Untold Stories: Yorktown, Hamilton, and Storming Redoubt 10

“When Washington overturned the previous decision and gave Hamilton the command [for the Yorktown redoubt assault], Hamilton rushed to his friend and second in command, Nicholas Fish, and exclaimed ‘We have it! We have it!’”

Images: Lt. Col. Hamilton and assault on Redoubt 10

There are so many inspiring, beautiful stories about the great heroes of American history which are scarcely ever told. One happens on them accidentally—buried in a thick, out-of-print biography, in small print on a museum sign, casually and fleetingly mentioned in an obscure educational video. America cannot return to greatness in the future if we do not truly understand the greatness of our past. That is why I am writing an article series to tell a few of these little-known but moving or illustrative “untold stories” of American greatness. Other articles in this series include how Washington and the American Revolutionary Army celebrated St. Patrick’s Day; the “Battle of Princeton” painting by William Mercer, America’s first deaf artist; Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American Indian college graduate; the U.S. Army Rangers and six heroes of D-Day; and Tim McCoy, actor, Army officer, cowboy, and Indian expert and ally.

Today’s story is about the Battle of Yorktown, since Oct. 19 is the anniversary of its end. While the Revolution actually did not end until 1783, when the Treaty of Paris was signed wherein the British recognized American independence, Yorktown was undoubtedly a massive defeat for the British that played a key role in paving the path for the Treaty of Paris.

There are many heroes and brilliant leaders from Yorktown, including commander-in-chief George Washington, slave-turned-Patriot-double agent James Armistead Lafayette, Lt. Col. John Laurens, Maj.Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, and French Lt. Gen. Comte de Rochambeau, but I am going to focus on Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton, later the first Secretary of the Treasury, and the men he led into battle during the siege.

Alexander Hamilton had served in the Continental Army since the early days of the war, heading an artillery company at the famed Battles of Trenton and Princeton when only 21 years old. The “bastard brat of a Scottish peddler,” as John Adams rudely described Hamilton, became a beloved and trusted aide-de-camp for Gen. George Washington. Hamilton, however, longed to command a battalion and win himself glory while accomplishing a daring deed for the cause of liberty he loved so well. At Yorktown, he finally got his chance.

Two key British positions protecting Yorktown were redoubts 9 and 10. On Oct. 14, the Americans were to capture redoubt 10 while their French allies took redoubt 9. The American command was to be given to another, but Hamilton hotly argued he had seniority and it was his turn to lead. “When Washington overturned the previous decision and gave Hamilton the command, Hamilton rushed to his friend and second in command, Nicholas Fish, and exclaimed ‘We have it! We have it!’”

Hamilton was to be accompanied by his old friend Lt. Col. John Laurens, Maj. Nicholas Fish, and Lt. Col. Jean-Joseph Sourbader de Gimat. The force included men from multiple states, nationalities, and racial backgrounds, including the black soldiers of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment. George Washington gave a short speech urging the men to be “firm and brave soldiers,” according to Capt. Stephen Olney, impressing on the soldiers the vital importance of taking the redoubts.

The assault on redoubt 9, though successful, was somewhat of a disaster too, as French Private Georg Daniel Flohr recalled, “People of four nations were thrown together: Frenchmen, English, Scots, and Germans. . . the soldiers . . . were so furious that our people were killing one another.” Redoubt 10 apparently fared somewhat better, though the fighting was still fierce and hand-to-hand.

Read Also: Untold Stories: James Armistead Lafayette, Slave, Patriot, Double Agent, Hero

Modern-day remains of redoubt 10.

Nine Americans would be killed in the assault, and 25 more wounded, but they would attain their goal. Joseph Plumb Martin, a New England soldier, vividly described his own experience at redoubt 10:

Our watchword was “Rochambeau,” the commander of the French forces’ name, a good watchword, for being pronounced Ro-sham-bow, it sounded, when pronounced quick, like rush-on-boys.

We had not lain here long before the expected signal was given, for us and the French, who were to storm the other redoubt, by the three shells with their fiery trains mounting the air in quick succession. The word up, up, was then reiterated through the detachment. We immediately moved silently on toward the redoubt we were to attack, with unloaded muskets. Just as we arrived at the abatis [sharpened wooden barrier], the enemy discovered us and directly opened a sharp fire upon us. We were now at a place where many of our large shells had burst in the ground, making holes sufficient to bury an ox in. The men, having their eyes fixed upon what was transacting before them, were every now and then falling into these holes.
As soon as the firing began, our people began to cry, “The fort’s our own!” and it was “Rush on boys.” The Sappers and Miners soon cleared a passage for the infantry, who entered it rapidly. Our Miners were ordered not to enter the fort, but there was no stopping them. “We will go,” said they.

“Then go to the d ——— ,” said the commanding officer of our corps, “if you will.”   I could not pass at the entrance we had made as it was so crowded. I therefore forced a passage at a place where I saw our shot had cut away some of the abatis. Several others entered at the same place.

While passing, a man at my side received a ball in his head and fell under my feet, crying out bitterly. While crossing the trench, the enemy threw hand grenades into it. They were so thick that I at first thought them cartridge papers on fire but was soon undeceived by their cracking.

As I mounted the breastwork, I met an old associate hitching himself down into the trench. I knew him by the light of the enemy’s musketry, it was so vivid. The fort was taken and all quiet in a very short time.

American Battlefield Trust highlights Hamilton’s personal courage:

The officers led by example: Hamilton was conspicuously gallant in the assault, and Gimat was wounded by a musket ball in his foot as he led his men forward. As the American troops flowed over the walls of the redoubt, many of the British troops began to retreat toward their main lines. Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens of South Carolina led a detachment of 80 men around to the rear of the redoubt to cut off British defenders trying to retreat. In less than 10 minutes, the remaining British troops threw down their muskets and surrendered to the Americans. Hamilton noted that “incapable of imitating examples of barbarity, and forgetting recent provocations” all the defenders were given quarter. [The British and Hessians were infamous for having massacred surrendering American troops on multiple occasions].

Hamilton had succeeded. He, Laurens, Martin, and the rest had stormed the redoubt and won a vital victory that would be a key part of the American triumph at Yorktown.

As British Gen. Cornwallis’s troops and second-in-command did the unthinkable on Oct. 19, marching to throw down their weapons and admit defeat by the French and Americans as they played “The World Turned Upside Down,” some British soldiers wept or smashed their muskets, but the Americans were justly proud. They had taken on the world’s most powerful empire and won.

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Hamilton, Laurens, Fish, and their comrades had won glory and liberty not just for themselves but for all Americans. They could truly say, as Hamilton had so ecstatically exclaimed before the assault, “We have it! We have it!”