There Was a USS Montgomery in the American Revolution

Earlier this month, I wrote about the current USS Montgomery (LCS-8).  I found out there were also USS Montgomerys in the War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War II.

I will write about them in my blogs.

From Wikipedia.

USS MONTGOMERY (1776)

Was a three-masted, wooden sailing frigate and one of the first 13 ships authorized by the Continental Congress on 13 December 1775.  

She was built by Lancaster Burling at Poughkeepsie, New York, and launched late in October 1776.  But because the British captured New York City after the Battle of Brooklyn, the Hudson River was closed.  Because of this, the ship was never completed and later destroyed.

It was probably built to the standards of Joshua Humphry's design for a 24-gun frigate mounting twenty-four 9-pounder guns.

It was named in honor of fallen general Richard Montgomery, who had been a British soldier but sided with  the Americans and was appointed  a brigadier general by George Washington  he was later killed in a failed assault on  Quebec,  31 December 1775.

To prevent capture by the British,  the USS Montgomery was burned on 6 October 1777.

--Cooter

The Fog That Saved George Washington-- Part 2: It Was So Thick....

The British planned to strike again the next morning, August 29, but a dense fog delayed that attack.

George Washington ordered his men "to impress every kind of watercraft ... that could be kept afloat... and have them  in the east harbor of the city by dark."  

Fog like what happened is atypical to New York weather,  but it held for the entire day.  The boats were gathered and a night time evacuation accomplished across the river to Manhattan.

This fortuitous fog  saved about 9,000 men of the fledgling Continental Army which could in no way afford to lose them.  That most likely would have ended the Revolution right there.

The British awoke the next morning, August 30 to capture Washington and his men, but they had just simply vanished into the fog.

--DaCoot

The Fog That Saved Washington-- Part 1

From the June 28, 2018, ListVerse "10 coincidences that helped shape US history" by Christopher Dale.

The United States came incredibly close to surviving just six weeks.  (That would be after the Declaration of Independence was passed.)

In August 1776, General George Washington and the bulk of the Continental Army was defending present-day Brooklyn.  In what became known as the Battle of Long Island, his forces were outnumbered, outflanked and outfought.

Even considered the lopsided British victories during these early stages of the war, this was an outright disaster.

On August 27,  970 Continental soldiers were dead or wounded and more than 1,000 taken prisoner.  Meanwhile, the British lost just 63 men.

Washington had his back to the East River and at least 15,000 British troops closing in on him.  Things looked bleaker than bleak.  But, then Mother Nature came to the rescue.

The next day it pored, causing both armies to stop.

And, Then....  --Cooter