Battle of Harlem Heights

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Date	September 16, 1776
Location	New York, New York
Result	American victory

Combatants

Continental Army

British Army
Hessian Army

Commanders

George Washington
Nathaniel Greene
Israel Putnam
Thomas Knowlton

Alexander Leslie

Strength

2,000

5,000

Casualties

30 killed, 100 wounded

90 killed, 300 wounded

New York and New Jersey, 1776–1777
Long Island – Kip's Bay – Harlem Heights – Pell's Point – White Plains – Fort Washington – 1st Trenton – 2nd Trenton – Princeton – Forage War – Bound Brook

The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought in the New York Campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The action took place in what is now the Morningside Heights and west Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City on September 16, 1776.

The Americans—under Generals George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, and Israel Putnam, totaling around 2,000 men—held a series of high ground positions in upper Manhattan against an attacking British division totaling around 5,000 men under the command of General Alexander Leslie. British troops made what became a tactical error by sounding a fox hunt bugle call while in pursuit, meant to insult the Continentals, who were in orderly retreat. This instead infuriated the Americans who galvanized to hold their ground and rallied for victory.

1 Early skirmishes
2 Battle
- 2.1 Fox hunt
3 Aftermath
4 References

[edit] Early skirmishes

General Washington was in considerable anxiety at the inability of his troops to stand up to the British and Hessians of General William Howe’s army. Step by step, the Americans were being driven off the island of New York, now Manhattan. Washington only held the northern plateau of the island around the fortification of Fort Washington on the Hudson shore. He sent a force under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton to scout the British movements to the south of his position. He descended from the northern plateau into an area of lower ground known as the Hollow Way and on to the next plateau.

[edit] Battle

The British moved further onto the northern plateau as the Americans fell back before them. As they moved south, the American flanking party encountered some British troops and firing broke out, warning the light infantry that they were in a perilous position. The fighting ranged north before Washington decided to send the 3rd Virginia Regiment under Major Leitch and Knowlton’s Rangers forward in two flanking maneuvers. Three brigades from the division of Nathaniel Greene made a feint to attack the British in their front.

[edit] Fox hunt

The 42nd Regiment of Foot (the Black Watch) came up, reinforced by the 33rd Regiment of Foot and the Hessian Musketeer Regiment von Donop. The Rangers were forced to retreat in some haste, with the British in pursuit. Washington ordered a force forward to lure the party of British further onto the plateau, while a second force moved around the British right flank and cut them off from the southern plateau and further reinforcement.

One of Howe's subordinates made a critical mistake during the fight. A fox horn was sounded before the fight was over. The American forces heard the horn and this motivated the rebels to fight even harder. Although the Americans attacked before the British were surrounded, and Leitch and Knowlton were both mortally wounded, the British found themselves attacked on 3 sides and began their retreat. Under persistent attack, the British retreated to a field in the Hollow Way. The fighting continued for an hour until the imminent arrival of more British forces, under Cornwallis, caused Washington to call his troops back. Washington considered that after Kip's Bay, the Americans were not ready for a general engagement with the full British army.

[edit] Aftermath

The British and Hessians suffered nearly 400 casualties—about 90 killed and 300 wounded. The Americans had only about 100 wounded and 30 killed, including Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton.

[edit] References

Hopper Striker Mott, The New York of Yesterday: A Descriptive Narrative of Old Bloomingdale, 1908.
Peter Salwen, Upper West Side Story 1989, ISBN 0-89659-894-2.
Bruce Bliven, Jr. Battle for Manhattan, [1955].
Barnet Schecter, The Battle for New York, [2002], ISBN 0-8027-1374-2.