The Battle of Monmouth and Washington’s ‘Superb’ Leadership

Today is the anniversary of the 1778 Battle of Monmouth during the American Revolution, a battle which proved fatal to the career of cowardly Gen. Charles Lee but which showed Gen. George Washington at his most energetic and commanding. The Marquis de Lafayette said of Washington at Monmouth, “I thought then as now I had never beheld so superb a man.”

The Battle of Monmouth Court House was part of the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777–1778. Washington had sent his second-in-command Gen. Lee to attack the British troops under Sir Henry Clinton from behind, as Washington brought up the rest of his army from winter quarters at Valley Forge. Lee made tactical errors—most especially, he suddenly decided to retreat back to Valley Forge and give Clinton time to regroup! Amidst Lee’s none-too-orderly retreat, Washington arrived on the scene.

George Washington was famous for how self-controlled he was, but… it is not surprising that Lee’s disastrous mistake, at a crucial moment, and possibly as a prelude to mass casualties, should make Washington explode into a rage that became legendary among those who witnessed it… Fortunately, Washington had arrived in time to save the day. He rode through the ranks of American soldiers, inspiring them, reorganizing them…

Washington had turned a defeatist retreat into a victory that cemented his status as a “superb” leader and brave hero, the commander who led from the front…