Battle of Newtown

The Battle of Newtown (August 29, 1779), was a major battle of the Sullivan Expedition, an armed offensive led by General John Sullivan that was ordered by the Continental Congress to end the threat of the Iroquois who had sided with the British in the American Revolutionary War. John Butler and Joseph Brant did not want to make a stand at Newtown, but proposed instead to harass the enemy on the march, but they were overruled by Sayenqueraghta and other Indian chiefs. The Battle of Chemung (August 13, 1779) was the only other major battle of the Sullivan Expedition where the Continental force lost six dead and nine wounded.

This battle, which was the most significant military engagement of the Sullivan Campaign of 1779 and played a crucial role in America's Revolutionary War, took place at the foot of a hill along the Chemung River just outside what is now Elmira, New York.

Terrain

The engagement occurred along a tall hill, now called Sullivan Hill and part of the Newtown Battlefield State Park. The hillside, running southeast to northwest next to the Chemung River, was a mile long at its crest, which rose 600 feet (180 m) above the road at its base leading into Newtown. The slope of the hill was covered with pine and dense growth of shrub oak. Hoffman Hollow, a marshy area of small hillocks and thick stands of trees, was just to the east of the hill. A small watercourse, called Baldwin Creek, ran through the hollow and emptied into the Chemung River (referred to as the Cayuga branch in Sullivan's reports). The creek followed the hill northwest on the opposite side from the river and had steep western banks.