America's First Battles
Abstract
Americas first battle that is, the first general engagement involving an army of the United States, took place on Long Island, New York 27 August 1776. The battle fought by citizens united by the new nation to sustain their claim of independence from Great Britain was by no means Americas first experience with war. For nearly two centuries before the unification of the nation states, English colonist had fought to maintain and extend their control over the Atlantic coast of North America from Florida to Nova Scotia and Quebec. At first, they struggled mainly with American Indians, employing small mobile bands of militia in a succession of skirmishes and short inconclusive campaigns. By the eighteenth century, they were engaged in increasingly bitter fighting against French and Spanish colonist. On their fighting frontiers, Indians and regular European forces led a 1740 full scale war and Anglo-American conquest of Canada in 1760. For all their experience with warfare, Americans remained inexperienced in general battle engagements until August 1776. Americans had never yet experienced fighting of the scale and duration of a general action, or anything close to the Battle of Long Island. It would seem that Americans entered their first battle at a disadvantage, not only had they never fought a general action; but they had very limited experience with managing the kind of forces needed for such an action. They had relied traditionally on militia to fight Indians or neighboring colonists; they had rarely cooperated in inter-colonial expeditions that were not given coherence and direction by the British Army.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 20, 2009
- Accession Number
- AD1117386
Entities
People
- Billy Williams
Organizations
- United States Army Sergeants Major Academy