New York and New Jersey campaign
1776 CE to 1777 CE
The New York and New Jersey campaign is a series of battles for control of New York City and the state of New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War between British forces under General Sir William Howe and the Continental Army under General George Washington in 1776 and the winter months of 1777.
Howe is successful in driving Washington out of New York City, but overextends his reach into New Jersey, and ends the active campaign season in January 1777 with only a few outposts near the city.
The British hold New York harbor for the rest of the war, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets.
First landing unopposed on Staten Island on July 3, 1776, Howe assembles an army composed of elements that had been withdrawn from Boston in March following their failure to hold that city, combined with additional British troops, as well as Hessian troops hired from several German principalities.
Washington haa New England soldiers as well as regiments from states as far south as Virginia.
Landing on Long Island in August, Howe defeata Washington in the largest battle of the war, but the Continental Army is able to retreat to Manhattan under cover of darkness and fog.
Washington suffera a series of defeats in Manhattan, with the exception of the skirmish at Harlem Heights, and eventually withdraws to White Plains, New York.
At this point Howe returns to Manhattan to capture forces Washington had left in the north of the island.
Washington and much of his army crosses the Hudson River into New Jersey, and retreats all the way across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, shrinking due to ending enlistment periods, desertions, and poor morale.
Howe orders his troops into winter quarters in December, establishing a chain of outposts from New York to Burlington, New Jersey. Washington, in a tremendous boost to American morale, launches a successful strike against the Trenton garrison after crossing the icy Delaware River, prompting Howe to withdraw his chain of outposts back to New Brunswick and the coast near New York, while Washington established his winter camp at Morristown.
During the remaining winter months, both sides skirmish frequently as the British seek forage and provisions.
Britain maintains control of New York City and some of the surrounding territory until the war ended in 1783, using it as a base for operations elsewhere in North America.
In 1777, General Howe launches a campaign to capture Philadelphia, leaving General Sir Henry Clinton in command of the New York area, while General John Burgoyne leads an attempt to gain control of the Hudson River valley from Quebec that fails at Saratoga.
Northern New Jersey is the scene of skirmishing between the opposing forces for the rest of the war.
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Washington crosses the Delaware River back into New Jersey in a surprise attack in late December 1776 and defeats Hessian and British armies at Trenton and Princeton, thereby regaining control of most of New Jersey.
The victories give an important boost to Patriots at a time when morale is flagging, and will become iconic events of the war.
However, the British are seriously handicapped by their misunderstanding of the depth of support for the Patriot position.
Ignoring the advice of General Gage, they misinterpret the situation as merely a large-scale riot.
London decides that they can overawe the Americans by sending a large military and naval force, forcing them to be loyal again.
Washington had forced the British out of Boston in the spring of 1776, and neither the British nor the Loyalists control any significant areas.
The British, however, have been massing forces at their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
They return in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army in August at the Battle of Brooklyn.
Following this victory, the British request a meeting with representatives from Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities.
Howe demands a retraction of the Declaration of Independence, which is refused, and negotiations end.
The British now quickly seize New York City and nearly capture Washington's army.
They make New York their main political and military base of operations in North America, holding it until November 1783.
The city becomes the destination for Loyalist refugees and a focal point of Washington's intelligence network.
British troops had been under siege in Boston when the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775.
They had defeated Patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill, suffering very high casualties.
When news of this expensive British victory reached London, General William Howe and Lord George Germain, the British official responsible, had determined that a "decisive action" should be taken against New York City using forces recruited from throughout the British Empire as well as troops hired from small German states.
General George Washington, recently named by the Second Continental Congress as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, echoes the sentiments of others that New York is "a post of infinite importance", and begins the task of organizing military companies in the New York area when he stops there on his way to take command of the siege of Boston.
In January 1776 Washington orders Charles Lee to raise troops and take command of New York's defenses.
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.
Washington reads the Declaration of Independence to his men and the citizens of New York on July 9, invigorating the crowd to topple down a lead equestrian statue of the King in Bowling Green, melting it to make bullets.
Historical records indicate the statue depicted King George III in ancient Roman garb based on the Renaissance sculpture of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.
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.
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.