General Thomas Posey: Son of the American Revolution

3. “The fort’s our own!” (1778-1779)

CHAPTER THREE (1778-1779) "The fort's our own!" The bloody attack on Cherry Valley was the last engagement on the northwest frontier in 1778. Both sides retired to winter quarters, the Indian warriors and Tory Rangers to the safety and sustenance of British Fort Niagara, the American regulars to Schoharie and nearby forts. The year's flurry of raids had, however , convinced General George Washington that the sector could be made secure only by a major, all-out invasion of Iroquois country and the total destruction of all its villages and crops. Such a campaign , under the able command of Major General John Sullivan, was successfully mounted in 1779, but Thomas Posey was not destined to serve in that expedition. Washington had other plans for the young major. Less than six weeks after the Cherry Valley massacre , Posey received orders from army headquarters that "your presence with the Regt. to which you belong is now necessary." He was told to "lose no time in coming" back to the main army, then in winter quarters at Middlebrook, New Jersey.1 The three-company rifle battalion remained at Fort Defiance. Under its senior captain, James Parr, who succeeded Posey as its commander, it went on to distinguish itself the following summer in the Sullivan campaign against the Iroquois Nation.2 Doubtlessly still grieving over the recent loss of his wife and infant son in Virginia, the major hurried back to Middlebrook, where he was given temporary command of the newly formed and incomplete 11th Virginia Regiment.3 He was, however, under consideration for a new and even more challenging military assignment. A pivotal 48 1778-1779 and defining event awaited him, one that would demand every fiber of courage and leadership he possessed. It would, incidentally, also provide a rare insight into the principles of honor, conduct and justice that so strongly motivated and guided Posey and the entire officer class of the Revolutionary army. General Sir Henry Clinton, commander-in-chief of British forces in America, had been directed by his government to strike a decisive and, hopefully, fatal blow against the main rebel army during the 1779 campaign season. Land and sea reinforcements for that purpose had already been dispatched to his base of operations in occupied New York City. In May, as a prelude to his planned general offensive, Clinton sent a sizable force up the Hudson to occupy and fortify two natural river bastions, Stony Point and Verplanck's Point. These lightly held colonial outposts guarded the opposite shores of a major ferry crossing. They were located about fifteen miles below West Point, the American strategic stronghold which blocked further access up the Hudson River to British land and sea forces. The fall of West Point would open up to the enemy the New York Highlands and the northern states beyond. General Washington realized that the seizure of the two downstream outposts signaled the objective and route of the expected British offensive . He promptly moved his main army from Middlebrook to the network of fortifications around West Point.4 The decisive battle of the American Revolution appeared imminent. When Clinton unaccountably failed to immediately follow up his preliminary advance, Washington conceived a bold plan to throw the enemy off balance-a surprise night attack on the two recently fortified river outposts. His major target, Stony Point, was a 150foot -high rocky promontory jutting half a mile into the Hudson from its western bank. Its land side was surrounded by virtually impassable swamps, through which the only access was over a narrow , easily defended causeway. The adjacent marshes extended to the river bank on both sides of the steep cliff, where they merged into thin strips of beaches or sandbars, usually covered by one to three feet of water. The enemy, after occupying this natural strongpoint practically unopposed, had wasted no time in transforming it into an awesome fortress. On the steep rocky slopes of the hill, which rose at a sharp angle from the marshes, skilled British engineers constructed two high breastworks or "abatis" of logs and earth fill, completely girding the hillside beyond its north and south river banks. The areas in front, between, and behind these shoulder-high barriers were cleared of all trees and natural cover. Along the crest of the hill a 49 General Thomas Posey: Son of the American Re