Battle of Gloucester (1777):
The battle of gloucester was a bloody battle, on one side, lafayette only had 350 men. On the other hand, the hessians had 400 men with secure military positions. Lafayette's strategy was to strike in the night to have the upper hand. Before, he had scouted the british sentries personally coming into enemy firing range of the british sentries, once planned he decided to lead his men into a surprise attack!!! on the forward pickets the general of afjags was caught unprepared. in the coming minutes, the 400 enemies were caught unprepared. They had no choice but to die or retreat to the main camp with lafayette men on the trail. The general cornwallis sent in grenadiers, to cover the retreating germans. However, Lafayette withdrew into the darkness to regroup and to prepare to strike again, which would be called the battle of Green Spring. Battle of Green Spring (July 6, 1781) The Battle of Green Spring occurred on July 6, 1781 near Green Spring Plantation in James City County, Virginia. General Cornwallis broke camp at Williamsburg and moved to Jamestown Island to cross the James River for a good base operation. He anticipated an attempt to intercept the crossing of the river by the Major General Marquis de LaFayette, this one had been reinforced by the arrival of General Anthony Wayne, they knew that they couldn’t fight a full-scale battle against the British army who outnumbered them entirely. General Cornwallis in command of the british army had about 5000 troops facing the 900 mostly pennsylvanian under command of General Wayne, and the 4000 of LaFayette. Cornwallis tricked the Americans by saying that they were planning to cross the river with their entire force, but instead they only sent a small detachment over the river and hid the whole force in the forest nearby. Cornwallis put the members of lieutenant Banastre Tarleton on the road to lure LaFayette's troops into the trap, Wayne was duped but when his forces attacked he was forced to get out of the covers. The sight of the full force from the British stunned Wayne, but in an act of supreme courage and will, he ordered his mans to fix bayonet and charge into the British. This final maneuver caught the British off guard and after a violent close range confrontation, Wayne's force was able to retreat and avoid important losses. Meanwhile, LaFayette discovered the truth about Cornwallis's full army, he covered Wayne's retreat and kept his men out of harm's way. The Americans lost 28 killed and 99 wounded, and the British 75 killed and 75 wounded. |