The Battle of Monmouth (28 June 1778) was a major battle of the American Revolutionary War. The battle was inconclusive, but the Continental Army was able to demonstrate its growing effectiveness after its six-month encampment at Valley Forge under Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben and the Marquis de Lafayette.
In 1778, the Kingdom of France entered the war on the side of the United States, having been inspired by the American victory at the Battles of Saratoga. The French sent a fleet under the Comte d'Estaing to North America to reinforce George Washington's Continental Army, which had just come out of winter encampment at Valley Forge following months of drilling and transformation into a disciplined army. Fearing that the French would target New York City, Clinton and his army abandoned Philadelphia and planned to march north through New Jersey, where they would set sail from Sandy Hook and across the bay to Manhattan. On 16 June, 3,000 Loyalists and two regiments of Hessians left the city by ship, while the rest of the army, 10,000 men, set out overland with a year's-worth of plunder. As the British retreated, Washington saw a rare chance to fight them on his terms, and, on the night of 27 June, he caught up with the British near Monmouth Court House (now Freehold), New Jersey. After a council of war, he decided to attack the British rear. He gave the honor of leading the charge to his disloyal second-in-command, Charles Lee, who was ironically opposed to the attack.
On the morning of 28 June, Lee and half of the army struck. The British counterattacked twice, but they were beaten back each time. Lee began issuing a series of confused orders, as he was unused to commanding the new army. A fifer later returned to Washington with news that Lee was retreating, and Washington had the fifer arrested for "lying"; however, Washington noticed regiments stream past in retreat, and he rushed into the battle to regain control of his army. When he spotted Lee retreating, he lost his temper and "swore 'till the leaves shook on the trees," as General Charles Scott described it. Only 200 yards from the British, Washington halted the retreat and rallied his men. The British pressed their attack, but the Continentals stood their ground. The blistering and humid heat, well over 100 degrees, was the cruelest foe on the battlefield; several men died of heat stroke, which claimed more casualties than the battle. The setting sun thwarted Washington's hopes of launching a counterattack, and Clinton's army slipped away in the night. The British retreated down Kings Highway, Monmouth Avenue, and Navesink Avenue towards Sandy Hook, from which they sailed back to New York. The longest battle of the war ended in a draw, but Washington's newly-disciplined army proved itself for the first time.