A Pointed Defense

In the winter of 1778, an attacker here would have advanced uphill through sharp obstructions before facing artillery and supporting infantry mounted in the redan, while brigade huts stood across the road just behind the defenses. The abatis was a tangled mass of cut trees with sharpened branches facing toward the enemy, and in the actual encampment this bristling fence extended far more widely to protect the entire 3/4 mile Inner Line. These fortifications impressed enemy spies, and British commander Sir William Howe wrote to Lord George Germain that the American positions were too strong to attack with a clear chance of success. The redan was a small detached earthwork built forward of the main defenses to strengthen the line or cover a vulnerable area.

Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania · United States