Larry Mendte Curtis Sliwa America 250th June 24

Larry shares the story of the Battle of Springfield, its importance in the American Revolution, and the minutemen that helped the colonies win.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Curtis and Larry celebrate two fifty stories that made America.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
On seventen woors.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
After the brutal winter of seventeen seventy nine, the British
were certain that General Washington's troops were weakened, and it
was an ideal time for an attack to once and
for all get rid of the man whose miraculous escapes
and surprising victories had transported him into legendary status, giving

(00:31):
hope to the rabble who dared to think they could
defeat the British Empire. In the early morning hours of
June twenty third, seventeen eighty, the British advanced in two
flanks towards Morristown, the site of Washington's encampment. One group,
led by hesh in General von Nithhausen, traveled on Galloping

(00:54):
Hill Road through a place called Connecticut Farms, towards what
is now Morris Avenue in Springfield, New Jersey. As the
British approached the Galloping Hill Bridge over Rahway River, they
were surprised by New Jersey militiamen and soldiers from Washington's
army under the command of Major General Nathaniel Greene. The

(01:17):
militia was made up of minutemen, ordinary citizens, farmers and
shopkeepers who were ready to defend their home and their
community at a minute's notice. Most males in the Springfield
area over the age of fifteen were part of the militia.
They were minute men, even though they were boys. A

(01:37):
terrible battle was the result, with Continental Army regulars and
the minute Men against the British soldiers and some Jersey
citizens who were still loyal to the Crown. The ones
fighting with the British were called were not called minute men. No,
The real minute Men called them traders to the cause.

(01:58):
But the word trader is a relative term, and victory
determines who were the traders and who were not. The
British set fire to all four houses in Springfield Village
and the Presbyterian Church on Morris Avenue. That church is rebuilt.
It was rebuilt in seventeen ninety one, and a statue
of a minuteman stands guard before it to this day.

(02:21):
The Continental Army and Minutemen fought valiantly, unaware that a
second flank of British troops were advancing towards them from Elizabethtown.
Knowing this might happen, the Continental troops had already destroyed
the vau Hill Bridge that crossed the east branch of
the Rahway River. Now today that section of the stream

(02:44):
is nothing. It just kind of trickles along. But when
a sewer system was built in nineteen o seven, that
all changed. In seventeen eighty it was five feet deep,
with a current enough to significantly slow advancing troops. The

(03:05):
Continental troops in Springfield, fighting valiantly to save their town,
their families, and the hope of a new country, had
no idea they were about to be outflanked from behind.
But then a military miracle, Major General Green sent over
a New England regiment of four hundred men to set
up on the slopes of Newark Mountain, overlooking the British

(03:27):
troops crossing the river. General Green also sent a cannon.
The very sight of the men with a cannon on
high ground caused the British to stop abruptly, stare at
the cannon, and realize that despite their numbers, they were
out gunned. They were treated back to Staten Island without

(03:47):
firing a shot, and now without reinforcements. The British troops
in Springfield were also forced to retreat to New York
and the Brits never stop stepped foot in New Jersey again.
It was a major military victory that Washington would use
to improve morale among the troops and in the Continental Congress.

(04:09):
After six hundred battles and skirmishes, the British were never
able to take control of New Jersey, the crossroads of
the revolution. Washington made Major General Greene a general and
gave him a command in the South where the war
would be won. If history was fair, the Battle of

(04:30):
Springfield would be the stuff of legends, citizens take arms
to join Continental soldiers the defeat the great British Army.
But instead it is known in history as the forgotten
battle of the Revolutionary War. But we didn't forget, and
now that you know, I hope you don't either.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Outstanding again, Larry, New Jersey has not gotten its recognition
for being the place where most of the battles were
fought and where the war was really one outstanding We
are the only program to be dedicating time to our
upcoming what ten days away birthday in America. Hey, we
got a two hundred and fiftieth birthday. You wouldn't know

(05:10):
it being around New York City. But again, Outstanding Larry