Battle of Fort Washington

Battle of Fort Washington
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Etching of the battle
Date November 16, 1776 Location Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York Result Decisive British victory
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain Hessians
Commanders and leaders
George Washington Robert Magaw	William Howe Wilhelm von Knyphausen
Strength
3,000	8,000
Casualties and losses
59 killed 96 wounded 2,837 captured	84 killed 374 wounded

The Battle of Fort Washington was a battle fought in the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain. The battle, fought on November 16, 1776, was a decisive British victory and the entire garrison of Fort Washington was forced to surrender.

After defeating the Continental Army under Commander-in-Chief General George Washington at the Battle of White Plains, the British army under the command of William Howe looked to capture Fort Washington, the last American stronghold on Manhattan. General Washington had thought of abandoning the Fort and removing its garrison of 3,000 men to New Jersey, but had been convinced by General Nathaniel Greene to defend it.

On November 16, Howe launched his attack on the fort. The assault came from three different directions: the north, east and south. The attack was delayed due to tides in the Harlem River that prevented some of the troops from landing. When the attack did begin, the southern and western American defenses fell quickly. In the North there was stiff resistance to the Hessian attack, but they too were eventually overwhelmed. With the fort surrounded by land and sea the Fort's commander, Robert Magaw, chose to surrender the fort rather than try to hold out. A total of 59 Americans were killed and 2,837 became prisoners of the British. With this defeat, the main American army under George Washington was chased across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, setting the stage for the battles of Trenton and Princeton.

Background

Construction and defenses

During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Washington was a fort located at the northernmost tip and within 0.5 mi (0.8 km) of the highest elevation of what is now the borough of Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River, which was held by American forces. Along with Fort Lee located just across the river in New Jersey atop the Palisades, the twin forts were intended to protect the lower Hudson from British warships.

In June of 1776, American patriots Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene, William Heath, and Israel Putnam examined the terrain on which Fort Washington would be located and agreed that if the fort was properly fortified that it would be practically impossible to take. Later in June, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington, inspected the location and determined that the area was the key to defense of the lower Hudson. Shortly after Washington surveyed the terrain, some Pennsylvanian troops began construction on the fort under the supervision of Rufus Putnam.

For over a month the troops brought down boulders from the heights of Manhattan to the edge of the river where they loaded them into a collection of hulks and cribs made of timber and stretched it across the river. The purpose of this chevaux de frise was to prevent British ships from sailing up the Hudson and outflanking the American position. When the chevaux de frise was finished, work on the Fort itself began. Due to the fact that so little soil covered the rocky surface, soil had to be brought up from the low ground at the bottom of the cliffs, but even with this soil, no satisfactory ditches or trenches could be dug around the fort. When the fort was finished it took the shape of a pentagon with five bastions. The main walls of the fort were made of earth and had ravelins with openings for guns from every angle. The land enclosed by the fort was three or four acres large. There had been no powder to spare for blasting out rock so there was no ditch surrounding the fort, only abbattis. The barracks were finished in September and all the troops in the area were placed under the command of Major General William Heath. Washington established his headquarters in the vicinity of the fort.

Tablet commemorating the location of Fort Washington.

Supporting the fort were numerous defenses. Batteries were placed on Jeffrey's Hook, which extended into the Hudson, on the hill looking over Spuyten Duyvil Creek, at the north end of Manhattan controlling the King's Bridge and Dyckman's Bridge over the Harlem River and along Laurel Hill which was to the east of the Fort and went along the Harlem River (see also Fort Tryon Park). To the south of the fort were three lines of defense. The lines went through the hills and were made of trenches and foxholes. The first line was supported by a second line about 0.33 mi (0.5 km) to the north and the second line was to be supported by a third line which was planned to be built 0.25 mi (0.4 km) north of the second.

Movements

On October 11, General William Howe moved the British army to Westchester County, New York. In response, Washington also moved the American army into Westchester in order to escape entrapment if the British cut off the line of retreat from Northern Manhattan Island. Washington left behind a garrison of 1,200 men at Fort Washington under the command of Colonel Robert Magaw. In order to monitor the American garrison in the fort, Howe left Hugh Percy and a small force below Harlem Heights.

On the morning of October 27, sentries informed Magaw that Percy's troops were launching an attack supported by two frigates sailing up the Hudson. Magaw ordered an attack on the frigates and both British ships were badly damaged by the guns from Fort Lee and Fort Washington. The frigates could not respond because they could not elevate their own guns to the height of the American positions. The frigates were towed away but an artillery duel continued for some time between the British gunners and the American gunners. Because of this minor success, Magaw became overconfident and boasted that he could hold out in a siege in the fort until the end of December. On November 2, however, Magaw's adjutant, William Demont, deserted to the British and gave them all of the details of the fort. After receiving the information Percy sent it to Howe, who had just defeated Washington a few days earlier at the Battle of White Plains.

Plans and preparations

Battle map

After being defeated at White Plains, Washington had considered abandoning Fort Washington. However, Greene, whose opinion Washington valued very highly, believed that the fort could be held and that it was vital to do so. Greene argued that holding the fort would keep open communications across the river and might hold off the British from attacking New Jersey. Magaw and Putnam concurred with Greene. Although his natural instinct told him to abandon the fort, Washington deferred to Greene and thus Fort Washington was not abandoned.

After falling back to Dobbs Ferry, Washington divided his army. Seven thousand troops were to remain east of the Hudson under the command of Charles Lee to prevent a British invasion of New England; General Heath with 3,000 men were to guard the Hudson Highlands to prevent any further British advance North, and Washington with 2,000 men were to go to Fort Lee. On the 13th, Washington and his army reached Fort Lee.

Howe decided that the best thing to do would be to attack Fort Washington. His plan was to storm the fort, now garrisoned by 3,000 men after receiving reinforcements, from three directions with a fourth one as a feint. Hessian troops under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen would attack the fort from the north, Percy was to lead a brigade of Hessians and several British battalions from the south and Lord Cornwallis with the 33rd Regiment of Foot and General Edward Mathew with the light infantry were to attack from the east. The feint was to be by the 42nd Highlanders who were to land on the east side of Manhattan, south of the fort. Before he went through with the attack, however, Howe tried to force the Americans to surrender without firing a shot. He sent Lieutenant Colonel James Patterson under a flag of truce on November 15 to deliver a message that if the fort did not surrender the entire garrison would be killed. Magaw responded that they would defend the fort to the "last extremity".

Battle

Initial fighting

Before dawn on November 16, the British and Hessian troops moved out. Knyphausen and his troops were ferried across the Harlem River on flatboats and landed on Manhattan. The flatboatmen then turned down the river to ferry Mathew's troops across the river. However, due to the tide, they were unable to get close enough to the shore to bring the British troops across. Thus, Knyphausen's troops were forced to halt their advance and wait until Mathew could cross. Around 7:00 a.m., Hessian guns opened fire on the American battery on Laurel Hill, and the British frigate Pearl began to fire at the American entrenchments. Also, south of the Fort, Percy had his artillery open fire on the fort itself. Percy's artillery aimed at Magaw's guns which had damaged the British ships several week before.

By noon, Knyphausen and his Hessians restarted their advance. As soon as the tide was high enough, Matthew, accompanied by Howe and his troops, were ferried across the Harlem River and landed, under heavy fire from the American artillery, on the Manhattan shore. The British troops charged up the hillside and dispersed the Americans until they reached a redoubt defended by some Pennsylvania Volunteer companies. After brief fighting, the Americans turned and ran towards the fort.

To the north of the fort, the Hessian right, commanded by Johann Rall, moved up the steep hillside south of Spuyten Duyvil Creek against almost no resistance from the Americans. The Hessians began to bring up their artillery. At this point, the main body of Hessians, 4,000 men, under Knyphausen began to advance down the Post Road, which ran between Laurel Hill and the hill Rall was on. The Hessians crossed swampy land and when they approached the wooded hillside near the fort, they were fired upon by 250 riflemen of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment under the command of Lt. Col. Moses Rawlings. Rawlings' men hid behind rocks and trees and darted from place to place to shoot at the Hessians as they tried to advance through the fallen trees and rocks. The first and second charged by the Hessians were repulsed by Rawlings' riflemen.

Around the same time, to the south, Percy advanced with some 3,000 men. Percy advanced in two columns with his brigade of Hessians on the left and Percy himself leading the right. About 200 yards from the American lines Percy halted the advance, waiting for the feint by Lord Stirling to take place. Facing Percy was Alexander Graydon and his company. Graydon's superior was Lambert Cadwalader, Magaw's second in command, who was in charge of holding the three defensive lines south of Fort Washington. After hearing that there was a landing on the shore in his rear, Cadwalader sent 50 men to oppose it. The 50 men ran into the feint by Stirling and the 42nd Regiment of 800 men. Where Stirling landed happened to be the least defended area of the American defenses, and when Cadwalader heard how many men were there, he sent another 100 men to reinforce the 50 he had sent earlier. The British landing parties spread out, looking for a path through the rough terrain on the landing spot. The Americans took up a position on a hilltop and began firing at the British troops who were still crossing the river, killing or wounding 80 men. The British troops charged the American position, dispersing them.

Upon hearing the shooting, Percy ordered his troops to continue their advance. British artillery fire forced Graydon in the first defensive line to fall back to the second line, where Washington, Greene, Putnam and Hugh Mercer were located. The four were encouraged to leave Manhattan, which they did immediately, sailing across the river to Fort Lee. Magaw realized that Cadwalader was in danger of being surrounded and sent orders for him to withdraw toward the fort. Cadwalader's force was pursued by Percy's troops at the same time the troops opposing Stirling's landing were also being chased back to the fort. Stirling's troops, landed in the rear of Cadwalader, paused, believing that there were troops in the entrenchments. Some of the retreating Americans engaged Stirling, giving most of the rest of the American troops enough time to escape.

Collapse

With the collapse of Magaw's outer lines to the south and east of the fort, a general American retreat towards the perceived safety of the fort took place. To the south, the third defensive line had never been completed so Cadwalader had nothing left to retreat to except the fort. To the north, the riflemen under Rawlings still held, but barely, as there were fewer riflemen than before and because the increased amount of firing had jammed some of the men's weapons, some of the men were forced to push boulders down the hill at the attacking Hessians. The American battery at Fort Washington was silenced by Pearl. By this time, the riflemen's fire had almost ceased, and the Hessians slowly advanced up the hill and engaged the Americans in hand-to-hand fighting. Overpowering the Americans, the Hessians reached the top of the hill and swarmed into the redoubt with a bayonet charge, capturing it quickly.

Washington, who was watching the battle from the other side of the river, sent a note to Magaw asking him to hold out until nightfall, thinking that the troops could be evacuated during the night. By this time, the Hessians had taken the ground between the fort and the Hudson River. Johann Rall was given the honor of requesting the American surrender by Knyphausen. Rall sent Captain Hohenstein, who spoke English and French, under a flag of truce to call for the fort's surrender. Hohenstein met with Cadwalader, and Cadwalader requested that Magaw be given four hours to consult with his officers. Hohenstein denied the request and gave the Americans a half hour to decide. As Magaw was consulting with his officers, Washington's messenger, Captain John Gooch arrived, just before the fort was completely surrounded, with Washington's request to hold out until nightfall. Magaw attempted to get easier terms for his men, who would only be allowed to keep their belongings, but this failed. Magaw announced his decision to capitulate at 3:00 pm, and at 4:00 pm, the American flag was brought down in the fort, replaced by the British flag. Before the surrender, John Gooch leaped off the side of the fort, tumbled to the bottom of the cliff, evaded musket fire and bayonet stabs, and managed to get onto a boat and arrived at Fort Lee a short while later.

Aftermath

See also: Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War

Daughters of the American Revolution monument to the Battle of Fort Washington, located under the approach deck of the George Washington Bridge.

After the Hessians entered the fort the American officers attempted to placate the Hessian commander, Captain von Malmburg, who was in charge of the surrender, by inviting him into their barracks and offering him punch, wine, cake and complimenting his pleasantness. As they left the fort, however, the American troops were stripped of their baggage and some were beaten by the Hessians, but the intervention of Hessian officers prevented a potential massacre. The British captured thirty-four cannon, two howitzers, along with many tents, blankets, tools and much ammunition.

The British and Hessians suffered 84 killed and 374 wounded, and the Americans 59 killed, 96 wounded and 2,838 captured. Of the Americans taken prisoner, only 800 survived their captivity to be released in a prisoner exchange a year and a half later.

Three days after the fall of Fort Washington, Fort Lee was abandoned. Washington and the army retreated across the state of New Jersey and crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. On Christmas night, Washington crossed the Delaware and defeated the Hessian garrison under the command of Rall at Trenton. After defeating the British at Trenton again, Washington defeated them at Princeton, reviving the morale of the American army and the colonies affected by the fall of Fort Washington.

References

• Fischer, David Hackett (2006). Washington's Crossing. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195181212.
• Ketchum, Richard (1999). The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton. Holt Paperbacks; 1st Owl books ed edition. ISBN 0805060987.
• Lengel, Edward (2005). General George Washington. New York: Random House Paperbacks. ISBN 0812969502. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |unused_data= (help); Unknown parameter |authorid= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |http://books.google.com/books?id= ignored (help)
• McCullough, David (2006). 1776. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperback. ISBN 0743226720.
• Weigley, Russell (1991). The Age of Battles: The Quest For Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-7126-5856-4.