Post by Herb on Jul 23, 2007 9:58:23 GMT -5
Popular Culture holds a lot of beliefs about the Alamo that appear to disagree with facts found in the primary sources/accounts, an example is Mexican causalities, which according to the primary accounts were only about 70 killed and 250 hospitalized wounded. How in the world could 180 plus defenders with 18 cannon defend a fortified position only inflict so few causalities and lose every man themselves?
The answer as Joe tells us is of course SURPRISE. The believers in popular culture of course tell us that Joe got it wrong and the Mexicans' internal operating documents are lies.
But, a mere 57 years earlier, at Stony Point an American force won a much more dramatic victory. The reason: SURPRISE.
In the Spring of 1779, the British Army seized the American fort at Stony Point on the Hudson, in a surprise attack, as a preliminary move for an assault on West Point later that summer. The British General Clinton, sought this engagement as he hoped this would force Washington to fight a decisive battle that would hopefully, for Clinton, result in the destruction of Washington's Army and the end of the American Revolution.
Clinton was right in his assumptions, for Washington assembled his army at West Point in preparation for a decisive battle. However, before Clinton could advance up the Hudson, Washington launched his own surprise attack on Stony Point.
The British Army was defending Stony Point, with 700 regulars and 15 cannon (not the 180-250 semi trained volunteers as at the Alamo). The attacking American Force numbered only 200 Light Infantry under "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The Americans launched their attack shortly after midnight July 15, 1779. With the exception of a select group of soldiers designated to take out the British sentries with musket fire, the whole attack was conducted by bayonet assault (in fact the men had been ordered to remove the flints from their muskets). The fighting was over by 2 AM, the British lost 676 men killed, wounded or captured, the Americans suffered nearly 100 men killed and wounded out of the attacking force of 200 (the Forlorn Hope that led the assault lost 17 out 0f 20 men).
An American force with less than 1/3 the strength of the defending fortress carried the work at the bayonet and suffered only 1/6th the total losses of the defenders. Yet, the results of Santa Anna's assault with an almost 10 - 1 advantage over the defenders under somewhat similar circumstances (and similar weapons) are called impossible by the popular culture.
Numbers for the Battle at Stony Point are from Almost a Miracle by John Ferling.
The answer as Joe tells us is of course SURPRISE. The believers in popular culture of course tell us that Joe got it wrong and the Mexicans' internal operating documents are lies.
But, a mere 57 years earlier, at Stony Point an American force won a much more dramatic victory. The reason: SURPRISE.
In the Spring of 1779, the British Army seized the American fort at Stony Point on the Hudson, in a surprise attack, as a preliminary move for an assault on West Point later that summer. The British General Clinton, sought this engagement as he hoped this would force Washington to fight a decisive battle that would hopefully, for Clinton, result in the destruction of Washington's Army and the end of the American Revolution.
Clinton was right in his assumptions, for Washington assembled his army at West Point in preparation for a decisive battle. However, before Clinton could advance up the Hudson, Washington launched his own surprise attack on Stony Point.
The British Army was defending Stony Point, with 700 regulars and 15 cannon (not the 180-250 semi trained volunteers as at the Alamo). The attacking American Force numbered only 200 Light Infantry under "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The Americans launched their attack shortly after midnight July 15, 1779. With the exception of a select group of soldiers designated to take out the British sentries with musket fire, the whole attack was conducted by bayonet assault (in fact the men had been ordered to remove the flints from their muskets). The fighting was over by 2 AM, the British lost 676 men killed, wounded or captured, the Americans suffered nearly 100 men killed and wounded out of the attacking force of 200 (the Forlorn Hope that led the assault lost 17 out 0f 20 men).
An American force with less than 1/3 the strength of the defending fortress carried the work at the bayonet and suffered only 1/6th the total losses of the defenders. Yet, the results of Santa Anna's assault with an almost 10 - 1 advantage over the defenders under somewhat similar circumstances (and similar weapons) are called impossible by the popular culture.
Numbers for the Battle at Stony Point are from Almost a Miracle by John Ferling.
