Highlanders Decline Combat

Highlanders Decline Combat (HMP8E)

Location: Manalapan Township, NJ 07726 Monmouth County
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Country: United States of America
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N 40° 16.747', W 74° 18.591'

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The Battle of Monmouth

— 28 June 1778, — 4:10 PM - 4:20 PM —

"What a pity it is to throw away such men as these" ? Captain - Lieutenant John Peebles, Royal Highland Regiment

Here, in what was Derick Sutfin's cider orchard, 300 Royal Highlanders found themselves in an awkward position. Over 700 Continental infantry were approaching their right flank (up the hill behind you), while a Continental cannon fired round after round into the treetops above their heads. Should they stay and fight?

The hardy, brave Scots were too valuable to waste in a needless firefight. Wisely, their commander decided not to fight here. Instead, he led his men south along the fence looking for a good position from which to assail the Continentals.

as the Continentals advanced, they found their way blocked by an orchard fence (no longer standing). Colonel Cilley sent a platoon to skirmish with the Highlanders and slow them down while the rest of the battalion took down the fence. One of the skirmishers, Joseph Martin, later remembered that "we pursued without order. As I passed through the orchard, I saw a number of the enemy killed by our field piece."

The Scots withdrew through the fields, stopping twice to fire upon the pursuing Continentals. Then the Scots forded the brook and rejoined Clinton's army.

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Archaeology confirms Highlanders' Position

While in Sutfin's orchard, the Scots had been sniped at by American rifle and musket men and bombarded with lead canister and 2-ounce grape shot from Captain Proctor's 4-pounder field piece. Many of these projectiles remained in the ground until 1990 when archaeologists began to excavate the site. Careful computer analysis of the data revealed the location of the Royal Highlanders.

Archaeology by BRAVO (Battlefield & Archaeological Volunteer Organization)
Details
HM NumberHMP8E
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Placed ByNJ Department of Environmental Protection – Division of Parks & Forestry
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, October 20th, 2014 at 4:09pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 558670 N 4458965
Decimal Degrees40.27911667, -74.30985000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 16.747', W 74° 18.591'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 16' 44.82" N, 74° 18' 35.46" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)732, 848, 908
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 32841 History Hike (Monmouth Battlefield), Manalapan Township NJ 07726, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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