The Battle of Newtown

The Battle of Newtown. August 29, 1779. , To protect the village of Newtown, about 600 Native American warriors, 200 loyalists, and a handful of British soldiers erected and camouflaged a half-mile-long breastwork of logs in the village overlooking a creek, hoping to surprise Sullivan's men as they advanced. Lookouts were posted atop the mountain behind the breastworks to attack Sullivan's army if the opportunity arose. Sullivan's scouts, however, detected the trap., Sullivan sent two brigades under Generals Enoch Poor and James Clinton on a long, sweeping march to capture the mountain and cut off their enemies' retreat. Poor's men rushed to the summit, fired, and scattered the lookouts. Meanwhile, Sullivan's artillery and the threat of encirclement caused the loyalists and warriors to abandon the breastwork and withdraw to the mountain. Somewhere below the summit, they collided with the left wing of Poor's brigade in the battle's fiercest fighting. A running fight ensued for more than a mile along the mountain, as loyalists and Native Americans made their escape., The enemy probably having intelligence of their approach, posted a number of troops on the top of a mountain, over which [Poor and Clinton] had to pass. , Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hubley, The Battle of Newtown, August 29, 1779, (Left Sidebar): Is the Park Part of the Battlefield? , Since the battle's centennial in 1879, people have disagreed on the exact location of the battle's key events and whether any fighting took place near the present-day monument. Nobody knows for certain, but chances are good that it did. Sullivan and many of his officers described the route of Poor's and Clinton's brigades and the associated fighting as passing over the top, or summit, of a very large hill or mountain. Regardless, the top of the mountain has always been a key landmark in descriptions of the battle., (Caption under map in upper left): , This sketch from the journal of Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hubley is the only period map of the battlefield. the "XXXX" marks near the summit of the mountain show the location of the Native American force, the yellow bar indicates one of Sullivan's brigades advancing towards the Native Americans in a column. The map also shows the breastworks and the encampment of Sullivan's brigades near the village of Newtown the night after the battle., (Caption on map on right side): , Newtown's defenders included roughly 600 Seneca, Cayuga, and other Native American warriors; about 200 loyalist rangers; and a few red-coated British of the 8th Regiment from Fort Niagara. Major John Butler commanded his own rangers and acted as an adviser to the rest of his allies, making the overall direction of Newtown's defense a somewhat democratic effort., This map of the Battle of Newtown, August 29, 1779, is based on a 1879 survey map by General John S. Clark, Auburn, N.Y. . This historical marker is Near Elmira in Chemung County New York