Battle of Harlem Heights

About

The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War in 1776. The action took place on September 16, 1776, in what is now the Morningside Heights area and east into the future Harlem neighborhoods of northwestern Manhattan Island in what is now part of New York City. The Continental Army, under Commander-in-chief General George Washington, Major General Nathanael Greene, and Major General Israel Putnam, totaling around 9,000 men, held a series of high ground positions in upper Manhattan. Immediately opposite was the vanguard of the British Army totaling around 5,000 men under the command of Major General Henry Clinton.

An early morning skirmish between a patrol of Knowlton's Rangers and British light infantry pickets developed into a running fight as the British pursued the Americans back through woods towards Washington's position on Harlem Heights. The overconfident British light troops, having advanced too far from their lines without support, had exposed themselves to counter-attack. Seeing this, Washington ordered a flanking maneuver which failed to cut off the British force but, in the face of this attack and pressure from troops arriving from the Harlem Heights position, the outnumbered British retreated.