faced his first challenge when, in May of 1778, a French fleet, carrying 4,000 troops and consisting of 11 warships, set sail toward America. This force was far superior to any that the British could supply at the time. Fearing a new war with France, Clinton was ordered to detach about 8,000 of his 10,000 troops to the West Indies and Florida and send the rest to New York City. This was all supposed to be done by way of naval transport. However, Clinton had hardly the vessels needed to transport the 3,000 horses that came with the troops. He decided instead to march the whole of his force to New York City, and detach the needed troops there. On June 17, 1778 Clinton began his march. His force consisted of 10,000 troops, which were accompanied, and hampered by, swarms of Tory refugees. The Tories turned out to be an incredible nuisance to Sir Clinton as he marched toward New York. The excessive amounts of baggage, and the poor wagons used to carry said baggage, slowed the progress of the British Regulars to, at times, nine miles a day. This being said, the baggage train exceeded twelve miles in length. It is possible that one could have sat in the same spot for an entire day and never seen the end of this incredibly slow, incredibly long, and incredibly vulnerable procession. This is not to say that the Americans did not take great pride in hampering the progress of the British. As soon as the last Tory walked out of Philadelphia, the first American walked in. On June 18, 1778 Philadelphia became, once again, an American held city. As soon as the American flag was raised, they set out to be the “best nuisance possible to the British, ” as one skirmisher wrote. General Maxwell did an excellent job, slowing the British movement to almost a crawl, as stated above. There was one minor engagement that was the direct cause of an act to be a thorn in the British side. At Crosswicks, three regiments under Cols. Frelinghusen, Van...
