines. The attacking British deployed on a wide front and charged the first line, which was composed chiefly of North Carolina militia.

According to a Virginian militiaman listening from the second line, the “close firing began near the centre… and soon spread along the line.” [1] This suggests that the 23rd and 71st regiments were advancing more quickly across the fields in the center of the British line than the 33rd and Bose regiments were advancing across the more difficult terrain on the left and right of the British line.

Descriptions of the details of this attack vary considerably from source to source. For example, militiaman James Martin recalled that on his front the first shot was fired when his company commander successfully picked off a British officer:

I was posted in the front Line with… Captain Forbes a brave and undaunted Fellow we were posted behind a Fence & I told the Men to sit down until the British who were advancing came near enough to shoot when they came in about 100 yards I saw [a] British officer with a drawn sword driving up his mans [sic, men] I asked Captain Forbes if he could take him down he said [he] could for [he] had a good Rifle and asked me if he should shoot then I told him let him [come to with]in 50 yards and then take him down which he did it was a Captain of the British Army [2]

But other accounts make no mention of isolated shots. Instead, they described a mass volley coming from the North Carolinians. The American commander, Major-General Nathanael Greene, stated that the North Carolinians opened fire when the British were 140 yards distant. Conversely, Sergeant Roger Lamb of the 23rd Regiment claimed the Americans held their fire until the British had closed to within murderously close range. He wrote:

…when [we] arrived within forty yards of the enemy's line, it was perceived that their whole force had their arms presented, and resting on a rail fence, the common partitions in America. They were taking aim with the nicest precision. [3]

However it happened, the Americans’ reception was deadly. The 23rd and 71st regiments respectively lost 29% and 26% of their men at Guilford Courthouse, and most of these casualties occurred in front of the rail fence. [4]

The British may have fired repeatedly during their advance through the center fields, and this fire (plus the threat of the bayonet) routed the North Carolinians.

Nathan Slade recalled that:

The enemy approached us and were according to the best of my belief within eighty to an hundred yards of us when they made their first fire—my recollection is that most of us stood firm until after the second [British] fire. On the third fire there were but few if any of us left to receive it—all or nearly all had broke and retreated in great disorder. [5]

This retreat was witnessed by men on the left and right ends of the American lines.

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee commanded the flank corps on the left of the North Carolinians. There he saw, to his “infinite distress and mortification, the North Carolina militia took to flight”. [3]

James Collins was a North Carolina militiaman posted 200 yards to the right of the center fields. There “he saw the disgraceful retreat of that portion of the militia which was placed behind the fence”. [6]

Possibly this retreat set off a wave of panic among neighboring militia units. John Wadkins recalled that the “part of the line in which he was exchanged three or four fires” with the enemy. However, the men “became alarmed by report that the enemy was surrounding them – and fled”. [7]

The 71st Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) fires a volley at the North Carolina militia (here and below, click to enlarge).

Regiment von Bose is staggered by a volley.

North Carolinians of Brigadier-General John Butler's brigade flee from British bayonets.

The British break through the first defensive line.

Notes:

1. Houston's account appears in William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia....

2. Pension application of James Martin.

3. Copies of the accounts by Greene, Lamb, and Lee (among others) can be found in this compendium.

4. Based on the appendixes in Lawrence E. Babits & Joshua B. Howard (2009) Long, obstinate, and bloody: The battle of Guilford Courthouse.

5. Pension application of Nathan Slade.

6. Pension application of James Collins.

7. Pension application of John Wadkins.

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (3)

This is the third in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2.

At Guilford Courthouse, the British army was met by artillery fire as it neared the Americans’ defensive lines. The British commander, Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis, responded by sending his own guns into action and by deploying his infantry for battle.

A gunner of the Royal Artillery fires a 3-pounder.

Soon, the British line swept forward. On the right of the line, Major-General Alexander Leslie led the 2nd battalion of the 71st Foot (Fraser’s highlanders) and the Hessian Regiment von Bose. The former ascended a long muddy field. The latter struggled across a creek and ravine parallel to its path. On the far side of the creek, the left wing advanced up a wooded ravine, while the right wing burst into a small field, whose far end was defended by riflemen and light infantry. The British soon ordered up the 1st battalion of Guards to prevent the Hessians from becoming outflanked.

The 71st Foot (in red) and Regiment von Bose (in blue) advance against a portion of the American first line.

In the ‘separate field,’ Regiment von Bose faces American riflemen and Lee’s Legion.

On the left of the line, Lieutenant-Colonel James Webster led two much esteemed regiments: the 23rd Foot, the famous Royal Welch Fusiliers, and the 33rd Foot, a regiment nicknamed ‘the Pattern,’ for it was regarded as a model for the rest of the army. [1]

The Fusiliers kept pace with the Highlanders on open ground. Referring to these two regiments, Sergeant Roger Lamb of the Fusiliers later recalled:

“After the brigade formed across the open ground, the colonel [Webster] rode on to the front, and gave the word, “Charge.” Instantly the movement was made, in excellent order, in a smart run, with arms charged…”

Meanwhile, the 33rd struggled to cross difficult, wooded terrain. There, they were soon joined by a company of Jaegers and Guards light infantry. Cornwallis, it seems, wanted to ensure that he was not outflanked.

The 23rd Foot advances alongside the Highlanders, while the 33rd Foot crosses through the woods. The British brigade of Guards can be seen in reserve at far right.

Meanwhile, the Americans made adjustments of their own. Captain Singleton’s battery, which had greeted the British advance, limbered up and prepared to withdraw to the third line after the British infantry got in motion.

On the far right of the American line, some of the men in Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington’s flank corps attempted to assail the vulnerable British left. Colonel Charles Lynch was ordered to send “a Detachment of fifty of his best Riflemen to flank the Enemy” [2]

Into firing range. In the center fields, the 23rd and 71st regiments are 100 (scale) yards from the North Carolina militia. The first volleys are about to be fired.

Notes:

1. Lamb's account of the battle (among others) can be found in this compendium.

2. Pension application of Joel Leftwich.

Painting Update: Regiment von Bose

For the past several months, I've been working on battle of Guilford Courthouse project, in which I plan to depict the battle in miniature. Some time ago I finished assembling the American army. Now I'm just about finished with the British army, too. The last unit that I've had to paint is Hessian Regiment von Bose. This regiment was one of two British units embroiled in the “separate battle” at Guilford Courthouse.

A few of the figures below need some touch up work. The figures also need to be varnished and the stands need to be flocked. Otherwise, this is a completed unit.

The figures, by the way, are from Essex Miniatures' Prussian 7 Years War line. The uniform details are more-or-less appropriate for Revolutionary War Hessians. The flags are metal and part of the flag bearer figures.

15mm Miniatures by Essex (click to enlarge).

Regiment von Bose has been popular among those painting miniatures for this time period. Check out the 28mm-high versions of the regiment painted by Giles, Truls, and Steve.

The “Separate Battle” at Guilford Courthouse

The British army at Guilford Courthouse deployed for battle in a well-ordered formation. However, this order did not last very long. As the British routed the first American line, and drove into a forest to attack the second, the British regiments became scattered and disorganized. Two British units drifted so far to the right of the others that they fought what has been called a “separate battle” at Guilford Courthouse.

The two British units in the separate battle were Regiment von Bose and the 1st battalion of Guards. These two unit fought two American formations: Henry Lee’s flank corps and the “Rockbridge Rifles” [1].

The source material does not allow one to trace the exact movements of the units in this fight, but some generalities can be stated with confidence.

One of the most helpful accounts for understanding the course of the separate battle was composed by Charles Stedman, a British staff officer who wrote one of the first military histories of the Revolutionary War [2].

According to Stedman, the advancing 1st Guards found themselves facing, alone, a withering fire from a hilltop. The Guards eventually seized this position, but only to find that “another line of the Americans presented itself to view, extending far beyond the right of the guards, and inclining towards their flank, so as almost to encompass them.” The fire from in front and from the right “completed its confusion and disorder” until the battalion “was at last entirely broken.”

Stedman went on to relate that the Guards were saved by “the fortunate arrival of the regiment of Bose” which “was advancing in firm and compact order on the left of the guards...” The Hessians then wheeled to their right and attacked the Americans while the Guards rallied. The two units then made a unified drive against the Americans.

The "separate battle" at Guilford Courthouse according to Stedman (click to enlarge). The image has been cropped and red arrows drawn onto the map to clearly show the path taken by the 1st Guards and Regiment von Bose (these are indicated by faint dashed lines on the original map).

The Stedman map shows the separate battle to have been centered on a prominent hill south and west of the American third line. This hill will also be included in the Guilford Courthouse diorama I am preparing. The figure below depicts the area I am modeling (at left: the roads, fields, and topographic features that will be modeled; at right: a modern topographic map of the same area).

Below I show how the movements depicted on the Stedman map correspond with my project map. The four panels in this map represent, from left to right, four successive stages in the separate battle (note that the final phases of the separate battle are not shown). The following units are represented by numbers: 1) 1st Guards, 2) Regiment von Bose, 3) Lee’s flank corps. In the first panel, Regiment von Bose attacks the American first line, and the 1st Guards is brought up from reserve to extend the British line. In the second panel, the 1st Guards approaches a hill defended by Lee’s men. In the third panel, the 1st Guards takes the hilltop, but is driven back in disorder. In the fourth panel, Regiment von Bose wheels to the right and attacks the Americans while the 1st Guards rally.

(click to enlarge)

Although the 1st Guards and Regiment von Bose had taken a key position, the separate battle was far from over. According to Stedman:

No sooner had the guards and Hessians defeated the enemy in front, than they found it necessary to return and attack another body of them [Americans] that appeared in the rear; and in this manner were they obliged to traverse the same ground in various directions, before the enemy were completely put to the rout.

The separate battle finally ended when Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton arrived with part of the British cavalry. These troops scattered “a few hardy rifle-men” who had remained behind to harry the British.

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Another valuable source on the separate battle is the journal of Samuel Houston of the Rockbridge Rifles. The Rockbridge Rifles was positioned on the extreme left of the American second line (in Brigadier-General Edward Stevens' brigade). Houston wrote that:

...the enemy appeared to us; we fired on their flank, and that brought down many of them; at which time Capt. Tedford was killed. We pursued them about forty poles [i.e., 660 feet], to the top of a hill, where they stood, and we retreated from them back to where we formed. Here we repulsed them again; and they a second time made us retreat back to our first ground, where we were deceived by a reinforcement of Hessians, whom we took for our own, and cried to them to see if they were our friends, and shouted Liberty! Liberty! and advanced up till they let off some guns; then we fired sharply on them, and made them retreat a little. [3]

Presumably, the “the enemy [who] appeared to us” were men of the 1st Guards, and the “Hessians” were men of Regiment von Bose.

There are two basic ways of reconciling Houston’s account with Stedman’s. One way is to assume that the events described by Houston correspond with the first set of events described by Stedman (the attack of the 1st Guards up a hill, their retreat, and subsequent relief by Regiment von Bose). The other way is to assume that the events described by Houston correspond with the second set of events described by Stedman (the appearance of an American force in the rear of the British and the subsequent round of back-and-forth combat in the woods).

As described below, neither method of reconciling the accounts is wholly satisfactory, leaving as an open question what exactly took place during the separate battle.

First, consider the possibility that the combat described by Houston took place earlier rather than later. In this case, the initial sequence of events in the separate battle might look something like this (click to enlarge):

The four panels in this map represent, from left to right, four successive stages in the separate battle (note that the final phases of the separate battle are not shown). The following units are represented by numbers: 1) 1st Guards, 2) Regiment von Bose, 3) Lee’s flank corps, 4) Rockbridge Rifles. In the first panel, Regiment von Bose attacks the American first line, and the 1st Guards is brought up from reserve to extend the British line. In the second panel, the 1st Guards attacks a hill defended by Lee’s men. The Rockbridge Rifles spy the flank of the Guards and attack it. In the third panel, fighting rages back and forth between the 1st Guards and the Rockbridge Rifles. At last, the 1st Guards is saved by the advance of Regiment von Bose. In the fourth panel, Regiment von Bose wheels to the right and attacks the Americans and the 1st Guards rally and renew the attack.

A difficulty in combining the accounts in this way is that some statements by Stedman and Houston appear to contradict.

• Stedman’s account indicates that the Guards were attacked on their right flank; Houston’s account suggests that the Guards were attacked on their left flank.
• Stedman’s account suggests that the Guards advanced on a relatively straight line, interrupted by one brief retreat. Houston’s account indicates that the fighting raged back and forth over a wide area.
• Stedman’s account suggests that the Guards were forced to retreat from a hill; Houston’s account indicates that the Guards were forced to retreat to a hill.

I tried to finesse these differences in the above figure, but the interpretation is not without problems. For example, the above figure makes it appear that Regiment von Bose was very slow in reaching the separate battle. This seems implausible in light of comments made by the British army commander, Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis, in his after action report:

the Hessian regiment of Bose deserves my widest praises for its discipline, alacrity, and courage, and does honor to Major Du Buy, who commands it, and who is an officer of superior merit. [4]

Why would Cornwallis have praised the regiment’s “alacrity” if it was slow to advance?

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An alternative way of combining the accounts by Stedman and Houston is to assume that the combat described by Houston occurred relatively late in the battle (when the British discovered an American force to their rear). In this case, the initial sequence of events in the separate battle might look something like the figure below (click to enlarge).

The eight panels in this map represent, from upper left to lower right, eight successive stages in the separate battle (note that the final phases of the separate battle are not shown). The following units are represented by numbers: 1) 1st Guards, 2) Regiment von Bose, 3) Lee’s flank corps, 4) Rockbridge Rifles. In the first panel, Regiment von Bose attacks the American first line, and the 1st Guards is brought up from reserve to extend the British line. In the second panel, the 1st Guards approaches a hill defended by Lee’s men. In the third panel, the 1st Guards reach the top of the hill, only to be forced to retreat when the Americans attack their right flank. The Guards are given time to rally by the arrival of Regiment von Bose. In the fourth panel, Regiment von Bose wheels to the right and attacks the Americans. In the fifth panel, the 1st Guards renews the attack. In the sixth panel, the 1st Guards and Regiment von Bose are forced to fight off party of Americans in their rear. In the seventh panel, the 1st Guards run into a deadly fire from the Rockbridge Rifles while pursuing one group of Americans. Meanwhile, Regiment von Bose continues to fight off small parties of Americans. In the eighth panel, back and forth fighting has begun between the 1st Guards and the Rockbridge Rifles. Panels 7 and 8 correspond with the beginning of the quoted passage in Houston’s journal.

A ninth panel, were it included, would show part of Regiment von Bose advancing on the Rockbridge Rifles, as per Houston’s account. Note that in the first interpretation, the Hessians advanced on the Rifles from the west, while in this case the Hessians advanced on the Rifles from the east. I think the change in direction is a strong point of the second interpretation. It’s more plausible that the Rockbridge Rifles would have been deceived by a body of men advancing from the east – the direction from which reinforcements might be expected – than from the west – the direction from which the British originally attacked.

One cause for skepticism about this interpretation is that it is terribly complicated. Also problematic is that there is not a lot of evidence to support the fine points depicted in the figure above.

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I'm not sure how I will handle the details of the separate battle when I begin representing the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature later this month. Feel free to leave a comment as to how you would interpret the source material.

Notes:

1. Lee’s flank corps consisted of Lee’s Legion, some militia dragoons, and a corps riflemen. After the battle started, they were joined by some diehards among the North Carolina militia. The Rockbridge Rifles was a regiment of Virginia militia on the extreme left of the American second line. (See The Americans at Guilford Courthouse).

2. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2. Note that Stedman is believed to have been at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, but it has not been established that he was an eyewitness to the separate battle. In any event, his account was probably composed years after the battle.

3. William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia...

4. A copy of Cornwallis' report can be found in this useful compendium of primary sources.

Fighting Formations at Guilford Courthouse

The traditional view of the British fighting formation of the Revolutionary War is a line of redcoats advancing shoulder-to-shoulder in a slow-moving, rigid line. This view is gradually being supplanted by the belief that for most of the war the British adopted loose formations that made it easier for the British to outflank their opponents and that facilitated a rapid advance (especially across what was often difficult terrain).

Most of the illustrations I've seen of the battle of Guilford Courthouse depict the British formed in two tightly packed ranks. In such a "close order" formation, each soldier in a rank occupies something like 2 linear feet.

The 71st Foot marches against the American first line.

Conversely, when an "open order" formation was used, a gap of about 18 inches or 24 inches (one arm's length) apart separated each soldier in a rank [1].

Open order formation with 24" file intervals (one arm length).

Given that detailed information is available on the British army at Guilford Courthouse [2], and having prepared a relatively detailed battlefield map, I thought it would be interesting to see how different the British army would have looked deployed in one formation instead of the other. For this exercise, I assumed that the British deployed in two ranks, that each soldier was about 18 inches across, and that 6 inches separated each soldier when they stood "shoulder to shoulder," while 24 inches separated each soldier when they stood in open order. [3]

Three maps are shown below. The first is based on a sketch made by a British officer shortly after the battle and it shows the British (in red) and American (in yellow) positions at the beginning of the battle. The two below that show, very roughly, the positions of the British (in red) and American (in blue) as the British advanced against the American first line. (This phase of the battle will be discussed at another time). On each of these two maps, the group of red lines at left depict the Guards Light Infantry company, a group of Jaegers (or Jäger), and the 33rd Regiment of Foot. Advancing through the fields are the 23rd Regiment of Foot, the 71st Regiment of Foot, and the Hessian Regiment von Bose. At far right is the 1st Guards battalion. In reserve is the Guards Grenadier company and the 2nd Guards battalion. At bottom (in column) are the British Legion dragoons.

(click to enlarge)

If the Tarleton map (at top) is at all an accurate indicator of how the British were deployed, than surely a looser formation was used. By comparison, if the British stood shoulder to should it would have been quite impossible for them to come close to matching the breadth of the American line, except by leaving large, regiment-sized gaps between their units.

Notes:

1. For an extended discussion of this and other tactical matters, see Matthew H. Spring's (2008) With Zeal and with Bayonets Only. The question of open and close order is also discussed at this website.

2. cf. Lawrence E. Babits & Joshua B. Howard (2009). Long, obstinate, and bloody: The battle of Guilford Courthouse.

3. Thus, the 23rd Foot, for example, with 238 men, has a front of about 238 feet at 6" file intervals and 417 feet at 24" file intervals.