Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

George Howe, promoted to Brigadier General in December, is the son of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, and Mary Sophia von Kielmansegg (a niece of King George I); he has two notable younger brothers, Richard Howe, Earl Howe and William Howe, (the future 5th Viscount Howe), as well as seven other siblings.

George was born either on the Howe estate at Langar, Nottinghamshire, or at the Howe home on Albemarle Street, London.

Howe had joined the army as an Ensign of the 1st Foot Guards in 1745 and served during the Flanders campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Made an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland who led the Allied Army in Flanders in 1746, Howe fought at the Battle of Laufeld in 1747 and received a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel in 1749 following the end of the war.

Howe had been appointed Colonel, 3rd Battalion of the 60th Foot (the Royal Americans, later the King's Royal Rifle Corps), on February 1757, but had transferred to command the 55th Regiment of Foot on September 28, 1757 while at Halifax.

George Washington had again proposed to assault Boston in October, but his officers thought it best to wait until the harbor has frozen over.

In February, when the water has frozen between Roxbury and Boston Common, Washington thinks that in spite of his shortage in powder he will try an assault by rushing across the ice; but his officers again advise against it.

Washington's desire to launch an attack on Boston arises from his fear that his army will desert in the winter, and how easily he knows that Howe can break the lines of his army in its present condition.

He has not yet learned how completely he can trust in Howe's inactivity; he abandons an attack across the ice with great reluctance in exchange for a more cautious plan, to fortify Dorchester Heights using cannon arrived from Fort Ticonderoga.

In early February a British raiding party crosses the ice and burns several farmhouses in Dorchester.

General Howe, rather than moving against New York, had withdrawn his army to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and regrouped while transports full of British troops, shipped from bases around Europe and intended for New York, began gathering at Halifax.

In June he sets sail for New York with the nine thousand men assembled there, before all of the transports arrive.

German troops, primarily from Hesse-Kassel, as well as British troops from Henry Clinton's ultimately unsuccessful expedition to the Carolinas, are to meet with Howe's fleet when it reaches New York.

General Howe's brother, Admiral Lord Howe, arrives at Halifax with further transports after the general sailed, and immediately follows.

General Howe arrives in the outer harbor of New York; his ships begin sailing up the undefended Narrows between Staten Island and Long Island on July 2, and start landing troops on the undefended shores of Staten Island that day.

General Washington learns from prisoners taken that Howe has landed ten thousand men, but is awaiting the arrival of another fifteen thousand.

Washington, with a smaller army of about nineteen thousand effective troops, lacks significant intelligence on the British force and plans, and is uncertain exactly where in the New York area the Howes intend to strike.

He consequently splits the Continental Army between fortified positions on Long Island, Manhattan and other mainland locations, and establishes a "Flying Camp" in northern New Jersey.

This is intended as a reserve force that can support operations anywhere along the Jersey shore of the Hudson.

The Howe brothers have been granted authority as peace commissioners by Parliament, with limited powers to pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict

King George III is not optimistic about the possibility of a peace, "yet I think it right to be attempted, whilst every act of vigour is unremittingly carried on".

Their powers are limited to granting of "general and special pardons" and to "confer with any of his Majesty's subjects".

On July 14, pursuant to these powers, Admiral Howe had sent a messenger with a letter addressed to "George Washington, Esq." across the harbor.

Washington's adjutant, Joseph Reed, had politely informed the messenger that no person with this title is in their army.

Admiral Howe's aide writes that "the Punctilio of an Address" should not have prevented the letter's delivery, and Howe is said to be visibly annoyed by the rejection.

A second request, addressed to "George Washington, Esq., etc." is similarly rejected, although the messenger is told that Washington will receive one of Howe's adjutants.

In this fruitless meeting, held July 20, Washington points out that the limited powers the Howe brothers had been given are not of much use, as the rebels have done no wrong requiring an amnesty.

The British transport about twenty-two thousand men (including nine thousand Hessians) from Staten Island to Long Island.

In the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, the British outflank the American positions, driving the Americans back to their Brooklyn Heights fortifications.

General Howe now begins to lay siege to the works, but Washington skillfully manages a nighttime retreat through his unguarded rear across the East River to Manhattan Island.

Howe now pauses to consolidate his position and consider his next move.

Washington, who had previously been ordered by Congress to hold New York City, is concerned during this time that he might have escaped one trap for another, since the army is still vulnerable to being surrounded on Manhattan.

To keep his escape routes open to the north, he places five thousand troops in the city (which at this time only occupies the lower portion of Manhattan), and takes the rest of the army to Harlem Heights.

In the first recorded use of a submarine in warfare, he also attempts a novel attack on the Royal Navy, launching the Turtle in a failed attempt to sink the HMS Eagle, Admiral Howe's flagship.

The British had captured General John Sullivan during the battle.

Admiral Howe had persuaded him to deliver a message to Congress in Philadelphia, and released him on parole.

Washington also had given his permission, and on September 2 Sullivan had told the Congress that the Howes want to negotiate, and have been given much broader powers to treat than those they actually hold.

This creates a diplomatic problem for Congress, which does not want to be seen as aggressive, as some representatives feel a direct rejection of the appeal would appear.

As a consequence, Congress had agreed to send a committee to meet with the Howes in a move they did not believe would bear any fruit.

On September 11, the Howe brothers meet with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge in the Staten Island Peace Conference.

It has exactly the outcome the Americans had expected.

General Howe lands about twelve thousand men on lower Manhattan at Kips Bay, quickly taking control of New York City.

The Americans withdraw to ...

...Harlem, where they skirmish the next day, but hold their ground.