*After being forced out of Boston, the British under General Sir William Howe planned to invade New York and New Jersey with the help of his brother, Admiral Lord Richard Howe.  Together they had about 25,000 regulars and 10,000 sailors, while Washington was only able to muster about 19,000 soldiers, mostly militia.

 

*Among Howe’s soldiers were about 9,000 German mercenaries hired through King George III’s connections with Germany as Elector of Hanover.  Because over half of them were from the state of Hesse-Kassel (and some of the others were from Hesse-Hanau) all of them were called Hessians by the Americans.  Although many were conscripts, some of them formed highly trained and disciplined units, and as a whole they had a reputation for cruelty.

 

*When America declared independence on 4 July, 1776, among the list of charges against King George were that He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

 

*Unsure where Howe would attack first, Washington split his forces between Manhattan and Long Island.  Instead, Howe landed on Staten Island, on 3 July.  On 9 July, Washington read the Declaration of Independence aloud to the people of New York City, who pulled down the statue of King George III, cut off the head, cut off its nose, mounted the rest of the head on a spike, and melted the rest of the statue (which was made of lead) down into musket balls.

 

*British ships began to fill New York Harbour, and more reinforcements were sent from England.  General Howe attempted to open negotiations with Washington, but because he would not address his letters to General Washington, they were rejected.  When his adjutant said Howe had the power to grant pardons, Washington replied, ‘Those who have committed no fault want no pardon.’

 

*On 22 August, troops under the command of General Henry Clinton and General Charles Cornwallis landed on Long Island.  Long Island was then very rural, and so large that it was impossible for the Continental Army to really oppose a British landing.  Furthermore, there were many supplies that could be seized from the farms on the island. 

 

*The first group of American soldiers to meet British (actually Hessian) troops were all captured, keeping news from reaching the main body of the army while three New York Loyalists led the British towards the American army.

 

*On 27 August, American troops commanded by Lord Stirling and John Sullivan held off an attack by British troops under General Grant, but had so small a force that General Clinton was able to slip behind him and keep many of his men from retreating—of those that tried, some escaped into the woods, but others tried to escape through a marsh and some of them drowned. 

 

*Over a three hundred Americans were killed and over a thousand were captured, including Lord Stirling and General Sullivan, while less than 70 British and Hessians were killed (and under 300 wounded).  However, this delayed the British attack and gave General Washington time to move to Long Island with some soldiers from Manhattan.  Upon watching Maryland troops under Lord Stirling repeatedly charge the British, Washington said ‘Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose!’

 

*The British soldiers and many of the officers wanted to continue attacking down Long Island and charge the American position on the western end, but Howe ordered them to stop.  This was probably because he did not want a repetition of the Battle of Bunker Hill, but he and his brother were both sympathetic to America (at least as far as their duty allowed), and they hoped for a peaceful end to the war if at all possible.

 

*Once his men were settled in behind their fortifications on Brooklyn Heights, Washington hoped the British would attack soon, because he thought he could hold them off if they attacked before they could get their artillery set up.  Once it became clear that they would not make a frontal assault right away, he had to make a plan of escape.

 

*Planning with Colonel John Glover, who commanded a regiment of fishermen from Marblehead, Massachusetts, Washington planned to evacuate all his forces across the East River to Manhattan.  On the night of 29/30 August, they began the evacuation.  Admiral Howe could probably have stopped it, but the wind was against him.  Had General Howe realised what was happening, he could have ordered an attack on the retreating Continental Army, but a fog settled in during the night, obscuring the American retreat.  By 7.00 AM, the 9,000 American soldiers remaining on Long Island had been evacuated.  About and hour later, the fog lifted.

 

*Howe was awarded a knighthood, but made no move to dislodge Washington from New York City for half a month.  On 15 September, he moved to Manhattan and easily captured New York City. 

 

*When the British tried to push Washington further back the next day in the Battle of Harlem Heights, though, they made an error in insulting him.  As the American Army retreated in an orderly fashion, the British bugler blew the fox-hunting call ‘gone away,’ the signal that a fox is running away as fast as he can.  This deliberate insult to their commander and to their own valour stopped the Continental Army, who then began to push the British back.  Eventually the British were forced to withdraw back into New York City after losing three times the casualties the Americans did (90 killed, 300 wounded compared to 30 killed, 100 wounded) despite outnumbered them 5,000 to 1,800.  This was a great boost to American morale, even though Washington soon moved his men off Manhattan Island to White Plains.

 

*Washington needed information before he moved, though, and desperately sought a spy to go behind British lines.  Spying was considered dishonourable; one officer said ‘I am willing to go and fight them, but as for going among them and being taken and hung like a dog, I will not do it.’  Eventually Nathan Hale of Connecticut agreed to do it and had some success making notes in Latin about British troop numbers and movements until a Loyalist recognised him as a rebel sympathiser and turned him in with the suggestion that the British search his shoes.  When they did they found his notes, charged him with spying, and hanged him.  His last words were (according to tradition) ‘I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,’ possibly a paraphrase of lines from Joseph Addison’s Cato.

 

*After withdrawing to White Plains, Washington was again attacked by Howe on 28 October (a month and a half after their last major battle), and although the British and Hessians lost a few more men than Washington did, he was still forced to retreat, in large part because some his own militia who were holding an important hill deserted him when they came under heavy fire from the Hessians.

 

*Washington’s only stronghold near the city of New York was Fort Washington, a fortification of earthworks and abates, on the northern end of Manhattan Island.  Although Washington feared the fort could not be held, Nathaniel Greene convinced him to hold onto it in order to protect the Hudson River north of the city as well as to keep the British out of New Jersey, and Washington left 3,000 men to hold it under the command of Robert Magaw while he observed from across the river the British attempt to take it with 8,000 men supported by warships.

 

 

*At first, the British offered surrender, threatening to slaughter all the defenders if they did not give up, but Magaw refused.  Magaw tried to fight the British and Hessians outside the fort, and at first were able to hold them off (aided by the tide, which kept British ships from bringing most of Howe’s forces to shore).  When they finally arrived, some Americans ran inside the fort, but most tried to hold the British and Hessians off by firing from behind rocks and trees and fighting from hilltops to have the advantage of higher ground. 

 

*Eventually, however, British artillery softened up the American lines and the infantry charged, forcing the Americans to flee into the fort where they were trapped.  Although Washington hoped they could escape under the cover of darkness and sent them a message encouraging Magaw to hold out long enough to do so, but he was unable to do so, and surrendered about 4.00 p.m.  Almost all the 3,000 defenders were killed or captured (over 2,800 prisoners were taken in the surrender), and many of those captured were beaten by Hessians and later imprisoned in rotting ships in New York Harbour, where many died of malnutrition and disease.

 

*Washington now withdrew into Pennsylvania.  Congress itself abandoned Philadelphia.  Washington’s army was down to 5,000 men, about a quarter the size it had been in the summer, and many men’s enlistments were about to run out—most soldiers only signed on for a few months or a year.  As the year came to its close, Washington expected to have an army of about 1,400 men in the New Year.

 

*At this time, Thomas Paine began writing the series of pamphlet he entitled The Crisis, beginning the first volume with the words

THESE are the times that try men's souls.

The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

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