Americans Retake Stony Point (16 JUL 1779)

Just after midnight on July 16, 1779, Continental Army forces launched a surprise attack on the British at Stony Point on the Hudson River. General George Washington’s plan for this successful operation was based upon actionable intelligence and reconnaissance leading up to its execution.

By the summer of 1779, General Sir Henry Clinton had captured several strategic locations along the Hudson River, including the unfinished fortifications at Stony Point on the western bank and Verplanck’s Point on the eastern bank. About 24 miles north of New York City, these two strong points guarded the key crossing at King’s Ferry and could serve as a launching point for an attack on West Point, located about 12 miles further north.

The Stony Point fortification was situated on a 150-foot-high prominence at the tip of a peninsula jutting a half mile out into the river. With water on three sides and a marshy lowland that flooded at high tide on the mainland side, the fort was further defended by two lines of felled and spiked trees, a series of breastworks, and fifteen artillery pieces. Lt. Col. Henry Johnson commanded the post and its 625 British soldiers, primarily of the 17th Foot.

About midnight on the dark, blustery night of July 16, American Brig. Gen. “Mad Anthony” Wayne and 1,200 men launched a three-prong attack on the seemingly impregnable Stony Point. While a column of Major Henry Lee’s Light Horse in the center distracted the British, columns of light infantry with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets stealthily scaled the north and south sides of the hill. In less than thirty minutes, Wayne’s flanking columns easily surprised and overwhelmed the enemy, capturing the fortification and more than 550 British soldiers. Wayne was wounded but survived. Lacking enough men to hold the fort, Washington ordered Wayne to strip the abandoned post of artillery and ammunition and burn it.

Wayne’s success at Stony Point was aided by excellent intelligence. Just a week after the British captured the fort on June 1, Washington wrote to Major Lee, “You will take every measure in your power to acquire information of their situation, movement and designs and give me the earliest advice of every occurrence.” Lee monitored the British and picked up information from deserters and local farmers, all of which he reported back to Washington. On June 28, Washington further implored Lee,

I have now to request that you will endeavour to employ some person, in whom you can confide, & at the same time that is intelligent, to go into the works at stoney point, or if admittance is not to be gained, otherwise to obtain the best knowledge of them he can, so as to describe the particular kind of Works, the precise spots on which they stand, and the strength of the garrison.

For this dangerous assignment, Lee turned to Capt. Allen McLane, who had led a network of spies around Philadelphia in 1776–1777. In early July 1779, disguised as a local woodsman, McLane escorted a “Mrs. Smith” into the fort under a flag of truce with the pretense of visiting the lady’s son who had recently deserted to the British army. While in the fort, McLane took careful note of the British troop strength, artillery types and locations, and the status of the fort’s defenses.

Washington also requested a detailed “sketch of the works that I may be able to form an accurate idea of them.” This map was provided by engineer and surveyor Col. Rufus Putnam, and it helped orient Washington as he conducted his own reconnaissance on July 6. Rounding out Washington’s intelligence picture were reports from scouts about a navigable gap between the southern end of the British defenses and the river.

Using all the information at hand, Washington and Wayne devised the plan for the successful midnight attack on Stony Point. While not a strategically important victory for the Continental Army, it did boost the Americans’ morale and represented the end of British offensive operations in the northern colonies.

Article by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian. New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.

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