Surrender

Surrender of U.S. Arms

Along with many celebrated victories, the U.S. armed forces have a long history with surrender. During the American Revolution (1775–1783), the American general Benjamin Lincoln chose to defend Charleston, South Carolina, with 2,500 troops, many in ill health, against the British general Henry Clinton’s force of 13,000 troops. He was concerned that if he abandoned the region, loyalists might lead South Carolina to strike a separate peace with the British. The Siege of Charleston began on April 1, 1780, and Lincoln could only hold out for a few weeks, capitulating on May 12. Although Clinton paroled Lincoln and several of his officers, most of the American troops remained prisoners of war (POWs) for some weeks.

Several highly criticized surrenders by U.S. forces took place during the War of 1812 (1812–1815), none more controversial than General William Hull’s capitulation at Detroit. Charged with establishing a base for an offensive into Canada, his troops were nonetheless ill supplied and ill armed. The British general Isaac Brock, with effective artillery and two warships, sent a surrender demand on August 15, 1812, but Hull initially refused. On the 16th, after a day’s bombardment, Brock launched an assault, but as his troops neared the entrenchments, Hull displayed the white flag. He surrendered about 800 men, opened the northwestern frontier to British and Indian attacks, and quashed the U.S. dream of conquering Canada.

A worse surrender of U.S. arms during the Civil War occurred at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. As part of the 1862 Confederate offensive into Maryland, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson attacked that town to secure its arsenal. Colonel Dixon S. Miles of the Union, however, failed to defend the surrounding heights, so on September 15, after Jackson arrayed some 90 cannon and bombarded the city, Miles decided to surrender. He was killed by artillery shot just after he informed his officers. All told, the Union surrendered 12,400 soldiers.

The surrender at Harper’s Ferry would remain the worst for U.S. arms until the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941. Facing the Japanese force under General Masaharu Homma, General Douglas MacArthur ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Manila to the Bataan Peninsula and established a new headquarters on Corregidor Island just off the coast to the south. Under orders, he left for Australia on March 11, 1942, and commanded his successor General Jonathan Wainwright not to surrender. But as Homma pushed south, and with only 25% of the force available to fight, ground commander General Edward King found his position untenable. On April 9, he surrendered 78,000 troops, both Filipino and American. It remains the largest surrender of U.S. forces. Homma continued to Corregidor and on May 6, compelled Wainwright to surrender another 11,000 soldiers.

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