American War of Independence

A

Battles Around New York

Washington had taken up positions on Long Island and Manhattan Island awaiting Howe's opening move. On August 22, 1776, it came at last, as British troops began landing in Gravesend Bay. During the next five days the American troops were driven back to Brooklyn Heights, where they were defeated in the Battle of Long Island. They were removed in boats across the East River to Manhattan during the night of August 29-30, under Washington's personal supervision and without interference by a greatly superior enemy force. Still moving with great caution, Howe pushed Washington's forces northwards; an indecisive skirmish on Manhattan Island was followed by the Battle of White Plains (October 28), also without a clear victor. In November Howe's forces took the two forts Washington had constructed to keep the British fleet from using the Hudson River. Washington retreated south-westwards across New Jersey and then (December 8) across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Convinced that the Americans were thoroughly beaten and that the Continental Congress would sue for peace, Howe did not pursue Washington, but merely established several outposts in New Jersey and settled down in winter quarters to wait for spring.

B

Trenton and Princeton

Howe had not underestimated the weakness of the American army towards the end of 1776. It consisted of fewer than 3,000 men, badly clothed and equipped and poorly fed. In spite of strenuous efforts by Washington and others to recruit new troops, few citizens cared to join an army that appeared on the point of collapse. Total defeat and the end of the new nation seemed to be at hand, but by a masterstroke of strategy, Washington kept the cause alive.

On Christmas night, in a blinding snowstorm, Washington led his troops across the Delaware and with a surprise attack overwhelmed some 1,200 Hessian soldiers in Trenton, taking more than 900 prisoners. On January 3 Washington struck again, routing three regiments of a British force in the Battle of Princeton. He then took up a strong position on high ground at Morristown in north central New Jersey. The British retreated to New York, leaving the revitalized American army in full control of New Jersey.

VII

The Campaign of 1777-1778

British strategy for the campaign of 1777 was determined by the secretary of state for the American Department, Lord George Germain, who prepared to put down the rebellion before the end of the year. He planned to divide the colonies in two, separating New England, already blockaded by sea, from the southern colonies. A British army under Major General John Burgoyne was to land in Canada and move south from Montreal to Albany, New York. Another force of British and Native Americans under Colonel Barry St Leger was to move east from Lake Ontario through the Mohawk Valley and meet Burgoyne's troops at Albany. Finally, Howe was to send a force from New York up the Hudson Valley to join the other two columns at Albany. The plan was too complicated to be successful on such rough terrain and with poor communications. St Leger marched east to Fort Stanwix but was unable to capture it, and he retreated on the approach of a relief force under Benedict Arnold (now a Major General).

A

Saratoga

Burgoyne, with about 7,000 men, was at first successful. On July 6 he took Fort Ticonderoga, and by July 29 he had reached the upper Hudson River, where he waited for additional supplies from Canada. Meanwhile, he sent a Hessian foraging party east into Vermont; this force was cut to pieces in the Battle of Bennington by Vermont and New Hampshire militia. The battle not only cost Burgoyne heavy casualties but stimulated American militia enlistments. Burgoyne proceeded south in September but his troops were further depleted in two battles near Saratoga with militiamen and Continental troops commanded by Major General Horatio Gates. On October 17 Burgoyne surrendered his army, reduced to fewer than 5,000 men, to Gates.

B

Howe's Capture of Philadelphia

Germain approved both Burgoyne's plan for British troops to cut off New England from the south, and Howe's plan to move south with the main British army and attack Philadelphia. Such plans, Howe imagined, would quickly end the war. He landed (August 25) at the head of Chesapeake Bay and marched on Philadelphia. Washington vainly tried to check him at Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania, but on September 26 Howe entered Philadelphia. Before his advance, the Continental Congress fled, first to York, Pennsylvania, and then to Baltimore. On October 4, Washington attacked Howe at Germantown, just north of Philadelphia, but was defeated after hard fighting. Washington, with about 11,000 men, then went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. A few months later he was joined by Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian officer who would help forge the Continental army into a professional fighting force and take part in the Battle of Monmouth and the siege of Yorktown.