General Nathanael Greene Saves the Continental Army

240 years ago, on June 23, 1780 American Continental Army and New Jersey Militia forces fought British and Hessian forces trying to force the Hobart Gap (modern day Route 24 in Summit) and capture General George Washington's main force at Morristown. Today we know it as the Battle of Springfield.

During the winter of 1779-1780, the entire Continental Army, consisting of 13,000 men, encamped for the winter at Jockey Hollow, in Morristown, New Jersey, 30 miles west of the British bases at Staten Island and New York City. George Washington chose the location because in the days of horsepower, this was considered an impregnable redoubt, far enough away to be safe but close enough to observe. Also, the surrounding area held citizens who were the most ardent patriots in the region and the most sympathetic to the rebel cause. Soldiers camped at this location until June 1780, during which they endured some of the harshest conditions of the war. The winter at Jockey Hollow was the worst winter of the war, even worse than the winter at Valley Forge two years before. Desertions were frequent. The entire Pennsylvania Line successfully mutinied, and later 200 New Jersey soldiers attempted to emulate them. Several of the ringleaders of the latter were hanged.

In the spring of 1780, New Jersey Loyalists brought news of how greatly weakened and demoralized Washington’s army was to British General Henry Clinton, who decided that this was an opportunity to smash the Continental Army once and for all and end the revolution. Clinton planned attacks, first on June 7, when he was stopped at Connecticut Farms (modern day Union Township) and then again on June 23, 1780.

The British planned a two-pronged assault, with 6000 men. Crossing from Staten Island to Elizabethtown Point, one column advanced along the Galloping Hill Road, straight through Connecticut Farms (modern day Union) and Springfield, while another column took the Vauxhall Road north of Springfield along the southern edge of the Short Hills. Both were heading for the same objective: Hobart Gap, the pass through the Watchung Mountains that would allow an advance across eleven miles of flat ground (today’s Chatham and Madison) to Washington's main encampment at Morristown. At Springfield and Elizabethtown, barring the path to Hobart Gap, American Major General Nathanael Greene had 1,500 Continental troops and 500 New Jersey Militia.

The Battle of Springfield was one of the first times that American militia successfully fought alongside Continental troops without wavering or retreating without orders. The battle gave rise to the tale of Reverend James Caldwell, a Patriot pastor whose wife was killed by British fire earlier in the month, handing out Watts hymnals on his church steps to soldiers for use as ‘wadding’ in their muskets while crying “Give’em Watts, boys.” The story is best taken with more than the proverbial grain of salt. Continental soldiers, and militiamen as well, came to a fight with prepared musket cartridges including powder and ball wrapped in paper, and would have had no need for “wadding.” The New Jersey militia had ordered a large number of cartridges prior to the fight. The story appears to have had its origins in a nineteenth century poem by Bret Harte.

The British were stopped by the Americans and could not advance further into New Jersey. Having failed to clear the path to the Hobart Gap, and disheartened by the numbers of New Jersey Militia who were gathering on the Short Hills, the British decided to call off the attack and return to Elizabethtown Point. They burned Springfield and retreated, withdrawing in two columns, one taking the Galloping Hill Road, the other the Vauxhall Road. The column that took the Galloping Hill Road came under constant sniping fire from New Jersey militiamen in the woods and incurred substantial casualties. At midnight on June 23, Hessian General Knyphausen led his division back over a bridge of boats from Elizabethtown Point to Staten Island and withdrew from NJ, thus ending the last major battle of the revolution to take place in the north.

To learn more, I recommend:

'The Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield, 1780' by Edward Lengel

'The Forgotten Victory: The Battle for New Jersey - 1780' by Thomas Fleming

Revolutionary War New Jersey https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/springfield_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm

Summit Historical SocietyThe Revolutionary War Battles of Springfield, Connecticut Farms (Union) and Elizabeth NJ & The Forgotten Victory Trail https://www.summithistoricalsociety.org/calendar/2020/2/10/9z0v9c7ljgb36gxnbblk0pg5mv6yvf