Following the defeat of British General John Burgoyne’s Army at Saratoga, the Revolutionary War in Upstate New York shifted from large scale battles to smaller, more brutal actions between American forces and Britian’s Haudenosaunee allies – the Iroquois Confederacy.
In August of 1779, a combined force of Iroquois warriors and supporting British Loyalists attempted to stop the advance of American Major General John Sullivan’s Continentals at Newtown, in the Town of Ashland, Chemung County, NY.
American infantry were acting on orders directly from General George Washington to inflict the “total destruction and devastation of [the Iroquois] settlements . . . [including the ruin of] their crops . . . and prevent [them from] planting more.” These were actions that Washington believed would force the Iroquois to break their alliance with the British and end their involvement in the war.
Fighting behind a horseshoe shaped breastwork of cut-down logs on the morning of August 29th, the Iroquois and Loyalists were overwhelmed by the larger American line, forcing them to retreat.
Causalities were relatively light, with combined losses amounting to less than a hundred dead, wounded, or captured. However, the aftermath of the battle was devastating.
Unopposed by any organized force after Newtown, the Americans under Sullivan’s command burned more than 40 native villages over the next two months. Brutal scorched-earth tactics that knocked the Iroquois out of the war as Washington intended.
With $860,278 in financial assistance from a Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant, the Town of Ashland will support the preservation of 322-acres of the Newtown Battlefield through a fee-simple purchase of two properties.
The Town will then transfer the land to the state, and have it incorporated as part of the Newtown Battlefield State Park near Elmira, ensuring that both the historic and natural landscape of the battlefield are protected in perpetuity.
Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program empower preservation partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields.
In addition to this grant opportunity, the program provides financial assistance for related projects through Battlefield Interpretation Grants, Battlefield Restoration Grants, and Preservation Planning Grants, generating community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.
Read more about the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition.
Illustration: Sullivan’s Monument at Newtown Battlefield Park (postcard).
Source link
