“… with the greatest Intrepidity and coolness.”

Near this location, the north column of three hundred American Light Infantry commanded by Colonel Richard Butler of Pennsylvania passed during the assault on Stony Point. On the rocky height ahead stood the Flagstaff Battery, armed with a twelve-pounder cannon that, like many weapons in the Upper Works, was kept unloaded at night and could not have been lowered enough to fire on infantry below. Both Light Infantry columns were led by a select "forlorn hope" whose task was to overcome sentries and remove barriers, a dangerous mission in which seventeen of the north column's twenty soldiers were killed or wounded. The advance party of Butler's contingent was led by Major John Steward of Maryland, who later praised another Light Infantryman for having conducted himself through the whole assault with the greatest intrepidity and coolness. Steward's own conduct was also distinguished, and he, de Fleury, and Wayne were the only officers awarded medals by the Continental Congress for courage and valor at the Battle of Stony Point.

Stony Point, New York · United States