While it didn’t change the result in New York, the Battle of Harlem Heights was a tactical win for the Continental Army, and a boost to morale as well.

It was the Continental Army’s first true victory since Lexington and Concord, and after the demoralizing loss at Kip’s Bay only a day earlier, demonstrating that these soldiers (who were still little more than ordinary citizens) could, in fact, stand up successfully to the mightiest fighting force in the world.

Harlem Heights is a neighborhood to the west of Harlem, and nowadays is called Morningside Heights. A cynic would suggest that the neighborhood changed names in the 1890s so that Columbia University wouldn’t have to be associated with a predominantly black neighborhood, but to be fair the neighborhood was also known as Cathedral Heights because of the presence of St. John the Divine Cathedral.

At any rate, the neighborhood is definitely worth a visit. There are a few historical plaques around Columbia University, and if you like visiting cathedrals, St. John is definitely worth your while. Grant’s Tomb can also be found in that area, and if you’re a fan of the TV show Seinfeld, you will be thrilled by what you find at 112th St and Broadway. That’s all I’m sayin’.

The post Battle of Harlem Heights–September 16, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When Patriot forces saw four ships moving into Bushwick Creek, it was ominous but probably not a huge surprise, given that the British already held Brooklyn. They put up largely token fire from their own strongholds and that was pretty much that.

Washington knew that Manhattan was next, but it wasn’t clear how the attack would come, or from where specifically, but he’d already begun the work of getting people and materials out of town, so it probably wasn’t much more than a distraction for him.

In fact, it was a distraction and a diversion, as we’ll learn in a couple of days. Whether it was strictly necessary is another question.

A quick note on today’s artwork: Robert Clevely was a marine artist who was an eyewitness to the landing on Kip’s Bay. I figured it was worth mentioning because so many of the art pieces I wind up presenting here aren’t necessarily contemporary to their subjects. But this one is someone who was actually there.

The post Suspicious Movements–September 13, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

General John Sullivan had been captured only a few days before by the British, during the Battle of Long Island.

Now, Mike tells us in this episode that the Howes talked him into approaching the Continental Congress with their peace offering, but equally likely is that Sullivan simply agreed to deliver the message because it would get him out of captivity, at least for a while. (He was paroled specifically to deliver the message. Once he had his answer, it was “Back to jail with you, Johnny.”)

Part of the problem Sullivan had was that Congress didn’t think the offer was sincere; another part is that some members didn’t think Sullivan was sincere. Sullivan returned to the British, delivered the reply from Congress, and was re-imprisoned for another few months, until he was returned in a prisoner exchange.

So we haven’t heard the last of John Sullivan!

The post A British Offer–September 2, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Battle of Long Island was one of our largest engagements with the British, and it was also the first one after the Declaration of Independence.

And it was a rout; the Americans got their heads handed to them. The British took New York and they occupied it for the rest of the war. After so many smaller victories, we finally got the lessons that A) this was going to be a long and bloody war, and B) there really isn’t any such thing as an easy victory.

As a result, New York City became a focal point for espionage and intelligence-gathering. If you’ve ever seen the AMC series Turn: Washington’s Spies, you’ll get an idea of some of the things that went on. (The series as a whole isn’t bad, but there are definitely instances of dramatic license that went on. For instance, you can’t row across the Long Island Sound and back overnight. In fact, I’m not sure you can row across the Sound safely at all.)

In tomorrow’s episode, Mike will tell you why it didn’t turn out worse for the American side and then we close out the week with the last chapter of the Battle of Long Island.

The post The Battle of Long Island–August 27, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

At this point, both George Washington and General William Howe know that they’re literally on the eve of battle, and they’re making their final preparations.

The British, along with the Hessians, were making plans to move along the Jamaica Pass (it’s the road just above the Acroasis logo in today’s art), which, while they didn’t know it, was relatively lightly guarded by the Continental Army.

Washington’s tactic was to hold on to the Heights of Guan (the ovals to the right of the episode title, representing hills) and fortify Brooklyn Heights (far left center, about where the Brooklyn Bridge is today). It wasn’t a bad idea, but it didn’t match the British plans. And that’s largely where things went wrong. We’ll be talking about that in greater detail tomorrow.

The post Eve of Battle–August 26, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

It’s been coming for at least two months, and the Battle of Long Island has finally begun.

As we’ve noted a few times the past couple of days, George Washington had to make a few educated guesses about what the British were planning to do, but this left his troops thinly spread throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan, which left the Continental Army at a big disadvantage.

While numerous skirmishes have broken out up and down the coast between the British and American militia forces from time to time, this was Washington’s first major tangle with the British Army. That it didn’t go so great wasn’t his fault; that it didn’t go as badly as it could have is entirely his doing, as we’ll learn in a few days.

The post The Battle Begins–August 20, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Once again, we have a situation where the technology of the eighteenth century has to be seen to be believed.

Only a few days ago, we mentioned an event that took place in France without knowledge that the United States had declared independence, and now we have today’s entry, suggesting that it’s only in the last day or two that England is getting the news. You know, England? The ones we declared our independence from?

The post The Big News–August 10, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

That George Washington agreed to meet with Colonel James Patterson was a bit of a surprise.

He’d turned down the opportunity to meet with his British counterparts on multiple occasions, but when asked if he’d meet with one of those men’s officers, Washington accepted the offer.

Once the meeting was set, Washington was more gracious than most people would expect. Colonel James Patterson was rowed to the Battery dock in lower Manhattan from the British barge. At this point it was expected that he would be blindfolded to prevent him from gathering intelligence on Washington’s headquarters. Instead, he was brought to a different location without being blindfolded.

Patterson met with Washington, Henry Knox, Joseph Reed and a few others, and it was clear that these officers were very deferential to the General, typically referring to him as “Your Excellency.” Again, protocols were important to Washington.

After rejecting the Howes’ letter yet again, Patterson mentioned the benevolence of His Majesty, King George III (which was probably not the right thing to say to George Washington, but still), and explained that the Howes were there “to accommodate this unhappy dispute”.

According to Knox’s letter to his wife, Patterson then explained that Lord Howe had broad powers of pardon, but Washington wasn’t interested. As far as the General was concerned, “the Americans had not offended, therefore they needed no pardon. This confused [Patterson].”

Shortly thereafter, Patterson was escorted back to his barge, disappointed but sociable.

The post No Way, No Howe–July 17, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

One of the most common things written about George Washington is that he always behaved like a gentleman, and expected others to behave the same way; following protocol was very, very important to him.

When he was sixteen years old, he copied out by hand 110 rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in
Company and Conversation, likely as a penmanship exercise. These rules are based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits in 1595. The first English translations of the French rules appeared in 1640, and are ascribed to Francis Hawkins, the twelve-year-old son of a doctor. (So, probably as a translation exercise from Hawkins’ French tutor.)

Without even knowing it, the people who worked with this set of rules was absorbing a code of behavior that worked for people of all social strata, rather than for a specific class of people. Thus, it makes sense that the protocol for Washington as a leader of soldiers, and then a nation, depended on the “all men are created equal” credo.

As Parson Mason Locke Weems said of Washington, “‘no wonder every body honored him, who honored every body.” And while Weems is also thought to be the guy who made up the Cherry Tree story, he was certainly correct in this respect.

The post You Don’t Mess Around With George–July 14, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

William Howe had already been in New York for a little over a week when he wrote to George Germain from his Staten Island headquarters.

Not everyone had yet arrived from Halifax, of course; it was a long trip and the ships moved at different speeds. Howe took the time to detail what troops and ships had already arrived in New York, and what was still enroute, and that he was awaiting some more reinforcements before acting in full.

I presume that he was as detailed as he was because he was dispatching the letter to George Germain immediately via a packet ship, and the American Navy wasn’t really in a position at that point to intercept anything; otherwise they would have had a lot of actionable information about troop movements and their plans.

On the other hand, George Washington (and a few others) had already figured out what the British were up to, but at this point they were at a little bit of a loss regarding how they were going to counter it.

Part of the problem was that the troops were still fighting more or less defensively. They didn’t have a specific cause to fight for. But in another couple of days, they would have that. It wouldn’t really help in the short run here, but it worked wonders in the end.

The post Howe Checks In–July 7, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.