Wayne's Light Infantry
Wayne's Light Infantry
WAYNE'S LIGHT INFANTRY. Relying on small partisan corps, including Major Henry Lee's legion, for outpost duty early in the campaigning season, General Washington waited until 15 June 1779 to reconstitute the Corps of Light Infantry. Colonel Richard Butler of Pennsylvania supervised the assembly of the four battalions at Fort Montgomery, in the Hudson Highlands, until Washington directed Brigadier General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania to assume command of the Continental Army's elite light infantry corps on 1 July. The composition of his twelve-hundred-man force is given in the entry on the attack on Stony Point (16 July 1779), the most famous engagement in the history of the Continental Army's light infantry and one that demonstrated that at least some American soldiers were now mature professionals. On 30 November orders were issued for the corps to disband but for the companies to be ready to reassemble on one day's notice. Before these orders had been completely executed, several companies were retained around West Point to meet any movements the British might make up the Hudson. Washington wrote to Wayne on 28 December ordering all companies to return to their parent organizations, adding: "Before the separation of the corps, I beg the favor of you to present my warmest thanks to the officers and men and assure them that I have a high sense of the zeal, gallantry, and good conduct of the former and of the bravery and fidelity of the latter" (Washington, 17, p. 329).
SEE ALSO Butler, Richard; Lee, Henry ("Light-Horse Harry"); Light Infantry; Stony Point, New York; Wayne, Anthony.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Washington, George. The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Manuscript Sources. Vol. 15: May 6, 1779–July 28, 1779. Edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
――――――. The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Manuscript Sources. Vol. 17: October 21, 1779–February 9, 1780. Edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1937.
revised by Harold E. Selesky