The Battle Around the Redoubts

During the battle of October 6, 1777, Brigadier General George Clinton, Governor of New York State, commanded Fort Montgomery. Knowing the British were approaching, he sent some of his men with a 3-pounder cannon down the western road leading to the fort to slow the attack. The Americans temporarily checked 900 advancing British and Loyalist soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Mungo Campbell, but eventually had to abandon the gun and fall back to the fort. As Clinton rallied his men to keep fighting, a loud cheer from Fort Clinton announced that the British had captured it. Clinton and more than half of the Americans escaped from Fort Montgomery in the haze of battle and the growing darkness. By nightfall, the British held both forts, ending the Battle of Fort Montgomery. Later testimony from the officers agreed that the soldiers had fought bravely, but that there had simply not been enough men to defend the forts adequately.

Highlands, New York · United States