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    The 8th Virginia's Generals

    Brandywine & Germantown Charleston & Sunbury Generals Organization Trenton & Princeton Valley Forge & Monmouth
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    Brigadier General Charles Scott (shown here in a 19th century uniform) commanded the 8th longer than any other brigade commander. He was later elected Governor of Kentucky and was active alongside many other veterans in the Northwest Indian War.

    A dozen different generals commanded the 8th Virginia at various times and levels during its roughly 30-month existence.  The Continental Army grades of general officers were: general (Washington), major general (typically division commanders), and brigadier generals (brigade commanders). The army was organized into departments: Canadian, northern, Highlands, eastern, main, southern, and western. Washington was the de facto commander of the middle (or "main") department for most of the war.

    Major General Charles Lee (junior only to Washington in the entire army) was commander of the Southern Department during the 8th Virginia's 1776 service in that theater. At the same time, a large number of 8th Virginia men were detached to the 1st Virginia under the command of Pittsburgh’s Captain William Croghan. While the rest of the regiment went south from Virginia to serve in South Carolina and Georgia under Lee, Croghan’s detachment went north to serve in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania with Washington.
    In 1777, the main body of the regiment served in Maj. Gen. Adam Stephen's division at Brandywine and Germantown. A small group of riflemen from the 8th were detached to Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Battalion under the command of Captain James Knox and participated in the Saratoga campaign. A few dozen were detached for a month to William Maxwell's Light Infantry in August and September of 1777 under the command of Captain (later and retroactively Major) William Darke, at Cooch's Bridge and Brandywine. Stephen was replaced by the Marquis de Lafayette late in the year.

    In 1778, with its ranks severely depleted by disease, casualties, and expired enlistments, the 8th was folded into the 4th Virginia after the Battle of Monmouth.
     
    1776 Southern Campaign (Sullivan’s Island, Savannah, Sunbury):
     
    Gen. George Washington, Commander in Chief (not present)
    Maj. Gen. Charles Lee, Commander of the Southern District
    Brig. Gen. Andrew Lewis (Tidewater service)
    Brig. Gen. Robert Howe (Cape Fear, Charleston, Savannah, Sunbury)
     
    Captain Croghan Detachment attached to 1st Virginia (White Plains, Trenton, Assunpink Creek, Princeton):
     
    Maj. Gen. Joseph Spencer (White Plains)
    Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene (Trenton and Princeton)
    Col. George Weedon (temporary brigade at Fort Washington)
    Brig. Gen. William Alexander, Earl of Stirling (White Plains through Trenton)
    Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer (Princeton)
     
    1777 Philadelphia Campaign (Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge)
     
    Gen. George Washington, Commander in Chief
    Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln (New Jersey rendezvous)
    Maj. Gen. Adam Stephen (Brandywine, Germantown)
    Maj. Gen. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (Valley Forge)
    Brig. Gen. Charles Scott
     
    Captain Knox Detachment under Colonel Daniel Morgan (Saratoga)
     
    Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates
    Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln
     
    Captain Darke Detachment in Maxwell's Light Infantry (Cooch's Bridge, Brandywine)

    Brig. Gen. William Maxwell

    1778 Campaign (Valley Forge, Monmouth):
     
    Gen. George Washington, Commander in Chief
    Maj. Gen. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
    Maj. Gen. Charles Lee (at Monmouth)
    Brig. Gen. Charles Scott
    ​Col. William Grayson (temporary brigade commander at Monmouth)

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    Lafayette, we are here!

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    Watching news of the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, I'm thinking about the longstanding alliance America has with France. France was our first important ally--we may not have won the Revolution with out her. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, is a great symbol of our friendship. In 1777, the 8th Virginia fought at Brandywine alongside a 19 year-old French volunteer named Lafayette.  After the Battle of Germantown, Lafayette was given his own Division, and the 8th was part of it. In 1921 Frank Schoonover depicted Lafayette encouraging the men in front of the regiment's banner in this painting.

    Many years later, America honored the alliance by sending soldiers across the Atlantic to save France.  On July 4, 1917 American Colonel Charles Stanton went to Lafayette's tomb and said, "America has joined forces with the Allied Powers, and what we have of blood and treasure are yours. Therefore it is that with loving pride we drape the colors in tribute of respect to this citizen of your great republic. And here and now, in the presence of the illustrious dead, we pledge our hearts and our honor in carrying this war to a successful issue. Lafayette, we are here."

    The words "Lafayette, we are here!" ("Lafayette, Nous Voila!") were once famous. Ninety-eight years ago, they gave hope to France--even to those behind enemy lines. They gave meaning to the service of that war's late-arriving American troops and to the sacrifice of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy 27 years later. The World War I generation is gone, and the currency of the phrase has largely gone with them. Today is a good day to revive it.
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    Fort Lee's Despicable Namesake

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    George Washington's second in command was not a good man.
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    With all the unwelcome attention Fort Lee, N.J., has received lately, people might wonder why a Northern town carries the Southern-sounding name Lee. It is indeed named for a high-ranking general from Virginia — but not the obvious one. This one is buried right here in Philadelphia.

    Charles Lee was a frustrated British army officer who came to America in 1773 after being repeatedly passed over for promotions in London. After buying a home in Berkeley County, Va. (now in West Virginia), he schmoozed his way into a major general’s commission from the Continental Congress. Like that of an out-of-control rock star, his career soared to stratospheric heights and then plummeted to the lowest of depths in just a few years.
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    Though he could be charming, Lee was not a good man. His approach to military discipline was to “flog them in scores.” Though he hated King George III, a relative of Lee’s wrote, “I think His Majesty and poor Mr. Lee are much upon a par; they are both vain and obstinate.”

    ...continue to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

    [Note: Since this essay first appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 2, 2014, new research by Mark  Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone (Fatal Sunday) and Christian McBurney (George Washington's Nemesis) have painted a more positive picture of General Lee's conduct at Monmouth,]

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