(Do not read if you want to wargame the action! - unless you're the Umpire)

Having been informed by deserters from the British army of the weak dispositions of the rearguard and having just been reinforced with Brigadier Wayne's Pennsylvanian Continental Brigade, Lafayette couldn't resist the temptation to throw the British out of Virginia. The Americans set off with Wayne's and Muhlenburg's brigades as the advance guard, they came upon pickets of the British Legion around Green Spring's Farm at 3 pm, it took a couple of hours to force them back to the British rearguard. Meanwhile Lafayette had become suspicious of the British position and decided to reconnoitre out on a promontory where he discovered a British ambush in position, quickly a courier was dispatched to warn Wayne of the impending danger. It was too late, Wayne had launched his attack, a British gun had been abandoned in front of their position when the Americans reached it this was the signal to close the trap.

Suddenly O'Hara's command was advancing out of the woods on Wayne's left, realising his mistake and knowing retreat wasn't practical at this point Wayne formed his men into line fired a volley into the guards and charged forcing them back into the woods, Muhlenburg had meanwhile formed his men into line to the rear and right of Wayne's brigade, his quick reactions managed to blunt Cornwallis' attack, this respite allowed the Americans to start to fall back closely followed by the British. The close terrain that had hampered the American advance now slowed up the British counter attack.

Lafayette had arrived on the battlefield now and realised he couldn't feed in reinforcements, he formed his command into a defensive line around Green Spring's farm and sent his artillery off to safety. Wayne's men thankfully fell back to the new defensive line which managed to keep the British at bay until darkness fell around 7pm, the exhausted Americans then withdrew for six miles before setting up camp.

Darkness and the terrain also prevented Tarleton's cavalry from pursuing the defeated Americans and turning the retreat into a rout. Casualties were reasonably light considering the closeness of the action, most accounts vary the numbers but the British seem to have suffered between 75-100 killed and wounded whilst the Americans had between 130-200 killed and wounded and two guns captured. The conclusions of the action was that although Cornwallis had picked a concealed strong defensive position the very same benefits became a hinderance for the type of ambush he had planned. Wargamers should try and remember these points the next time they plan a surprise for someone.

Although the ambush failed to destroy the American army it did succeed in the tactical objective in halting any further action against the British rearguard. The next day Cornwallis crossed the river and marched down to Portsmouth where another directive from Clinton ordered him to retain all of his troops and set up a naval station at Yorktown, but that as they say is another story.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bass, R.D. The Green Dragoon. Alivin Readman Ltd.
Buckman, P. Lafayette, Paddington Press Ltd.
Commission, Virginia Conservation, - A Guide to the old dominion, Oxford Uni. Press, New York. 1940
Davis, B. - The Campaign that Won America, The Dial Press, New York New York, 1970
Hibbert, Christopher. - Redcoats and Rebels, The War for America 1770-81, Grafton Books, London, 1990
Higginbotham, D. - The War of American Independence The Macmillan Co. New York, New York, 1971
Johnson, Curt. - Battles of the American Revolution. Bonanza Books, New York, 1984
Kemp, Alan. - Yorktown, Almark Pub. Co. Ltd. London 1976
Middlekauf, R. - The Glorious Cause. Oxford University Press
Novak, Greg. - A Guide to the American War of Independence in the North. Ulster Imports. 1988
Riegel, R.E. and Long, D.F. - The American Story volume 1 McGraw-Hill Book Co. New York 1955
Scheer, George, E. and Rankin, Hugh F. - Rebels and Redcoats Mentor Books, New American Library, 1959
Touchman, Barbara. - The First Salute. Michael Joseph, London 1989
Wickwire, F. and M. - Cornwallis and the War of Independence Faber and Faber, 1971

Green Springs Introduction