LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JULY 2, 2023 by Lynne Belluscio I am writing this on the 245th anniversary of one of the major battles of the American Revolution – the Battle of Monmouth which was fought on June 28. Interestingly, it was 20 years ago, while at a museum conference in Princeton, New Jersey that I decided to go over to see the Monmouth reenactment. The weather had been scorching, but luckily the heat broke and as we stood in the shade and it was tolerable. (I wrote a Pennysaver article about this which was published on July 7, 2003). In 1778, during the days leading up to the battle, British General Henry Clinton had evacuated 18,000 troops from Philadelphia. His plan was to get to New York City to merge with other members of the British army. In the meantime, General George Washington, with an army of 15,000 hoped to catch up with Clinton and stop him. Washington wasn’t sure which route Clinton would take. The British pitched camp in a large field near present-day Freehold, New Jersey. Washington ordered General Charles Lee, in command of an advance Colonial force, to harass the rear flank of Clinton’s army. But for some unknown reason, after engaging the British, Lee sounded retreat. Some of his men were stranded. Lee was a brilliant military tactician and was second in command under Washington, but he was also erratic and egotistical. Lee’s decision infuriated Washington and Lee was dismissed. Lee was court martialed and disgraced, although later, military historians contend that Lee actually saved the Continental army from serious consequences. Washington was ready for a fight and as the day began, the temperature rose. In the sweltering 100° heat, the British troops collapsed and although they attempted a counterattack, they were overcome by Colonial troops under the command of Marquis de Lafayette. Both armies fell back and took artillery positions and for several hours, the largest artillery battle of the Revolution ensued. Colonial guns forced the British to withdraw and Washington mounted a counterattack. General Anthony Wayne, in command of a small regiment that had been trained by Baron Steuben at Valley Forge, counterattacked but his troops were forced back. At nightfall, the British fell back and made camp. Washington assumed that the battle would resume at dawn the next day, but under cover of darkness, the British moved to Sandy Hook. The Americans, because they held the field, considered it a victory, but the British troops had escaped and five days later, on July 5, sailed for New York City. The battle was considered a draw. The British reported 61 killed in combat and 59 dead from the heat and 64 missing, although those figures are considered low. The Continental army suffered 69 killed and 160 wounded and up to 130 suffering from heat exhaustion. These two armies were pitted against each other for three more years, until the British surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781. There is a LeRoy connection. Two men, who eventually would settle in LeRoy, were at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Isaac Bishop, born in Rhode Island in 1758, had enlisted for three months at Fort Ticonderoga on Christmas Day in 1776 and then re-enlisted on April 18 in the 4th Massachusetts Line Regiment for three years. He would have been twenty years old at the Battle of Monmouth. Bishop, who came from Connecticut, settled in Roanoke and died in 1846 and is buried in the Jug City Cemetery. Another LeRoyan, Asa Buell, fought at Monmouth when he was 18. He was born on January 10, 1760, in Connecticut. He enlisted in the Continental Army for three years and fought in the Battle of Germantown and the Battle of Monmouth. After the war, he married Mercy Porter and they had nine children, the youngest was born in 1800. Asa Buell made several trips back and forth to bring his family to LeRoy. He first brought his daughter and son-in law in 1805. Then in May 1806 he brought more of his family west. In August 1806, he bought a wagon and a team of horses and headed back to Connecticut, 400 miles east, to pick up the rest of the family. Asa Buell died in 1827 and is buried in the cemetery on East Main Road. The Battle on Monmouth was the longest and biggest one day battle of the war. Although in reality the battle was a draw, the success of the Colonial forces was considered a critical turning point. June 28, 1778 – The Battle of Monmouth
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