Hnau
Banned
Tragedy Precedes Triumph
Rochambeau Defeated at Newport, 1780
On July 11, 1780, Jean-Baptiste Donatein de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau disembarked from his convoy in Newport Harbor with 5,500 soldiers under his command. In his opinion, the situation of the American colonies had become very grim. Paper money had consumed the new economy like a flood, devaluing rapidly, so that little motivated new recruitment to the army. The American army fluctuated regularly between fifteen thousand and three thousand men, and while they fought bravely to defend their homes, they were never very eager to march away from them. The British had taken Savannah and Charleston, and no one knew yet how much farther they would go.
In time, Rochambeau hoped, the French army would strengthen the will of the Americans and lead them to new victories. There were more immediate dangers to worry about in the interim, however. Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves had arrived in British-held New York City with six ships four days before Rochambeau's arrival at Newport [1]. If the British wished to make an attempt to deny the French a base in Newport, they would attack soon, before Rochambeau could dig in, and while a quarter of his men were recovering from scurvy. While artillery was positioned around the harbor and militia were called to reinforce the new French army, the British planned to do just that. Their ships were sighted off Newport on July 16th.
Unbeknownst to Rochambeau, General Henry Clinton had disembarked six thousand men from Throg's Neck on the same day [2]. The convoy arrived at the coast of Rhode Island on July 18th. As the soldiers unloaded from their ships, Admiral Arbuthnot and Admiral Graves prepared for their attack that night. With the last sunlight melting away on the coastal waters, the British ships made their move, and lit the harbor with cannon fire. The French ships held the line, but with infantry arriving from the west, they would not have the protection of guns on the coast for more than a few hours.
Rochambeau knew he was caught in a trap as soon as reconnaissance had revealed the arrival of Clinton's forces. Though many of the sick had been moved to Briston and Tiverton, he ordered the remainder moved there immediately. Admiral Ternay was given the command to pull his ships back to lead the defense of the harbor against British attempts to land troops on any part of the shoreline. Conanicut Island was abandoned by all but a few French soldiers who had missed the last ships back to Newport. American militia streamed into Newport to defend the nascent French base.
The port survived the blockade for three days. By that time, British soldiers had succeeded at landing south of Newport and to the east. The American militia, mostly farmers from Rhode Island and Massachussetts, were badly provisioned and armed, and stores that the French had brought and managed to keep were quickly exhausted. The British forces, meanwhile, benefited from landed at Conanicut Island that could be replenished by their ships. French ships had been sunk and Admiral Ternay urged surrender. Rochambeau pondered what effects this might have on the American Revolution and the war against the British. He had thought of retiring before he had been given this assignment from the King, and he would likely retire if he lived beyond the siege. He would not surrender, but instead do his best to pull back in order to live another day. Newport was abandoned on July 22nd, with Rochambeau relocating his troops to Bristol. The British harried Rochambeau during his withdrawal, until July 28th when news arrived that a large American army had gathered in Kingsbridge. General Clinton ended the pursuit, leaving Admiral Graves to keep the French bottled up in Mt. Hope Bay and fortify Newport with a marginal force. 1,500 French soldiers and 1,500 American militia were casualties during the attack, but the greatest loss was the high morale that the expeditionary force had arrived with.
With many of their supplies left behind in Newport, Rochambeau was in no position to take the harbor back. General Washington had bought his army a respite with his diversionary tactic at Kingsbridge, but once it was realized there would be no attack on New York City, the British reinforced Newport with new ships and soldiers and launched skirmishes throughout Rhode Island. Rochambeau redirected what forces he had left to defend the state, establishing a new base in Warwick, but it was wearisome work, even with new reinforcements arriving through Boston. Under these conditions, his frustration with the Marquis de Lafayette, who continually urged Rochambeau to lead an attack on Newport, turned into anger. His letters back to Paris would be sobering.
[1] Admiral Graves took his time crossing the Atlantic in OTL, even choosing to tow an Indian ship for a time. If he hadn't, it is very likely he would have arrived in America earlier than Rochambeau.
[2] IOTL he disembarked on July 27th. With the earlier arrival of Admiral Graves, a communication mistake between the Army and the Navy is averted by chance, allowing transports to be ready sooner.
---
Thoughts?