Anthony Wayne launches risky attack against British forces | July 16, 1779 | HISTORY

This battle is celebrated in Army Engineer circles!

On July 16, 1779, American Brigadier General Anthony Wayne launches a coup de main against British fortifications at Stony Point, New York, on the orders of General George Washington. He earns the moniker “Mad” Anthony Wayne for the ensuing maneuver.

On the night of 15-16 July, Lt. Col. Francois de Fleury, an Engineer in command of a battalion in the 1st Regiment of BG Anthony Wayne’s Corps of Light Infantry, led one of two simultaneous attacks on Stony Point. In the hour after midnight, the 29-year-old de Fleury single-handedly struck the colors of the British 17th Regiment of Foot. Invaders and defenders engaged in furious hand-to-hand combat. The whole encounter was brief. At two in the morning, General Wayne triumphantly wrote Washington: "The fort and garrison . . . are ours. Our officers and men behaved like men who are determined to be free."

The British fort on the cliffs at Stony Point overlooking the Hudson River threatened West Point, which was only 12 miles upriver. Wayne, at the head of 1,200 light infantry, successfully assaulted what the British believed was an impregnable position, losing only 15 killed and 83 wounded while the British lost 94 killed and wounded and 472 captured. Remarkably, the attack took place under cover of darkness, employed only bayonets as weaponry and lasted a mere 30 minutes. Two days later, Wayne, now dubbed “mad” for his enthusiastic and successful undertaking of a mission that had seemed doomed to failure, destroyed the fortifications and evacuated the area.

In recognition of their bold, decisive action at Stony Point, Congress awarded a gold medal to Wayne and silver medals to de Fleury and Major John Stewart, who commanded a battalion in the 2nd Regiment of Wayne’s Corps. Congress noted that de Fleury and Stewart "exhibited a bright example to their brother soldiers, and merit in a particular manner the approbation and acknowledgment of the United States." De Fleury, one of several French engineers to volunteer for service in the Continental Army, was the only foreigner so honored during the Revolutionary War.