History - Battlefield Detectives American Revolution Battle Of Monmouth

The Battle of Monmouth took place on June 28th 1778 in rural New Jersey. It was a key moment in the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and her thirteen rebellious colonies, and was the last major battle of the Revolution in the North. The battle occurred as the British General Henry Clinton was withdrawing his army from Philadelphia to New York. General George Washington set out in pursuit from his winter headquarters at Valley Forge. Outside the village of Freehold the Americans attacked the rear of the British column.The British assumed that the American Army was weak, ill-disciplined and incapable of facing up to the seasoned British regulars, thought to be the best fighting force the world had ever seen. But at Monmouth things turned out differently. Washington used his artillery so effectively that the British were pinned down and took significant casualties. Cowed by deadly American firepower the British left the field in disarray, their dead unburied. Under cover of darkness they marched wearily on towards New York and avoided a second day of fighting.

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