British Capture the Forts Clinton and Montgomery
The British Capture of Forts Clinton and Montgomery occurred during the American Revolutionary War on October 6, 1777. This military engagement was part of a larger British strategy aimed at defeating American forces in New York. The British, under General Henry Clinton, successfully attacked these strategically important forts, which were positioned to control the Hudson River and were essential for defending the surrounding area. The forts had been commanded by American leaders, including Governor George Clinton, who managed to escape during the assault.
The British forces, numbering approximately 3,000, executed a well-coordinated attack, utilizing the element of surprise and engaging in frontal assaults despite facing stiff resistance. Although the British achieved victory, it came at a significant cost, with heavy casualties on both sides—around 300 British and approximately 250 Americans were killed, wounded, or missing. Following the capture, General Clinton seized Fort Constitution and sent reinforcements to assist General Burgoyne, who was struggling to maintain his position in the north. Ultimately, this campaign did not secure the broader British objectives in New York, contributing to the challenges they faced during the Revolutionary War.
British Capture the Forts Clinton and Montgomery
British Capture the Forts Clinton and Montgomery
British strategists in 1777 devised a three-pronged attack to defeat the American armies in the state of New York and crush the colonists' efforts to gain independence. General John Burgoyne was to lead the main column south from Canada down the Lake Champlain Valley to the upper Hudson River. Colonel Barry St. Leger was to head an auxiliary force east from Oswego through the Mohawk Valley. General William Howe was to bring an army from New York City up the Hudson.
The British poorly executed their plan. General Nicholas Herkimer and his fellow officers led the colonists to victory over St. Leger at Oriskany and Fort Stanwix, New York, in August 1777, and General Thomas Gates produced another American victory by October 17, 1777, over Burgoyne at Saratoga. General Howe, who captured Philadelphia from the American colonists in late September 1777, failed to return to New York in time to take part in the operation. Only General Henry Clinton, commander of the British garrison in New York City, who captured the Forts Montgomery and Clinton on October 6, 1777, pursued the mission with any success.
When Howe sailed for Philadelphia on July 23, 1777, Clinton remained in New York City with 4,000 regular and 3,000 American Tory troops to defend the vital urban center. Envious of Burgoyne and Howe, Clinton resented his inactive role of conducting a “damned starved defensive” and feared that the rebels under General George Washington could take his position. Clinton stayed in New York City during July and August awaiting an American assault and avoiding offensive operations.
By September 1777 Burgoyne was encountering stiff resistance, and he asked General Clinton for assistance. The latter, who expected reinforcements to arrive from Britain shortly, promised on September 12 to move against the Hudson Highlands within ten days. Burgoyne, receiving this assurance on September 21 two days after the first battle of Saratoga, decided to delay an operation that might have opened the road to Albany and instead asked Clinton to act as soon as possible.
Clinton's objectives were the Forts Montgomery and Clinton, located astride Popolopen Creek in the Hudson Highlands. Only 45 miles north of New York City, the Highlands were the highest ground in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers and the Lake Champlain area, and formed a natural barrier of easily defensible terrain. Fort Montgomery, located north of Popolopen Creek, was a good position from which to harass shipping going up the Hudson. Its breastworks were strong facing the river but weak on the western side. Fort Clinton lay north of Bear Mountain and on the south side of the deep Popolopen gorge. Fort Clinton was smaller but stronger than Fort Montgomery and was essential to the latter's protection. The land defenses to the two redoubts followed rugged, defensible defiles. A system of riverine obstructions, including a log boom and a great iron chain, stretched across the Hudson River from Fort Montgomery to a point called Anthony's Nose on the eastern shore. A small flotilla supplemented the river defenses.
The reinforcements for General Clinton arrived around September 24, placing his total strength in regulars at 2,700 British and 4,200 Hessian troops. On October 3, somewhat later than promised, Clinton moved north with 3,000 men from New York City up the Hudson River. The force landed at Verplanck's Point on the evening of October 5, across the river and southeast from the two forts.
Major General Israel Putnam, the American commander in the Highlands, had approximately 1,000 Continental soldiers and 400 militiamen on the east side of the river. Clinton immediately engaged a small contingent of the Americans and routed them from their outpost. Putnam quickly drew his men back several miles and called for reinforcements from the west side of the river. The American response, which reduced the number of defenders of the forts, perfectly suited the British plans.
Leaving 1,000 troops on the east side of the Hudson in order to keep Putnam distracted, General Clinton took the major portion of his force across the river to Stony Point under the cover of the dawn fog on October 6. Following a Tory guide named Brom Springster, the British and Hessian soldiers moved quickly through an 850-foot-high pass called the Timp to a trail junction at Doodletown within two and a half miles of Fort Clinton. There, after driving off a small American patrol, Clinton divided his forces. He sent 900 men west around Bear Mountain to cross Popolopen Creek and attack Fort Montgomery from the rear. The remainder moved to a position from which they could attack Fort Clinton from the south, and there they waited for the encircling column to complete its seven-mile trek.
Scouts reported the British landing at Stony Point to Governor George Clinton, the American commander of the two forts (and no relation to the attacking Sir Henry Clinton). The governor had hurried south from Esopus (later Kingston) to direct the defense as soon as he received word of the enemy's approach from Putnam. He dispatched two delaying forces to the Doodletown area, but the British repulsed both of them. The American commander then sent Captain John Fenno with 100 men and an artillery piece to engage the attackers about a mile from the fort. The British and Hessians forced the patrol from its primary position and captured Fenno. American pickets retreated to a secondary line and finally fell back to Fort Montgomery.
By 4:30 P.M. on October 6, the attacking columns had reached their positions before the Forts Montgomery and Clinton. Lieutenant Colonel Campbell commanded the British units at Fort Montgomery. From north to south were the 52nd Regiment, a group of New York Volunteers, Colonel Beverley Robinson's 400 loyal Americans, Emmerich's Hessian Jagers, and the 57th Regiment. Campbell suffered fatal wounds in the attack, and his soldiers refused to show mercy as they routed the Americans. The attackers spared some of the garrison, however, and Governor George Clinton, the commander of Fort Montgomery, managed to escape.
Sir Henry Clinton directed the successful but costly assault on Fort Clinton, which was under the command of General James Clinton, the brother of Governor Clinton. Lacking room to maneuver, the British general committed the bulk of his forces to a successful frontal attack on the strongly defended southern face of the fort.
Losses were heavy on both sides during the assaults on the two forts. The British may have suffered as many as 300 casualties, including at least 18 officers and 169 enlisted men killed. Approximately 250 of the more than 600 Americans in the forts were killed, wounded or missing, and the British captured 67 guns and many supplies. The Americans also lost their river flotilla, which was unable to escape north against the wind and was burned after dark.
On October 7 Clinton seized Fort Constitution north of Forts Clinton and Montgomery and across the river from West Point. Then, in response to pleas from Burgoyne, Clinton sent General John Vaughan with 1,700 men and Sir James Wallace with a flotilla north to assist him. Vaughan and Wallace burned Esopus on October 16 and proceeded to Livingston Manor 45 miles south of Albany. Putnam fell back before the advance of Vaughan and Wallace and placed his forces across their route to Burgoyne. Vaughan and Wallace reported the situation to Clinton, who had in the meantime received orders to abandon the Highlands and send reinforcements to Howe in Philadelphia. He instructed them to return toward New York City. So ended the unsuccessful 1777 British campaign in New York.