Mad Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Waye was a man of medium height. He had a handsome, well-proportioned face with a slightly aquiline nose and high forehead. His hair was dark, his eyes dark brown and penetrating, making his face very animated.
Who can write the story of the aspiring General Anthony Wayne? He sought personal fame, recognition, and wealth at any cost. His turmoil was the turning event during the American Revolutionary War. Although his wife possessed wealth, Wayne could not acquire the wealth and fame that he desired. As a General and in his personal life, he did not always make the best decision, and when he saw himself declining, he jumped onto another wagon of the British Army.
Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745-Dec. 15, 1796), soldier, was born at Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He was the only son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Iddings) Wayne. Isaac Wayne's parents were of English ancestry and emigrated from Ireland in about 1724, settling in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he acquired some 500 acres of land and a thriving tannery. At sixteen, the boy attended a private academy kept by his uncle, Gilbert Wayne, in Philadelphia. He learned enough mathematics to qualify as a surveyor, with some further application after he left school two years later. In 1765, a Philadelphia land company sent him to supervise the surveying and settlement of 100,000 acres of land in Nova Scotia. When that venture failed on March 25, 1766, he returned to Pennsylvania and married Mary Penrose, the daughter of Bartholomew Penrose, a Philadelphia merchant. They had two children. Wayne went to live on his father's estate, taking charge of the tannery. In 1774, his father died, and Anthony succeeded as the owner of a profitable establishment.
During the early Revolutionary movement, Anthony Waye was chairman of the committee appointed in 1774 to frame the resolutions of protest against the coercive acts of the British government. He was later made chairman of the county committee appointed to supervise the carrying out of the association drawn up by the first Continental Congress. He represented his county in the provincial assembly that met in 1775. On January 3, 1776, Congress appointed him to be a Colonel of a Chester County regiment of the Continental Army, and as a soldier, he served through the war. His youth and lack of formal training in the arts of war prevented him from being on friendly terms with many of his colleagues. He had personal arguments with St. Clair, Charles Lee, and James Wilkinson. His contemporaries agreed that he was impetuous, yet Alexander Graydon, who called his manner fervid, admitted that Wayne could " fight and brag."
Although General George Washington feared Wayne's impetuousness, seventeen years later, they chose Wayne to lead the Army against the northwestern Indians. In the spring of 1776, Wayne was part of General William Thompson's Pennsylvania brigade to reinforce the faltering Canadian expedition. When the Pennsylvanians met the retreating remnants of Montgomery's Army at the mouth of the Sorel River, Wayne was sent to attack what he thought was the advance guard of the British Army at Three Rivers. It turned out to be the main Army numbering 3,000, and Wayne, whose regiment was in the front of the attack, found himself sustaining a hot exchange with the enemy to cover the retreat of his outnumbered compatriots to Fort Ticonderoga. He was placed in command of the garrison of over two thousand men and had his first taste of wretched provisioning, sickness, starvation, and mutiny.
September 11, 1777, the Battle of Brandywine
On February 21, 1777, Wayne was appointed to the rank of Brigadier-General. On April 12, Wayne joined Washington at Morristown, New Jersey, and commanded the Pennsylvania line. After a season of training and drill, his division took an active part in resisting the British in their campaign against Philadelphia.
During the battle of Brandywine, Wayne occupied the center of the defense, opposing the British at their main point of crossing. He was obliged to retreat when the American right was flanked by Lord Cornwallis, who crossed the creek higher up.
After General Washington withdrew north of the Schuylkill, he sent Wayne to circle around the British's rear and surprise and destroy their baggage train. But Wayne was surprised and received a beating in the battle of Paoli on September 20. He demanded a court martial when he was accused of negligence and was acquitted.
October 4, 1777, the Battle of Germantown
Rejoining Washington, he played a conspicuous part in the battle of Germantown, leading a spirited and almost victorious attack. But Wayne's Army was forced back when difficulties in the rear turned the victory into confusion and defeat.
June 28, 1788, Battle of Monmouth
He wintered with Washington at Valley Forge and led the advance attack against the British at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1788.
July 16, 1779, The Battle of Stony Point
During the Army's reorganization late in 1778, Wayne commanded a separate corps of Continental light infantry. Under his leadership, this corps captured by surprise the garrison at Stony Point, the northernmost British post on the Hudson River. Wayne took five hundred prisoners, fifteen cannons, and some valuable stores. Congress ordered a medal to be struck and presented to General Wayne for his conduct in this affair.
Early in 1780 he led some desultory movements against the British on the lower Hudson, aimed to embarrass their collecting of supplies and cattle and alleviate the attacks on Connecticut. When Arnold attempted to deliver West Point to the British on September 25, 1780, Wayne's prompt movement to that post prevented a British occupation. After the Pennsylvania line revolted in December 1780, Wayne was instrumental in presenting the soldiers' demands for pay and release to Congress and getting Congress to redress their grievances. Wayne was sent south to serve under Lafayette in the Yorktown campaign, opposing Cornwallis on the lower James River.
July 6, 1781, Green Spring, Virginia
When Cornwallis withdrew from Williamsburg, Wayne was to attack part of the British Army that was erroneously supposed to be separated from the rest. With some 800 men, he attacked the British Army of some 5,000 British soldiers at Green Spring, Virginia. Then, upon discovering that he made a mistake, he led a charge into the British lines that deceived Cornwallis long enough to permit Wayne to extricate himself with only minor losses.
May 1782 and 1783, the Georgia Campaign
After the British surrender at Yorktown, Wayne, while serving under General Nathanael Greene, was sent to oppose the British, Loyalist, and Indian hostiles in Georgia. He had the tact to divide the Indian opposition by spreading news of the American victory so that, when the Creek irreconcilables attacked his small force in May 1782, he could rout them. He negotiated treaties of submission with the Creek and Cherokee in the winter of 1782 and 1783. In 1783, he retired from active service as brevet major-general.
From 1783 to 1792, Wayne was engaged in civil pursuits in which he was less fortunate than in military affairs. The state of Georgia conferred upon him an eight-hundred-acre rice plantation, and he borrowed the necessary capital to work it from Dutch creditors, who later foreclosed on the lands.
August 20, 1794, The Battle of Fallen Timbers
After the failure of Harmar and St. Clair to subdue the Indian tribes of the Wabash and Maumee rivers in 1791, Wayne was named by Washington as major-general in command of the rehabilitated American Army. He was vehemently opposed to the peace maneuvers of 1792 and 1793. Still, he improved his time constructing a reliable military organization at his training camp at Legionville, Pa., and, later, near Fort Washington and Fort Jefferson in the Northwest Territory. Wayne defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers on the Maumee River near Toledo, Ohio. This victory was the result of several factors. Wayne had far more resources at his command than had Harmar or St. Clair. He did not hazard an autumn campaign after he received news of the final failure of peace negotiations in August 1793. Wayne was fortunate in that the Indians threw away their opportunity to isolate him when they futilely attacked Fort Recovery on June 29 and lost many discouraged tribe members who went home. He made every effort to avoid offending the British, thus robbing the Indians of the aid they fully expected in the moment of conflict. Finally, when the Indians had assembled at Fallen Timbers to fight, he delayed battle for three days. Therefore, when he attacked, many Indians were at a distance, breaking their three-day fast, and the rest were in a half-starved condition. The complete submission and surrender at Greenville in August 1795 was made possible by Jay's treaty, the British desertion of the Indians, and Wayne's skill in convincing the tribe members of the hopelessness of their cause without British support. He died at Presque Isle, now Erie, Pennsylvania, on his return from the occupation of the post of Detroit.
Source: Anthony Wayne, 1745-1796 by Randolph C. Downes.