Wayne takes Stony Point by bayonet; 1,350 men climb the dark slope in silence and the garrison surrenders in twenty-five minutes

By the summer of 1779, Washington's army needed a win. British forces under General Henry Clinton had pushed up the Hudson and fortified Stony Point, a rocky outcrop guarding the Kings Ferry crossing. Just after midnight on July 16, Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led 1,350 light infantrymen up its steep slopes in a silent bayonet charge, muskets unloaded to prevent accidental gunfire. Twenty-five minutes later the garrison had surrendered, and Wayne sent Washington word: the fort was theirs…