"AWI skirmishes recorded?" Topic

Were any small scale skirmishes recorded for the AWI?

Recently read "Fatal Sunday" about Monmouth. The battle starts with a couple small actions that made me think of Sharp Practice.

There were numerous small fights, not sure how many were recorded. The tougher militia often made raids.

There was the time a small unit of British cavalry nearly nabbed Jefferson in Virginia.

There were dozens upon dozens, depending on how big or small you are looking for. There is a quite famous action that has literally perhaps a dozen men per side. Can't think of the name of it offhand, but it even involved cavalry. Search on the internet for battles or battlefields in…whatever state you're interested in. You'll probably come up with lists. I found the Carolinas alone had probably 50 or more sites listed. Unfortunately, information regarding numbers wasn't always readily available.

I guess it depends upon to what depth of information you want. Von Ewald's diary, for example, has skirmishes in it. link

There are four volumes of Nothing But Blood and Slaughter, which documents the war in the Carolinas. Lots of skirmishes in there.

Vol 1: link

Vol 2: link

Vol 3: link This contains a skirmish I made a scenario for, Heron Bridge.

Vol 4: link

Redcoats on the River is about Wilmington and Lower Cape Fear during the Revolution and includes skirmishes, but it is not to a great depth.

It also depends upon what you consider a "skirmish". Heron Bridge is classified as such, but was 250 men on a side. That might be a bit high for whatever rules you are considering.

There's the Sugarloaf Massacre.
link

It's a smaller scale affair than many, but people died and it did settle an issue that to us does not seem all that important today, but did matter to those involved.

In the same vein, Jay Glickman's "Painted in Blood" is a narrative of the Wyoming Massacre. The area of Northeastern Pennsylvania was full of much smaller skirmishes, some even involving mounted Iroquois.

Fischer's Washington's Crossing also contains background on the petit guerre in foraging for food in New Jersey.

As Winston says, there was lots of skirmishing during the so-called 'Forage War' in New Jersey Jan-May 1777.

Vague topography, with different names used for the same action, and propaganda efforts on both sides (together with some modern bias) make it quite hard sometimes to pin down the facts but there was a lot going on.

Pisquataway aka. Drake's Farm comes to mind.

Crack British troops sometimes being given a run for their money by massed militia. Definitely worth a look

There was the time a small unit of British cavalry nearly nabbed Jefferson in Virginia.

Not so small – certainly not in AWI terms. 180 men of the British Legion (and Queen's Rangers?), and 70 mounted infantry from the 23rd Foot.

There are four volumes of Nothing But Blood and Slaughter, which documents the war in the Carolinas.

These are excellent value and well worth buying just for the read; they usually include quite detailed orbats, and pretty much everything else know about a specific engagement.

Good places to go are websites that deal with "local history".
NJ had lots of skirmishes- look to 3 newish books called:
The Revolutionary war in Bergen county.
The Revolutionary War in Monmouth county.
The Razing of Tinton Falls. (all available on Amazon.

Actions on Lon Island (NY) include whaleboat raids
on Sag Harbor and Fort Slongo (aka Salonga).

There were LOTS of small actions in New Jersey. A house in my town still had bullet holes in its siding. It survived the war but not recent developers.

After Trenton and Princeton, northeast New Jersey was a no man's land. My library has several local Book collections outlining these skirmishes, but they may not be widely available.

Try googling American Revolution in New Jersey. Recent books such as 'Fusiliers', 'Washinngton's Immortals', and 'The Grand Forage' outline some of these skirmishes. The last is recommended as a one stop source for many skirmishes.

historical encounters:
Bronx summer 1778
link
some small fights there; probably can find by re searching the names elsewhere
link
link

here you get, well everything maybe??
link

link

small stuff
link
maybe best
link

Good places to go are websites that deal with "local history".

If an area has an enthusiastic local historian, you can glean a lot regarding numbers/orbats, terrain, local buildings and sympathies, etc. If something can be found, he/she will have found it.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the less obvious places can reveal incredible detail. A lot of the uniform/battle info that has come out since the Bicentennial has come from ordinary folk – galvanised by the event – looking up ancestors' pension memorials and applications.

The northern frontier war is also a great source of skirmishes and small battles, fighting at the edges of large scale raids.

I've plugged these for the Southern Campaign before:

link
link

The book covering the Neutral ground in New Jersey and around New York has a lot of skirmishes.
A number of battles in the South were skirmishes. baton Rouge, Saint Louis, the British counter-attack at Mobile called french Village. And many others are listed in Novaks works on the AmRev.

Thanks for all the resources!