Newsletter 2 1978.pdf - The Grayson Family

Page 245
~78.1 THE BATTLE OF MONhIOUTH. 437
House. The British troops appeared in the edge ol the - woods A_.- hardly
a mile distant:-and were v;iriously
-
estiKated at from fifteen hundred
.
to twenty-five hundred men. The force of Lee then - disposable for -
attack or resistance, if properly in hand, was not less than three thous
v s o n ' s detac5ent. vayne, during the hour
and R half while he was in the plain, sent three times to urge General
Lee to advance with the troops, and as he states, refrained from
pressing the attack too strongly under instructions, and /constantly
expecting that General Lee would carry the left wing around the
right of the British line to cut it off from the main body.
General Lee's purposc, as undcrstood by General Wayne, and as
stated by Lee himself suns to so swing his left about the British right
as tp tofie them, and he also states that ivhen he notified General
Washington, who sent to learn the progress of the army. that he was
confident of succcss, he supposed the British rear-guard not to exceed
fifteen hundred mcn. His estirnat~ way correct, at the time, as his
whole division was then pressing to the front, eager to engage the
.,
.
enemy; but at noon the British army had realized the weakness of
the pursuit, and gained time to turn it into a failure. General Lee,
in his defense, ridicules the application of General \Vayne for support ;
but riot in connection with his statement that he placed liim at the
post of honor, nearest the enemy, and \irith the largest control which
any subordinate officer had over the movements of the picked troops
then ill front. General Lec admits that he sent no messenger to
Washington to advise him of the retreat, and in his appeal to the
Court Martial, states that he could appreciate the feelings of Washington
when the column rolled back upon him without previous notice
of disaster ; but that when he met \i'ashington and exchanged words
with him, he did not know that the men had thus disorderly fallen
back upon the mair body.
The rttrtnt. The Rritish army emerged from the woods, and
pressed toward the Court House. General La Fayette first reported
to General Lee that the right was threatened, having previously been
checked in his advance of the American extreme right, by General
Lee's personal direction. General La Fayette the11 consulted General
Wayne, and placed the regiments of Livingston and Stewart in
position to resist the British advance, which was steady, solid, and in
good order.
The details of the retreat of different brigades and regiments are
not to be conz.idered. An entirely erroneous opinion prevails as to