Americans Found Manhattan Difficult To Hold

The British first launched an assault on Manhattan by bombarding the coast at a place called Kip's Bay, at 30th Street and the East River. The American defenders, overwhelmed by the heavy guns and the numerical superiority of the British, soon retreated in a panic. Washington, who had made his headquarters in the Morris Mansion in northern Manhattan, watched the battle developing. The house had a fine view to the south.

Washington rode down from his headquarters to attempt to get his men to fight at the Battle of Kip's Bay. When Washington saw that they had run away without firing a shot, according to camp gossip, he cane-whipped privates, colonels and brigadier generals "with democratic indiscrimination." He is also reported to have thrown his hat on the ground and cried, "Good god, have I got such troops as these?" or "Are these the men with which I am to defend America?" He had to be led away by his aides to avoid capture.

A large force of Americans was in the city of New York, which then occupied only the southern tip of Manhattan. The British landing near 30th Street nearly cut them off from the remainder of Washington's army which was to the north. Fortunately, the Americans in the city marched north along the western side of the island while the British tarried in the Murray Hill area.

Harlem Heights

The Battle of Harlem Heights, though a minor engagement, showed the American troops they could win in battle after the loss on Long Island and the embarrassment of Kip's Bay. On Sept. 16, 1776, the Americans still controlled northern Manhattan after the British had captured the sourthern portion of the Island.

American skirmishers met British troops near 106th Street and Broadway. The Americans held their position under fire, but began to retreat northward toward the main American lines as the number of British troops involved began to rise.

The fighting ranged north to about 125th Street before Washington decided to send troops forward in two flanking maneuvers, one under Major Leitch and the other under Colonel Knowlton.

A third force of Americans made a feint to attack the British in their front. Although the Americans attacked before the British were surrounded and Leitch and Knowlton were both mortally wounded, the British found themselves attacked on three sides and began their retreat.

The number of troops grew to nearly 5,000 on each side as the British were pushed back to what is now 106th Street. Washington called off the attack after six hours because the Americans were not ready for a general engagement with the full British army.

Much of the battle took place near 120th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive, just west of Columbia University. "This little advantage has inspired our troops prodigiously," wrote Washington. "They find it only requires resolution and good officers to make an enemy give way." Some historians see Harlem Heights as a turning point in the American efforts to create an effective army.

The Fire
On Sept. 21, 1776, fire broke out near the southern tip of Manhattan Island and quickly moved north, burning a wide swath up to Wall Street and consuming all of the buildings between Broadway and the Hudson River.

The blaze claimed about 500 houses in what was a fairly small city. The cause will probably never be known.

Because some witnesses reported seeing separate fires break out further uptown after the first blaze was discovered, arson has been suspected.

Washington had just surrendered the city to the British. Military doctrine of the 18th century would have required the Americans to burn the town rather than leave it to the British with winter coming on. Congress had specifically forbidden Washington from burning New York. Most certainly, Washington didn't.

But it is not impossible that sympathizers to the American cause were involved. In addition to purely military motives, arsonists could have had less pure purposes. Hostility to Tories could have been the impetus for helping to spread the fire, and a good disturbance in New York even then was probably an occasion for some elements of society to practice a little looting.

The British reported several summary executions, either by hanging or throwing suspects into the flames. Since there were no trials or formal inquiries, the political sympathies, motives and guilt of the suspects will never be known.

The British press was hot to blame the Americans. One account said a man who was hung by his heels had cut leather fire buckets and stabbed a woman fire fighter. Another account of the same incident said he sliced off the woman's arm.

English claims of American responsibility were so extensive and so overblown, that they show a certain desperation in the propaganda war. Perhaps the British were fearful that they would be held accountable for occupying the town and then failing to prevent it from burning down.

Circumstances favored the fire. A wooden city was at serious risk when the wind blew. Many of the people who would ordinarily watch for and fight fires had left with the Americans. The British were so recently arrived that they had little opportunity to take over the responsibilities of local government. Because they needed iron and lead to make weapons and bullets, Americans had taken all of the church bells, leaving no way for the remaining inhabitants of the city to spread the alarm.

The British were so eager to blame the Americans that press accounts even inferred that Nathan Hale, executed for spying shortly after the fire, had been an arsonist. These reports were certainly false, casting doubt on the other British claims.

Whatever its cause, the fire denied the British the use of a good part of the city and also denied posterity many of the city's early buildings. St. Paul's survived the fire, but the original Trinity Church did not.

In watching the blaze from Harlem Heights, Washington said, "Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves."

With British landings in the Bronx, Washington soon evacuated most of his troops from Manhattan, leaving only a garrison at Fort Washington.

Fort Washington
Fort Washington was supposed to be something of an American Gibraltar, a rock commending a narrow waterway that could be held by a small force against an overwhelming enemy assault.

George Washington never felt very comfortable about the prospects for his namesake citadel on rocky slopes 230 feed above the Hudson River. As the rest of Manhattan was taken over by the British, Washington several times asked that the fort be evacuated. The commanders in the fort and Washington's subordinates always felt the fort could be held, and if not, the defenders could easily be evacuated across the Hudson River.

Washington's misgivings were well founded. On Nov. 16, 1776, the British attacked with 8,000 troops against the American force of approximately 2,800. While the Americans were too few to hold the extensive outer works of the fort, they were too many to crowd into the central portion and fight effectively. Col. Robert Magaw surrendered. The Americans lost 53 killed, 96 wounded and 2,722 captured. Many of those who surrendered were to die in the British prison ships in the harbor.

Margaret Cochran Corbin was wounded in action while helping to fire one of the fort's cannons after she took up the responsibilities of her wounded husband.

Next:
Conference On Staten Island Didn't Bring Peace

Learn More:
Fort Washington
Morris Mansion
Harlem Heights
McGowns Pass
Liberty Island