Espionage
Exploiting Night
Deception
Silence
Fortification
and Use of Terrain
Washington
also had a good understanding of the geographic factors affecting the use of the
military power. He was very careful to let his troops be bottled up without a
way to retreat.
- Washington
was a proponent of gathering intelligence and formulating his decisions
based on information that he gathered.
Exploiting Night
- Washington
employed the tactic of exploiting the night on several occasions. At the
Siege of Boston, Washington chose to draw out the British using the element
of surprise. Washington ordered his troops to assemble fortification during
the daylight and move it into place using oxen in the dark of night.
Deception
- Washington
sent fake orders to his troops at Long Island, ordering them to attack after
nightfall, while actually withdrawing all of his troops instead. Many of his
officers and most of the troops didn’t know his true intent until they were
actually retreating. The few that were informed stayed back during the
retreat to stoke campfires, making the British believe that the army was
still in place. In this retreat, not a single man out of 9,000 was lost. At
Boston, Washington ordered barrels filled with soil and rocks to be added to
fortifications to make them appear stronger than they actually were. When
fighting commenced, these barrels were pushed down the hill to knock down
advancing enemy troops.
Silence
- Today
we call it radio silence, but during the Revolutionary War, when messages
were sent orally or on paper, Washington used the tactic of silence to quit
all communication with Boston before the siege to prevent his plans from
reaching enemy ears.
Fortification
and Use of Terrain
Washington
also had a good understanding of the geographic factors affecting the use of the
military power. He was very careful to let his troops be bottled up without a
way to retreat.