Semper Vigilo et Paratus

The Redlands Guardian

The Newsletter of the Redlands Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution
Spring 2013
Volume 19
Issue 3
History Day 2013
Washington’s Field Headquarters
Members of the Redlands and Riverside Color Guards
participated in the annual Los Angles County History Day, held
each year at the Azusa Pacific University. The event brings the
winners of history contest from high schools in the greater Los
Angeles school district to the University, where they compete for
top honors in essays, oration, and displays. Following the judging
of the contest, an estimated one hundred plus students descended
on the Revolutionary War camp, where they were treated to
exhibits of a typical encampment for the period - featuring martial
music by the Zanja Fife and Drum Corps; drill, with musket firing,
and period dancing. This is the third year that the Redlands
Chapter has participated in the event.
The Boys and Girls eager to enlist using Quill Pens
Gen. Wasington Countersigns Oaths of Alegiance.
1
Chapter News
The February Chapter meeting, held at the University Club,
featured the winners of the 2013 Chapter Essay Contest. At
right, Wesley Dalton, a student at Upland High School, reads his
essay to members and guests. Wesley will compete for the State
award at the CASSAR spring meeting, and perhaps the National
Society contest to be held at the Spring Meeting..
.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Essay Chairman, Charles Kiel, congatulates 1 st runner up
in the Essay Contest, George Peele. George is an Eagle
Scout with Troop 11. He was awarded the SAR Good
Citizenship at his recnt Eagle Scout Installation Ceremony.
Color Guard: took part in the Memorial Day
Ceremony, May 27th at Redlands’ Hillside Cemetery.
The next Guard event is the annual 4th of July exibit at
the Redlands’ Sylvin Park event and Parade. Later in
the evening, the Guard will be the Official Color
Bearers for the opening ceremony of the Redlands 4th
of July Fireworks Show at the University Stadium.
I:
Regi Registrar: Shawn Price reported that he is working
In Memorium
with three prospective members in various stages of
Charter Member, Henry “Jim”
completing applications for SAR membership.
James, passed into life eternal
th
January 20 . Jim grew up in
ROTC: Chairman, Sam Irwin distributed SAR medals
several northern and southern
California towns. After he
to area schools. Volunteers from our chapter present
graduated from Alhambra High
the SAR Medals at the school recognition ceremonies.
School in 1943, he was enrolled in the Navy Midshipman
More volunteers are needed from our members to
School at Columbia Univ. After WWII, he earned a B.S.
take part in the ceremonies. The presentations are
at UCLA in 1951, and in 1961, an M.S. in Civil Engineering
brief with no speech required. Try it, you will like it!
at Arizona State Univ. Jim taught Engineering and
Sign up for next year.
Computer Science at Cal State San Bernardino Valley
College 1953 – 1987. After retirement he continued
The Chapter will be in Summer Recess June – August
part-time teaching at S.B. Valley College. He served as
and will reconvene on September 21st.
President, Treasurer, and Secretary of the Chapter. He is
survived by his wife of 59 years, Ardith; Brother Ralph;
Sister, Nancy; Grandchildren Kyle, Shawn, Alex. Jim left
a hole in the SAR, and our heats. RIP Jim.
2
Significant Dates & Events of The American Revolution
March 1765: In order to offset the costs of the British military’s defense of the colonies in America
during the French and Indian War (Seven Years War), the Stamp Act is passed by the English Parliament that
imposes a direct tax on the American Colonies. For the first time in the 150 year old history of British
colonies in America, Colonials will pay a tax directly to England, rather than to their own local tax
collectors. The Act, effective on November 1st, required that all printed materials are to be taxed including; newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, as well as dice and playing
cards. The colonies protested the Act by boycotting British imports and harassing the Stamp Officials.
However, The Stamp Tax did have one positive effect – it united the colonies for the first time. In October,
the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York with delegates from nine of the colonies attending.
February 1766: King George III signs a bill repealing the Stamp Act after much debate in the English
Parliament led by William Pitt, who acknowledged the Parliament had a right to levy external taxes, but no
right to levy internal taxes on the colonies. Benjamin Franklin appeared before the Parliament and argued
for repeal of the Act, and warned of a possible revolution in the American colonies if the Stamp Act is
enforced by the British military. On the same day the Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, it passed the
Declaratory Act, which stated that the British government has total power to legislate any laws governing the
American colonies - in all cases whatsoever. To further demonstrate Parliament’s authority, on May15 it
passes the Quartering Act, which requires the colonies to provide quarters for
British troops, and supply them with food.
March 5, 1770: The Boston Massacre takes place when a large mob of
mostly harbor toughs harass a British Guard unit – taunting and daring the
soldiers to fire on them. In the melee shots are fired and five Boston men are
killed and six more wounded. John Adams is appointed to defend the British
soldiers at their trial. An engraving by Paul Revere depicts a scene of British
soldiers firing on passive citizens of Boston.
March 31, 1774: A series of acts known as the Coercive or Intolerable Acts
were enacted by Parliament as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The Acts also closed the port of Boston,
restricted Massachusetts government, and quartered additional troops in Boston.
April 18, 1775: Massachusetts Governor, General Gage, receives secret orders to enforce the
Coercive Acts and suppress "open rebellion among colonists by using all necessary force”. On
the night of April 18, 700 British soldiers march to Concord to destroy the colonists' suspected
weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes ride to warn the colonists. Revere,
alerting the countryside along the way that the ‘Regulars’ were out, reaches his destination,
Lexington, near midnight and warns Sam and John Adams who were on their way to
Philadelphia for the meeting of the new Congress.
April 19, 1775: At dawn armed Massachusetts militiamen
stand on Lexington Green facing the British advance guard. An
unordered shot opens the American Revolution. A volley of
British muskets followed by a charge with bayonets leaves eight
Americans dead and ten wounded. The British regroup and head
for the suspected weapons cache in Concord. At the North Bridge in Concord a British
platoon trying to destroy the bridge is engaged by militiamen and suffer 14 causalities. The British would fight
an all day, running battle with militias along their route of retreat back to Boston, with both sides suffering
heavy casualties.
3
The Battle of Guilford Courthouse March 15, 1781
After their defeat at Trenton, Princeton, Boston and
Saratoga, the British turned their attention to the southern
Colonies where there were more Loyalist sympathetic to
the British cause. South Carolina’s population was
politically divided when the war began. The lowland
communities, dominated by Charleston were strongly
Patriot in their views, while the back country held a large
number of Loyalist sympathizers. By August 1775 both
sides were recruiting militia companies.
The British “Southern Strategy” began
in late 1778, carried out by General
Lord Cornwallis with the capture of
Savannah, Georgia - followed in 1780
by operations in South Carolina that
saw the disasterous defeat of the
Continental Armies at Charlestown,
commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln, and at Camden
commanded by the incompetent Horatio Gates.
General Nathanael Greene took command of the Southern
Continental Army and engaged in a strategy of avoiding
major “set battles’ and loss of men against the British. The
two forces fought a number of battles, most of which were
tactical victories by the British.
However, these
“victories” gradually weakened the British. The
destruction of Banastre Tarleton’s light infantry and
cavalry by General Daniel Morgan at the battle of
Cowpens, and all of a Loyalist force and death of their
commander, General Patrick Ferguson, at Kings Mountain
seriously compromised the ability to recruit loyalist.
General Lord Cornwallis then moved to the North to
engage Nathaniel Green’s army. The two forces would
clash at Guilford Court House, North Carolina.
The Guilford Court House was a solitary building,
near the northern boundary in North Carolina. The
natural advantages of its surroundings furnished a
strong position to oppose the approach of the Royal
troops. It was chosen by General Nathaniel Greene,
who knowing the greater numerical strength of his
own army, the nature of the enemy's troops, as well as
the eagerness of General Lord Cornwallis, anticipated a
front-on-front engagement. It was the grand desire of
his Lordship Cornwallis to crush the Americans in a
single battle. But Greene had been skillfully evading a
confrontation until now, so it was with caution that he
advanced to attack Cornwallis’ force. In planning for
the battle, Greene was influenced by General Morgan's
advice and experience at the battle of Cowpens. He
formed his troops in
three lines. The first,
consisting of the North
Carolina militia, which
numbered some one
thousand and sixty, men,
commanded by Generals
Butler and Eaton, were
positioned in what was
the most advantageous
position that Greene had
seen - protected by a
strong rail fence and
small trees, at the edge of
a clearing used as wheat
fields - over which the
British troops would
have to cross in attacking formation.
General
Green positioned Captain Singleton with two fieldpieces there to bolster the courage of the militia as well
as to annoy the enemy. The right side of the North
Carolinians position was further strengthened by a
battalion of Virginia Riflemen under Colonel Lynch, and
the remnant of the brave Delaware Line, which now
numbered only about eighty men, commanded by
Captain Kirkwood, and supported by the gallant
Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington's cavalry. The
left flank was to be held by Virginia Riflemen under
Colonel Campbell, and by Lee's Legion.
At that time Guilford Court House was in a
wilderness, with the road to Salisbury the only open
way from the clearing and to the area of the Court
House. A forest of large oaks gave good protection to
Green’s second line, made up of Virginia militia, with
eleven hundred and twenty-three men - commanded
by Generals Stevens and Lawson. They were deployed
on a ridge about three hundred yards in the rear of the
advance line. General Stevens, heeding, Gen. Morgan’s
advice, placed a few veterans back of his troops with
orders to shoot down anyone deserting the ranks from
cowardice. On the right of the highroad, near where it
was joined by the one from Reedy Fork, some three
hundred yards to the rear of the Virginians, the
4
Continentals were drawn up, following the curved
formation of the hill on which the Court House stood.
It was more than half a mile from that point down to
the foot of the hill, near where a small stream winds
through a ravine. The enemy would have to fight the
first two lines and climb that long hill before he could
get at the Virginia Regulars. General Greene and his
officers
naturally
expected that the
British troops would
spend a great deal of
their
force,
and
hopefully, be badly
crippled by the time
that they reached line
of
the American
regulars.
The British made the
opening move-steadily
marching toward the
American first line of
defense. While in the
open ground and still about one hundred and forty yards
from the North Carolinians, they received feeble volley
from that militia. The British then delivered a fire that had
little effect but followed it with the bayonet charge, with
lively cheering, and a rush. Seeing this, the North
Carolina militiamen panicked, and abandoned their
positions in a wild flight, throwing aside anything that
would impede their flight – including many rifles that
were loaded and not fired. When the Carolina militia
“skedaddled”, Campbell's Riflemen and Lee's Legion
were out-flanked by the superior numbers of the enemy,
causing the Americans line on the left to fall back, to the
Virginia Line. Much more could be expected of the
Virginians than of the North Carolina force, as many of
the Virginia men, as well as most of the officers, had seen
Continental service since the earlier part of the war, while
many of the North Carolinians had been pressed into
service to prove that they were loyal patriots – but had
never been in a battle.
The British were then engaged by Greene’s
regulars and the battle turned into a “melee” with British
and Continentals in close hand to hand fighting. General
Cornwallis knew that the danger was supreme, and there
was grave risk that, not only would he lose the day, which
would destroy all respect for the Royal arms in North
Carolina, but that his army would be cut to pieces, if he
could not stay the tide of the struggle. McLeod posted
with his guns on an eminence, actually was the key to the
field, but because of the inexperience of a large portion of
his troops, Greene would not attempt to occupy it.
Cornwallis ordered McLeod to fire grape-shot upon the
combatants - friend and foe alike. O'Hara, seriously
wounded, protested for his Guards. Cornwallis replied: "It
is a necessary evil which we must endure to avert
impending destruction.” The grape-shot from the artillery
of McLeod strewed the open ground with more bodies of
the Guards, but it checked Howard and Washington’s
counter, and saved the King's army from disaster.
Greene also knew the battle was being decided, and
mentally distracted with his plans and concerns, he was
nearly captured by the British, but fortunately he was
roused by Major Burnet who advised him of his peril.
Greene could see that the Virginia veterans were
his only troops that he could depend on; however, with
their ammunition giving out, he would not risk his army
to destruction. Seeing that they had crippled the enemy
severely, the British were gathering around Gen.
McLeod, preparing for a desperate, concentrated assault
on the Continentals. Greene was thinking fast during the
pause after the artillery play of McLeod and decided to
retreat, ordering Colonel Henry Lee with his Virginia
regiment to cover the rear. After the battle Cornwallis
wrote to General Phillips: "The fate of it was long
doubtful. We had not a regiment or corps that did not at
some time give way." Four days after the bloody contest,
Cornwallis began his march to Virginia and Yorktown,
leaving many of his own wounded and all of the
Americans under a flag on the battlefield,
The Battle of Guilford Court House cost Greene
79 men killed and 185 wounded. For Cornwallis, the
encounter was much bloodier with losses numbering 93
dead and 413 wounded - amounting to over a fourth of his
force. While it was a tactical victory for the British, they
suffered losses they could ill-afford. Low on supplies and
men, Cornwallis moved to Wilmington, North Carolina to
rest and refit. Once he no longer had to face Cornwallis,
General Greene set about liberating much of South
Carolina and Georgia from the British.
Later that summer, Cornwallis received orders to
locate and fortify a base for the Royal Navy on the
Virginia coast. He selected Yorktown for the site and his
army and began building fortifications. Seeing an
opportunity to trap Cornwallis, Washington raced south
with his army and French allies to lay siege to Yorktown.
Cornwallis expected to be relieved by Clinton or removed
by the Royal Navy, however after the French naval
victory at the Battle of the Chesapeake he was trapped
with no choice but to fight. After enduring a three-week
siege by American and French forces, he was forced to
surrender his 7,500-man army, effectively ending the
American
Revolution
.
References: George Washington’s War, Robert Leckie; The
Journal of American History, Vol. VII, Southern Campaigns of
theAmerican Rvolution, Donnn Morill;
National Park
Service:GuilfordCourtHhouse
5
Notable Quote
Looking Ahead
May 27
Memorial Day Service at Hillside
Cemetery*
June – Aug Chapter Summer recess.
July 4
4th of July Event at Redlands Sylvan
Park. Parade, Evening Fireworks*
`
Benjamin Franklin
"He that lives upon hope will die fasting." –
Poor
Richard's
Almanacs,
Preface,
1758
Sept 21
Chapter Meeting 8:00 AM Univ.
Cafeteria
Oct 19
Chapter Meeting 8:00 AM Univ.
Nov 1-2
CASSAR Fall Meeting @ El Segundo
Nov 15
Chapter Meeting 8:00 AM at Univ.
Dec
To Be announced
"He that lives upon hope will die fasting." Poor Richard's Almanack, Preface, 1758
Redlands SAR
669 Center Crest Dr.
Redlands, CA 92373
6
7