Ima Student Knowlton’s Rangers and the Battle of Harlem Heights History 1301 Date 1 When asking people off the streets of most of the present day United States “Who was Thomas Knowlton?” the majority of those individuals would shake their heads, never before hearing that name. If people of colonial America could be asked the same question during the American Revolution, there would be many more nods in remembrance of the French and Indian War veteran gone Connecticut farmer, who quickly climbed the ranks of the Continental Army. He would be appointed leader of America’s first intelligence unit by General George Washington himself, and create dramatic impacts onto key points during first few years of the war. Thomas Knowlton was a man who lived in war. Born in West Boxford, Massachusetts on November 22, 1740, his family soon relocated to Ashford, Connecticut, where he resided for the remainder of his life. At age 16, Knowlton enlisted in the French and Indian War, sometimes joining his elder brother Daniel on scouting missions, and participated in battles such as the Battle of Wood Creek. Knowlton also took part in the capture of Ticonderoga in July of 1759, and Anna Keyes of Ashford became his wife in April of the same year, though they “did not settle into domestic repose till after the Siege of Havana.” He continued fighting during the siege, which took place in 1762, fighting alongside the English against the Spanish in Cuba before he returned home as one of the small numbers of survivors. Once finally returning home, Knowlton left the army to become a farmer and raise his eight children, and was elected as selectman at the young age of thirty-three.1 Described by Ashbel Woodward as having “possession of an intellect naturally bright, and quick to profit by the experiences and associations of military life” led Knowlton to be “calm and collected in battle … ready to lead where any could be found to follow—he knew no fear of danger.” As he proceeded through his service in the Revolution, he became “the favorite of superior officers, the idol of his soldiers and fellow-townsmen, he fell universally lamented.” 2 When the time came that the Ashford Company requested for men to answer the call of war against England, Knowlton quickly responded despite his wife’s protests “that war could 1. Patrick and Ashbel Woodward, Statue of Thomas Knowlton: Ceremonies at the Unveiling (Hartford, CT: Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1895) Pages 11-15. 2. Fort Huachuca, "Thomas Knowlton and His Rangers: The Taproot of U.S. Army Intelligence." (Fort Huachuca: <www.huachuca.army.mil>) Page 10. 2 win without him,” as she “for once found his heart hardened against entreaties and tears,” and he was chosen to lead the company as a captain due to his overall experience and reputation.3 During the Battle of Bunker Hill, his company defended the rail fence at the base of the hill to protect the left-most flank of the retreating American troops. During the skirmish, “Knowlton had one gun shot from his hands during the fight and grabbed another” as “he displayed a cool and business-like example and prevented the retreat from becoming a rout,” and while the British forces lost 226 of their soldiers, the Connecticut Company had lost three.4 Knowlton was immortalized as an important figure in this battle in John Trumbull’s painting entitled “The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill 1786” where he is depicted as the man in a yellow vest holding a musket. After the battle, Knowlton’s company essentially became the bodyguard of General Washington, and Knowlton himself was promoted to major of the 20th Continental Infantry on the very first day of 1776. The week after this, he led the ambush on Charleston, taking five officers as prisoners and burning down enemy quarters, and there were no casualties on the American side. Aaron Burr stated that “it was impossible to promote such a man too rapidly.”5 Charleston itself involved striking the city “that so upset the British officers’ production of the Burgoyne farce The Blockade at Faneuil Hall” under the cover of night during the Siege of Boston.7 In March 1776, William Howe pulled his troops out of Boston, and the Connecticut troops headed for New York, but along the way, Knowlton was able to stop at his home to visit his wife and his, at the time, seven children. In August 1776, Knowlton was promoted to lieutenant colonel and next fought in the Battle of Long Island with one hundred of his regulars when the British landed on the island soon after. With about one hundred of his own handpicked men, Knowlton crossed over into Flatbush during the night. General William Howe’s troops 3. Patrick Henry Woodward and Ashbel Woodward, Page 18. 4. Fort Huachuca, Page 2-7 5. Patrick Henry Woodward and Ashbel Woodward, Page 38. 7. David McCullough, 1776 (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2006) Page 217. 3 snuck in on foot through a lesser known route called the Jamaica Pass, flanking the Continental Army and preventing retreat. Knowlton was to reinforce Lord Sterling, but the fighting had stopped as a full retreat was ordered after Sterling had surrendered. In the darkness of night, General Washington skillfully withdrew the army out of Long Island.8 After the Battle of Long Island, Washington envisioned creating a special intelligence group to avoid another such catastrophe, choosing the man he called “the brave and gallant Knowlton who would have been an honor to any country” to lead it.6 Throughout his career, Knowlton had been considered to have great and inspiring leadership skills. Even an NCO of his team later remembers how he was the kind of leader that would not stand behind his men and call out, “Go on, boys!” but would rather be out in front and yell, “Come on, boys!”4 This reconnaissance group became known as Knowlton’s Rangers, who would also always stay in front of the Continental Army. By this small organization of about one hundred and twenty men, which included Thomas Knowlton’s oldest son Frederick and his elder brother Daniel, America formed its very first United States Army intelligence unit, which means that it is essentially the roots of present day organizations such as the CIA.4 In fact, the CIA building in current day Washington D.C. honors a captain of Knowlton’s Rangers with a statue; one Nathan Hale, who is regarded as the first American spy to die in the line of duty behind enemy lines, and is famed for his long-remembered last words of “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” inspiring so much courage in the face of death that he would leave an impression even on the British officers present at his hanging. A major turning point of the Rangers is the Battle of Harlem Heights, taking place on the early morning of September 16, which in itself is also an important yet often overlooked point of the Revolutionary War. General Washington, not wanting to go in blind as he had during the Battle of Long Island, sent Knowlton’s Rangers out to scout the enemy when the group made contact near the edge of the woods. The British responded by sending out “two battalions of light infantry” along with a regiment known as The Black Watch to expunge the Rangers. Rather than fleeing the scene – despite being outnumbered four hundred to one hundred and twenty – 6. Seymour, George Dudley. Documentary Life of Nathan Hale 8. Patrick Henry Woodward and Ashbel Woodward, Page 30-32 4 Knowlton held his ground with his men for a thirty minute firefight before the British began to flank the group, causing Knowlton to finally call for a retreat. The nearby encampment of the Continental Army could hear the gunfire from the skirmish and prepared for a full-on battle. As Knowlton’s Rangers continued to pull back with the British hot on their tails, the British force stopped at a hill to catch their breath and were in high spirits, still in remembrance of the Battle of Long Island. Colonel Joseph Reed, who was present with the Rangers during the smaller scale battle, later wrote to his wife that “the enemy appeared in open view and in the most insulting manner sounded their bugle horns as is usual after a fox chase. I never felt such a sensation before, it seemed to crown our disgrace,” and he rode ahead to reach Washington and ask for further armed support.4 After writing a letter to Congress, Washington rode out to the front to survey the situation for himself, and upon hearing news of Knowlton’s predicament, “immediately ordered three companies of Colonel Weedon’s regiments … and Colonel Knowlton with his Rangers … to try to get in their rear, while a disposition was making as if to attack them in front, and thereby draw their whole attention that way.” Unfortunately, something happened where either Knowlton’s force engaged in battle too early, or the British, in search of safety, pulled back slightly and caused Knowlton to come at them from their flank rather than their rear. In this situation of enemy contact, both Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton and Major Andrew Leitch were shot and mortally wounded. The leaderless Rangers and riflemen, according to reports of the battle, “continued the engagement with the greatest resolution” and “with splendid spirit and animation.”4 Reinforcements soon came to both sides, and the battle ended after a total of about six hours when the British called for a retreat, which General George Clinton wrote how “our people at length worsted them a third time, caused them to fall back into an orchard, from thence across a hollow and up another hill not far distant from their own lines,” and the American troops were able to return to the farmhouse area that the Rangers had scouted earlier in the morning when the first skirmish began.