Springfield (First)

On June 23, 1780, forces clashed at Springfield in Union County, New Jersey, in an engagement of the American Revolutionary War. This confrontation followed close on the heels of the fight at Connecticut Farms on June 7, 1780, which had thwarted Lieutenant General Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen, in his bid to strike General George Washington's troops stationed at Morristown. Undeterred, Knyphausen joined with Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander-in-chief throughout North America, in planning a renewed push toward the same objective. British troops managed early gains and pressed forward, yet fresh rebel reinforcements soon arrived and turned the tide, compelling a retreat that handed the Continentals a victory. With this defeat, any remaining British hopes of gaining ground in New Jersey came to a close.

Battle

The strategy called for a pincer movement executed by two columns. From Elizabethtown Point, one force would march up the Galloping Hill Road, passing directly through Connecticut Farms and on into Springfield, while a second force pushed north via the Vauxhall Road, skirting the southern edge of Short Hills. Just as on June 7, both columns aimed for Hobart Gap, the mountain passage through the Watchung range that opened onto eleven flat miles leading to Washington's principal camp at Morristown.

Clinton anticipated that Washington might counter Knyphausen's push by swinging his main force around the northern edge of the Watchung Mountains, west of Newark, to strike at Knyphausen's right flank. To guard against this, Major General Alexander Leslie was sent up the Hudson with 6,000 troops, tasked with blocking any American retreat behind the mountains. At the same time, Major General James Robertson held five regiments, totaling 1,865 men, in reserve at Elizabethtown, ready to shield Knyphausen's rear from militia harassment and to bolster Leslie's position if needed.

Before dawn, at 5 a.m. on June 23, Knyphausen's men set out toward Elizabethtown Point, led by the Queen's Rangers and the New Jersey Volunteers. The American pickets at Elizabethtown were quickly overrun, yielding several prisoners and three light cannons to the attackers. Alerted by fleeing soldiers, General Maxwell dispatched Colonel Elias Dayton's 3rd New Jersey Regiment to hold the Galloping Hill Road, while Henry Lee's 2nd Partisan Corps took up position along the Vauxhall Road. Contact soon followed between the Loyalist vanguard and Maxwell's men, forcing him and his brigade to withdraw toward Connecticut Farms. Elsewhere, General Greene had the wooden planking torn away from the Vauxhall and Galloping Hill bridges spanning the Rahway River.

On the left, along the Galloping Hill Road, Greene arranged four successive defensive lines. Connecticut Farms fell to the charge of Dayton's 3rd New Jersey along with militia under Brigadier General Nathaniel Heard. Just behind them stood Colonel Israel Angell's 2nd Rhode Island Regiment, its ranks thinned by sickness and lapsed enlistments down to a mere 160 men, charged with holding the Galloping Hill Bridge. Further back, at a crossing over the Rahway's west branch, Greene stationed Colonel Israel Shreve with his 2nd New Jersey Regiment, and behind him waited Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson with a body of New Jersey militia. On the opposite flank, Greene strengthened Major Lee's position at Vauxhall Bridge by adding Colonel Matthias Ogden's 1st New Jersey Regiment. As a reserve, Greene kept the remainder of Maxwell's and Stark's brigades atop the high ground at Bryan's Tavern in the Short Hills.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Barton's New Jersey Volunteers now pushed toward Connecticut Farms, clashing with Dayton's troops, who held favorable ground amid an orchard and thicket. Though outnumbered by more than two to one, Barton's soldiers found themselves stalled. The tide turned when Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe led his Queen's Rangers around the American left and struck from behind. Dayton and Heard's men were quickly overwhelmed, and Connecticut Farms passed into British control. Heard, along with some of his militia, pulled back north to reinforce the troops guarding Vauxhall Bridge.

Knyphausen then redirected the Queen's Rangers, New Jersey Volunteers, Guards Battalion, and most remaining British units away from the Galloping Hill Road toward Vauxhall Road, seeking to turn the flank of those defending Galloping Hill Bridge. He himself pressed on toward the bridge with 3,000 men, made up of the British 37th and 38th regiments alongside the bulk of

Aftermath

This clash ranked among the final large scale actions fought in the northern theater during the war for independence, and it brought British hopes in New Jersey to a definitive close. As the war's pivotal fighting shifted toward the south, this engagement earned the label of the "forgotten victory" at Springfield. Washington commended the performance of the New Jersey Militia, noting that they had rushed to take up weapons without exception and had shown courage matching anything he had witnessed throughout the conflict. Roughly three and a half weeks afterward, the smaller scale Battle of Bull's Ferry took place.

The spots along the river where American troops made their stand can be found today near where Vauxhall Road meets Millburn Avenue, as well as along Morris Avenue close to Washington Avenue.