Known as the "forgotten victory," the Battle of Springfield demonstrated the American spirit and English animosity more than perhaps any other battle in the American War for Independence. Here, American militia and Continental infantry, some with wadding from Presbyterian hymnals, turned back a British-Hessian army of more than twice their strength. Their British opponents were those who hired foreign mercenaries to betray their own countrymen, because not enough men in England were willing to do so. This was the last major battle in the north, and a climax in the enduring tale of American liberty.
The year was 1780, and in the midst of Benedict Arnold's betrayal, British General Clinton ventured south to the Carolinas. During Clinton's absence, Hessian Lieutenant General Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen decided to risk a march through New Jersey. After the humiliating defeat of the Battle of Connecticut Farms at Hobart Gap, Knyphausen was forced to withdraw, while Washington planed a night attack. Clinton rushed back with reinforcements from the Carolinas, and was furious to find out that Knyphausen had started without him. Clinton found out the hard way how mercenary leadership functions in the context of conflict. The Hessian Knyphausen was a mercenary, fighting for money, not his own empire. He was fighting a war that was not his own, and had little to lose in an adventure. Washington, believing that Clinton would make for West Point next, marched on ahead to West Point, leaving only about 1,500 regulars and 500 militia at Morristown to defend New Jersey under the charge of General Nathanial Greene. Because Clinton expected that Arnold would soon turn over to British command the fort at West Point, he instead ordered on June 23rd that Knyphausen once more approach Hobart Gap, while Clinton himself moved up the Hudson to stop Washington from rescuing Green.
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